The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-09 00:00:00

2'.71E ARMY.

In a general regimental order the following
changes are announced in the Royal Artillery :
Lieut. R. B. Butt is transferred from No. 8 battery,
4th brigade, to No. 7 battery, 2d brigade ; and
Lieut. R. N. Young from No. 5 battery, Ist brigade,
to No. 4 battery, 4th brigade; Lieut. Gubbins is
transferred from No. 4 battery, Ist brigade, to No.
9 battery, Gth brigade, and will join and do duty in
the depot brigade at Woolwich until required to
embark for Malta to join his battery. Captain and
Brevet-Major Henry Rogers is removed from the
half to the full pay list, and will be absorbed in the
first vacancy; in the meantime, he is to join at
Plymouth for duty. Second Capt. Major Francis
Downes, having resigned his situation in the Staff
College, is tranferred from the supernumerary to
the effective list, and will join and do duty with
the depot brigade at Woolwich until absorbed. The
following changes have been sanctioned :—Between
Capt. H. Hayman, of the sth brigade, and Capt.
and Brevet-Major J. E. Carthew, of the 10th
brigade; between Lieut. E. S. Burnett, of No. 2
battery, and Lieut. C. 11. Pickering, of No. 3 bat-
tery, 11th brigade ; between Lieut. L. P. Walsh,
of No. 1 battery, 4th brigade ; and Lieut. H. M.
Hozier, of No. 6 battery, 4th brigade ; and between
Lieut. C. Trench, of No. 5 battery, sth brigade;
and Lieut. T. C. Martelli, of No. 1 battery, Ist
brigade. In consequence of the above the under-
mentioned officers will proceed to stations to join
their batteries as follows :—Capt. Hayman to Al-
derney, Major Carthew to Gibraltar, Lieut. Trench
to Woolwich, and Lieut. Martelli to Gibraltar.
His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief has been pleased to award the silver medal,
with annuities of £lO, for meritorious service, re-
linquished by the under-mentioned non-commis-
sioned officers, on their being commissioned in the
Coast Brigade, on the 4th of November, 1859
viz., Sergt.-Major Robert Kettle, Sergt.-Major
James Scott, Sergt.-Major Charles Phillips, and
Sergt.-Major Thomson—to the following indi-
viduals :—Quartermaster-Sergeant David Hoge,
Depot Brigade; Quartermaster-Sergeant Charles
Ring, 7th Brigade ; Staff-Sergeant Wheeler George
Carthew, Depot Brigade ; Battery Staff-Sergeant
John Neill, 2d brigade ; and the gratuities of £l5
relinquished by the latter have been distributed as
/0•10ws, viz.:-£5 and a silver medal, for long ser-
vice and good conduct to each of the undermentioned
individuals :—Master-gunner Josh. Fullerton, Mas-
teT-
agi unnerValentineVenner, Master-gunner Richd.
A% .e, Master-gunner Angus Clarke,Master-gunner
Sam- Agnew, Master-gunner Ellis Saville, pen-
sioned Master-gunner Wm Campbell,late 10th
battalion, pen iioned Sergeant Go. Thompson'; late
10th battalion, pensioned Gunner
James Gunner Cook, late
Bth battalion, pensioned Gunner Lawrence Lawrie,
late Invalid Artillery, pensioned Gunner Edward
Manney, late Invalid Artillery.
It is stated at Tcnby that the Government have
i
decided to erect batteries for the defence of the coast. upon Bt. Catherine's, at Giltar, and upon
Caldy Island- A strong fortification upon the latter
would be of seatp importance. The corps of volun-
teers at Teriby are artillery, and they hope to be in-
trusted witla the care of a portion of the defences
when they ; 17e complete. The five-gun battery in
course or ere. Tien at Nlumble Head will be complete
in a few months.

There appt ared on the 2d inst., an account of a
disturbance a ; Colchester, which was said to have
taken place b• 3tween the City of Dublin and Done-
gal Militia an d two regiments of the Line. We
have been req /rested to correct this statement as
far as concerns the City of Dublin Militia, the head-
quarters or wh jell is in the Citadel at Plymouth,
under coma lat ,d of Lient.-Col. Musters, and the en-
tire regime at, between 800 and 900 strong, is quar-
tered in th. It district, where they have been for the
last three i nonths.

