The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-03 00:00:00

criticism from military correspondents,', of whom it
is not at all certain that they were at the
review, and from able editors, who certainly were
not there, that even the hard heart of " Hippophylax"
might be melted to pity. The accusation against
the Volunteers is very different from that which was
made after last year's review at Windsor. Then it
consisted of one charge, and one which could not be
answered. There is no doubt that the Volunteers
on that occasion shewed a most lamentable absence
of discipline. But it is by no means clear that the
numerous charges now made are just. When
officers of the regular army like Major ArzsoN,
V.C., come forward to the defence, it may be
assumed that there are two sides to the question,
that the accused have at least something to say in
their own behalf. We are inclined to think that
they have a good deal to say.
The charges are manifold. It is complained that
the Volunteers dispersed all over the town when they
were told that the review would not be held. Whither
were they to go ? They had no barracks , there was
no place of shelter from the pitiless storm except shops
and public-houses and the houses of friends. As a mat-
ter of fact, how many of the 20,000 Volunteers who
should have marched past failed to do so after the
Duke of CAMBRIDGE had caused the assembly to be
sounded ? Some, perhaps, were dilatory in their
movements, but, as was pointed out at the time, it is
not easy to put on thick boots sodden with rain at a
minute's notice ; some, too, certainly did not know
what the assembly meant. Then it is com-
plained that . the attacking force exposed
themselves to annihilation as they marched up the
valley, and in real war would have been exterminated.
There seems to be no doubt upon this point ; it
seems certain that had there been serious fighting we
should have had another Balaklava to weep over,
" magnificent, but not war." Who was to blame ?
Not the Volunteers at all, but the officers of the
regular army, who ordered this very movement.
Again, it is said, sarcastically, that the Volunteer
Artillery got into difficulty with their heavy
guns; but they at least got out of the diffi-
culty, and owed no thanks to the Royal
Artillery for the extrication. Major ANSON
has seen Royal Artillerymen equally at sea,
and getting to land again entirely through the
sagacity, not of an officer, not even of a private,
but of an elephant. As it
is, the Volunteers learnt
that they had committed a mistake, and will know
how to avoid it in future, and so certainly they
did not lose a day. Then there are various stories
told to prove insubordination. One man, in rough
attire, marched by the side of a corps, and the
Volunteers are blamed for suffering this. Were they
to stop their march and carry the man bodily off the
ground ? Another Volunteer, an officer, behaved
impertinently to his superior officer. If so, why was
he not put under arrest ? The truth seems to be
that those who failed in their duty were, not the
Volunteers, but the officers of the regular army.
There was no clubbing of battalions; the evolutions
which were ordered were carried out. On the other
hand, the manoeuvres shewed culpable ignorance
on the part of those who ordered them; there was no
attempt to enforce discipline, there was no assistance
given to the Artillery, and there was no com-
missariat. The officers in command had full power
to make their own arrangements, and they had the
additional advantage of the field telegraph apparatus
to transmit their orders. Nevertheless, they
blundered seriously, and their friends are now
attempting to cast the blame upon the Volunteers.
So far as regards the preservation of discipline,
there is little reason for alarm. In time of war the
Volunteers would be as much under the Mutiny Act
as the Regulars. What does alarm us is the possibility
of our Volunteers being
exposed to annihilation
through the ignorance of some general who has
failed to take to heart the terrible lesson of Bala
klava.

We-
Trip eirtnTzt

HER. MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, April 2.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Christian
drove out yesterday afternoon.

Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, and Princess
Beatrice also went out.
her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Louise,
walked and drove in the grounds this morning.

LATEST INTELL MENU

(REuTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, April 3.
According to \lr. Adam Moffat's report the
week's receipts of cotton at all United States ports
have been 37,000 bales ; and since the Ist of Sep-
tember, and taken by American spinners direct,
2,045,000. Shipments to England, 49,000 ; to
the Ist of September,
France, 8,000 ; to the Continent, 7,000, and since
1,020,000, Stock, 390,000.
Market dull, 111 i
d Upland, 110, cost and freight
per ste4tuer,

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES.

CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 2.
The Sultan went in great state to the Mosque of
St. Sophia to-day. Their Royal Highnesses the
Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by the
llon. Mrs. Grey, Lord Carrington, Mr. Alison, Mr.
Russell, and Mr. Lionel Moore, Second Secretary
at the British Embassy, and especially attached to
his Royal Highness during the present stay in this
capital, witnessed the procession from the Sultan's
Kiosk.

Their Royal Highnesses subsequently received a
deputation of all classes of British residents in
Constantinople, who presented an address.
The Prince thanked the deputation on behalf of
the Queen, the Princess, and himself, expressing
the great pleasure he-felt at being able to share with
the Princess on this occasion of his second visit the
unbounded hospitalities of the Sultan, the Queen's
firm ally and friend,

To-morrow a State dinner will be given by the
Sultan, in honour of his Royal guests. The
Foreign Ambassadors and the Turkish Ministers
are invited. On Tuesday a ball will take place at
the British Embassy,
The Sultan will be present.
On Wednesday their Royal llighnesses and the
Opera in state. The Prince
Sultan will visit the
and Princess will leave to morrow week for the
Crimea, returning to Constantinople on the fol-
lowing Friday, theu to proceed immediately to
Greece.

