The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-17 00:00:00

We imagine that the whole question runs up
into that of cost. Assuming that the middle classes
and gentry are as willing to associate in a corps
with working men, as they ought to be, the only
doubt is whether our middle chss volunteers will
be ready to abandon that military finery which so
many of them like so well, and to accept a uniform
with serviceableness for its chief recommendation.
Somehow soldiers have always loved military dis-
play. Gilding, lace, plumes, embroidery, frippery
of all sorts adhering closely, or dangling about, or
waving in the breeze, seems, unaccountably, at first
sight, the taste of those whose real business is of the
roughest and gravest kind. It seems as if a soldier
could no more forget the pomp of full regimentals,
than " a bride her ornaments, or a maid her attire.'
We much fear that Lord ELCHO may here find the
stream too strong for him. We acknowledge that
nothing can seem more snobbish than to set mili-
tary show against general, and even military
utility, yet it has been done so long and persistently
that it is not easy to get rid of it. How many sol-
soldiers have fallen sick, if not died, that their offi-
cers might have the pleasure of seeing their chins
perched at an unnatural angle on the famous black
stock. We do not like even to suggest such a thing,
but we fear Lord Eurro must take care of insist-
ing too strongly on the sacrifice of military finery
by our present volunteers. It ought not to render
the service distasteful; we are sorry even to sup-
pose that there may be need of caution.
The modes in which he has proposed to over-
come the difficulty may be very good ; that of pur-
chasing the uniform by instalments of ls. 3d. a-
week especially so. It is the way in which work-
ing men are accustomed to attain their objects,
which involve much outlay ; and, so far as the
dress is concerned, since it would serve the man for
his Sunday and holiday dress—the chief occasions
when he appears in full dress—it is reasonable he
should pay for it. But we would venture to inquire
whether the idea of volunteering may not be ab-
surdly strained ? Why should not the purely mili-
tary articles be furnished to the men ? They are,
emphatically, for public service, and have quite as
much claim on the public revenue as the Hon. Mr.
CowrEß's iron hurdles to fence off an aristocratic
ride in Kensington Gardens. Those equipments of
the corps which can be of no service to the volun-
teer, but for public purposes, surely the public
should purchase. Enough for the artizan, if he
contribute the time to learn the use of them.
But two things we think the Government espe-
cially bound to provide—the riles with their am-
munition, and the drill sergeants. The Govern-
ment interferes to a certain extent ; it wants all the
corps drilled to act together, and trained to use
certain weapons. Of the drill sergeants and of the
rifles, it has, we suppose plenty, paid for by the
public. Why then make just that portion of the
public, which gives what is most valuable of all to
the state, pay, over again, for what they have
already paid for by taxation ?
We must say that it strikes us that the best way
to settle the question may be to let both plans ad-
verted to in Lord ELCHO'S letter take their chance
together. If it turn out that the artisan class
prefer to emulate the upper classes, by corps,
rather than as individuals of a mixed corps, then so
let it be. Decidedly we prefer what Lord ELCHO
advocates; still this is a volunteer question—and
we must allow the volunteers to choose for them-
selves. Some working men themselves may prefer
the mixed corps, and others one in which they
would meet only their own order. They may also
feel some pride in showing what they can do when
acting by themselves. Let there be entire free-
dom ; let different plans be acted on, as far as each
meets the tastes of all, and in a short time we shal
all be in a position to judge what is best.

His Imperial Majesty the Sultan ABDUL MEDJID
claims the privilege of chastising those murderous
fanatics of the Lzbanon who have but just now
accomplished, within the narrow compass of a few
weeks, massacres unparalleled for many past gene-
rations. As a preliminary to the punishment of
those wretches, the Grand Vizier has been despatched
into Syria with the utmost speed, pomp, and cere-
mony from Constantinople. The chief offenders,
the ringleaders, the instigators of these inhuman
butcheries are being singled out by the Commis-
sioners appointed to inquire into their guilt by

the Turkish Government. Meanwhile, the
Great • Powers of Europe are adopting
energetic measures for the prevention of further
atrocities of the like kind—their combined arma-
ments, both military and maritime, are arriving off
the devastated coasts for purposes, at the very least,

of rigorous surveillance.
It cannot but strike the attention of the least
observant, however, that the administrators of
Turkey, no less than the leading European Powers
themselves, are acting thus only, alas ! when it is
too late for the unfortunate Maronites and the rest
of the Christian Syrian population. When the steed
is stolen it is rather superfluous, as the proverb hints,
to turn the key in the lock of the stable-door. How
much more is it not an act, rather be it said, of
fatuity than of mere supererogation, to spring the
bolts of the lock when the steed is destroyed and
the stable burnt to the ground by the lawless
hand of an incendiary !
The latest tidings received from the scene of
these disastrous occurrences tell of another and a
quite supplementary massacre, in which the
Druses have indulged at Baalbec their insatiable
thirst for the blood of the Christians. But before
the intelligence of these last acts of butchery at
Baalbec, how frightful had been the aggre-
gate of the crimes perpetrated by the in-
fidel revilers of Christianity ! Down to the dreadful
murders accomplished by wholesale throughout
the entire of the Christian quarter of Damascus.
it is calculated upon reliable evidence that the late
sanguinary conspiracy had, in an almost incredibly
brief interval of time, utterly destroyed and
razed to the ground one hundeed and fifty towns
and villages !—had massacred six thousand Chris-
tians, men, women, and children ! !—had brought
down seventy thousand others to beggary and star-
vation!!! All this, recollect, within a very few weeks,
within a
portion of June and July. The pillage
accompanying
all these hideous assassinations has
served yet further to illustrate the execrable and