The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-03 00:00:00

aitnin4 1 tit
43,46

LONDON. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1847.

Protectionist consistency has long been the derision
of the multitude. Protectionist candour and fair
dealing will now be the abhorrence of those who are
the possessors of the elective franchise. Lord GEORGE
BUNTINCK has displayed very conspicuously his in.
capacity to continue the leader of any party in the
House of Commons raising the most shadowy claim
to political respectabiy. Last evening the garb of
statesmanship so recently assumed by the Noble Lord
the Member for Lynn was shown, more glaringly
than ever, to be already threadbare. By the time of
the dissolution it will be hanging about his shoulders
in tatters. The thinness, the poverty, the moral
squalor ol that cloak were yesterday revealed before
the eyes of the Whole country in the broad
glare of Lord GEORGE BENTINCK'S shuffling
and prevaricating egotism. Instead of battling man-
fully fr the furthr ,f own particular views,
,nstead of striving to
own particular prin-
trance and a forcible
(stead of leading on the
the gallant bearing of

THE

a plain-spoken politician, Lord GEORGE endeavours to /
thwart the purposes of the Cabinet, and to embarrass
the condition of Parliament, by an ignoble subter-
fuge, and a discourteous dinegard of the common
usages of the House. Stung by the majority in
favour of Lord MoarzTlfs sanatory measure,
representative of Lyinn tried to worst, the
intentions of the Administration by abruptly
' calling upon the SPEAKER to COU 7.;c the House
before the adjournment from our o'clock till
five, r.ai. Supposing this insidious and paltry
trick had rsucceeded, the Hear.th of Towns Bill must
have been retarded, and a day must necessarily
have been lost to public bir3lness. Lord GEORGE
BENT.INCK would have made one step towards burking
a measure which laughs or,en antagonism to scorn ;
he would have killed a cr
;rtain portion of the time
which is just now so pr )
ecious to the empire, and he
would, though in a
Jle
',cry trumpery and cmitempa
manner, have throe in the arrangements of the B. „use
of Commons int' J a temporary
Had the Not',l "won.
crowed Exult,i' e Lord succP' d d
ngly at his Earn-yard prowess, but we
!Late of ,orri •
.e ed, ne would have
are se3sfie'a the pubEc would have regarded his petty
slic'Jess with indignation. As it is, Lord GEORGE
P.ENTINCE. 'us failed deplorably; the partially sepa-
rated MfAnbers rallied at the attempted count out, and
the Member for Lynn was compelled to satisfy him-
self with the barren credit of having in vain violated
the implied, if not expressed, rules of the House of
Commons.

These incidents must inevitably " tell" at the
general election. The constituencies will be no better
able to forget how the nominal leader of the Protec-
tionists proposed to appease the famine in Ireland by
laying dawn so many miles of cold iron in the shape
of Railroads, than they can lose a recollection
of his abortive effort at counting the House out, in
the hope of strangling the Health of Towns Bill, and
embarrassing the close of the present Parliamentary
session. The fantastic tricks of Lord GEORGE BEN-
TINCK will survive as vividly in the recollection of
the country as the memorable taunts of Mr. ROE-
BUCK to Young Ireland, as the masterly elucidation
of British interference in Portugal by Mr. MA-
CAULAY, or as the beautiful and impassioned panegyric
pronounced upon the Liberator by the eloquent lips
of Mr. SHEIL. But those celebrated speeches will
redound to the honour of Mr. SREIL, of Mr. MA-
CAULAY, and of Mr. ROEBUCK, Aline the proceedings
of Lord GEORGE BENTINCK can only render him in
the public estimation both culpable and ridiculous.
Nothing could be more suggestive of the different
merits of the Protectionists and the present Govern-
ment. While the leader of the Cabinet is making
every exertion to hasten the progress of the Health of
Towns Bill through Parliament, the leader of the
Agricultural Monopolists is striving to quash that
measure altogether, or, at the least, to procrastinate
the period of its enrolment on the statute-book. The
Prime Minister takes the social necessities of his
countrymen into serious consideration. The repre-
sentative of Lynn considers only the possibility of
thwarting a Government of which he is not a portion,
no matter whether by so doing he endangers the
health or the happiness of the community.
Although we cannot possibly regard the Bill intro-
duced by Lord MORPETH as other than a preliminary
to some more bold and comprehensive measure, and
although we are especially disappointed at the omis-
sion of London from the influence of the proposed
enactment, we are grateful to the Cabinet for the
ardour evinced in behalf of the neglected million by
hurrying through Parliament a measure of a charac-
ter so peculiarly generous and benevolent. The
channels are being dug—before long the waters will
irrigate the moral wilderness of the population.

