The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-06 00:00:00

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' cured can be saved, not by establishing their innocence
but by bringing a charge of quite a different nature against
the accuser. 'We have not understood that, according to
the law of England, a thief is to be allowed to escape if
he can prove that the prosecutor is a cheat. The law, we
take it, wo\ild say that both, if convicted, ought to be
punished, not that either ought to go free. Again,
within these few days we have seen a laboured article in
one journal deprecating the exaction of excessive bail in
such cases, as if it were sot the duty of the magistrate
to proportion the bail to the means of the accused ; and
an equally laboured article in another, gravely arguing
that there is no moral obligation to prosecute a party
suspected of theft who has occupied a respectable posi-
don in society. The writers of the anonymous letters,
the counsel who showed an inclination to adopt such a
desperate line of defence, and the writers in the news-
papers referred to, may have no knowledge of each
other. Their co-operation may be entirely accidental
and fortuitous. It is evident, however, that they are all
labouring to a common end—to quash inquiry ; and
that the quashing of inquiry would be tantamount to a
defeat of justice. If the accused is innocent, justice re-
quires that she shall be exculpated in the face of day, by
means that leave no uneasy suspicions as to what were
the real facts of the case • if guilty, she ought not to
escape merely because the temptation to which she
yielded must have been less in her case than in that of a
needy person.

the terms of their engagement in 1852, have declined fur-
ther service for the year, and have been released accord-
ingly in numbers sufficient to reduce the corps in ques-
tion to little more than skeletons. Thus, at the very
time when it is most desirable that the strength of our
land forces should be kept up, we are losing the services
of men already trained and brought to a respectable
state of military efficiency.
It cannot be denied that this is, so far, an un-
fortunate occurrence, but there is nothing in the
circumstance which need entail any material difficulties,
nor do we see the smallest reason for regretting the
policy which has been pursued. Of all conditions the
one most imperative in these proceedings was that not
the slightest suspicion should attach, to the good faith
observed by the country in its dealings with the volun-
teers. When once it had been determined —as, with
undoubted wisdom, it was—to abandon the old methods
of coercion, and to rely entirely upon the spirit and
patriotism of the population for filling the ranks of the
militia as well as of the army, nothing was more indis-
pensable than that this spirit should be encouraged and
maintained by liberality and justice on the part of the
State. To have exacted from any volunteer more than
he had thought himself bound to give, or to have left
him in a position into which he could have fancied
himself entrapped, would have been to destroy our
resources for the future by deterring recruits from
what they might consider an ambiguous service.
This result has been escaped, nor can any militia-
man now say that he has been detained on duty beyond
the terms of his enlistment, as understood by himself,
or that in volunteering for service he has undertaken
obligations of a more onerous character than he ima-
gined. Although, moreover, the force at the immediate
disposal of the country may have been thus weakened
for the moment, the result will not be prejudicial is the
end. The men who have retired will still represent so
many trained soldiers available for those emergencies
with a view to which they were raised, and they will
carry with them to their homes a good account
of the service they have left. They will have
no harsh treatment or illiberal dealing to com-
plain of, and they 'will offer in their own persons
the best of all proofs of the good faith with
which their engagements have been regarded.
That such facts should be without their weight is
not to be supposed, and we may anticipate, without
much presumption, that the vacancies in these ranks wt

