The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-05 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1855.

We have now before us the unfortunate affair
of the 18th ultimo, and there' is but too much
reason to fear that the first decided failure of
any combined operation since the commencement
of hostilities was occasioned partly by misman
agement, and partly by over-confidence from pre-
vious successes, but mainly by the want of cor-
dial co-operation and a complete coincidence of
Plans between the respective Commanders.
On the first point, it will be seen that in place-
of Commencing on the day of the intended
assault with a heavy cannonade and bombard-
ment) and then making the attack while
the
enemy were in confusion, and befort
a:7 opportunity of repairing their damage
as worded, the onslaught was made at the dawn
of day, .we
: when
the Russians were fully prepared t(
give the
warmest reception to the assailants, and
when, according
had repaired to their invariable custom, they
the injuries sustained the preceding'day. It is said
t
himself to be that Lord RAGLAN had suffered
persuaded by General PEI:ISMER to
abandon the
which had provedelspot
course decided on, and
signally successful on the 7th •
instant in the
re of
the Mamelon, the re
doubts, and Quarrie,, j
too small a body of t would also seem as if
troops were selected for the
duty, who were unable to
follow up the partial
success achieved, and. which
-
vantage had been taken of the
mi ghti if due ad-
cy.
have materially altered the fortunes of theses es,
An untoward incident occurred_
probahly aris-
ing from too great confidence, and a natural im-
patience to get at the enemy as soon as possible.
General MAYRAN, who commanded the first bri-
gade, erroneously fancied that he recognised the
signal for commencing " in a shell with
abl •
azing
fuze, sent up from the Brancion Redoubt,
It was
.vain that he was informed of
his mistake."
Burning with ardour to acquire glory for himself
and the gallant soldiers whom he commanded he
prematurely commenced the attack. The Samuel
-
premature
and DE FRILLY columns immediately rushed for-
ward ; but, tinfortunately, there was no simulta-
neous action to •
d;stract the attention of the gar-
ver t any portion of their strength;
risen, or to di
their whole fire was concentrated on the devoted
chivalrous MAYRAN himself was
columns, and the cal ,
mortally wounded, being one of the first victims
01 that crushing fire, which proceeded not merely
from the works, but front the enemies' steamers.
" Which ine up at full steam and manoeuvred with
co
great skin
ci effect"—a tolerably clear proof
that
the Russians of the nature of
'We're fully informed of the nature of
the intended proctedings.
The loss of the brave General had naturally a
considerable effect o
'1 the troops. They were,
however, promptly rallied
11Y General DE FRILLY,
and although unable to ad
°lnce they bravely sus-
not •
tained their positions
withstai,din, the terrific
fire.

The centre attack under General
scarcely more fortunate. The BRUNET wa-7.
who].
prematurely eng,aged ; nof the right;
had been
indeed the for-
tune of the day was all but decided whelx the
signal was given for the general attack. Althou
all his arrangements were not complete at
fii
ile
moment the gallant BRUNET dashed vigorously
forward, hut, like his brave coadjutor MAYRAN,
was mortally wounded at the very outset. The
left, under General AUTEMARRE, was more suc-
cessful. He actually penetrated into the Malak-

hoff, having scaled the intrenchments, and entered

into the enciente. The eagles of France were
planted on the Russian works, but the posi-
tion could not be maintained. The failure at other
points prevented the possibility of a complete
triumph. Further efforts would only have led to

useless bloodshed, and at half-past eight a retreat
to the trenches Was ordered, which was carried

out with order and coolness, and without the
Russians attempting to pursue the retreating foe

at any point.
So much for the proceedings of our Allies.
Lord RAGLAN, it will be seen, would not fail at
the moment of emergency. He oidered the
attack on the Redan when he perceived the con-
fusion that prevailed. The result is known. The
same causes that conduced to the failure of the
French onslaught led also to that of the English.
Indeed the numbers actually engaged could
I scarcely hope to alter the fortunes of the day.

But the most astonishing fact was that General
EYRE, with the 2d Brigade, actually penetrated
into the town itself, and held a portion of Sebastopol
for the entire day until they were enabled to
retire under the cover of night. It is needless
to speculate on what might have been the results
had this extraordinary achievement been followed
up. As it is, we fear that, as the proceedings
took place contrary to the views and wishes of
Lord RAGLAN, he did not make the necessary
preparations for events which he had not antici-
pated. We must now bear with resignation the
check sustained, and be prepared to turn to pro-
fitable account on a future occasion the painful
lesson so dearly purchased.

