The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

It is much to be regretted that public docu-
ments do not undergo some better revision and
severer scrutiny than they appear to do before
they obtain the final seal of official announce-
ment. It is said of lawyers that they are so
accustomed to leave a flaw or opening for liti-
gation in all they do, that even their own wills
are not exempt from it. Certainly there never
was a public document that so completely stul-
tified its own apparent intentions, and disap-
pointed public expectation, as the order lately
issued from the Horse Guards on the subject of
military flogging. After enumerating three
heads of crime to which this barbarous practice
is to he confined, and to which it would
almost seem that its increased application is
invited, we have these few sweeping words
added, " or other disgraceful conduct." Words
of exemption, of exception, or mitigation, would
surely have been more consistent with the pro-
fessed object of this order than a species of am-
nium gatherurn of this kind, which literally
embraces everything which the spirit of the order,
if it be sincere, was meant to exclude ; for what
species of offence is there that is not " disgrace-
ful ?" and what crime, therefore, is there to
which the hateful punishment of the lash may
not still be applied ? Yet this is the way in
which the Commander-in-Chief, through his
official organ, the Adjutant-General, gives effect
to the " King's command," to the avowed wishes
of the nation, and to a vote of the House of
Commons, which had well nigh made the total
abolition of this national stain imperative. We
regret that Parliament is not now assembled,
that the country might know what Mr. Ellice,
the Secretary at War, and the brother of the
Prime Minister, says to this. The friends of
Sir John Hobhouse, we remember, were very
anxious to have it made known that the Hon.
Baronet's principal reason for resigning that
office was, that he found himself, while holding
it, to be little better than a clerk to the Horse
Guards. What does Mr. Ellice say to this ?
Is his view of the matter the same ? If it is, is
it not a state of official vassalage to which no
honourable or independent man ought to sub-
mit ? The order in question seems to bring that
matter to the test. Whose supervision did it
undergo ? Did Mr. Ellice see it before it was
issued ? If he did, how can he justify its terms,
either with reference to his own opinions, or
those of the House of Commons ? If he did
not, he can hardly be said to be allowed, in this
respect, the privilege, or knowledge of a clerk,
in a matter so intimately connected with his
own peculiar department.—Morning Herald.
The Committee on Army and Navy Appoint-
ments have found that the expenditure of the
army cannot be materially diminished. They
observe in their Report, " that they cannot
close the military branch of their inquiry, with-
out stating the favourable impression which
they have derived from it as to the general eco-
nomy and management of the army. They
would have been happy, if, in the performance
of the duty intrusted to them, they could have
effected any greater saving to the public; but
taking into view the peculiar circumstances of
our military service as pointed out in various
parts of the evidence, and particularly by the
Duke of Wellington, in the memorandum al-
ready referred to, and taking also into view the
fact, that whilst the salaries and emoluments of
many branches of the civil service have consi-
derably increased since 1792, those of the supe-
rior officers of the army are, with few exceptions,
the same as they were a century ago." When
we mention the names of the Committee, it
will be seen, that if little saving could be ef-
fected, it was not because there were not on
the Committee any men disposed to carry
economy as far as possible. The names
are Lord Ebrington, Lord John Russell, Sir
Robert Peel, Sir Henry Hardinge, Mr. Aber-
cromby, Sir Ronald Ferguson, Sir Alexander
Hope, Mr. Wilbraham, Sir John Wrottesley,
the O'Connor Don, Sir John Byng, Mr. Bon-
ham Carter, Mr. Strickland, Mr. Morgan
O'Connell, Nlr. Hedworth Lambton, Sir James
Graham, Mr. Ellice, Mr. Williams Wynn, Sir
Henry Parnell, Mr. Pendarvis, Mr. Hume,
Colonel Davies, Mr. Fazakerly, Colonel Ma-
berly, Sir John Sebright, Mr. Hawes, Mr.
Carew, Admiral Fleming, Mr. Richard Oswald.
The Committee divided the sub,jects of their
inquiry under four heads-Ist. Ile Garrison
Establishments at home and abroad ; 2d. The
Pay and allowances of General Officers holding
the situations of Colonels of Regiments ; 3d.
The Pay and Emoluments of the General and
Staff-officers ; and, 4th. The appointments of
Vice-Admiral and Rear-Admiral of England,
and of the Generals and Colonels of Marines.
The Committee under the first head, re-
commend the putting an end to non-effective
Garrison appointments. The Duke of Wel-
lington, in a memorandum given in the
appendix to their report, bringing briefly but
forcibly into view the whole constitution of
the British army, had, they say, expressed his
opinion in favour of their continuance ; but they
" are still of opinion, that upon the principle
repeatedly laid down by Parliament, that all
sinecure offices ought to be abolished, no garri-
son appointments should in future be made
where no efficient military duty is performed."
They do not, however, propose anything against
the present occupants. The Committee, how-
ever, suggest that fifteen thousand pounds be
granted to his Majesty for the purpose of mili-
tary rewards in lieu of the sinecures. The
Committee, however, are less tender with
respect to the garrison appointments held by per-
sons altogether unconnected with the army or
navy. " From Returns laid before the Com-
mittee," they say, " it appears that several gar-
rison appointments are held by persons altoge-
ther unconnected with either the military or naval
service, and in some instances enjoying lucra-
tive emoluments from civil employments. The
Committee consider this a violation of the
object for w! ich such appointments were esta-
blished, and a misapplication of the public
money, and they therefore recommend, that
wherever garrison appointments are held by such
persons, whether resident or not, the sums voted
for their salaries should be omitted in all future
estimates
unless any special grounds can be stated
for their continuance on the score of the duties
performed, or of the particular circumstances
of the individuals holding them." If the con-
tinuance of pensions to the holders has been
advocated on the ground of the parties having
been taught to calculate on such continuance,
much more will it be argued, we fear, that these
military sinecures held ;by civilians cannot be
abolished without hardship to the present holders.
With respect to the colonelcies of regiments,
the Committee do not propose to change this
long established system ; but they propose some
.
reductions, producing an immediate saving of
9,7001. a year, and about 15,5001. more as va- 1
eancies occur. Under the third head, the Coln-

