The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PATERS 61, THIS DAY.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
If it be considered of the slightest importance to pre-
serve the efficiency and honour of the British army, it
is utterly impossible that the proceedings of the late
court-martial at Brighton, and those previous and sub-
sequent thereto, can pass without exciting the strongest
expression of a nation's censure. It is impossible for
any mind susceptible of the
its
sentiment of honour-
able emotion, to suppress indignation against the
gross and insulting tyranny to which those in whom
high and noble principles of action should be especially
exposed. How can men
be encouragedxpected have
to
guard been
first condition of their profession is the sacrifice
e theirrecently
country's homier when the
of their own ? The treatment lately received
by the officers of the 11th Hussars is as in-
jurious to the service as any proceedings which have
ever disgraced our military annals. Before proceeding
with our commentary we refer to the admonition given
to the officers of this regiment by Adjutant-General Sir
John Macdonald on the part of Lord Hill. He
told them that it was pesfectlyuselessfor any of them to
snake any further complaints against the Earl of Car-
digan,fir that Lord Hill had determined to listen to no-
thing which had heretofore occurred—that on this point
Lord Hill was peremptory : but that any complaint y
any future conduct of the Lieutenant-Colonel of the re-
giment should be promptly inquired into and redressed."
This is the culminating point to which the authorities
of the Horse Guards have carried their insulting and in-
jurious oppression. Lord Hill, first, on the representa-
tion of Earl Cardigan, reprimanded Capt. J. W. Rey-
nolds without giving that gentleman any opportunity of
explanation, and denied him a Court-martial when con-
fined contrary to the express provision of the articles o 1
war. Next a Court-martial is held on Capt. It. A. Rey.
nolds, for seeking direct redress for an insult which,
from the experience of his namesake's case, lie must
have felt to have no chance of reparation from those to
whom is confided the administration of military affairs.
If an officer who was publicly reprimanded, and de-
prived of his liberty contrary to military regulations,
by the tyranny of his Lieutenant-Colonel, was refused
inquiry, what hope could a brother officer entertain of
a similar act of justice, whose complaint was confined
to an insulting expression rumoured to have been ut-
tered by his commanding officer in a drawing-room ?
In despair of redress from the authorities, who might,
indeed, have excused themselves on the grounds that
the case came not legitimately under their considera-
tion, Captain R. A. Reynolds sought personal satis-
faction, for which he was arraigned before a Court-
martial, denied the opportunity of adducing evidence
of the provocation to which he had been exposed, and
then was cashiered with ignominy—an ignominy, how-
ever, which recoils upon the authors of its infliction.
Lest the iniquity of these proceedings might not be
complete, Lord Hill sow announces, in the face of the
world, that it is perfectly useless for any officer to make
any complaint against Earl Cardigan, for his Lordship
is determined to listen to nothing which had heretofore
occurred. Is such an infamous denial of justice as this
to be tolerated ? Were not the fact authentic, we
should believe the report to be exaggerated. We could
not believe that soy man so high in authority as Lord
Hill would have the hardihood to make public avowal
of such a despotic and gross disregard of the dictates
of truth and justice as is promulgated in this admoni-
tion. There are some acts so flagrant as in their very
commission to hear the pledge of their punishment,
and of this class are those upon which we are now
commenting. To suffer them to pass with impunity
would be to participate in their infamy. The subject
must be brought before the House of Commons, and
as Lord Hill cannot expect before that assembly the
sanction of any Ministry having the least regard to
character or decency, the sooner his Lordship resigns
his command, the better for himself and the Govern-
ment. After refusing, as quoted above, all reparation
for the past, the Adjutant-General proceeded to point
out to the officers, in the language of our report, " the
impossibility of any regiment, if called into active ser-
vice, efficiently performing its duty unless there sub-
sisted a cordial feeling and good understanding between
the Lieutenant-Colonel and his officers ; and he hoped
most sincerely to see a perfectly friendly feeling re-
established, and unanimity again prevail throughout
the corps." Does Lord Hill believe the officers of
the 11 th Hussars to be men of human feelings and
emotions, and suppose that they will entertain a
cordial and good understanding with the party who
has so shamefully insulted them ? The supposition
is an aggravation of the outrage. To preserve a
good and cordial feeling, Lord Hill should first do
justice ; and in refusing to do justice, he becomes him-
self the instigator of insubordination. Lord Hill has
made himself a party to Lord Cardigan's misdeeds, and
both have shown themselves utterly unworthy to be left
any longer in possession of the command they have so
scandalously abused. They cannot even avail them-
selves of the plea urged tAgainst the dismissal of Captain
Reynolds, that by the Articles of War an officer can-
not be dismissed, unless for infamous or scandalous con-
duct. If the refusal of inquiry to one officer wantonly
reprimanded and confined, and the dismissal of another
without being allowed to show the provocation under
which he committed the offence charged against him,
and then a peremptoty denial of all inquiry as to the
past, be not infamous and scandalous, we should be glad
to hear from Lord Hill and Earl Cardigan the meaning
they attach to these terms.
