The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

(fifer tkeThnerof yPstereay.) 'llL.t.euNa'
One of the most important changes which could possibly
have been introduced into our military system has been well
commenced by the issue of an unassuming memorandum from
the War-office under the date of May 1. This memorandum
is very short, very important, and, as far as it goes, very
wise, but it is couched in a strain of pleasing irony. "In
order," writes Lord Panmure, "to remove any doubt which
may exist as to the rank au I precedence of the officers of the
Hon. East India Company's service ;"--why, there never has
beeu any doubt at all upon the subject. Any schoolboy who
has paid decent attention to the gossip of his elders is perfectly
aware that hitherto the rank of an East Indian officer was
altogether lost to the west of the Capo of Good Hope. Iu
sort of loose fashion, we have been in the habit of receiving at
our London dining-tables and in the pump-rooms of our
bathing towns a host of generals, colonels, and majors from
India, but they had no more real right to the titles conceded
to them by the courtesy and good sense of their countrymen
than so many members of the Society of Friends. We are
not, however, disposed to be critical upon forms of expression
where the meaning of what follows is so reasonable. "It is
Her Majesty's pleasure that officers of the East India Com-
pany's service, whose commissions shall be signed by autho-
rities duly deputed to do so by her Majesty, shall have rank
and precedence with officers of her Majesty's regular army,
according to the dates of their commisions, in all parts of her
Majesty's dominions or elsewhere." As yet, there is nothing
announced more important than the cessation of a silly
etiquette. The mem randum of the War-office is not osten-
sibly pointed at any higher result than the rectification of a
great injustice, which denied to so many veteran soldiers the
honours and privileges of their well-won grades. If the re-
form stopped short hero, however, little would be gained.
Changes more important will soon follow, which must ulti-
mately end in the important conclusion that we shall have a list
of effective land officers capable of serving the public three or
four times more numerous than before. Until now, whenever a
position has been made for inviting the services of East In-
dian officers in time of public exigency, the invariable answer
has been, that out of India these gentlemen had no military
rank at all ; how could it be expected that officers bearing
the Queen's commissions could act with or under civilians I
The Indian officeis out of India were scarcely of as much
account as the Yeomanry oi the Militia. It was but natural,
under such circumstances, that the youngest cornet who ever
docked the tail of his companion's charger, or the most buoy-
ant ensign who ever smashed the crockery of his brother offi-
cer, should indignantly refuse to listen to so shameless a pro-
position as that of companionship with the military Pariahs.
To be sure, in Upper India, on the banks of the Indus, and
elsewhere, the seniors of the mess had occasionally seen the
fellows fight, but the rules of the .ervice must not be in-
fringed. The Hon. Cornet Spoonbill, as he rocked about on
his great black horse, regarded Messrs. Pollock, Outram,
Mayne, and other civilians of that description, with justifiable
professional disdain.
The equalisation of rank and precedence is the first step,
and but the first step, in the right direction. If we aro not
mistaken, officers of all ranks and of all arms in the regular
army, save those who have seen Indian service, have a great
deal to learn from Indian officers. In saying this we mean
them no dispamgenlent. With the like advantages, with the
like opportunities of service and chances of distinction, no
doubt they would have attained the same point of professional
advancement ; but the science of war is not to be acquired
by young men who never saw a brigade drawn up. The great
necessity of the present time—and, indeed, of all times in the
history of a powerful empire—is that its rulers should at any
given moment have the power of securing the services of
officers fit for high military command—above all, of one
officer fit for the highest command. As we stand at the
present miment, we are compelled to choose between
twd -categodit of officers the old Peninsulars and
the young " know-nothings." The old Peninsular
veterans who are to be produced upon the scene at all may
be taken as a year or two on the sunny side of 70, so that we
may calculate their military experience in the Peninsula to
have lasted until they have attained the ripe ago of 25. From
the ago of 25, or thereabouts, until this Crimean war they
have not seen active service, so that unless there be some
process for keeping veterans fresh it is to be presumed that
they have not improved in the interval. When we have ex-
hausted the Peninsular list wo are next compelled to turn to
officers who have not seen service at all, many of whom we
most unfeignedly and sincerely believe will turn out excellent
soldiers when an opportunity for gaining experience and dis-
playing ability has been afforded to them. Meanwhile, let
not these gentlemen take it amiss if we say that, of all quali-
ties in the world, ability for high miliiary command is pre-
cisely the one which cannot be taken on trust. A man may
be an excellent regimental officer, may be an unequalled dis-
ciplinarian, and yet be entirely deficient in those higher mili-
tary qualities of combination, foresight, and determination
which constitute the consummate military commander. Of
course, if all officers in the service of a country are equally
unknown to fame, the choice must be an affair of chance ; but
surely nothing can be more suicidal than tl'at policy which
deliberately postpones the claims of acknowledged merit to
antiquated prejudice, class jealousy, or obstinate adherence
to custom.