mittee propose to abolish fees (now heavy)
attached to military appointments, and thus to
place, in that respect, the two services on the
same footing. By a misapplication of the
King's warrant of 1814, authorizing large addi-
tions to the pay of general officers, those
who had been reduced before the last war,
or had retired on half-pay before the last
war, were admitted to the benefit of this.
The warrant was cancelled in 1818, other-
wise a further charge to the country would
hrve been created of 300,0001. But 39 officers
are receiving, through the misapplication, no less
than 15,6221. beyond what they received before
the issue of the warrant. The Committee con-
demn this payment, arid recommend that it
ought now to be discontinued. They propose
that the officers in question " should revert
again to their former rates of half-pay, subject
to such exceptions as the Government, with the
assistance of the Commander-in-Chief, may
think it just to make, on a due examination and
liberal consideration of the circumstances of the
parties whose income may be so reduced, or of
the efficient services of any of the Generals in-
cluded in this list ; but that they shall have the
option of selling out of the army at the regula-
tion price of their unattached full-pay commis-
sions, wherever, in the opinion of the Secretary
at War, such sale shall not, from the age or
health of the parties, be injurious to the public
interest. With respect to the navy and marines,
the Committee recommend the continuance
of Vice-Admiral and Rear-Admiral of England,
but see no reason for keeping up the Generals and
Colonels of Marines. The evidence throws
light on many points, respecting which the pub-
lic possess very little information. We shall,
from time to time, lay parts of it before our
readers. We observe that Sir Willoughby Gor-
' don bestows great praise on the composition of
the French army. He says that thirty-one
years' service in France does not wear a man so
much out as twenty-one years with us. We
suppose this is because the French do not send
their soldiers to distant colonies. The French
soldiers, he thinks, are, on the whole, better off
than ours. They can march twenty miles a day,
carrying the heavy weight that a soldier ought to
carry. This, he seems to think, is the result of
practising the men to march with weights. He
seems to have been struck with the march of the
French soldiers to Antwerp. What a strange
picture Sir John Sebright gives of the army
when he was Lord Amherst's Aide-de-Camp.
Every thing was then given to Parliamentary
interest.—Morning Chronicle.
If any thing can show the folly and madness
of those who conduct and uphold the affairs of
the little Queen, it is the subjoined paragraph,
taken from the Sunday Times of yesterday.
Encouraged by the recognition of England and
France, we find the holders of Pedroite Stock
preparing for a Coronation, when, up to the
present hour, the rabble of Lisbon, Oporto, and
Faro only have been consulted as to the mode
of settling a disputed succession, and the doubt-
ful fate of Lisbon, as well as the interested views
of the father, yet operate as fearful obstacles :
_.

