The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, MONDAY vv..
eivENING, MAY 10, 1864.

Naval and Military Intelligence,

THE ARMY.

Rear-Admiral R.
TS. Robison, Controller of the Navy,
visited Portsmouth
...,ockyard on Saturday, and, accom-
panied by BP:ar-Admiral G. Elliott and other officials, went
on boa:d the Royal Sovereign, cupola ship, in No. 10 dock,
for the purpose of inquiry as to damage on her recent trial,
and also to inspect the state of the vitreous sheathing on the
ship's bottom, already referred to in The Sun of the 13th.
Port Admiral Sir Charles Fremantle, K,C.8., was con-
veyed on Saturday by the gunboat Tilbury from Devonport
into the Sound, where he inspected the crew of the ironcased
screw steam vessel Research, 4, Capt. Wilmshurst.
The screw steamship Defence, 18, Capt. A. Phillimore,
went on Saturday morning from Plymouth Sound into
Hamoaze, and was placed alongside the jetty at Devonport
Dockyard, preparatory to going to-day into No. 1 dock to
be examined, and to have her valves overhauled. For this
purpose the paddlewheel steamsloop Geyser was removed
from No. 1 dock on Saturday. When the tide rose the
Warrior, 40, Capt. the Hon. Arthur A. Cochrane, followed
the Defence, and was placed at moorings in Hamoaze, pre-
paratory to being put to-day into the Princess dock, in the
dockyard, from which the gunboats Partridge, Gleaner, and
Ferret were removed on Friday evening. Yesterday at noon
the iron screw steamship Black Prince, 41, Capt. J. J. B.
Wainwright, second in command of the Channel squadron,
was navigated from Plymouth Sound into Hamoaze for the
purpose of being docked. Five steamtugs were inattendance.
In order to expedite the operation in Woolwich Dock-
yard for the preparation of armour-plates for Mr. Reed's
iron-cased ships, the Favourite and Pallas, the plate-bend-
ing shed has been considerably enlarged and the machinery
increased by the addition of new machines for planing the
edges of twisted, tapered, or curved plates. The machinery
has been supplied by the firm of Messrs. Smith, Beacock,
and Tannett, of Leeds, with modifications by Mr. Trickett,
chief engineer and inspector of steam machinery at the
dockyard, as also machines for boring slotting, Ake. One of
the machines is on a powerful and magnificent scale, and
was put into operation on Saturday to test its efficiency with
three tools working at the same time. The result was highly
satisfactory. The whole of the machines worked equally
well. By the introduction of these improvements great
progress is expected to be made.

An untoward accident has happened on board the paddle-
wheel steamer Salamis, 4, 250-horse power, Commander F,
G. Suttie, fitting as a look-out ship to be attached to the
Channel Fleet. The Salamis had just returned from her
trial trip at the Maplin Sands, with Capt. Hall, C,8,, and
the other officials on board, and was steaming to her moor-
ings in the Medway, when, from some cause which at pre-
sent does not seem capable of explanation, the bottom of one
of her cylinders was blown out. This accident will detain
the Salamis for several woeks, as nearly the whole her ma-
chinery will require to be taken out. It is the more to be
regretted as she was to have sailed on Saturday to join the
Channel squadron, to which she was to act as "whipper-in."
The following appointments and promotions have been
made at the Admiralty :—Commander Douglas Walker to
be an Inspecting Commander of the Coastguard, vice Com-
mander Smithett, whose period of service has expired ;
Lieut. IV. G. Annesley, to the Wolvercne ; J. Neil, chief
engineer, to the Indus, for the St. Jean d'Acre ; Dovar
Farrant, master, to the Cossack ; Dr. IV. Smith, surgeon-
superintendent, to the Merchantman convict ship; W. A.
King cote, naval cadet, to the Wolverene ; IV. G. Carrow,
naval cadet, to the Duncan; W. G. Atkinson, W. H. Adlam,
G. Christie, Alfred Gibbons, J. S. Caveneagh, Francis C.
Corbet (acting), T. M'G. Bridge, Samuel M. Spry, and
Selwyn S. Lugnen, promoted to the rank of masters; J. P.
M'Erven, second master to the Investigator; J. Riches and
Arthur C. Dowdell, second masters, to the Dasher; James
Fisher, second master, to the Sparrow; W. T. Tregidgo,
second master, to the Caradoc ; Alfred S. Bradley, second
master, to the Steady; and Percy C. Smith, 'doting second
master, to the Triton.

