The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LO N DON, SATURDAY EV ft, NHL .N 0 VEM BPAR 10 1855

should certainly have been made' to Sir COLIN,
and even if he were compelled to reject it, it
would be but a just tribute of respect to his
very distinguished services. We believe, how-
lever, that under such circumstances the gallant
soldier would have at once responded to the appli-
cation, and sacrificed all private considerations
and private business, however, urgent, to the call
of duty, and that his invaluable services would
still be available in his country's cause.
It cannot, however, be denied:that, acccording
to the military usages of Great Britain, and we
cannot look to those of other nations, he has re-
ceived a very gross affront ; and that, putting
aside all other considerations, he owed it to him-
self to retire. What General CANROBERT may
have done is totally beside the question. The
cases are by no means analogous—partly because
the appointment of a comparative junior to high
command is by no means unusual in the French
army, but chiefly because it was not a junior
that was placed over his head, but '
an officer in every respect his superior,
who was not merely his senior, but had far greater
experience than himself. For these reasons the
return of General CANROBERT to a subordinate
command, for a very brief period, was by no means
astonishing. It certainly does not constitute an
example which Sir COLIN CAMPBELL is bound to

follow, or by which he should be in any degree
influenced.

As to the supposed rewards bestowed on this dis-
tinguished officer, we must wholly deny the insinua-
tion of the Times. For the Alma, for Balaklava,
when he literally saved the Allied Armies, and for
all his subsequent exploits, he has received no
reward. He was appointed a Major-General in
June, exactly three months before the battle of
the Alma, and that had been fully earned for
previous services. He will return to England a
Major-General—the same as he went to the
Crimea, the local rank of Lieutenant-Gen eral
ceasing on his departure from the country for
which it was granted. We, therefore, although
deeply deploring the retirement of Sir COLIN
CAMPBELL, cannot feel in any degree surprised
thereat. The loss to the country must rest on
those who are fairly responsible therefor, Field
Marshal Viscount HARDINGE and another,
who really controls and manages the affairs at the
Horse Guards, according to his mere will and
pleasure, and without due consideration for the
interests of Great Britain.

It is dffiicult to understand the Times appro-
bation of the appointment of Sir W. CODRINGTON,
when we consider that he was intrusted with the
management of the attack 01 the Redan on the
Bth of September, against which the Times was
so furious, and which induced it to demand the
recall of General SIMPSON, although it now hails
the promotion of the party who made " the mull,"
as it was termed, on the occasion.

The Manchester operatives will, no doubt, have
plenty of good advice vouchsafed to them now
there is some danger of a strike ; they will be re-
minded of the grand battle at Preston, and its
deplorable results, and admonished not to hazard
a conflict with their masters. In the meeting
which we reported yesterday may be noticed an
air of moderation in the more influential speakers,
which, if it be but preserved, must be attended
with good results. Even at the present stage,
however, the leaders would do well to consider
the propriety of sending deputations to induce the
workmen of a manufacturer to give legal notice to
quit their work. It need not be denied that, in
any large manufactory, the workmen cannot fairly
be regarded as individuals only. They aro, as a
body, essential to carrying on the business ; the
secession of any considerable number, or any
section of the whole who do a particular part of
the work, would stop all the other hands iu the
mill ; hence, they comprise a fellowship and unity,
and their interest as a body is to get the highest
wages they can, while it is their masters' to pay
the lowest. The master is one party, his work-
people are the other party, and it seems fair they
should, as composing a party, consult for their

paying three times their rent would deem extra-
vagance, then, indeed, and not till then, will work_
jog men be independent. We speak from personal
knowledge of the habits of those to whom we
write. We have, iu years gone by, enjoyed a
pleasant cup of tea with a S.;Ach workman who
had been unemployed long enough to have sent
an Englishman to the poor-house half-a-dozen
times over. To our surprise at the family com-
fort the answer was that he had made it a rule
when at work always to lay by something. On
the other hand we have called in at operatives
who in a turn-out had come begging to our door,
desirous to relieve their wants, and found them
indulging themselves and children with such
luxuries of diet as we should never think of per-
mitting to our own family. We repeat, the
workmen have much to learn from the respectable
classes on questions of personal indulgence, and
till they do learn, they can never rise as a class
from their present conditian. It is the common
complaint of most respectable families that their
servants have been brought up at homo in habits
of self-indulgence, in respect to food especially,
which actually renders the kitchen discontented
with the fare of the parlours. How, with such
habits, are the working classes to mend their con-
dition ?

