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89a , THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1854.
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3"here is nothing so revolutionary, beca...
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AFTER SEBASTOPOL—WHAT? It is only justic...
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CONDITIONS OF RUSSIAN SUCCESS. Russia ha...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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89a , The Leader. [Saturday,
89 a , THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Saturday, September 23, 1854.
SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 23 , 1854 .
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3"Here Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Beca...
3 "here is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , aa the strain to keep things fixed when aLl the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Ar . nolp
After Sebastopol—What? It Is Only Justic...
AFTER SEBASTOPOL—WHAT ? It is only justice to tlie armies of England , France , and Turkey , to assume that by this time Sebastopol is taken , and that the flags of the three nations wave over that redoubted fortress . It is a great blow ; and , no doubt , a permanent blow . ~ We disbelieve the elaborate story that Marshal St . Arnaud ' s impetuosity to get to the Crimea arose ' his expectation that , after the conquest , it would be created a duchy , he to be the duke , after the Crusades fashion . But we do not doubt that the Crimea is to be converted into a State independent of Russia ; and we therefore anticipate some guarantee that , for the future , Constantinople will be safer than it has been during the last quarter of a century . The war might finish then . No treaty would be wanted . The allies might ignore Russia : and , leaving a few war-ships here and there , gazette a peace . The Pruth will not soon be passed again by a Cossack—let Austrian policy be what it may . "We may keep a fleet in the Baltic—say the Tagus
fleetand shut up Cronstadt permanently . The Sebastopol fortress and fleet destroyed , the Black Sea will no longer be a mare clausum . English frigates can cruise about there . Russian prestige would be annihilated on all sides of Russia . Turkey , the most reforming nation on the face of the globe , grows apace , and will gradually become strong enough to do . without her western protectors . For one campaign this would be a large result—a considerable stroke of business in defending civilisation .
At this point , therefore , the English public has to realise the objects for which it has gone to war . The leading journal , passing Sebastopol , has arrived at Cronstadt . The note " Cronstadt" is struck as boldly as the note " Sebastopol" was struck , " previously , and there may be the same official foresightedness in the reference . That would be an affair of next season ; and , of course , it is a mere matter of men and money—the taking St . Petersburg . But , having reached that point , there comes the question' —what are we to do with St . Petersburg ? Dictate a treaty ? Yes . But what do we want with a
treaty ? The independence of Turkey 7 ms " been obtained . The opening and clearing of the Danube is a fact at our disposal . The Russian fleets are annihilated—or may be so shut up as to constitute their fate a practical annihilation . Russian prestige is gone . Sclmmyl is the assailant : and with a little encouragement and money Schamyl could do our Indian business for us , and create a great empire between Russia mad British Indiareplacing Persia .
Considerations of this character suggest to us , an enlightened people , that wo have not the slightest idea what wo are about in tints \\ t \ v If wo merely mean a war agmnst Russia for Turkish integrity and independence , we have already got what wo want : imd further war would be waste of time and capital . Wo have chocked Kxissin , ns an encroaching power , foreomo yeara . Tho Austrian
statesmen detect that great fact , and are grateful to us ; consequently , wait quietly until ,
Sebastopol being taken , they are placed in a position to intimate to us that peace is now possible—for that they are satisfied . They are reproached for having said that they see no casns helli at present ; what they meant was casus gacis . The French and English . Governments do not want Cronstadt ; they accordingly order
home D Hilliers and Napier , and they will effect a peace , or what will amount to a peace —though there still technically may be war . Here , then , will begin a conflict between the English Grovernment and the English nation . And , therefore , arises the opportunity for the English nation becoming the English Government .
The ball—a cannon-ball—is rolling ; ought it not to be kept up ? "We might lose the Austrian alliance . " We would not lose the French alliance . Louis Napoleon dare not separate himself from England ; he consults Ms public opinion , and knows that France desires to become the chief military power in Europe—and , as a matter of sentiment , to re-create Poland . It is open to the English nation to decree the destruction o £ Russia ; and the destruction of Russia means—freedom for nations
in Europe . A -war for any object but the destruction of Russia is a sham war— -it is a war for Austria , which is another Russia . After Sebastopol , then , by all means St . Petersburg—but with a purpose . We are in one of those' periods of our peculiar history -when public opinion , properly pronounced and organised , is omnipotent . One reason why the public opinion may now have power is , that our public men are fifthrate personages , not only without principles , but without opinions . We can point to no
one man now conspicuous in the councils of the Queen of whom we can say—he is our leader in this war . Neither individually nor unitedly has tho Cabinet presented us with a conception of the objects of the war . " Considerations for the public service" excuse the mystery . We believe it may be explained by the profound unintellectuality of the men who are born our statesmen , and who are utterly ignorant of what now to do with the destinies of the State .
