The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-18 00:00:00

More than six months since Parliament was called
together hurriedly, for the purpose of authorising the
embodiment of a Foreign Legion, and whatever be the
merits or demerits of the sohemethe existing, Government
was empowered to carry it out, We are free to acknow-
ledge that language was used by our legislators which
went forth from their places in parliament to travel over
the world, of such a nature as to disgust foreigners with
the service offered to them, and deter them from joining
our ranks. Notwithstanding this, satisfactory proofs
exist that all difficulties might have been overcome by the
exercise of moderate abilities, aided by persevering in-
dustry, and tempered by ordinary judgment. Turn where
we will, this is seen to be a self-evident fact, but we
will content ourselves with but one instance. Months
since we pointed out how a powerful and efficient body
might have been raised among the Swiss Cantons, when
great numbers of Switzerland's hardy sons were most
anxiously desirous to form themselves into a Swiss con-
tingent in aid of that which they believed a just and
holy cause, and when the offices of our foreign consuls
ut
obe received by
iri es asto tb e c
Eng-
land.
iinngclthis information being
laid before Government, as we know that it was, the
French authorities followed out the scheme with rapid and
full success. It was then pointed out that from the peculiar
taon and agents
a g
followedeTwon ts
wereobn yt
months subsequent witha s
asking
to
nature of the Swiss laws on this subject enlistment could
not take place for any foreign power save the Italian
m besieged
men
only
states on Swiss territory. To send recruiting officers
cantonal and federal laws, and the French, more practi-
cal than ourselves, consulted the wishes of the men to
hopetelohieenneaAetvdtosinefusewtchoaoewsuntry would then be merely an insult to both
be raised by establishing a cordon of recruiting districts
psinintahe
to return to this subject we will leave
r
the country.
short
phsthoofoc
rrrwootaenni efficient
sitdpni
heigaa frontiers while
odfrosw.af
fhshuti
elittTemuochr
eteohp:
mserdayopneda
n erdunei
produce
practicaloo Bp ammrha auegi
mode
largeani etodreax
asitpabhe:dndenfdms
body of
ro-
par-
tiallybtoyof
need. Now it is well known and will be admitted by
every person at all conversant with Switzerland and the
Swiss, that there are no men who can be relied on
with more confidence in the hour of need for their
valour, powers of endurance, and fidelity. The Swiss
peasant is of necessity a soldier. There,
eebeing 3a2Alancl-
ing army in Switzerland, every rains trained' gal, es
forced to pass a certain period of every year under can-
vas in the camp ; they are not only drilled, but trained
soldiers, and the importance of this latter point will be
appreciated by all our readers, for the men are fitted
for the endurance of the difficulties and toils of a cam-
paign, both by the early training of laborious agri-
cultural pursuitP, in a land where the earth yields
nothing save by the toil of the husbandman, and
by the later training of military education taught
them in the field itself. More than this—as a
marksman the Swiss peasant is unrivalled. Hie ear-
liest desire ieeito Possess a rifle, and when by the
labour of his hands he has laid by wherewithal to buy
one, he passes his holidays in pe .facting himself in its
use. Not a village but has its rifle club, and prizes fur
perfection in riffs practice are given in each, while the
same competition is encouraged by the cantonal clubs,
and to crown all, annually, the Federal Rifle Meetings
bring together the youth of the whale land to contend
for its much envied prizes. Thus, in fact, do they be-
come a nation of soldiers, not only in name and training,
but in heart and soul. More than all this, they are men
of education. Ignorance with them is a crime, aad-
treated as such ; the consequ ince of which is, that there
is perhaps not any country in Europe which can boast
such useful and general education among its people.
Such are the men who asked to be permitted to
share in our arduous task ; but procrastination has in
this, as in almost every other instance, allowed others
to take precedence of us, and, if we may credit a
recent paragraph, the bungling measures we have at
length attempted have all but defeated our object.
We allude to the reported imprisonment of an English
recruiting agent in Switzerland. Instead of entering
the cantons in scornful and open defiance of the law
of the land, why did not our agents fix the head-
quarters of their recruiting districts on the frontiers
of Savoy, where would ',eve flocked the inhabitants
of the cantons of Genev.e• Vaud, and Fribourg ; and on
the frontiers of France, to which the German cantons
would have sent their quota of mountaineers ? Instead
of presenting the spectacle of another British agent
arrested for the flagrant violation of Swiss federal laws,
thousands would have flocked to our appeal. We are
assured that the object may even still be gained, and
that, though it will be now more difficult, a Swisi legion
may yet be raised equal, if not superior, to any existing
troops, at an economical rate, and almost instantly
available.
Why should this not be carried out ? We have at
the head of our War Department a man well versed
in military matters, said to be full of zeal and energy.
The occasion certainly requires all his ability, all his
zeal, all his energy. We write these things not in a
spirit of rebuke, but with an anxious desire to see that
war which has been declared over and over again a
righteous one vigorously prosecuted and speedily
brought to a happy issue. We cannot blind ourselves
to the fact that, the same procrastination, the same mis-
management, which we here deplore, has had the same
fetal effect in America and in Germany ; while we have
heard with deep regret that the Turkish contingent,
thoughde boastingin a
tfhael 1
snionmewplsemofenwat orf4offiktretiemeers, is miser-
ablyorre
spontlent of Daily News.

