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

courts martial, however erroneous, under review by the
civil courts.
It is not very frequently that counsel are called on to
advise and assist in cases of this description ; but, when
they are, it is on occasions which attract public attention ;
sometimes to a great extent ; and counsel should be all the
more anxious to acquit himself satisfactorily, and maintain
the credit of his own profession, whose watchful eyes are
fixed upon him.

The Queen's regulations, the articles of war, and the
Annual Mutiny Acts, which have recently received con-
siderable modifications, mut be referred to as the reposi-
tories of existing military law. The two excellent little
manuals of Mr. Prendergast, "Oa the Law relating to
Officers of the Army and of the Navy; " Simmons "On
the Constitution and Practice of Courts Martial ; "
and Hickman's "Treatise on the Law and Prac-
tice of Naval Courts Martial," will afford the
student and practitioner much useful information on the
subjects. Since, however, they appeared, important
changes in the law have been effected, rendering it neces-
sary to read them cautiously.
The great interest which the author of this work has
always felt in military jurisprudence will, he hopes,
be his excuse for here placing on record, in the
nature of an appendix to the present chapter,
certain suggestions for the improvement of the law
and practice relating to courts martial, which have
received the emphatic approbation of very high authorities,
both judicial and military. The work written by the author,
in which they appeared, is not now accessible to the public.
It is gravely questionable whether the interests of the
public service do not require the office of judge-advocate-
general, which is one entirely judicial, to be held by the
same tenure as other judicial offices, and thereby rendered
independent of political or other disturbing influences.
The course of procedure would then be consistent, uniform,
and satisfactory, superintended by one thoroughly expe-
rienced in such matters.

The judge-advocate-general, and doputy-judge-advocate-
general, should be gentlemen of rank and station at the
bar, whose practice had been in the common law courts.
The president of, at all events, every general
court martial should, wherever practicable, be the
judge-advocate, or deputy judge advocate- general,
or a member of the bar, appointed pro hdc vice,
of standing and experience sufficient to ensure fitness for
the discharge of such responsible duties. If it be deemed
advisable, however, to continue an officer as president, then
a gentleman properly qualified should attend the court in
the capacity of assessor, or official adviser, to whom, in all
matters of law, the court should be bound to defer.

No one should prepare, or be responsible for, charges, and
also officiate at the trial, as president or assessor.

Nc one should discharge, at the same time, the incompa.
tible duties of prosecutor, and official adviser of a court mar

Every general court martial should, when practicable,
be attended by a sworn shorthand writer, who should be
bound, immediately after the close of the inquiry, to furnish
a copy of the evidence to the accused, on his demand, and
paying for it.

The examination of witnesses should be viva voce.
These two alterations would at once insure accuracy ;
greatly abridge the time at present occupied by courts
martial; save expense to the accused, and to the country;
and prevent the inconvenience to the service, occasioned by
their absence from their duties of so many officers, kept from
their respective spheres of duty for so long a period. At
present every question is first written down, then considered
by the deputy judge-advocate, and perhaps, also, by the
president ; then read over to the witness ; then recorded
by the deputy judge-advocate; then put to the wit-
ness ; whose answer is in like manner recorded. This
insufferably wearisome and preposterous procedure
is calculated, by totally defeating the legitimate objects of
cross-examination, grievously to obstruct the development
of truth.

The prisoner should be allowed the free assistance ol
counsel during his trial.

All rulings of the president, or deputy judge advocate,
on matters suggested by the court, the prosecutor, or tho
accused, should be given openly, in the presence of the

accused.

The president, or deputy judge advocate, or assessor,
should sum up the case to the court openly ; and if such
duty should be performed by the deputy judge advocate, he
should retire, while the court deliberates on its finding and
sentence.

In case of a conviction, the prisoner should be privately
apprised thereof immediately, and bo at liberty forthwith,
as he may be advised, to offer any reasons for impeaching
the validity of the proceedings, provided that such objec-
tions could not have been made at the trial, or were made
and overruled.

In case of acquittal, the result should be communicated at
once to the prisoner, and he should be forthwith released
from arrest, and ordered to return to duty, as is the practice
in the navy.

