The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-11-23

deDcer' Who mowsi
The Crusade Against Russia-Prospoct -
Another Thirty Years War.
That we are entering upon one Of those vio-
lent periodical throes which in the political IS
well IS the geological progress Of the werd
disturb or destroy al It's previously existing
relations, and impert . new aspect to Its con-
stituent elements, seems to be the instructive
conviction Of every one who has made politics
study. There are but few, even amongst
those whose hopes or whose fears lead them to
attach an exaggerated Importance to the fall Of
Sebastopol who are not impressed with the
belief that that event, should it take place will
form but one Of the lesser incidents in the loag
chain Of chronological facts which ere destined
to mark the deeolating epoch which will be
covered by the Russian war. Fewer still oe-
lieve that in the event of its protraction for
any considerable period the present political
and social condition Of the nations Of the
world flor in its widespread effects all
countries will be more or less drawn
within its iDfuence,) will offer the
same structural aspect that it does now.
The p, litical rise OF some aud the decline of
others will probably date from it's annals,
whilst the destinies Of races will probably abb
sorb into two or three distinct elements the
power that is nowparcelled out amongst nume
rous divisions Of the human family. In social
and religious point of view, too. the cru upon
which we are entering, may be pregnant with
the most important Influences upon the we'll
being and happiness of mankind. Should the
fortunes of war prove favorable to the Russian
eIms, the tide Of Christianity and civlliz alton
will in all probability be borne eastward, whilst
in the Western hemisphere the feeble resistance
Of the Spaniard must yield before the perse-
veriDg and resistless energy of the Anglo
Saxon race.
The results here foreshadowed, although they
may startle BY their magnitude, are not so
improbable as they may at first sight seem.
However it may suit the journals Of the coali-
ton to lay the blame Of the present war to the
account of the Gear, it must not be forgotten
that the course pursued by him is only in ac-
cordance with the traditional policy of the
court Of Russia policy which has within the
last two centuries largely expanded the limits
Of it's already vast territories, nearly doubled
its population, and given it predominance
in European affairs Of which it will now
be impossible to deprive it. 1t is, there
FORE not, as is asserted, mere war of conquest
and sggrandizement, suggested by the ambition
or PRIDE of an individual prince but war re-
sultiDg from settled principles of political &C.
ton, in which the religious element, as regards
the Gear himself, is perhaps made to play
more prominent part than sincerity warrants.
Were the world satisfied that its objects could
be traced merely to the aforementioned mo
tives, less alarm would be felt with regard to
the prospect of its heightened continuance.
The will of one man, however despotic his
power, could not long blind q nation to the
folly Of sacrificing its interests to his cupidity.
1t is the consciousness that in this instance the
interests Of the nation 60 with those Of the sove
reign, and that the Russian people have
traditional faith in their mission Of religious
propagandism, that induces the conviction that
we ore entering upon one of the most sangui-
nary and protracted struggles that the world
has as yet witnessed. As the thirty years war
arose from the natural result of the reactionary
tendency called forth on the part of the Roman
Catholics by the Reformation, SO the pre-
sent may be looked upon as reac-
tionary effort on the part of the Greek
church to regain the empire which it lost
through the vices and supineness Of its Bryan
tine rulers. It may also be regarded as the
final struggle Of the infant but giant st ength Of
Russia to break through the trammels imposed
upon her expansion by that whimsical offspring
Of Henry the Fourth's brain-tne European
equilibrium the on which has
been to perpetuate thus far IT i:kis intolerance
and misrule.
Viewed in either Of these lights, it is evident
that the heaviest sacrifices will be cheerfully
made by the Russians to carry out the views Of
their sovereign, and their own notions of their
destiny as . people. Half century of
tanned warfare, and even of frequent reverses,
would hardly quench the fanatical confidence
which they entertain in the success Of their sup
posed mission. The loss Of Sebastopol, the des-
truction Of Cronstadt, and, in fact Of all their
important ports in the Euxine and Baltic, would
be only regarded by them IS paltry sacrifices
for the attainment Of SO great an end. They
know that no nation ever advanced rapidly in the
path ofglory and conquest without meeting with
almost as rapid decline and they have gained
too much by the asiute, steady and cautious
policy oftheir rulers not to feel confidence in the
ultimate results of war which, though it may
be insuguratcd with few disasters, will crown
with it's triumphs that nation which has the
greatest power Of endurance. The race in this
case will he with the strong, and not win the
swift
Under, these circumstances, We confess that
we do not see what remains for us to do but
to sit down and calmly speculate upon the in
fluence which another thirty, or perhaps fifty,
years war may have upon our commercial and
political prospects, and occupy ourselves with
the opportunities which it will open up TO us