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

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 29, '1866.

been held imperative. It was a inagMent on'the

pert of impartial men as last a maw
sully partial man oughi to: do, and
when the sole question was esti: 'involving a
personal quarrel, an honourable man would have
rejoiced in having such an indication of the con-
duct he ought to pursue towards the opponent
who was found technically culpable. We cannot
but think that in defying this recommendation,
Sir W. MANSFIELD has been betrayed by an irri-
tation of temper which he himself will speedily
Butwhen we look at the actual charges on
which Captain Jaavis has been convicted, and, on
the conviction, condemned by the utmost harshness
of the military code to dismissal from the ser-
vice, we are filled with no less astonishment. The
first of the supplementary charges seems to amount
to nothing more than that he neglected an oppor-
tunity of clearing his character, a matter surely
for his own sole discretion. True, it alleges that
he " neglected to obey the orders of the Corn-
" mender-inC-hief to attend the Committee of
" Audit." But we may fairly ask whether the
Commander-in-Chief is, or ought to be entitled
to enforce by such penalty any such orders. Even
before a Court of Inquiry the attendance of the
accused is optional. Is a " Committee of Audit"
between a General and his aide-de-camp a military
tribunal known to and recognised by the law
military as one on which attendance is to be com-
pulsory at the General's command ? It may some-
times be a very convenient, occasionally an amicable,
method of preliminary investigation. But it is
absolutely informal, and the accused is certainly
entitled to deny its jurisdiction, and to reserve his
defence for the regular court-martial, to which
alone he is amenable. How, then, does he deserve
dismissal from the service for merely insisting on
his legal rights, and " neglecting to obey" an
order which would deprive him of them *I
The second supplementary charge, respecting the
sword, involves a curious but certainly very
minute point of military etiquette. When an
officer is placed under arrest it is usual to require
him to give up his sword, and Captain JERVIS
admitted that if then demanded his sword would
have been surrendered. But the officer making
the arrest forgot to ask for the sword, and only
some days after sent to ask for its delivery. Then
Captain Jxavis, considering himself already under
formal arrest, refused to comply with the addi-
tional formality demanded. It is a nice point,
on which we desire to reserve our judgment till it
shall be more thoroughly and gravely debated.
And our reluctance to form a premature opinion
is increased by the fact that Colonel STEWART, the
arresting officer, declared on cross-examination that
he was not aware of any law or regulation on the
subject. But in the meantime we are constrained
to say that to dismiss an officer from the service
because his opinion is formed that the delivery of
the sword is not essential to a valid arrest, is an
exceedingly violent way of vindicating the opposite
opinion. For clearly, if it is not an essential
element, the order to give up the sword was
beyond the power of the Commander-in-Chief or
of any other authority.
Lastly, the Court bad to consider the culpability
involved in the strong protest made by Captain
Jzavis against his being brought before it at all.
This protest may have been well or ill founded.
There may have been matter calling for investiga-
tion by such acourt, though the investigation proved
that there was nothing culpable. But at least
to protest against being charged, to protest against
the jurisdiction, although it may be a blunder, has
never till now been considered a crime. If a civil
culprit, on receiving a magistrate's sunirrwus, were
to reply that he must protest most strongly against
being brought before a court, and if dragged by
force, would repeat in its presence his protest
against its illegality and would warn its members
of their responsibility, we might perhaps think
him a fool, perhaps a constitutional patriot, but
we should never dream of s. bjecting him to

punialunent for the protest when acquitted of the

charge. Yet, such is one of the three accusations
on which the Indian Court-martial has decreed
that an acquitted prisoner must be subjected to
the severest professional penalty it has in its
power to inflict.
We do not care to inquire at this stage whe-
ther this judgment can be supported by tho mili-
tary code or not. The common sense of the ,
public will insist on its being set aside. It is out
of all reason that an officer should be dismissed
and ruined for life because he fails to obey com-
mands that have no legal authority, or whose au-
thority is doubtful, or because he protests ener-
getically against what he conceives to be illegal and
unfair. To inflict such a punishment for such
offences is to remove every protection against ar-
bitrary authority which an officer enjoys ; it is to
lower the position of the service below that of a
Cossack private. Not only in the interest of jus-
tice to Captain JERVIS, but in that of the who'e
body of the army, we must hope that the convic-
tion and sentence in this case will be uncondi-
tionally quashed.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

• The Times characterises the late insurrection
at Palermo as a mere anachronism, taking place just three
months too late. It was at the utmost an armed demonstra-
tion in a monsistioo-democratic sense. Had the insurgents
conquered, their provisional government, with princes and
barons at its head, would probably have republicanined the
city and the island ; but, as it happened, they disputed the
ground inch by inch, behind barricades and convent walls,
and, when resistance became hopeless, they seemed to
vanish, merging again into the orderly and inoffensive
population out of which they had sprung. The task before
the Italian government is to wean the Sicilians from
priests and monks, to educate them, to give them a taste
for settled and orderly life. The grovelling, idling, beg-
ging, Franciscan spirit is deeply ingrained in the whole
Italian race. Let a new religion spring up in the land, the
only dogma of which shall be compliance with the rev
first commandmant laid on Adam's descendants.

Though we are jauntily told at the Mansion house that
everything is going on well, the Times can see no palpable
improvement, not even the beginning of the end in the
scene of desolation presented by the works of the Thames
embankment. It is said that the contractor cannot corn.
plete the work without assistance. But, till more light is
thrown on the subject, we must consider the board itself
to blame in allowing so great a work to get into such a
mess. But there is a fatality about our metropolitan im-
provements. They start with a considerable impetus•
they slowly exhaust themselves, come to a dead stand'
collapse, and remain for years in • mined and hopeless
state.

