The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

HERALD.—Lord Colville fulfilled an honourable,
though, perhaps, not a very popular task, when he
called the attention of the House of Lords to the
doubtful. part taken by the Deputy Judge Advocate
General in the prosecution of Coloneral Crawley.
The ordinary acceptation of the duties of that
official is, on the whole, very similar tothat adopted
by Lord Chelmsford. He is not regarded as the
prosecutor, but as the arbitrator between contend-
ing parties ; he has to look after the interests of
both the prosecution and the defence, and as Lord
Chelmsford very aptly remarked, ",to see fair play
done to both parties." That, we venture to say, is
the general impression of the role of the Deputy
Judge Advocate General. But what was the posi-
tion of the gentleman appointed to fulfil his duties
at the late court martial ? He appeared virtually
as counsel for the prosecution; he put the questions
into the mouth of the prosecutor ; he replied to the
defence, and yet" he was a permanent officer of that
department which had to revise the proceedings
before they were submitted to the Queen." Every-
body is willing to admit the ability with which the
prosecution was conducted. It savoured almost of
the sharpness of Old Bailey practice. The prosecu•
tion stood on vantage-ground, and availed itself to
the fullest extent of its position, and Lord Colville
by no means overstated the case when he said that
the reply to the defence put into the mouth of the
public prosecutor "dealt with subjects that were
utterly irrelevant to the subject before the Court,and
matters which the prisoner was debarred from intro-
ducing into his defence wore, on the other hand, un •
fairly used against him by the Deputy Judge Advo-
cate." It was, in fact, impossible to peruse the pro•
ceedings of the court martial without feeling that
this confusion of the duties of Deputy Judge Advo-
cate General with those of prosecutor materially
damaged the defence, and that Colonel Crawley
was very like to suffer from it. We do not, any
more than Lord Colville, make any charge against
Sir A. Horsford, who undoubtedly conducted the
prosecution with propriety and discretion. But we
think there can hardly be a doubt that the principle
of allowing a Deputy Judge Advocate to advise the
prosecutor is most unfair upon the defence, and we
are glad to learn from the Duke of Cambridge that
it is not likely to be adopted as a precedent. The
Crawley court martial is now a thing of the past,
but it is to be hoped its lessons will remain ; and
undoubtedly the chief lesson to be derived from it
is the inexpediency and the injustice of prejudging.
In this instance the authorities acted harshly. They
adopted a prejudice, and they endeavoured to sub-
stantiate it. They failed, but they were either too
deeply committed or too timid to admit their error ;
and Colonel Crawley, after having been exposed to
the cruellest aspersions, and to such obloquy as has
rarely befallen " an officer and gentleman" in these
days, is ordered back to India as peremptorily and
unceremoniously as if he had been acquitted by a
legal flaw, instead of having been thoroughly ab-
solved by a jury of his peers. The legal depart-
ment of the army could in no way better establish
its claim to public respect than in devising some
readier and less anomalous mode of trying military
offences than the present blundering and unsatis-
factory system of court martials.
POST.—As it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, so
we need not be surprised should there be one quarter of the
Continent to which the unsettled state of Europe during
the last twelve months had proved an unmitigated benefit.
While Russia, and France, and Austria have been absorbed
in their own concerns, or the concerns of more westerly
nations, the empire of Turkey has enjoyed a little peace
and quiet, and has been able to some extent to shake off
that incubus of intervention which of late years had pressed
so heavily on her energies. The results of this brief re-
spite, which, let us hope, may now become perpetual, are
visible in all departs of the Government, and in the mate-
rial and moral progress of the entire nation. We required,
indeed, no conjuror to tell us that efforts at self-improve-
ment, whether in nations or individuals, to be successful,
must be spontaneous. Yet this obvious truth seems to have
been partially ignored in all the dealings which have taken
place between the Western Powers and the Porte. And we
can only trust that the phenomena and statistics of the
Turkish empire at the present moment may open the eyes of
statesmen for the future. The Sultan, who from the first
day of his accession has given constant proofs of his vigour,
his patriotism, and his real sympathy with progress,
had laboured hard in this good work, and in an astonishingly
short space of time has accomplished the moat arduous re-
forms. To begin with the finances of the empire : many
Englishmen perhaps will not believe, what is nevertheless
quite true, that the Sultan's Government has succeeded at
last in calling in the last of the caimes, and that at this
moment not a square inch of paper money is in circulation
in Turkey. Could those Governments which affect to look
down on Turkey with so great an air of superiority—could
Austria, or could Russia—say as much? The revenue is
rising daily, and commerce and domestic industry are
steadily extending themselves. The Sultan indeed has
devoted his special attention to the development of agricul-
ture, and the Turkish exports are now more than ten times as
great as they were three years ago. It is, however, to the
growth of cotton that he has given the more particular
care; and the quantity of seed which Turkey, with the
help of the Cotton Supply Association, has purchased from
America, in order to be distributed among the native far-
mers, gives us good promise that the revenue next year
from this source alone will be considerable. Secondly,
and in close connection with the subject of nationa
wealth, are the praiseworthy efforts of the Ottoman Govern-
ment to construct roads and railways throughout their vast
dominions, and the liberality with which concessions have
been made to foreign companies for the purpose of attract-
ing capital to a region which promises, under that magi-
cian's wand, to burst into the most luxuriant prosperity.
Thus we see the Sultan is doing all that in him lies to build
up the regeneration of Turkey on the solid ground of mate-
rial well-being. A healthy revenue, a rapidly developing
native industry, both in commerce and agriculture, and the
new lines of communication which promise ere long to knit
,ogether the extremities of the empire with its centre, testify
,o the success of his exertions reveal the possibilities of the

