The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(From the Times of this day.)
Many speeches have been made within the last
fortnight, but few in which there has been any-
thing to notice, and still fewer which have deserved
any word of praise. It is, therefore, with some
pleasure that we refer to the remarks made by the
Duke of Cambridge at Liverpool. A Royal Duke
and a General not long returned from active ser-
vice could hardly address an audience at the pre-
sent time on any other subject than the great
events which have lately occupied the nation. On
the past campaign and our military system, which
has so completely collapsed, the Duke of Cam-
bridge gives his opinion freely, and with a candour
and goad sense which may well shame older men.
There is a certain class of speakers who always
" have seen with great regret " the observations
made on those who allowed a noble army to perish
of cold and sickness, or thrust forward a doomed
band to destruction, while the comrades who could
have saved them were kept inactive in the rear.
These are generally men belonging to some clique
which has a friend in command, or who think to
display superior discernment by proclaiming the
general judgment of their countrymen to be un-
founded and unjust. Those, however, who have a
position to lose cannot venture to display this arro-
gance and affectation. Even the Cabinet has tacitly
admitted the justice of all that has been said both
on former and recent shortcomings, and now we
hear a personage of the highest rank, and with the
best means of forming a judgment, openly pro-
claiming the reality of the delinquencies which have
been so stoutly denied. "At the beginning of the
Crimean campaign," says his Royal Highness,
" deficiencies manifested themselves which made
every one impatient. Officers were impatient—
men were impatient—l was impatient." Be-
cause the nation was impatient too, and found
an expression for its feelings, a set of loud-
mouthed underlings has ever kept up a cry about
calumny, falsehood, and the injustice of attacking
absent men. It was said that persons at a dis-
tance could know nothing of what really passed,
and that even civilians on the spot ought not to
presume to give a judgment on military affairs.
We have now a General of Division who fought
during two months of the campaign, and those the
most disastrous and depressing, and his opinion
coincides with that which the public has long since
formed.

The Duke speaks of the late disasters as due to
our military system, rather than to any individuals
actually engaged in the Crimea. This is, no doubt,
to a great extnt true. The defects are of ancient
date. Every officer and every department can
throw with justice considerable blame on other
persons and other branches of the service. But the
public condemnation cannot be averted by this
mutual shifting of responsibility. The result
remains the same--that the British army was
ruined by the incompetence of its heads and the
anarchy of its departmentg ; that each man was
partly the cause of his neighbour's failures helps the
defence but little. No particular man has been
held responsible for what has occurred ; but those
in office and those in command, as nearest to our
disasters, have been naturally held more responsible
thais others. The nation is well aware that so
complete was the chaos that such an advantage as
being able to discover the true primary cause of
the evil is not to be hoped for. The system may
be regarded as immediately guilty. The question
then remains—What is the system, and who are
responsible for it ? Why is it that the States
of continental Europe can embark in war with-
out so discreditable and disastrous a transition
from a state of peace ? What are the advantages
possessed by these less wealthy and less active
nations ? France has, indeed, carried on cam-
paigns during a quarter of a century in Africa, but
it has been chiefly a warfare of skirmishing and.
surprises ; it was not in Africa that her engineers
learnt how to sap up to the Malakhoff. In the
present generation Russia has made only a single
short campaign in Hungary ; yet the Russian gene-
rals and officers have shown themselves, by the ad-
mission of their enemies, men of the highest skill,
while their transport service and commissariat have
performed prodigies. Prussians and Austrians
never see any warfare more serious than a review,
yet were they to take the field they would, perhaps
march and bivouack without serious loss. Even
little Piedmont has surprised the world by the
efficiency of its troops. Everything connected with
its army is said to be a model of arrangement. We,
the only people who in the last 40 years have car-
ried on regular wars—we who have fought the dis-
ciplined armies of mighty Indian princes as well as
Caffres and New Zealanders, who have invad-
ed China and tamed the Burmese, find our-
selves on a great occasion novices in the mili-
tary art. Why have Affghanistan and the Punjaub
given no lessons for the Crimea ? That Indian
experience has been lost as regards the present war
is part of the system, and the blame must fall some-
where. But even practical warfare seems in the case
of our allies and enemies to have been less the cause
of efficiency than careful education and accurate
arrangement. Our officers we know to be brave
beyond all praise ; the men who follow them are
worthy of such leaders ; yet what is the result ? We
cannot relate a deed of heroism without blushing at
an act of folly. They rush needlessly on batteries
at Balaklava ; they have no batteries to defend
them at Inkerman. It is fine, it is glorious, but
it is not war, say French and Russian lookers-on.
The subaltern and the general are equally fear-
less and equally unskilful ; there is no difference
between them ; the general is only a subaltern of
70. These gallant deeds have not saved the nation's
military fame ; after a year of perils and endurance,
every paltry Grman newspaper can talk of Eng-
land's exhaustion and humiliation. Each matt has
done his best, but his best has only been to fight
with the untutored bravery of his race. Head,
skill, a keen eye, and a calm judgment are wanted,
and we owe the deficiency to the system, which
the Duke of Caintridge openly condemns. It is of
no use to recur to the past; those who had the
management of military affairs, and who are chiefly
responsible for the incapacity of commanders and
the confusion of departments, have now, to some
extent, been succeeded by other men ; always sup-
posing that General Simpson's recall has not been
cancelled. It remains to profit by past errors, and
we are glad to find that among the highest in the
State they are so justly appreciated.
The remarks of the Duke of Cambridge on the
political question of the war will be received with
satisfaction. " A peace at the present moment,"
says his Royal Highness, " would not be an honour-
able, durable, and lasting peace. Until such a
peace could be concluded he was for carrying on the
war with all possible vigour and determination."
It is, perhaps, unnecesary to give special praise for
an opinion at which the duke has arrived in com-
mon with the great body of his countrymen, but
the people will be glad to find that they have in
him one who shares their patriotic feelings, and
will give no countenance to the unworthy coali-
tion with which we are threatened. This is a time
when the co-operation of every rank is necessary
for the success of the common cause, and the
knowledge that a near relative of the Sovereign
feels and expresses the sentiments of the country
will give confidence to those who labour to uphold
its dignity, while abroad it will discourage any
ignorant hopes that may be founded on what are
called dynastic influences. It is some consolation
to have a Prince of this manly mind. All orders of
the State seem now united to prosecute the war
through victory and disaster until its objects be
won. Sebastopol will not satisfy a people who are
in arms for the security of Europe. Victories and
captured cannon are not the results for which we
bade farewell to a peace of 40 years. We fight for
a principle, and not for the point of honour
The Duke of Cambridge is as sensible of the blessings
we have lost for a season as any Lancashire peace-
maker. "Every one," he says, " who had wit-
nessed, as he had, the actual miseries of war would
rejoice at the return of peace, and cherish a state of
peace as one of the greatest blessings a nation could
enjoy." Yet his conclusion is that of almost every
reflecting Englishman. He urges the nation to
make no peace at present, nor at any time to cease
from the struggle until ample guarantees be given
that i.t shall not be renewed. This we believe to
be true wisdom ; the men who would enforce these
views are the most earnest labourers for future
security. Though success come slowly, though the
progress be painful, and won step by step, it is the
duty of the nation to persevere with vigour, pa'
tienee, and self-denial until the darkness which
threatens Europe shall pass away. Perhaps the
brightness which will succeed it is nearer than the
most sanguine dare to hope.

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