The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-14 00:00:00

THE EASTER MONDAY REVIEW.

On the eve of the Easter Monday review Colonel
Wright has, in drawing up the regulations, given
the- public an opportunity of ascertaining his opinion
of " the general bearing of the force on public
occasions." lle thinks that the snapping of caps for
the purpose of clearing the rifle is unsoldierly,
and as the rifle ought to ba clean—ergo
it is unnecessary, and must be discountenanced. The
Colonel laments the absence of "soldier-like bearing
on parade, and intelligence in manoeuvring in the
field," and in fact, from the whole tenour of his com-
munication, there is but little doubt that he
is of the same opinion as many persons—
that the Volunteers are on their trial. One sugges-
tion, if carried out, would certainly lessen the fears of
the relatives of our amateur soldiers who take part
in the reviews, and that is with reference to the pre-
vention of accidents. On that point Colonel Wright
says " that officers and non-commissioned officers in
charge of opposing parties should use their influence
with their respective detachments to keep them such
a distance apart as may prevent their firing into
each other." In commenting on this communication,
a contemporary, after regretting that the "stupid"
march past should be preserved, states "if the object
of a review like that of Easter Monday is to give
any idea of the conditions of actual warfare, the
proper course would be to start the invading forcs
from some point between Newhaven and Rotting-
dean, and the defending force from Brighton, so as to
let them feel their way towards each other."

RAPIDITY IN TELEGRAPHING.

An excellent illustration of the completeness of the
view telegraphic system with India was given on the
Budget night. At twenty-five minutes past eleven a
summary of Mr. Lowe's statement was transmitted to
Bombay by the British Indian Submarine Telegraph
Company, and was published in the Bombay papers on
the succeeding morning. Experiments tried at the
London office of the company before several members
of the Indian Council gave some interesting results.
Communications were sent to Teheran, in Persia, a
distance of 3,700 miles, and answers were received in
thirty seconds. A message was sent to Calcutta, and
received in twenty-eight minutes.

THE COLLISION IN THE CHANNEL.
The decision of the court which inquired into the
circumstances attending the late fatal collision in the
journals
which seems to give satisfaction to all the
which have commented on it, and they endorse the
words of the judgment, that "the Normandy was
solely to blame." • The Daily News, applying the rule
of common sense, equally available afloat and ashore,
to these circumstances, says the court could not
hesitate to acquit the trading steamer of all
blame and to fix the sole and whole responsi-
bility upon the unhappy Normandy. If a four-
horse coach, tearing along at twelve miles an
hour in a fog, is run down by a waggon, jogging along
at a walk, it is surely not the waggon that can be
pronounced responsible. The Standard desiring to
speak with all tenderness of the captain who perished
at his post, and whose gallant bearinc,presence
in the
been °"
every 'inch of death proves him to havea
sailor," says "it is nevertheless impossible to refrain
from an expression of surprise at incaution, the not
to say the recklessness with which the ill-fated ves-
sel was navigated in the presence of one of the
commonest of ocean perils."