The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-16 00:00:00

rival their brethren of the west in their supine-
ness, if not connivance, in regard to those
abominable dens of gambling which are the hot-
beds and nurseries of crime. When Mr. Bro-
derip, the magistrate, asked the police sergeant
if he knew any thing of those raffles, he
said he did not ; and then the worthy magis-
trate went on to say, "We are constantly
hearing of those disorderly proceedings in
public-houses, and no attempt is made by the
police to suppress the nuisances. Here are two
raffles going on, and a man robbed and all but
murdered. I can only say it used not to be the
case." The other worthy magistrate, Mr.
Ballantvne, stated that he had talked to the
police about it until he was tired. The disorderly
public-houses were not properly looked after.
It was justly observed by his colleague, that raf-
fles in public-houses, especially at late hours,
ought to be suppressed, for they generally
brought together an assemblage of the worst
characters, and ended in bloodshed and robbery.
He again called the attention of the new police
to the state of the disorderly public-houses in
the district. Such is the boasted efficiency of
this Home-office force, which, if not efficient
to protect property and prevent crime, has nothing
else to recommend it, being of great expense to
the public, and founded on a principle decidedly
unconstitutional.—Morning Herald.

In the November number of the United Service
Journal there are some " Observations on the
Report of the Committee of Naval and Military
Inquiry," from the pen of Major Mitchell. We
should have read them with much interest if
they had merely contained an expression of the
sentiments and a development of the opinions
of an intelligent and high-minded soldier. But
they appear to us worthy of more attentive con-
sideration, when we learn from various sources
that Major Mitchell in these observations gives
utterance to feelings which are cherished almost
universally by the noble body of men to which
he belongs—the Officers of the British Army.
We are grieved when we find amongst men who
have merited so well of their country a belief
that their services are undervalued, a complaint
that their exertions are ill rewarded ; but we are
ashamed when we recollect that we must not
call this belief unfounded, or this complaint
unjust. " The Committee," says Major
Mitchell, at the commencement of his able
remarks, " can be considered as nothing
more than the offspring of that strange kind
of unpatriotic spirit (to be met with only in
England) which, from the very commence-
ment of the French Revolution war, heaped
every species of insult on the profession of arms,
and constantly strove to lame our military efforts
and to crush the military genius of the nation.
It was this evil spirit that instigated active and
influential parties in the State to diminish the
confidence and to augment the difficulties of the
army, by constantly prophesying defeat, and by
undervaluing our power when contrasted with
the mighty means of our gigantic adversary."
We perfectly agree with the gallant writer. The
Whigs, who for so many years reckoned our
losses while the messenger of success was on
his road, and foretold defeat by the light of our
joyful illuminations, can scarcely be expected to
look kindly upon those by whom the errors of
their calculations have been detected and the
falsehood of their predictions exposed., The
British army has offended the Whigs both by
its triumphs and by its misfortunes. It has won
honour in spite of their evil auguries ; it has
suffered reverses in consequence of their feeble
councils. They cannot forgive the failures of
Egypt and Buenos Ayres, nor the glories
of the Peninsula and Flanders. "To the
remnant of those p irties," continues Major
Mitchell, " who are naturally willing enough
to prevent that gallantry from being re-
warded which it was not in their power to repress,
must now be auded all the professed agitators ;
all those who under various pretences seek for
the overthrow of the Constitution ; the numerous
hand of desperadoes, who, having nothing to
lose, think they must necessarily gain by anar•
city ana confusion." Again, we entirely admit
the accuracy of the view taken by the writer.
The orators of the taverns and the statesmen of
the Unions have ere this discovered that the
loyalty of the army is proof against pamphlets
and placards. They are preparing to destroy,
since they have tried in vain to seduce. Hence
the continued misstatements and misrepresenta-
ti ns of the puolic press ; hence the undervaluing
of the gallantry, the depreciation of the renown,
of our heroes ; hence the forgetfulness of the
blessings we have enjoyed, the exaggeration of
the price we are paying ; hence the ostentatious.
exhibition of the army as the sole cause of
national distress and suffering ; hence the ludi-
crous allegations of the profuse expenditure
lavished upon the officer ; and hence the niggard
economy which begrudges to the poor and time-
worn pensioner his hard-earned stipend, which
is commonly lower in amount than the parish
relief afforded to the pauper. Since the Whigs
hate and the Radicals fear the army, the writers
who on some occasions hesitate which to prefer,
the patronage of the Cabinet, or the patronage
of the Club, have in this matter no hesitation at
all. The Times leads the attack, certain for once
that it can do the bidding of Earl Grey without
treason against the majesty of Dr. Carpue. The
period for the onset is well chosen. A few days
or weeks before the army estimates are to be
brought before the House of Commons, the
columns of the Times are devoted to the circu-
lation of libels upon the officers of the army.
Nothing which decries their courage or discipline
is too mean for notice at that auspicious period.
The fierce " Vindex," the jocose " Quiz," the
meek " A.8.C.," all are good witnesses against
our best and bravest defenders. But pleasant it is
above all to find the calumniators of the army in
its own ranks. Let us listen with due deference to
the depositions of "An Old Cavalry Officer." Ex-
tracts from a pamphlet bearing this signature, and
containing as many lies as pages, are studiously
inserted in the Times, and its falsehoods are
made the foundation of comments by which the
character of the profession is degraded and
insulted. Two Officers, the Adjutant General
of the Army and the Military Secretary, are
selected ; and the Times publishes a letter
which attributes to two of the most honourable
men in the profession that, for the sake of
their own emolument, they had corruptly
caused their regiments to be sent, out of their
turn, from healthy to unhealthy stations. After
a constant promulgation of such monstrous
libels, and a frequent recapitulation of the easy
asserti▪
ons that military governments are jobs,
that staff appointments are jobs, that the
victualling of the army is a job, that the clothing
of the army is a job, it is supposed that the
hasty are sufficiently excited and the credulous
suffici▪
ently deceived. The command of the
army is handed over from the executive Go-
vernment to a Parliamentary Committee—from
his Majesty the King to Lord Ebrington the