THE MEMBERS FOR HEREFORD ON'
OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.
HEREFORD, FRIDAY.
An important meeting in furtherance of the rifle
movement was held here yesterday afternoon. Col.
Clifford, M.P., Lord W. Graham, M.P., and Col.
Clive addressed the meeting.
Colonel CLIFFORD rose, and was received with
hearty applause. He said—Mr. Mayor and Gen-
tlemen,—A resolution has been put into my hands
which I have great pleasure in introducing to the
notice of the meeting. A movement so truly na-
tional as this is, in favour of volunteer corps,
could hardly have spread, as this has done,
throughout the length and breadth of the land,
gaining strength from day to day, without reach-
ing the city of Hereford—a city ever forward in
loyal attachment to the country. I myself am no
alarmist, nor have I the slightest want of faith in the
good feeling and friendship of the Emperor of the
French ; but I think it is a manifest absurdity that
this countre, aspiring, as it justly does, to hold a
prominent place among the nations of Europe, should
allow itself to remain in that defenceless position
which shows to other nations that it is not able even
to defend itself, much less able to interfere usefully in
the settlement of matters relating to the general
welfare of thecountries of Europe. (Hear.) Things
are not as they were 20 years ago. The different
countries of Europe have been arming themselves,
not for defensive purposes only, but in many in-
stances for the purp6ses of aggression. It is
quite clear that at this' moment our relations with
our nearest neighbour—France—are of the most
friendly character ; and we have reason for thinking
that they willcontinue so, notwithstanding the noisy
talk of a small section of the people of that country.
The great majority of the French people are well
disposed towards this country, as they have ever
been; and there is every reason to believe that ma-
terial interests will induce them to cultivate the
arts of peace for many years to come. (Hear.)
But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that at
this moment there is in France not only an im-
mense warlike force for the defence of the country
—and that is quite reasonable—but also immense
means for assailing an enemy, if they should
think fit to do so. Now it is very improbable—
I hope we may say it is certain—that they have any
' thought of using those warlike means against this
country; but it is quite clear that they will use
them against any country with which they should
' unfortunately quarrel. (Hear.) The relations of
nations, as of individuals, are not always so cer-
tain as to ensure a peace; and it would be very
unfortunate for this country to be placed in such
a position as to have to succumb to a powerful
enemy. (Hear, hear.) Therefore I think the move-
ment is a right one. There are only two ways
of providing for the defence of the country :
the one is by largely increasing the stand-
ing army, and the other by encouraging
the establishment of volunteer corps. I need
not refer to the many objections there are against
increasing the standing army. None of these objec-
tions can be taken against the establishment of a
volunteer corps, against the keeping up a martial
' spirit in the country, and enabling the people to
defend themselves whenever they may be required
to do so. I think it quite unnecessary to advance
any argument on that subject ; but I will make one
or two practical remarks in reference to the forma-
tion of a rifle corps in this town. There are two
things which you may take as certain : one, that
the funds will be forthcoming ; the other, that the
men will be forthcoming. (Hear.) I have no doubt
that you will be able, in a very short period of time,
to establish the largest and most efficient corps this
county has yet produced ; but I think you should
see all the difficulties which lie before you. First of
all, before you do anything, it is necessary that you
should select a place for practice, and that it should
be approved by the Government authorities.
Without this, any other steps that you may have
previthisly taken will be in vain. The place must
be within, an easy distance of the town. But of
course those who are prominent in the movement
have considered that already; I only wish to im-
press upon you the fact that all must fall to the
ground without such a place for practice. Another
difficulty will be found in the appointment of offi-
cers. The officers will be appointed by the corps,
but it is of the utmost importance that there should
be unanimity in the selection. The fact of one
officer being selected by a majority over another is
not all that is required. If it be possible, you should
in the first instance choose a man to whom there:
can be no objection ; because, if you don't, there
will hereafter be heart-burnings and difficulties
which will interfere with the efficiency of the
corps. I have seen this in other places ; it is the
almost inevitable consequence of not going rightly
in the first instance. These are the difficulties
which strike me as the most prominent, and I hope
you will give your attention to them. In appoint-
ing your officers it will be necessary to select
men who can freely give their time. The duties
of an officer in a volunteer rifle corps are by no
means nominal. I don't know anything where so
much devolves on the officer ; effective drill, and
harmony and good feeling in the corpi, all devolve
on him. I hope you will pardon me for making
these observations. In doing so, lam not suppos-
ing that, as practical men, you will fall into the
difficulties to which I have referred. (Hear, and
applause.) The hon. and gallant colonel_ concluded 1
by proposing the first resolution.
