The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-18 00:00:00

lIIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tars DAY—Morn. 5 min. aft. 9—Evening 37 min. aft. 9
TO-MORROW—Morn. 12 min.aft. 10—Evening 45 min. aft, 10

THE WEATHER—SEN OFFICE, Dec. 18.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
43 - highest since noon yesterday.
42—'lowest this morning and during the night.
43 -this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30.19—rising again.
WTNr., S.E.—Blowing fresh, with cloudy, but fine cold
weather and sunshine.

§llll,

LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1855.

In another part of this day's impression will bo
found the copy of a document which has recently
excited the public curiosity in no ordinary degree.
It is the very remarkable Memorial to which
Prince ALBERT has affixed his name as a petitioner
to his Royal Consort, for a modification of the
regulations contained in the Royal Warrant of the
ith October, 1854. It is therein asserted that the
system of promotion thereby adopted " must press
at once, and has already pressed, in individual in-
stances, with peculiar, unjust, and cruel severity
on those officers," (i.e., Captains and Lieutenant-
Colonels of the Guards, existing as such at the
period when the report was issued) ; " and that
it amounts to a BREACH OF FAITH on the part of
the authorities, and is directly opposed to, and at
variance with, the principle of respect for vested
interests which the Report recognises and affirms,
and on which it professes fundamentally to pro-
ceed !" This is a strong, a startling assertion ;
and when it is supported by the testimony of one
who must be regarded by her MAJESTY as a per-
fectly unexceptionable witness, requires the
closest examination, the most attentive conside-
ration.

It is needless to say that in every transaction of
life, public or private, unbroken " faith," not
only in accordance with the letter but the spirit
of every actual or implied contract, should be ob-
served. If therefore there couldluecstobio,
thetaanyis founda-
tionno for this statement, c
longer a point for argument. At any amount of
inconvenience that which justice and equity de-
mand must be fully
thatand w completely
can
b y
nconceded.But we regret to say
concur in the
very sweeping conclusion thus ar-
rived at, or in the validity of the arguments by
which it has been sustained. No existing pri-
vilege has been taken from the Captains and
Lieutenant-Colonels of the Guards, the parties
whose wrongs are so feelingly and elaborately set
forth. They still rank as Lieutenant-Colonels in
the army, and are entitled, as in former years, to
exchange with officers of similar rank in the Lino,
and may thus easily acquire the actual command
of Regiments. They still receive the stipulated
amount of pay, and will be included in any future
brevet or brevets, and thus be materially expedited
in their progress towards the rank of General,
the position of " COMMAND" which the Memorial
declares to be the great " object of military am-
Theyliave therefore sustained no wrong,
onlyand the peg
complaint is, thatwhereon it is possible to hang a
they are placed in respect to
future promotions in a comparatively worse posi-
tion than the Lieutenant-Colonels of the Line in
" actual command of Regiments."
There is certainly nothing in this whereon to
found a charge of injustice or " breach of faith !"
And, on investigating the matter, we find that it
reduces itself to a charge of " favouritism," in
which the Memorialists consider greater advantages
have been bestowed on others than on certain