The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-24 00:00:00

WEARING SIDE-ARMS.

(CIRCULAR.) Horse Guards, Nov. 15.
Sin--Lord Hill has observed with great concern that,
notwithstanding the strong admonitions contained in the Ge-
neral Order of the 18th rune, 1835, some cases have occurred
in which a soldier has, when quarrelling in a state of intoxica-
tion, used his bayonet against his antagonist, and that in a
case of very recent occurrence even the loss of life has been
produced by a bayonet wound.
In order to afford the public, for the future, effectual pro-
tection against similar outrages, Lord Hill desires that the
practice of %%caring side--arms may be discontinued except
vi hen on duty, and upon such special occasions as you shall
consider the bayonet absolutely essential for the defence and
protection of the soldier. It is, however, to be distinctly un-
derstood that the soldier is to wear his bayonet belt when
dressed in regimentals.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
(Signed) JOHN M'DONALD,
Adjutant- General.
Officer commanding the - Regiment.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Lord Brougham has taken-Isis place amonr, the advocates of
extensive change in the provisions of the Reform° Act. That
his Lordship may have anticipated more from that measure
than it has effected, is only saying that he was without the
experience seven years ago which he now possesses. We
only lament that other Statesmen associated with him in car-
rying the Reform Bill are not equally ready to benefit by ex-
perience. On supporting the prayer of a petition from Shef-
field, prayinm for an amendment in the re,,istration clauses of
the Reform Act, his Lordship observed thbat he would not be
doing justice to ,his own opinions, nor would he be dealing
fairly by their Lordships, if he did not add "that he did not
think those corrections or those amendments, or that any
corrections or any amendments in the mere details of
the Reform Act, would render that rpeasnre adequate
to the great end which tlloqe persons who framed it.
1.110.0 Who supported it, and those who adopted it 144 t

The position taken by Ministers in the House of Commons
last night was of that vigorous and independent character
which becomes them, and which is calculated to secure to them
the respect and confidence of all the friends of Liberal opinions
throughout the country. The two subjects under discussion
were the settlement of the Civil List of her Majesty, and the
long-deferred and often-urged investigation of the Pension
List; and it will be seen from our report, that a Committee
was appointed for the purpose of making a full and thorough
'examination into the former, while the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer distinctly engaged, with regard to the latter, that As
soon as the Committee on the Civil List, had concluded its
.labours (and he did not expect that any great length of time
would be occupied by them), he would himself move for and s
preside over another Committee, for the purpose of sifting the I
.whole list of pensions, in order to ascertain which of 110-1,1
" ought to be continued, having due regale' to , t »~just
claims of the parties, and to economy its expen-
diture." It ought not, in jtstice to the preeca Government,
to be forgotten that at the counneaceres„t of pregions reigns
all inquiry iato the Pension List:, and into the fitness of the
various grants comprised in ii., has been pertinaciously resisted
at the express instance, as has been alleged, of the Sovereign.
It is now—not tardily and roluetantly—but freely and volunta-
rily—conceded by a Liberal Ministry in the discharge of their
duty to the nation, which they at once admit has a right to be
made acquainted with the mode in which every portion of the
public money is expended. The third day of the first Portia-
merit of our young Queen was out allowed to pass without
this signal mark of the coafi fence reposed by her Majesty in
her Ministers, and this indubitable proof that reliance
ought to be placed by the people, list merely upon the
good intentions of the servants of the Crown, but upon
their fixed determination that old abuses, once ascertained,
shall be thoroughly 'and speedily remedied. The country, we
are persuaded, will know how to appseciate this disposition ;
and, however much it may be regretted that differences exist
between Ministers and many of their supporters, as to the ex-
tent of chanse necessary to make the Reform Bill effectual to •
its object, and still more that these differences have been
somewhat unnecessarily placed in rather too prominent relief,
still even those Reformers who differ most from Ministers on
such questions must give the Government of Queen V:ctoria
full credit for. the manner its which they hate readily come
forward upon the important subject of the Pension List to
meet the jest expectations of the country. It was deli- from
the course of the debate that, in their readiness to meet
these expectations, - Ministers exceeded the anticipations
of Mr. Harvey, who appeared as if takeli by surprise
in being thus • forestalled ; and Mr. flume was the
first to express his unqualified satisfaction,. and to recom-
mend to the Honourable Member for Southwark to withdraw
an amendment, evidently framed under an impression which
the steps proposed by Ministers showed was wholly erroneous.
The Tories were taken quite aback, but even after they had
recovered their self-possession a little they could not utter one
syllable of objectiont The only Member of the Opposition
who opened his lips, .excepting Sir Robert Inglis, was Mr.
Goulburn, and he addressed the few remarks he made solely
to the question of the Civil List, not attempting to dispute
the propriety of the unrestricted inquiry recommendkd by
Ministers, but merely explaining some circumstances con-
nected with the droits of Admiralty, , the debts of the
Crown in former reigns, and the personal property inherited
by George IV. and his immediate successor. On the subject
of the Pension List, the whole party was anatently dumb-
foundered ; for a course so entirely inconsistent with their
own habits of trickery and concealment, they seemed utterly
unprepared, and turned round to gaze upon each other in
silent astonishment. They
.had always been accustomed to
consider claims on the Pension List as a species of Elcusi-
nian mystery, upon which they—the high priests of Toryism
scarcely dared to look, and which vulgar ayes were never to bo
allowed to penetrate. It. was a remarkable feature in the pro-
ceedings of last night, that so eager were the Tories (after
they became fully sensible of the nature of the proposition
made by the Chancellor of the. Exchequer) to gels some share,
however small, of the popularity to arise out of an investiga-
tion which they saw it was no longer possible to defeat, that '
they put forward no less a man than Colonel Sibthorp to se:
cond Mr. Harvey's motion, which motion, be it remembered,
Mr. Harvey himself considered so unnecessary that he willingly
allowed it to be superseded. But the concession by Ministers
does not end with inquiry, however rigid and complete;
for the Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House:that it was
part of the plan that in future a list of all pensions should
be annually laid upon the table, so that if it were found any
had been improvidently or improperly granted, those who
had recommended them to the Crown would be immediately '
responsible to Parliament. The course of the discussion ssas
as follows :—The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, for a
Committee on the Civil List, consisting of 21 inen4be•.s, in a
speech full of important details from the reign of roeorge 11.
to the present time. He especially drew attention to the cir-
cumstances which made the accession of our young Queen
Regnant different from that of .a male successor to the throne
or a Queca Consort-1. That her Majesty inLerited no personal
property. 2. That she did not sueoced to the revenues of
Hanover. 3. That her establishment could not be the
same as that-of a King or of a Queen Consort. The Right
Honourable Gentleman subsequently pointed out certain pro-
posed reductions in the Royal Household, which naturally led
him to the Pension List, and to some misapprehensions oe-
garding it, which he corrected, testifying his own willingness,
and that of his colleagues, to have the whole matter strictly
but fairly investigated; and he concluded with remarks upon
the Droits of Admiralty, the 4A- per Cen.. Duties. which
be proposed hereafter to repeal, and upon the intention of
Ministers to allow a complete inquiry into the revenues of the
Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. Mr. Harvey made an
able speech in proposing his amendment, which he would
have perceived was quite a needless occupation of time, had he
not contrived, with the dexterity of a clever professional man,
somehow or other to misunderstand the clear explanation of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It contained a good-deal of
declamation about the new Poor-law, and the reluctance of the
House to investigate the claims of sinecurists and pensioners,
which was entirely thrown away, because the inquiry had al-
ready been conceded. Mr. Hume called Mr. Harvey's attea
tion to this fact ; and after a short conversation, and an unim-
portant speech from Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Harvey withdrew his
amendment, on the understanding that the investigation into
the Pension List was immediately to follow the inquiry into
the Civil List, and that no time should be lost in completing
both the one and the other. Thus the matter ended entirely
to the satisfaction of the whole Liberal party : how few of the
Tories were satisfied is another question :
" Needs must, we know, is not content,
And they submit who can't prevent."
—Morning Chronicle.

