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

The case of the Right Hon. T. F. KENNEDY
occupied the attention of the House of Commons
the greater portion of last night. Much ridicule
has been cast on the friends of the deeply-injured
gentleman for their attempts to obtain redress
for the gross and palpable injustice with which he
has been treated. Imputations were cast upon
his veracity, integrity, and honour, such as, if
permitted to remain unanswered, would have
operated as a perpetual and insuperable obstacle
to his employment in her MAJESTY'S service.
These have all been withdrawn in the most distinct
and explicit manner. Nay, more, it was stated
by the Premier that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had come out of the debate with his " character
and honour free from all imputation !" He
even undertook that there should be placed on
record in the Treasury a full acknowledgment that
" Mr. KENNEDY'S honour stands unimpeached !"
These are certainly important conces-
sions. It cannot, therefore, be asserted
that the time of the House has been
wasted or misapplied. There was no other tri-
bunal to which he could have appealed. It is the
theory of the British Constitution that there
should be no wrong without a suitable and ade-
quate remedy ; and we therefore unhesitatingly
say, that if th• grievance had beeu sustained by
the poorest and least influential of her MAJESTY'S
subjects the time of Parliament would have been
well occupied in affording the tardy redress—suel,
as it is—which has been obtained.
We cannot, in any degree, admit the argument
derived from the inconvenience that might occur
if such inquiries were granted. We have seen
many committees granted on matters of far less
consequence. Mr. GLADSTONE claimed infalli-
bility for the Minister for the time being ; his
demand that he should be allowed, at his mere
will and pleasure, to damage irroparably the cha-
racter and prospects of any public servant is one
that will never be sanctioned by the House, and
still less by the country. Englishmen love fair
play—to do as they would be done by, and
the absolute irresponsibility asserted is one that
would be more likely to find an echo in Russian
than in English hearts. It is one under which
any amount of tyranny and oppression might
be justified. It may be right and proper
that such a remedy should be but sparingly
resorted to ; but its existence is exceedingly
valuable, and may prevent the exercise o

capricious authority in many instances. If a
British subject should be enabled to parody the
old !exclamation, "Civis Romanus sum," and
to rely on it as a defence against unfair treatment

,n any country where he might be travelling,

much more so should it lie within his power at
home. If there were any fair and impartial
tribunal to -which he could appeal, could any other
mode of obtaining justice be disovered, then the

appeal to the Commons House of Parliament

might be opposed as superfluous and lawn

venient.

But, when it was clearly 'admitted

that there is no existing jurisdiction adequate

to the emergency, when the grievance was

clearly established, and the unwarrantable impu-
tations withdrawn, then, we say, that the

_ .
public time was not misapplied—that it was

the imperative duty of the representatives
_ -

of the people to create a remedy, if none

were in existence, to prevent the arbitrary and

improper treatment of one of themselves.

"It is very fine, but it is not war." Such,
in effect, for we do not at this moment remember
the precise words, was the comment of the dis-
tinguished French General who witnessed the
unparalleled feat of arms, that career through the
jaws of death, of our Light Cavalry Brigade
under Lord CARDIGAN at Balaklava.

The comment is too suggestive to be left wholly
unimproved, for never was the exercise of a dis-
crimination like that it reveals more necessary
than at the present time. In a similar spirit,
therefore, though with unequal skill, we venture
to make a few remarks on two or three subjects of
immediate interest in connection with the mighty
struggle in which the nation is engaged.
The Peace-at-any-Price Party, in furtherance
of their unpatriotic and degrading views, point to
the fearful loss of human life in the Crimea, and,
appealing to the best feelings of our nature, ask
if it is not most desirable that a War requiring
sacrifices of
such magnitude, and so appalling,
should be put a stop to as speedily as possible ?
To an appeal so plausible what have we to say in
reply ? Sitnply this—the War does not, never
did, and is not likely to require sacrifices so fear-
' ful. The number of the slain in battle, and of
wounds received there,
those who have died of
does not amount to much more than a tithe of
the number lost. The remainder—seven-tenths of
them at least—have not been sacrificed to the
Demon of War, but to the Demon of Caste, whose
ptiestheod have been blind selfiahness, heartless