The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-22 00:00:00

(From the Times of this clay.)
As .a mere political tour de force the Commission to in-
quire into the value of, the °Minoan Commission is well
enough. The Government, in fact, proceed upon the system
which has received the sanction of the most approved heroes
of the gaming table. They are for playing double or quits
until the run of the game declares self in their favour, as no
doubt it must at last. The history of the case is briefly this.
According to public rumour the affairs of the British army
in the Crimea were grossly mismanaged. Plebeian critics
ventured to assert that British soldiers had died by thou-
sands in consequence of the grievous mismanagement and in-
competence of certain officers. Under these circumstances,
after a ministry had been driven from power and an army
swept from the face of the earth, it was determined by Eng-
lish statesmen that commissioners accredited from the Go-
vernment, and whose office it should be to represent the Go-
vernment, should. be sent. out to the Crimea to inquire into
the reality,of affairs. Why shOuld shrink from, stating
the very truth of the question? It was in consequence of the
reports which were printed from time to time in the'columns
of this journal that these Commissioners were despatched to
the scene of action, and they wore sent under the idea that
they would be able to 'contradict our reports and cover us
with shame and confusion. So great, however, was the force
of truth that the reports of our correspondent were confirmed
at all points. It was not exactly proved that he had stated
the truth, becausefit was proved that he had stated lcssthan
the truth. The " Sebastopol Committee," however, and the
" Crimean Commissioners" were less merciful, and rightly so,
inasmuch as they were public men solemnly chosen for the
performance and discharge' of a public trust. They, in their
reports, referred to culprits by name. They said, the Earls
of Lucan and Cardigan made such mistakes, Sir Richard
Aim- and Colonel Gordon were guilty of such and such de-
relictions of duty. .
Well, then, with the reports of the Sebastopol Committee
and of the Crimean Commiesiouers before then-4 the members
of the'present Government sit down to council. Itis no Ii Ilt
thing that 10,000 men should have been lost; it is no light
thing that any body of statesmen should be called upon to de-
fend the system under which such a sacrifice took place. The
members of the Administration were however equal to the
occasion. The acts of four officers in high command were dis-
tinctly impugned in the report of their own commissioners.
These very officers had been selected for promotion and dis-
tinction. A member of the House of Commons had given
notice of a motion expressing the regret felt by that assembly
that officers condemned-by. the commissioners of the Govern.
ment should to selected by the Government for honour and
advancement in their profession. The motion was no doubt
a puzzli g one, for it was difficult for the Government either
to repudiate their own acts or the acts of their own agents.
I,t was they who had promoted the men whom their own
agents had condemned. Under these circumstances they have
resolved upon an appeal from their own sentence. In the hope
of upsetting the accusations of the unofficial accusers they
sent out agents to the Crimea, but the officials have not only
endorsed the accusations of the non- officials, but have brought •
them home with every particularity of time and place. The
new idea, then, is to appoint fresh Commissioners to inquire
into the verdict of the commission. It was not enough that
Government agents should have been employed in the first
instance, but, when their report was such as was inconvenient
to their principals, it was necessary to repudiate them. This
has been done. Who is now to be put upon trial? Not Lord
Raglan, or his memory; not Sir Richard Airey or Colonel
Gordon ; not the Earl of Lucap or Cardigan ; but Sir John
111‘Neill and Colonel Tulloch. The Government is to try its
own judges.
One of the most whimsical features in the strange proceeding
is that whereas when the inquiry was in progress before the
Sebastopol Committee, it was stated that the chief difficulty
lay in the fact that the judges—that is, the members of the
committee—were entirely ignorant of the local facts, Lord
Palmerston now reckons ignorance of the same kind as among
the first qualifications of a Crimean Judge. He said last
night, " As the duty of the Board will be to inquire into
transactions which occurred in the Crimea, it is fitting that
no officer who has served in that country shall be a member
of the Board." So, then, the first qualification is ignorance ;
riSUI72 teneatis In other wores, every officer who has ever
served in tho Crimea is so fully aware of the real state of the
case that it is highly politic to strike off his name from the
list of judges. In the next place the proceedings are to be
conducted with closed steers, and the instructions under
which the Commissioners are to act will not be laid before
the house. All is juggle and secrecy, In order to defeat the
report of their own CoMmissioners the Government is com-
pelled to appoint a Commission of Generals whose qualifica-
tion is iguorahce, which is to act under secret orders, to sit
with closed doors, and which will, no doubt, make a report
about the month of October next, when the pheasant shoot-
ing begins and the Parliamentary session is at an end.