The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-16 00:00:00

,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1854.

Is England to be gladdened by news of an
attack upon Selas.stopol ? Are we to hear of any
serious warlike adventure up the Gulf of Finland
—for an onslaught upon Cronstadt, or at least
upon Sweaborg—with a view to a further advance
upon St. Petersburg, or at any rate upon Hel-
singfors ? May we expect to obtain intelligence
soon of a combined military and maritime descent
upon the Crimea—whether indirectly, by way of
the isthmus of Perecop, or directly, by an expe-
dition landed upon the shores of the peninsula,
and supported by a resolute bombardment of the
principal fortifications ? Are we to rest satisfied
in regard to the Black Sea with the simple fact of
the capture of the Sulina mouth of the Danube—
and, in reference to the Baltic, with the landing
of some thousands of French soldiers on
the Aland Islands, and the discharge of
a few Lroadsides against the batteries of
Bomarsund ? Added to all which—How about
Sweden ? How about Denmark? How about
Prussian? How about Austria ? Are we to look
for neutrality, for enmity, or for co-operation from
those four Governments ? Can we with any de-
gree of confidence rely upon the good faith of the
councils of Vienna, Berlin, Stockholm, and Copen-
hagen ? Still these questions are asked. Still
they remain unanswered. Autumn is beginning.
Winter must come in its turn very shortly.
Warlike operations both in the East and in the
North are peculiarly dependent upon the seasons.
The best time for them this year has gone by
already. Parliament is prorogued. Everything
is novt left to the discretion of the Government.

Altogether, we fancy, a rather pleasant predi-
cament ! For this country especially. Now that
we have the comfortable knowledge of the Income
Tax being doubled, of the annual taxation of the
United Kingdom being increased by some
10,000,0001. sterling, of our armies and fleets
being sent out to humble the domineering pride
of the Russian AUTOCRAT, and all the while the
"forty years friend " of the Russian AUTOCRAT
at the bead of her 31AJEsTY's Government ! Bear-
ing this last-mentioned circumstance in mind—
all the delays that have taken place are perfectly
and glaringly comprehensible. Remembering that
Lord ABERDEEN has all this while been the Prime
Minister of England, it is easy enough to under-
stand how it is that Austria is allowed to send her
forces into the Principalities, so as to interpose a
large body of German troops between the victorious
Turks and the defeated Muscovites ! How it has
come to pass that months have flitted by with-
out
the combined fleets in the Baltic having ven-
tured upon a general attack upon the defences of
the Russian capital or of the town of Helsingfors !
And without the combined fleets in the Black Sea
having dared to proceed vigorously against the
Crimea with a view to the capture or destruction
of Sebastopol ! Everything becomes comprehen-
sible with that one deplorable fact before us, that
the Earl of ABERDEEN has remained all the while
at the head of the Administration. The non.
transmission
of gun-boats to the Baltic ; the
hesitation about sending troops, until very
recently, to aid the maritime armaments up
the Gulf of Finland; the reluctance shown in
not compelling Denmark and Sweden, long ago,
to reveal their policy boldly, instead of crying
fast and loose between the interests of Russia and
those of her western antagonists ; the apparent
credulity in regard to Prussia ; the seeming con-
nivance in reference to the very questionable de-
signs of Austria—all are brought, with the remem-
brance of that one fact, within the reach of the
dullest observer's comprehension.
It is, therefore wonderfully consolatory to re-
flect, with 10,000,0001. added to the amount of
annual taxation, with the wintry season (when
the campaign must end) rapidly approaching,
with nothing yet doing by sea or by land
0 the way of decisive or vigorous proceed-
ings, and with Parliament actually prorogued
Whilst wurity that it shall be called

together again earlier than next February—it
is, therefore, we say, wonderfully consolatory
to reflect with all this that the Earl of ABERDEEN,
as Prime Minister, is still the recognised chief of
her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government. Remem-
bering that all this while Lord ABERDEEN has been
the Leader of the Administration, we can compre-
hend the Pasts remembering thit he is still the
head of the Cabinet, we can only regard the Present
with regret, while we look onward into the Future
with profound solicitude.

The Windsor Court-martial drags its slow length
along. The gallant Judges are now engaged the
fourteenth day in the investigation of a matter
which would have been disposed of in less than
half the number of hours by " a Court of Jus-
tice We still hear more and more of those pain-
ful revelations which have cast so much discredit
on one of her MAJESTY'S regiments, and each day
new cause to bless PROVIDENCE that we are not
living under military law, administered by mili-
tary tribunals.
But painful as have been these revelations—
discreditable as they have been to men whom we
were accustomed to esteem and respect, they have
not been altogether devoid of utility. Public at-
tention has at length been attracted so powerfully
to the system, that it is utterly impossible to sup-
pose that important results will not follow, in the
shape of a better and more equitable mode of ad-
ministering justice on parties who have incurred
the censure of their superiors, and also of better
discipline in the internal management of the
various regiments, greater care being taken to
make those honoured with her MAJESTY'S Commis-
sions " Gentlemen," as well as " Officers."
We shall not, however, at present enter into
the constitution of the Courts, or the manifest
bias exhibited by those who, in each of the three
trials, discharged the functions of judges as well
as of jurors—aud, we may add also, legislators.
Or they indignantly repudiated the notion that
they were bound by any rules, and peremptorily
rejected the protests of the thrice-tried prisoner
against the improper reception of evidence not
pertinent to the charge, and the equally unjusti-
fiable rejection of testimony necessary for his
repudiation of the collateral charges thus unfairly
brought forward against him. Such stern self-
reliance might, however, have been indispensable.
If any rules besides the mere will and pleasure of
the tribunal were to be recognised, by whom
were they to be enunciated ? Who should
decide a doubtful point ? There is no royal
road to legal knowledge. Men cannot acquire a
practical acquaintance with the law of evidence,
one of the most abstruse and difficult parts of
professional practice, without diligent study and
mature consideration. It is not by drawing a
junior officer, who has not the power of defending
himself by smashing his doors, throwing his bed
clothes and wearing apparel out of the window,
inundating his room with water, or compelling
him to perform the sword exercise in a state of
nudity, that men learn to discriminate between
right or wrong, or to ascertain that which pro-
perly and fairly affects the question at issue, and
to give it legitimate weight, while they as care-
fully dismiss from their minds every irrelevant
matter, and decide fairly and impartially, without
fear, favour, or affection, between the command-
ing officer and the humble subaltern. A time
may come when we shall feel it an imperative
duty to demand a large and comprehensive
reform of military tribunals, and in the
proceedings of the Windsor Courts-martial we
shall find abundant materials to sustain our argu-
ments. At present let us look to Lieut. PERRY,
and consider how far his persecution has been
justified, or the charges against him sustained !

