The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-13 00:00:00

TZ11;

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1846.

Now that circumstances may be presumed to have
conducted the machinations of the Count DE BEESSON
to their consummation, it becomes a matter of pecu-
liar interest to observe the relritive position
assumed at this moment by the various per-
sonages implicated therein. And, notwithstanding
that the members of the Camarilla may con-
gratulate themselves upon the temporary success
which has attended their arrangements, it is
manifest that the present is bat a poor opportunity for
the indulgence either of exultation or confidence.
Everything that ingenuity could suggest for the
speedier accomplishment of the marriages has been
hastened forward ; all unnecessary procrastination
from the interference of English diplomacy
has been avoided by returning no immediate
answer to the protest thereby transmitted ; every
circumstance that could tend to facilitate the progress
of the French Princes through the provinces of the
Peninsula relays of post-horses, squadrons of
cavalry, the terrible guardianship of 19.-pounders,
the "buzzes" of a gold-loving and wine-bibbing
rabble—has been skilfully pre-arranged by the crea-
tures of the Gallic embassy and the satellites of the
obsequious Imam. So far these hymeneal pre-
liminaries have prospered ; but the consequences of
this specious precipitation still remain of a very
dubious character, and assume, if that be possible
a yet more threatening appearance. Their Royal
Highnesses are reported to have passed into the Spa-
nish capital amidst an impassive multitude of
spectators ; not a hat was raised, not a
handkerchief 'fluttered, not a t•hred of tapestry dis-
played, not a Viva uttered from the Calles Fuencarrel
to the gateway of the palace, slving a few hired accla-
mations from a little body-guard of " the un-
washed ;" not a single congratulatory bonfire in the
squares of Burgos ; not a solitary cheer from the
citizens of Madrid, or from the inhabitants of its en-
virons ! If this be not a sufficient indication of the
unwelcome nature of this Montpensier alliance, there
are numberless others proving it to be entirely of
a compulsory, and not of a popular character
Among these may be enumerated, the secret distri-
bution of itlammatory appeals to the popu-
lace, the continued seizure of the Liberal
newspapers, and the confinement of different indi-
viduals who are known to be inimical to the
marriage. These, and numberless other circum-
stances, testify as to how unpalatable this diplomatic
device is among the more sincere lovers of Spanish
independence, and these are, fortunately for hu-

inanity and civilisation, the vast majority of the

population. This daring attempt to root the influence
of the French Government in the Peninsula, has, in
reality, done little more than brought all the
political parties of the latter country into
a collision of such violence, as renders some
calamitous demonstration inevitable. A general and
not bloodless pronunc:araento may be calculated upon
with some certainty, and the passion which will be
thereby engendered must tend rather to the diminu-
tion than to the permanent establishment of Gallic
influence. The balance upon which the continued
tranquillity, or the almost interminable disturbance,
of Spain now oscillates, is of infinite delicacy.
Every diligence is expected to bring intelligence to
Madrid of some Carlist insurrection. It is certain
that the expectations of the antagonists to the Cama-
rilla are centering in the person of the Count
DE MONTEMOLIN. Many are undoubtedly inclined
to turn for a co-operation to General N."-RVAEZ, but
the consummate duplicity and eminent selfishness of
the ex-Minister renders any steady reliance upon his
assistance impossible. In the second " Young Cava-
lier," the Carlists recognise the representative of an
illustrious house, and a Prince who would be insti-
gated to a resolute campaign by the very magnifi-
cence and vastness of the guerdon for which he has
already proclaimed it as his intention to struggle—
namely, the Spanish diadem. Nothing couldirnpart such
an extraordinary prestige to the cause of this aspirant as
the recent proceedings of the vassals of BRESSON ;
nothing could render a coalition of the Carlists with
the Progressistas more probable than the despotic
means by which the Afrancesados have latterly en-
deavoured to compel the community to swallow the
unpalatable and deleterious draught concocted in the
Cabinet of the Tuileries.