BOURSE, April 2.--Three
FRANCE.
o'clock—The market
closed as follows :—.
41 per Cent.
End of month.. --. ltaPan EATS 55 55
3 per Unfit 411111, TO 22 End df Month — End of month... 70 121 nexican Loan
Credit Mobilier ... 270 —2l Do. Bonds
End of month... 270 -- Spanish Threes
Credit Fonder _14762f.. Homo Debt 29
End of month... ,
Deferred ......
RAILIVAI:s. Cash
Orleans .............................
Northern ............................. ... 1145
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern....
Western
Eastern ............ ••
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Faragossa
R0man......... 52

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge,
Prince and Princess Teck, and suite, honoured the per-
formauces at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi, last evening.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

VFROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, FRIDAY, April 2.
The great contest relative to purity of elections has
terminated. Why M. Jerome David brought up his inter-
pellation on money corruption it is difficult to imagine.
There is undoubtedly little money corruption in France
compared with England, but the question could hardly be
palatable to the authorities. M. Rouher was able vir.
tuously to assert that the Freneh were not as other men,
even as you in England. The French did not bribe by
money. But M. Bouher well knew at the time that if
the French did not bribe by money, the authorities
scattered favours and offices of every description broad-
cast in order to carry the elections. Intimidation, promises,
and bribes of every kind ere employed to gain votes. Ti e
English are certainly by no means a model to imitate in
matters of electoral purity, but if by corruption is meant
all sorts of undue influence, then France is the most
corrupt country in the world.
This debate on money bribery—l have already men-
tioned its result—paved the way for the interpellation of
M. Picard on purity of elections generally, and especially
official candidatures. The Left were warmed by M. Jelo ne
David's impudent insinuations respecting bribes. A vir-
tuous exordium to purity by a member of a majority
elected by the most unfair influences was too much for
the leaders of the Oppesition to tolerate. M.
Picard, who is rarely a mild speaker, was unusually
bitter in his condemnation of official candidatures. The
Minister of the Interior, M. Forcade de la Roquette,
replied in a speech, the gist of which was that the Govern.
ment neither could nor would abolish official candidatures.
The Minister made a skew of reasoning, but this was the
Alpha and the Omega of his logic. Official candi-
datures were necessary, he said, as a measure of
self defence ; without them deputies might be elected
who would reduce the army to 200,000 men,
or even less, and propose all sorts of subvertive mea-
sures. In short, M. de la Roquette argued that if official
candidatures were abolished the Government would be
made uncomfortable, and, therefore, it did not mean to
abolish them. By pleading that extreme measures would
be the consequence of non-interference in elections, the
Minister admitted that extreme measures were now pre-
vented by Government influence, in other words that
Government controlled the Legislature.
M. Emile 011ivier made a smart speech. He raid
that the entire system was one of buying and selling.
Official candidateships led the people of the rural districts
to look on the post of deputy as a Government office,
and to consider the candidates of the Opposition as
very indelicate in trying to obtain such a place
against the will of him who had to bestow it.
The whole character of the Administration was
impaired by the system. The prefect most approved of
was not the man who managed well the affairs of his
department, but he who caused the inhabitants to vote
with the greatest unison ; and when, as in the Jura, he
failed, his post was taken from him. The mayors also lost
their influence by acting as election agents. He con-
trasted freedom of election as in England with
" cooked" elections in France. In England every
case was submitted plainly to the electors ;
they were asked if they wished for electoral reform or
not. Did they want to have the Irish Church disesta-
blished ? And the people having pronounced, the matter
was decided once for all. It was in that way that free
trade had been established, and electoral reform voted.
When once such changes had been effected the most
obstinate Tory would not think of going back on them.
And why ? Because the nation had first been con-
sulted. In France, on the contrary, every evil became
chronic, and nothing was finished. The debate con-
cluded by a division. The Chamber decided to pass on
to the order of the day by 157 to 47.

Father Claret has undoubtedly gone to Rome.—
Madame Schneider, wife of the President of the Corps
Ldgislatif, is dead.

I mentioned yesterday that the Emperor's speech had
been very freely distributed—at the public cost, of course—
thronzhout France. The Etendard is happy to announce
that the speech has made the most profound impression
upon workmen, for wl.ona it was intended. In the Allier
department the workmen 1 ave made public manifestations,
and at Vichy and Gusset they grouped themselves
round the place where the speech was posted up, cryirg
" Viva l'Empereur !" The Etendard is a semi-official
paper. I doubt much how many votes the speech will
get.