CRUEL AND COWARDLY CONDUCT.

At the Worship•street police-court Robert Franey, a
tall, burly-looking fellow, of savage aspect, was charged
before Mr. Hammill with having brutally maltreated
and seriously injured his wife, who was in an advanced
state of pregnancy.
The complainant, a delicate-looking young woman,
whose appearance excited a general feeling of painful
commiseration, was in such a dreadful state of sufferirg
and exhaustion, that the officers brought her into court
on a chair, in which she was allowed to be seated during
her examination. Her face was shockingly swollen and
disfigure % both her eyes blackened, and her lower jaw
apparently fractured, or injured to such an extent
that she was scarcely able to articulate. After con-
siderable ilitliculty it was elicited from her that she was
within six weeks of her confinement, and had only been
married about eight months to the prisoner, who
had subjected her to a constant course of ill-treat-
ment during the whole of that period. On the night of
Wednesday last the prisoner returned home partially it-
toxica.ted, and while they were seated at supper he sud-
denly started up, and without the slightest provocation
struck her a terrible blow in the face, which knocked
her out of her chair. As soon as she had recovered her.
self she endeavoured to escape froth the room, but was
intercepted by the prisoner, who da,,hed ler down upon
the floor, and, throwing himself upon her, grape I her
tightly by the throat, and held her down with such
tenacity that she was alrenst strangled. On hearine the
uproar, her sister hastened down from an ui p room to
her assistance, but the moment she made her appear-
ance the prisoner commenced a ferocious attack upon
her, and drove her out of the apartment. In a few mi-
nutes, however, her sister returned with a policeman,
but notwithstanding his brutal violence towards her
witness declined to give her husband into custody, and
the instant the officer had left the place, the prisoner re-
paid her generous forbearance by a dastardly renewal
of his brutality, in the course of which he blackened her
eves, as they now appeared, and so seriously injured her
jaw-bone that she had been ever since unable to take
the slightest sustenance. She was ultimately rescued
and assisted to bed by some of her neighbours, under
whose advice she afterwards obtained a warrant for his
appr,hension. The poor woman, who had manifestly
delivered her evidence under a continuous effort to save
herself from fainting, immediately upon its conclusion
fell back in strong convulsions, of such an alarming cha-
racter that the magistrate at once ordered a cab to be
procured, in which she was conveyed to the workhouse
infii 'nary.

The complainant's sister, a respectable-looking young
person, gave corroborative evidence, and added that she
greatly apprehended that the injuries which the unfortu-
nate woman had sustained would result in premature
labour, or be attended with consequences of a still
more serious description.
Mr. Hammill forcibly animadverted upo* the cruel
and cowardly conduct of the prisoner, and ordered him
to be remanded to await the result of his unnatural vio•
knee.

The section of the Railway from Dijon to Besancon
lying between the former place and Dole was inaugurated
on the 11th.

Loss OF TIIRIE DYES Br DROWNING.—On Satur-
day last Mr. W. Baker held an inquest at the George,
Theday last
Ratcliff-highway, on the body of Charles Henry Hearty,
oDnoeirkhsur s.
un-
fortunate boy never rose to the surface till brought up
pe rie! l the overboard
London
flr4omyetahrse
brig in
who
or, f
by the draw,. The jury, in returning a verdict of acci-
dental death, remarked that the water in the London
Docks was of so poisonous a nature that any one falling
in bad no chance of-life. An inquest wai held at the
same place on the body of James Campbell, aged 17, who
fell overboard from the ship Marmaret, on Wednesday
last, also in the London Docks. Verdict accidental n
death.
A third inquest was held at the Prince of Wales Tavern,
Bonner's-road, Victoria-park,,n the body of Joseph
James Evans,- aged 12. Tdeceased left school on
park to ob
drowned,athe, but
A.unvfoerratuientaotefl_ayeegiodtenotuatl
death
Thursday, and proceeded to a pond at the entrance of
Vdeipcttho,riaan-
was returned.

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS IN Yosssarsa.
Within Within the last few weeks agricultural prospeqs have
completely The
completely changed in the neighbourhood of York.p.urions
protracted dry and cold weather, although
to wheat, bad occasioned an almost unparaelnhleoltedl
of food for stock, and its value was
atnhings is entirely
of rain. Now, however, the state of
we
have had a high
Spring Corn, too, was very backward and mach
dumuch in need
depressed.rnity
reversed. Within the last ten
rain, in fact forcing weather. of
remarkably strong and
description. Wheat is lookinge
give promise of most
degree of temperature and frequdoY;tahned
mcoopsitoubsefuaelfilscioal
healthy ; barley, oats, and
to be very short in the straw,
are shooting
whichshoo lately
ting u
pp
rapidly.rom i sed
abundant crops ; beauseanswd
The white turnip seed has
which are ready the
up well, as also swedes, some of
pin fine condition. Meadows and
improvement, and will yield a
Potatoes have comra
id
and orchards look very fruit-
good fali of J
most recent fairs in this part of the country
fruit-
ful. At the
pastures been got
have into
ha_ti
made
aefdoserosoil
Gardens
and sheep in proportion.
head,
the price of beasts
. has avancedThferohmarsvse.sttoprloOssp.epoetar
are new most cheering,