The Rev, ARCIIER CLIVE seconded the motion,
which was carried.
Lord W. GRAHAM, M.P., said—Mr. Mayor and
Gentlemen' —I have been requested to move the
second resolution, which I have great pleasure in
doing. I quite concur in the observations which
have fallen from the gentlemen who have already
spoken, that this movement is eminently a pacific
and defensive movement; We are all men of
peace—we wish to remain at peace, and we trust
to see the peace of Europe preserved. And yet
at the same time, notwithstanding these are
our principles and objects, we see what
we may call the strange sight of England arm-
ing from one end to the other. One naturally
asks why this is? I think the answer is very simple.
We are arming for the express purpose of preserv-
ing this peace which we are so anxious to maintain;
we are arming to make it impossible for any enemy
to invade these shores with any hope or chance of
success. (Cheers.) We are not arming for war or
conquest, but merely to maintain our own security,
and to preserve inviolate the sanctity of our homes,
our hearths, and our altars. (Cheers.) I don't think
any nation has a right to take umbrage or offence at
the preparations we are making. I think it impos-
sible to deny that the peace which lasted 40 years
had lulled us into a state of what we may call false
security, and that we had got an idea that there
never could be an European war again. Successive
administrations vied with each other in reducing
our military and naval estimates to such a low pitch
that our national defences were not consistent with
the security of the country, or with that just in-
fluence which we ought to exercise over the coun-
cils of Eutope. And when we look at the state of
the Continent, when we see that it bristles with
bayonets, and when we see large military powers
increasing their armaments, and large maritime
powers increasing their navies, it is high time for
us to awake from our slumber, to gird up our loins;
l • •
and be prepared for any contingency. (Cheers.) It
is therefore with great satisfaction that I view this
movement which is spreading throughout the length
and breadth of the land. The people have taken the
matter into their owli hands; they are organising
their defences after their own fashion, an as we
cannot have a large regular army, we are determined
to have a large a olunteer force. A large regular
army is contrary to our habits, our wishes, our prin-
ciples, and our institutions ; therefore, I think the
volunteer efforts are the best way of meeting the
difficulty, and I trust they will be widely spread
throughout the land. I remember an anecdote which
was told of George 111. During the French revolu-
tion his ministers advised him to call out a volunteer
force. The King rather demurred to placing arms
in the hands of the people, and said, " Supposing
they turn these.arms against my Government my
throne is gone." The Lord Melville of that day
replied, "If your Majesty dreads your people, your
throne is gone already." (Applause.) I say now;
let us trust to the loyalty and patriotism of the
people, and we shall not be deceived. Therefore
let volunteers come forward ande m
enrol
sacrificelthemselves.;
Every man must make some
and when we consider what an important stake we
have at issue, and reflect what would be the conse-
quence of an invasion—our houses burned, our fields
laid waste, and our population put to the sword—
nobody will hesitate to say that we ought never to
rest until we have placed this country in a state of
ample security. (Cheers.) The first thing is for
the volunteers to enrol themselves, then to appoint
officers, and then to submit themselves to the
executive powers. Discipline is absolutely neces-
sary ; without discipline and practice no vo-
lunteer force would be able to resist a regular
army; but with discipline and practice I believe
that indomitable courage which would animate the
breasts of the 200,000 volunteers whom England
would send forth would be amply sufficient to check
aannyd talriemnyato 1 which
who coaultdtebmepltaenddt eodi
novna d tehlevsoeu
would
haveot• es
to
the city of Ilerefo(erdhet'risll
to rue the day.