We need not now allude to Court-Martial
No 1. The Royal pleasure has been expressed—
the proceedings quashed—and never did
.our
most gracious SOVEREIGN occasion greater satis-
faction to the great body of her subjects than by
her truly equitable decision. It fell completely
to the ground, and there let it rest. The Second
I Court-Martial, that nominally on Lieutenant
GREER, followed. It was, however, virtually a new
trial of Lieut. PERRY. The decision of the former
Court was held over him, in terroreni, until it could
be ascertained whether he would confirm on oath
the statements made in his previous defence, and
whether he could be broken down on cross-exami-
nation—it being evident from the beginning that
the object of the prosecutor, Lieutenant-Colonel
GARRErr, was not to convict the prisoner, but to
heap discredit on his own witness. Lieutenant
PERRY then found himself in the anomalous posi-
tion of being virtually on his trial, without being,
permitted to ask the questions or elicit the evi-
dence necessary for the vindication of his charac-
ter. In that capacity, and sanctioned by the
statement of the Deputy Judge-Advocate on his
former trial, " that lie might ask him any ques-
tions he thought proper, forasmuch as he was his
adviser as much as the adviser of the Crown," he
subscribed a letter to Colonel PrroN (Deputy
Judge-Advocate on the second trial), asking per-
mission to put certain questions, and as the
groundwork therefor stating that he could estab-
lish certain points. If ever there was a privi-
leged communication that was one. As well might
au action of libel be brought against a party
to the suit for the technical language in which
his pleader had framed the declaration—as well
might he be held criminally responsible for the
language used by his advocate in stating the case.
But undeterred by these considerations, and de-
termined to crush the unfortunate boy who had
ventured to resist the arbitrary order--we beg
pardon, " advice"—to sell out, a new trial was
ordered, not on Colonel GARRETT or those incul-
pated by the charge, but on the poor lad whose
slender finances had already been exhausted. His
evidence was thus rendered inadmissible. Ho
could not state on his own oath what had occurred
—while the very extraordinary " forgetfulness"
participated in by all those who intended to con-
tinue in the regiment, and the suspicious move-
ment of some of his witnesses out of their regular
routine of duty, rendered it difficult for him to
substantiate his assertions. Whatever might be
the result even if completely triumphant, the
costs of these protracted inquiries would suf-
fice to crush a man, the chief objection against
whom appeared to be, that his friends did not
allow him to participate in expensive amusements
indulged in by his brother officers, without plung-
ing into irretrievable debt. A system which he
was so "mean spirited,"—so vulgarly honest"—as
to decidedly object to. The Prosecutor—one by
the war of unusual rank and standing in the ser-
vice - declared that the charges were prepared
partly for the purpose " of giving the prisoner
the opportunity of substantiating these charges by
cross-examination, or other testimony ; and also
of giving Colonel GARRETT, and the other officers
affected by the statements, the opportunity of
meeting them, by answering, on oath in open
Court, any questions that might be put to them
by the prosecutor, the prisoner, or the Court."
How far the third trial of Lieutenant PERRY was
calculated to achieve that object, or how it was
consistent with the subsequent statement of
, Major-General WETHERALL--that " Recrimina-
tion and an attempt to criminate others, is no
f defence " (!)—must be discovered by those acute
military jurists, who can appreciate such proceed-
ings. They are unquestionably far beyond the
powers.vv e sohfa
ll nsimpleot n civilians.owu
all
ce to the melancholy and
; disgusting equivocation of some of the " officer,
and gentlemen" of the 46th, or " non; mi rte. ordo;"
Regiment of Infantry. Had they been subjected
to the ordinary cross-examination of a CocKnunN,
o, TIIESIGER, or a WILKINS, we can easily conceive
that the defence would never have been required.
It is, however, fortunate for the prisoner, that
his trial has thus been prolonged, and that the
testimony of Captain and Paymaster CORCORAN,
and of Captain JOHN H. CHAMBERS has been
brought forward. These gentlemen certainly
gave fair and straightforward evidence ; but it is
painful to reflect, that of the only two witnesses
who gave perfect satisfaction, one had' left the
regiment in April last, and the other, after 31
years of honourable service, is about retiring on
half-pay.
They are, therefore,
no longer within

the control of the confederacy—they cannot be
annoyed for giving honest testimony, and, we
should regret to say, therefore, because we believe
these to be really truthful witnesses, we can
place implicit reliance on their testimony.