New-York daily tribune., 1856-02-26
THE PEACE AND RUssIA.

w
many losses, the chief Of which is wounded pride
Her discontinue illustrates the old saying, that
first false step leads TO many mistakes and dIsas-
ters. Nicholas, without q firm purpose, without
indeed any real intention in 1853 of bringing the
Turkish question to final issue, nevertheless so
apitated il that be became involved lii the gravest
difficulties He was misled by the reports and ad-
vices of his diplomats, principally in Paris, Lon
don and Vienna. His agents made him believe
that these Courts would let him have bis own way;
so be undertook to frighten the Porte and extort
from it new concessions matching those previously
made to Louis BOnaparte. Nicholas forgot that,
whatever might have been the obligations of one
Power, and the respectful Difference shown him BY
the Others all submitted reluctantly to his SUI
premacy, and saw, with secret envy and hatred the
continually rising preponderance of an empire
which, though chronolOgically the youngest in the
arena of European politics, overtOpped them all.
Nicholas forgot that envy is one of the principal I'M
pulses Of cabinets and even Of nations. To hate
what they feared was their common feeling regard
ing the Cars and Russia. This he seemed unable to
comprehend, or to perceive that under the external
suspicion aud rivalry regarding commercial inter-
ests as well as political influence in Asia. The
clamor finally of the Polish refugees, some of them
men of weight, scattered through France and En-
gland was fortified by Magyar hostility, and
even by that German sentiment which attributed
TO Nicholas the overthrow of the German Diet in
164S. Throughout all Europe feelings hostile to
the northern colossus were fOmenting and these
spark could illumine and transform to open war.
Nicholas accordingly, who wished merely to
threaten, was surprised to find himself dragged
into contest. Even after the first hostile opera
tons be did not suppose the affair seriously
menaced the peace of Europe. He was still deaf
to tie bowling of the distant hurricane II came,
how ever and blunders were crowned with disas
ters-costly works. the labor of halt-a-century,
and armies still more costly being destroyed. But
it is not necessary to review here all the phases of
a war whose principal episode before Sevastopo
will forever stand prominent among the greatest
events in military history.
Among the most painful wounds to the imperial
and national pride of Russia is the inglOrious
Disappearance Of her fleet in the Black Sea,
while that in the Baltic is hid behind the stone walls
of fortified harbors. Thus the naval power of
Russia proves of no account. The old Emperor be-
coming suddenly cautious, obstinatey refused to
accede to the prayers of his son and OF the naval
officers of all grades, who at the beginning of the
campaign, in 1854, begged permission to meet the
English squsdron, maintaining that all the odds
were on the Russian side. They said the English
vessels were not fully manned, and besides had
fresh and untried crews, while the Russians were
filed with welldrilled sailors and marines; the
enemy too, was on waters less known to him than
the remotest corners of the ocean, while they, on
the contrary were perfectly at home on both seas.
The Cars Admirals represented, moreover that
even if the Russian vessels were defeated, the
English fleet would be disabled for the season, and
then that would be time enough to retire under the
batteries of the strOnghOlds. Nicholas resisted,
and so the Russian feet in the Black Sea at least.
has gone to the bottom.
This is the first time during hundred and fifty
years that Russia has been humbled, and comes
off secepd-b best in treaty. Judging from the pre-
lminaries already accepted by Alexander, Russia
loses several advantages secured by the treaty of
Adranople and otherwise does not sustain her
former elevated position. Still, her power OF resist
ance has beenput to severe test, and has wthstood
il. The combined means and forces OF two OF the
most developed nations known in history, aided by
the fatal rapidity with which armies, in this age
of ocean steamers can be concentrated on distant
points, acted fiercely in her disfayor-whie on her
part she had to overcome the impediments of the
most difficult and distant land communications
carried on by animals. Russia, thus maimed at a
single extreme point remains less affected In her
internal economy than her adversaries hoped for.
The Car is still at the head of more than half a
million soldiers in battle array.
The Russian finances may have been affected by
the war, but Yet no visible signs Of injury
are perceived, and the rate OF exchange is not
lower than at its beginning. So that, though hu-
inflated by the peace, and with her influence
oyerclouded Russia does not lose her substantive
Importance; and her powerful internal vitality
remains In closing the strife, she Will have
received many good lesson, and gained much
wholesome experience for her future guidance.
Intoxicated with more than century's sue
cess, the Cars must by this reverse be sooered'
They will have leisure to comprehend the relations
of Russia with the rest of Europe; for these last
three years have sayailed the enmities which
they have evoked, and showed how wantonly, for
nearly three quarters of a century, they had
espoused the qusrrels of foreign sovereigns among
themselves or with their respective subjects Rus
sis, too, has learned that in any emergency they