The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-09 00:00:00

sI'IBIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A meeting was held yesterday at the London
Bazaar of the friends and advocates of the un-
happy people of Poland. We should grieve to
suppose that all the Englishmen who deserve or
aspire to that honourable name had been com-
prised within the numbers who attended at the
above meeting. From the diversified and mingled
description, however, of those who did not over-
look the summons on behalf of a cause so sacred,
we are sure it does find active sympathy in the
breasts of most classes of our countrymen. If
ever, indeed, humanity cried aloud to Christian
nations and their rulers for help to an innocent
and injured race of men, it has long been ap-
pealing to the hearts of the whole civilized world
in aid of the victims of the-many•times-worse
than heathenish brutalism experienced by Poland
at the hands of the Russian tyrant. The state
of things in Europe may not, perhaps, be favour-
able to an immediate burst of universal hatred
upon the destroyers of all that was great or pre-
cious in the eyes of a Polish patriot ; but the
hour will inevitably come ; the Deity himself
will, at his own pleasure, rouse the avenging
spirit of mankind, which "is not dead, but
aleepeth."— Times.

In a Committee on the Metropolitan Police
Acts, Mr. Spring Rice moved a resolution that
60,0001. yearly be granted out of the consoli-
dated fund in aid of the metropolitan police rate.
This grant was objected to, on the ground that
every town should support its own police. Lord
Althorp, however, truly observed that the me-
tropolitan police was in some measure a general
police. " The metropolis," his Lordship ob-
served, " differed from other towns, because the
peace of the metropolis was important to that of
other towns, which was a reason that they and the
o!ountry should contribute to the expense of the me-
tropolitan police. That police was, besides, often
sent intothe country and employed there as well as
in Lendon." The police of the metropolis ;sunder
the command of the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, and is, in truth, a political
as well as local police. For political purposes,
large bodies of the police are occasionally drawn
from the various parishes comprehended under
the Metropolitan Police Act to the Court or
the Houses of Parliament. It would not be
more reasonable to throw the charges of the re-
giments of Guards on the metropolis, because
they do duty there, than to throw the expense
of a police force, applicable to national pur-
poses, on the metropolis. What, for instance,
have the inhabitants of Greenwich locally to do
with St. James's or the neighbourhood of the
Parliament ? Yet the parishes of Greenwich
and Deptford are at present obliged to pay for a
police for the purpose of preserving order in
Westminster during periods of excitement. One
great cause of the unpopularity of the police
with householders is the grievous addition made
to their burdens by that force, especially in the
poorer parishes. The loss of patronage to pa-
rish boards and the necessity of pensioning many
of the old watchmen, who could not be turned
,;ii to starve, whereby a double burden was
imposed, in some parishes, might, no doubt,
have something to do with the unpopularity. But
we are satisfied that the main cause is the addi-
tional burden. For it is impossible to compare
the new police with the old system, without being
struck with the great superiority of the former.
Justice will, ere long, be done to the new po-
lice. It will be admitted that no system can
be so perfect as to exclude the influence of the
ordinary infirmities of our nature, and that the
errors of individuals prove nothing in the ques-
tion between one system and another. Is the
Eecurity of the metropolis better provided for
than it was ? Is order better enforced ? He must
he A bold man, indeed, who answers these ques-
tions in the negative. As to the accusation of
systematic espionage, founded on what has been
proved in the case of Popay, we have merely
to observe, that there is a material difference be-
tween taking measures for having accurate in-
telligence of what is going on, and employing
men to take a part in what is going on. The fault
in the case of Popay was, that he was not an ob-
server but an actor. Mr. Cobbett, however, seems
to think, absurdly enough, that they who are
charged with the maintenance of order should not
have confidential reports of what is going on at
meetings and assemblages of all sorts. The func-
fionary to whom the maintenance of order is
confided ought to have eyes and ears every-
where, so that he may never be taken unawares.