The Albert Memorial,

The works in connection with this national me-
morial were last week commenced by Mr. Kelk, to
whom the execution of the entire contract has been
intrusted. The site chosen for it is in Hyde Park,
almost facing the'entrance to the Horticultural
Gardens, and on this spot the excavations for the
foundation are being made. Fram the great height
(160 feet) and the immense solidity and massive-
ness of the memorial, the foundations have to be
taken unusually deep, considering the excellent
nature of the soil, which is all gravel. Under the
centre part they are to be formed of 16 feet of con-
crete, and nowhere are they to be less than 10 feet.
The base of the memorial is to consist of broad and
lofty flights of steps that gave access to the work
on four sides, and the work itself is to be no less
than 130 feet square. The steps of grey granite
are to be laid in a double flight, with a broad
landing between the upper and lower tier. From
this upper landing the memorial proper will rise,
the basement being formed of a noble frieze in
marble, tl.e figures on which will be in high relief
and of life size. The cohimns which support the
spire-like superstructure of the memorial are to con-
eist of groups of four red granite pillars, each 2ft in
diameter. Their capitals are exceedingly rich, and
will be surmounted with statues of heroic size.
Tes spire,on if we so call it, which closes in the
arch, eof map
ay
richest and most elaborate of all
iMr. Scott's designs. It will be built of red and
grey granite, and the rich white stone known as
Darley Dale. The terminal and surmounting cross
will bo of wrought copper gilt, and this portion
of the work is to be executed by the Skidmore
Art Company, whose rood screen in the transept
of the last Exhibition excited such admiration
for its exquisite finish. Beneath the groined
arch will be placed the statue of the late Prince
Consort. His Royal Highness is represented in
robes of State, seated on a chair of state. The
proportions of the figure are on a scale which,
if the statute was represented standing would
give it a height of 30ft. Too details of this figure
and the other groups of statuary which will sur-
round the memorial are, however, still undecided,
The whole work is expected to take four years in
completion, and by the terms of his contract Mr
Kelk has bound himself to complete it for the sum
in hand—Xl2o,ooo. The laying of the foundation
stone will he marked by a public ceremonial, at
which the members of the Royal family will be pre-
sent. No date is fixed for this event, which, in-
deed, is net likely to take place till late in autumn.

reduction to recommend. The army, he says, costs

greatly too much, and there are 600,000 men on
foot, but France has and will have 100,000 men
abroad, including Algeria. 250,000 men are required
for garrison duty, and she has therefore only 250,000
men available for foreign service. With that force,
in his judgment; "she is, perhaps, the only Power
in Europe on a peace footing," The inner network
of railways will add a million- to the burden of the
State, but they have been commenced, and must be
finished. The civil expenditure has been enormously
raised, but "intelligent officials must be placed on
a level with the classes among whom they live."
The marine requires reduction, but the ships are
abroad, and redaction is impossible until they are
at home again. And so it goes on, subject by sub.
ject, till the orator acknowledges that the Empire
has increased the annual expenses by thirty-two
millions sterling a year, and bursts into a perora-
tion which will be accepted throughout
France as a justification of the outlay. "I
may ho told that this general increase of 500 or
600 millions causes alarm, but that all may
explained by a closer scrutiny. Yes, all may be

explained if every three or four years a great war
undertakm without giving the country time to
breathe. Such a war as the Crimean, undertaken