I trust, therefore, that
(Cheers.)
forth a large body of
volunteers, and thus'
Queen, their attachment tow our their
institutions,loy al ty to
and
e
tense.)
their determination to stand(.l)pup for the rights and
liberties of the nation.
This motion was alsoNciall.
carried.
Mr. met a very cor-
dial
Mr. GEORGE CLIVE,
reception, said—Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, it
fats to my lot to move that which is, generally

speaking, what I believe it will not be on this oc-
casion, the most unpopular part of the day's pro-
ceedings—a resolution relating to the funds to 110
raised for the purpose of the volunteer corps.
That these funds must be forthcoming I think is
tolerably evident, for although I have no doubt
that the greater portion of the persons who may
enrol as volunteers will cheerfully pay for their own
uniforms, and although the Government will supply
if not the whole by far the greater portion of the
arms, and possibly the whole, it is obvious that
funds will be required for a great many purposes;
for instance,! the provision of targets, the prepara-
tion of the ground, and other necessary objects which
will strike everyperson who hears me at this mo--
ment. I trust, therefore, that a response will be
made to this resolution, and that sufficient funds
will be cheerfully subscribed to show how earnest
the city of Hereford and its immediate neighbour-
hood are in promoting the object which has found
such extensive favour in the kingdom at large.
With respect to the actual cause of this armament,
so much has been said already, and in which I fully
concur, that I do not think it necessary to do more
than to state emphatically my own entire concur-
rence in the sentiments put forth by the gentlemen
who have preceded me. I hope—and at the risk of
being considered over-credulous, I venture to say I
believe—that the European powers will show their
rivalry more in arts and commerce than in the an-
cient struggles for power and dominion. It may be
that Russia, and other countries bordering on what
may be called the barbarous regions of the world,
will seek by aggression to increase their already
too large dominions ; but I do not believe that in
Europe the time will ever come again when nations
will find it to their interest to cut each other's
throats for the purpose of enlarging the territory
over which their rulers may preside. We have seen
that the conquests of the first Napoleon came to a
very premature and unfortunate end for him. We
have seen the result of the great lust of dominion
which characterises the house of Austria ; it is
one large empire, which so long as it was properly
governed proved its strength, but it is now doubting
whether it can claim the allegiance of Huitgary or
not. We have seen the desperate and fruitless ef-
forts she has made to crush the Italian liberty and
nationality; we have seen her expending much money
and losing many valuable lives year after year in
getting_ dominion over territory which has been
wrested from her grasp with the greatest ease, and
that not so much by tho assistance of the French
powers, as by the spirit of independence the Italians
displayed. We have also seen Austria struggling with
another province, that of Venice, of which she still
keeps a hold, though the money requisite to keep
the Venetians in order is more than the whole re-
venue the province produces. The increased spirit
of nationality displayed in all parts of the world
will, in all probability, teach sovereigns, however
despotic and military they may be, and however
many legions they may command, that the time
for territorial aggression has nearly passed away.
I have that feeling very strongly at heart myself,
though there are many people who believe that the
world will go on in the same old way to the end,
fighting on as before. I believe that the spirit of
intelligence, and above all of interest, will make
that impossible.. (Cheers.) A great deal of this
apprehension—l will not call it fear—but a great
deal of the opinion prevailing about the aggressive
designs of the Emperor of the French has arisen
from the things which he may have said in former
days when it was his interest to say them, but he
does not feel them at all now. Long before he
was President of France, when he was arraigned
in a court of justice and was on his trial for his in-
vasion of France, he said in his defence, "I repre-
sent three things, a principle, a recollection, and a
sentiment. The principle is universal suffrage, the
recollection is the Empire, and the sentiment is re-
venge for the defeat at Waterloo." Those words
spread far and wide all over Europe, and no doubt
gave rise to that feeling that there was something
in his breast that would eventually issue in an at-
tack upon Europe, and that we ie ere the last of the
European powers that he intended to devour. I
cannot tell whether tkat really is in his mind now,
but I do know that he is a very sensible man, and
that therefore he cannot think it would be t his
interest to invade this country. The French armies
have seen that British soldiers, however ill-handled,
can fight when there is need. They saw that at
Inkerman ; and they have read how a small body
of English troops resisted the great body of the
Sepoy, mutineers in India, and gained many
victories in the same country besides those
of Luck-now and Cawnpore. With this know-
ledge of what British soldiers can do, even while
fighting under disadvantages, for the maintenance
of foreign dominion, they may calculate what the
same men would be likely to do when fighting for
their own homes. (Cheers.) From some slight
knowledge of a few eminent bankers and others
who were in a position to know about these things,
I don't believe that the manufacturing, the com-
mercial, the intellectual portion of the population of
France has the smallest feeling of aggression or
dislike against this country. I believe that feeling
to be confined to the more thorough peasant popu-
lation, who are in a state of extreme ignorance, and
to a few military men who require occupation.
