The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-28 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1856.

same eP9r getic and decided support that was ac-
corded 0. a all previous occasions could not be an-
ticipatei lon the present occasion. It is useless to
deny th ,at the chief glory attached to the capture
of Sebe .stopol fell to the lot of our gallant Allies.
The t a Lking of the Malakhoff was the feature
main' ty associated with that great event. That was
moo enplished by French troops, while the Eng-
failed in achieving the minor victory at
th a Redan. It is true that a close and
earching investigation into all the circumstances
connected with the transaction will show that the
:English really forfeited no portion of their well-
established reputation ; that the French soldiers
had approached to within a few yards of the foot
of the Malakhoff before the signal was given,
while the English had to traverse 200 yards across
an exposed plain, during which their ranks were
mowed down by the deadly and concentrated fire
of the Russians. Besides, the Malakhoff, the
possession whereof rendered that of Sebastripol
itself certain, was the only object really aimed
at. The other attacks were merely intended to
distract the attention of the Russians the
French had time to establish themselves in their
positions. This was done ; and it was the attack
on the Redan, as well as those of the French in
other quarters, that enabled our Allies to retain
the fruit of their great victory ; and if the Eng-
lish failed in one point, it must be re-
membered that the French did so in no
less than three directions. We do not allude
to these matters for the purpose of depreciating
the efforts of our brave Allies. Far from it.
They did all that could be expected from gallant
men ; but we wish to vindicate the characters
of our owe countrymen from the reproach of
failure, because they did not succeed in that
which would /ever have been attempted if stand-
ing per se. But these circumstances will not be
taken into consideration. The general impression
will be that the triumph belonged exclusively to
France ; and that narrow and short-sighted view
of the case induced many of our Continental
brethren to clamour for peace, in such a manner
as materially to assist the views of Austria and
of Russia.

Some time since, in speaking of the Vienna
Conference; the E trl of ELGIN declared that
next to the triumph of our arms, the failure of
our diplomatists was the greatest blessing that
could happen to the country." So it would be
on the present occasion, but we fear there is no
reasonable chance of so auspicious a termination
to the present negotiations. The work was done
but too surely. The pride and arrogance of
Russia had been abated. She felt how thankful
she ought to be in being permitted to evade the
condign punishment she had so eminently merited ;
that she was in fact obtaining a triumph in sur-
rendering no substantial portion of territory, and
paying no indemnity towards the expenses of the
war. She well knew that she would not allow
any of her opponents to escape on such singularly
easy terms if their positions were reversed, and
she had the opportunity of striking a blow that
would place Europe ather mercy, and have enabled
her to render it in every respect "Cossack." It was
not likely, the; that she would contend very ob-
stinately on mere points of form, when the sub-
stantial advantages were so greatly on her side,
or permit any trifling matter to prevent the peace
paramount which has become io be a matter of

importance.
Nor was Austria less decided in pitching up a
treaty. She saw that it would be impossible to
maintain neutrality much longer—that the time
had arrived when she should make vows for or
against us, and she would draw the sword either
for or against Russia. This she was determined
to avoid at any sacrifice ! Besides, there is
but too much reason to think that Austria will
chiefly benefit by the terms agreed on as the
basis of the treaty. The ratification of the
Russian frontier in the vicinity of the Lower
Danube—the stipulations respecting the Prin-
cipalities—will all ensure advantage to the
wily Power that profited by all that was achieved
by the blood and treasure of the more generous
and high-minded combatants. That every Aus-
trian effort would be made to accomplish any ar-
rangement, however discreditable or injurious to
the Western Powers, is beyond the possibility of
doubt, and no trifling impediment would be suf-
fered to prevent the attainment of the consum-
mation so devoutly wished for by the Austrian
Court.

