The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-20 00:00:00

TUT s tY.N, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING AuGusr 20, SS7,

I produce a tolerably good picture or piece of sculp-
ture, but he cannot rival those who are stimulated
to seek not merely fame. but competence by the
res angusta domi.
Now, the gentleman who has purchased
his commission, who can at any moment vote the
service a bore and declare his intention
of selling out may be regarded as an amateur,
c3rtainly not as a professional. He is merely
" playing at soldiers." He feels that he is re-
ceiving but little more than the interest of the
money he has invested—that his services are to a
great extent gratuitous—and, he therefore natur-
ally chafes at any extra trouble or annoyance to
which he may be subjected. Let the same man
know that he is bound to his profession by strin-
gent bonds, which cannot easily be severed, and
we venture to assert that in ninety-cases out of a
hundred he will become a more useful, and even
energetic officer, striving by every means withi❑
his power to qualify himself for the duties that
may devolve upon him.
The Royal Commissioners have suffered them-
selves to be influenced by petty obstacles. They
have not ventured to grapple with the existing
difficulties. They perceive the better course, but
they will not enter on "the straight and narrow
path." They maintain the purchase system up
to thdrank of field officer, nay, more, it is merely the
situation of lieutenant-colonel that is rescued from
the hands of Mammon and given to the worthiest
or, perhaps, we might say, the most influential
claims. Hitherto it has, with some few excep-
tions, been a prize only open to the fortunate
possessors of some eight or ten thousand pounds,
for be it remembered, it usually costs far more
than the regulation price. Henceforward it will
be a valuable piece of patronage in the hands
of the Commander-in-Chief, who may be inclined
to reward the most worthy applicants.

We, however, conceive that it would he better
to get rid of the money power in the earlier stages.
When men enter the army without any payment,
but merely from the possession of the qualifica-
tions, physical or intellectual—and due allowance
should be made in both directions—they will
strive to fit themselves for promotion. That
promotion should be partly by seniority
and partly by selection. We would not have a
dunce, without zeal or enthusiasm, maintain the
accidental lead which he had obtained over an
efficient officer. That is the case at present in
the Engineers, where twelve officers were recom-
mended for valuable services to obtain some extra-
ordinary promotion, and yet not one of these dis-
tinguished officers has been promoted over those
who remained at home in inglorious ease, while
they were toiling and risking their lives in the
Crimea. Nor would pure favour alone answer ;
but, if one out of three vacancies were given to
merit, a far better system would be introduced.
Those who entered the army in the manner
above suggested could claim no compensation
for any alteration. The purchase system would
thus gradually die out. It seems to us,
therefore, that the Royal Commissioners have
commenced at the wrong side, and that it would
be far better to allow the purchase of Lieutenant-
Colonelcies ; but to make the first and every
future step free to those who may desire to enter
the army on the new system, the nation paying
the value of the commission to those who may
purchase their promotion to a higher grade.

The House of Lords professes to be the con-
servator of Great Constitutional principles ; and
no one will deny that it has frequently in its his-
tory performed, and nobly performed, that office.
The Barons of England are so far mixed up with,
or rather shaded off into, the people of England,
that en great questions their own liberties are fre-
quently implicated with those of the citizens
generally. When they can be separated, as in
the case of the Jew's Emancipation, they are but
too ready, it must be confessed, to make a sadly
perverted appeal to " the principles of our
glorious Constitution." Under that guise they
have locked the door of the House of Commons
for another Session on Baron ROTHSCHILD.
They have now, however, an opportunity of stand-
ing by their boasted function in one of the most
important cases which, within our recollection,
has come before the English Legislature.
We refer, of course, to the license just granted
by the House of Commons to State Clergymen,
to set up private judgment against law, in regard
to the remarriage of divorced persons. It is true
Lord PALMERSTON has conceded but the minimum,
and some of the apologists for the clergy pointed
this out in the house. The great majority of those
who profess to have scruples about, or clear con-
victions against, marrying divorced persons, must
object to a remarriage of the innocent, as well as
of the guilty party. The indissolubility of mar-
riage is the sole basis of their conscientious ob-
jection—plainly, therefore, the innocent divorced
party is still in their view as much a husband or
a wife, as the case may be, as the guilty party.
In accepting Lord PALMERSTON'S compromise,
therefore, the Romanizers give up all principle
on their part. They consent to remarry those
whom they pronounce still married.
We have, however, little concern about the elas-
ticity or the firmness of their consciences. What does
concern us is, that some concession is made to them.
Lord PALMERSTON has consented, though under
the moss solemn protest from his Attorney-Gene-
ral, to allow the recalcitrants the option of re-
fusing to marry a person whose crime has been
the cause of the divorce. The law says they are
at liberty to• re-marry. The view of those who
frame this law is, that the guilty party had 'better,
for social reasons, re-marry, and marry his or her
companion in guilt; ; but the clergy are to be per-
mitted to frustrate this intention of the Legislature
—to be permitted to refuse marriage to those to
whom the statutes of the land explicitly allow it !
Bishops have just been called to account, and
justly so, for refusing, as servants of the State, to
consecrate burial-grounds declared fit for conse-
cration by the State authorities ; and now private
clergymen are to be allowed to plead private judg-
ment in bar of an Act of Parliament ! Surely
this is retrogression.