future. Rome was not built in a day, and the reform party
in Turkey has an uphill battle to fight. But because this

ancient empire does not at a single stride become exactly
what we are ourselves, must Englishmen shut their eyes to
the gigantic strides which she has taken within the last 20
years, or withhold their sympathy from men struggling in
as noble a cause as can easily be imagined, combining, as it
does, within itself the most devoted patriotism with the
most zealous support of all those arts and sciences which
constitute material civilisation 1'

Shocking Loss of the Bark Eliza Ann,
Seven of her Crew Starved to Death.

Yesterday the following was received by Captain Halsted,
R.N., secretary of Lloyd's, from her Majesty's Consul at
New York, reporting the loss of the British barque Eliza
Ann, of Plymouth, and the shocking fate of several of her
crew by starvation and exposure.
" British Consulate, New York, Feb. 8, 1864.

" Sir,—l have the honour to transmit herewith, enclosed
for the information of the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, a copy of a written report made to me by
Richard Kearney, master of the barque Eliza Ann, of Ply-
mouth, detailing the circumstances of the loss and abandon-
ment of that vessel at sea, and of the rescue of a portion of
the crew by the steamship Edinburgh, of Liverpool, Thomas
Fleetwood Roskell, master. This would appear to have been
a case of peculiar hardship, and great credit is due to the
master of the Edinburgh for his humane treatment of the
shipwrecked crew after their rescue. Richard S. Thompson,
chief officer of the steamer, would appear likewise to have
acted in a praiseworthy manner, he having commanded the
boat which took the survivors from the wreck. The amount
of subsistence money which would be due, about £5 155.,
has been offered by me to Capt. Roskell, but refused. Six
of the crew were so much disabled, owing to their exposure
upon the wreck, that it has been necessary to send them
direct to the hospital at public expense, and the master and
two mates are being subsisted by me until an opportunity
offers to send them home. Seven of the Eliza Ann's crew
perished upon the wreck from starvation and thirst, and one
on board the steamer after their rescue. It has been im-
possible to obtain with certainty the names of these unfor-
tunate men, as all the vessel's papers, log books, &a., have
been lost, but the master's report gives them so far as pos-
sible —I have the honour, &0., E. M. ARCHIBALD.
" The Secretary Marine Department Board of Trade,"
" Copy of Enclosure, dated New York, Jan. 6.

" The Eliza Ann sailed the 3d January,' 1864, with a
cargo of timber. Experienced a succession of terrific gales
and sea, which swept the decks, and the vessel became water-
logged, notwithstanding that every effort was made to keep
her clear. It was impossible to secure any provisions ex-
cept a barrel of potatoes, and we were entirely without water
at the same time. All the effects of the crew and myself,
along with the ship's papers, were lost, and for many days
we were upon the point of starvation, and without any water
except such as was caught by the rigging in passing showers.
We all suffered fearfully, and for almost a week were abso-
lutely without food. Seven of the seamen died upon the
wreck from exposure and starvation. Their names I am
unable to state with certainty, but believe them to be as
follows :Z—Jacob Halsin, Francis Hans, Augustus Brown,
Peter Coffee, Charles Pingfoot, Francis Veteran, and John
Branham, mostly Germans. Upon the 25th ult., the Edin-
burgh, Thomas Fleetwood Roskell master, of Liverpool,
fell in with the wreck and took off the survivors (ten in all).
While on board the ship Patrick Ryan, a seaman, died from
the effects of the exposure to which he had been subjected.
We were all treated with great kindness on board the Edin-
burgh, and upon this day the remaining nine were landed
here."
The ship was insured at Lloyd's.

THE PILATE OF NATIONS.—The Pays calls Eng-
land the Pontius Pilate of Politics, because our only voca-
tion is now to wash our hands of others' guilt while
acquiescing in its results. There is something in the taunt.
Pontius Pilate was well-meaning,Knut weak, and had a
dreadful fear of being " Caesar's" foe ; and that is very
much the state of mind of our own Government,—Spectator.