The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The Jamaica Committee have resolved
on a proceeding so injudicious that it has elicited a
protest froni Mr. C. Buxton, who retires from the
chairmanship. The majority of these gentlemen, not
content with the results of the Commission, are ent
on bringing Mr. Eyre to justice for the " murder'r?
of Mr. Gordon—if possible through the agency of
Government ; if not, by means of a private prosecu-
tion.. They allege that in no other way can the ille-
gality of the trial and sentence be effectually
published for the warning of future Governors and
military officers, while they tacitly rely on the
Royal prerogative of mercy to rescue Mr. Eyre, in
the last resort, from a punishment which, as they
well know public sentiment would never suffer to
be executed. Mr. Buxton differs from his colleagues

upon the propriety of this course, and in a later
which appears in our impression of to-day adduces
reasons of very unequal weight in support of his
own view. It is a pity that Mr. Buxton should
have weakened the force of his argument by an in-
temperate preamble, which he evidently meant to
strengthen it. His object appears to be to show
that while he cannot accept the practical conclusion
of the Committee, he will be outdone by no other
member of it in vehemence of denunciation. Thus

he not only charges Mr. Eyre with " shameful mis-
conduct towards the people committed to his care,"

and participation "in the awful guilt of consigning
an innocent man to the gallows," but imputes to the
Commissioners " a manifest anxiety to exculpate the
authorities." In spite of their recorded opinion that

in the great-majority of instances the Capital sen-
tences pronounced by courts martial were justified by
the evidence, he describes them as " simply acts of
vengeance inflicted almost indiscriminately on the
negro population, with scarcely a pretence of
distinguishing the innocent from the guilty,"
and declares that " hundreds of innocent men

were put to death in cold blood." We cannot
but regret that Mr. Buxton, in • his anxiety
to propitiate the Jamaica Commission before
offering them unpalatable but sound advice, should
have so far indulged that tone of exaggeration which

cannot fail to damage the best cause:- He deserves
credit, however, for exercising an independent

judgment on the question of prosecuting M. Eyre,
and the rejection of his counsels by the Jamaica
Committee betrays the influence of what too nearly
resembles a vindictive spirit. We may at once dis-
miss from view the proposal that Government should
direct an indictment for murder to be preferred
against Mr. Eyre. No Government would take the
responsibility of such an act, except upon much
stronger representations of his moral and legal
criminality than are contained in or can be founded
on the Commissioners' Report. On the other hand,
we may waive, for the sake of argument, all doubts
as to the effect of the Act of Indemnity, and any

other preliminary objections which may be raised to
the arraignment of Mr. Eyre in this country. Let
us assume that, upon the Government declining to
institute a prosecution, Mrs. Gordon is advised that
no technical obstacle can bar her right to do so.
Let us eliminate, in short, all other considerations
but those of justice and policy, and endeavour to
form an impartial judgment by the light of these
principles alone. Now, the offence of which Mr.
Eyre stands accused is virtually this—that, with-
out an overwhelming public necessity, he caused
Gordon to be arrested beyond the limits of the
proclaimed district, ordered him to be tried by
martial law instead of reserving him for the juris-
diction of a civil tribunal, and confirmed a sentence
upon him which the evidence did not warrant. No
one can deny that had Gordon been seen per-
sonally urging on a mob to riot and massacre he
might lawfully have been shot down, if neces-
sary, ou the spot. No one can deny that if duly
charged with instigating, though indirectly, the
outbreak at Morant Bay, and if duly arrested any
where within the county of Surrey except King-
ston, he would properly have been sent to Morant
Bay for trial. No one can deny that, if convicted
on sufficient grounds, under these circumstances he
might have been lawfully executed without refer-
ence to the Governor, and that, if satisfied of his
guilt, the Governor was right in confirming the de-
cision of the court-martial. But Gordon was not
captured in fragrance delicto or in a place subject to
martial law. Even if it was unsafe to keep him in
eustody at Kingston, he might have been detained
on board the Wolverene ; and even if he was fairly
tried at Morant Bay, and not cut off from the
means of making his defence, the evidence against
him was very far from conclusive, and his imme-
diate execution ought not to have been approved
by the Governor, at least without consultation with
the Attorney-General. We may go further, and
say without reserve, that if a malicious intent could
be brought home to Governor Eyre ; if his belief