The history of the pernicious Sunday Trading
Bill is exceedingly suggestive. Many useful and
some dangerous lessons may be learned from it.
Above all, it teaches the need of a better repre-
sentation of the people. What stronger proof
can there be that a great gulf separates the
masses and the Legislature than the progress made
with the measure, and. the prospect before it
when the first demonstration against it in Hyde-
park took place ? So secondary a matter were the
comforts and liberties of the industrious poor, such
political cyphers were our artizans held, that the
Sunday Trading Bill had wellnigh passed the
Commons, and might have passed the Lords, and
become law, had the people not risen against it,
and this not, because the majority of either
House is Sunday mad, but because popular
influence is so small and Sabbatarian bigotry
so ferocious that it appeared safer to aid in
gagging the poor than to be branded as a Sab-
bath breaker and an enemy of the elect. Had
popular feeling and popular interests been duly
represented the Sunday Trading Bill would either
never have been brought forward or would have
been pooh-poohed out of the house. We must have
an extension of the suffrage if we desire the main-
tenance of popular rights, together with the sta-
bility of the constitution.
That the former will henceforth be more boldly
and steadily maintained we cannot doubt. Our
apprehension is in another direction. We are no
admirers of mob law, deeply as we are interested
in the welfare of the people, and boldly as we
have always asserted their rights. It is the worst
of all laws, and cannot be too strenuously
avoided. While we would not bludgeon the people,
we would have their wishes constitutionally ex-
pressed by their representatives in Parliament.
But what is the lesson Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR
and the Sabbatarians have been the means of in-
culcating ? That, as matters stand, the only way
for the masses, not merely to prevent threatened
encroachments on their liberty but to rid them-
selves of whatever load oppresses them, is to mee t
in imposing numbers, and insure by fear what
could not be obtained from a sense of justice—a
dangerous lesson, the further inculcation of which
must be most specially avoided. It should never
be forgotten that we are engaged in a mighty war,
the proportions of which may increase ; and that,
while our armies and navies are exalting the honour
of the country abroad, and winning for themselves
heroic fame, their fellow-countrymen at home have
caught much of their ardour while admiring their
deeds, and have received an impulse that, in the
nature of things, cannot but be dangerous to op-
pression. Sunday Trading, Beer, and Maine-law
Bills are not safe bills nowadays. In proof of
this we have only to refer to the rumour that on
Sunday a demonstration is to be made against the
Clubs. Having succeeded in preventing the
passing of the Sunday Trading Bill by the demon-
strations in the Park, a taste it would appear for
demonstrations has been created, and these of an
exceptionable kind. The first were justified by
the urgency of the case, and had the moral
support of the most respectable classes o
society. This is not the case with respect
to that threatened. The Sunday Bill is with-
lrawn, and we feel quite sure would be igno-
niniously kicked out if introduced another
Session ; and the power of these demonstrations,
t should be remembered, consists largely in their
unfrequency. It is a different thing, too, masses of
people meeting in a Park—where there need be
no collision—to demonstrate their dislike to a
proposed measure, and meeting in a narrow street,
with real danger of collision, to repeal an existing
law. Nor should it be forgotten that the Sun-
day visiting members of clubs are, generally
speaking, about the last men in the world to look
among for earnest advocates of Sunday re-
strictions. We sincerely trusii the threatened
demonstration will not take place, and that less
exceptionable and quite as effectual means will
be adopted to secure the repeal of the obnoxious
Beer Bill. The petitions of the masses on this
subject, we are bold to say, will now have a weight
they had not before, while the most likely effect
of repeated demonstrations is the very oppos
site to that desired. A great victory has been
Woo, and we should be sorry to see it abused.
will mainly
If it is, however, the
ittillsethbelamareistwoiclrlantioct
mbeemobuerrs—foi
Middlesex and the Sabbatarians, who in their folly
set in motion an unmanageable machine, and on
Ministers who let them.

