The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-05 00:00:00

"ROW NOT TO DO IT."

A brief statement of the circumstances under
which the new artillery has been despatched to
China—or rather to the Red Sea, for the Armstrong
guns have not reached the Indian Ocean yet—will
justify in some measure the suspicion of those who
believe that all is not right yet at the War-office
and the other departments charged with the admi-
nistration of the forces of Great Britain, and that a
very successful attempt would be made to rival the
confusion and chaos of the arrangements at the
outset orthe Crimean war if we were again plunged
into a contest with any European Power. Whether
that be so or not, here is the story :—lt was desir-
able to send the Armstrong batteries as soon as
possible to the East. Arrangements accordingly
were made by which the Himalaya was rendered
disposable for the conveyance of the force to Alex-
andria, where other arrangements were cunningly
devised for their conveyance by railway to Cairo,
and thence to Suez. Fearful of the consequences
of too great rapidity of transit, however, on the
guns or on the troops, the authorities lighted upon
the notable expedient of neutralising the speed of
the Himalaya during the western portion of the
route by employing the famous old steam barge of
her Majesty's Indian navy, the Berenice, built at
Glasgow in 1835, of 664 tons burden, and 230 horse
power, which has been known to go eight knots
under favourable circumstances, to go round to Suez
to take the artillery on board. By letters received
from Cairo, dated Feb. 16, it appears that one bat-
tery R.A. sailed in that remark-able craft from Suez
on the previous day. Thus it would appear that
part of the artillery force has been very nearly three
weeks in Egypt, and the rest is still there; and if
our ally, the Emperor of the French, were not the
most magnanimous of men, he certainly might have
asked for explanations of the delay. Perhaps he
views with pity the weakness of our system, which
struggles, with the carriage of a few guns as if it
were engaged in marching a grand army into Italy.
But that is not all. The Berenice, which was to
have carried the 14th Dragoons from Bombay to
Suez, had never apparently the least intention of
doing anything of the kind, and had no notion of
doing duty as a troopship. On being inspected it
was found she had no cooking-coppers for the men's
food, no tubs, no plates, dishes, or buckets, no bed-
ding for the sick. And the artillery officers were
actually obliged to fit her out with these articles as
well as they could, and to furnish her even with
,quarter galleries at Sucz. The officer in command
had received no instructions to provide anything of
the sort ; and, as he knew the playful coyness the
authorities evince in regard to any advances made
by officers on their own responsibility, he wisely
declined to incur the risk'. But the ship is at sea at
last, and we wish her and her cargo a pleasant, and
—if it were not mockery, we would say—a speedy
voyage. Her Majesty's 14th Light Dragoons were
at the latest accounts not waiting at Suez, where
they were expected to be—on the contrary, they
were at Bombay, and it was said that tenders had
just been issued for their transport round the Cape.
Meanwhile Milward's battery is passing its time
very agreeably, no doubt, in the harbour of Alex-
andria, on board the floating hotel which the au-
thorities have found for them on board H.M.S.
Himalaya—a mode of lodging them which is, how-
ever, not very economical. But with a liberal Par-
liament, and the ungrudging liberality of the esti-
mates, what signifies a few pound ? One may ask
if this delay could not have been avoided, and if
Great Britain, with her enormous resources in ship-
ping, could not find better accommodation for her
troops, and make more judicious endeavours to al-
leviate some of the horrid discomforts of a Red Sea
passage in February.—Army and Nary Gazette.

EDINBURGH ANNUITY-TAX BILL.—The Chamber
of Commerce of Edinburgh have resolved, by 31 to 18, to
petition against and oppose the Lord-Advocate's Annuity-
tax Bill. Mr. Black, M.P., has addressed a letter
to the citizens of Edinburgh, recommending them
to give their support to the Lord-Advocate's Bill,
at least, in the event of obtaining a guarantee
for the cessation of the tax in fifteen years. liis
own Bill of last year, which he has been called upon by
several parties to re introduce, he says there is little hope
of carrying without several years' agitation; while the
measure of his colleague has every prospect of immediate
success if assented to by the inhabitants. The Lord-Ad-
vocate's measure would terminate the tax much earlier
than Mr. Black's, and would to some extent at once lessen
the burden on the ratepayers; and the circumstances are
favourable to obtaining the diminution of the clerical
establishment, there being three present or prospective
vacancies in the eighteen charges at present, The oppo-
sition of the ratepayers to the Bill rests mainly on
these grounds,— that it provides not merely for
the present support but for the permanent en-
dowment of the city clergy ; that it gives the inhabitants no
extrinsic aid such as was proposed in former bills to lessen
the burden,. and that it involves a heavy burden for the pre-
sent, and- hives no guarantee for the cessation of the tax in
tliss years,u quite
co
the bill proposing to continue the assessment till
acert,a qin capital sum be provided. With certain modifica-
tions,
in
all
probasbteilnitty‘bviethrecietsive nidaminorsecofapveo,
utrhatlyin:a and
measure
would it
is understood that the Lord 4dveeitte is willing to some ex-
tent to modify the Dill,