for a definite object, or a war for an idea, such as a
Polish war might have been, and the Italian war
certainly was ; and then, in the interval, little petty
wars, petty in their objects, great in their cost.
Yes, in that way all is explained ; far we have a
deficit every year, and thus we have arrived at an
increase of 309 millions in the public debt ; all is
made clear if it is wished at one and the same
moment to add preset:go to the Government, to
augment salaries, to demolish and reconstruct cities,
to organise the army in the most costly manner, to
add to the obligatory expense of transforming our
marine that of distant expeditions to found em-
pires, to confer now and then a crown, in that way,
I repeat, all is explained." What Frenchman alive,
knowing that he is armed to fight for an idea, that
the official world he hopes to enter is powerful and
well paid, that the Government is reconstructing
cities, founding empires, transforming armaments,
giving away crowns, will not except that position
as compensation for high taxes and higher rents ?
We believe, as a matter of fact, that the indirect
teaching of the speech is more correct than its pro-
fessed object, that France has earned its penny•
worth for its penny, that as far as material civilisa-
tion and external power are concerned the Empire
has given full value for all it has exacted. Napoleon
has broken up the old coalition of Europe, has raised
France again to her natural position as leader of the
Continent, has so increased the facilities of commu-
nication, the inducements to trade, the habit of
speculation, and the actual produce of the country
—for example, the vineyards and the mines—that
France pays 80 millions a year more easily than
she paid fifty. But then what kind of statesman-
ship is it which detesting the paginte for other
reasons attacks it on its strongest side ? The
Liberals of France deplore the awful " coreee of
blood," the 100,000 youths exacted year by year,
and M. Thiers says France is the only Power which
has no need to disarm ; they rage at the power of
sending untried men to Cayenne, and he talks of
the cost of the police ' • they mourn the decay of
intellectual vigour, and he hesitates about railways
which are equalising advantages throughout the
country ; they lament the surrender of education to
priests, and he objects to a rise of schoolmasters'
salaries • they sigh ror freedom to guide and regus
late all this fierce activity, and he questions whether
activity be of itself a good. His speech is answered
as it is spoken ; for he enumerates the purchasers,
and forgets all of the price not expressed in money.
It is us if an invalid officer should say, " I spent a
thcusand pounds in buying this pension for life, and
the cost was great," forgetting that he has also spent
a lifetime and a leg. Once, and once only, did M.
Thiers rice to the level of his position. He wante I
to say that the cure for expenditure was Parliameu-
tary control, a dangerous topic for any other man
in France. N. 'Tiers, however, though Bonas
partist by instinct, was trained in a school other
than that of the Empire, and has the tact of speech
which is not given to men who are never contra-
dicted. M. Foald, he says, advised the relinquish.
ment of the right to order supplementary credits,
and the prerogative was resigned. " Had I been
then in his Majesty's councils, I should have said,
with the profound respect due to his august per-
son and high dignity, Sire, do not renounce the
right of decreeing supplementary credits ; it is
impossible to foresee that they may not be re-
quired in the course of the year; and then it would
he necessary to violate the law, an act always
to be deplored. I should have added—' instead of
depriving us of this valuable faculty, allow me
to venture a criticise on your policy, and to this
end restore the relations between myself and my
colleagues, and then bet wean them and the Cly.am-
hers. That introduction of a demand for the
responsibility of l'slinisters into the Corps Legislatif
without reproof from Imperialists is admirably done,
but even in this M. Thiers dieplays his secret in.
stinets, He does not ask that the greatest right
of despotism, that of spending national money with-
out the nation's consent, should be abolished or re-
streinerh He would retain it le full, but make the
power beneficial and transfer it to himself. If
these are the criticisms to which the Empire is to
be submitted in the annual deb tte it will add to its
many victories one in the tribune: The Empire
has crushed out freedein and impaired intellectual
vigour, placed the thinkers under the heel of the
