The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-16 00:00:00

FPRicE SD.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(From the Times of this clay.)
The Committee on the Army before Sebastopol has
closed the taking of evidence, and has no duty left for it
now but the difficult and important one of summing up
the results of this prolonged investigation in a clear,
practical, and impartial report. It is the more neces-
sary that they should do this portion of their business
ably and effectually, as candour compels us to admit
that the country has some reason to be disappointed with
the manner in which this inquiry has been conducted.
Intrusted with a most important mission, !supported by
an extraordinary concurrence of public opinion, treated
with the utmost fairness and candour by the higher offi-
cials and ex-officials with whom they have been brought
into contact—armed, in fact, with almost unlimited
powers of inquisition, no expectation was more natural
than that the committee should give us as the result of
so unprecedented an inquiry a complete analysis of our
official system, a thorough clearing up of the question of
personal responsibility, and a programme of those im-
provements which will reinstate our credit and restore
our confidence in ourselves. For these things we fear
the mere student of the evidence taken before the Select
Committee will look in vain. A desultory and rambling
style of examination, taking up every subject by turn;
and dropping it just at the moment when we seem to be
approaching that unseen and unknown mechanism which
has wrought such eccentric and astounding results ; a
rather lavish ostentation of force when dealing with the
weak, and a pretty manifest desire to have' as little as
possible to do with the strong • an attempt to induce
one witness to contradict another, rather than to elicit
from him all he really knew or thought ; and a not very
clear perception of the limits that divide the duty of one
official department from that of another, are all sufficiently
evident to any one who has read with ordinary attention
the voluminous reports we have from day to day presented
to our readers. The result has been that the oppor-
tunity afforded for striking a heavy blow at corruption
and incompetency has not been taken advantage of to
the extent which we might have looked for, and that we
seek in vain through a mass of questions as numerous as
the bayonets of the army to which they relate for any
discoveries in consequence. The office of the committee,
indeed, has as yet been little more than to verify those
letters of our correspondents at first so boldly contra-
dicted, and at last so reluctantly believed. We, at least,
have no reason for complaint against the labours of the
committee, for their labours hitherto seem almost to
have been confined to proving our statements, and they
have not as yet succeeded in striking out from the mass
of matter they have collected any light which has not
already occurred to persons armed with far less com-
plete means of inquisition, and having access to sources
of information far less direct and authentic.
In gratitude for the service which the committee have
undoubtedly conferred on us, and under a sense of the
good it is yet in their power to do, we take the liberty
of observing upon what appears to us to be the case
made out by the evidence. On, that case every one is at
liberty to form his own opinion, and the members of the
committee possess no peculiar advantage except what
may arise from the greater attention they have given to
the subject, and the greater ability they have brought to
bear upon 't. It appears to us, then, that notwithstand-
ing the persevering efforts of one or two members of the
Committee, whose names will occur to every one, to
extract from each witness the admission that nobody
was to blame, and that the system alone was in fault,
we have the gravest reasons of complaint against some-
thing beyond the mere system of the departments to
which we intrusted the task of carrying on the
present war. It would be very gratifying to the
self-love of the nation if it could succeed in per-
suading itself that nothing more was wanted than a few
alterations which should consolidate our departments,
amend their relations with each other, and those of their
subordinates towards their chiefs. It would be very
gratifying if we could persuade ourselves that all have
done their duty ; that all have been energetic, able, and
public-spirited ; that there has been no inertness, no
stupidity, no stolid adherence to routine, no ruthless sa-
crifice of valuable life to the cowardice which refuses to
disclose wants for fear of drawing attention to those who
cause them—no listless apathy, no over-presumptious
counting on success, no neglect to take the precautions
absolutely required in case of failure, But, should the
committee attempt to erect such an hypothesis as this
upon the materials they have collected, we are con-

vinced that, so far from meriting the thanks or serving
the interests of the public, they will have been an ob-
stacle rather than an assistance to the promotion of a:
necessary reform. Such an account of matters would
not only be most false as regards the past, but most in-
jurious as respects the future. However well it might
serve the purpose of the adherentsof the late and present
Ministry, and the supporters of the present military sys
tem—of which two great classes the great majority of the
committee are undoubtedly composed—however much it
might relieve the fears of estimable persons and quiet the

apprehensions of friends, relatives, and dependents—such

. .
. .
a report would really falsify the teachings of history and,
deprive us Of that benefit which we may at least hope to
derive from all our disasters—a bitter but profitable ex-
perience. Nor would such an attempt attain the Oricli
with which alone it could be made—the avoiding of per '1

sonalcensure. If the system be alone in fault, the next!

question that occurs is, who made, the system, and /low
comes it that, with perf. et Ministers, perfect clerks, per-

