NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Tnn season is asserting itself in the Crimea as the Commander- in-chief who is most peremptorily to be obeyed. The move- ments on both sides beoome oramped by the advance of the year. This is perhaps less apparent in the operations of the Russians, who act on the defensive and more by compulsion. It displays itself more in the inaction which appears to congeal the movements of the Allies at the very point where they make the most promising advances. The march from Eupatoria proves to have been but a reconnais- sance, after all, on a large scale ; probably designed to ascertain both what might be practicable against the Russians and also what might be the best mode of arranging for the winter. A fleet will winter at Kinburn ; and a French military force, it is said, will make that its place of settlement. A period of compara- tive inaction, therefore, is now to be expected ; and it will be, as it proves to be in the columns of our contemporaries, a period favour. able to speculation for the future beyond—the campaign of 1856. We have not yet got quite so far as that ; and only note that both sides continue preparations on a scale which implies a greatly enlarged campaign—should it ever begin.
It is perhaps already admitted in more places than in the Libe-
tree ral journals, that if the campaign should be renewed and protract- ed for another year, it may eventuate other issues besides the slaughter of the soldiers engaged. Russia may perhaps endure the strain put upon her by the fresh demand for 400,000 soldiers; she may find money in the European market, considering the im- mense possessions that she can mortgage ; and perhaps she will se- cure that cooperation which appears to be one object of the Minis- ter Lanskoi in the circular which is addressed to the nobles on his accession to office. He invites them to cooperate with the local authorities ; to cultivate unanimity, and to exert themselves on behalf of the war ; and in return, he tells them that ",our august 'Sovereign has ordered me to protect inviolably the rights freely besttrked on the nobility by his august predecessors." As usual in arbitrary monarchies, it has hitherto been the policy of the Czar rather to encourage the lower classes at the expense of the nobles. At present, however, it is easier to dispose of the lowest classes, who make privates for the army, than of the nobles, whose co- operation is greatly needed, and whose obstruction would be in- convenient if not alarming. The nobles are rising in importance. The notice implies that they are no longer at a diseount, but are at least at par, if they are not at a premium ; that is, if their influ- ence as well as privileges is not positively advancing, here is a sign that, should the war continue, it may have important political consequences even within Russia itself, and irrespectively of the subjugation of that empire.
