The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-11 00:00:00

and has had, therefore, ample opportunities of re-
ducing the burden before now. The income tax is
no joking matter to many, but out of it Mr. CARD-
WELL contrived to elicit some mirth, and his men-
tion of the " unpleasant impost sticking at seven-
pence like a barge upon a sandbank" was very ap-
propriate in its retrospection. When he came to
the more immediate subjects of interest that engage
the attention and engross the thoughts of all at
the present day, the orator was not so happy or
fortunate in his expressions. All he could do was
to put a good face on the matter, make the best of
a bad job, and expatiate on the blessings of peace
that are enjoyed, while others were suffering all the
horrors of war. It would have been alt very well to
talk in this style it England could have combined
security with honour, and if her annalists could
say that all that could be done had been effected by
rulers to save others, and to mete out justice. Ame-
rica is a topic that causes endless sources of heart■
burning and vexations. A chance has been lost
which might have saved an immensity of suffer-
ing to all oar subjects, and for the struggling
combatants themselves might have put a period
to their disastrous strife. Instead of this the
subterfuge that has guided the actions, the in-
justice that has marked the course, and the pre-
judice and partiality that have actuated our Minis-
ters in their dealings with the belligerent States,
are well-known to the world. It is a cold and
cruel thing to be always proclaiming to the world
that we are safe, whoever else is in danger.
Our time of trial will come again some day, and
it is not the way to deserve success in the con-
test, or to secure sympathy in the strife, if we
now, in the plenitude of power, and the full
tide of prosperity, lead others astray by the hope of
support, and then ingeniously evade responsibility;
and, leaving them to their fate, exult that peace is
ours, whatever may betide or befall those who
trusted to our good faith, and deemed themselves
safe under the shadow of our strength. Peace is a
great blessing, an undeniable advantage, and a
crowning benefit. It is one of the choicest gifts
that a benignant Providence can shower down upon
a favoured land, but like other temporal goods it
may be bought tao dearly, and rated too highly.
The peace that is bought at the cost of reputa-
tion is worse than the most sanguinary war,
and the selfishness that bids us succumb
to the strong and bully the weak is quite a new fea-
ture introduced into the national character by the
tactics and devices of a Coalition Government. It
is all very well for their members to talk of their
services; the country may pay too dear a price for
them, and while they expatiate on the welfare of
the community under their guidance, a feeling is
spreading surely, if slowly, and murmurs are heard,
not loud but deep, which tell too truly of the spirit
of discontent and dissatisfaction that is engendered.
Here and there a constituency may appear quiescent
or a meeting or assembly applaud, but these chance
examples do not fully or faithfully represent the
feeling of the people. Public opinion has declared
against the cowardly policy that rules in Downing-
street, and while a remnant of the fire of older days
survives, the condemnatoryjudgment will be ratified
by posterity.

The busy events of the last few years have
partially obliterated from the public mind the fer-
vour of sympathy and indignation which was ex-
cited by the first suffering winter which our army
passed in the Crimea, Though years have rolled
by, it is difficult even now to contemplate with

patience the records of the miserable mismanage-
ment, the lavish expenditure and profuse supplies,
on the one hand, and the deaths from absolute want
of common comforts and neglect on the other. Tie
crowded harbour and the starving camp, the shoe.
lees soldiers tramping merrily to the trenches, while
the stock of boots went down with the good ship
Prince for want of due precaution. The
money so eagerly voted by Parliament and people
at home, and the green coffee served out to the
troops abroad, the densely packed and ill-managed
hospitals, the fodderless horses, the rigid adherence
to a routine that was only suitable to peace, the
utter absence of all genius for control or organisa-
tion—all combine to form wellnigh as melancholy
and humiliating a spectacle as our military history
can furnish. But there was as usual some compen-
sation for the trouble. Good grew out of evil. The
suffeaings of the poor wounded and invalided men
called forth the kindly charity of FLORENCE NIGHT-
INGALE, and her noble self-devotion to the cause of
military sanitary reform has since then worked
moat important effects. The outbreak of irre-
pressible indignation which swept Lord ABER-
DEEN'S Cabinet from office produced also some
substantial changes in the administration of our
military affairs. Such terrible mistakes are not
likely to cccur again, even should we continue
as destitute of eminent generals as we were in
the Crimea. The changes, limited and capable of
improvement as they were, were still improvements
on a system that had retained the abuses and
shortcomings of a long series of years. The
reduction and concentration of our military offi-
ces did not, however, give universal satisfaction,
and one of the malcontents has just given utterance
to his sentiments in a comparison between the
present and the past.* The brochure in which
he explains his theories has been already before the
public, and the fact of its having passed through
more than one edition would seem to indicate either
that its author's views are congenial to the general
feeling, or that he has set them forth with some
degree of power and ability. Both these reasons
are partially true, for he expresses himself clearly
and vigorously, while his opinions will, doubtless,
find a good many advocates and sympathizers in
military circles. When we come to look closely
into them we shall find, however, that our au-
thor is somewhat too much of a soldier to be
accepted unreservedly as a reformer. The
present War Administration, he says, consists of a
military triumvirate—the Secretary of State, the
Commander-in-Chief, and the Under-Secretary,
since the Judge-Advocate who is really a member
of the Administration, takes no part i❑ adminis •
trative affairs. Under the Premiership of the Iron
Duke the military administration consisted of no
less than thirteen officers, all in Parliament.
It certainly appears, on the face of it, to
be a substantial reform and important economy
which has reduced thirteen offices to four,
thirteen salaries to less than one-third of the num
ber, and has simplified and concentrated the admi-
nistration of affairs is a manner quite impossible
among so many conflicting authorities and influences.
The famous distich, which tells us how on a
memorable occasion—

" Lord Chatham, with his sward half drawn,
Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strahan ;
Sir Richard, longing to be at '6ln,
Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham ;"
was verified figuratively, if not literally, in the
delays, commands, and countermands of the Crimean
Par; and, certainly, among Secretaries, and Clerks,
and Treasurers, Masters-General, Lieutenants-