Startling as the doctrine may appear in the cars of our
friends at the Horse Guards, we must express a confident be-
lief that henceforth the selection of an English Commander-in-
Chief to act in the field must be made from among Indian offi-
cers. It does not necessarily follow that he is to be what was
known until the let of May as a Company's officer ; but, at
least, he must be a man of Indian experience and Indian dis-
tinction. Unless the war with Russia should last long enough
to give us a tategory of Crimean officers we Indianosvely
nowhere else to turn than to the sconce of wart re
for a supply of officers capable of exercising the most import-
ant military commands. As with the chief, so with other
principal employments. Will it be credited that while the
Quartuanaster General of the army in the Crimea has shown
himself such a man as Sir Charles Trevelyan described, we
have actually resident in London the very officer who ga-
thered Lord Gough's army tozether from all points of India,
concentrated it at the necessary time and at the vecessary
place, supplied it with every requisite, and produced it in
fighting order on the field I That officer has been in London
any time since autumn, but he was of no more account in
the eyes of the good people at the Horse Guards than if ho
had been the commis voyageur of a French pomade
m establish-
ent. The same anomaly has met us at every turn, and de-
-1
prived us of the services of a series of able men, whe, in al
probability, would have averted all the disasters which have
occurred in the Crimea. But then they were Indian officers !

(Front the Times of this day.)
Tho explanation of Lord Clarendon in the House of Lords
last night has given official confirmation to that which rumour
had already suggested with regard to the details of the Con-
ference of Vienna. It appears that the allies proposed to
Russia two alternatives —one that the Euxine should be de-
clared a neutral sea, open to the commerce, and closed to the
ships of war, of all nations ; the other, that the Russian
force in that sea should be in some degree limited. The lilts-
elan Plenipatentaries rejected both these propositions, and
afterwards made some counter-propositions of their own,
which England, France, and Austria unanimously agreed was
inadmissible. Still, however, Lord Clarendon is unable to
tell us what course Austria is about to adopt. Count Buol
considers that the moans for obtaining peace are not wholly
exhausted, and that it will be the especial duty of Austria to
endeavour to discover some means of attaining that end con-
sistratt with the engagement she lies entered into with the
other powers. This, 'hen, is what we know with certainty of
the present state of our foreign relations.
We confess we read these revelations with feel-
ings of no small mortification. We cannot com-
mand the fortunes of war, though the most earnest advocate
of our late and, present Ministries must admit that we could
have played much more boldly and fairly for RUCCCSS. But,
if we do not carry on military operations like a wise or far-
sighted Power, we ought, at any rate, to conduct our nego-
tiations like a firm and magnanimous one. We have under-
taken to humble the Emperor of Russia. Thu very statesman
whom we sent to Vienna has pu licly denounced his policy
in terms seldom indeed applied by Ministers iu public to the
acts of crowned heads. After having, by his own I ingulge
in Parliament, greatly embittered the quarrel, Lord John
Russell broke up the Government of Lord Aberdeen because
it did not carry on the war with sufficient vigour, and him-
self invited a vote of censure on conduct for which he was
equally responsible with his colleagues. A new Government
was formed on the principle of pure Whiggism and a vigorous
prosecution of the war, and the first act of this Government
was to despatch Lord John Russell to Vienna to negotiate a
peace. As if wore thoroughly to identify the Ambassador
with the Ministry, he accepted on the road to Vienna
office of Secretary of State for the Colonies. Had not the
country, then, a right to expect that a man so deeply con-
cerned in the commencement, so entirely committed to the
objects, and so strictly pledged to the vigorous prosecution
of the war, would submit no propositions derogatory to the
dignity of the country, or compromising the priaseples upon
which England and France engaged in hosti Rice I Yet wo
find Lord John Russell at Vienna offering terms to Russia
which, if accepted by her, would render useless all the sacri-
fices which England and France have hitherto made, and
leave the undisputed supremacy of the Euxine in the hands
of Russia. We offered to make peace, if Russia would limit
the number of her ships in the Black Sea; but what gua-
rantee could we possibly exact that these terms, if conceded,
would ho faithfully observed ! Who could prevent Russia
from holding in readiness in the naval stations which
she posses es on her great rivers any number of
ships which she chose to build, ready to he armed and manned
whenever the moment of final action should arrive I While
England and France are united, present events prove that it
is in their power absolutely to annihilate the Russian naval
preponderance in the Euxine ; but, if these Powers were un-
happily divided, nothing could prevent Russia from gaining
that preponderance in a moment, and tearing into pieces 'he
treaty which so idly sought to check it. Fortunately for the
Idignity of this country, Russia, iu the plenitude of her arro-
gance, refusel these overtures, and left us to seek for other
terms still more conciliatory, in order to mitigate her resent-
ment at our interference on behalf of a nation which she had
i marked out for her victim
but we have a right to ask
i whyTh,eafteimlrnettiidiateum danukagAer past,
remoonis
of
fuss
which
swill
Iwo.