The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-03 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1865.

.*-

It is always a pity when a Government contrives,
through misfortune or mismanagement, to disgust a
whole class of its subordinates. Personal feeling,
an impatience of rule and routine, or an exaggerated
estimate of their own capacities, may often render
individuals captious or discontented, but the gene-
ral sense of a whole body of men is seldom misled
by any such feelings, and when complaints are uni-
versal it is right that they should, at least, be in-
quired into. The heads of offices are, as we know,
very fond of hushing up all such matters, of assur-
ing the House that the very points which are com-
plained of are the most beneficial to the
grumblers, and of denouncing all inquiry
as meddlesome and mischievous. We had a
marked example of this the other evening
in the manner in which the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer treated the remonstrances of the Custom-
house officers. But civil employes • are generally
supposed to be more at the mercy of the dictators
at their head, and military officers occupy a very
different position. The house, in both cases, re-
sented a manifest injustice, and .insisted upon an
inquiry at least being instituted. There is a very
general impression that the officers and men of the
Indian service have been treated with great harsh-
ness and injustice, and as, as a body, they were
remarkable for their energy, their courage, and
their military skill, and the ill-favour shown to them
has been especially uncalled for and ungracious.
The transfer of their allegiance to the Crown
should rather have been made an acces-
sion of gratification to them than a source of
annoyance and mortification, and being effected
just at a time when their chivalrous courage had
extorted the admiration of the civilised world, it
might actually have been supposed that it would
have been done in the most gracious and conciliatory
manner. There must always have been a difference
between the two services. On the one hand, the
service undoubtedly possessed a more recognised
position, and more extended opportunities for ob-
taining that military distinction which is so dear to
every true soldier. But against these advantages
might be urged the loss of the individual opportuni-
ties presented by the Indian service, the fettering
influence of routine, and the old tardy system of
promotion. An officer in the QUEER'S service
might be doomed to spend the best years of his life
in obscurity and inaction, at some out-of-the-way
station, with nothing to look forward to but insig-
nificance and half-pay. The Indian officer, on the
other hand, had constant opportunities for acquir-
ing fame and fortune, and if he were a man of
character and talent there was little doubt that he
would push his way, if not in one direction
in another. The long list of distinguished
names which immediately rise to the me-
mory' prove that the Indian service whatever
its faults or deficiencies at least gave its subordi-
nates a chance of rising and of showing what was
in them. This chance they have lost by the transfer,
and in spite of Si
CHARLES WOOD'S lengthened
defence of the system, the House of Commons felt
the grievances complained of to be really serious
and oppressive. It is not the first time that these
complaints have made themselves heard within the
walls of Parliament. A loyal Commission has
been appointed to inquire into them,
and a year
ago the Indian Secretary promised to carry out
their recommendations to the full. How far that
pledge has been fulfilled, we may judge from the
fact that 23 general officers, 240 field officers, and
more than 500,61 fibers of lower ranks, all of whom
have served more than seven years in the East
Indies, have now -petitioned the House that the
report be carried out ! Sir C. WOOD gets out of
this difficulty with a mixture of audacity and
ingenuity which is really admirable. He plainly
intimated that these signatures were not worth
much, and declared that some of them belonged to
officers who were entirely opposed to the petition !
The one great grievance of which these gentlemen
is the sitpereession of the right of promo- 1