peasants, and statesmen be,:eath the soldiery,
stopped the progress of population tte-d des
French
the security of social intercourse, turned na
men into gamblers and destroyed all belief in.pte._
cal morality, made of every savan a courtier and
rendered every politician liable to Cayenne, and
then M.Thiers declares that its vice is an expendi-
ture which, as every Frenchman sees, has some-
thing like a fivefold return. Napoleon gives France
a stone for bread, and the great Ofleanist only
grumbles that the stone was paid for.
THE "LONDON REVIEW" ON THE ROYAL PRE-
ROGATIVE.—These high authorities (the writer has
been quoting from the "Lord's Journals and from
Hallam's "'Constitutional History") establish
that, while foreign treaties and wars are by theory
subject to the Sovereign's despotic will, they are
matters for which Ministers can be celled:to account
and punished by the severest penalties, under the
principle that it is only by them that the
Sovereign acts. And this being the undoubted
law, there must follow the rule, as clearly in foreign
as in home affairs, that the Sovereign is not justified
by the Constitution in acting against the advice of
Ministers, who must thus bear the responsibility;
and that Parliament is entitled to act by previous
discussion as amply us by subsequent impeachment.
Nor has this implied rule been departed from since
the date of the remonstrance which established it.
If, on any occasion, treaties have been concluded, or
wars declared, for which the previous sanction of
Parliament, expressed in unmistakeable votes, has
not been given, it has been because Parliament has
virtually committed to the Government for the time
the power of negotiation. No instance in modern
history can be quoted where it has for a moment
passed by the Ministry either to confer on the Sove-
reign alone such powers, or to acquiesce in his
exercise of such powers in contravention of Minis-
terial advice. Blest as this nation has been for a
quarter of a century with a Sovereign whose exem-
plary private life has been equalled by her strict
adherence to constitutional principles in home poli-
tics, it has had no inclination to inquire critically
into her relations with her responsible Minister's, or
to suspect that in this age there could be danger of
an extension of the Royal prerogative. Yet it may
perhaps seem, to the cairn observer of human
nature, scarcely possible that in a female reign some;
such questions should not arise. Those peculiari-
ties of disposition and temperament which make a
woman most loveable and,most sacred, are precisely
those which tend to urge her, in such a position, to
the exercise of forbidden powers. It would be
almost unnatural if such au one should not be moved
by family feeling and by tender memories, should
not struggle to support her wishes by her authority,
and should be able to weigh against these motives
the policy of States and the unwritten restraints
of the Constitution. But unhappily that which
tends to the overstepping of the constitution makes
the transgression doubly dangerous. Personal go-
vernment, in the hands of a man so wary, so expe-
rienced, so impassive, as the Emperor of the French,
may, during one generation, be successful ; but
personal government, virtual or avowed, exercised
by a woman's intellect, deprived of the masculine
support on which for 20 years it avowedly leant,
guided by a woman's knowledge, and inspired by a
woman's feelings, can neither represent the interests
of the nation, nor ceps with the astuteness of foreign
diplomacy. For these reasons, we have thought it
right to recall to attention that in foreign policy,
as well as in domestic rule, the constitution subjects
the sovereign, nominally supreme, to the same re-
straints. It removes the responsibility from her to
her Ministers, by assigning to them, not to her, the
tight to act, And if they lightly reckon such re-
sponsibility, we dare not. For we, too, every one
of us, are responsible to God for our share in the
nation's deeds. We can, if we will, do what is
right; we can, if we choose, take arms against op-
pression, and beat back in time the advance of vio-
lence and anarchy in Europe. And if this be our
power, our duty goes with it. If we fail in its per.
formance, the penalty will lie on us and on our chil-
dren ; for thee constitution tells us that the Queen
Senn do no wrong, and reason tell us as plainly that
whatever wrong is done by this nation is not done
by its head but by its members.
THE " Ex UtINER " ON PARLIAMENTARY LYNCH
LAW.—Ther,?, are things which get such a twist of
error at first that they never can be got straight and