that Gordon was at the bottom of treasonable and
murderous conspiracy had been simulated, instead
of being shared by almost the whole white popula-
lation of Kingston ; if it could be shown that he
eagerly availed himself of a worthless pretext to get
rid of a troublesome opponent,—then he would de-
serve no indulgence at the hands of his accusers.
This, however, is exactly what no one ventures to
maintain or even to suggest. "It is clear," as the
Commissioners state, " that the conduct of Gordon
had been such as to convince both friends and ene-
mies of his being a party to the rising," although
their own conclusion is " decisive as to the non-
existence of a wide-spread conspiracy," and there-
fore as to the non-complicity of Gordon. Mr. Eyre's
error consisted in yielding to the universal panic,
and acting asif the public safety could not berestored
as long as Gordon lived. It was a most serious
error in one invested with supreme authority, and
has justly been visited by the deprivation of that
authority ; but it was consistent with pure motives
and with a high though mistaken sense of duty.
In other words, it wanted the essential elements
of a moral crime, and assuredly cannot be brought
within the legal definition of the worst crime known
to the law. It is one thing to speak of Gordon's
execution as a judicial murder ; it is another to give
that name to Mr. Eyre's part in it. The former
expression denotes a conviction that Gordon was
wrongfully put to death ; the latter implies that Mr.
Eyre wilfully compassed his death with malice
aforethought. Mr. Buxton wisely reminds the Ja-
maica Committee that no less definite issue than
this would be raised on an indictment for murder
in the improbable event of its not being ignored by
the grand jury. Even were Mr. Eyre convicted Mr.
Buxton anticipates that he would receive a free par-
don from the Crown, and that, in either case, his
discharge would be hailed as a triumph by " his
partisans," while " he would be regarded by public
opinion as a martyr." Mr. Buxton further argues
that, by making a scapegoat of Mr. Eyre, the Com-
mittee would virtually condone all the other atroci-
ties committed by naval, military, and civil autho-
rities. He thinks it would be far better to rest
satisfied with the censure already passed on Mr.
Eyre, and to bring Parliamentary pressure to bear
for the purpose of getting these offenders punished,
as well as of obtaining compensation for the suf-
ferers. There is some truth in these remarks, but
it is not the whole truth, nor can we accept Mr.
Buxton's treatment of the case as altogether dispas-
sionate. The point of view he selects is not high
enough, and the objections he entertains to proceed-
ing against Mr. Eyre are not the strongest which
may be urged. When he endeavours to dissuade
the Committee from undoing the good effect of the
lesson already administered to Colonial Governors
by prosecuting Mr. Eyre, he points only to the cer-
tainty of his being " acquitted or pardoned amid the
plaudits of the British people." This is somewhat
low ground, for it seems to follow, whatever Mr.
Buxton may himself mean, that if a conviction were
probable, or likely to be popular, no scruple need be
felt. Now, weventure to believe that a prosecution,
whether successful or unsuccessful, popular or unpopu-
lar, would go far to defeat the main objects which phi-
lanthropists should have at heart. A great oppor-
tunity will have been lost if a sentiment of honest
indignation at the grievous abuse of authority by a
large number of persons, both civil and military,
from the Governor downwards, under cover of
martial law, should degenerate or be perverted into
a clamour for vengeance on individuals.
HERALD.—The fact that Lord Derby had not
completed all the arrangements for the formation of
the new Government within four-and-twenty hours
of his first audience of her Majesty is hailed by the
organs of the Russell-Gladstone Administration as
conclusive evidence that the noble earl will not be
able to form a Government at all. We do not wish
to dispel a pleasing delusion, which, together with
the grand demonstration of roughs before Mr.
Gladstone's house, may comfort our contemporaries
for the fall of their patrons ; but we may say very
frankly that we are quite as well pleased as they
can be that the Ministerial arrangements have not
been settled in a rash and inconsiderate manner.
The formation of a new Ministry is, as we have ob
served before, a work of considerable difficulty, and
of the greatest importance ; and in proportion to
the care taken in the composition of a Government
will be its chances of an honourable, useful, and
protracted career. Entering, as the Conservatives
do, upon office with a minority upon general ques-
tions, although with a majority upon the most
weighty of all questions, it is of the utmost im-
portance that the different offices in the new
Cabinet should be filled by men whose ability and
character assure the energetic and successful dis-
charge of the functions devolving upon them, and
consequently command general esteem and confi-
dence. We allow frankly that the new Government
will need to present an array of greater ability than the
late one. They have to enforce a support which was
given to the mediocrities which mainly composed Loyd
Russell's Government out of mere force of habit.
They will have to assure the support of those