It is to be borne in mind that no man is con-
victed on these secret reports—that they cannot
be used to the injury of any man. The indivi-
dual whom it is necessary to put down is the
character known in France by the name of
Mouchard," but for which word we have no
corresponding one in our language. The
" Mouchard" is not, properly speaking, a spy,
if to spy be to observe, but a participator in the
matters reported on, and often an instigator.
This sort of character must not be suffered to be-
come naturalized here ; but to say that a police
should not take measures to obtain accurate in-
telligence of what is going on, is to say that a
police ought not to be a police in the proper
sense of the word. The object of a police is to
prevent mischief, and how can mischief be pre-
sented without good information of what is in-
a,ncled ?—Morning Chronicle.
In lnother part of our paper a letter will be
found from a worthy General Officer, who—not
having interest or sycophancy enough to obtain
a regiment—signs himself " One of the many
Sufferers" under the system we have already at-
tacked. We agree with him, that regiments
should only be bestowed upon general officers
as an honorary distinction ; and also that it
would be proper to pay generals, according to
their de,ree, by a fixed rate ; but the number
he quotes as now existing is out of all propor-
tion with our military force. Four hundred and
sixty general officers—a general for every two hun-
dred men! This excess is referable to a twofold
abuse—the former usage of carrying a brevet far
enough down the list to include a favourite, and
the still allowing field officers in inactivity to
Advance. Progressive advancement should only
be allowed to field officers actually serving ; and
such as are found unfit for service should be
placed on the Retired List or upon half-pay,
according to the duration and nature of their re-
spective services. Officers on half-pay, who
never ask for active employment, or have be-
come unfit for it, should be compelled to ac-
cept a commuted allowance, instead of
being carried with the stream (if field-
officers) until they arrive at the highest grades.
It is a premium to idleness, held out by
Government other than our own ; but the half-
pay, if held by active men, was an obstruction
to patronage ; and, therefore, its pretensions
were resisted, or its inertness encouraged. In
Germany, where every fair encouragement Is
given to the military profession, an officer inva-
lided, or placed permanently upon half-pay, re-
mains with the grade the wzasure of his retire

ment found him, unless the Prince he has served
accords one final step beyond it. With us, a
man who from a troop or company purchases a
half-pay majority, may pass the remainder of
his life between watering places and clubs ; and
if he has the merit of outliving others,
gra-
dually advance, both in rank and pay, until he
sets to the head of the list. There are now in
London several Lieutenant-Generals who never
served as Lieutenant-Colonels, and the greater
proportion of them had no foreign or colonial
service while in the junior ranks. It need scarcely
be added, that several of them, being men of
Parliamerhary interest, or keen Levee-hunters,
have obtained regiments, garrison appointments,
and Guelphic crosses. It seems, too, that
favourites are not only provided for, but
screened when they do wrong ; and we
have recently heard of the complaint of a
general officer, who had propagated a calumny
aainst an honourable individual, being stifled
ill a certain department, no answer having been
returned to the party aggrieved. Progressive
advancement being limited to officers upon full
pay, and profitable colonelcies abolished, the
recompense to such general officers as might
make out cases to justify extraordinary provision
should be left to Parliament. The arrange-
ments we have suggested would benefit the
country, and dso the officers of all grades above
that of Captain, who actually serve ; for, as the
matter now stands, those who ought to advance
are retarded, if not excluded, by the pressure of
the dead weight—the ineffectives. We believe
this measure of economy would be popular with
the army, always premising that by " the army"
we mean the operative members of it, and not a
section of the United Service Club, composed
of hot and heavy old gentlemen, who assume
to decide upon all military concerns, and firmly
believe that if "off reckonings" were abolished,
Great Britain would fall an easy prey to her
enemies. To resume. The really incapacitated
ought unquestionably to be in a more favourable
position as regards rank and emolument, than
the casually or voluntarily ineffective. The prac-
tice has, however, been directly opposed to any
such principle. When the cruel and useless
measure of incorporating Veteran Battalions
was resorted to, officers with one leg, demi-
lungs, or no liver, were called forth to com-
mand men of analagotis infirmity ; though a
third of the number of half-pay officers, "sound
wind and limb," would have done greater jus-
tice to the old soldiers, at a very small cost ad-
ditional, and have felt grateful for the temporary
full-pay which allowed their maimed or aged
brother officers to remain undisturbed' in their
well-earned retreat. Under the present system,
a Field-Officer who is invalided does nct ad-
vance ; but surely he is less disentitled to Brevet
promotion than the Field-Officer, who, being
capable of service, prefers remaining upon half-
pay, and yet, is carried on as quickly as if he
were with a regiment. To illustrate a minor
point, we should like to see a return of all the
existing Field-Officers, whose first commissions
are dated since the year 1815, in which the
periods of actual presence with a regiment
should be stared against each name. It would,
besides, amuse many of our readers to review
the Lord Aramintas. There was, some time
ago, a rumour of change at the Horse-Guards.
