The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY E VENING, J EJLY 27. 1870,

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THE EUROPEAN WAR.
THE SUN, which is Published Every
Morning at Eight o'clock, with SOME
HOURS' LATER NEWS than any other
paper, will always give the LATEST
NEWS of the WAR, and of all other
events.

W.\4l) 111

EVENING EDITION.

r.iaffirms the authenticity of the treaty with even
greater emphasis than before. The Daily News,
which needs no such assurance in order
to believe the very worst possible Charge against
the EMPEROR, finds the story wholly credible. In
fact, its exceeding probability is the only argument
against it. That NAPOLEON should play his loyal
ally Great Britain false, that he should, with an
almost imparalled cynicism of wickedness, propose to
annex a neighbouring country which has given him
not the shadow of provocation, is, in the eyes of the
very anti-Napoleonist News, so probable that it may
have occurred to anyone to invent the treaty. On the
other hand, there are journals which would not believe
anything bad of the hero of December 2nd, even
though an angel from heaven should proclaim it,
even though one should rise from the dead to affirm
it. In various ways they cast discredit upon the
Treaty. It is bad French. Well, by a singular
coincidence, a few hours before the 7imes published
this treaty the Journal °Aid published an address
by NAPOLEON to the French people, which contained
a grammatical blunder of sufficient importance for the
last-mentioned paper to call attention to it and to cor-
rectit. There can be no doubt as to the authenticity
of this address, yet the word amOne was used instead
of emnzene. The Morning Post urges further that
NAPOLEON would scarcely have chosen the present
time for throwing overboard the English alliance,
that he would rather have chosen England's necessity
for his opportunity, that he would have preferred to
set on foot such an intrigue as this during the Indian
mutiny. Unfortunately for the Post's theory the In-
dian mutiny preceded by nine years the success of
Prussia. It was in 1857 that we were fighting
for existence at Delhi and Lucknow, it was not till
1866 that Prussia destroyed the " balance of power"
on the field of Sadowa. Moreover, it must be
remembered that the treaty is said to have been
urged two or three years ago when England was face
to face with the Fenian conspiracy. It was urged
when Lord STANLEY was at the Foreign Office ; at the
time, that is, when the Luxemburg dispute turned
up, and when Mr. HARDY had to walk about
attended by detectives in order to protect himself
against a violent death. At that time, also, there was
only too much chance of war between us and
the United States. It is possible, therefore,
that the EMPEROR thought this country had quite
enough matters to occupy its attention; that, in a
word, it was the time of England's necessity and
NAPOLEON'S opportunity. The Post is very anxious
to know what King LEOPOLD thinks of this
ridiculous project; "he is a statesman." Well,
this statesman-king has for the last two or three
years been constantly coming and going between
England and Belgium ; he has been encouraging by
every means in his power international intimacy,
and especially of a kind manifested by volunteer
reviews. As soon as the war broke out, he had so
little faith in the forbearance or the honesty of his
neighbour, that he sent the national treasure
to his citadel of Antwerp and his valuables
to England, and placed his army on a war footing.
The Post,- therefore, need hardly doubt as to what
King LEOPOLD will say on the matter. Turning to
the Daily Telegraph we find considerable uncertainty
and bewilderment. in that devotedly Imperialist
organ. It had hoped to astonish Europe by "An
Englishman's " letter announcing that Prussia had
asked NAPOLEON to let her take Holland,
and that the EMPEROR had replied that that would
be war. But the effect of this official announce-
ment was completely destroyed by the extraordinary
revelation in the ? lines. The two documents indeed are
not inconsistent, as we have said before, "but the
treaty puts the letter appear in a very different light
from that which the 7 elegraph and its imperial
patron intended. If there has been any bargaining
at all, there has certainly been bargaining on both
sides.

Turning to the Standard we find also much inde-
cision. The basest motives are imputed to the lead-
ing journal. The treaty is false, and it has been
published in order to punish the EMPEROR, who
dared to spoil a "trade speculation" by arresting
the special correspondent of the limes, Considering
that the Standard is resorting t) the same "trade
speculation," and is publishing fairly interesting
letters from the seat of war; considering that
the "trade speculation " of the Times has not been
spoilt, inasmuch as the correspondent was liberated
immediately ; considering, too, that from the outset
of this lamentable quarrel the Times sided against
France ; considering most of all that to publish a
forged document would injure the Times infinitely more
than the EMPEROR, this insinuation on the part of the
Standard is as absurd as it is reprehensible.
We shall know in the course of a few hours how far
this terrible document is true or false.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

should have to destroy the remainder, and even then
the fourteen woald be at least 500 horses below
their quota. It is also stated that in conse-
quence of the number of horses now ex-
ported to Prussia and France, some difficulty is
experienced in maintaining their present strength.
It may be urged that the militia reserves are avail-
able, but the Act provides that they shall be called
❑p only in case of actual war or imminent invasion.
The fears of "A Neutral" are greatly exaggerated,
but there is no reason why means should not be
taken to remedy any defect that may exist in the
condition of the army.

OUR VOLUNTEERS.

At the present moment, when war is being waged
by two of the most powerful nations on the earth,
and sickening rumours permeate the whole atmos-
phere of Europe, it is of some moment to England
that the efficiency of her volunteer army should be
unquestioned. The readiness with which all classes
joined in the movement was a guarantee of their
willingness to make sacrifices to the necessity which
called the force into existence, but unless a high stan-
dard be not only aimed at, but maintained, the results
may prove disastrous to the national spirit. In
shooting, the volunteers have proved themselves to
be almost unapproachable, they have been repeatedly
complimented by the military authorities on their
soldierly appearance, and although some of the corps
have failed in the matter of drill, on the whole their
success in that respect is undoubted. But attention
has repeatedly been called to a marked weakness
in the organization of this force. The rank and
file are perfect, but they have no one to direct them.
The great majority of the volunteer officers are abso-
lutely ignorant of everything belonging to the mili-
tary art, and the criticisms which have been passed
upon them are neither complimentary to themselves
nor reassuring to the public. The latest display at
Wimbledon is severely commented on by a writer in
the 'limes, who characterises the volunteer army as
a rotten reed. Without agreeing so far with
this, it may be as well to call attention to the
matter, in the hope that some alteration may be
effected.

expense, is one of those gentlemen who seem to enjoy
the special protection of one or two of the metropoli-
tan police magistrates. A few days ago he was
charged, before Mr. Selfe, with assaulting his sister
in a violent manner. On being taken into custody
lie also assaulted the constables, and it was with
great difficulty that he was conveyed to the station.
Mr. Thomas Carey had been convicted nineteen times
previously, two of these being for felony. Beginning
at 15 by thieving, he had gradually grown up in crime,
assaulting his father, mother, sister, about one tenth
of the B division of police, and civilians innumerable.
The magistrates had tried short sentences, but they
had failed to stop the prisoner in his downward
career. Now, one would suppose that, having had
such a long acquaintance with Mr. Carey's antece-
dents, the magistrate would have stayed the
hand of mercy, say at the tenth convic-
tion, whereby the heads of the policemen would
not have come so frequently into contact with Mr.
Carey's knuckles, and the "innumerable civilians"
might have saved the expense of plaister, to say
nothing of the inconvenience of the bruises. But
the magistrate was saturated with mercy, and on the
twentieth conviction he sent his interesting friend to
gaol for three months. Happy Carey ! Merciful
magistrate !