(From the Morning Post.)
Every honest politician in Europe must, we think,
rejoice that M. 'Fillers has ceased to be the principal
Minister of the King of the French. In political
affairs M. Thiers is a combination of the desperate ad-
venturer and the mean shuffler. There is nothing in
his character which tiny friend of virtue and good order
can place dependence upon. Louis Philippe may,
perhaps, run a good deal of risk in finally breaking with
him ; but anything were better than submission from
from such a King to such a Minister. So far as the
published records of events enable us to judge, the con-
duct of the King of the French in the late trying times
has been admirable. He has avoided any precipitate
step which would have thrown him unprepared into col-
lision with the excited nation. He knew the thing he
had to angle with in NI. Thiers, and he let him run out
the line as long as no actual mischief was irretrievably
committed. He has gained time for the reasonable-
ness of Europe to express itself respecting the war de-
lirium of France. At last when it came to the point
that he should either suffer the Minister to be his mas-
ter, or get rid of him, he has nat shrunk from the latter
decision. It was the only one worthy of the King.
'We are no admirers of the whole career of Louis Phi-
lippe. We dare say he is not himself. This, however,
we take to be incontestable, that he is, as a political
guide and manager of the French nation, by far the
ablest man in France. That such a man as he should
allow NI. Thiers to be master over him, and to force
bins into what he thought wrong, in order that M.
Thiers' blundering management of foreign affairs might
be supported, were a monstrous thing. The deliberate
judgment of France cannot but pronounce that it would
be so. But a crisis of great difficulty may arise.
The war party will be furious. M. Thiers will be
vindictive. We trust that good sense, justice, and
firmness may triumph over both. If the friends of
order and settled government—if the true friends of
France. who have seats in the Chamber of Deputies,
will but imitate the firmness of the King—all may
be well. They arc not required to forget the glory of
France, but they are required to distinguish between
true and false glory. They are not required to be re-
gardless of the popular sentiment, but they are required
to guard against its extravagant excesses. They are
not required to declare for peace at any price, but they
are required to declare against war without a reasonable
cause. It they have the firmness to determine on doing
what is reasonable and prudent, and nothing else, the
force of reason and prudence throughout the world will
carry them out of the crisis triumphantly. If they yield
but for a moment to mere intimidation and clamour,
contrary to their own and the world's conviction of what
is just, prudent, and reasonable, they are lost. They
will be for a little time slaves, and then victims. If
they would be safe they must be calm and courageous.
They must be ready to submit to anything rather
than to an agreement in what they believe to be bad
policy for France and for the interests of justice and
good order all over the world. We look upon it as it
fortunate event that Marshal Soult has taken upon him
the chief place in the Administration. It will also be
very fortunate should it prove that M. Guizot is not
unwilling to undertake the administration of foreign
affairs. Europe has great confidence in the energy
d
watchfulness of the first—
qualities very necessary
for the internal government of France at this moment.
Europe has no less confidence in the honesty, intelli-
gence, and moderation of the other—qualities which
will go far to reconcile any differences between France
and Foreign Powers which at present exist.
