Washington sentinel., 1855-03-20
NEWS by THE AFRICA.

Ihereserve with which the news ofthe Cars
death was received seems to recede before the
authenticity Of the proofs supplied by further
knowledge of the foreign news. His DEATH
thought to be sudden, was preceded by q
short illness, which had been previously com
municated to the court of Berlin by tele
graphic dispatch. 1t even appears that a com
plimentary dinner given by the King of Prus
sia in honor Of Lord John Russell's visit had
been postponed on that account, and that his
majesty was, as it were, prepared, through cor
respondence with his sister, the wife of the
Car, for the melancholy event. The news re-
ceives also an additional weight from the fact
that the telegraphic line from st. Petersburg to
Warsaw, being in the hands of the Russian gov.
ernment, could not be set in motion by any
other persons than the officials of the empire,
who do not use it unless the gravity of the
circumstances and the welfare of the country
require it. Those reasons, perhaps also the
communications personally made by the King
of Prussia to Lord John Russell, give us the
key of the publicity given to that event, through
Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston's state.
ments, and must not leave any doubt about its
correctness.
The death of the Gear, his eulogy, the inhu-
ence of that event upon the war in Crimea, and
the choice of successor between his two
sons, have been the topics upon which
the press has during the last few days poured
out columns of endless and pointless comments.
The fact is that the imagination of our cotem-
poraries could not exert itself upon richer
and more prolific theme than the present one.
The career of the Czar, which, viewed in itself,
is sufficient to ell up volumes, involved, as it is
with the independence of Turkey and the peace
of Europe, becomes not Russian but Eu-
ropean event worthy of the deepest considera-
ton. But to crafty its craving for repose, as
the Liverpool Times does, in announcing that
the death of the Gear means peace to the
world, to coax our views and sentiments by in
dulging in prophesies on that event. before
having received even the particulars, cannot
fail to attract upon us..the reproach of indulg-
ing on grave subject with the style ofromance,
and to grant to fancy task which truth alone
ought to fulfil.
As we said in our last number, two policies
are open to Russia one, European in its prin.
cipal feature, will lead that great empire, per.
haps, to the expanse of some portion Of its
actual territory, but to the benefit of its inter-
nal improvement and civilization, to closer
connection with the Western Powers. Such
was the policy of Alexander the First. It's
other policy, properly called Russian policy,
will have for effect to shut up Russia within it's
own limits, to make her selfish, egotistical, and
ambitious, peril to her neighbors, and a
bugbear for the rest Of the world. That policy
was followed by Nicholas. The question now
raised among speculative politiciansis, which
one of these two policies will be adopted by his
successors; and first, which one of his two
sons will be called to the throne? VIII it be
the energetic, popular, reckless Constantine,
or the mild, priest-ridden, and learned Alex
der? Alexander is his first, and Constantine
his second son. Both have been educated with
the same care, and perhaps trained in the
same politics. Still the difference Of aptitude
and taste must, evidently, render them acces-
sible to difference of views, the expression of
which will settle or continue the present dis
turbance in the old continent
The news of the war is pregnant with mel.
ancholy accidents. 1t is said that Russian
army marching on the Crimea lost twenty
thousand men from ice thawing, and Lord
Raglan writes that the Russian garrison in the
Crimea is destitute Of food and clothing. On
the other hand, we read of the wreck of a
French frigate with seven hundred men on
board, every one of whom has perisbed the
weather, which had grown milder, has cooled
again, and the Allied armies are said to suffer
much from ice and frost. The violent transi.
tions of climate in the Crimea is the source OF
nearly all the diseases prevailing among the
soldiers. The insubordination Of the Zouares
beled by the hired, or kept under silence by
the muzzled press of the French Empire, turns
out to be true. The details Of that curious
affair are to be found among our foreign news.
The departure of the French Emperor and
Empress takes every day more consistency in
public opinion. According to the English pa
papers the Sandman troops are going to be in
creased ten thousand French, FIVE thousand
English, and six thousand Turks, to form an
army Of ITSELF which will be directed towards
Caffa or Theodosia, one Of the largest towns
in the .Crimea. A great activity is displayed
in the Baltic by the corps of Russian engi.
neers, Notifications are raised, and those al.
ready in existence are made stronger. The
Russian version of the battle Of Eupatoria is
not as advantageous to the Allies as they
make it.
Obstacles seem TO have lately arisen which
retard the conclusion Of separate treaty be-
tween Prussia and the Western Powers. The
Russian hospitals in the Crimea are found to