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Leader (1850-1860), 8th July 1854, Edition 1 of 2, Page 632

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      15 th of June . The Terrible , Furious , and Descartes were attacked by eight Russian steamers , near Sebastopol . A shell fell on board the Russian steam-ship Wladimir . fit will be seen that it was not " the allied fleet , " as stated iu some quarters , which the Russians ventured to attack . The time-honoured Muscovite rule of naval fighting—three to oneseems to have been reverently observed on this occasion . Intelligence received of a Turkish reverse in Asia lias caused a great sensation in Constantinople . The loss of the Turks seems to have been about 1500

      men , mostly , however , irregulars . The Turkish account is , that on the 9 th of June , a division composed of 3000 Bashi-Bazouks and half a battalion of Tegular troops received an order from Kaniis Pacha to attack two redoubts , established six hours from Usurguet , on the road to Kutais . Three columns of 1000 , men each being formed , the attack took place against the first redoubt , which was taken by the column of Hassen Bey . The third column then attacked the other redoubt , led by Alid Bey and Hamid jBey of Batoum . The Russians attacked them on the flanks during the assault , and drove them . back with great loss on the first redoubt , which they wished to maintain , but the Russians again attacked them , and they were driven out with the loss of two of their chiefs , Hassan and Hamid Beys . The loss acknowledged by the Turks amounts t > 1400 BashinBazouks ,. and 150 regulars .

      There was a review of Prince Napoleon ' s division at Dapud Pasha , on the 17 th , June . A French pen describes it thus : — "At 11 o'clock the troops issued from the barracks to take position in the plain . At half-past It Prince iJapolepn arrived in the fall uniform of a General of Division , followed by a brilliant staff , and a magnificent escort of Cuirassiers and Spahis . Marshal Sti Arnaud arrived afterwards with his staff , among whom was General Rose , who is attached , as British Commissioner , to the person of the Marshal . At last the Sultan himself reached the ground in the midst of the great Turkish dignitaries . He rode a magnificent black charger . He was received by the Marshal and the Prince . His Slajesty passed along at a gallop in front of the troops , " who -were drawn up in two lines , which extended very far .

      He had on his right Prince Napoleon , and the Marshal on his left , and the Sultan never , appeared to me to be so animated and in such jjood health . He remained on horseback three hours , stul followed by the most brilliant staff that has been ever seen at Constantinople . The appearance and bearing of the troops were very , fine . The defile was executed in admirable order and with great precision . •;¦ ; It was executed by the Chasseurs of Yiucenhes at the quick step , which is a novelty at Constantinople . The Spams defiled at full gallop , and the effect was really magnificent . After the French troops had all defiled , the Turkish troops , who form part of the division of the Prince , then came forward ; we all admired their appearance , even coming after the Trench . The Sultan appeared delighted . He

      warmly expressed his satisfaction to the Prince and the Marshal , and regretted that lie was not able to express himself sufficiently in French , which he understands very well , though he does not speak it , because , as he naively observed to the Marshal , he has not the habit of doing so , and his thoughts become paralysed when he wishes to express them in that language . Madame St . Arnaud was in a carriage on the ground . fcJhe alighted to salute the Sultan , to whom the Marshal presented her . The Sultan was full of politeness and attention to her , and insisted on her entering her carriage that she should not fatigue herself . His Mujesty also expressed ai hope that she would visit the palace—which , by the -way , ia contrary to all precedent . Decidedly the Turks arc becoming civilised . "

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      The Neapolitan Government has made another modification in the rules which it had laid down with respect to the exportation of sulphur . A communication has been made by the Neapolitan Minister ( the Commander Carafa ) to the French , and probably to the English Minister , at that Court , to the effect that " The Government of the King , considering that if on the one side sulphur is classed by several States among the articles which aro contraband of war , that produce ia at the same time necessary to many industries ; resolving , besides its right to soil that merchandise on its own territory ; has decided that it will bo free , to every ono to como to buy sulphur in the kingdom of tho Two Sicilies , and to transport » t wherover they choose at their risk and peril . As to the vessels under tho Neapolitan flag , it preserves tho right of transporting tho sulphur into neutral ports . "

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      Tho Stick has a forcible article on tho existing State of things , breathing tho true spirit . " To talk of tho abdication of the Emperor Nicholas when neither Sebastopol nor Cronstadt has been taken , and when he has atill his fleets and his frontiers intact , is certainly a pieco ofstorilo peurility . Tho semi-official character of tho journal wliioh Jiaa hold this language may even render it dangerous , inasmuch as , being regarded as an oclio of tho ideas of tho French Government , it will encourage him to whom it IB addressed to a personal and dospornto resistance . Tho powera wlio hayo teeth and eluws even in tho fuMo , « ro not willingly present at tho salo of tho spoils wliich havo boon taken from them . It ia not , however , in thia point of view that wo yrish to examine the indiotmont dmvni np by the Comtitutimml against tho Emperor of Russia Si&latA caw& , oaya tho Latin proverb , tollitur effkotits . Can it , thoroforo bo Boriaualy bolioved that tho Emperor Nicholus la tho poraonal cause of tho great war raised botweeon