(From the Morning Herald.)
The new Ministe •crisis"
in terms not only confident but exulting by some of
our Contemporaries, Whig and Tory, as affording rial "
In Frances spoken of
i
as-
surance that
We wish we could participate in their satisfaction, arid
rejoice in their joy. We cannot. will be preserved.
the peace of Europe
which brightens their columns will throw additional
It will be fort
gloom upon the prospects of Europe.
peWe fear the event
tunate indeed if the cause of their triumph be not the
liat
commencement of a struggle in France t.
will affect every State in the civilised world. Ihe
resignation of
the Thiers Ministry, under the
circumstances which have led to if, is an ap-
peal to the nation on the policy of the late Cabinet
touching the Eastern question. If that policy has,
indeed, as in sosomeuarters has been stated, only a
rabble of needy adventurers and desperate democrats
peace. But if for its supporters, the result of that appeal will be in
favour of
the great majority of the
nation be, as we fear it is more disposed to adopt the
warlike tone of M. Thiers than to second the pacific
advances of Louis Philippe, the struggle now forced on
is likely to issue in the most deplorable consequences ;
i those consequences being either a revolution in France,
I
, a war with England, or both. In case of the triumphs

of the war party in France there would still, perhaps, be
a possibility of peace being preserved by the British
Government and its northern allies abandoning their
eastern crusade, and allowing the Porte and Mehemet
Ali to settle their differences without the interrneddling;
of foreigners in the affairs of the Ottoman empire. But in
that event France would have obtained a triumph most
humiliating to the pride, and most mortifying to the
ambition of the eastern crusaders. Leaving the French
people to deal with their own Government as they
think fit, it is our duty not to allow the people of Eng-
land to forget the origin of the present alarming state
of things. Clearing away from the question all the
mystifying verbiage of dull and voluminous diplomacy,
and extricating facts from the elaborate jargon of pro-
tocoling polemics, we arrive at the plain unvarnished,
but most lamentable truth, that the peace of Europe
is placed in jeopardy by the ambitious internzeddling of
Ibreign nations in the domestic disputes of the Turkish
empire. Tnat is the simple fact, which the English peo-
ple should not lose sight of ; and they ought to couple
with that fact, the recollection of the policy of non-in-
tervcraion proclaimed by the Whigs before they came
into office, and violated by them ever since.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
His Excellency M. Guizot, having received des-
patches calling him immediately to Paris, set out from
London on Saturday evening. Previous to the depar-
ture of the Ambassador, Baron de Bourqueney was ac-
credited as Charge d'Affaires of his Majesty the King
of the French at this Court. We cannot allow M.
Guizot to take his departure from among us without
expressing in what high regard he was held by all
classes of Englishmen. As a man of business, it was
impossible to be more attentive, more frank and straight-
forward, and he was the delight of every eircla in which
he moved. Whatever was the topic, M. Guizot was
always ready to bear his part in the conversation,
and there were few subjects on which he could not
throw light, and to which he could not communicate
an interest, from the force and felicity of his language.
With all this, he was simple and unassuming in his man-
ners, and in everything he said there was a tone of great
sincerity. M. Guizot never appeared to strain after
smart sayings, never sought to dazzle his audience by
brilliant remarks, but the absence of effort made his
conversation only more engaging, and he was often
eloquent, and always impressive. He spoke
English with much fluency, though with a
foreign accent, and often stumbled on happy combi-
nations of words, which would not occur to a native,
but which gave additional pleasure from their
novelty. With all these engaging qualities, it was
impossible to know M. Guizot without feeling the most
thorough confidence in his honour, and being struck
with the purity of his principles. It would be uncandid
in us to refuse this tribute to M. Guizot, because in
the questions which now divide the two countries he
did not share our opinions. His attachment to his
own country could hardly fail to bias his judgment ; but
though no man could devote himself with more anxiety
to what he deemed the interests of France, his mode of
advocating them was peculiarly unobjectionable. His
conduct in his diplomatic capacity was, as in every-
hing else, manly and straightforward.