A great fuss is being made about some designs of
Russia to be carried out with American aid. A steamer, the ' Cimbria,' laden with Russian naval officers and men, has appeared in South-West Harbour, State of Maine, and its passengers will, it is stated, proceed to San Francisco. There they will be put on board steamers purchased by the Russian Government, to be employed, not as privateers, but as cruisers—that is, as regular war-ships- against British commerce. So far, all that is legitimate preparation for war, and the Nation states that the American Government will carry out the Three Rules in all their strictness, and prevent any American ship intended to be used against Great Britain from leaving the waters of the Union. There seems no reason to believe either that the American Government would be false to its pledges, or that the Russian Government would employ privateers instead of cruisers. We presume the Admiralty have provided for the two weak places,—Melbourne, and the mouth of the Hooghly.
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