The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-07 00:00:00

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strongest granite effectually withstanding a
well-direc fad fire. It is at Sebastopol, then, that
the negotiations are to be renewed—that terms
may be dictated, to which ton AUTOCRAT
those
Must
submit, although far more rous than
which he so contumeliously rejected when sug-
gested by a mediator. When his fleets and
arsenals :have been destroyed, and the Black Sea,
in place, of being a Russian lake, is thrown
open -clot merely to the merchant vessels,
but to the men-of-war of every nation—
when his troops have been expelled from
Asia, and the Crimea is in the hands of his
adversaries, his pride will be humbled, and he
will yield to sad necessity. He will find that the
cone sealed friendship of Austria is no more capable
of saving him from the consequences of his own
misdeeds than the avowed nepotism of Prussia.
The fiat has gone forth, and, insane and impious
as he is in some respects, he must himself be con-
scious of the truth. He may harden his heart
against the fall of -Bomarsund, but that of Sebas-
' topol will inflict a " heavy blow and great dis-
couragement" on his pride—one, indeed, that
must prove irresistible, inasmuch as it will de-
prive him for a long succession of years of carrying
out his nefarious views against the possessions of
the man no longer " sick," but restored to the
plenitude of health and strength. Such a " ma-
terial guarantee will be worth all the merely
moral obligations or verbal pledges that could be
imposed. The Cult has proved beyond the pos-
sibility of doubt, that the most unblushing men-
dacity is one of his characteristics, and that if his
interests require it, he is ready not merely to
quibble away the intent and meaning of any
document,. but, if necessary, to deny its efficacy.
His treaties would not, in fact, be worth the
paper on which they were engrossed, unless we
rendered him incapableof violating their provisions.
With Sebastopol dismantled, and the tlack Sea Fleet
destroyed; it is clear that he could do no more against
his Moslem neighbours. We fancy, too, that, ere
long, we shall have something to recorii,, from the
Baltic, and that the capture of Bomarsund and the
blowing up of Hango will not be the only results
of the operations of the combined forces in that
quarter. Should this be the case, as we hope and
trust it will be, the season will not have passed
uselessly away. The energy and activity displayed
at its close will. have amply compensated for the
apathy so justly complained of during the earlier
months.

The memoranda recently issued by the Cora
wander-in Chief respecting the Windsor Courts-
martial, prove beyond the possibility of doubt the
incompetency of the members of these extraor-
dinary tribunals to conduct a trial properly, or to
arrive at a correct conclusion on the testimony
which they have actually received. Among many
offences of omission and commission, if properly
admitting, and as improperly rejecting evidence,
there was one point especially referred to by
Lord HARDINGE that exhibits their gross igno-
rance in the clearest point of view. Oa the cross-
examination of Lieutenant GREER, by the prisoner
in the first trial, the following question was sub-
mitted—" Did you not seize me by the breast
and throat, and throw me on my bed, and did not
I order you under arrest, which you refused to
obey, saying you would see me damned first ? "
This question the Court, after mature considers
tion, decided against allowing to be put to the
witness. The clear inference from which refusal
was, that the members diclnot consider it pertinent
or relevant to the issue—that, in fact, it would not
constitute any valid defence if it had been
proved that the quasi prosecutor had acted in the
manner imputed to him. Now, if there was any
subject with which the Gallant Gentlemen, sitting

in judgment on their brother officer, might be
supposed to be thoroughly acquainted, it is the
code comprised in "the Articles of War," the only
authority by which they professed to be influenced.
They unhesitatingly scouted the views expressed
in SIMMONDS, on Courts-Martial, but they could
not exhibit similar contempt for the Articles of
War. Now, the 15th Article expressly declares
that " All officers, of what condition soever, have•
power to quell all quarrels, frays, and disorders,
though the persons concerned should be of supe-
rior rank, or belong to another corps, and either
to order officers into arrest, or soldiers into con-
finement, until their proper superior officers shall
be acquainted therewith ;" and the 44th Article
declares that " Any officer who, being concerned
in any fray, shall refuse to obey any other officer
(though of inferior rank) who shall order
him into arrest, or shall draw his sword
upon, or offer violence to, such officer, shall for
each and every one of the aforesaid. offences, on
conviction thereof before a Genital Court-martial,
be cashiered." Now looking to the terms of these
imperative regulations, it was .perfectly obvious
that if GREER had been guilty of such conduct,
not only refusing to obey the order of Lieutenant
PERRY that he should be placed under arrest, but
offering personal violence against the officer who
gave that order, he would be a mutineer, whose
violence should be terminated in the most deci-
sive and summary manner. The admission of
the witness would have been a complete answer
to the charge, and yet he was not allowed to ob-
tain that answer through the undue interference
of the Court, which thus manifested not only the
most profound ignorance of the ordinary principles
of jurisprudence, which allow any person on trial
for an assault to plead " Son assault demesne,"
and to prove that his violence had been committed
in self-defence against a previous attack of the
prosecutor, but also of the Articles above quoted.
This was alone sufficient to prevent the confirma-
tion of the proceedings, and the refusal to do so
was practically the heaviest censure that could be
inflicted on the " unlearned tribunal."
While on this part of the case we may express
our surprise that in the charges subsequently pre-
ferred against Lieutenant GREER no allusion was
made to this, the most serious military offence
that could be committed. He was accused of hav-
ing used violence and uttered improper language
against his brother officer, but not of having re-
fused to obey an order to go under arrest, a mat-
ter on which there could have been but little
doubt. The obnoxious point was, however, over-
looked, and apparently not through inadvertence,
but in order to afford a loophole for the escape of
the culprit ; and, inasmuch as it was through the
special direction of the Horse Guards that the
second Court-martial was directed, we cannot alto-
gether acquit these high authorities from a very
considerable portion of the blame thereby merited.
The finding of the second Court-martial also
remained without confirmation or approval. Not-
withstanding the locus penitentice afforded the
order for the reassembling of the Court, with
a view to the revision of the proceedings, the
members adhered to their former finding, the im-
propriety has been
propriety very clearly explained
by Lord EfARDINGE. Never, indeed, was there a
decision so palpably opposed, not merely to " the
weight of evidence," but to " the entire evidence,"
in the case.' The rough and brutal GREER had,
however, the sympathy of the Court, rather than
the innocent young man whom he so grievously
maltrottd• They tried to shelter him, but in
vain. "tillmitY with
Dlgtivithstandin the P