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We have no fears as to the result of the trial. We
have perfect confidence in the shrewdness and integ-
rity of twelve English jurymen. They will knew
how to banish from their minds Any allegations or dis-
cussions they may have heard before they entered the
jury-box, and to decide upon the evidence there
brought before them exclusively. But in the name of
common sense and common spoorality, we must record our
protest against the mischieious fallaciee that have been
ventilated on the present occasio'n. Some have argued
that it is impossible for a rich person to commit a theft,
because they can have no motive. Are men to disbe-
lieve their eyes, because it is difficult to conjecture what
can have influenced an offender to act as he has done ?
The guilty fact having been proved, the guilt of the per-
petrator is established : it is for metaphysician, not for
judges or juries, to puzzle their beads with curious in-
quiries about motives. If a man kills another, is he to
escape scot free unless the prosecutor can show what
object he proposed to attain by committing the murder ?
Again, we are told that thefts committed by wealthy
persons can only be attributed to insanity, and that in-
sane persons are not responsible for their action. There
is in this argument a fallacious play upon words. Psy-
chologists call every person insane who labours under
mental disease of any kind or degree. But it is not
every kind or degree of insanity that can or ought to
exempt culprits from punishment. The object of punish.
ment is to afford a motive to abstain from crime to those
in whom the natural motives for such abstinence are
wanting or too weak. A man who may be unable to
control an irregular desire may be induced to desist
from its indulgence if he knows that he will be punished
for it. All that is required in any man to render him
amenable to punishment is that lie shall be able to com-
prehend that puni-liment will be the consequence of his
committing a prohibited act. There are mental diseases
which render men incapable of comprehending this, and
they who arc visited by them are justly exempted from
punishment. But mere violence of desire and deficiency
of self-control, though they indicate a diseased state of
mind, do not necessarily constitute insanity in the eye
of equity or the law. This plea of insanity has of late
been crossly abused in criminal cases, and in the interest
of public morals and public law the abuse must be
checked.

soon be filled, and that volunteering for the militia will
proceed even more successfully than before.
Looking broadly at the subject we may truly say that
the country has little reason to be dissatisfied with its

militia volunteers. The regiments, in most cases, were
well and rapidly filled, and the young recruits, after a
short period of training, displayed every promise of
military excellence. When the invitation was given to
volunteer into the line it was accepted with extraor-
dinary spirit, nor should it ever be forgotten, ,when the
actual number of militia effectives is spoken of, that the
complements of many corps have been laigely and con-
stantly reduced by the draughts thus made upon their
strength. Again, when it was made known that the ser-
vices of militia regiments would be accepted for duty at
certain foreign stations there was no lack of offers, nor
did the militia fail us in this respect any more than in
others. If the force has not been maintained at its full

complement, it has been raised on unexceptionable
terms, and without t►he slightest grievance inflicted on
any class of the population ; it has made admirable pro-
gress in training, it has evinced the most patriotic spirit
in responding to the calls made upon it, nor is there any
ground for surprise or discontent in the fact that some
of its soldiers who had enli-ted on certain specified con-
ditions should, after the due observance of those con-
ditions, have been indisposed to extend them.