If an officer of the stamp of one of the indivi-
duals spoken of be appointed, we should almost
rely upon military reforms. From Lord Hill
there is no hope.

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.

" Sit,—Some of your contemporaries have complained
of the injustice said to have been committed by Lord Hill,
in having caused Sir Henry Hardinge to be appointed to
the command of the 97th Regiment of Foot, to the pre-
judice of sixteen, bis senior officers, then unprovided for.
Why, Sir, had the composer of that paragraph consulted
the Army List, he would have found that there are 462
General Officers in the British service ; and 457 of those
senior in rank to Sir Henry; 26 of these are provided
for by regiments of cavalry ; and 99 by regiments or bat-
talions of infantry ; so that 332 older officers tha❑ the
gallant knight have been passed over for his accommoda.
lion ! And yet this appointment, however insulting and
unjust towards the profusion—however injurious to the
public service, is not one whit more &ening of animad-
version than many others that have been made by the
present Commander of the Forces, who has had the
singular good taste, disinterestedness, and modesty, to
cause himself (an infantry officer) to he removed from
the 53d Regiment of Foot to the command of the
Oxford Blues—and from the government of Hull
to that of Plymouth !—exchanges by which his in.
come cannot have been improved less than 3,0001. per
annum, and to which his only claim was, having for
above two years been burdened with the patronage of
the whole army, and the no small perquisites attached to
that office 1 That his former services had been amply
requited, no person can, I think, deny ! For those of a
pecuniary nature stood thus— before he put himself on
horseback, viz.-53d Regiment of Foot, 1,3501. ; Hull,
6171. ; Commander of the Forces, 3,4581. ; pension
granted in 1814, 2,0001., making an annual total of
7.425/. according to the Returns made to Parliament !
Wherein his allowances for house, forage, firing, candle,
stationary, &c., are unnoticed; and the expenses of his
Secretarh-s, Aides-de-Cinip, &c., kept back! And 1
doubt not, that if facts were rigidly examined into on oath,
the personal income this great man now derives from the
nation is but little short of 12,000/. a year, exclusive of
the cost of his adherents. Shall he, in addition, be allowed
to insult and oppress older officers than himself? And
do the British people mean to continue to pay him thus
profusely, merely for providing at their cost for himself
and his fay-writes? Since he got his Peerage, which de-
kends even to his brother, he has pocketed above
100,000/., wrung from the people ! Let it not be said
he is the only person fit for the office; for there is no
degree of talent too humble for the disposal of pa-
tronage, not according to claims or merit (as the
newspapers roost justly complain), but by favour !