right again. As the French phrase it, the erase has
taken and cannot be effaced. Of this class is the
case of Mr Lowe, the victim of Parliamentary Lynch
law. A resolution of the House war. levelled at
him, which applied to him was wholly false. It
served, however, to drive him from office, and
new stands on the records of the house to be fitted
to the case of some other, any other, officer of the
Council-office. This Lord R. Cecil distinctly states.
It is the old story of the wolf and the lamb, little as
Mr. Lowe resembles the helpless animal, "If it was
not you, it was one of your family." The mutila-
tion of reports is charged in the resolution, and
triumphantly, says Lord Robert Cecil, a line in the
report of a Mr. Morell has been suppressed ! The
single swallow proves the summer. It was said the
resolution had not a leg to stand upon. It is false,
answers Lord Robert, here is its leg, the words,
" considering how recently the present teachers
have been in charge," struck out of Mr. Morell's
report. There is the one leg, and such a leg ! The
line was not struck out by Mr. Lowe, but by Mr.
Lingen. But what of that ? There is a consistency
in
aoint. Mr Lowe was convicted first and tried
aficrwm.ds. The resolution aimed at him as passed
but after it was put on the
was entireiy gronue'lles°!
journals of the honourat.L house a ground has been
°
discovered for it—a very Ml,' ground certainly,
and perhaps rotten, hut such as it is th: afterthought
and if Mr. Lingen should finally lse acquitted, like
Mr. Lowe, the resolution will nevertheless ts:and
good to have a shot at some one else in the Council-
office. And all this comes of Education, the most
fruitful source of strife of our contentious times. The
truth is clear enough that the resolution ought to
have been rescinded. It was founded on mistaken
evidence, and passed, as Mr. Osborne says, when the
Homeric rage of hunger was superadded to the pass
sion of party. Oue thing is but too certain, that
Mr. Lowe has been treated with great injustice,
and an injustice which cannot be repaired. As re-
gards him, what can a committee of inquiry ascer-
tain that has not already been confessed, that he is
blameless ? The only question is whether he was run
down by his enemies or abandoned by his friends ;
perhaps a delectable mixture of both. The puzzle
to the public is something like the dilemma in
which ttie old schoolmen put the character of
Lucretia. Si casta quare trucidata, si non quare,
laudata ? If blameless, why is Mr. Lowe out of
office ; if not blameless, why universally acquitted ?
Has he, indeed, like Lucretia, to whom he bears so
many points of resemblance, been more tenacious at
fame than of reality ? Be that as it, may, it is
something for him to have to boast, as he may
safely do, that he is the worst usedtman of his day.
But his time will come, for talents such as his, once
known and appreciated, proved and approved,
cannot be lost to the public service ; and there is
that in him which will never let it be forgotten
that he is not where he ought to be and has a right
to be, by title of intellectual merit.
THE " JOHN BULL" ON THE ETHICS OF Go-
, VERNIU.ENT.—Ia the ancient monarchies and repub-
lics it was deemed the highest function acid most
important duty of Government to make met; vir-
tuous. The greatest statesman was be who eouio.
by positive enactments do most to accomplish this
end, and the best-ordered commonwealth was that
which most readily accepted such laws and moat
strenuously enforced them