Liberals who separated from their party on the Re-
form question, and so produced the present crisis.
They wilrhavd to face" a powerful opposition which
has the command of the numerically greater portion
of the press of the country ; they will have, in fact,
to win the confidence of a number of people pre-

judiced against them. There are,,for instance, ?our
offices which it is of the utmost importance should
be filled at the present moment by men not merely

of credit with their party or of high ability, but en--
dowed'with great energy and animated by a spirit
of devotion to all work they undertake. We may
name these offices now without incurring the risk of

injuring the feelings of any aspirant for office, in-
asmuch as nothing yet being determined our obser-
vations cannot be interpreted into personal reflec-
tions which are not meant. At the present moment
the Foreign Secretaryship is perhaps the most im-
portant position in the Government. England is
fortunately at peace, and, for all the difficulties that
must arise, will, we hope, continue, in the progress
of the present war, so. But England is not only
interested in keeping at peace herself ; she has a
great concern in the restoration of peace to Europe.
Again, the difficulties which have arisen between
this country and the United States, and other
awkward and unsettled questions in different parts
of the world, which press for a solution, render it
of the utmost consequence that the seals of the
Foreign Office should be placed in the hands of a
Minister not only able and industrious, but com-
manding by his reputation a general belief in the
fitness and justice of the policy he may pursue.
Then, at this juncture, Ireland needs rulers who
combine energy and conciliation, men who, whilst
taking care to maintain the law, to preserve order,
and to repress with severity all seditious proceed-
ings, will yet give to all grievances, let them be real
or imaginary, a careful and candid hearing ; men
who will know-how, whilst they inspire a general
feeling of confidence in their determination to
protect the peaceful and orderly inhabitants in
the enjoyment of their liberty and their inde-
pendence, to be accessible to the complaints of all
parties, and will make it their object, second only
to the paramount one of upholding the law, to pro-
pose all those reforms on the existing legislation,
which may promise to remove any actual injustice
suffered by a section or class, and promote the gene-
ral welfare of the country by developing its resources
and encouraging the industry and enterprise of its
people. The condition of our Indian empire, in the
third place, renders the greatest care necessary in
the selection of the new Indian Secretary. Sir
Charles Wood had great talents and much know-
ledge, but Sir Charles had a habit of disregarding
the opinions of persons most conversant with that
particular subject that has accumulated a number
of very awkward difficulties which in the feeble
hands of Earl De Grey have made no advance to a
solution. The public does not hear very much of
India now. It is not the theatre of war or insurrec-