Though we are grieved at the unexpected and injudicious
exposition of sentiment made by Lord John Russell in the
House of Commons, yet we are by no means disposed to
mourn like those without hope. We regret, on account of
Lord John Russell and on account of the Cabinet of which
be is a Member—not that he should have avowed, but that he
should have entertained opinions so opposite to those which
the tenour ©f his prevbus conduct indicated. But though our
hopes are disappointed and deceived in one quarter, far be it
from us to despair of the cause of Reform. On the con-
trary, our anticipations of its triumph arc far greater when
we see tho question tried upon its intrinsic merits, than when
we see a modified verdict proposed to conciliate the sup-
port of doubtful friends. Reform is always safe in the
hands of the intelligent people of England—it is only
when confided to reluctant aristocratic advocacy that
it is in danger of being stunted or defeated in its
development. We can better aff.ird to Lord John Rus-
sell the applause which his declaration elicited from the To-
ries, than either he or the Ministry, which he has, we fear, ir-
reparably injured, can afford to lose the support which has hi-
therto sustained them iu office. The Noble Lord's frankness,
however, is highly commendable—his candour is deserving of
as much praise as are the opinions he avowed deserving of re-
probation. By throwing off the mask before the country, and
showing the people ihatihey could never be secure_ but when
they depended on themselves, ho has clJne most disinterested
service to the State—he may have saved the country, but he
has lost himself. Most cheerfully do we , turn from this ex-
hibition in the House of Commons to one of a most hopeful
and encouraging character in a quarter where it might least
be expected—the House of Lords. In the brief speech made
last night, on the presentation of a petition from Sheffield,
complaining of the rate-paying and registration clauses of the
Reform Act, by one possessing the most powerful and highly-
cultivated mind in that assembly, or, perhaps, in Europe, we
find ample compensation for the falling off of even Lord Johe
Russell. We refer to the observations of Lord Breughere,
who on the occasion alluded to, observed, iR raurence to the
defects complained of in the Reform Act—
" He was firmly eon-,,,,,:n0ed kg all the experience we had of
its operation, andly all the reflection he had been able to Fic4
tids inomentous subject, that without mei larger awndthente,
the purposes of the Act must be difegted, awl the great &jai
of those who framed it, who supported it, and who passed it-
-44c atainiagfor OW people at large a full and fair represen.