The 18th section of the Mutiny Act prohibiting a second
trial of an officer or soldier, and more than one revision of
the finding or sentence, and the reception of additional
evidence on a revision, should be repealed, and power vested
in the superior authority to permit any of these things to be
done once, if justice should appear to require.
A copy of the judge advocate .general's reasons for ad-
vising a confirmation of the finding and sentence, should
be furnished to the prisoner, a reasonable time before they
shall have been submitted for her Majesty's pleasure.
One of many existing grievances, and of surpass-
ing unreasonableness and cruelty, in the case of
military courts martial would be at once removed, if the
above suggestions were to be carried into effect, As the
Mutiny Act at present stands, and has long stood, all is
sickening mystery and suspense to the unfortunate ac-
cused, for many weeks, sometimes months, and he is kept,
during all that period, in arrest, a marked suspected man,
equally whether he be guilty, oz, in fact, have been most
honourably acquitted.

The author was counsel for an officer who was acquitted
after a protracted trial; and the excitement and suspense,
occasioned by the lengthened period which elapsed before
he was apprised of the result, placed hlm in a position
justly occasioning the most vivid apprehensions of his
family and friends.

Curious Astronomical Discovery.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

has been recently announced, on the part
of the Astronomical world, that they have hitherto
been in error as to the distance from the sun to the
earth. The error amounts they say, to four mil-
lions and thirty-six thousand miles ; and it seems
that M. Le Verrier now adopts the idea that the
sun's horizontal parallax is 8 min. 95 sec. ; and
that, therefore, the true mean distance of the sun
from our earth is only 91,328,600 miles, instead of
what Professor Eneke has hitherto taught, viz.
95,364,400 miles. Now, if these gentlemen had
only considered that the all-wise Creator has made
all the universe by " weight and measure," and
that it is, therefore, impossible that our earth,
the moon, and the sun, should have been
made at haphazard, and without any de-
sign in their constitution and proportions, they
might have determined the true distance of the sun
long ago. A conviction that some definite relation
must exist between the dimensions and distances of
these glorious bodies has led me to the discovery of
the true distance of the sun, without any reference to
those doubtful observations on parallax which have so
long misled the great astronomers of Europe. I
have discovered this relation between .the moon, the
earth, and the sun, viz„ "that the diameter of the
moon is to the mean distance of the moon's surface
from the earth's surface, as is the diameter of the
sun from the mean distance of the sun's centre to
the earth's centre." Also, that the diameter of the
earth is to the diameter of the sun in exactly the
same ratio, or proportion. From this I find that
the true distance of the sun from the earth is
exactly 91,493,000 miles; which distance differs
from that now given by M. Le Verrier, only by
164,800 miles. And whereas that astronomer
gives the horizontal parallax at 8.95 sec., I find it,
as above, to be 8.94 sec.

I think this discovery is undeniable evidence of
the existence of design in the creation of the sun,
moon, and earth.

To satisfy persons who may desire to examine the
evidence of these facts, I here beg to append the
data, on which my calculations are founded, as tol-
ows :—The diameter of the moon is 2,159.3 miles;
the mean diameter of the earth is 7,9124 miles.
The mean distance of the moon's centre from the
centre of the earth is exactly 237,231 miles =-
59.9643 mean radii of the earth. This gives the
distance of the surface of the earth from the surface
of the moon =232,195 miles. And this, divided by
the diameter of the moon, gives the ratic------107.532;
which, multiplied by the mean diameter of the
earth, gives the diameter of the 5un=850,842 miles.
And this again, multiplied by the same ratio, gives
the mean distance of the sun from the earth, as
above stated. The apparent mean diameter of thc
sun, taken at 16 minutes (which is allowing 3.3
sec. for refraction), gives the distance only 88,600
miles less ; differing from LeVerrier 76,600 miles.—
Yours,

R. J. MORRISON, Commander R.N.

MADAME DE LAMARTINE.—It is stated that the
will of the late Madame de Lamartiue, which left all
her property to her husband, has been declared void in
England, owing to an informality in the execution. It
will be remembered that size was an Englishwoman.