Little has the hitherto sagacious Sovereign of
France benefited his position among the European
Powers by his recent attempt to gain the prepon-
derance. What:the delegated authority of Louis XIV.
had proved incapable of accomplishing, the pen and
the standing of diplomacy have surely no higher
power to realise. The obstacles which were
impossible, even before the batons of NAPOLEON'S Mar-
shals, are surely not more calculated to yield before
the thrust of a hymeneal torch. A logical exposi-
tion of this improbability is, however, rendered
wholly needless, now that occurrences are rapidly
attesting the reality. Rhetorical flourishes are
altogether superfluous at a period when the trumpet
of revolt is eagerly listened for by the populace. Two
gigantic and neighbouring nations are already
estranged from King Louis PHILIPPE by the grasp-
ing and insidious policy lately adopted by his Govern-
ment. Of one of these nations he is juggling away the
liberties ; the honest and constitutional remonstrances
of the other he is treating as idle garrulity. There
is so much of unnecessary rashness, and so much of
spontaneous recklessness about the Spanish policy ofhis
Ministry, that we should be tempted to attribute it to
a paroxysm of political insanity ; nevertheless we are
persuaded that this appeArance is altogether an affecta-
tion, that the alliance is not merely a " family
affair," as the Preue would wish to insinuate, and
that M. Guinn., like HAMLET, "knows a hawk from
a hand-saw."

The sentence of the court-martial on private
MATTHEWSON, of the 7th Hussars, has at length been
promulwated. Six months' imprisonment, two of
them in solitary confinement, has been considered a
punishment only adequate for a petulant expression,
for words derogatory to the dignity of a non-com-
missioned officer, and those, too, uttered in a moment
of excitement and irritation, when he was smarting
nnder exasperated feelings, when his simple petition
for liberty to exchange his term of duty with a
brother private, in order that he might for a few short
hours enjoy the society of his mother and a brother-
in-law, whom he had not seen for nine years, was
contemptuously negatived, and he was told " that
the commanding officer could not grant his request,
neither would he see him ;" and when the complain-
ing sergeant threw himself in the way of the angry
man, unaccompanied by any other soldier of the
guard, thereby himself violating a regimental order,
and depriving the accused of the benefit of testimony
to which, he should have been entitled, as if he sought
to entrap the poor young man into some indiscreet or
hasty expression. Taking all these circumstances
into consideration,it does appear.to us, civilians, rather
a severe penalty for the offence, although it will, we
suppose, be considered most lenient by those officers
who on a former occasion condemned the same person
to 100 lashes, every one of which was fully inflicted
without favour or affection, for calling out " Halloa"
to another of that dignified grade.
Seriously speaking, can it be wondered at that the
people have a strong repugnance, a decided objection
to enter into a service where such things are tolerated?
It is said that our soldiers are of an inferior class, that
they are less respectable in their characters and con-
duct than the non-military part of the population ;
that they can only be acted on, their obedience
enforced, by an extraordinary degree of severity ; and
this is the attempted justification of the present
system. We believe that such an assertion is an
unjust aspersion, a gross calumny against a very large
proportion of our gallant brethren ; but, were it even
the truth, is it not manifest that the superior and
better description of men are thereby deterred from
joining the ranks, that it occasions the very mischief
it proposes to remedy ?
It is the just, the humane principle of the British
law, that "it is better that ninety-nine guilty men
should escape than that one innocent man should
suffer•" Every protection is given by our social law
to each person within its jurisdiction : the crimes are
fully and clearly defined, the punishments are ex-
plicitly set forth, and, above all, no one can be con-
victed of any crime, or subjected to any punishment,
except upon the unanimous verdict of twelve men, his
peers, before whom he has had an opportunity of
urging every mitigating and favourable circumstance
by able advocates, men whose education and pursuits
fully qualify them for the duty. With the soldier
the case is, however, very different. A wide dis-
cretion is left to the tribunal to which he is subjected.
" All disorders and neglects which officers and soldiers
may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and
military discipline, though not specified in the fore-
going cases, or in our Articles of War, shall be taken
cognizance of by courts-martial, according to the
nature and degree of the offence." So runs the
Article of War, and all that is necessary is to allege
any act whatsoever to be "to the prejudice of good
order and military discipline" to subject the person by
whom it was committed to heavy penalties ; although
it was never treated or considered as a crime before,
nor violated any moral or social law, still it is for the
court, if they please so to do, to pronounce it an
offence. No person, therefore, can be safe under such
a code. The nature and amount of the punishment
is also entirely within the will of the court, who may
themselves be reprimanded and severely censured if
their finding and sentence does not meet the appro-
tion of the Commander-in-Chief. A bare majority
of the court is sufficient to declare the crime, and to
pronounce the punishment, except indeed in capital
cases, where two-thirds at least of the members must
concur before sentence of death can be passed. The
soldier also is deprived of the benefit of legal assist-
ance : if by a sort of pious fraud a'professional man is
admitted, he is called the friend of the accused and is
not recognised as his advocate, or permitted to ad-
dress the court on his behalf. All these are serious dis-
advantages to which no person will lightly expose
himself, unless he attains some great advantage by
so doing; but this unfortunately is not the case, for
the military authorities will rely solely on punish