We do not suppose, that the EMPEROR could
thus be misled, but there was an event approach-
ing that materially changed his views and feelings.
The birth of a direct Heir to the Throne, the
prospect of founding a dynasty, the objects of his
most ardent aspirations were almost within his
grasp ; and it is scarcely to be wondered at that
he yielded to the influences, and agreed to
accept what he would previously have rejected

with scorn.
The backstairs and unconstitutional influence
prevailing in England was also urgent for peace.
The Prussian matrimonial alliance could scarcely
be solemnised during the continuance of war, par-
ticularly while Prussia, under the specious garb
of neutrality, was rendering powerful assistance
to our enemy. The prospects of a Thuringian
kingdom could not be materially advanced, nor
the assimilation of British institutions to Ger-
man models. King LEOPOLD desired peace,
and therefore the wishes of au overwhelming
majority of the English people were set a
nought, and a result was brought about
which has been well described by a morning con-
temporary—viz., that "our victories and our un-
diminished resources are their own reward. The
defeats of the CzA.R., and the dissipation of fears
which had brooded over Europe, are the losses of
Russia !" Even the latter point has not been
achieved, for we believe that, in consequence of
her too easy escape, while she retains all the
means of mischief in her hands, grave apprehen-
sions may be entertained of the probable conse-
quences of her insatiable ambition and grasping
cupidity.

who vindicates its rights abroad—when either are
disabled in their respective services.

If -we are to be severe, however, on the
drunk en wretch who endangers a policeman's life
—what are we to say to country squires, and even
a grand jury, seeking the life of a rabbit shooter. Our
readers will have seen the trial in yesterday's Sun.
The man was employed by his master to shoot rab-

„bits. A gamekeeper sneaked along in some high
grass, we suppose to detect the man in poaching.
The man naturally enough thought the grass was
moved by a rabbit—shot—and hit—but did not
much hurt—a gamekeeper I There was not a
sh adow of evidence that the man—or rather lad,
D)r he was but nineteen—thought of murder.
'He showed great distress of mind—ran for a
doctor, and rendered all possible assistance. The
'fudge, Chief Justice JERVIS, remarked that the
grand jury had not the slightest pretence for find-
ing the bill, but added, ”it is a game county."
He further observed, in reply to an observation of
the prosecutor about poaching—that " if this
was the eject of game preserving, it ought not to
be allowed, it was shocking P' The prosecutor was
obliged to withdraw the charge !
The game-preserving squires have had their
disgrace, but, alas, they have had also their sweet
revenge. The poor lad has been in prison
for this accident ever since the 9th of Sep-
tember ! Surely the committing magistrates
ought to receive a hint from the Lord Chan-
cellor, or at least one from the Home Secre-
tary, on the propriety of indemnifying the young
man. Looking at the two cases we have brought
together, we ask, who are the guiltier parties--
Squires, who imprison, and Grand Juries, who
send to trial, a poor lad—prosecuting him on a
charge which should bring him to the gallows—
the lad's real and only offence being their fear of
his poaching—or, half intoxicated men, who half
kill a policeman ? The gentlemen endeavoured to
strangle a man lest rabbit shooting might lead to
shooting hares and pheasants. .MICHAZL HOGAN
broke a policeman's leg for proper interference
with his irregularities. What are we to say, too,

for the comparative deserts of intixication with
game preserving and with beer ? Both are done
for excitement, but your game preserver is a very
fiend, utterly reckless of all evidence and
justice in regard to the poor rustics whom he sus-
pects of liking game as well as himself. He is
cruel and relentless in cool blood ; and, on the
bench of what should be justice, coolly cruel,
even to imprisonment and death, in behalf of his
amusements merely. The criminal through in-
toxication is always more or less beside himself.
It is high time that game-law offences were no
longer tried by the game-preserving class, indeed
time that these barbarous relics of Norman
feudalism ►ere utterly destroyed.

