Untitled

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 5, 1 June 1855, Page 1

The great war into which Europe has been plunged by the ambitious aggression of Russia has, as yet, been but incidentally alluded to in these pages. As, however, the contest threatens to be one of some continuance, and as nation after nation, of the great European family, is beiu<r drawn to take part in the conflict, we consider it desirable to furnish oar native readers with a brief narrative of the origin and progress of the war. Until within a comparatively recent period, Russia was but a barbarous and inferior power, without a sea coast and without ships. Abour two hundred years since, one of her monarch?, called Peter the Great, a man of much ambition and talent, proceeded to Holland and England. There he laboured, like a mechanic, in the" dock yards, until he acquired a knowledge of the art of ship building, and then returned to" his own Country, where he immediately built ships and placed them on his inland s?.is, lakes, and rivers. Tn addition to this, he aff>rded every encouragement to the arts and sciences, inviting men of ability from every country to take service in Russia. Under the powerful inducements of place, profit. and honour, men of learning and genius were attracted to Russia, whose commerce rose apace. whose diminutive ships grew into a respectable navy, and whose ill disciplined armies were taught: to encounter successfully with one of the greatest. warriors of the age. The warrior, to whom we thus allude, was called Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweeden. This monarch and Peter were mortal foes. At first, Charles was invariably the conqueror; but. in the end, Peter triumphed over his enemy, ana reduced Sweeden to an inferior position. Since the time of Peter the Great, it has been the aim of Russia to force her weaker neighbours into war,jmd only to grant them peace after they have

yielded some of their finest territories to the conqueror. By this means the dominions of Russia. which were originally confined to an inland position, have been extended until they embrace the Baltic sea in the North • the Black sea on the South East of Europe ; and the Northern shore? of the Pacific Ocean. The navy of Russia is now only inferior to England and France, and her armies arc the most numerous of all the European nations. Among the nations with whom Russia ha? waged frequent and furious war, none has suffered so much from her aggressions as Turkey. As Russia became strong, Turkey grew correspondingly weak. After every war, Russia contrived to plunder Turkey of some of her finest provinces Of these, the Crimea—which is now the scene of such tremendous strife—was oner; part of the Turkish territory. It is a fine and fertile country, situated on the Black sea, and abounds with some of the finest harbours in the known world. The maritime capital of the Crimea is Sebastopol. which is at once tbe great naval arsenal of Russia and a fortified City of prodigious strength. From Sebastopol to Constantinople, the capital of Turkey, is but a few days sail; and to obtain possession of Turkey, which would give to Russia a power and preponderance over all the rest of the nations in the affairs of Europe, has been the aim of the sovereigns of Russia since the days of Peter the Great. Hence, the immense arsenals and fortifi cations of Sebastopol,—a position from which Constantinople might be overawed and overcome. It was necessary, however, for the common safety of Europe that Turkey should be protected • and, although in previous wars, Russia has been permitted to encroach too much upon her feebler neighbour, now when she proposed to swallow her up altogether, England and France first endeavoured to remove every cause of quarrel, and when that was found to be unavailing thev combined their fleets and armies, and are now engaged in deadly strife against the aggressor,. maintaining the liberties not of Turkey only, but of mankind. About two years since, the Emperor of Russia seems to have considered that the time had arrived when the conquest of Turkey should be accomplished. In order that a quarrel might be raised, he sent an Ambassador to Constantinople to insist upon his right to intermeddle in the affairs of Turkey in such a way as would have destroyed every spark of national independence. The Ambassador insulted the Turks and their sovereign in the most open and outrageous manner ; and, in the meanwhile, in the hope of inducing England to permit him to carry out his plans without molestation, the Russian Emperor, offered her great advantages to remain neutral. England having indignantly refused, the same attempt was next made to conciliate France; but