tion by seniority. The establishment of a staff
corps by Sir C. WOOD, in which a captain after 20
years' service obtains the rank and pay of a major,
and after 26 years that of a colonel, did not tend to
improve matters. This corps is said to give abun-
dant opportunity for a system of favouritism, and
enables those who are lucky enough to get into it to
be lifted over the heads of their seniors, and, more-
over, the staff corps escapes the wearisome routine
of regimental duty. Sir C. WOOD had a formidable
antagonist in Colonel SYKES, who informed the
House that the military committee to which the
Indian Secretary had referred the question of
amalgamating the armies had unanimously reported
that they could offer no satisfactory solution of its
difficulties. It was opposed by no less an authority
than Sir JAMES OUTRAM, who, in a report dated
Jan., 1860, said :—" Believing as I do that the mea-
sure of amalgamation, if carried out, will prove
Most injurious to this country, and that the servants
of the East India Company will suffer severe injus-
tice, I have deemed it my duty to record a solemn
protest against its adoption." Sir BARTLE FRERE,
Governor of Bombay, .expressed a similar opinion,
and that same view was taken by the late Mr.
WILSON. The report of the Military Committee
was so much opposed to Sir C. WOOD'S scheme that
he would not lay it before the General Council.
Colonel SYKES, who, from his experience, was tho-
roughly well acquainted with the subject, showed
how hardly many of the new arrangements
pressed upon the officers, and the inequality and
injustice consequent upon them. He cited two or
three cases : one was that a a captain who remained
in his regiment, while another captain three steps
lower joined the Staff Corps. When the latter had
been in the Staff Corps long enough to claim his
majority, he came back to the regiment and took
the command by right of his substantive rank over
the captain who had been his senior, and who
had been made a brevet-lieutenant-colonel:
Another instance in which the injustice of
the present system was strongly marked, was
that of a married captain who served with his regi-
ment twenty years, and whose wife on his death
got only the pension of a captain's widow. Another
married captain, having joined the Staff Corps,
obtained the substantive rank of major, and his
widow obtained the pension of a major's widow.
" The officers," said Colonel SYKES, " who
before had rights, are now dependent upon
the pleasure of the Commander-in-Chief for
their promotion." And he added with great force,
that however exceptional cases might be brought
forward to weaken the evidence, it was not likely
that 712 officers, several of whom were generals,
and many of whom had served 30 years, would
have drawn up these petitions unless they felt really
aggrieved. Mr. SMOLLETT also passed some severe
strictures upon the Staff Corps, most of whose
members had, he declared, been promoted because
they had good introductions. This is not the way
to get good officers, or to fulfil the expectations of
the country. Sir CHARLES WOOD has shown him-
self most obstructive to the interests of India on
many occasions, and he has never more signally
failed in giving satisfaction, or in serving the
public, than in his treatment of the Indian Army.

The Courts of Justice Building .Bill passed
through Committee last night in the House of
Lords. This is satisfactory on the whole, and may
be regarded as an advantage to the community at
large. At one time the bill was threatened with
serious opposition on various grounds, but happily
its promoters have succeeded in triumphing over all
obstacles and vanquishing those captious critics
whose arguments indeed related chiefly to minor
details. Lord REDESDALE proposed an amendment
last night, to the effect that the bill be sent to a
Select Committee. The reasons which he gave for
this were that further inquiry should be made into
the provisions of the Bill before it received the sanc-
tion of the House. His Lordship did not approve
of the manner in which the Bill was
arranged respecting the approaches. These,
he declared, were not adequate, and, doubt-
less, another large sum would be required ;
also he did not think enough explanation had been
given respecting the bill altogether. Lord ST.
LEONARDS supported the amendment, which is not
surprising, considering the strenuous opposition
which the noble lord has so constantly given to the
measure. He .declared, however, that he only
wished the bill to be thoroughly investigated.
Lord GRANVILLE explained that the chief objection
to sending the bill to a Select Committee was that
the Lord Chancellor could not be present at it.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH complained that they
were attempting to build without an estimate.
One of the wisest statesmen of former days was
reported to have said, " Stay a little that you may
make an end the sooner." To this the Lord Chan-
cellor very wisely said that if they never made a be-
ginning they would unquestionably never see an end
of the work. As for waiting a little, said his lordship,
why, they had been waiting for forty years—" forty
years of lingering, talk, and obstruction, and at last
they had tome to the threshold of the undertaking."
The Lord Chancellor entered into full particulars
respecting the proposals made, and said that inquiry
and calculation were prudent things, but they had
already made all the investigations they possibly
could. The Commission issued by Lord DERBY has
been of Great service to the Government, and put
them in possession of important facts. His lord-
ship very truly observed that it would be a source of
great irritation to the country if, after all the efforts
that had been made, this bill was now again post-
poned. The public and the profession would indeed
alike have had cause to regret the result had the amend-
ment been carried. It was shown that the land was not
so valuable as had been supposed, because it was
covered with houses of a low character. Many
experienced persons have been consulted as to the
probable cost of the undertaking, and thus all that
ought to be done has been fairly tried, and no
reason remains to justify the opposition of those
who refuse to give a fair trial to the matter. It
may truly be said that a great question of interest
to the community has been happily disposed of, and
that the country can now rejoice in this great
measure of legal improvement, which has received
the sanction of both houses of Parliament. As for
the remark made, that their lordships would not
see the edifice completed, it does not follow that it
is a correct one, and, at any rate, it is the bounden
duty of our legislators to make due arrangements
for the exigencies of the country, and if the profits
be reserved for another generation of their own, it
should not diminish their satisfaction, nor does it
impair their success.