A public meeting is too often a bathetical abortion in this country . Public meetings are , however , at tins moment , a vital organisation through which the will of the country can be enforced . Public meetings would lead up to a November session , and Parliament wotild do as it has ever done—do the clearly ascertained will of the nation . A great opi ^ ortunity for human freedom offers ; will Englishmen be wanting ?
Conditions Of Russian Success. Russia Ha...
CONDITIONS OF RUSSIAN SUCCESS . Russia has on tlie whole been a decidedly successful empire . Up to the present time all has gone well with her ; and she has even the honour of having , in close alliance with the rigours of her climate , beaten the great warrior of the century in a defensive campaign . Fortune has smiled upon her , in giving lxer rulers with ambition and capacity , and foes of a second order ; a territory which no one envies or would care to conquer , and n . people as brave as brandy and an instinct of obedience can make them . For long years hor frontiers wore touched by nations in whose Governments tho principle of authority was weakened , and the power of control nearly destroyed—Governments oithcr undorgoing some transition , or tho prey of contending factions . For long years she had only to contend against Sweden , and Poland , and Turkey , the Tartars , and tho Cossacks Europe looking favourably on her eflbrta .
While Turkey was yet strong , Turkey beat the first great Russian Emperor in the field
but , alas , did not kno w how to make the best use of her advantage . The mad warrior-King of Sweden , who did not know when to fight and when to abstain , gave the Russians the first lessons in the art of war . Scotchmen taught them the rudiments of naval warfare ; and Frenchmen and Germans continued to improve upon the lessons which . Charles XII . had so rudely initiated . Russia stretched her arms in less than a century from the Baltic to the Black Sea , and robbed her neighbours in all directions of their frontier lands . In these latter vears she
has fought her way through the Caucasus , and floated a steam navy on the waves of the Caspian . She has attained to the dignity of a great European power ; kings have humbly waited in her antichambers to take her orders ; and philosophers and literati have prophesied that she is the next state in succession to universal empire .
What are the soxirces of her success r How is it that a semi-barbarous nation , so much of whose power is fictitious , so nrncb of whose prosperity is hollow , enjoys so great a consideration ? Is all this prestige duly merited , or has it been hastily accorded , and ably upheld and increased ? Without decrying the deeds of arms which , have made the name of Russian soldier
respected in Europe , we may venture to say that Russia has never successfully , except in 1812 , engaged in wars with any power of the first magnitude , nor with any power in the prime of its vitality . Russia has succeeded in enlarging her boundaries in proportion to the -weakness of her victim . At the close of last century , with , the aid of Austria and Prussia , she partitioned Poland ; " but at the close of last century the Porte , weakened as it was by the bad organisation of its armies , was still able to withstand Austria and Russia . Poland was torn by internal faction when she fell ; the Porte had never recovered from the shock of her successive
defeats on the Danube before Prince Eugene . So the Porte fell farther and farther to tlie rear , in the race of progress , wMle Russia came , or seemed to come , more rapidly to the front . At all events , she acquired onegreat attribute of conquerors—an iron executive possessed of absolute power . As anarchy grew strong in Turkey , a firm despotism grew up in Russia ; and although that despotism was based upon cruelty , oppression , corruption , and fraud , it proved , as a matter of course , a better weapon of offence than the equally cruel and corrupt , but altogether impotent , Government of Turkey .
xo illustrate our meaning let us take tlic European and Asian campaigns in 1828 and 1829 . Turkey had then fallen under tlie hands of an energetic and clever sovereign , who , greatly to tho alarm of Russia , saw the necessity of adopting European tactics and improvements . But Mahmoud had to clear away so many obstacles before lie could begin , that the Greek Avar of independence , which enlisted sentimental Europe against him , and the destruction of the Janissaries , which spoiled his army , placed him at tho mercy of Russia . The Emperor Nicholas , knowing that the European Powers wero too fearful of revolution to engage in a general war : that the restorod Bourbons had
abandoned the traditional policy of Franco in tho " Question d'Orient , " and wore prepared to barter Turkey for the Rhino ; and that tho sentimentalists had overpowered tho politicians , and Imd rendered it impossible "for them to sustain tho cause of the oppressors of tliose splendid Greeks , entered nt onco upou a war with Turkey , and soizod iho supreme moment of her weakness to attempt her destruction . Turkey was much more a
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 23, 1854, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23091854/page/10/
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