That, I think, is the whole thing ; but although it
may be so the question still remains—Are we to be
unprotected or not ? (Hear.) We have got a very
valuable position. The French papers tell us,
"You are showing great cowardice and fear is arm-
ing in this way, when there is no real danger."
Other foreign nations say, " You had better arm,
because he is coming directly, and six months is the
outside we can give you.". Now, there is some truth
in all this ; for, as I said before, we have a valuable
position, and we should take he common precau-
tion of barring our doors, however strong our police
force may be, to protect and keep it as long as we
can. Beyond that interest there is the position
which this country occupies in the world. Although
not prepared, as the Emperor of the French was, to
go to war "for an idea," yet we wish well to strug-
gling nationalities, and I believe that the general
feeling of the country is favourable to Italian eman-
cipation from Austrian tyranny. That being so,
although we may not be prepared to go to war, un-
doubtedly we aro prepared to afford the whole
strength of our countenance and counsel in any
straits in which these struggling nationalities may-
be placed. (Applause.) These being our senti-
ments, we must have the means of carrying them
out. Our army cannot be disposable for that pur-
pose unless we have a strong power at home to take
their places in any emergency. Our weight on the
continent and among other nations will be doubled
and trebled by the knowledge that we have a power
with which to enforce our opinions if we will.
They know that we are a peaceful and commercial
country, but they know also that when ex-
cited we become a very pugnacious people ; and,
knowing that we have the means of fighting, depend
upon it they will avoid a quarrel with us. ha the
words of the old Latin proverb, "If you wish for
peace, prepare for war." It all turns upon that apho-
rism, that while we are prepared for war we are de-
termined to keep the peace, as well for ourselves as
for all foreign nations. I hope you will comp for-
ward and enrol yourselves, and last, though not least,
I hope you will be prepared to put your names down
for subscriptions to carry out this movement. I be.
lieve the cause to be one in which the most peace.
able men may fairly draw a sword or shoulder a rifle
It is only the feeling of security—l will not say pro.
tection—which makes home and all else valuable,
which makes property itself more secure, and pro.
motes the cause of commerce, intelligence, and edu-
cation all over the world. (Cheers.) 'Without that
security none of those things can prosper; with it,
everything will go as smoothly as a marriage bell.
I will now only allude to one little matter personal
to myself, and I hope you will consider ms mention-
ing it merely as arising from my wish to be useful.
I have a son in the army, who is pretty well up in
these things, and who has studied for several years
at the School of Musketry. If he can assist you, his
services will be entirely at the control of the Here-
ford Volunteer Corps, as far as military duties wil
allow him to devote his time to the purpose. (Cheers.
The hon. gentleman concluded by moving the nex
resolution.

A large subscription was made, and upwards o,
100 " effcctives" were enrolled.

RECOVERY OF TREASURE FROM THE ROYAL
CHARTER.—Two bars of gold, nine rupees, six shillings, and
1,585 sovereigns more have been recovered, besides 20 to 30
bales fiff wool, which are described "as all tangled like rope,
full of sand, and will require a great deal of labour to make
it saleable." Some of the bulwarks and deck planks have
come on shore.

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FEARFUL STE 431 BOILER EXPLOSION.