The world has been too much engrossed lately by
important news from various quarters to pay much
attention to the despatches going on between
Prussia and Austria, but these wily and wilful
Powers have been steadily pursuing the very uneven
tenour of their way for some time past, and are yet
no nearer to a solution than ever. The last point
of altercation which has arisen has been the differ-
ences that exist respecting " Kiel." Count BIS3IARK
has managed very badly in treating of this affair,
and lost sight of his usual prudence and perspicacity.
fie has shown his cards too plainly, and aroused
the jealousies and indignation of Austria to a dan-
gerous degree, This country has hitherto displayed

most marked moderation in its dealings with
Prussia, but there is a limit beyond which the utmost
patience cannot go, and there are bounds which
must be put to everything, whether private or
political. Great interest will be felt as to the issue
of this affair bx the lookers-on, although the ulti-
mate effects of it will not piobably appear for some
time. Austria will be too cautious to hazard a
struggle with Prussia as yet, and therefore no direct
steps will be taken. To gain time Herr vox Ms-
MARK has manoeuvred as usual, and made specious
pretences as to the recognition of Austrain claims.
This is evidently a dodge to answer the require-
ments of the moment, because all the time that the
dexterous diplomatist is making these asseverations
he is taking very decided steps in the direction to
which Berlin hopes and aspirations have long
pointed. Thus, while the world goes on its way,
the Prussian men-of-war will be stationed in the
harbour of Kiel as an earnest and harbinger of that
mighty fleet which the Prussian authorities trust
will one day walk the waters to the glory of their
country and the terror of their enemies. All can
sympathise with a legitimate ambition, even if they
do no not exactly realise its object ; but to pursue
a plan in an underhand manner, and with unworthy
means, is very degrading to the character of a na-
tion, and cannot but prove subversive in the end to
the interests of the people among whom it is prac-
tised. If the spectacle thus presented to the eyes
of the observant nations were not so deleterious to
the good name of the respective parties engaged in
the strife, it would be amusing to notice the
squabbles to which this affair has given rise.
The fact is, that there is so much bitter-
ness of feeling between Austria and Prussia
that the least jar that arises serves to
rouse the latent embers, and long after the 'dispute
has been temporarily adjusted at head-quarters the
minor individuals go on fighting and fuming. Thus
the Prussian press now teems with indignant re-
marks concerning the course pursued by Austria,
and all shades of politics unite in this common
cause of bickering and reviling. The intelligence
that BISMARK has proposed the convocation
of the Schleswig-Holstein Estates has caused
great astonishment in all quarters, alike for
its unexpected announcement, as also for
the fact of its having taken the game out of his oppo-
nent's hands as it were. In truth, it may be affirmed
that there is nothing which the Prussian Minister
may or may not do if events only point out the
desirability of a change taking place. It would
seem as if no very important results would take
place for this arrangement, for Herr Bismium's
organ announces that the innovation will take place on
the basis of a new law which will be arranged by
the possessors.. If this be true we shall witness
another instance of keeping the word of promise to
the ear and breaking it to the heart. Great cus-
toms curtsey to great queens, and we all know that
the modern adaptation of this elastic theory is that
truth, honour, and justice weigh as nothing in the
balance where the German Powers have their objects
to serve or their interests to gain.