" CORONATION OF THE QUEEN OF PORTUGAL.-The
Coronation of the young Queen, it is expected, will take
place shortly. A band of musicians have been engaged
in London to accompany her Majesty to Portugal. Mr.
Peed, formerly a musician belonging to the First Regiment
of Grenadier Guards, had been appointed to engage the
musicians. He has engaged thirty-six of the most ap-
proved musicians, mostly experienced men, who have left
the bands of the three regiments of Guards. Their pay
is to be a guinea per day eacb, and their clothing found
them. The uniform for the musicians is most splendid :
a white superfine cloth uniform coat, turned up with red,
and decorated with gold lace; worked crimson trousers,
braided with gold lace down the sides, and caps to cor-
respond. Yesterday afternoon, at three o'clock, all the
musicians left London by coaches from Piccadilly for
Portsmouth to embark on board the steamers for Lisbon.
The men will remain there until after the Coronation,
which is to be on the most magnificent scale."—Morning
Post.

In the programme of the labours of the Holy
Alliance Congress, which may now be consi-
dered as complete by the arrival of the Emperor
of Russia, our continental contemporaries have
assigned a conspicuous place to that of settling
the political distractions of Switzerland. Our
Tory journals at home, who seem always glad
to echo the opinions of the despotic prints of
the continent, even when they do not understand
the subject o& discussion, have agreed that the
Swiss must be coerced into order and tranquillity
by this despotic interference. They hear of dif

erences between two sections of the same can-

ton, and between different cantons of the same
Confederation,—they hear of differences between
the inhabitants of the towns and of the country
about an equality of civil and political rights,
—they hear of changes in the constitution of

the cantonal governments, and of a contem-
plated change in the federal administration, and,
without comprehending the bearings of the ques-
tion, they immediately conclude that all this is dan-
gerous to the neighbourhood, and proceed to call
in the Holy Alliance police. If we were to credit
their representations, the shepherds, and moun-
taineers, and industrious manufacturers, and free

burghers of the Alps, who seek only to be the
guardians of their own high region, and whose
genius and institutions were never calculated for
conquest,—to whom even Napoleon allowed a
considerable degree of independence, and in-
sured eleven years of moderated liberty and do-
mestic prosperity under a free republican con-
stitution,—whose rights and privileges the allied
Sovereigns, in 1813, respected when the power
of Napoleon had ceased to be a protection,—
who obtained from the same Sovereigns, at the
Congress of Vienna, a solemn guarantee for the
neutrality and independence of their country, to-
gether with an accession of territory, which im-
proved their military means of defence,—who,
at the present moment, make a noise, indeed, in
their own vallies and defiles, which their
enemies would call revolutionary, but which
can excite alarm among no people but theta-
selves,—if, we say, we were to credit
the representations of Legitimatists and Conser-
vatives, this inoffensive race is about to fall,
like a democratic avalanche, on the plains
below, and it is necessary to take Holy Alliance
precautions against the threatened calamity.
Now, nothing can be more absurd and foolish
than such au alarm, and nothing could be
more uncalled for and indefensible than such
an interference. In order to demonstrate the
truth of this assertion, and to justify a policy
of non-interference, we have only to attend to
the nature of the political differences which now
ferment among the scattered thousand retired
vallies of the Alps, the composition and strength
of their political parties, the principles by which
they are guided, and the objects at which they
aim. None of these, it will be seen, has any
relation to foreign powers, or offers any thing
alarming to the permanent good of the country
itself; and, therefore, it will follow that Switzer-
land may b 2 safely left to itself, without the
care or superintendence of our modern Amphyc_
tionic Council. At the Congress of Vienna the
Swiss Confederation, as it existed under Napo_

