TREATY OF PEACE. {The British Banner.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIII, Issue 954, 19 August 1856, Page 3

TREATY OF PEACE. {The British Banner.)

The Treaty at length appears, verifying, to the letter, all that, from time to time, has been affirmed concerning it in those Columns. It required but little sagacity to see that the basis of Negociation must of necessity constitute the elements of the Treaty ; and such is the fact. We have read it with the deepest interest, and so far as our present lights go, we consider that everything has been achieved that was, at the outset, desired, and very much more. This instrument, if permanently adhered to by the Contracting Powers, will for ever put an end to Russian aggression, and secure the Sublime Porte from further em roachment. We have not space to-day to expatiate upon the manifold blessings which may Be anticipated from it both to commerce and to liberty ; for true Christianity is the seed both of progress and of freedom. Already good seed has been largely cast on the field of the Turkish mind, which will, in due season, take root, working reform, and bringing forth fruit redounding to the welfare of man. Th" continuance of the War for even one more campaign, would, in all probability, have been attended with results the most tremendous to Russia. Now that the mighty "Fleet of Gunboats is at length prepared, it admits of no doubt that 1836 would have recorded the fall of Cronstadt, and the complete destruction of all the Russian fortifications in the Baltic ; but such a consummation would have been realised at *n appalling cost of human life, to say nothing of hard-won treasure. The achie< e-r ents of the Crimea, though limited in the sphere of their operation, have been attended with an expense to England, France, Turkey, and Sardinia, which it is frighttul to contemplate ! England's quota is calculated at some 50,000 men, with a Hundred Millions ster-, ling ! Add to this the loss to the rest of the Allies, and the aggregate is enough to stagger credibility. But to this, it we would take the full measure of the carnage, we n.ust add the acknowledged havoc among the Ru»3ian Forces, — her pecuniary loss is not stated — amounting to the mighty host of 500,000 men ! Enough waste jf wordly substance ! Enough outpouring of human blood ! It was time, surely, to make peace, if at all practicable, consistently with the interests of truth, and lustice, and mankind; and such we feel constmined. ta joniider the Treaty.-