We cannococtafseioelnesaurbpri.sedattl; extraordinary
an d sensationthgigantic fraudyi attributed
The indignation n
circum-
stances enhancedoisccmasaitoenreidallbyythe
the law, which seems ex
afford protection to ibllaitteedbtanking failure,
naturally felt undoerthtehep
by the acritrneuerms.-
rtial im.
extraorydi nfaprrimsetdatle of
leviapthressl
supplying an easy loonh l
wriggle out of their criminanal
and to evade the penal offenders,
to
, by
i 0 0 by which to
responsibility,
consequences of their
serious offences. It would be perfectly just that
the parties should not be compelled to criminate
themselves, that they should not be convicted
by means of information wrung from them-
selves, —by an examination in bankruptcy.
But why immunity should be supplied
—that the offenders should not be liable
to be convicted on any evidence whatever
If they should, before indictment, have disclosed the
act in any examination or deposition before any
GL whi b, .
c°""lissioner of bankrupts,"
being is, indeed, a problem
it Would be difficult to discover the solu-
tion. It, i, •
limit the ' must be strictly interpreted, does not
penal quite clear that the enactment, which,
matter to
legal or equitable depositions,
hesitation in 'saying
...he word .
designedly omitted '
and we have no
is used in reference to
compulsory examinations or
e prove, .
relating to bankruptcy,
in tiategs, but it is apparently
delinquents must be acquitted' that the ,
charge of embezzle f
; --mem) and that the only sen- I

tence they will have to fear is that of the Corn

missioner in Bankruptcy.
But while deploring these .vide-spread evils we
must not suffer ourselves to be led beyond legiti-
mate bounds, or be induced to put undue re-
strictions on credit, in the hope of preventing the
repetition of such frauds. It has been truly said
that " bad cases make bad precedents," and far
greater mischief might be created by too
stringent laws on such points. It is unnecessary
to say how completely the prosperity of a banker
must depend on his untainted credit. Even the most
solvent man may require large advances at a par-
ticular moment, the nature and necessity whereof
he might be very unwilling to disclose. Any delay
or undue inquiries might occasion his ruin, and
it is one of the chief advantages of an unblemished
reputation that the party can obtain the assis-
tance he needs on the faith of his previous
character. A banker may surely have securities
of his own which he might lawfully hypothecate,
or he might have made advances on those of his
customers, and been therefore entitled to use
them to the same extent. It does not follow that
the most prudent dealer in money should neces-
sarily scent out fraud in a transaction entered
into with a man who held the position
and character of Sir JOHN DEAN PAUL in Feb-
ruary last. The parties who instituted offensive
inquiries, under the circumstances, might aban-
don their business, for few would consent to deal
with men who insulted them by presuming the
most atrocious guilt in every transaction.

In the above remarks we do not wish to be taken
as offering any opinion on the conduct of Messrs.
OVEREND, GURNEY, & Co., or other gentlemen who
advanced large sums to Messrs. STRAHAN and Co.
on the securities of their clients. Legal questions
of considerable nicety may arise between the
owners and Ow holders of these securities, and
without the most full and complete information
respecting the peculiar circumstances in each case
we should not venture to pronounce a de-
cided opinion. We should, however, decidedly
impress on commercial men the propriety of
doing nothing rashly or without full and mature
consideration calling for restrictive enactments,
the effect whereof may be very prejudicial to
legitimate commercial operations, so that the
remedies may be far worse than the disease
they were intended to cure. There is no greater
folly than in striving to shun one evil to suffer
ourselves to be drawn into others of no less
magnitude, and alike prejudicial to the inte-
rests and reputation of a trading com-
munity. Let us then duly profit by the
bitter but salutary lesson we have been taught
by the misconduct of STRAHAN, PAUL, and
BATES ; but not magnify the mischief by ill-
advised enactments that might prove more preju-
dicial to commerce than all the frauds committed
by bankers since the LOMBARDS' business was
first introduced into England.

LORD RAGLAN.

GENERAL ORDER.

HORSE GUARDS, JULY 4, 1855.

The General Commanding-in-Chief has received
her Majesty's most gracious commands to express
to the army tho deep regret with which her Ma-
jesty has to deplore the loss of a most devoted
and able officer, by the death of Field-Marshal
Lord Raglan, the Commander of the Forces in
the Crimea.

Her Majesty has been pleased to command that
her sentiments shall be communicated to the
army, in order that the military career of so
illustrious an officer shall be recorded, not only as
au honourable testimony of her Majesty's sense of
his eminent services, and the respect due to his
memory, but as an example worthy of imitation
by all ranks of her army.
Selected by the Duke of 'Wellington to be his
Military Secretary and Aide-de-camp, ho took
part, nearly 50 years ago, in all the military
achievements of our greatest Commander. From
him Lord Raglan adopted as the guiding prin-
ciple of his life a constant undeviating obedience
to the call of duty.

During a long peace, his life was most usefully
employed in those unwearied attentions to the in-
terests and welfare of the . army, shown by the
kindness, the impartiality, and justice with which
he transacted all his duties.