Yesterday we had again occasion to narrate a
tale of savage assault on a policeman. The offi-
cer, JAMES CHAPMAN, is in this case disabled for
life, will be obliged to walk with a crutch, and
must quit his employment at the, very time he
was about to be promoted in it. He was, more•
over, discharging his duty in the most proper,
and even too forbearing, manner. If we de-
nounce misconduct ou the part of the police like
that in Hyde-park, we ought equally to
support them to the uttermost in the
steady discharge of their duty. MICHAEL HOGAN,
the savage who has disabled the officer, was, ac-
cording to his own account, a ticket-of-leave man,
just out of prison with a four or five pounds gra-
tuity in his pocket; he used it to get partially in-
toxicated, but must have well known what he
was about, being steady enough on his legs and
sufficiently collected to attack CHArmAN cunningly
and unawares, to raise him from the pavement, and
to throw him down violently on it, at the same time
giving his leg a severe kick as he fell. CHAPMAN
had in consequence to be carried into court, the leg
uselessly dangling from his body. His only offence
against HOGAN was refusing t© fight with him,
and directing him to go home quietly.
We need not repeat HOGAN'S defence ; it
amounts to loss of consciousness, through drink-
ing, till the following morning—a plea which
would seem to require that he should be deprived
at least of the power to lose again his senses through
beer, adulterated or unadulterated. Liberty to
drink is, in HOGAN'S case, liberty to break the
legs of those who do their duty towards him.
The matter of consequence is to let men of his
class know that intoxication, partial or complete,
will he no excuse for the crimes they commit in
such a state. ' Society is not to be at the mercy
of drunkards. It is well for gentry of that quality
to be 'aware that they will be held answerable for
all they do, drunk as well as sober. This knowledge
may be a salutary check on their worse than brutal
appetite ; kit if not the half-drunk man, and this
was clearly HOGAN'S state, by no means loses his
memory entirely. He can recollect many things
on which his heart is set, and it would
be desirable for him, if he will sink into partial
frenzy, to do so under the dread of heavy respon-
sibility for violence mingling with his dreamy and
excited fancies. There is reason in drunkenness
as well as in madness. SHERIDAN, lying in the
gutter, to the question, " Who are you V—
could answer, " W-I-L-BER-FORCE." It is due to
the sober that the remaining reason of the in-
toxicated should warn them not to commit assault,
and possibly murder.

For policemen, however, we claim in this case,
a 4 we have done in others, the severest vindica-
tion of law, and the most liberal compensation for
Captain SOMERSET was
the injury sustained.
sent to prison for beating one with a whip, and
rightly. The policeman carries with him, or
should carry, in the discharge of his legitimate
duties, the authority of the Sovereign. If he
must use force frequently, yet those with whom
he has to do should be taught that society ex-
pects the authority intrusted to him to meet
with ready submission. We see it stated
that there is to be a subscription for
CHIPMAN, and his wife and nine children.
Except as a testimonial from the public, this
ought to be unnecessary. The country is bound
to maintain the policeman who fights its battles
with the depraved at home, as well as the soldier

PRESENTATION OF PLATE TO THE 2d
LIFE GUARDS.

The magnificent silver centre, for the mess•table of
the officers of the 2d Life Guards, given by the late
Marquis of Londonderry, but not completed in the
lifetime of his lordship, has been presented by the
executors.

The plate is of triangular form, each angle of the
base occupied by military figures—an officer, a trooper,
and a bugleman. The centre is composed of a column
enriched with flags, kettle•driums, helmet., swords,
trumpets, and ether military trophies, and bearing re-
lieve of the charge of the Guards at Waterloo, of the
names of their battles, and. the inscription, which is as
follows :

"A Memento of Affection
from
CSARLES WILLIAM TANS,
MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY,
K.G., G.C.8., &c.,
Colonel of the 2d Life Guards,
To the Regiment.
Intended to have been presented
June, 1351.
Death makes no conquest of this cono aeror • ,
Fer now he lives in fame though no,c in life."
The whole is surmounted by a figure, of Britannia. The
weight of the silver is 560 ounces. and the value 5001.
The ornament was designed ar
1 modelled by Alfred
Brown, and manufactured 1r 4
Hunt and Roskell, of
Bond-street. It has been inspected by her Majesty
and Prince Albert, and %o©s honour to the successors
of Storr and Mortimer,

We regret to be compelled to add that the

A

\ THE SUN, LONDON, FRID'AV "kVENINci MARCH 28, I 856.

SHILLINCt EXHIBITIONS.