We are enabled to-day, from the statement of a
correspondent, to give fuller particulars of this sad
calamity at Middlewich, where on Wednesday
-there was a fearful explosion of the steam boiler
belonging to Mr. Samuel Heath, ironfounder. A
report was heard, resemhling that of cannon of
heavy calibre, nearly all over the town, shaking
the houses in the immediate neighbourhood as
though there had been an earthquake. It was soon
evMent from the report and the crowds attracted
that a dreadful caiamity had occurred. On arriving
at the place it appeared that the ironfoundry, a
building of three stories and shed, was completely
shattered to pieces. It was known that Mr. Heath
and two sons were under the ruins, and assistance
was quickly rendered by several brave young men,
et the risk of their lives, amid vapour, dust, and
heated metal. The eldest son, 'William, was first
taken out, having been heard to speak while under-
neath the debris. Though very seriously injured
he with some assistance managed to walk
home; but his body presented a series of frightful
wounds, and he now lies in a very precarious
state. His brother was next got out though
quite dead. His body seems to have
sustained injuries in every part. After some fur-
ther search the old man was extricated, just alive,
and not expected to survive. His eyes were swollen,
and his ears nearly blown off. Dr. Hughes was
quickly on the spot, and rendered every assistance
in his power, dressing the wounds, and seeing to
their comforts being attended to. It is impossible
to say from which of the causes the men received
greatest injury—the explosion or the fall of the
building. The boiler was of the egg or oval shape,
about 12 or 12 feet long, and 4 feet 3or 4 in. in
diameter, having a common old-fashioned safety
valve, but without a steam gauge or indicator. The
feed-pipe supp'ying the boiler with water was
worked by hand at intervals, which seems to have
been neglected. Sad to relate, it had been custo-
mary to weigh down the safety valve in order to
obtain greater pressure of steam. One end of the
boiler is blown clean away ; the remainder leaped
from its bed to a distance of eight or nine yards,
knocking down the wall of the Red Lion Inn brew-
house, and lodging within two inches of the outer
wall of the Red Lion Inn itself. The whole length
of the boiler now lies in the brewhouse, but divided
in 3 parts. One end is entire, three-fourths of the
length being completely burst open, and about three
feet in its natural form, though separated from the
other two portions. 'The plates when new had been
nearly half an inch in thickness, but many parts of
the plates seem worn down to 3-16ths of an inch
only, and were the least able to offer resistance.
The engine (a high pressure) which was from 6to
7-horse-power, and was situated in close proximity
to the boiler, now lies shattered, the cylinder and
half of the piston-rod lying alongside. The engine
was used principally for the purpose of driving a fan,
to give a blast to the furnace in which the ore was
heated. At the time of the accident the ore was
molten and ready for casting. The engine was,
therefore, at rest, and being tea time, the other
hands and assistants, from 8 to 12 in number, were
gone home ; leaving Mr. Heath and two sons to
watch the heated metal. Had the accident occurred
half an hour earlier or later, it is impossible to say
what might have been the loss of life, as often
many persons congregate to witness the casting
process. It will, no doubt, be asked at the inquest
when the boiler was last fed, but the common opi-
nion seems to be that the steam was generated too
quickly, and coming in contact with the heated
plates through a scarcity of water, an explosion in
nature similar to that of the Great Eastern took
place. The boiler was placed there 14 years ago,
and was then a second-hand one; and it is said to
have been condemned six years. Bricks were
blown by the explosion into the air, and descended
at a distance of from 45 to 50 yards. The foundry
stood in the Nantwich-road, about 14 or 15 yards
from the Northwich-road, and was situated next
to the Red Lion Inn. The inquest will probably
be opened to-day.—Manchester _Examiner.

TIIE BRITISH ARMY AND TILE PRESS

In desposic countries,, where the press is depen-
dent on the will of one man, or on the whims of an
irresponsible censorship, greater freedom is allowed
to military and naval men in their intercourse with
its organs than in our own, for the very obvious
reason that the expression of their opinions is there
subjected to official control. In Indis, where the
forms of Government closely resemble those of pure
monarchical States, officers of the highest rank make
large use of the press for the diffusion of their
views; and many of them, such as Mansfield and
Edwardes, gaincd reputation by their pens ere they
won it by the sword. During the last war the old
Muscovite world was astonished by seeing long
letters in the Invalide Busse from officers serving
in Sebastopol, mingled with official reports and
announcements; and at its close they were frightened
from, their propriety by the spectacle of two
officers of the highest rank, who had headed great
armies, in the field, leading their columns down
Almas of letter-press, till the contest, which raged
for some time by the permission of the Czar, was
terminated by his orders- Nor was Austria indif-
ferent to the uses of the press during her struggle
with Hungary, or in the ru:cnt war with France.
