RUSSIA MUST PAY.
WHEN a poor man commits a crime, the chances are a hundred to one against his escaping the punishment which law awards against every infraction of its inflexible ordinances. When the criminal is rich, his chances of escape are more numerous, owing to our im- perfect national morality ; but still, notwithstanding our conven- tional respect for riches and station, even the wealthiest individual cannot inflict any flagrant injury upon the poorest of his neigh- bours without being made to suffer in purse or person. When, however, the criminal happens to be one of "the highest person- ages" in the world—a King, an Emperor, or a Czar—the chances of escape are immensely increased, to the great injury of the ge- neral sense of right and wrong. Such a criminal is sometimes able to bribe other "high personages," by offering them a share of the spoil he intends to seize, by promising to assist them when the officers of justice are in pursuit, or by keeping an enormous army on foot, as a standing menace against every other independent state, and thereby frightening them from all interference with his schemes of appropriation and plunder.
Up to the end of 1833, the case of Russia, in her aggression upon Turkey, threatened to furnish the most gigantic illustration of the impotence of international law that ever was exhibited in Europe. Trusting to her large army and navy, to the pacific tendency of the Western Powers, and to the complicity of Austria and Prussia, she deliberately broke the peace of Europe ; nor did it seem, at one period, that she had anything more serious to apprehend in the shape of punishment for having done so, than a strong expression of indignation on the part of France and England at her having so little respect for "the integrity of the Ottoman empire." Now that we have obtained something like a substantial hold upon the criminal power, we may begin to talk of the amount of fine which ought to be inflicted. The practical mind of England naturally asks what good is to accrue from the taking of Sebastopol. The obvious answer is, that it brings us much nearer that point of pressure upon Russia at which we shall be able to fix our demand for compensation. In the mean time, it is well to familiarize our- selves with such precedents as may be of use to Russia in making up her mind for that settlement which must come at last, and which will be all the worse for her the longer it is delayed. By the treaty of Turkmantchai in 1828, which brought the war between Nicholas and the Shah of Persia to a close, the latter power, having been beaten, was not only forced by Russia to pay the whole expenses of the war, but to surrender to the conqueror the important and wealthy provinces of Erivan and Nukhchivan, including the fortresses of Erivan and Abbassabad ; "because it was necessary to the future tranquillity of the two empires, that their common frontier should be defined by the Araxes." Of course the pride of the Shah could not submit to such humiliating terms at first ; but on second thoughts he deemed it better to give in than risk the loss of more territory. A few years later, the Czar took advantage of the defeat of the Sultan to make him pay an enormous sum toward the expenses of the war which was ter- minated by the treaty of Adrianople. These two instances alone —and it would be easy to find others in the history of Russia— are quite sufficient to remind that power of what the rule must be when we come to a final settlement. Should the war last many years, the fine to be paid by the aggressor will increase in propor-
tion, while the means of paying it will be greatly lessened. Thus, although the Allies may be willing to let Russia off for thirty or forty millions sterling in 1856, they would doubtless exact much severer terms in the event of the war lasting, through the obsti- nacy of that Power, to 1857 or 1858. It is absurd to talk of lay. ing down certain terms at the beginning of a war, and to say that these will always remain the same. In a case of unquestion- able aggression like that of Russia every year of resistance adds to the penalty incurred. To say that the terms will not become harder, would be to offer a premium on resistance.
But is it not too early to be talking of the indemnity which Russia must pay ? That depends very much upon the view we take of the Russian question. If we believe, as nine-tenths of the peo- ple in this country do, that the Emperor Nicholas committed a flagrant wrong on Turkey when he marched into the Danubian Principalities in the summer of 1853, we are bound in common justice to follow up that condemnation of Russia by making her pay for the wrong which has led to the present war, with its enor- mous sacrifice of human life and its waste of several hundred mil- lions of money. If we believe, with Lord Palmerston, that the Western Alliance is "a league against a tyranny whose aggressive power threatened the whole world, and particularly the interests of this country," we must make up our minds to abate that tyranny by destroying its influence. Various modes have been suggested for that purpose, but there is no one so well sanctioned by custom and the dictates of reason as that of making the wrongdoer give compensation. Nothing we can do will serve so well to destroy the prestige of Russia. We must believe that Louis Napoleon has made up his mind on that head. He knows what happened to France at the end of the last war, and it is not likely that he will recommend milder treatment in the case of the "outlaw of Europe" than was exercised toward the subjects of Louis the Eighteenth. By the second treaty of Paris, in 1815, France was not only obliged to surrender a large portion of territory, which she had won during the Revolutionary war, but was made to pay 61,400,000/. in the shape of indemnity, besides maintaining an army of occupation of 150,000 men for three years. If the West- ern Powers wish to give Russia such a lesson as shall in some measure compensate the great sacrifices they have been called upon to make, they must be just as well as firm in their final reckoning with her.
Previous page
