The Express.
London, England, 1866-09-29 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29.

A COURT-MARTIAL trial, of extraordinary length,
and which has excited unusual interest in India,

has just been brought to a close in a manner
which will probably attract to it an equal public

attention at home. Sir Wm. MAN/WIELD, the
Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, was in
this case the public prosecutor ; but it happened to
be in regard to transactions in which his own pri-
vate affairs were those chiefly concerned. He
charged Captain Janvm, his late aide-de-camp,

and who had held the office of his housekeeper, or

steward, with having " appropriated to his own
" use, and for the entertainment of his own guests,"

stores belonging to the Commander-in-Chief, while
entering them in his books as expended on his
Excellency's account. He further accused Captain
JEavis of having, on two specified occasions,
charged sums in the accounts to his principal,
which were really spent by him for his own
private behoof. It need hardly be said that
no more serious offence, none more " scanda-
" lons," or more " unbecoming the character of
" an officer and a gentleman," could be brought
against one holding such an appointment, and we
cannot regard the five-and-twenty days occupied
by the Court-martial proceedings, nor the labours
of a previous Court of Inquiry, and Committee of
Audit, as having been wasted in investigating to
the bottom the affair on which such imputations
were based. But we are happily spared the
necessity of troubling our readers with even
an abstract of so voluminous matters of account-
ing, by two circumstances—the first is, that
Captain Jsavis admitted having used the stores
in the way charged, that is to say in
giving entertainments, according to custom, in
conjunction with his brother aides-de-camp, to
which Sir W. MANSFIELD was himself invited, and
at which therefore he had the satisfaction of un-
consciously consuming his own property. But
Captain JERVIS defended this practice on the
ground that it was done with no fraudulent
intent, but only for the convenience of supplies,
and with no fraudulent result, since the articles
used were replaced by others purchased with
his private funds. The second and more
material fact is, however, that his conduct
in the matter of both the stores and the money
charged in the accounts has been found not in-
correct by the Court-martial, which has absolutely
acquitted him on all ',these charges. But pending
the investigation he was subjected, at the instance
of the Commander-in-Chief, to certain other and
supplementary charges. The first was :

With having at Simla, on the 22nd May, 1866, neg-
lected to obey the orders of hi■ Excellency the Com-
mander-in-Chief, communicated to him by the military
secretary, to attend a committee of audit, which had been
assembled by order of his Excellency for the purpose of
testing the accounts kept by Captain Jervis, on behalf of
the Commander-in-Chief, the said committee having been
ordered for the purpose of affording Captain Jervis an
opportunity of relieving himself from the imputations olt
his character as an officer and a gentleman, contained in
the lit and 4th instances of the Ist charge, with which he
(Captain Jervis) had been made acquainted, at a court of
inquiry held on the 14th May, 1866.
The second was :
With having at Simla, on the 9th of June, 1868, he
being at the time in military arrest imposed by order of
hi 4 Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, disobeyed the
lawful command of his superior officer, Colonel D. 11.
Stewart, Deputy-Adjutant-General, to deliver to him his
(Captain Jervis's) sword.

And the third was based on the " highly in-
"subordinate expressions" contained in the following
protest against the Court-martial which had been
ordered to try Captain JERVIS on the charge of
embezzlement of which he has now been acquitted :
In reply I have the honour most solemnly and empha-
tically to protest against this proceeding, as unwarranted
by law, principle, and justice, and to state, with every
respect to his Excellency, that nothing short of physical
force will induce'me to be present at the court, and that if
dragged there as a prisoner, by violent means, I shall
take no part in the proceedings, save to reiterate before
the court my protest against the illegality and injustice
to which I have been subject, and warn every member of
the grave responsibility he incurs by consenting to take
part in the proceedings.
On these supplementary charges Captain JERVIS,
though acquitted on the original charges, has been
found guilty, and sentenced to be dismissed her
MAJESTY'S service. But the court added a re-
commendation to mercy. The COMMANDER-LN-
CHIEF, however, at once a defeated public prose-
cutor and a successful personal complainant,
become now the judge and the executive, refused to
regard the recommendation of the court, and has
confirmed the full rigour of its sentence on his
late aide-de-camp.
English justice and English honour will scarcely
• applaud such a singular exercise of military au-
thority. When a Commander-in-Chief prosecutes
on his own private account, he ought to feel that
his own private opinion should be distrusted. Ho
might be expected to recognise in so exceptional
a case that the tribunal he has appealed to not
only is the final expounder of strict justice, but, in
all that is favourable to the accused, is the safest
guide to substantial equity. A recommendation
to leniency ought in such circumstances to have