The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-21 00:00:00

people of the cathedral city ; so " that much money
is expended in Rochester by Chatham people
seeking justice there." It is curious, too, that Sheer-
ness, a military and naval station, if not more im•

portant than Chatham and Brompton, yet more
patent to the enemy, is in like predicament. It
has neither "mayor nor magistrate," and (but this
is a formal matter) appears to have no " proper
authority through whom the Lord-Lieutenant can
address the town."
Something of this last is the case at Chatham,
and, indeed, originated the discussion in the
Chatham News. The highest authority there
is the high constable, elected by the court
leet ; and at a late meeting convened by him
to consider the formation of a rifle corps, his power
seems to have been denied by malcontents, and his
authority set at nought. The local excitement on
this account seems to be considerable, though the
precise points at issue are not very clear in the
abridged narrative. The office is very ancient,
and has certain definite functions, of which we
should think the power of calling a meeting and
presiding over it was one. Probably the gist of
the opposition was to the object of the meeting, and
the most personal mode was adopted as a stroke of
local policy. However, beyond all doubt, there
are many necessary things that a high constable
cannot do, and the shrewd editor of the Chatham
News is quite right when he advises the Chatham
people to get incorporated like Westminster, whose
chief, till lately, was only "high constable."
Now it is precisely such cases as these that re-
quire a local organ; for without one these evils
might go on for ever, as they have gone on so long.
They are, in fact, often the result of time and growth,
in which really " nobody has been to blame." The
manor, its lord, its court leet, and its " high con-
stable" were at one time efficient institutions and
persons, and quite enough for Chatham, which,
soothe to say, is a parvenu among places. Rochester
is very ancient in its dignity. It is the oldest
Bishopric in England—having been founded im-
mediatly after the Archbishoprics of Canterbury
and York by St. AUGUSTINE himself. Its first
cathedral was ruinous in the early days of the
Conquest, having been built by St. ETHELBERT,
King of KENT, in 560, and rebuilt by GUNDOLPH
in 1080, some of whose work remains. In those
days, and for centuries afterwards, the dockyards
and barracks of Chatham and Brompton were not,
and could not have been. Now they have grown
up they are quite right to pant for adult institu-
tions ; but we gather there is yet a lion in the
path in the form of expense. Chatham, it seems, is
close-fisted.
Another evil which the editor brings forward in
his second number—the paper is but three weeks
old !—may be more palpable to Chatham from its
being a military station, but it concerns us all. It
is, in fact, a national disgrace. This great country,
with its sixty-five millions of income, and its ex-
penditure of some twenty-five millions on war-
like matters alone, cannot, it seems, support a few
lunatic soldiers, whose minds have given way in
its service. When an invalided lunatic soldier is
pronounced incurable, the military authorities,
acting under the advice of the law officers of the
Crown, send the wretched creature adrift at a place
notified to the police or the parish.
To talk of national ingratitude in such a case as
this is beside the point. Such conduct is at once
criminal and brutal. An American slave State
would not permit it—nay, would punish it. What-
ever else the slave States may do, they do not per-
mit a slaveholder to exhaust a slave to decrepitude,
and then cast him on the world to fare as he may.
Yet this is what is done by the military autho-
rities of England, acting by the advice of the
QUEEN'S legal officers ; at least so says the Editor
of the Chatham News. Here are chapter and