tions upon any large scale, and the famine and pes
tilence which now desolate so large a portion of the
country hardly excite attention except from those
who have some connection with it. But at no time
perhaps since the change of Government took place
does India more need an able and courageous Mini-
ster than she now does. Finally, there is a depart-
ment of the Ministry of recent establishment which
is now assuming the utmost social, if not political,
importance. The powers of the Poor-law Board are
no doubt limited. The guardians of some parishes
can set it at defiance upon nearly every point, and
the guardians of all parishes upon some few but
important points. But Al the President of the
Poor-law Board has great power for good, if he
chooses to exert it, and if he will only exert what
power he has well Parliament is ready enough to
give him what further power he may need. The re-
cent revelations as to the condition of the sick wards
of our workhouses and as to the character and
amount of out-door relief afford evidence that re-
forms of a very sweeping character are required. We
are not inclined to question Mr. Villiers's ability,
but it has been devoted to a very different subject.
He has been eager about assessments, and left the
sick to rot iu the sick wards of workhouses until
some energetic action was absolutely forced on him.
He was, no doubt, as most of the public, ignorant
of the horrors perpetrated at their very doors, and
we have no idea of attacking him for an ignorance
so excusable. But the veil of ignorance has now
been torn away, and public opinion insists upon a
thorough reform of our whole system for the relief
of the poor. That question is now upon the order
of the day, and, reform being removed, is likely to
take the very front place on it. Under the circum-
stances it is imperative that the new President of
the Poor-law Board should be a man not only gene-
rally acquainted with the poor-law machinery and
animated by good intentions, but possessing the firm
will to propose and carry out against the whole
weight of interested opposition which would be
brought to bear upon him the amendments of the
law which humanity and justice alike demand.
Lord Derby could very easily put his hand upon a
good man for each of these posts, as well as for the
other offices in the new Government. But he wants
to put his hand upon the best man, and it is not so
easy as people who know nothing of the matter sup-
pose to apportion the different offices of a Govern-
ment in such a way as to utilise to the utmost for
the public service the talent and the energy at the
disposal of the leader of a party. It is easy enough
to put the round men into the square holes, and the
square men into the round holes, but to fit the
round men to the round and the square men to the
square holes is a matter of much more labour. The
labour, however, is rewarded in the composition of a
Government which commands instead of appealing
to public confidence, and our Liberal contempo-
raries have really some good reason for their com-
plaints of what they call Lord Derby's delay, in the
fact that the time taken to form the Government
adds months, if not years, to its tenure of office.
THE " ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES."—The great
anniversary of the Independence of the United
States which Americans love to honour
will have passed before our next issue appears,
and will have passed without any public observ-
ance on the part of Americans in London. It is a
mistake to suppose that the people of England look
with disfavour on rejoicings which represent the
triumph of Freedom over Despotism. Nor indeed
was the war gained by a foreign foe. The results
turned our colonies into an independent nation,
and the Americans from that day became a
foreign people ; but America was more English in
every essential point during the War of Indepen-
dence than she is now. Indeed we believe she was
more English than the army who failed in subduing
her, composed so largely as they were of German
mercenaries and of Indian savages. There can,
however, be no question of the fact that in the
War of Independence our colonies fought for.free-
dom, and our stupid KING, and his still more stupid
Ministers, fought for despotism. The former were
the champions of all we hold most dear ; the latter,
the type of degradation and slavery. The success
of the KING would have ruined freedom in England
—the success of the colonies emancipated themselves
and struck the last great blow required for the
freedom of England. Those Englishmen who un-
derstand this anniversary aright are little disposed
to cavil at the rejoicing of the American people, for
in their minds its represents the triumph of right.
It was in reality no triumph over the Old Country
—it was the triumph of freedom over despotism,
and we think it a great pity that both in this
country and in the United States the fact should
not be more generally recognised, and both nations
taught to triumph together over so great a deliver-
ance. We cannot hope, however, for such a consum-
mation, so long as the American Press alludes to
England as the hereditary enemy of their country ;
as if the acts of a senseless clique were for all time
to be made a charge against the heart of this great
nation. There can be nothing offensive to the English
people in the celebration of an event by which they
only profited in a lesser degree than the American
people themselves. It is vain for us to speculate on
what might have been the case had our rulers been
sane men, and the colonies governed with moderation
and justice. Whether we might have grown together
into an overwhelming power, or split up still more dis-
astrously, it is bootless to conjecture; but the historic
facts stand on record that the blow was struck
against a cruel and a foolish despotism, and that
blow can only have the hearty sympathy of all
right-thinking men.

