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    THE TV* BIB. P*P- ¦m'SAOTBDAY, m&

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    THE FIFTH POINT. TnB wnr with Eussia has...

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    There Is Nothing 00 .Revoljitipjiarv, Be...

    vances of Europe . Finally , when one con- cession after another had induced the Em- ^ peror Nichcxlas to believe that no power-in Christendom would sincerely oppose his < views , he made his flagitious attempt on the s territories of the Ottoman Empire . The ] crisis found the Governments of Prance and < England united ; an overwhelming exertion of public opinion in the one country , and motives of personal policy in the other , impelled them , to resistance , and the war broke out . Before that point was reached , an ominous murmur filled the camp of the " popular " liberals . Ministers were accused of treachery , because they delayed the declaration of war . The same men who now reckon the dead , and sum up the costs , and wave above their heads the palm of peace , passed martial resolutions , inflaming their compatriots to the conflict , and spurning all the devices of diplomatic moderation . Sinope accelerated the collision . The Allied expedition was armed , despatched , and brought into the field , amid impatient exclamations from the " enemies of Russia . " A grand programme was drawn up , suggesting the remote or collateral objects of the struggle , and the occasion was offered for " a war of principles . " But what course did our Liberal enthusiasts desire the Government to pursue ? They desired the Government , without delay , to insult Prussia , spurn the alliance of Austria , outlaw every existing power , cry havoc , and proclaim a crusade of natives against Sovereigns . They desired it to appeal to every European people— " the glorious Belgians and the immortal Poles "—to arm them against their Governments , and pledge itself not to make peace until the world had been utterly revolutionised . On the part of Russia especially , they would consent to nothing short of its political -annihilation ; they would restore Poland to the Poles , Finland to the Fins , every geographical item to the nation that had lost it in the course of former wars . How much , or how little , of this theory was wise we do not undertake to determine . No doubt the Holy Alliance partitioned Europe , with profligate selfishness , as the domain of a few domineering families ; but at present we only remark on the readiness wit h which these agitators would have entered upon a war of one year , or of fifty years' duration ; with what alacrity they would have plunged into a struggle of which no human forethought could have told the end . Two years pass , and the vast object is not fulfilled . The British and French Governments have not gained more than one allya third-rate power—and Eussia is not subdued at a single point . There have been repeated victories , more or less glorious ; the enemy has been damaged , at the extremities of his empire ; but no definite purpose has been accomplished . Suddenly , the working-class agitators , uniting themselves to the more practical speakers of the middle-classes , exclaim for peace . But peace upon what grounds ? There is not one journal inspired by these personages—there is not one personage among them that has not ridiculed the Four Points , and vituperated the Minister who adopted them . The Austrian compromise proposed by Count Buol , and grasped at by the staggering intellect of Lord John Rus' BELi / , was still more mercilessly criticised . JNTot one whisper has been heard , out of Mr . Gladstone ' s circle , of any satisfactory terms of peace that have at anytime been within flight ; yet the cry is — " Stop the war !" They are insignificant persons who utter tbi » cry , and they represent only the noisy and heedless portion of the working-classes ; bufc the question that arises is not the lean

    1 mportant . If peace were now concluded , cvhat would be the condition of Europe f The British forces would retire from both livisions of the field of war without a reaL auccess . Bussia , as a despotic power repressing the liberalism of Europe , would not come out of the contest injured in any material respect . Her preside , perhaps , would be increased , since lour nations , leagued against her , would have failed to enforce , by a decisive victory , the terms she refused at Vienna . The war , however , as it continues , and as it entangles one government after another , may acquire a momentum of its own , favourable to the independent action of the several nations . At all events , English and French success means injury to Russia , and injury to Russia enfeebles the despotic system of Europe . The war , though as yet a local conflict , is not designed for a temporary end . It is the practical protest against Russian aggression , and if it prove that Eussia must succumb at any point at which she is pertinaciously attacked , it will have removed the weight under which liberty has lain , pale and hopeless , for a quarter of a century . Events are often more logical than policy . Turkey , xn its effete condition , and with its conflicting nationalities , cannot survive this war , as a pure Mahomedan Empire . It is not to prolong an expiring system that the forces of Western Europe have been roused . Turkey is defended merely because Turkey was attacked—as Greece would have been defended under the same circumstances . The clear meaning of the war is , that Russia had become so powerful , had grown so vast , had armed so many soldiers , had acquired influence over so many rulers , that she appeared to possess a dictatorial authority , in Europe . Acting upon this idea , the Emperor Nicholas assailed a point which the policy of Christendom affirms to be inviolate . The Allied Governments undertook to demonstrate that there still remained an authority capable of resisting such an attempt , though supported by the material forces and moral influence of so mighty an empire . Without their interference , the Porte must ultimately have been overwhelmed . Here was an occasion , and here was an object . The result is uncertain , but they who seek to arrest the war before any result has been attained , would play into the hands of despotism , and leave the oppressed nations with whom they profess to sympathise without a chance or an opportunity . It is one thing with inconstant impetuosity to declaim against the prosecution of the war . It is another to endeavour by calm and logical persuasions to give it a new direction , with high and permanent objects in view . Only a sincere , spirited , and rational expression of public opinion is necessary .