When war broke out last year, lie was selected
by his Sovereign to take the command of the
army proceeding to the East : he never hesitated,
he obeyed the summons, although he had reached
an ale when an officer may be disposed to retire
from active duties in the field.

At the head of the troops during the arduous
operations of the campaign, he resumed the early
habits of his life ; by his calmness in the hottest
moments of battle, and by his quick perception in
taking advantage of the ground, or the movements
of the enemy, he won the confidence of his army,
and performed great and brilliant services.

In the midst of a winter's campaign, in a severe
climate, and surrounded by difficulties, he never
despaired.
The heroic army, whose fortitude amidst the
severest privations is recognised by her Majesty
as beyond all praise, have shown their attach-
ment to their Commander by the deep regrets
with which they now mourn his loss.
Her Majesty is confident that the talents and
virtues which distinguished Lord Raglan through-
out the whole of his valuable life will for ever
endear his memory to the British Army.
By command of the Right Hon. General Vis-
count Hardinge, Commanding-in-Chief.
G. A. WETHERALL, adjutant-General.

THE LATE MR. JAMES Locii, M.P.—We regret to
record the death of this widely-known and generally
esteemed gentleman, at his residence in Albemarle-street,
London, on Thursday last. He was the eldest son of
George Loch, Esq., of Drylaw, in this county, by a
sister of the Right Honourable William Adam, of Blair-
Adam, Lord Chief Commissioner of the Jury Court in
S,Jotland. Born in 1780, he was called to the Scottish
oar in 1801, and was soon afterwards admitted a mem-
ber of the English bar. He was, at one and the same
time, auditor to the Duke of Sutherland, to the Earl of
Carlisle, to Lord Francis Egerton (now Earl of Elles-
mere), and to the trust estates of the late Earl of Dud-
ley and the late Lord Keith.—Edinburgh Courant.
DEATH OF THE HON. CRAVEN FITZHARDINGE BERME-
LET, M.P.—We regret to announce the death of the
Hon. Craven F. Berkeley, M.P. for Cheltenham, intel-
ligence of whose demise, at Frankfort, reached town
yesterday. indif-
ferent heal t
bTh fore
thhoen
l.
as
t deceased,tw o months,
own
thhos had
a t t
,Ibeene in
recommen-
dation of his medical advisers, proceeded t.) the German
Spas little more than three weeks ago, to try the effects
of the waters, but he was detained at Frankfort 41ty ill-
ness, and died on Sunday last. The deceased was
youngest son of the late Earl of Berkeley,after the mar-
riage of 1796, by Mary, daughter of Mr. William Cole.
He was born in May, 1805, and married, 10th Sept.,
1839, Augusta, widow of the late Hon. G. H. Taile,,t,
and mother. of Lady Edward Fitzalan Howard. The
hon. gentle Man was formerly in the Ist Life Guards,
and has represented Cheltenham in Parliament since the
general election in 1832. A vacancy is occasioned in
the House of Commons for that borough.
DEATH OF MR. JA3IES SILK BUCKINGHAM. —This well-
known lecturer and writer died on Saturday, at his resi-
dence, Stanhope Lodge, Upper Avenue-road, after a
severe and protracted illness. Not many months since
the deceased commenced an " Autobiography," which h
publishedafpromisedbeen
n sufficedzt
gbu be
a reiyo c
cse
hhe doe iciwnugetl
rhyeadvt oal un thend
careerian
do
vues.n
of
uf:tohbuees p.
authorr.
Buckingham was in his early days at sea, in an humble
capacity. He afterwards became connected with jour-
nalism in India, travelled over the greater part of
the world, and returning to England, acquired some
fame as a lecturer, and grew conspicuous by his connec-
tion with various philanthropic schemes, many of
which were looked upon as impracticable. In 1832 he
was elected M.P. for Sheffield, and continued to repre-
sent that constituency untillB37. While in Parliament
he was active in promoting the temperance movement,
and was instrumental in obtaining the committee at
whose instance the well-known medical evidence respect-
ing intoxicating liquors was collected. His connection
with the British and Foreign Institute, and the ridicule
Iwit'i which many of his proceedings were visited by
Punch, will not be forgotten. Lately, since his name
was placed on the pension list, Mr. Buckingham has not
taken an active part in public life. As a lecturer, he
possessed many advantages, his voice and manner being
extremely well suited for oratorical display. He was also
fluent and animated, and gifted with a lively imagination.
He died in his 69th year,