Despite a distrust of Mr. Johnson's wisdom and pru-
dence, the Daily News does not believe that he will
attempt, as some suppose, to get in the Southern members
of Congress by a clever stroke of tactics almost amounting
to • comp ditat. The scheme is one which is at once
defeated when it is avowed. If there were previously any
danger that the republican majority in the fortieth Con-
gress would be seriously diminished, it is now entirely re-
moved. The telegraphic intelligence we print to-day shows
that tie alliance between the democrats and conservative
republicans is already broken up. So vast a majority will
be net the vide of Congress that Mr. Johnson will either
yield with a bed grace or will necessitate his own removal;
at any rate he will never succeed in forcing his mistaken
policy upon an intelligent and united people.

The Daily News contains a communication this mom:az
from one of the delegate; who are now in England en •
mission frees the vane= provisoes is British Meth
America. The delegate famed to sst• teeth many reasons
in favors et the propeW confederation, bat the Daily
News complains that he does not show th►t the people of
Nova Scotia, which colony has a defensive system quite inde-
pendent of that of Canada, are desirous to bind up their
political fortunes with a country which from its geographi-
cal position is believed to be incapable of defence, and
whose people may be led to believe that their interest lies
in annexation to the United States whenever we are tired
of paying the price they now meet for their loyalty. No
doubt with a little management this confederation ,theme
may be passed through the imperial and provincial legis-
latures, and its promoters may then persuade themselves
that they have achieved • great moons : in the opinion
of the Daily News the experiment will only then have
begun.
The Post disputes the efficacy of Mr. Bright's remedy for
corrupt practices, and in other articles deals with Prussian
politics and with ses-fishieg on the British coast.
The Herald argues that there is really nothing serious
in the idea just now paraded for the amusement of the
popular mind in France, that Belgium and Switzerland
have anything to dread from French ambition. It defends
the House of Lords against Mr. Bright's criticism, and
contends that our peerage is the reservoir of our purest in-
telligence, information, eloquence, and wisdom ; that it is
inseparably connected with our social system ; and that,
in a high degree, it constitutes our State. The Herald
also condemns the machinery of grand juries as altogether
useless, and ill adapted to secure the ends of justice.
The Telegraph warmly supports the claims of Lord
Alfred Churchill, the liberal candidate for the suffrages
of Brecon, and in another column lectures in solemn
terms Americans and Canadians upon the servile and
debasing habit of drink which penetrates, it says, into
their highest circles.
The Mar is amused at the rapid conversion of the Times
to the republican aide in American affairs, and quotes the
declaration of that paper in favour of negro suffrage as •
proof that the reform agitation is doing its work. Such an
announcement from such a quarter would not have been
made had there been any hesitation about the line to be
adopted in home politics. A surface consistency must at
least be preserved, so as to save the country from the
spectacle of a powerful organ recommending the enfran-
chisement of negroes just released from slavery, and de-
nying the right of the English workman to the same
privilege who has been free for centuries.
In the matter of Jamaica, the Star tells Sir Samuel Baker
that the question before the public is whether Mr. Eyre
was or was not justified in hanging, shooting, and flogging
a certain number of unarmed men, women, and children
in Jamaica. That is the point to be settled. Can Sir
Sir Samuel tell us anything about it? A question of
English law cannot be settled by any precedents from the
regions of Victoria N'yanza, and the right to hang a British
subject without trial does not depend at all upon the size
of the cranium common among the Fans.

into the heads of persons who could nal cape with it.
The firm exemplified an unhappy peculiarity of joint sleek
concerns that if there has been any grave mistake, and if
that mistake is known, as in general pea; ems are, a set
against Ike —shares may destroy first its credit and then
itself. Even in liquidation the company is and
exempt from calamity. The liquidators ought, upon the
figures, to have made • call months since. It was sure
to be needed, and the depositors were waiting. But the
impolicy of delaying the call is proved to be worse than
the miscalculation of it. A calk of 51. five months ago,
would, without litigation, have been paid by all the
shareholders, and when they bad once begun to pay with.
out resistance, they would have gone on without resistance.
But now the payment of the retarded and severe call of
101. is contested ; it is painful in itself ; it is plainly not
all ; it is but the beginning of other calls. A considerable
number of shareholders think they shall better themselves
by a legal defence, and if the case is decided against them
it would be a conclusive case, for • barer prospectus than
theirs cannot be found. The projectors relied not upon
the effect of their rhetoric, but upon the effect of an old
name, and the Economist does not doubt that all the
directors thought that the guarantee of the vendors would
be sufficient to oover all loss. Either the credit
of limited companies is at an end, or their
shareholders must in every event—no matter
what the allegations of the prospectus, no matter
what the provisions of the articles of association
—be held responsible to their creditors. If, however, in
" Overend's" case it can be found that the directors of the
company did not take good heed—that they did not enough
investigate the bad securities of the old firm, that they
were negligent in this way or in that—they should be
made to pay for it. The shareholders should first pay
their creditors, and then recover compensation from those
whose fallacious representations induced them to incur
these liabilities.

the frisurt.

BALMORAL, ?Um 27.

The Queen went out in the morning, accompanied
by Princess Christian; and drove in the afternoon, ac-
oompanied by Prince and Princess Christian, to the Lynn
of Dee. _ _ _

Princess Lomb* rode in the afternoon, attended by the
Hon. Mee Cathcart and Lieut.-General the Hon. C. Grey.

Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of the Wed India Islands.
The Right Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote has arrived
in town from Pynes, in Exeter.