ments, and resolutely refuse to give a trial to a
system of rewards, which would probably be far more
efficient for the preservation cf discipline, and in a
great degree would dispense with the necessity of the
present punishinents.
Nothing but imperative necessity can possibly
justify anything so much at variance with, and so re-
pugnant to, the spirit of the British Consti-
tution. Let us for a moment inquire whether
there is any such paramount necessity. We

are at once willing to admit that such a power
may be desirable in a state of war, and perhaps

in a more modified degree when any regiment is
abroad, and out of the jurisdiction of the ordinary tri-
bunals of the country; but we distinctly deny that at
home there is any occasion whatsoever for anything be-
yond the common laws administered by the judicial
authorities of the land. Two of the most able writers,
men who have adorned the ermine, and put forward
principles of jurisprudence that will ever be hailed
with respect, have stated their opinions that military

lay, should be abolished in time of peace. " Martial
law," says Sir WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, " which is
built upon no settled principles, hut is certainly arbi-
trary in its decisions, is, as Sir AIATTIIEW HALE ob-
serves, in truth and reality no law, but something in-
dulg, d rather than allowed as law. The necessity of
order and discipline in an army is the only thing
which can give it countenance, and therefore it ought
not to be permitted in time of peace, when the
King's Courts are open for all persons to receive jus-
tice according to the law of the land." In addition to
these high authorities, let us add one of more modern
times—a distinguished soldier, who has devoted his

time to the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of
everything relating to his profession, and who has put
forward the soundest views with singular ability.
Sir CHARLES JAMES NAriza says—" There ought to
be a military code for peace and a military code for
war. There is a peace establishment and a war esta-
blishment for most of the branches forming the mili-
tary system, and why not for military law." And
again—" If the objects to be gained by military law
in time of peace are, as I have said, different from
those demanded in time of war, and if they are also
of a gentler nature, and more approximate to those
sought for by social law, and if the soldier's life is in
peace very similar to the life led by a citizen, is it
not natural to abate that rigour of the law which in
war is necessary to attain the more urgent objects of
obedience and sanguinary results ? I think reason
tells us that this is both natural and wise."

We shall for the present rest on the opinion of
those eminent persons. We trust most sincerely
that what we have said is sufficient to direct the
public attention to a thorough investigation of the
subject, and that the force of public opinion, when
once fully awakened, will have the same deference
paid to it by the military authorities, and will be as
productive of a beneficial mitigation of this severity
of the code, as it has recently been in respect to cor-
poral punishment.

The following account of the revolution in Geneva
appears in the Journal des Debuts :
"On the evening of the 6th the inhabitants of the
faubourg St. Gervais assembled and raised barricades at
the bridges. In the morning the militia, with the deter-
mination of destroying them, fired about 200 cannon shot,
which accomplished the desired object. After this the
soldiery made attempts at two different points to enter
and occupy the faubourg, but were received with a gall-
ing fire from almost every window. Each of the com-
mandants marched at the head of his regiment, and as
nearly all of them were wounded, the retreat was beat,
and the troops re-crossed the bridges. Still they re
mained in possession of the lower town and the course of
the Rhone, and the insurrection was confined to the fau-
bourg. In the night, however, the insurgents set fire to
the bridges, and the inhabitants of the lower town, find-
ing that their safety was compromised, rose in
their turn. At the same tirre the Radical auxiliaries
of the canton of Vaud came in great force to the aid of
the insurgents. The militia, thus threatened on all
sides, began to waver, and at length yielded, and the
Council of State gave in its resignation. By the even-
ing the arsenal and the principal public establishments
were in the hands of the insurgents, who formed a Pro-
visional Government. The courage with which the
colonels of the militia were the first to meet danger was
;awl to them. The families of the highest consideration
of Geneva have to deplore losses; among these are
Colonel Chateauvieux, an old officer of the Royal Guard,
sad M. Ravie. The militia has lost several men killed,
and many wounded. The loss of their opponents is not
yet known, but it is believed that it cannot be very
great, as they were well protected by their barricades.
Whilst the tattle was going on between the Government
troops and the insurgents, 2,000 men were marching
from the canton of Vaud to the assistance of the latter;
but the of tir having ended in the triumph of the in-
surgents, a messenger was dispatched to stop their
advance."