The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-27 00:00:00

measure. The recent visit which the Canadian dele-
gates paid toPrince Edward's Island greatly increased
their estimate of the importance of the maritime
provinces, and the expedition of the Newfound.
landers and Nova Scotians to Quebec will have a
similar effect upon them, It is impossible for any
one to watch the progress of the great war which
is now desolating the fairest portions of the Ameri-
can continent without feeling aghast at the reeky
lessness and wanton waste of life and property
which characterise it, and the Canadians must ne-
cessarily be much better acquainted with its details
than we are. They have little reason to trust in
the wisdom or prudence .of the " States" any more
than in the humanity of President LINCOLN and
General BUTLER. Na one can say to what rash
and futile attempts the American Government may
not be driven in its efforts to divert the public mind
from the failure of the Southern crusade, and in its
anxiety to dispose of the superabundant energies
of the army. Though there may be little cause to
fear the ultimate result, the Canadians are wise to
stand prepared for the chance of a sudden attack,
and their fellow colonists are no less so. "Fore•
warned forearmed" is a good old motto, and the
very fact of the Confederation may teach its lesson
to the Federal Cabinet. A work like this union of
the provinces, to be successful, should be carried out
with promptitude and unanimity, and from the
spirit in which the undertaking has been inaugu-
rated we trust we may see it carried to a triumphant
conclusion.

Very little intelligence of any kind reaches us
from Calcutta, and it is perhaps as well that it
should be so. At this time of the year there is no
political news stirring, and the absence of the
Viceroy and his assistants in the hills necessarily
renders Calcutta dull and uneventful. By this time,
however, Government is at its regular seat again,
and the great Durbar at Lahore is over. The ar-
rears of public business, of which there are always
plenty in India, are clearing up by slow bat sure
degrees under the active presidency of so indefa-
tigable a head as Sir JOHN LAWRENCE, and the
reign of dolce far niente is at an end, so far at least
as the service of the State is concerned. Some dis-
content has been felt at the absence of Government
from Calcutta, but considering how heavily the
routine of official work, and the responsibility of
their public duties, press upon the members
of the Administration, it is scarcely fair
to complain because they have taken ad-
vantage of the leisure months of the year to visit
more healthful places. It is only wise and right
that the Governor-General should traverse the
universal dominions committed to his care, and the
wild hill tribes that are so badly represented by the
indolent Hindoos of Bengal. Since the head must
go, a7great number of his staff must naturally ac-
company him, and there does not seem to be much
reason why their subordinates should not also take
wing for a time from one of the most insalubrious
of civilised cities. The under officials may have had
an easy time of it hitherto, but Anglo-Indian life
ander the existing sanitary arrangements is suffi-
ciently trying, and until we see a very great altera-
tion in several important respects, we cannot
reasonably ask men to sacrifice their health
and perhaps lives to a useless precedent.
We have lost so many good men and true
in those latitudes of late years that it is time we
showed a little more mercy to our public servants,
exacting from them, indeed, the rigid performance
of their duties, but permitticg them at the sme
time sufficient leisure and opportunity for recruiting
their exhausted energies, since Sir CHARLES WOOD,
comfortably established in English fresh air and
cleanline3s, refuses to listen to any proposal for
removing the seat of the Government from Cal-
cutta. Such reforms and improvements as are
possible should at once be set on foot there. The
drainage, the water supply, the removal of noxious
matter, the purification of the river, and such
changes as may without danger be introduced into
the management of the native towns, must all be
seen to before Calcutta can be tolerable or healthful
enough for constant occupation, and even then
a change from the marshy shores of the
Hooghly to the fresh slopes of the Himalayas
must always be a grand desideratum. With re-
gard to military news, preparations are still making
for the subjection of the Bhootanees, who will pro-
bably not be long before they repent of their
unceremonious treatment of a British envoy. It
is certainly an awkward business, and in future
such expeditions had better be organised with a
little more caution. In Afghanistan the disturb.
anus are seemingly at an end, at least for the
present. AFZUL KHAN, with a simplicity scarcely
to be looked for in an Oriental, has trusted himself
into the hands of his brother, the Ameer, who has
rewarded his confidence by putting him in irons in
the fortress of Taskarghar. The prisoner may,
perhaps, think himself fortunate to have escaped
with his life from the hazardous position into
which he suffered himself to be duped.
As we have . formerly stated, it has been cur-
rently reported that Sir CHARLES TB.EYELYAN,
the Finance Minister, would resign his post next
year and return to England, leaving a vacancy
which would not be filled up. Whether the ap-
proaching event of the Parliamentary session had
any effect upon the Indian Secretary of State we
know not, but it is now stated that Sir CHARLES
will, for the present, retain his post. The Indian
session is at hand, and it promises some interesting
discussions. It would be well if the all-important
subject of the cotton cultivation were to come under
consideration, and the opinions of able and expel
rienced men were taken as to the best means of en-
couraging a growth which is evidently highly
adapted to the country, and whose permanent sue.
cess will confer such lasting benefits alike upon
the industrial and commercial classes of India and
of England.

The treatment of criminals is at all times a sub.
ject which deserves great attention, and should
occupy a place in the thoughts of all who are in
any way connected with public affairs, and who
possess a direct or indirect influence in the matter.
Mr. M. D. HILL, in his charge to the grand jury
at Birmingham, has put some plain truths before
us in a simple and earnest way, and it will be very
useful for those who require some reliable informa-
tion on this subject to peruse this speech atten-
tively, and glean some important hints and receive
some salutary warnings. An additional reason
presents itself this year to those interested in these
dreary details, and that is, that since they last
met many and great changes have taken place
with respect to the management of our criminals.
Thus under every aspect it behoves one to consider
the question carefully, and not to let the weari-
ness of its dry details, and a general impres-
sion that nothing can be of any use- to deter
them from the study of the case. How else can
the truth be at last discovered, and the evil arrested
in time, than by entering into the intricate mazes
that seem to separate the matter from all other
affairs of the day, The most important charge is
that which does away almost entirely with short
sentences. This is a great desidcratu , and should
be welcomed by all whom it concerns to b?gia with ;
it is the insertim of the edge of the wedge which
will in due time work out a very 010441 change