The courts-martial which have just taken place a
Portsmouth on two of the officers of the Lily wil

be perused with considerable interest. They strongly

illustrate the position which may be assumed towards
his subordinates by a captious commander, and the
utter impossibility for even the most zealous and
efficient in the discharge of duty to escape from the
multitudinous snares and pitfalls, by which he is sur-
rounded, if his superior should wish to make him a
victim, and to sacrifice his professional prospects.
They also exhibit the strong reliance that must have
been placed on
.the well-known feeling of naval
courts-martial to support the commanding officer in
every instance, and under almost any circum-
stances. No person who was not thoroughly
satisfied of the extent of that feeling, and
the extraordinary lengths to which it has been
carried, would have dared to suspend his brother
officer from duty and to keep him under arrest for
so long a period as seventeen months, on charges
such as those which were preferred, and supported
by such ridiculously trifling evidence as that which
was brought forward to sustain them. For once we
are rejoiced to find that the system has received a
check. A judgment has been pronounced in the
case of Lieutenant Baarica that we trust will have
no trifling effect in henceforward preserving deserv-
ing and meritorious officers from persecution such as
he has encountered, in proving to tyrannical com-
manders that there is a limit which they cannot
transgress, and that so long as their junior officer
discharges with propriety the duties of his station, so"
long will he be protected, although he might have
had the misfortune to incur the animosity of
the despot under whom he is placed. The Court not
only fully and honourably acquitted Lieutenant
BRANCH, but declared the charges to be frivolous and
vexatious, and the President, at the conclusion of the
proceedings, stated " that he was directed by the
Court to express the pleasure they felt in returning a
sword of which he had been so long and so unjustly
deprived."

In the present case Lieutenant BRANCI was most
fortunate in being enabled to produce the highest
testimonials as to his character and ability,
alike creditable to him as an officer and a gentleman,
from a number of most distinguished officers under
whom he had served from his first entrance into the
navy.' He was fortunate in being able to produce
direct evidence to establish the real facts as they oc-
curred on each of the three occasions which were
definitively fixed on by his accuser in support of the
rather vague charge " that he was on several occasions
between the 9th day of October, 1845, and the 11th
day of May, 1846, highly insubordinate and disre-
spectful to his superior officer." Here was, indeed,
a wide margin, more than six months, out of which
to discover any instance of what might be tortured
into disrespect or insubordination. In our civil tri-
bunals it would be considered most unfair to require
a prisoner to answer such uncertain accusations. He
should know clearly and explicitly what it was that he
was called on to rebut and disprove, the specific instances
of misconduct should be fully set forth, but there is
no such protection for the party brought to a court-
martial ; he cannot know what will be produced
against him until it is actually given in evidence, and
consequently he may be wholly taken by surprise,
and unable to establish his innocence, as he might
have done, if fully apprised of the particulars about
to be brought against him.
Mr. YOUNG, late master of the Lily, was less for-
tunate than his brother officer. Unhappily for him
his trial took place in the first instance, and before
the Court was fully aware of what his commander
considered to be disrespectful, as evidenced in the fol-
lowing case, and while yet his credit was unshaken.
True it was
that he succeeded in disproving of the
transaction of the 21st April.
most weighty of the charges made again.nt him for the
nsac
evidence of his brother opfficers that hHe established by the
is commander
was in error in asserting that he in any degree
W
inebriated ontheoccasion.
incommanding
had falsely accused h
that which was capable of
refutation. But no witness officer
was present at the
interview in the cabin.
that he was drunk and disrespectful
he was mistaken in
eetiul ; it was proved,
commander asserted
to use the mildest language, that
the first part of the charge, and
yet his
borated assertion is suffered to prevail, and touncorro-
and blight the prospects of a meritorious ruin
young
officer. officer. In our law courts, where a witness
fully contradicted in one part of his statement, butSo
little credence would be attached to the residue.
When the severe and arduous character of the double'
duties which Mr. YOUNG had been called upon to
perform, and the indisposition under which he was
suffering, are taken into consideration, we can hardly
conceive that his sinking ou one occasion to slecip,
when worn out by fatigue, is sufficient in itself to
warrant so severe a sentence as that which was passed
upon him—"dismissal from her MAJESTY'S service."

fully for the furtherance of his
with •, A. ••s of logic—it
eo4r. •• • his
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