Let the people legally assemble, and direct their
representatives to insist on the abolition, during
peace, of the office of Commander of the Forces; or the
immediate discontinuance of what, in military slang, is
called " off-r..e1.,0.i.g."—0n the non-commissioned offi-
cers and privates being henceforth provided with clothing
and appointments, either by contract, or from depots to be
established for those purposes; and on the General Officers
being paid according to their several ranks, like the Ad-
mirals of his Majesty's fleet. By this plan, Sir, a very
great, immediate, and an almost daily increasing saving
must accrue to the public. Regiments should be held as
matters of honourable distinction, without one farthing of
profit thence arising; they should be taken from the boys,
and given to those who ale serving, while the favourites
were in their cradles. The soldieta would thus be infi-
nitely better clad, the General Officers would be freed
from the degrading drudgery of dancing attendance on
those they might heartily despise. Favouriteisui, oppres-
sion, tyranny, f lsehood, wrongs, and servility, would
cease, and public frauds could no longer be committed,
as the following synopsis must clearly show, namely :
The army now consists of two regiments of Life
Guards, one Oxford Blues, 23 regiments of other cavalry,
seven batt dions of Foot Guards, and excluding veterans,
West India, Cape and African corps, of 103 battalions of
fiot. Now I shall undertake to prove the several value+
to be as follow, namely—Household Cavalry, 12,000/. ;
other Cavalry, 46,000/. ; Foot Guards, 11,000/. ; and
Infantry of the line, 139,050/. ; making an aggregate of
211,0501., which is divided among 125 favourites! to
the total exclusion of t hose who were serving before Lord
Hill, or most of his adherents were born ! And as a neces-
s fry const quence, leaving 337 General Officers as " dead
weight," unnecessarily imposed, on the over-taxed
people. To shake off this incubus, I should propose that
cud' Field Marshal should receive annually 1,5001.;
every General 900/. ; all Lieutenant-Generals 600/. ; and
the Major• Generals 500/. each—and according to the
present proportions of those Officers, the amount would
stand thus :—Five Field Marshals, 7,500/. ; 86 Gene-
rals, 77.400/. ; 181 Lieutenant-Generals, 108,400/. ;
and 190 31,j0r-Generals, 95,000/.—total, 288,5001.--
from which deduct 211.0501., and the sum to he
provided will only be 77,450/., instead of the present
enormous expenditure ! And I hesitate not to say, that

lay carrying retrenchment unsparingly into the Ord.
nanee, Commissariat, Barrack, and Medical Departments
—hy following the course above recommended, in pro-
viding for the clothing and appointments of the Militia—
by getting rid of the Local Militia and the English
Yeomanry—the wh, le of the " dead weight," so far as
relates to General Officers, might, in the language of the
late Mr. Windham, be " killed off." This plan will, of
course, be exclaimed against by all the present holders of
regiments ; but neither their wailings nor the hollow
professions of economy of those who unjustly and futilely
nibble at a few subalterns and clerks in office, should be
listened to, while the great leviathan of expense is allowed
to stalk at large. The people must no longer allow dust
to be thrown in their eyes by those who have selfish ends
to answer, without any sincere desire, on the part of such
pettifoggers, to benefit the State !
With many apol"gies for this long intrusion, I shall now
conclude, by promising to verify everything above stated
and much more, at the bar or before a Committee of the
House of Commons, should an opportunity for so doing be
afforded to me.
I have the honour to subscribe myself, Sir,
Your admirer and very humble servant,
ONE OF THE MANY SUFFERERS.
—Morning Chronicle.

The Session evidently draws towards a close;
not that the public business of the country has
been completed, or the object of calling Par-
liament together accomplished, but simply from
the efflux of time, and because Members, tired
out with a long, a tedious, and an almost use-
less attendance, can now scarcely be got together
in sufficient numbers to constitute a House.
Though this state of things is not without its
apology, we doubt how anything can really jus-
tify to an honourable mind the desertion of
duties ao important—we might say sacred—as
those of a Member of the Legi-lature. This
neglect becomes the more inexcusable when it
is considered that the latter end of a session is
always the period when—perhaps, owing to this
very absence of Members—measures of the
greatest consequence are brought in and hurried
forward with indecent and accelerated speed.