Appeals to the loyalty, traditional attachment, or
religious fervour of the various races subject to her
rule, were promulgated by official sanction—for
without it they could not have been issued at all—
in the -narrcsw sheets of Tyrolese, Illyrian, and
Croat journals. The representatives of the public
papers who followed the French army were deco-
rated by the Emperor, and if we admit that free
and constitutional Sardinia has by no means imitated
the liberality of her Imperial ally, we must attribute
the course she adopted to the supreme exigencies
of the State. . For us in England there is the one
great fact—freedom of the press, untrammelled by
the smallest ligament of official supervision: The
tame eagle is sure of being fed, but he were a sorry
bird who would exchange the noble flight and the
easy soar of outspread pinion for the cage and chain,
even though with them came the certain daily prey,
safety from the fowler's snares, and a refuge from
the tempest. We have thus to make the best of our
position—to accept the situation as it exists. It
would be treason to forfeit tho smallest particle of
the most absolute independence or to contract by a
hair's-breadth the freedom of thought and utterance
for the sake of enjoying—if that were possible—the
entire confidence of the author ities. But it is quite
compatible with the maintenance of these essentials
to evince every disposition to appreciate and allow
for the difficulties of official life and the necessities
of the public service. It may be safely affirmed
that the English press has hitherto not failed to ex-
Idea patriotism in its largest sense in dealing with
such subjects. The exceptions are few, and small
even when it appeared to men in office that they
were many and large. As we were once told by a
h;gh military authority in Austria, if it had not
been for the English press, all Germany, believing
the accounts in the French and Russian papers,
would have concluded that the English army was
late at the Alma, mad at Balaklava, asleep at
Inkormann, disgraced on the 18th of June, and
annihilated on the Bth of September. But the
English journals, which could not be suspected
of any official suppressions, were accepted as ac-
curate expositors of the facts, and throughout the
cognate Fatherland it was known that, amid great
disasters, the army and navy had displayed the
highest qualities of which British soldiers any sailors
are capable, and none are capable of higher—that
Alma was glorious for our arms-that lnkermann
was as grand as Thermopylae—that it was owing
to circumstances which in no degree affected the
character of our infantry, though they might be
damaging to the judgment of their chiefs, we were
not successful in the assaults on the place, which
were unsuccessful in every point except one—and
that,
whileat the endour
allyof t he war,
evinced w
hise were
sense
of failing " ready to go
on,"
powers by a patent anxiety for peace. It is strange
enough. that a nation which is the offspring of war
and conquest—the essence of fighting races—with
the blood of Viking, Norman, Saxon, and Celt—
and who knows what infusion of Roman ?—running
in its veins—should have always exhibited a cer-
tain amount of contempt for military sciences and
for pu7e soldiery. No people on earth are more mar-
tial ; but none know so little, or care less, about
the principles of war. We English have never in-
vented a system of fortification, though it cannot be
said we did not need castles even when our fleet
protected our shores. We have never organized a
military system, or even an order of-battle. All
improvements in implements of war, except Arm-
strong's gun, which has yet to be tested in actual
service, have come from abroad ; and such gland
discoveries and immense improvements as we have
made in the mechanical arts are, in a military sense,
apparently more advantageous to our neighbours
that, to ourselves. Our treatises on the science of
war are translations, mere fragmentary essays or
dry text-books and manuals. It seems as if, in our
undoubted power of figthing, we ,corned all ad.
juncts ; and, indeed, not a few even now maintain
that the introduction of Minerva to the British
Mars will terminate in the youth's entire ruin.
There is a large mass of the public which has yet
to find out that the British officer is more intelli-
gent, better educated, and more accomplished in
all manly arts and useful acquirements than
tluve-fburtlis of those whom they call the edu-
cated daises in civil life. As the officers of the
services 'advance in the estimation of their fellow-
countrymen, and feel that they are elevated from
the empty popularity of a passing enthusiasm for
some bloody victory, to the higher level of perwar