    The Tv* Bib. P*P- ¦M'Saotbday, M&

    THE TV * BIB . P * P- ¦ m'SAOTBDAY , m &

    The Fifth Point. Tnb Wnr With Eussia Has...

    THE FIFTH POINT . TnB wnr with Eussia has been one of growth and development . At the outset , the predominant portion of the Britinh Ministry , shrinking from the responsibilities of their position , or ignorant of the true character of the contest , unfortunatel y took a low view of the " interests of humanity , " as the phrase went , and did their utmost to limit the area of the war . They did not , or could not see , that the true interests of humanity and the true interests of . Englnnd coincided on this point—that the extent of the war should bo coequal with the extent of Russian power , because the satisfaction to bo exacted must bo exacted on nil points and in all places where Russian aggression enmo in contact with the European Bystom . KuBtjiu , by force

    or guile , was master of the situation in Germany , paralysing Prussia and neutralising Austria , Russia held the other Baltic . powers in awe of her arms . Russia held the Caspian , controlled Persia , rode supreme in the Black Sea , domineered at the mouth of the Danube , looked out of grim fortresses and from behind one of the finest strategical positions over Europe , and menaced Paris from Warsaw . Russia , in fact , laid siege to Europe and Asia , ever sapping onwards to the sources ot thenpower , and as she gained a foot of territory , a mountain-pass , a rocky Bay , or a commanding position on her neighbour ' s frontier , she secured her conquest by strong forts and a rigid military system . Steadily onwards m all directions—now " surveying on the Jaxartes , now piling up a Bomarsund m defiance of treaties , at one time pressing down the Amoor into the Sea of Okhotsk casting meanwhile longing glances at the Segahen , at another building up a Petropaulovslu . Lord Ellenbobough said the war was a statesman ' s war ; but the statesmen of 18 o 3 looked upon it as a war for the defence of Turkey / when the people of 1853 , not ot England only , but of Europe , felt instinctively that it was a war for the defence ot Europe . The statesmen wished to make it exclusively an Eastern question ; the people felt that it should be European . The statesmen looked at the part , and called it the whole ; the people steadily fixed their eyes on the whole . . , The question is not only how to deal with the preponderance of Russian power in the Black Sea ; that is but a point—the third point even in the programme of the projected Vienna settlement—it is , how to deal effectually with Russian power — everywhere . That is the logical object of the war . Hence the law which has presided over its development—the war refuses to bo local . It has Town from a simple defence of Constantinople—of Turkish territory—to an aggressive war , an invasion of Russia . Now the sooner our Government recognise this fact the better , for in this fact lies the whole question , not only of possible benefit to the oppressed nationalities , but of benefit to the nationalities weak , yet still ostensibly independent , and to the whole European system . . What then must bo the next step in the war , if intrigue do not check its development ? The Conference at Vienna formulated a third point , which really swallows up the other three—the cessation of Russian preponderance in the Black Sea . That still remains one of the chief objects of the war ; and wo mav call it the first point , really the firat , since danger threatens there more closely than elsewhere , and since it means not only Russian Power in the Euxino , but in Georgia , Circassia , the Principalities . Sweep away the three nugatory points for tho present , and formulate a fifth , or , as we should call it , a second point—what would that be ? I he cessation of Russian preponderance in the Baltic . Hero then is tho next logical development of tho war . It involves many thing * , lml ; first and foremost it involves an alliance with tho Scandinavian Powers . . In the weakness of its faith , tho ] 5 nti * l » Govornment that begnn tho war talked of not diminishing the territory of J * " ^" , What a blow to the Scandinavian nllmnri . What a bribe to neutrality , almost to a | mthy and indifference 1 We have bombarded . Sweiiborg and laid waste- its interior . Why ^ (> IV thero not Hwedish and Daninh gunboat * , Swediwh ami Danish troops ongnged in 1 lu'tbattle ? Hocuuho tho Sweden ami tho Dunes hco that at present tho war is regarded « n n »

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1855, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081855/page/10/