The session, it is said, will last but a fortnight
longer ; but in that short period how much
remains to be done, from the doing of which
no honest, conscientious man ought to be
absent ? In this respect, as well as in too
many others, the reformed Parliament has
shown no improvement over its predeces-
sors. At the same time it must be cpafessed
that the whole is as much the fault -of-" Ministers
as of the Members. It was the duty of the
former to have been prepared with their mea-
sures, if not at its meeting, at all events in an
early period of the session ; instead of which,
with the exception of the Irish Coercion Bill,
the first two-thirds of the session will have been
passed in talking, without the House, in fact,
doing any thing ; while now that affairs of the
highest moment (such, for instance, as the Bank
Charter Bill) are to be attended to, scarcely a
tenth part in number of the House of Commons
can be kept together for business. We trust
that, for the future, some method may be adopted
to remedy such an undesirable state of things.
The remedy obviously is that at which we have
already hinted—viz., that Ministers employ the
interval of the prorogation in maturing their
plans, and have them ready for Parliament at the
beginning instead of, as now, at the end of the
session.—Morning Herald.

Few improvements brought about by the
Reform Bill are greater or more obvious than
that which has taken place in the constituency
of the City of London. The " Lumber Troop,"
and the Worshipful Company of Patten-makers,
no longer possess a privilege which, in the first
mercantile city in the world, was denied to
nearly the whole body of its merchants. But
the real value of privileges can only be fairly es-
timated by the manner in which they are exer-
cised. Freedom itself is a valueless possession,
unless made conducive to public welfare. By
an event, apparently not very creditable to the
party concerned, the inhabitants of London
have again the exercise of the elective franchise
thrown back upon their hands. The eyes of
the whole kingdom are upon them ; and
by the way in which it is exercised by
the first constituency in the kingdom will
the friends or enemies of reform claim a
victory. The first duty of every man so situated,
next to forming a just estimate of the value
and importance of his rights, is to pause before
he exercises, or pledges himself to the exercise
of them. Mere party feeling should be thrown
aside altogether. Personal integrity, indepen-
dence, and mercantile knowledge, must be of
infinitely more importance in a representative of
London than any political bias he can have ever
shown. Above all, we warn the constituency of
London against the high-flown promises of pre-
tended patriots, or of persons who seek popula-
rity through low and unworthy means. Of such
persons they must surely have seen and had
enough; and if they mean that their city should
possess the influence which it ought to have in
the National Council, let them also avoid the
political demagogue, whose object, at all times,
has been that his price should be found out by
those whom he, by turns, can threaten and cajole.
In short, let them pause, and make no promises
till all the candidates are before them , and then,
having duly weighed the merits of each, may
their choice be such as will redound to their
honour.—Morning Herald.
Thank Heaven, the City of London is about
to be relieved from the disgrace of a Tory candi-
date for a part of its representation walking over
the course unopposed. Sir John Scott Lillie
has been waited upon by a highly respectable
deputation, and has consented to allow himself
to be put into nomination on Monday next.
We rejoice in being al)le to announce this fact
for two reasons—first, for the sake of the City
itself, which would not only have disgraced
itself, but nullified its conduct at the last elec-
tion by allowing a Tory to be returned ; and,
secondly, because we do not know any one so
fitted by political sentiment to represent the
reform interest of this great metropolis. Sir
John is a true Reformer in the strictest sense
of the word—he i, an enemy to all unearned
pensions and sinecures, to the assessed taxes, to
monopolies, to the taxes on knowledge ; and an
equally determined supporter of vote by ballot
and triennial Parliaments. Sir John opposed
Lord Henley, at the last Middlesex election,
and has the great merit of having compelled him
to retire from the contest. He is, perhaps,
comparatively little known in the City ; but that.
can be no objection. The great object is to
prevent the City from being disgraced by the
return of a Conservative ; and who so fit, under
such circumstances, more especially as the City
has not brought forward any candidate sprung
from its own bosom, as Sir John Scott Lillie ?
Every Reformer—every supporter of vote by
ballot and triennial Parliaments—must support
him ; and we look to two other undeniable
sources of influence in his behalf—the li-
censed victuallers, to whom he has been an inva-
riable friend, and the supporters of trial by Jury,
of which Sir John is a stanch advocate.—
Morning Advertiser,