      barbarism and civilization ? What is the Emperor of Russia ? He is not only a Sovereign wno has abused his omnipotent strength , and has degraded the principle of authority among nations ; but he is the successor of Alexander , of Catherine , of Elizabeth , and of Peter the First , lie is the representative of a system of government in which the abuses with which the Constitutionnel reproaches the present Czar have always existed . He is the continuator of a secular policy , the object of which is the slavery of Europe . He is tfne of the executors of the will of universal monarch y bequeathed by his ancestors . He has not raised himself up personally of a sudden , like Cassar or Napoleon . His ancestors have prepared everything for him painfully , savagely—by crime , by barbarism , by cunning , by arms , by violence—in a word , by all means which are regarded as good by fanatically atheistical powers ; he has his cause and his root in them . He would not be

      Emperor of Russia if he did not carry his stone to their work . When he interfered in Hungary in order to become the protector of Austria , when he incited revolt in the Sclavo-Greek countries , when he sent Menschikoff to Constantinople , it was the fatality of the precedents of his race which impelled him to these acts . He was the Czar , independently of his name of Nicholas , his qualities , of his fine stature , and of his superb eyes , as the Pope is the Pope , whether he be called Gregory VII . or Leo X . What is it , therefore , that you so childishly propose ? Do you think it will depend on your fine-sounding phrases to reduce the struggle of the West against the North to the proportions of a coalition against one man ? When all Europe united against Napoleon , it coalesced against the representative of revolution , against the chief of that military

      nation who set his loot on the heads of kings . Although it obtained the abdication it demanded , what did it gain by it ? In 1830 revolutionary France again made thrones totter ; it did the same in 1848 . French principle remained French principle . Personal abdication absolutely change nothing in the principles of nations and of monarchies . The real enemy of Europe and of its civilisation is not the Sovereign Nicholas I ., failing more or less in his duties and in the obligations which Providence imposes on the great ; it is the Russian system ; it is that system which , although Knssia is not a commercial power , has heaped , upthe fleets , the cannon , and the terrible forces of Helsingforsj of Bevel , and Cronstadt , and Sebastopol , for the future conquest oi' universal monarchy . It is this system which has led Russia into all her interventions , and has made of her a

      new Rome , threatening the universe . You have seamen , cannon , and fleets , as she has ; and yon have the providential chance of being united to the forces of Europe in a Just cause . Take Sebastopol and Cronstadt , and clip the wings of the two-headed eagle , and only occupy yourself in a secondary manner with the prese ' nt Czar . It is against Russian power , a power out of all bounds , and without all equilibrium , that the war in the East is waged . You would obtain nothing even in obtaining what you demand . Philip II . continued what Charles V . began , and the successor of Nicholas would perhaps be compelled to go even further than he . This is what is called for by the law of Russian principle , and which will be necessary sooner or later to regulate the state and destiny of the Danubian provinces , in such a way as to prevent them fr om being exposed , and from exposing Turkey to the violent invasions of which they have been too often the theatre . It is evident that Austria is the

      Power which is best placed to derive the greatest advantage from the new organisation of these provinces , of which she may by her vicinity bo tho most vigilant sentinel , and the most direct guardian in the name and for the advantage of all Europe . However this may be , the entrance ot the Austrian forces into the Principalities ia already a guarantee for Europe and for the Ottoman empire , in so far as Austria thereby opposes a powerful barrier to new aggressions of Russia ; and , moreover , she promotes the interest of Germany by establishing in fact the free navigation of the Danube—that great wmte of German commerce , which assuredly will not again be given up to the caprice and omniputencu of Czars . In whatever point of view wo consider the policy of Austria , wo shall find that it justifies all the hopes of those who asserted that her young Sovereign would not hesitate to place tho permanent right of civilisation and the superior interests of 'Europe and Germany above dynastic connexions and personal relations . "

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      AMERICAN NOTES . The Committee of Ways and Means of the United States Congress has reported a bill modifying the tariiF . It is not very satisfactory . It proposes to put among the articles liable to a 20 per cent , duty iron , sugar , cotton , woollens , wines , &o . The 10 O per cent , duty on brandy is to bo retained . Other rates are to bo f > and 10 per cent , on specified articles , and . 1 £ > per cent , on articles not enumerated , tho free list being only slightly enlarged , and no change being mado with regard to tho fishing bounty . Tho squadron looking after tho slave trade is to bo recalled . This , being interpreted , is supposed to mean , we must concentrate our naval force , in order to be ready for Spain should she require a few metallic arguments .