From the military correspondent of the Times we
glean the following remarks :—" Gorlitz, June 21.—The
Prussians have not been careless witnesses of the groat
struggle in America. The organisation of their army shows
that its administrators have eagerly .noted all the
results of modern science and advanced civilisation which
the contest between the Vederals and Confederates called
into the service of war. Orders and reports are no longer
conveyed tardily by aides-do-camp or orderlies ; they am
flashed from corps to corps along the wires of the tele-
graph, for to each head-quarters a field telegraph division
is attached, which as soon as head-quarters are established
connects the temporary bureau of the chief of the staff
with the nearest permanent telegraph station."
The oldest house in the United States now stand-
ing as originally built is the Rev. Dr. Whitfield's, at Guil-
ford, Connecticut. It was built in 1639, and the stone
walls and oak work remain in good condition.
On the surrender of Lee the American Govern-
ment came into possession of 30,000 muskets of British
manufacture. These were sold to a speculator, and hava
recently been purchased by the Canadian authorities at
double their original cost.
The United States Treasury Department has
been informed by an official at Frankfort-on-the-Maine
that the number of American five-twenty bonds which the
disturbances on the Continent will return on its hands will
amount to $75,000,000 worth.

The American War has shown the value of
Volunteer troops. In 1860, except a small and by
no means well-trained regular army, the whole force
of the Union consisted of a militia, which might
not unfitly be compared to our Volunteer organisa-
tion, except that they were not so well drilled,
armed, and clothed. From this material sprang
those disciplined armies which penetrated the
Southern States at all points, and fought those
fierce and bloody battles which will make the Civil
War of the Union rank among the greatest fought
by mankind. The army with which Grant captured
Richmond, or that with which Sherman marched
through the Southern States, were among the most
efficient instruments by which a conqueror ever de-
solated and subdued a nation. No doubt it re-
quired years of desperate service in the field to bring
these troops to that high state of perfection to
which they attained. Yet the desperate defence
of the Southern States by their Volunteer bands,
and the still more determined and persistent attacks
by the Volunteer bands organised by the North,
equally prove how soon a brave, clever, and ener-
getic people, with little or 'no previous training,
may be formed into efficient armies.
On Saturday last we had a great gathering in

Hyde Park of the citizens of .London and its neigh-
bourhood in arms. Some 15,000 men were there
paraded in Brigades of all aims, and inspected by
H. R. H. the Commander-in-Chief. To the un-
initiated eye no signs could be detected to distin-
guish this little army from a regular field force.
The thin line was not red—but green of all shades,
grey, and dun. The battalions in continuous
columns confronting H. R. H. at the saluting point
were really for immediate action almost equal to the
regular "army. But the first operations of a Volun-
teer force are generally disastrous, for there is some-
thing more than arms, clothes, and drill required
for active service in the field. It will be remembered,
after the disastrous action at Bull Run a large
portion of the Northern Volunteer army broke up
and returned home. Many came then really to
appreciate what active service in the field meant,
and did not like it—and so it would be with us.

Hundreds among the young fellows who marched
past so jauntily on Saturday last would assume a
very different air after lying for a night in a wet
ditch, and the shop and the desk would be remem-
bered with regret when Brown's brains were dashed
into the face of Smith. Campaigns such as arcs
now progressing in Italy: and Germany make
pleasant reading, but very unpleasant pastime ; and
the strong leaning of the war-worn Volunteer is
towards home.
A Volunteer army, without a powerful check,
would melt away like snow in a summer's sun before
the real dangers and privations of a- campaign.
That check is simply this. When a Volunteer force
takes the field the Mutiny Act should at once be
extended to them, and thenceforth they become
soldiers in fact, as well as in name. The gay
Volunteer should understand this—that a terrible
reality lies concealed under the pageantry of such
shows as that of Saturday. To march papt in grand
division, with a RoyalDukeatthe saluting point, and
all the rank, beauty, and fashion of England for
spectators, may form a pleasing excitement, in spite
of the heat of the weather, the weary waiting, and
the bore of carrying a rifle in a dense throng ; but
the Volunteers should look beyond this. It matters
little whether the green of his uniform is of a light
shade or dark—but what does matter is, whether
he is prepared, if the emergency arises, to march
through heat, cold, and dirt, to lie uncovered on
the ground, through disappointments, disasters, in
sickness and wounds, with hard labour, in hunger
and thirst, to fight it out to the end. If the Volun-
teers as a body are prepared for this, and will
cheerfully submit to a trial which strains the en-
durance of all men to the uttermost, then England
is possessed of a force far more valuable than her
regular army—but if not, there is little value in our
Volunteer Review.—Anglo-Anierican Times.