The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 30, 1863.

Thanks to the annual reviews and the. Wimbledon
matches we have still evidence of their proficiency,
and the proceedit gs of the volunteers are OM on
those occasions matters of public interest and Ais-
cussion. The Government have admitted the de-
sirability of giving every encouragement to the
movement, and the 'politician who would raise his
voice against it would probably find few supporters,
When we come from general approval to particular
legislation, however, things are not quite so satis-
factory. There are no doubt serious difficulties in
the way of legislating for this irregular army,
whose members may naturally expect more indul-
gence or favour than official routine may be willing
to show. At the same time, the new bill now on
the table of the House contains some very objec-
tionable clauses, which we should imagine
would hardly pass unquestioned. The power
which it places in the hands of commanding offi-
cers is altogether inordinate and unreasonable. Ho
has the power of expulsion from the regiment
placed in his hands, without possibility of appeal,
although it was stated in evidence, before the com-
mission appointed on the subject, that "such power
was greater than that accorded to any officer in the
army, and one which ought not to be in the hands
of volunteer officers." However just and temperate
any commander may be, it is never wise to commit
such extreme measures to the decision of one indi-
vidual. Such a proceeding is contrary to the whole
spirit of our constitution, whose ruling principle is
the due balancing of interests and influences.
Nothing is further from our usual ideas of justice.
In our law courts the power of appeal has no limits
till it reaches the highest court in the realm; and,
though the encouragement thus afforded to litiga-
tion is sometimes verydisastrous in its consequences,
the principle is sound. In criminal law the deci-
sion of the magistrates is grounded on full and
carefully weighed evidence ; but here it seams that
the sentence of expulsion is to depend on the word
of a single individual, and is irreversible by
appeal of any kind. We can hardly sup-
pose that this clause will be allowed to
stand as it is, for while commanding officers
are no doubt as a rule actuated by the most hon-
ourable motives, there may be cases, among such a
number, where prejudice, dislike, private influence,
or other causes, will be suffered to affect the deci-
sion. The condemned party, too, however just or
right his punishment, will naturally resent it the
more from its depending on a single will, and will
lose that sense of fairness in his trial and justice in
his condemnation with which it is so desirable to
impress an accused party. Another clause in the
bill gives the commanding officer power to refuse a
resignation without assigning a cause for so doing,
and thus compelling members to remain in the ser-
vice whether they would or no, This is entirely
contrary to the whole spirit of the movement, which
is and should be purely voluntary on the part of its
members. It would be an almost ludicrous incon-

sistency to compel a volunteer to remain in a corps
against his will. Forced assistance is never much
worth having; and if our volunteer regiments are
to depend on members who remain on compulsion,
their character will soon deteriorate. The worst
part of all these stringent regulations is, that they
tend to disgust men with the service. Anything
that discourages the volunteer feeling, that throws
a damp over the energies of the men and the spirit
of the officers, is greatly to be deprecated ; and if
once the impression gets abroad that the volunteer
service is conducted on a system of absolutism and
unfairness, much mischief will be done. We should
hops the House will look carefully into the framing
of this measure, and eliminate all such dangerous
and objectionable clauses as those we have referred
to.