The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

THE WINDSOR COURTS-MARTIAL. (From a Correspondent.) TER trial of Lieutenant PERRY, which has engaged so large u portion of public attention, is uow closed, and the sentence of the court martial has been approved and published. Lieutenant PERRY has been found guilty. Those conversant with military matters pro• bably expected no other result. Enough has been proved against the unfortunate young man to justify the sentence ; and the public feeling interested in his favour, and the inju dicious support of some of the daily news papers, could have no effect in altering it. Such interference was equally injurious to the prisoner and subversive of the ends of justice. No court of justice can suffer its decisions to be suggested by the public press, and all men of honour and spirit would shrink from the suspicion of having yielded to its dictation. We think, however, that the case of this uu fortunate youth might have been recommended to the favourable consideration of the highest authorities, and even to the clemency of the Crown ; allowance might have been made for his youth and inexperience ; nor should it have been forg otten that he adopted rather than influenced the manners of the corps he joined, and that many of his faults he may justly lay to the charge of older and more experienced officers. It is upon the " memorandum " of the Com mander-in-Chief, dated Sept. 2nd, 1854, and published in the newspapers, that we wish to make a few remarks, rather than on the decision of the court-martial and the dis closures to which it has led. After recapitulating all that has recently been done to purify the manners of the army, his Lordship observes :—" Those coarse iris " gularities termed practical jokes, and the " use of disgusting language, have increased, " it is said, since the introduction of those " articles of war in 1844 which more strictly " prohibited duelling in the army." This order, we are given to understand, had its origin in a duel between two officers nearly connected with each other, and which termi nated fatally to one of them. The melancholy accident to which his Lordship refers is fresh in all our memories, but it is not a case in point. True, both gentlemen were in the army, but the cause of their quarrel was a private oue, arising out of the conflicting in terests of mere relationship, and would equally have led to mortal arbitration whatever had been their profession, excepting, we presume, that of the Church. The above case was so peculiar a one that it should hardly, we think, have been selected for the ground of a general order ; indeed, the Commander in-Chief himself seeins to be of the same opinion, for he proceeds to remark: — The better and true reason, however, for the increased strictness of the articles prohibiting duelling was, that the tone of society had improved, and that all men had united in reprobating so barbarous a mode of settling a dispute. We are not more inclined than his Lordship to become the advocates of duelling, but that the tone of society (in the army at least) has improved of late years cannot, we think, in the face of the recent trials, be maintained. It cannot be doubted that the arrogance and petulance of young officers have greatly in ereased since the promulgation of the above mentioned order : it is equally certain that the restoration of good manners would be dearly purchased by the introduction of habitual duelling, but it is happily not less true that no such price need be paid. Energy and perseverance, with consistency in the authorities, would effect much; and this re formation we would earnestly recommend to the serious attention of the Commander in- Chief : It would be a fatal mistake to infer (Lord Hardinge re marks) that, because duelling has been prohibited, any lower standard of morals will be tolerated in the British army. Those coarse irregularities called practical jokes to which he before alluded cannot be tolerated, and must be discontinued, as greatly injurious to military efficiency and social de corum. "If an ensign is firm he can have no " difficulty in resenting them ;" and every aesistance and support are given to the young THE PRESS. officer in his endeavours to avoid rendering himself liable to these consequences : " In May last, before the spring inspection, regiments were ordered to report whether any particular jokes have been carried out at !die mess-table or elsewhere, or any steps taken to prevent them." " The reports are satisfac tory," he informs us ; and he " confidently asserts that the regimental system of the British army, now so long established, has proved its efficiency, as admirably adapted for the varied duties of war and peace." The 46th Regiment, we must presume, has escaped the vigilance of those officials em ployed to inspect it, and, in some way or other, Lord HARDINGE must admit that his ma chinery has proved totally inefficient: — The captuin of the company to which the ensign on joining is appointed will give him advice and support. The major entrusted with this branch of the internal discipline of the regiment will do the same, and be held responsible that he does it effectually. Had these regulations been carried out, the incidents which led to the courts-martial in the 46th Regiment would never have occurred. Quis custodiet ipsos custodies? So far from " every assistance " having been given to young officers to resist the coarse ill-treatment to which they were exposed by the captain of their company, Und the major to whom the charge of protecting them was entrusted, it has been proved that these superior officers themselves joined in the riot, and that even the presence of the commanding officer him self imposed no restraint on their merriment. One field officer, it appears, was in the room, though " his back was turned," when an in decent outrage was perpetrated on a young officer; and on another similar occasion, to which his attention is called, he pleads that " he forgets 'the circumstance," proving by his answers either that the frequent recur rence of such scenes prevented his remember ing the particulars of each, or that this did not call for his particular attention. We are of opinion that the conduct of the officers of the 46th Regiment violated both the letter and the spirit of the instructions of the Commander-in-Chief, and loudly calls for more decided animadversion than he has thought proper to bestow. Mr. WALDY should not have been the only officer selected from the group for reproof; and the censure of the Commander-in-Chief and the displeasure of the Crown should have fallen on other offi cers of this ill-regulated corps ; nor is the conduct of Mr. PERRY, however culpable he may have been, so unfitting that of an officer and a gentleman as that of his comrades and krters. AT the meeting of the proprietors of the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company held on Wednesday, the directors