The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-12 00:00:00

4 titniug °_b-Ailt/.

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1849

strongest terms or iauignatron on tne tyrannical pion
ceedings of a superior officer in the naval profession
It is now our disagreeable duty to make allusions to
similar misconduct on the part of a superioiofficer in
the military profession. In consequence of the
arbitrary bearing of the then Commander PITMAN,
geveral individuals were driven to the commission of
serious offences as suicide and desertion on
ooard her MAJESTY'S ship Childers. In consequence
of the equally despotic regulations of Colonel ARTHUR,
a number of soldiers have lately been goaded
on to acts of the most culpable insubordination
in the 3d Dragoon regiment. The result of both
series of occurrences has been the convocation of
courts martial, from whose authority the different
offenders have received punishment. Meanwhile,
however, a PITMAN has been ignominiously dis-
missed the service of his QUEEN and country,
whereas it remains yet to be seen whether an
ARTHUR is deemed worthy to hold his present high
position under the colours of his SOVEREIGN.
Doubtless the unfortunate Lieutenant GRAHAM
was culpable to a very considerable extent, insomuch
as he permitted his feelings so far to master his
better judgment, as to induce him to fly from
his post while holding a commission in the Royal
Navy. Doubtless, also, the various privates who
have been convicted of the grievous fault of " break-
ing from barracks" are guilty of offences deserving
the most serious reprehension. For neither the sea-
service nor the land-service could be preserved in any
reasonable condition were proceedings such as these
to be connived at, or to be allowed to pass by alto-
geter unpunished. Martial law is compelled to take
cognisance of acts amounting to the great crimes of
desertion or insubordination. To dream for one
moment of permitting such criminality as that of
parties setting at defiance the ordinances of either
service, no matter upon what plea, would be wholly
idle and preposterous. Obedience to orders is the
vitality of both the naval and military professions.
To that supreme martial dogma everything must be
rendered subordinate, otherwise the navy becomes no
longer a navy, but a body of salt water mutineers ;
the army remains no longer an army, but a rabble of
lawless fighting men. During times of war, in•
deed, the submission to authority is ohsprved with
such necessary strictness that the slightest act
of self-will on the part of a subordinate
is punished with the most rigorous severity, the
drum head court.martial sentences the prisoner, in 99
cases out of every 100, to death, and the execution
is so summary that it is absolutely immediate. We
are very far indeed from being disposed in the smallest
particular to quarrel with this stern and inexorable
system. It would be a sheer absurdity to question its
advisability. We recognise, of course, the impera-
tive necessity of maintaining discipline in an armed
multitude, 'at any cost short of simple justice. We
see the wisdom of the decree as clearly as
we perceive the judicious nature of those
very admirable remarks made by Mr. MACAU-
LAY somewhere in his historical criticisms, where
he says—" If there be any truth established by
the universal experience of nations, it is this, that
to carry the spirit of peace into war is a weak and
cruel policy. The time of negotiation is the time for
deliberation and delay ; bat when an extreme case calls
for
that remedy which is, in its own nature, most
violent, and which, in such cases, is a remedy only
because it is violent, it is idle to think of mitigating
and diluting. Languid war can do nothing which
negotiation or submission will not do better; and to
act on any other principle is not to save
blood and money, but to squander them.''
Now, the principles which the historian has here
applied to the conduct of war may with equal felicity
be applied to the materials and appliances of war. If
a severe and decisive policy be the only reasonable
and effectual one for the prosecution of warfare, then
most certainly upon the same ground a severe and
decisive policy is the only rational and effective
course to be adopted in the management of an army
in all its several proportions, divisions, regiments,
and companies. _ .

Nevertheless, while it is altogether undeniable that
discipline is essential to the existence of an armed
force, be that armed force naval or military, it is equally
indisputable that obedience to authority must be ac-
companied by the administration-ewe will not say