The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-27 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1870.

President GRANT'S Proclamation against the
Fenian marauders was not inappropriately dated
and published on Her MAJESTY'S Birthday. It is the
proceeding of as loyal and faithful an ally as any of
those who have held that relation, during the three
and thirty years of the reign of our beloved SOVE-
REIGN, with Her MAJESTY herself, and with Her
MAJESTY'S Government. If anything will bring
these misguided men, the Americas Fenians, to
their senses, it will be that simple, solemn, em-
phatic declaration on the part, and in the name, of
ULYSSES S. GRANT, President of the United States—
admonishing all good citizens of those States and all
persons within their territory and jurisdiction, against
aiding, countenancing, abetting, or taking part in
such unlawful proceedings as have recently
been announced, " cabelled" under the Atlantic, and
" wired " hither and thither across the American and
European continents. If anything can stamp
out this incendiary flaming-up of Yankee-Irish
filibustering, it will be this instant treading it down
under his heel by the brave, bold, outspeaking Ameri-
can PRESIDENT. General GRANT evidences, here,
again, as he has already before now done so fre-
quently, that he is more of the Soldier than of the
Diplomatist. ZACHARY TAYLOR never went more
directly to the point, never earned more truly
his title to the familiar, historical sobriquet of
of Old Rough and Ready. President GRANT is—to
her Majesty the QUEEN, as his ally—truer than gold,
as true as the steel of his good sword as a Soldier.
" Ido hereby warn all persons," quoth the PRE-
SIDENT of the United States, " that by committing
such illegal acts they will forfeit all right to the
protection of the Government, or to its interference
in their behalf to rescue them from the consequences
of their own acts." Furthermore—saith ULYSSES S.
GRANT, President of the United States—" I do hereby
enjoin all officers in the service of the United States

to employ all their lawful authority and power to
prevent and defeat aforesaid unlawful proceedings,
and to arrest and bring to justice all persons who
may be engaged therein." Than this, what more
could be done by any ally, under similar circum-
stances? England will long hold in remembrance
this instant and unhesitating act on the part of her
loyal and trusty ally, the Chief of the United States

Government.
The declaration of the American PRESIDENT
opportunely came to hand almost simultaneously
with the announcement of the utter failure of the
Fenian raid across the frontier-line of the Dominion.
In that very first engagement, the Canadian Volun-
teers appear to have acquitted themselves to admira-
tion, the Fenian Head Centre, General O'NEILL,
being captured, and H. R. H. Prince ARTHUR win-
' Ding his spurs, or for the first time, as the phrase is,
swelling gunpowder. After the ignominious failure
made by the rebel filibusters in their earliest attempts,
in all seriousness, to kindle the deadly flame of civil war
in Canada, there seems at last a glimmering of some-
thing like reasonable hope that we may, even now, be

at the beginning of the end of that tragical-farce that
has been playing out, at once so miserably and so gro-
tesquely, here close at hand in Ireland, there far away

across the Atlantic; now feared, now derided, but

always dangerous, and always detestable, under the
Mill merely partially comprehended little of

Fenianism.

THE failure of the police to succeed in tracking
the perpetrators of offences have become too nume-
rous to be attributed to the accidents of crime. In
London particularly the immunity of great criminals
is an alarming fact. The police are equal to dealing
with minor lawbreakers, they can apprehend drunken
men, and trace petty larceny to its source; but when

an offence of first-rate magnitude is committed by
rogues of first-rate ability, "the force " seem totally
unequal to the case. In the west end of London
recently the extent of burglary depredations has
been astounding. At one place £2,000 worth of
property was taken. Lady Margaret Beaumont
has just lost jewels to the worth
of £lO,OOO. About a dozen other rob-
beries, resulting in serious loss, are recorded, be-
sides several abortive attempts. In most of these
cases neither the criminals were apprehended nor the
property recovered. Only one man has been cap-
tured for every one of these late huge burglaries,
and as two or more confederates are required for
every great crime, the success of jus-
tice is utterly insignificant and worthless.
This is a very serious state of things, and regarding
it in the most liberal spirit, it is impossible to resist
the conclusion that a charge of inefficiency must be

laid against the police. No doubt there must
be a minimum of crime everywhere, and
especially in a city like London. It is
not to be expected that we can extirpate
roguery. The area to be protected is so vast, and
the accompanying circumstances so perplexing, that
even an army of 8,000 men is scarcely adequate to
meet the difficulties which present themselves. But
when almost every crime of exceptionally dis-
astrous proportions remains unpunished, it is clear
that our indulgence is being overtaxed. The failure
must be recognised, and it remains to consider the
most promising remedy. Here we are met at once
by the conviction that tire quality of the " force"
is not all that it ought to be, that the duties are irk-
some, the pay too small, the prospect of future reward
too trifling to tempt a desirable class of men.
The objections to the soldier's career apply, though
in a mitigated degree, to the career of a
policeman. The candidate must fulfil very exact
conditions in respect to health and good conduct ;
he must, if he does his duty, work hard at a disagree-
able task; and, after all, about a pound a week represents
the average pay of a rank and file constable all over
the country. It is scarcely surprising that, in London
at least, the ordinary course is to become a policeman

when there is nothing else to do, and to cease to be
a policeman when something better turns up. It is
reasonable to conclude that a little higher stipend,
or, at all events, the surety of a pension for every
man who did his duty for a fixed period,
would both induce better men to enter the force, and
keep them when once enrolled. The influence of
esprit de corps may always be counted upon in leading
such a class as policemen to perform their duties
well: but such a power must not be relied on when
unsupported by more substantial considerations.
A more serious defect is the multiplicity of duties
which fall to the ordinary guardians of the peace.
The duties of a policeman are not only important, but
numerous to excess. His primary work is to
protect property and person from attack. But in
addition, he has to look after street traffic, night-
houses, and public-houses, he is mostly a fireman,