declared a dividend at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum. The receipts of the half year had been 7,5271., and the payments 4,7891., including a sum of 1,808/. paid for compensation on account of injuries received by railway accidents. AT the late anniversary of the Devon and Exeter Hospital, the president, Mr. Commissioner Bere, stated that the annual sum derived from a legacy left to the hospital some time ago by the late Mrs. Raiford, who resided in the neighbourhood of Exeter, amounted to 1,4001., and, when certain an nuities fell in, that sum would be augmented by upwards of 1,2001. a year more. As a proof of the benefit conferred on the poor by this institution, it was stated that 500 patients had been discharged cured during the year, and a great number had been benefited. NOTICES were posted on Wednesday in the Ex change and underwriters' rooms at Liverpool inviting tenders for the hire of one or two steamers, from 700 to 800 tons (new measurement), to convey bis• cuits to the Black Sea, from Deptford, Portsmouth, or Plymouth. THE FRENCH CRUISERS have put an end to the illegal practice of the French fishermen from Boulogne and other ports purchasing herrings as they were caught from the Scotch fishermen and cruisers, and then entering them for bounties, as if they had been taken and cured at sea. The Government of the Netherlands has also had one or two cruisers on the east coast to look after their fishing craft. AHoNG the passengers by the Peninsular Mail steamer Madrid, which arrived at Southampton on Saturday night, were the two sons and three daughters of the Duke of Rianzares (Munoz) and Queen Chris tina. They embarked on board the Madrid at Lis bon incognito. The daughters are grown up; the sons mere boys. THE visitors to the Crystal Palace last week num bered 49,878, including season-ticket holders. The amount, of receipts for admission was 2051. SATURDAY, THE WAR. THE CRIMEA EXPEDITION. Our latast news from Turkey reports facts which place the long-promised expedition against Sebas topol among the actualities of the war. Letters from Constantinople of the 31st ult. state that Marechal de St. Arnaud had issued an order of the day announcing the expedition to the Crimea, and ex• pressing his hope very soon to see the three standards of France, England, and Turkey floating on the walls of Sebastopol by the aid of the devotedness and courage of the allied troops. The expedition was to con-ist of 71,000 men, namely, 25,000 Eng lish, 26,000 French, and 20,000 Turks. The pros pect of active service had created immense enthu• siasm ►unoug the troops ; and it was said that the Marines had obtained permission to take part in the assault. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Napoleon had proceeded to join the expedition, against the advice of their physicians, as they were still suffering from fever. Cholera bad, however, happily disappeared almost, if not entirely, among the troops. Letters from Varna of the 29th state that the Guards and the 28th, 42nd, 44th, 79th, and 93rd Regiments had already embarked, and that the Light Division was under orders to embark. A great portion of the French force was to embark at Bourgas and Baltschik. Lord Cardigan's division was also under orders to embark at Varna. General Sir John Burgoyne had arrived. Lord Raglan was to embark at Varna in the Caradoc on the 2nd of September, and the expedition was to rendezvous at Baltschik. It was known by the Russians in .Bessarabia that a landing was to take place in that province or in the Crimea. An order has been issued that wherever the enemy appears the towns and villages " are to be reduced to ashes." In Odessa and Sebastopol a great number of prisoners taken from the fortresses are to serve the port batteries. In the last-men tioned place a gang of 200 convicts in irons will con vey ammunition to the batteries. It is asserted that the Russians have destroyed all the tire-engines and other requisites for extinguish ing a conflagration at Odessa, Reni, Brailow, Galatz, and Ismail, with the intention of setting fire to these important towns should they be forced to abandon them. The Fremden Blatt has advises from Galatz of the Ist, according to which a considerable number of French and English gun-boats entered the Sulina mouth of the Danube on the 31st of August. Another flotilla of gun-boats was to enter the Kilia mouth of the Danube, The Russian force at Odessa consists of 20,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 80 pieces of cannon. An eyewitness of the disasters of the French at Baldjick states that there were about 2,000 Zouaves under General Espinasse. They came in after a forced march of twenty hours' duration, "footsore and wearied." They drank greedily of the water from the wells, and in two or three hours were dying by scores. He never should forget the sight of Espi nasse as he came from his tent and saw his men all lying in the attitude of sleep. The sky was beauti fully clear, and all around was still as night. When he saw the truth his agony burst forth, and he wept like a child. It was reported that he had committed suicide. General Canrobert, when he knew it, swore that he would avenge their deaths. It is a very common belief among the French that the wells were poisoned, but, even if they were not, it was most im prudent to drink after being heated, in a hot climate. Marshal de St. Arnaud, in order to encourage his forces under their sufferings from cholera and inac tion, issued the following address. It is dated " Head• quarters at Varna, August 8 " : " In the midst of the painful trials which we have just passed through, I have found consolation in the acts of devotedness which the common peril has called forth, and in the moral vigour which has been exhibited during the epidemic both by those who obey and by those who com mand in this army. The first division, surprised during its march by the invasion of the scourge, was placed in a most afflicting situation ; but order, hope, and calm never ceased to prevail there, as at the very best of times, and it renewed in that respect the fine examples which 1M already been given by the garrison of Gallipoli. I praise, as they well deserve, and I thank most warmly, the officers and soldiers who have thus honoured themselves in the eyes of the army by struggling with an energy that nothing could overcome against the difficulties of a situation whack at certain moments, might have astonished the most tried courage. The regret which 1 give to such of our coninnley as we have lost, and who have expired so nobly at theif post of combat, is tempered by the satisfaction which I fedi at seeing myself surrounded by so many brave men, I know that I may expect everything from them, and I rt gard with the most complete security the efforts which I shall have to ask from them in order to bring our great enterprise to a successful issue. " A. DZ ST. AR.; ton, " Marshal, Commanderin•Chief." 6.