The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-05-15
RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES.

To the Editor fthe National Era,
| Russia, fearing an invasion of Finland by a
| combined force of French and Scandinavian
troops, has submitted to peace which, no
doubt, is ca c nature which will make her ap.
pear Inundated in her Own eyes and in the
eyes of the world at large; but, by yielding, in
the face of the imminent danger Of losing Fin
land, and Of seeing Sweaborg and Cronstadt
destroyed, she has acted with praiseworthy
prudence; and the concessions waich The
Turkish Government has made, relative to its
Christian subjects, give to the Gar fair OPP
portunity of pretending-what the ignorant
| serfs of Russia will eagerly believe-that he
has attained the chief object for which the war
had been undertaken. The very peace which
Russia has concluded, proves that her states
men entertained, with regard TO an alliance,
Powers and the Scandinavian Kingdoms, the
same views as those which expressed in my
| letter of January 10th, and thus tie prediction
which l have repeated, in several of my letters,
that Scandinavia would decide the issue of the
var, has been amply verified.
But the hatred which Russia has contracted
against Sweden viii surely, at no distant day,
call forth a war of far more Importance than
that which now appears to have been brought
to g happy end. 1t would, indeed, be very
foolish to suppose that Russia will long desist
from the attempt at recovering the ground
which she has lost, in the estimation of man
kind, with regard to her real strength as
Great Power. In concluding peace, she yields
to the present urgent necessity; still, there is
no reason for supposing that abe has renowned
the hope of realizing, at some future day, her
ambitious aspirations. 1t depended upon the
Emperor of France to strike the fatal blow
which might have laid Russia in the dust for
at least century; and he would certainly not
have hesitated in trampling the Russian Bear
under his feet, could it have been done without
giving England the opportunity of rendering
herself the arbiter of Asia, from the Gauges to
| the BospSarus.
! Yes, do not feel the least hesitation y,
making the assertion that the grasping ambition
which England has shown for the extension of
her power in Asia, has been one of the chief
reasons which has induced the French Empe-
ror to conclude the present peace.
| From the moment that the proposition was
made to Napoleon, that the English army in
the Crimea should be transported from Asia
Minor, in order to cooperate with Turkish
force against the Russian army in that quar-.
ter, it became evident to him, that, by agreeing
to this plan, he might be instrumental in rem,
dering England the arbiter of the whole of
| Western Asia. Consequently, having humili.
ated Russia, and annihilated, at least for the
present, the execution of her ambitious plans
relative to Turkey, the interests of France, and
of Europe at large, bade him not to allow Great
Britain the opportunity of increasing her already
very formidable power, but to conclude peace
! which would leave Russia defeated and humili-
ated England without increase of power, and,
indeed, with some loss of military reputation;
and Austria and Prussia despised, while eleva-
ting France again to the first place among the
Great European States.
| The destruction of the Baltic feet would have
benefited England far more than France, and
would, in fact, have left the English in undis-
puted superiority over the combined forces of
Europe, at sea; but, as long as the naval arm
ament of Russia in the Baltic remains entire,
there is possibility to oppose England feet
not inferior TO her own.
| Those appear to have been the chief motives