The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-21 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOV. 21, 1863.

Elsewhere in our impression of this evening will
be found given in its entirety the whole of the
nineteenth chapter of Mr. WARREN'S Introduction
to Law Studies. We have thus transferred to our
columes the whole of this impressive and remark-
able argument in regard to Military Justice, because
it appears to us, in every syllable of it, especially
apropos at the present moment, while the proceed-
ings are actually going forward from day to day
in connexion with the Court Martial upon Colonel
CRAWLEY, of the Inniskilling Dragoons, down at
Aldershot. The learned Recorder of Hull,
who is the author of this comprehensive
handbook to the whole complicated machinery
of Engiish jurisprudence, to the leading prin-
ciples of the profound science upon which it is
founded, and to all the winding intricacies of the
general scheme of its organisation, has in himself, in
thl,ent of his studies, in the range of his profes-
sional Practice and experience, peculiar qualifica-
tions
enabling him to speak with authority upon
what is •
, la truth, an exquisitely delicate branch of
the administration
the of the law, As the closing por-
tion of
nineteenth chapter of the " Introduction
to Law Studies"
bhere referred to will serve to re-
call to the remembrance of those by whom the cir-
cumstance itself
have been either for-
gotton or overlook,:
well considered project
for the emendation of the
laws relating to the sys-
tem alike of military an:
naval Courts Martial had
already been submitted, b
WARREN to the
consideration of parliament, Mr.
by
hi2dBwas actually in
a
was
let but energetic
course of being prepared
when h:
tr.the outline of a
substantial enactment,
abruptly closed
career as M.P. for Midhuret
by the incident of his professional(.2olol34
of the
Otherwise, very probably, the
Innis-
killing Dragoons now undergoing his
ttria.
butthis.s
..
peers, according to the old tedious bungling system
e
of Courts Martial, would have been arraiguedYbetf:
e
a tribunal not ajot more honourable of courbethauthe
one before which he is at this present writing for_
many placed, but at any rate before one more likely,
by the very scheme of its arrangement, to have facie
litated the administration of justice, and to have
guarded effectually against the perpetual recurrence
of anomalies, such as, under the existing system of
organisation, may be pronounced nothing less than
inevitable. Under any circumstances, we cannot
for one instant imagine that a trial so remarkable
of its kind as this one in regard to Col. CRAWLEY
of the lnniskillings—no matter what the judgment
pronounced at the close of it may eventually turn out
to be—can by any possibility fail to lead the way
to some few at least among the numerous reforms
working
recognised as requisite in regard to the
of our system of Courts Martial. What-
ever
may the .
Consequences of the present Court Martial
n reference to the officer now undergoing
the bitterness of a very lengthened and very public
trial before
looted
general good at least may be
confidently forward to as certain, or at any
rate as all but certain,
with
or later, to result
w
from it. It is, therefore, ha n especial significance
that we are now desirous of directing thus pointedly
the attention of the general public to the most im-
pressive argument anywhere discoverable, we
believe, among all the writings of our law reformers,•
in favour of a thorough and searching revision of
that portion of the law relating to the administra-
tion of justice through the medium alike of Naval
and of Military Courts Martial. And it is peculiarly
worthy of remark, in rEgarel to the argument thus
put forth by Mr. WARREN, in this vitally important
chapter of his " Introduction to Law Studies,'