A shilling is just now we perceive the open sesame
to—we don't kbove how many remarkable public
exhibitions. To the picture gallery of the British
Institution—to the Portland Gallery hard by the
spiked church at Tiangliarn Place—to the collection
of the British Artists Society, now on view in
Suffolk-street—to Roger Fenton's 350-odd photo-
graphs taken in the East for the Messrs. Agnew,
of Manchester, and for the most part representing
scenes and incidents within gun-shot of Sebastopol.
Besides these—any one decently clad can for one
shilling gain admission to the scientific wonders of
the Polytechnic—to the geographical marvels ga-
thered together under the dome of the Great
Globe, erected in Leicester Square, by James
Wyld, late M.P. forßodmin—to the various splen-
dours of the Panopticon with its gigantic organ, its
aspiring fountains, its dissolving views and its
oxyhydrogeu microscope—to the magical effects pro-
duced upon all kinds of materials by the society of
Photographers—to the wax-work-walhalla -of the
late Madame Tussaud's executors—to the fairy-like
Crystal Palace, raised by an ingenious wizard of
the name of Paxton, among the green fields and
sylvan scenery of Sydenham Oue shilling (and no
more than one shilling if we so please) inducting
, us ad libitum to the polygraphic versatility of
that very clever young man, who is literally " a
host" in himself, to wit W. S. Woodin—to the
Switzer chat, and Rhine gabble, and Parisian
patter of that inimitable polyglot lecturer and
humorist, Herr, Signor, Monsieur, Albert Smith,
long since undisputed monarch of the monarch of
mountains, a delightful gehtlernan, whose manifold
admirers have " crowned him [as such] long ago"—
" On a throne of rock,
In a robe of cloud,
With a diadem of snow !"
A shilling, too—nowadays—will it not enable you
to hear the übiquitous Leve ventriloquise himself
" before one's werry eyes" as Sam Weller would
have it—into a deal box ! or up the chimney! any-
where, in fact—into places the most impossible, or
the most preposterous I Does not anyone very
well know that for a shilling—
"He or she,
M. or N., as the case may be,"
can feast eyes and ears by the hour, simply by
noting the phases passed through by Miss P. Hor-
ton-that-was, in her protean entertainment at the
Royal Gallery of Illustration ? For a shilling,
within as brief an interval we can watch Miss
Stanley through, one after another, of the Seven
Ages of Woman—we can saunter with the pe-
rennial Burford, round the rails of his flying pano-
rama—we can accompany Charles Okey all the way
to Paris and back, without budging an inch from
the Regent's Quadrant—we can go a-Lion-Slaying
with the mighty hunter Gordon Cumming, in the
far wilds of Africa, chasing not " the wild deer," or
"following the roe," but careering down upon the
lair of the bison and hippopotami ! A shilling will
carry us through all the ghastly,
grizzly, lonely, loathsome length of the anatomical
museum of Dr. Kahn, attended at the elbow by—
(name most appropriate!)—Dr. Sexton, who whis-
pers a sort of post-mortem clinical prelection upon
the subjects under. examination. A shilling again—is
it not the visible, tangible, shining, ringing,
Pass-word, admitting us within the porch of God's
Temple ?—within the Gothic gloom of Westmin-
ster Abbey, or into the lordly basilica of St.
Paul's Cathedral, carrying us, in the latter, if we
list, up into the. whispering gallery, or higher still,
inside the gilded ball under the gilded cross, or
into the throbbing " heart of London," as Bez
has called it, the famous Clock Tower, with its
swinging monster of a Pendulum. A shilling!--
it is another form assumed by the wishing-carpet
of the Arabian Story—it enables us to dive down
under the Thames, along the arcades formed by its
gas-lit Tunnel, or to flit up far above the smoke and
din of the great city, until we are perched close by
the mimic pharos of its Monument. It introduces
whoever cares to bear the brunt of every imaginable
and unimaginable stench collected together into one
grand animal-bouquet in the Zoological Gardens,
from the dirtiest little vagabond of a monkey up
to that sagacious behemoth the elephant, from the
villainous ourang-outang, looking for all the world
like a brutalised carriCature of humanity, to the
leathern hulk of the rhinoceros, and the pig-like
Shape of that scaley beast of an armadillo. If we
don't mind rubbing shoulders with Tonrand Harry
in their shirt sleeves, or risking the splitting
of the drums of Our ears by close conti-
guity to the "cat's triumphant call" up in
the Gallery of the Gods, there where the ginger
pop is flying, and the " fruitage of Seville'.'
is • being peeled and sucked abundantly as if
tho lives of people in fustian depended upon the suc-
tion of so much orange-juice—we can, if we so will
it, make " the round" of the noblest as well as of the
humblest of our. Londor4 theaires—for the small
charge (as the BartTmy-Fair.showman had it) of
one shilling Laughing-at Backstone in the Hay-
market, at Wright in the Adelphi, at Mathews in
Drury-lave—beholding Kean in his glory at the
Princess's, Creswick at the Surrey, and Phelps
at Sadler's Wells—wondering at the fitful genius of
Robson at the Olympic, at the " blood
and thunder," the murders and the blue fire, the
broadsword exercise and the comic business, fami-
liar to every one who happens to be at all ac-
quainted with the regular legitimate melodrama
of your regular legitimate hockly-in-the-hole arena
of dramatic wonderment', say the Wictoria, or the
City of London, or (until that lamentable fire the
other day which appears now almost, so to speak,
to have been something like a premonitory
symptom of the grander conflagration at
Covent-garden) tlle Pavilion ! For a shil-
ling we can inhale every evening that mingled
flavour of sawdust, ammonia, and orange peel
which seem to make up the exceedingly suegescive
atmosphere of Cooke's Batty's Ducrow's 'Astley's
Royal Amphitheatre ! Nay, more, for this sam3
wonder- working " coin of 'vantage" (if we may be
allowed the pun)—we can at any time, according
to our own good will and pleasure, in the very
act of going from one of those sights to another, or
(otherwise to express it) in going from one of their
sites to another—travel " for one shilling”—en a
cab—the distance of exactly two statute miles.
Measuring them out, and cutting them down with
a most tine precision, even to the length of a hairs-
breadth or rather to the width of a barleycorn —and
be blackguarded to the roots of our hair by the driver
while we are handing over to him one " Bob" (may
be in the presence of another) as his sole lawful
fare by Act of 'Parliament. Eureka ! The sign-
manual of the age is found—it is a Shilling !