leon, appeared by its deputies, altboUgh
Napoleon's act of mediation had been for-
mally cancelled. Along with the representa-
tives of the Diet came the representatives
of most of the cantons, which had particular
privileges to reclaim or to defend. Before
the strong hand of the French Reformer had
moulded the constitution of the cantons into
something like uniformity, and had destroyed
the feudal privileges which existed anterior to
the French Revolution, every sort of offensive
privilege and social inequality existed between
the members of the Confederation anti in the
interior of the cantons. Some of the latter had
their subject states, which suffered from their
oppressive exactions, in others a body of aristo-
cratic families had held for ages sovereign sway,
in others the municipalities oppressed the country
districts, and in others the representation of the peo-
ple was so unequal, that large classes, though not
otherwise oppressed, were stripped of their fair
share of political influence and power. Buona-
parte destroyed most of these exclusive privi-
leges, and erected the subject states into an
equality with their former masters in the general
Diet ; but as soon as the Allies had annulled
this compact, and spoke of restorations, each of
the old favoured cantons and parties came to
the Congress to claim their antiquated rights.
Happily the Powers were less timorous at that
time than subsequently ; and happily, likewise,
the Emperor Alexander, who bad great influence
in the settlement of Europe, was represented in
the Committee on Swiss affairs by Capo d'lstrias,
and Baron Stein, who had relations with his old
Swiss tutor La Harpe. These Plenipotentiaries
resisted the demands either of the sovereign states
to recover their subject provinces, or of particu-
lar classes to domineer over their less favoured
brethren. " The agitations of Switzerland," said
these two able diplomatists, in the only good
memorial submitted to the Swiss Committee
(our poor Lord Stewart, now Lord London-
derry, being the British representative in the
settlement of Swiss affairs), " have been the
consequence of the reaction of the spirit of
independence and of equality against aristocratic
institutions of monopoly and subjection—rela-
tions which wounded the pride and the interests
of the majority, and occasioned abuses. These
agitations manifested themselves long before the
French revolution, but the latter gave to their
principles all the force and extent which the
example of a great nation enthusiastic and
victorious can produce."
" The act of mediation was made with a
perfect knowledge of the interests of Switzer-
land. Its influence has been, according to
the avowal of nearly the whole of the popu-
lation (la Presque totalit6 des habitans),
beneficial to the nation, and the consequence
is, that it has a legal sanction for the last 11
years." On considering these facts the Swiss
Committee, in their thirteen conferences on Swiss
affairs, resisted the demands of Berne for the re-
annexation of Argovia, and certain claims on the
Pays de Vaud. It likewise resisted the claims
of certain other cantons and classes against each
other, and stereotliped, with little variation, the
previous arrangements of Napoleon, only en-
larging the boundary of the Confederation by
the addition of the Valteline (surrendered by
Austria), and the annexation of three new can-
tons—Geneva, the Pays de Vaud, and the Prin-
cipality of Neufchatel. In the whole of these
negotiations no question was ever made respect-
ing the constitution of particular cantons, and
no model was fixed upon by the Allies for the
government either of particular States or the di-
rection of the general union. Certain differences
had occurred in the relations of the several can-
tons of the Confederation to each other, %% hich it
was supposed foreign interference could better
arrange than internal arbitration, and the Allies
having consulted the interests of all parties, made
a declaration of the result of their judgment as
the principles on which, if accepted, they were
prepared to guarantee the independence and
neutrality of the Confederation. The compact
proposed in that declaration was accepted, but no
promise was either offered or demanded that
Switzerland would never make any changes
either in the constitution of its several cantons
or in the provisions of its general union.
During the 15 years which intervened between
1815 and 1830, the Swiss Confederation,
though often oppressed or insulted by the Holy
Alliance agents, showed no disposition to resent
or resist their encroachments. The press of a
free people on the top of the Alps was some-
times controlled by an order from a despot near
the North Pole, and we have heard of a liberal
professor of law at Lusanne having been dis-
missed from Switzerland because lie spoke too
freely of a monarchical government in address-
ing his republican pupils. The cantons were,
however, obliged to submit in silence to these
indignities. But when the French revolution
of July, 1830, occurred—when the political
discussions which had been adjourned from the
Congress of Vienna to that time were again
re-opened, an immense political fermentation
took place over the whole surface of the con-
federated cantons. The aristocratic states
did not now, as formerly, demand a
restoration of their privileges, nor did the
municipalities require an extension of their
rights over the country; but in nearly every
one of the cantons a new and more
equal distribution of political power was
demanded. For upwards of a year this agitation
continued ; constitutional committees were
formed in nearly all the cantons, and a more
popular distribution of executive offices and of
legislative power was generally adopted. The
town of Basle resisted the demands of the
country even to bloodshed, and the consequence
was the establishment of a new cantonal govern.
ment at Liestal. The canton of Schweitz was
likewise divided into two fractions, and formed
fur a short time two separate political establish-
ments. These differences arose from the claims
of the people against the factions of the aristo-
cracy, or the privileges of the cities, and did not
affect the tranquillity
o
cantons. At the ineetincf; ofoldhthedemo
cratic
cantons. July,ietinocratc
i
1832, all the 22 States sent' their deputations to
Lucerne, and instructed them to declare their sen-
timents on the necessity of improvement in the
federal union, as well as on the policy of the
changes which had recently occurred. The great
majority expressed their approbation of the
latter. Since that time new misunderstandings
have arisen between the internal parties in two
of the cantons, and between iortioponslicyof the
cantons themselves, respecting the) and
the utility of a new federal Government. The
consequence has been, that at one time Switz-
erland not only saw a Basle canton in the
city, and a Basle canton out of the city—
a Sch i
weitz nterieztr and a Schtveitz ex-
terieur—but two Diets, that of Zurich and
that of Same!). Thelatter was composed of the
Representatives of Aristocratic factions in several
of the camons, and has been soon put down.
The refractory portions of the schismatic cantons