" Hope deferred maketh the heart sick."
When will Government do justice to our gallant
and brave officers who have shed their blood and
are daily risking their lives in the Crimea for the
honour and glory of their country ? By a letter
which appears in another part of our paper, it
will be seen that by far the largest proportion of the
promotions in the Sebastopol brevet has fallen to
the lot of the ever-fortunate class of staff officers
who invariably get the lion's share of the honours
that are going. It is really too bad. Laborious,
self-sacrificing merit that, in a free commercial
country like ours, should have the best chance of
rising, has actually not a tithe of the prospect of
doing so as is held out to the officers of our barbaric
and despotic enemy. Let but an unknown youth
with some unpronounceable name but gallantly
defend a Russian battery, or come off credit.*
ably from a skirmish with the Allies,
and he is surer of promotion than if he
belonged to the staff of the Emperor. But
let a brave English veteran undergo without
flinching the most incredible hardships, and his
career at all times be characterised by the most
determined acts of valour, and his claims to pro-
motion are regarded as feeble compared with those
of some aristocratic minion of the staff, who
hardly, it may be, knows the smell of gunpowder.
The knowledge of this deplorable fact cannot but
have a depressing influence on the class which
suffers by it, and it redounds greatly 'to their
honour that, notwithstanding so powerful a draw-
back on exertion, they husband their lives as little
as though a field-marshal's baton were within
their grasp. It is quite possible, indeed, that
their self-devotion is not merely overlooked, but
operates as their bane at the Horse Guards. But
there is no honest and intelligent Englishman,
who considers the subject at all, but must feel
that it entitles them to a profounder sympathy and
a deeper gratitude than they could challenge
under more advantageous circumstances.
The present instance of injustice is exceedingly
flagrant and peculiarly ungracious. If at any
previous period regimental °facers were warranted
in looking for their fair share of promotion with
some degree of confidence, it was now, after the
fall of Sebastopol—in contributing to which they
had immortalised themselves. If everpoor, patient,
regimental merit might indulge in hope of being
duly recognised, it surely was at a time n hen th e
whole world rung with its fame, and marks of
distinction were showered on the heads of not
more deserving brothers in arms by an appre-
ciating Commander and a grateful SOVEREIGN. If
it did, how cruel has been the disappointment
Of the entire number of promotions, nearly one-
fourth has been awarded to the staff. Of all the
regimental officers who have led our brave troops to
victory, not cue has been deemed worthy of pro-
motion to a colonelcy that honour has
been reserved for a member of the staff ;
while of the thirty officers promoted to a lieu-
tenant-colonelcy, no fewer than seven belong to
that highly-favoured class. About an equal dis-
proportion has been adopted with regard to ma-
jorities, twenty staff officers being elevated to the
rank of major, to sixty-six regimental. The dis-
proportion is too glaring for minute comment ;
it tells so unmistakeably its own tale that the
dullest understanding must be outraged by it.
One individual of aristocratic connection has, it
will be seen, received his promotion for ono
month's active service ; another, not less fortu-
nate, has been promoted over the heads of ten of
his brother officers, one of whom has served 21
years on full pay ; a third—the lucky Lieute-
nant-Colonel S. BROWNRIGO, Grenadier Guards--
has got the only colonelcy conferred, though there
Were not fewer than 39 lieutenant-colonels serv-
ing in the Crimea his seniors, many of whom
have been wounded, and one 15 years longer
in the service ! Well may "Au Old Field
Officer" remark, " We have here a splendid speci-
men of selection by merit ! Faugh ! merit in-
deed ! Let an, officer be first cousin to a nobleman's
butler, and his merit will be more conspicuous than
if he were a BAYARD." Quite in keeping with
this specimen of Horse Guards injustice is the
scandalous oversight of the claim of the gallant
volunteers from the Highland regiments, to whose
daring the discovery of the evacuation of the
&clan, and the rescue of hundreds of the un-
fortunate wounded from destruction, were owing.
No testimonial of their gallantry and devotion on
that occasion has been thought necessary for them.
Indeed, the present system would seem to be in-
tended only for the aristocracy, all other claims
being treated as unwarranted and intrusive. There
is one consolation, however : such a system cannot
possibly last. But, in the meantime, what heart-
aches, what wrongs are being inflicted on our
gallant defenders ! " When," we repeat, " will
Government do our regimental officers justice 7"
captain
;
elnn ctohne hardship of the custom of not allowing
clusion, we would express our perfect con-
currence in the remarks of " An Old Field Officer"
brevet promotion to descend lower than the rank
cap
of
suggestion thaattledv2eryfailing
r its
activeab rosgeartvi
cue,
hi
uhlids
be permitted to count as three. Nothing can be
more reasonable or more just.

._--~•~

A Cabinet Council was held ---y----esterda; afternoon at
the Foreign-office. It was attenood!el:daLitabo.yr
IrGdVerparisnanconovaraiullunestr,me,Pisstahiilrr.-
CGrnheeaor
Charles
lgteoesn
Grey,,Wood, the .
hLae
on rdd t
EarlhC the Right
faßnciegleahl !tee
Clarendon,
The Council sat two hours and a quarter.
We understand his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge will leave town on Tuesday next, attended
by Colonel Tyrwhitt, for Paris, on a visit to the Em-
peror Napoleon.
Viscount Paltnerston arrived in town yesterday from
his seat, Broadlands, Hants.
The King of Sardinia, it is expected, will arrive in
England in about three weeks from the present time.
The Duke of Newcastle was at Soukkuna Raleh on
the 12th ult. He had previously visited Anapa and
Sonjak Kaki].

Out of the 37 refugees expelled from Jersey, 22 have
taken up their residence i■ Guernsey and 15 in England.
The Bishop of Lincoln is announced to have a new
work in the press, with the title, " The Church of Chri. t
during the first Three Centuries."

' and it says that the result of it was the discovery
that the statement was erroneous. It is added
that at Theodosia two of the enemy's steamers had
attempted to approach the town, but had retired
on being fired at from a battery.
The German Journal of Frankfort extracts the
following from a letter from Odessa of the 22d
Oct.:—" Since the Allies have been in the posses-
sion of Kinbourn, the communication by means of
coasting craft between Nicolaieff, Ozchakoff, and
Odessa has entirely ceased. In the month of
September, and up to the interruption of the com-
munications, there left Nicolaieff for Kherson 10
vessels laden with corn, and five in ballast. From
Kherson to Nicolaieff sailed 35 sea vessels and 7
rivor barges, laden with salt, wood, and coals. No
idea can bo formed of the activity displayed at
Nicolaieff since the arrival of the Emperor. The
administration of tho navy publishes large con-
tracts for timber for ship-building to be delivered
at Nicolaieff.