Karl Marx

The English Press on the Dead Tsar

Neue Oder-Zeitung.
No. 109, March 6, 1855.
Mittagblatt

X. London, March 3. (The English Press on the Dead Tsar.) All the daily and weekly papers appearing today naturally carry leading articles on the death of the Emperor of Russia—every one of them, however, utterly devoid of ideas and commonplace. The Times at least seeks to inflate its style with a pathos of a hundred-horse-power to the heights of a Timur Tamerlane. We single out only two passages, both compliments to Lord Palmerston. Palmerston’s appointment as Prime Minister, as the “worst enemy of the Tsar”, is said to have intensified still further the over-excitement that accelerated his death. From 1830-40 (the first decade of Palmerstonian foreign policy) the Tsar is said to have abandoned his policy of encroachment and world domination. The one assertion is worth as much as the other. The Morning Advertiser, on the contrary, distinguishes itself by the discovery that Michael is the eldest son of the Emperor and therefore the legitimate heir to the throne. The Morning Post, Palmerston’s private moniteur, reveals in its funeral oration to the English public that “the Vienna Conferences are, it is true, postponed for a short time, but will be opened under new auspices”, and that “this afternoon Lord Clarendon has a meeting with the Emperor Napoleon at Boulogne, where the two governments will exchange their ideas on this sudden and important event.” The Daily News does not believe in the peaceful consequences of the “sudden event”, since the Western powers could not withdraw before Sebastopol has fallen, and Russia not after it has fallen.