THE MINISTRY AND THE WAR.
( From the Morning Herald of this day. )
We are bound to confess to our readers, that in "well-
informed" circles, and even amongst persons likely to
know, the belief prevails that the visit of M. Drouyn de
i'lluys to this country had for its object to obtain a
direct understanding with die British Cabinet, in order
that, with authority, he might go to Vienna, and restrain
the peace-at-all-price propensities, of which, it is said,
manifest signs have been given by our noble plenipo-
tentiary at the conferences in that city. We do not pre-
tend to affirm positively that this opinion is incorrect
as to the real object of the French Minister for Foreign
Affairs in visiting London, and afterwards so rapidly
proceeding to Vienna ; but, we confess, we have our
doubts. For various reasons, we do not believe that
the Emperor of the French is so decidedly adverse to a
peace as the truth of this report would indicate. There
are many reasons, some sufficiently obvious, whyhe may
not be disposed to prolong the war ; whilst the conduct
of our own Government is perfectly unintelligible, if it
be not explained by their confident hope of a speedy
peace. We think that conduct, under any circumstances,
utterly inexcusable, and even specially calculated to de-
feat their own object—if peace be that object—because
the best chance of inducing Russia to consent to fair
terms of peace undoubtedly lies in convincing her that
England is well prof-at-0d to contlnuelhe war, and'has
not relaxed in any essential preparations. But still, be-
lieving as we do that the Palmerston Ministry is deeply
imbued with the same notions as Lord Aberdeen's, and
knowing as we also do that both Lord Aberdeen him-
self and all his late colleagues are still of opinion that
he is a much maligned and undeservedly condemned
man, that he is really endowed with statesmanlike qua-
lities of a very high order, and that he has not been so
very wrong after all--knowing all this, it is only to be
expected that those who hold these opinions will hold
on in the same disastrous course, and that the nation
will be rewarded with its natural fruits. That course
was, as we have constantly pointed out, to placeim-
plicit confidence in the success of negotiation, and to
neglect all the precautions which sound policy would
dictate to provide for its failure.
This, indeed, is the one only intelligible explanation
of the neglect by the Ministry of all efficient preparation
for a Crimean campaign, in season,
so that something
effectual may be accomplished in time. Lord Palmerston
and his colleagues must be confidently trusting that
that campaign will prove unnecessary. Not that we
think this trust any justification of such neglect, but it
is the only explanation which we can imagine of a course
which will not prove the less fatal because it is so ac-
counted for, nor the less inexcusable because it is
adopted in spite of the lesson which their past failures
ought to have taught our rulers.
If, however, the Government really believe that the
war is to be carried on, we ask, are there any indications
that it is their intention to bring it to a satisfactory
settlement by the extent and efficiency of their, prepara-
tions ? Have they contrived so to support Lord Raglan
as to enable him, during these precious weeks of spring,
to strike some decisive blow ? Rather, is it not well
known that he is left so that the utmost which he can
do is to maintain his own, and that with his present
means it is idle for him to attempt to wrest any advan-
tages from the enemy.
°We therefore do not scruple to avow that we
much doubt whether the reported object of M.
Drouyn de l'ffuy's visit to this country is the real one.
We may be mistaken—we would fain hope that we are,
but this we know, that if the war is to be prolonged in
consequence of the proceedings of M. Drouyn de l'Huys,
then there is no punishment too severe for, those who,
expecting that contingency, have neglected the essential
means for meeting it with efficiency.
It is now nearly three months ago that we ventured to
advise our countrymen as to the course which they should
pursue. We told them—first, to get rid of Lord Aber-
iw'i'sho ucolndeaegrsuteosod his business, was placed at
secondly, to see that a really
able
of the War Department ; thirdly, to have a
Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer who
would negotiate( such a loan as would prevent the efforts
of tht
e War Minister from being unduly crippled ;
fourthly,Fdtieleersntman,aeelar:ildn to get such a man as Herbert Ed wardes in
some post of great influence at the seat of war ; and
lastly, to place in a state of efficiency the constitutional
forces of the country.
These were the recommendations which we then ven-
tured to give. The first has been most incompletely
carried out. The second has been adopted in much the
same spirit as the first. The third and fourth have been
wholly disregarded ; arid as for the last, the actual state
of
the
militia affords hut too sad an answer. But we
ask our readers to pause, and to reflect, whether, bad
this practical advice o,f ours. been taken, the country
would not, with God s blesing, have been in a totally
different position from that in which it has now the mis-
fortune to find itself ? At present we can do no more
than to repeat it ; it is applicable now as it was then—
only, alas 1 much precious time has been lost, which is
irrecoverable.

arrangement
THE MILITIA ARRANGEMENTS AND
EMBARRASSMENTS.
(From the Times of yesterday.)
We have once or twice had occasion to remark on the
embarrassments which have been created by the confu-
s
smi oand
eo fwpurposes
dand objects pervading the
that originally this force was not called out on the pre-
sumption of any such contingencies as have
actually
occurred. It was designed at that time to constitute a
home force especially, a force which was to be enrolled on
certain easy and attractive conditions of service, and which
was to be called into activity in case of our own shores
being exposed to attack. The idea of a great fo-
retn war, involving the despatch of numerous batta-
lions to a distant part of Eurore, and necessitating the
aid of the Militia in keeping up the strength or
sharing the duties of the regular army, was not then en-
tertained. It happened, however, that a very shoit
time afterwards these obligations disclosed themselves,
and, while apprehensions of attacks upon our own ousts
seemed to be set at rest, a large and sudden demand was
made for soldiers to be despatched on service abroad. The'
militia therefore was embodied under circumstances differ-
ing from those first anticipated, the men were invited to
volunteer into the line, and some of the regiments have
even been sent, with their own consent, upon foreign ser-
vice. This naturally created a good deal of perplexity, in-
asmuch as, though no breach of faith was either com-
mitted or intended, many men unavoidably found them-
selves in positions upon wbich they had not reckoned when
they enlisted. A-further and more striking proof of
these cross-purposes has been since given in our military
intelligence. In many of the militia regiments the men,
availing themselves of the discretion secured to them by