have likewise been overpowered by the energetic
proceedings of the General Diet ; and, though
the measure of a federal constitution had been
lost, it appears by the last accounts which we
have received, that every State had sent its De-
puties to the Diet at Zurich, with the exception
of Neufchatel. The latter is subject to the
King of Prussia, and was only incorporated with
the Confederation in 1815. Upon the threat
by the Federal Directory of military occupation,
unless it submitted to the Diet like the other
cantons, this Swiss principality has likewise for
the present yielded to superior authority. Now,
we would ask again and again what have the Holy
Alliance despots to do with the political quarrels
or the new constitutions of these mountaineers ?
In 1815, the assembled diplomacy of Europe
sancioned in some of the cantons a pure
democracy, which has not since been dis-
turbed, and in others they acknowledged
the legality of privileges to which the body of
the people have since successfully objected ;
but neither in their " final declaration," nor in
their previous negotiations, did they insist upon
any right to dictate political institutions to the
Swiss, or to interfere in their internal disputes.
The only ground on which they could presume
even to give their advice was, that they had
conferred certain advantages on the Confede-
ration, by giving it a better military boundary,
and they had promised to protect its neutrality
and independence. This favour and these en-
gagements were not made to depend upon the
perfect political immobility of the Swiss, but
upon their willingness to subscribe to the specific
arrangement then offered for their acceptance.
If they should invite assistance from abroad, or
if they should attempt to propagate revolutionary
doctrines or principles hostile to the peace of
their neighbours, the Powers which signed the
treaty of Vienna might withdraw their proctec-
tion from Swiss independence or neutralitv.l
Such a result is the very worst that can be
threatened, and nothing has occurred to warrant
such a menace. After the changes of 1830,
the Swiss D'et again demanded the renewal of
the guarantee of their neutrality, and obtained
it from all the powers. They have done nothing
since to cancel the renewed obligation ; and
therefore any attempt of the Holy Alliance
conspirators to interfere at present with Swiss
independence must be looked upon as an attack
on the right of mankind to improve their insti-
tutions ; and, finally, as a crusade of bayonets
against opinions.—Times.