The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-28 00:00:00

Indifference, brainless Routine, and shameless Im•

becility.
" Our system of Constitutional Government is
on its trial" cry some who ought to know bet-
ter, and others who do. Of what is it accused ?
or what conceivable strain has it not borne ? Is
it the fault of our Constitution that a cold-
blooded clique of grasping aristocrats have held
the reins of Government and filled up every im-
portant post with their creatures during a forty
years' peace ; and now that we have War, these
creatures turn out to be incapables,—and every
operation of the War and in connection with it
has been bungled, and thousands on thousands of
gallant men have perished miserably through
their incompetency and neglect ? Is this the
fault of the Constitution ? No—we say it is
not. Such a state of things is very bad, but it is
not the Constitution. It is the crime of
a clique and the fault of the people, who,
though in possession of a Representative form
of Government, have not prized and exercised
as they ought their rights and privileges
Omnipotent, humanly speaking, if they please, it
is the People, and not the Constitution, who are
on their trial. Having suffered so much by

unwarranted confidence in others, it is to be seen

how far they are capable of righting themselves.
It may be the Constitution is the worthier of the
two. As for the governing clique, its reign of
misrule is doomed.

"We are not a military nation"—meaning
essentially military—say some, quite in earnest, we
believe, though by way of apology for the griev-
ous blunders that have been committed. The
assertion is like truth, but it is not true. As
though a people confessedly brave and fonder of
adventure than any people in the world were
essentially unmilitary ! A people► that actually
make the best soldiers in Europe . A military
nation, in a limited sense, we certainly are not ;
but the fault is not immediately with the people.
Essentially the nation is so. In no people does
the raw material need less manufacturing to in-
sure like results. The fact is, the Horse Guards
have weighed like lead on the military spirit of
the people. The ruling caste have had the com-
mand of the army so much in their own hands
that hardly any man of intelligent spirit, save
from dire necessity, would enter the ranks. The
system of selling commissions, instead of making
them the reward of merit, has been an impassable
barrier and a stumbling-block to talent ; and the
result has been that the ranks having, until of
late, been mainly filled with recruits from the
lowest and most ignorant classes, have presented
fewer temptations still to those who were inclined
to enter them.

Let there but be a fair prospect of merit being
rewarded, and it will be seen whether the descen-
dants of the bowmen of Agincourt and Cressy, and
of the victors of many a hard-fought field since,
are a military people or not. It is said also that
the love of economy, natural to an industrious
commercial people with representative institutions,
and which undoubtedly has been indulged in to a
dangerous extent, must ever prevent us from
being at all times the formidable military power
our resources and the risk we incur warrant. We
doubt it. There may have been indiscretion in
carrying economy to a dangerous extent, but that,
we contend, has only been the result of a natural
reaction after a period of profligate expenditure.
The nation, or we are deceived, is too proud and
too prudent, with all its faults of omission, to
grudge any expenditure needful for its safety and
the maintenance of its rank among nations.
The cold shade of aristocracy has been on it ;
and injustice, as we have shown, is being done
to account for the deplorable results.

DETENTION OF THE AMERICAN' STEAM.

SHIP lIERMANk.