BALANCE OF POWER—DANGER FROM THE TURKS.
STANDARD—Can it be that Hussein Pacha, and the military force of Tur- key, have, independently of the weather, or but slightly aided by it, driven back the Russians? Should this be the case, we should find new reason to lament this unhappy war, in the development of the military power of Turkey, so long dormant, and never awakened but for the affliction of mankind. They, we are sure, greatly mistake the feelings of the English people, and of an ad- ministration which faithfully represents that feeling, who suppose that a tri- umph is desired for Turkey at the expense of Russia. There is but one thing with relation to this affair, more dreaded in England than the humiliation of Russia, and that one thing is such an exorbitant aggrandizement as would make her necessarily the enemy of Europe. Russia is a great defensive power ; but without going further than the present war in Which she is en- gaged, it is plain that she is incapable of any external operations upon a great scale. Why then waste in pursuit of an object which she can never obtain, that power which, unimpaired, must secure the happiness of her subjects, and make her an ohjrct of respect and affection to the nations of Europe, instead of being, as site has lately been, an object of jealousy with most of them ? Whichever way this war terminate, if it he continued, it must be injurious to the interests of Russia, and through her to the interests of Europe. Success (which is now extremely improbable) would arm all the South of Europe against her ;—failtire, greater than she has already suffered, would erect anew, a most dangerous, and to her an immitigably hostile power upon her Asiatic as well as on her European frontier. And we are never to lose sight of the consideration, that even the continuance of the war without a decisive resul either way, must be not only financially ruinous, but a very dangerous condi Lion of existence. The nation that is at war is either au offence or a tempo. tion to its neighbours, as its arms triumph, or on the contrary. No morbid degree of jealousy is necessary- to foresee, in a protracted war between Russia and Turkey, the seeds of serious misfortunes in the North of Europe, by which Russia may be the greatest, and unquestionably she would be the first suf- ferer.
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