LATEST NE WS.

TREMENDOUS EARTHQUAKE

IN JAPAN.
NEW YORK, MARCH 13, 11 P.M.

Japan dates, via California, report that the
city of Jeddo was destroyed by an earthquake
on the 12th November; 100,000 houses in ruins,
and 30,000 lives lost.

THE PARIS CONFERENCES.
(From second Edition of the Times of this day. )

• The following is the letter of our Paris corre-
sponde,nt, dated yesterday, 6 p.m.:—
The Congress met again to-day for "despatch of
business ;"I presume so at least, as these consecu-
tive meetings clearly imply a determination to get
through the work, and with an industry which does
not flag. The question of the admission of Prussia
being once arranged, by compromise or some other
manner, every one believed that no further difficulty
of a serious character remained behind, and that
the remaining two or three days would be devoted
to the drawing up of the protocols. We all confi-
dently counted on the Congress concluding its la-
bours towards the close of the week, and on the
official organ of the Government announcing
on Sunday, if not on Saturday next, the glad
tidings to the 'population of Paris. I believe
that more than one Plenipotentiary was in the
beginning of the present week of the same opi-
nion. Various circumstances gave indication of
the fact, and a few employes in the Ministerial
departments, whO -excel must in caligraphy, re-
ceived an intimation to be in readiness for special
and secret service at an hour's notice. The order
not to recommence hostilities without further
instructions, which I mentioned yesterday as likely
to be transmitted to the Generals, was, I am as-
sured, sent to the 13altic yesterday. The precaution
was necessary, as time is passing away rapidly, and
it would be cruel that blood should be flowing at
the moment the Plenipotentiaries were in the very
act of signing the treaty of peace, though the sig-
natures might not be affixed for two or three days
after the term originally assigned to the armistice.
If what is said to-day be correct, the precaution of
sending off .in time such an order was properly
adopted. It is affirmed, and I have heard it in more
than one respectable quarter, that at the sitting of
1 the Congress yesterday other difficulties arose, not
of course insurmountable, but sufficient, at all events
to retard the moment of a definitive settlement.
The nearer the Congre s approaches its end the
closer and more secret its proceedings are kept ;
nevertheless, it is whispered that the difficulty now
before us relates to the question of the Principali-
ties, on which the Porte is not so yielding as was
supposed. The Sultan does not appear to view
the change in the administration of these pro-
vinces in the .same light as we do, and however
provoking any new delay may be, I hardly think
that we can venture to reproach him, the circum-
stances not being before us, when we remember
that it was the resistance of Turkey which on a
former occasion prevented us from accepting an ar-
rangement which would have been all to the advan-
tage of the Emperor Nicholas. But whether the ob-
jections raised by the Porte be well or ill-founded
it is not supposed in- some quarters that they can
be settled before Monday, or even the middle of
next week. My informant, however, only speaks
from the impressions produced by what he heard
of the sitting of yesterday. Nothing has as ye t
transpired of what passed to-day, and after all this
tantalising uncertainty it may be brought to a close
sooner than is expected.