The Nabob of Bengal arrived at Marseilles a few days
ago. He has dined at the English Embassy, and a very
curious sort of ceremonial this was. He sat at the banquet

without partaking of anything ; for neither he nor his
suite can touch food which has not been prepared by the
hands of their own servants. Your readers will remem.
ber the story of the greased cartridges at the commence.

went of the Indian mutiny.
A terrible domestic tragedy has happened at Nice. M.
Pontlevoy, a boarding-house keeper, had been absent in
Paris for some time on business. Whilst away he was
informed that his wife was living on terms of intimacy
with a jeweller of the name of Bailly. The enraged
husband instantly started for Nice, and suddenly
entered his wife's apartment towards midnight.
His w -rst fears beng confirmed, he drew out
a revolver, fired with fatal effect four shots
at Bailly, and a fifth at his wife, who had the
presence of mind to feign death. M. Pontlevoy walked
straight from his wife's bedroom to the police-office, his
wife having meanwhile escaped in her night-dress into the
street, where she implored a sentinel to protect her. Her
husband will suffer no punishment whatever for this
sanguinary act of vengeance. He will be acquitted by
law.

Thirty-seven men who engaged in the election
riots in Monmouthshire in November last, were on Wednes-
day sentenced by Mr. Justice Keating to imprisonment for
terms ranging from four to twelve months.
Mr. Charley has given notice that in committee on
the Irish Church Bill he will move to strike out the clause
forbidding the archbishops and bishops henceforth to be
summoned or qualified to sit in the House of Lords.

Lord Powerscourt writes to a Dublin paper de-
precating the no surrender cry, speaking of Mr. Gladstone's
bill as reparation for past injustice, and objecting that Irish
Churchmen should bo represented by firebrands whose
object seems to be to raise animosities.
Sir F. Gold:mid writes that be, and not Mr. Dis-
ra

eli, is the author of the proposal that whenever a member
of Parliament is unseated on the ground of corruption the
seat should be given to a defeated candidate who should
have polled a certain proportion of votes.
The Liverpool workhouse committee decided on
Thursday to entertain a proposal from Miss Rye to take all their
orphan girls for her emigration scheme, each girl being sup-
plied with a by the parochial authorities. Mr. Rathbone,
M.P., brought Miss Rye's scheme forward.
The Manchester Examiner says that the Court of
Arbitration for the settlement of disputes arising in connec-
tion with any of the trades in Manchester and Salford is now
fully constituted, and will in future meet juarterly for the
despatch of business.

Mr. William 11. Smith, M.P. for Westminster, has
presented his legal agent, Mr. John F. Isaacson, of Norfolk-
street, Strand, with an elegant and costly Cellini silver cup,
inscribed "in grateful remembrance of devoted and success-
ful services at the general election, 1868."

A statement has obtained currency to the effect
that the Solicitor-General has returned his fees in tho cause
of Saurin v. Starr, in the belief that Miss Saurin's friends
were not in a position to pay them. Zhe Law Times has
authority to state that the Solicitor-General has not re-
turned his fees, and that Miss Saurin's friends calculated the
cost before instituting proceedings, and are quite prepared
to bear them, should the appeal on points of law reserved
terminate adversely to her.

Great preparations have been made at Con-
stantinople for the accommodation of the Prince and
Princess of Wales. In addition to the konak at
Salihbazar, the Sultan has had Beylerbey Palace
also specially prepared for his guests, in case they
should prefer the Asiatic side of the Strait. One of his
Majesty's state calques is to be placed at their disposal.
A grand ball will bo given by the Ambassador and Mrs.
Elliot in honour of their Royal Highnesses, and the example
of the English at Cairo will probably be followed by the pre-
sentation of an address from the local colour.

The Athenaeum- states, on authority, that Mi.

Henderson, of Montagu-street, intends to bequeath to the
British Museum (Department of Prints and Drawings) his
noble collections of the works of David Cox and William
/duller. The "David Cox" collection alone consists of be-
tween fifty and sixty important works of richly diversified
Stibjects, The drawings by Muller comprise a number of
rittidies acid Sketches Made during tours in Rhodes, Lycia,
and the neighbouring countries of A:AA Minor, England and
Wales. Mr. Henderson also intends to bequeath to the
British Museum his fine collection of bronze, oriental, and
other vessels.

The Earl of Shrewsbury has written to the Bir-
mingham Post to correct the report of tho speech which
ho made at Worcester on Wtduesday. _Ho says I
did not say I trusted that the bill of-Mr. Gladstone would
not be rejected by the House of Lords; but said I was
doubtful whether the House of Lords would reject the
bill, but I was certain it would bo so altered and modified
that it would be much less injurious to tho country. So-
condly—l did not say that I was annoyed with Mr. Disraeli
for passing the Reform 1411; but that 1 presumed that Mr.
Gladstone, annoyed with Mr. Disraeli for passing that mea-
sure, resolved to outbid him, and chose the Irish ()Lora, for