botli nations rejected the proffer with disdain, and both, entered cordially into tlic cause of Turkey. Every effort was made to preserve the peace of the world ) but this only encouraged the boundless audacity of Russia, which carried her insolence with so high a hand that Turkey, whom she so much despised, was the first to declare war against her. Many battles were fought, and many sieges were raised by the Turks, before War was declared by England and France against Russia. With inferior numbers, the Turks defeated the Prussians in almost every battle, driving them from before the Turkish towns to which they laid siege with terrific slaughter. Finding it vain to bring Russia to reason, the fleets and armies of England were at last employed to compel her to respect the rights of nations. P.ussia possesses two powerful fleets, one in the Baltic, the other in the Black sea. The Baltic sea is frozen up from the end of October to the end of April. The fleet in that sea is annually laid up in the harbour of Cronstadt, which is situated at the head of narrow and shallow waters, and which is defended by fortresses mounted with an immense number of the largest and heaviest guns. Against this fleet and these fortresses, a combined fleeG of English and French ships were sent in April*LSs-±. They were the finest and largest ships in the world ; but they were much too large for the shallow waters in which they were to be employed, and as the Russian ships! kept within their harbours and behind their stone walls, there was but little done beyond shutting up a powerful navy and keeping a large army on the alert for their protection. Rut this was not all that the French and English fleets accomplish- \ ed in the Baltic. Russian commerce was greatly injured, in fact nearly destroyed, and many of the Russian forts and towns wero taken ; and a perfect knowledge was gained of the necessary description of vessels to be employed durinr the present season. And, accordingly, during the winter, the most stupendous armaments have been prepared and are, no doubt, now in active operation in that sea. In vhvj .Black y '-::z, and France also o;:iploy.;d a p'-wen'ul <h:ci. bt-rove which the Rus--l.:n --i-vi fit-d i:-;o Sob;ist"-.-.j>jl, and in order to i':Vv;-- the eni:••;.■:•.•o -.if :he allies, the largest ivncsi,;:: s !, .ips wc <": sunk in the mouth of the harbour, and the remainder moored under cover of the enormous fortifications of the town. Early in the spring of last year, the armies of France and England were sent to Turkey. Much time was lost, and a great mortality from that dreadful disease, called cholera, took place, before these combined armies were landed in the Crimea. It was far in the autumn before that could be effected ; but, once there, they pushed on towards Scbastopol. In their progress the river Alma

had to bo crossed. Its banks had been strongly fortified, and here one of the most sanguinary battles was fought by the allies -which ended in the total overthrow of a greatly superior Russian army, the French and English soldiers who had then, for the first time for many hundred years,, fought on the same side, being in raptures with each other for the conduct and courage they had mutually displayed. Sebastopol has since been surrounded by tin allies,and another great battle has been fought (the Battle of Inkermann), in which 70,000 Russians were beaten by 14,000 English and French. Frost, snow, and the unusual .severity of the Crimean witer, has impeded the construction of the works necessary for the attack of Sebastopol, i —added to which great sickness has prevailed.! By tlie accounts, however, last received, the weather was becoming settled, the works were progressing rapidly ; and an army of Turks wh.ch had arrived under their great general Omer Pasha, had again beaten the Russian Army. Besides this; other European nations had entered into the confederacy with England and France in defence of Turkey, and in repression of the outrages of Russia. An army of*l'~>,ooo picked men had been sent to the Crimea by Sardinia. Spain was about to furnish 25,000 ; Portugal 12,000 Austria was arming her soldiers in every direction, and England and France were equipping fleets, and organizing armies such as have rarely been called into action. * In the midst of all this terrific strife, the grent author of it, Nicholas the Emperor of all the Russias had been suddenly called to his final account. After two or three days illness, he died at St. Petersburg on the 2nd of 3iarch. h : s proud heart having been broken, as is said, by the discomfiture that had attended his arms in every conflict. He has been succeeded i;i his sovereignty by his eldest son Alexander, —a man of peace and moderation ; but as there is a strung war party in Russia headed by the Emperor's second son Constants e—an utter barbarian—it is hard to tell •wheather peace may ensue or war continue. Sucli is the present posture of affairs ia Europe, and we hope that this little sketch nny enab'e our native readers to form some idea oi the contest of which we may require to furnish them further details in future numbers.