The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-26 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGF...
flAy —Mcraiug 42 min.after 6 Evening 10 nain.olt.
ro-Mosi.olf Morning 42 min.after 7 1 Evening 11 cala...;!t. 8

THE WEATHER.—Stai OTTlcs, Dec. 2G.

TUERMOMETTM, I'S TA? S3ADI3I.
highest since noon yesterday.
4-4 ()west this morning and during the night.
47—this day, at noon.
RAROMETWit, 29.92—rising again.
WTNn, W.N.W.—Light breeze, and beautiful sunshiny
Boxing Day.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1854.

The Christmas Session has terminated, and four
weeks from this day must elapse before Honour-

able Gentlemen again assemble at the Imperial

Palace of Westminster to open the Parliamentary

campaign in earnest. We trust that the interval
may not be misapplied, but that the free and in-
dependent constituencies throughout the entire
Kingdom may giie clear and explicit instructions
to their respective representatives, so as to pre-
vent the possibility of any future mistake. We
have already had a deplorable illustration of the
effects of a surprise. We have seen a proposition
for the establishment of an unconstitutional force
receive the sanction of the Legislature! We have
seen, what we cannot help designating as a prac-
tical insult to the British army, carried by the
same voices that passed a strong and well-merited
vote of thanks to that army 1 ! At the ♦ery moment
when the brilliant exploits performed at the Alma,
a►t Balaklava, and at Inkerman had proved that
the soldiers of the present day were the worthy
successors of the heroes of the Peninsula and of
Waterloo—when the untried men had proved
themselves equal, not merely in dash and bravery,
but in steadiness and coolness under fire, to ex-
perienced ♦eterans—the English Government
was deciding on the measure, which implied that
the honortr and safety of the country could not
be entrusted to these men, but that we should
seek Swiss or German aid ! Englan3, forsooth,
was not " a military nation." We should pay
more warlike tribes to extricate us from the scrape
in which we became involved through our undue
int,srference with the will and pleasure of the
AUTOCRAT. We must hire mercenaries to dis-
charge the duties which we cannot find natives of
the United Kingdom able or willing to undertake.
Will the German emigrants train more rapidly

than the rising generation of England, Scotland,
or Ireland ? Will they be qualified at an earlier
period of their career to undergo the hardships of
.a campaign in the Crimea, or will they more
steadfastly resist the attacks of a stubborn and
powerful foe ? We believe that nothing but a
deep and unreasoning prejudice, a thorough feel-
ing of " Germanism," could prefer the "HA.LBE/LT
Buccaneers," as they have been appropriately
termed, to our own gallant troops, prepared to
forfeit their lives, to shed their very hearts'-blood,
for the honour of the country. What feeling in
common can the hirelings who fight, not from
patriotic feelings, but for pay or booty, have with
them ? None. They are ready to draw their
venal swords for any master. The best pay, the
most unlimited license, the prospects of successful
plunder, are all they look to ; and so long as the
produce of the Ural Mountains continue,
NicitoLls will obtain similar auxiliaries, ready at
any moment to sell the cause in which they are
engaged to the highest bidder—to carry the train-
ing and discipline acquired while' re,..:eiviug the
pay of Great Britain to the service of its oppo-
nents.

It is unfair to compare those whose assistance
we obtained in former wars with the class now
sought after. They were Allies in the broadest
sense of the phrase, and, although they received
British pay, were engaged in a common cause, and
had all their sympathies excited in our favour.
But new Ministers have travelled out of their
way to tell us that we are not to enlist Poles or
Hungarians. That it is only " Swiss"—the name
that has passed into a proverb to illustrate the
mercenary of any class—or Germans, the highly-
favoured people, who can alone hope to bask in
Courtly sunshine, that are to be employed.
We refuse the men who would join heart
and hand, and seek for those who will only
be attached to us by pecuniary ties, on whom
our only reliance is founded on the pocket ! Let
the electors think of these things, and unequivo-
cally teach their representatives the nature of the
opinions which they entertain on the most ob-
noxious measure that was ever hurried—recklessly
and indecently hurried—through the Imperial
Parliament.

It has often fallen to our lot to protest ear-
nestly and emphatically against "red-tapism."
The pert official sneer that contumeliously rejects
anything not introduced by protegees of the de-
partment—that recognises no light unless that
smuggled through official apertures may do very
well for " the piping times of peace," but it cer-
tainly is not suited for " grim-visaged war," when
our brave warriors are engaged in a struggle for
life and death. It is true that, even
when England was at peace with all the world,
we lost the illustrious FRANKLIN and his
enterprising companions, because the Admi-
ralty would not accept the freely- tendered
assistance, or even act on the suggestions of a
" mere civilian," although that civilian possessed
the greatest experience, and had afforded the
most satisfactory proof of sound judgment, and
reasoning powers of a high order.

But lamentable as was th© loss of FRANKLIN
and his companions, there is something of even
higher importance at stake. Not only are the
lives and liberties of the Allied Armies in the
Crimea—of English and French " heroes," who
have well merited the title—involved in the re-
sult—but the future peace and tranquilfity of
Europe, and the security of the Western. Powers !
These are important issues—on one side peace
and plenty—on the other war, with the numer-
ous attendant evils which she brings in her train.
Not merely one hundred, or one hundred and
fifty lives, albeit of the best and bravest that
England could produce, but of thousands and
tans of thousands of British subjects are placed in
jeopardy, the welfare and prosperity of the na-
tion hangs in the balance, but still the old rou-
tine is obstinately persisted in.
A letter, which appears in our impresssion of
this day, points out bow, in 1854, we are suffer-
ing at Sebastopol flora similar mistakes to those
which led to the failure at Burgos in 1812 ; and,
what is no less remarkable, that on both. these ex-
traordinary occasions the engineering department
was placed under the control and direction of the
same officer, Sir JOHN BURGOYNE. At the earlier
period he was foiled by earthworks, " executed
in haste, and in defiance of all rule." A similar
result has occurred after an interval of 42 years.
The career of a victorious army has again been
arrested by works of the most paltry character,
constructed while we were leokine, on. Had
we dashed forward after the decisive victory at
' i Alma, we might have realised the stories