The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-17 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

A general Horse Guards order has been promul-
gated at Chatham garrison, in which his Royal
Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief
announces that he desires it to be distinctly under-
stood that the actual presence of the commanding
officer of a regiment is necessary at every monthly
muster-parade of officers and men under his com-
mand. Should the commanding officer, however,
be on leave, or engaged on any duty of importance
requiring his attendance elsewhere, such circum-
stance is to be notified against his name in the mus-
ter-roll, and the officer next in command will super-
intend the muster and sign the official documents.
The whole of the troops belonging to the garrison
were yesterday assembled in review order on Wool-
wich-common, and were minutely inspected by
Major-Gen. Sir R. llacres, X.C.8., in preparation
for a field-day to take place on the 24th inst., after
the distribution of the prizes to the gentlemen cadets
at the Royal Military Academy by his Royal High-
ness Field-Marshal the Duke of Cambridge. It was
yesterday announced that, to add to the display
which is designed for the 24th, a portion of the
Household troops are under orders to attend at
Woolwich, and in all probability their Royal High
nesses the Prince and Princess of Wales will be
present.

Mr. G. Tyrrell, of Yarmouth, has contracted for
L 70,000 to erect Hurst Castle Fort, in Hampshire,
with casement• batteries, new lighthouse, &e. Mr.
Tyrrell is at present erecting extensive forts for the
Government in the Isle of Wight.
In consequence of the entire space al St. Mary's
Creek, Chatham, hitherto used by the Royal Engi-
neers for carrying on their course of instruction in
pontooning, diving, and sub-aqueous experiments,
being required by the Admiralty for the enlarge-
ment and extension of Chatham dockyard, the Royal
Engineer pontoon depot has been removed to the
opposite side of the creek, near Upnor Castle,
whither the pontoons and other apparatus have
been removed. Yesterday the available con-com-
missioned officers and men of the Royal Engineers
were employed in pontooning operations in the Med-
way, with the various descriptions of pontoons in-
troduced :..to the service, and during the day were
busily engaged in the formation of rafts and bridges
for the transportatio❑ of troops and war materiel
from one part of the harbour to the other.

/.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The Duke of Cambridge, in his place in
the House of Lords, has given a frank explanation
of the position in which he found himself when
called upon, as Commander-in-Chief, to review the
proceedings connected with the arrest and death of
the unfortunate Sergeant-Major Lilley. When
those proceedings became known to the public the
emotion, as Lord Shaftesbury truly observed, was
most profound. The story appeared absolutely hor-
rible, and everybody looked with natural anxiety
for the action of the chief military authorities in a
case so flagrant. These feelings were intensified
when it was gradually ascertained that injustice bad
been committed from beginning to end, and that
Sergeant Lilley, who had been deprived of life by
the cruelty of his imprisonment, was imprisoned
not only illegally according to military law, but on
a charge which had no foundation, and which not
an attempt was,made to prove. Under such circum-
stances the public asked whether nothing was to be
done, and whether some account was not due from
those who had been engaged in transactions so flag-
rant. To these questions replies have been already
given in the House of Commons, and the Duke of
Cambridge has now explained exactly what, as
Commander-in-Chief, he was enabled to do, and
what has been actually done. The public will re-
ceive this statement with great satisfaction. It
shows not only that the Commander-in-Chief has
the power of acting in the matter, but that he has
the intention also. Lord Hartington must have
overrated the difficulties of the case when he said
that it was "impossible" to do anything more than
had been done. As we understand the Duke's ex-
planation, the interference of the Home authorities,
though so unusual as to be all but unexampled, is
not actually impossible. He has been inactive not
for want of power, but lack of authentic informa-
tion. It takes a long time to conduct an inquiry by
question and answer between India and England,
but when the truth is known there exists authority
enough for turning it to account. Usage has estab-
lished the Indian authorities in a species of inde-
pendence, but that independence was at once in-
fringed when the Duke's Minute was despatched to
Calcutta. When there was power to censure, and
to place as it were upon record a sentence of con-
demnation by suspending an ulterior judgment
over the heads of inculpated officers, there was
obviously power to do something more. In fact,
something more has been done. After all that was
said about the dead-lock of the case and the impos-
sibility of moving, a new Court-Martial has been
ordered, the effect of which must necessarily be to
reopen the entire case from beginning to end. With
this prospect of justice we may reasonably be satis-
fied. The case has not, as was feared, been with-
drawn from cognizance by the operation of tech-
nical difficulties. There is no bar to further in-
quiry. The Secretary for War followed the Com-
mander-in-Chief in his observations by stating that
". every step would be taken by the Government
to insure that the inquiry should be conducted in
the most open and fair manner, in older to secure
the ends of justice as between all parties." The
public desires nothing more than this ; it has only
been apprehensive of getting less. There is one
point, however, which we regard as of the greatest
importance, and which was urged by Lord Shaftes-
bury in the debate. He "hoped the inquiry would
take place in England," and added that " it would
he most unsatisfactory if it were transferred to
India. We are entirely of this opinion. No mere
considerations of expense or trouble ought to stand
in the way of this decision. India is no place for
such an inquiry, nor will there be any confidence in
the investigation or its results unless it is conducted
at home. On this condition we are willing to sus-
pend all further judgment. We hope that every
possible opportunity of self-justification will be
given to all who are implicated in the matter, but
we wished to see the whole truth brought to Fght
before a tribunal from every touch of suspicion.
This alone will set our authorities right with the
public.
POST.—It is no doubt extremely vexatious to a
neutral State to find its commerce crippled in con-
sequence of the quarrels of its neighbours ; quarrels
moreover, in the issue of which it may not possess
the least interest. But- so long as the present code
of international law meets with the acceptance of
the world, peaceful nations must consent to the in-
conveniences imposed upon them by the less pacific
members of the great community to which they
belong. The American war has now lasted more
than two years, and during that period no less than
two thousand five hundred miles of coast have
been declared to
,be closed against the commerce of
the outer world. From all that coast line, extend-
ing from Chesapeake Bay to the mouth of the Rio
Grande, in the Gulf of Mexico, both egress and
ingress have been almost completely cut off. Of the
effects produced upon the staple of English manufac-
tures by the blockade it is needless now to speak.
With hundreds of thousands of our operatives re-
duced from independence to penury, from comfort
to absolute want, it is not surprising that our feel-
ings should be soured against those who have
brought upon us so much evil, and that we should
cast about to discover some pretext for evading ob-
ligations which press so heavily upon us. Hence it
has happened that questions have been so frequently
mooted respecting the efficiency of the blockade of
the Southern States, and that arguments, which
under other circumstances would at once be dis-
missed as idle, command, at least for a time, atten-
tion and respect. But, in truth, in all questions
which concern the strict observance of the American
blockade, and the rights claimed by the cruisers of
the Federal Government, our own interests do not
exclusively point in the direction which Lancashire
cotton Spinners or their representatives believe they
do. We are now neutral, but we have not unfre-
quently been belligerent, and may be belligerent
again. But when at war there is no people in the
world which benefits more by the exercise of those
maritime rights accorded to belligerents than the
British nation. It is, therefore, even when regarded
from a selfish point of view, our interest to admit to
the Government of the United States the fullest lati-
tude in the exercise of its belligerent rights—even
though their operation should for the moment tell
heavily against us. It may be a great present hard-
ship to be deprived of cotton; but u is infinitely
preferable to be in want of that commodity than to
purchase it by evincing a disregard for those rights
in others which we have over and over again, on
previous occasions, claimed to exercise ourselves.
We would not be justified in allowing the Federal
Government to strain its privileges as a belligerent
against ourselves ; but neither should We on the