      Lord Elgin , whose return has been celebrated in Quebec , opened tho Canadian Parliament on tho 13 th Juno . In his speech ho announces tho war : tho Anglo-French alliance— -which ho thinks well calculated to call forth tho sympathies of a country mainly peopled by tho descendants of those two powerful empires—and tho new treaty , which ho is firmly convinced will prove highly ueoftil to both parties . In tho Houso of Representatives Mr . Bocock has introduced a now Navy Bill , tho principal features of which arc tho establishment of a higher grade of

      officers than captains—namely , " flag officers j" a reduction in the whole number of officers , so as to le % ve as few idlers in the service as possible ; a retired list ; a board of reform ; increased "pay foi sea service ; stingent rules to prevent as far as possible continued leave of absence ; promotion not to be based exclusively upon date of commission , but also upon general qualifications ; and provisions for the meritorious discharge of seamen , and in . ducements held out to them to re-enlist . The question of assimilated rank between officers of the navy and army is settled ; a Judge-Advocate is also provided . It is further provided that there shall be an increase of seamen and marines to the numbei of 3 , 000 , whose pay is greatly increased , and inducements to good conduct and re-enlistments are made .

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      AM ERIC AN LIFE DESCRIBED BY AN ENGLISH RESIDENT . [ The reader will easily recal the previous communications on the social life and industrial experiments of America , from the pen of our correspondent , an observing sojourner in the United States . The present letter w » s received some time back , but ha * not been inserted , wishing to succeed it by later information , which , ia already to hand , concerning " Modern Times "—that remarkable social experiment—the very Antipodes of Communism—yet seeking the solution of the very problem Communism originally proposed . Towards the conclusion of the present letter , the writer certainly grows intensely

      American on the progress of New York and the indigenous capacity of the aggregate Yankee , but we count the general reflections of our correspondent dispassionate and many-sided . ] " Tinton Falls , Monmonth Co ., N . J ., Jan ., 1854 . "_ My dear Son , —It is of course vwy gratifying to one ' s vanity to see one ' s-self in print , occupying whole columns ol a paper one so mnch admired as the Leader , and all the mo « when one's lucubrations are reproduced ia another continent with expressions « f-special interest , as my last letter was lien m more papers than one . - "I have ever to cherish a gratitude , which can hardly be fairly expressed in language , towards our Leader , and Jfcpr . Lewes in particular , for the introduction , obtained through bis articles of the year before last , to the teachings oF the

      only man who lias been able to completely solve the great , and in many respects terrible , questions , not only social but even personal , bo widely raised in this our day . To August * Comte alone must we look' for rcat ^ -because definitive solutions , however admirably others may put the various grand elements of the great social question . From him we get solutions just because he perceives the essential unity o : the problem . v "X cannot agree with Mr . Lewes that the works witli which Comte 'has thought f it , ' as Harriet Martineaa . says to follow up his positive philosophy aro in any sense' preniii ture . ' On tho contrary , it is precisely them that we realh want . That they , would be inappreciable by any minds no first initiated into positivism , or at least emancipated fron theologism , is very true . Tliat our ' middle-class' men ii

      England , and tlie corresponding classes ( t . e . nearly all here , are far beneath the degree of development necessary foi the comprehension of them , is very true . That there i something about them , i . e ., about their external i' .. rra besides the mere language , which is essentially French , would be very ready to admit . But that the iundamenta conceptions are by any means ill-timed I cannot think . T < mo they have proved a boon truly infinite . And very sur am I that thousands of noble hearts among tho Englisl proletaries ( whom I shall ever regard as my fellow-country men , heartily as I despise tho dominant classes of that' en lightened and self-governed country ) would hail with pi « found satisfaction the only series of doctrines that fully tricot tho whole of their case . "

      " 8 Homer , 66 ( 5 th Feb ., 1854 ) . " Since I loft tho North American Thalaux , I hava bee living mostly a very retired life hero in this obscure village having much to d p in view of my ultimate scttkmeii : » Modern Times , which 1 havo never ceased to look uponus m future home . " It was only incidentally that I heard that my lust letU to you Had been reproduced in iv Now York daily paper ( tli Times ) with Borne comments , controverting , as J uuclcrutani my criticisms on American society generally , and exputiiitiu on tho ' happy homeo , '&c . of this ' great country . ' It certainly out of no disrespect to tho oat-governor of the ompii atnto , who is , I believe , tho leading proprietor and editor . tho Neto York Daily Times , that I presume to answer h remarks . Of course Miss Brewer Will bo quoted ; und < course Alias Brewer lived in » happy homes' while she \ vj

      hero . Where in tho world will a renowned traveller fail to I lionised ? What sort of families aro those who would ex ' liiL thoir domestio foibles before an amiable but celebrated lad who was known to bo intending to write a book ? Now know personally , that tho worthy citizens of New York < u Brooklyn , and 1 doubt not that our other cities bear at lui a general reHomblunco to tlicao , although tho lutter arc course moat opou to foreign influences , are remarkably proi to Honiaing . Anything in tho sliapo of a stranger in pouua upon with amuHing voracity . Aa long aa the novelty « j consequent « oxdtomont * laut , everything ia charming to tl surpritted guoafc , " But an ofcsouro , private individual , who etuya l « i enough to lot all this novelty wear off , boos tho other bidu the picture , especially since liia very obscurity blind * tl vigilance of those among whom ho moves , l ' eonl * faho themaolvca as they are before Jones . wh 6 would put on tin boat behaviour before- Miaa Urtwer , who is , of course , goin to make a book and put them in it—perhapfc

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      632 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 8, 1854, page 632, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2046/page/8/