Si quatrit Pater Urbium
Inscribi statuis, indomitam audeat
Rear asnare licentiam.
But the lawgiver of old had to supply his citizens
with a religion as well as law in the modern sense
of the word—be had to train their spiritual life as
well as their social life. We, living under the
Gospel, have gradually learned that Christianity is
a better agent for making men virtuous than muni-
cipal law can be. The State is acquiring the
habit of leaving such matters to the Church, and
the Church, though she has still at times a han-
kering after the help of the civil sword to enforce
her sanctions, finds that on the whole she is more
potent without such auxiliaries. Nevertheless there
is still in Parliament a great deal of legislation
which is proposed or accomplished with the view,
generally a very honest and sincere one, of "making
men virtuous by statute." And the same principle
constantly crops out in the incidental discussions
which arise in Parliament on points of govern-
ment or legislation. Thus on Thursday night last,
when Sir Edward Bering suggested to the autho-
rities of the Woods and Forests that it would be
a reasonable and cheap kindness to put up two
or three sheds in the vicinity of Rotten-row so as
to furnish the fair equestrians of that spot with a
place of refuge when a sudden shower cf rain
might come on, Mr. Scully was amusingly sarcastic
et the notion of Parliament spending any time or
money for the comfort of Anonyma and her tribe
of " pretty horsebreakers." Sir Edward Daring,
with the legitimate indignation of a father of a
family and a county member, protested against the
assumption that he had referred to " that class of
ladies." But seriously we do not see, when a little
matter of public convenience of this sort is in ques.
tion, that our legislators have any right to speculate
as to the class of ladies that will avail themselves
of it. Rein falls on the evil and the good, and
virtue looks to higher rewards than an umbrella at
the public cost. Some years ago there was a cry
to remove the colonnade in the Quadrant, on the
ground that when the weather was bad people tcok
refuge there who had much better have been at one
of the " midnight meetings." So whenever an
arcade is projected protests are immediately entered
against the plan on the like ground. We think
this sort of thing carries State supervision a little
too far. If the thing is needed for general conve-
nience the Legislature has no right to be curious
as to the undeserving people who may partake
tothe benefits of it, or even abuse them. On
-and (though we certainly do not subscribe to
this gret eta; angry
and uncharitable denuncia-
Mr. Roebne_ hen) we were glad that the House
lions on the subjet
Mr. Somes's Bill on Friday
of Commons rejected se. ,t Sunday observance
week. We fully grant tee
an exception to
constitutes (at first sight at learn,. ,n contending,
the principle for which we have be,
that the State has no right to control us to matters
'
of morality unless these matters can be se:Own. to
have a direct connection' with • our social duties.
Legislation on the subject of Sunday is necessary tia
guard the interests of those who would unduly
suffer by observing the day, if others were left at
liberty to desecrate it.' In all such cases no
doubt a strong claim ought- to be made out by
those who feel themselves aggrieved. We cannot
think that any argument of this kind could have
been urged is behalf of Mr. Somes's measure.
People must eat and drink on Sundays as well as
on week-days, and other people must perforce work
in the culinary duties required for the purpose.
This sort of 'work will probably on the whole be
considerably increased by lightening the weekly
labours of Maritornes and other functionaries
whom Mr. Somes may profess to consider his clients.
To the general public it is a great accomoda-
tion to be able to obtain reasonable refreshment at
these places on Sundays ; and if some people abuse
the accommodation by eating or drinking too much,
or by making an unseemly noise over their viands
and liquors, that is no reason why the well-disposed
part of the community should be mulcted of their
freedom in the matter. We will say the same of
whet we may call Sir George Grey's Curfew Bill.
He proposes that the State shall do its best to curb
the licence of those who propose to themselves not
to "go home till morning" by providing that no
one shall keep a house of entertainment open be-
tween the hours cf 1 and 4 a.m. Now it may be
very proper that we should ail be in bed by one
o'clock. But we do net like that the State should
see us to bed and take away our candle—more
especially when it is done for our own good ; end
this, we presume, is the motive of Sir George Grey's
action in the matter. No doubt there are houses
of this kind where disreputable and lawless
people congregate; turning night into day, and
making a very ill-spent day of it. But, on the other
hand, there are a great many of us who, though
spending the night in a manner comparativsey re-
spectable, have still a fancy for "hearing the chimes
at midnight" and something more. Are these
people—perhaps very exceptional in their dissipa-
tior —to be cut short in their nocturnal festivi-
ties ? Is Maivolio to pat on a policeman's
garb and to come upon us with the Queen's
authority ? Because Sir George Grey is virtuous
—the quotation is something musty: All such
nights are not necessarily demoralising. Has Sir
George Grey never looked in at the festive halls of
Mr Patrick Green in Covent garde'', and ob-
served what that worthy sntertainer has done to
provide a pleasant and respectable gathering for the
young lawyers, medical students, and other care-
less spirits who are looking about for amusement
after the theatres ? Yet Mr. Green's house will,
we suppose, be closed under Sir George Grey's
legislation when the clock strikes one, and his audi-
ence dispersed to roam the streets. These are the
classes which. are out for pleasure ; the bill perhaps
will fall still more hardly on carters who come to
Covent-garden market at three o'clock in the morn-
ing and find the houses closed where they met to
seek their early refreshment. We do not suppose
that the Home Secretary's Bill will pass, but the
failure of such schemes has frequently a bad effect
in itself.

THE THREE HEROIC BROTHERS, THE NAPIERS,
AT THE BATTLE OF BUSACO.—Charles Napier,
"advancing on the 4th of March, 1811, met a litter of
branches borne by soldiers, and covered with a blanket.
What wounded ocific,v is that?' ' Captain Napier
(George), of the 52d—a broken limb.' Another litter fol-
lowed. Who is that ?' Captain Napier (William), of
the 43d, mortally wounded.' Charles Napier looked at
them, and passed onto the fight in front,"