Glasgow Courier. — 1855-05-12 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

VIGOROUS WAR, OR NATIONAL DISHONOUR.  There seems more and more reason to apprehend that the support of Austria, for which we hese sofferesd se much and made so many concessions, will, after all, fail us. Must we, then, forgetful of all that we have suffered, all that we have demanded, all that we have donee make peace becatme Austria, after no many months of futile negotiation, such vast preparations, and such insposing military display, refused to support in the field ,1 the cause to which she has repeatedly given her moral support and diplomatic assistance? For her own conduct she will one day have to answer, and sooner or later will doubtless receive her reward. Let us leaveher aside for the present, and -consider how far her apparent intention to stand aloof from actual conflict justifies us ii withdrawing front our pretensions and negotiating as ignominious peace. The first thing that strikes us Is. that we commenced thia struggle without securiog the co-operation of Austria, confident in the might of the allied Powers, and deeming it better to interpose an effectual barrier to the threatened aggressions of Russia than to wait till we had spurred into activity the xlow mo velment* liftliceweriplat with wv•rlopelehler of thaw eh e ! ffleurty, srep.-oking herself with infinite labour by balancing against each other the jarring claims and conflicting interests of so manydiscordant and disaffected nationalities. had we known what we now know of the disposition of Austria, should we In any way have altered our proceedings It is certainly possible that we might have objected to the occupation of the Danubian Principalities II a Power so little disposed to aid in she only measures by which those Principalities could be placed in • state of permanent security. We might also have paused in the expedition to the Crimea, had we known that Austria would have contented herself with interposing her forces betueen the Turks and the Russians, and so left the latter free to pour the whole remaining strength of the army of occupation upon the flank and rear of the besiegers. But having taken these steps, and having now for 11 months stood the whole brunt of the war without the aid of Austria, and, indeed, with that (fleet. sion in favour of Russia which the occupation of the Danubian Principalities undoubtedly occasioned, we ask, with much confidence, is there any reason why we should discontinues war begunand continued without Austrian co-operation, because that co-operation veesi.s more distant and more unlikely than it did at first? Are we prepared to admit that we were so rash and so foolhardy—Oat we so entirely miscalculated our own force and that of our enemy, that the all without uhich we did not scruple to draw the sword has now become indispensable, and that, therefore, there is nothing left for us but to beg permission ignominiously to sheathe it? What is this astonishing change which the last 16 months have brought about, that we should exchange our former attitude of menace for one of crouching subserviency. and, casting aside all self-confidence and selfrespect, abjure that noble pai t which in a moment of genuine, but. as we are told,transltory magnanimity, we had undertaken to play? We have lost, it is true, by the disastrous effects of a winter campaign a:sled by the most murderous negligence, some 20,000 excellent 'soldiers. The lithos. .  , .. pitable coast of the Crimea has shattered to pieces a considerable number of transports, which our