, . . . .
feet generals, perfect admirals, perfect commissaries,and
perfect doctors, our whole career should have been no-,
thing from first to last but one unvarying representation
. ... . , ... .. ....

of All in the Wrong .? Even the scapegoat system itself
must have had authors, maintainers, supporters, and ad-
vocates ;it did not create itself. Like every other abo-
mination, it had its beginning, as we hope most heartily
it will have its end. To lay all the blame on the sys-
tem is not to escape from blaming individuals ; it
is to inculpate most heavily both the dead and the
living. The great Duke of Wellington and the corn-,
panions of his labour and his glory, a succession of
Ministers who have gone down to their graves
honoured and regretted, and the statesmen of the pre-
sent day, to shield whom "the system" is put forward,
are themselves the persons answerable to the nation for
the existence of that system. It avails but little, as far
as personalities are concerned, to acquit them of mis-
management by convicting them of misgovernment, and
to shield them from accusations brought against them
in their executive capacity by proving them the advo-
cates and upholders of absurdities and anomalies which
rsmd. er the highest executive capacity useless and un-
availing. In this matter of the Committee, as in all
others connected with this war, we fear that we may
find the men unequal to the occasion, and that this great
opportunity of doing good may only be added to the
many which have already presented themselves and
passed away from us for ever.

Let the Committee strive to rise above the passions
and prejudices, the hopes and fears, the subservieacies
and the littlenesses of the moment. The task which
they have to discharge should be approached in the
spirit of a calm and philosophic historian, not of a job-
bing politician or a timid partisan. They must, above
all things, do justice to all men—justice to the great
and to the lowly, to the living and to the dead. If
they are unable to disentangle the web of conflicting
responsibilities and curiously intertwined authorities ,
and jurisdictions in which they are involved, let them
frankly say so—we ask for no premature or unfair judg-
ment against any man. But if they do, as we appre-
hend they must, see clearly to whose faults the evidence
points, and at whose door the blame of these things lies,
let them not shrink from their duty, nor sacrifice them-
selves in the vain attempt to shield others from the in-
dignation of the people and the fair responsibility for
their own deeds. The nation is willing to accept any-
thing from the Committee which they believe to be the
genuine expression of their opinion, but any attempt at
mystification will immediately transfer its indignation
from the culprit to the timid or partial judge.

( From the Morning Advertiser of this day.)
We are glad to learn from a communication from. a
Birmingham correspondent, that the people of that town
are about to " pronounce" on the subject of Administra-
tive Reform. A requisition to the Mayor to calla pub-
lic meeting is in course of signature, and has already
received the names of some of the most eminent mercan-
tile, banking, and manufacturing firms. A preliminary 1
meeting has been held, numerously attended by highly'
respectable persons, the question of Administrative Re-
form, and the propriety of forming a local association
discussed, and another meeting appointed for Monday
next, at which the formation of an association is to be,
proposed. " Judging," says our correspondent, "from
the tone of public opinion upon the important subject
of the meeting, there can be but little doubt the pro-
ceedings will assume an important character, and give 1
a decided impetus to the movement." We sincerely I
trust that this hope, so confidently expressed, will be I
amply realised, and that the example of Birmingham
will be immediately followed by all the great townsoirn!
the kingdom. The people begin to feel that if an effort;)
is to be made to save England, that effort mustth be
leant
by themselves. Hope after hope on whnic
still less honesty, in t
lower, with very little ability, and
has given way. They see the countrysi sinking
the misfortunes of
either Reuse of Parliament, to retrieve.
d long enough for
the last year. They have w
• alteent. The few honest
lowerey and
statesmen and members of Par
s more sacred than those
to the interests of party, a way
representatives they have
hands lies the power
iwillhanewe fear, be sacrificed
of the country. But in their own
to upset all this, to overthrow
the corruption which
reigns in the place of p
attiotisin, and to open the doors
of office to It
honest and competent men. cannot be
said that they have not displayed the virtue of patience
under the disasters the country Las suffered, and the
bigoted adherence of Ministers to the unprincipled sys•
tem of which these disasters are the natural fruit. Never
was a greater insult, nor one more patiently endured,
havein France,been paid Napoleon's
inl eon's late
the cha-
racter Had sucho e
than the whole career of Lord Palmerston during the
1 time that he has been at the head of the Government
occurred
vi sit to
racter of an exile, not of an Emperor.
We cannot conceive writhing much
than the position which England holdsmore humiliating
with respect to the Polish questio at this moment
if there is really " life in the old question
; nor anything which,
culated to stir up public india • and yet," is more cal-
bnat!on. We have so often
dwelt upon the expectations with which the mass of