In our view, the admission of a single Jew to
Parliament shrinks into utter insignificance com-
pared with the admission of the clergy to supre-
macy over Parliament ; for this is what is really
in question. If the Lords pass this amendment,
they will indeed have "strained at a gnat and
swallowed a camel." They will have kept out a
Jew, but have admitted an out-and-out un-Eng-
lish principle. Tney will have refused the power-
less, but have surrendered to the most restless of
agitators, one of the keys of civil liberty. From
the times of the Reformation and the birth of the
ChurchChurchof England, under the not-to-be-trifled-
with
rule of the Eighth HARRY, the object of on-
lightened the
clergy in
Christendom has been to retain
.
to clergymen never allowed to
Complete subordination to
the Civil Power ;
and this is perhaps the
first concession, for generations, of a liberty
laymen. If it be
Y divorced persons,
why may not the Registrar
an abettor in
sinful, for instance, t 3 remarr
as well as the clergy-
plli-viiialemgeenot of being
igtself if it even
am
sainn
fu claiml
ae t . the
admits that it can enact a sinful lam No lea
ia,

lature whiila acknowledges a GOD at all, and ours
especially which even opens each sitting with
solemn prayer to Him, can allow that any of its
enactments are violations of Divine Law. No
such Legislature would deny for a moment that
all ought to obey GOD rather than man ; it must
assume, therefore, that nose of its enactments are 1
such as men ought to be allowed to disobey under
the pretext of serving GOD. It has been recom-
mended to hand over all the remarriages in ques-
tion to the Registrar ; which to us seems very
like treating the unfortunate Registrars as the
publicans and sinners of the community. They,
and the State through them, may bid the divorced
"go and sin as long as they live"—at least such
is the logic of the clerics.
We would point the attention of all our readers
to the admirable warnings of the Attorney-Gene-
ral. He evidently regards the concession, small
as it may seem, as the principle of infinite mis-
chief. An Establishment is a Church governed
by the law of the State, and therefore paid by
the State. Dissenting Churches, as churches,
are perfectly uncontrolled by the law, and there-
fore receive not a shilling from the State. No
statesman ought for a moment to grant liberty
from law to those who enjoy all their privileges
and emoluments by virtue of acts of Parliament.
We respect equally the Established and- the Dis-
senting clergyman where each keeps to his own
principle. We should resist the Dissenter who
would retain his ecclesiastical liberty, and yet
take State pay—and we equally resist the clergy-
man who wants to gain his liberty while he
pockets the benefit in honours or money, of
connection with the State. The law-controlled
Church of the State, and the Free Churches of
the Voluntaries have all their uses in the body
politic ; to confuse the clear line between them
will prove a fatal mistake. The clergyman
may now ask liberty to refuse a reli-
gious service on a hundred grounds. Scruples
will spring up as a plentiful harvest from
this small kernel. No seed is more prolific
than a scruple in a favourable soil. The admini-
stration of the sacraments, the burial service, the
Popish parts of the Liturgy, the Calvinistic and
anti-Romanistic parts of the Articles, almost every-
thing in the services and working of the Church
will become a matter of scruple to some one, aid
eventually the House of Commons will become as
theological as in the days of the Long Parliament.
Indeed, whether to their credit or oth3rwise we
will not say, but the elect of the Chinese dissolu-
tion have shown marvellous casuistical and theo-
logical,—we suppose we must not say Jesuitical—.
) skill in discussing divorce, bigamy, adultery, and
the kindred elevated topics. DENS himself could
hardly have surpassed GLADSTONE, either in sub-
tlety on ugly topics, or in pleading, in cases which
suited his purpose, for what he pronounced wick-
edness in the sight of heaven when it did not.

We call upon the House of Lords, then, to
preserve intact the principle of complete subjection
of the State clergy to the laws of the State ; not
to allow them the power of complete marriage
(which the Dissenter has not) without requiring
also that they use their power for all whom the
State permits to marry. The clause just conceded
we believe to be the -Rubicon of the Romanisers•
Let them once cross it and the road to Church
supremacy is open to them.

HER MAJESTY'S CRUISE.

SOUTHAMPTON,
WEDNESDAY ETENING.

The Royal Mail steamer Despatch, Capt. Babot,
arrived this evening from Jersey. She reports
having seen, at a quarter-past 7 this morning, the
Royal Yacht entering Alderney, with her Ma-
iewty, the Prince Consort, ctrc., on board, all well.
PARIS, WEDNESDAY.
Her Majesty -;)tieen Victoria and the Prince
Consort, accompanied by the elder royal children,
arrived in the royal yacht Victoria and Albert
before Cherbourg yesterday, and were saluted by a
salvo from the batteries of artillery.
In the prevision that her Majesty's excursion
might extend as far as Havre, orders were given to
have measures taken to salute her Majesty, and
two detachments of artillerymen were posted, one
on the Place de Provence, and the other on the
southern battery, where they remained the greater
part of the afternoon without their services being
called into requisition. Pilots were also directed to
proceed out into the roadstead, in case the royal
yacht might require any assistance.

LATEST NE WS.

THE INDIAN MAILS.

(By ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY MORNIN G.

The European and Australian Company's steam-
ship Jura, from Alexandria, with the Bombay
mails, has just arrived in the river with 40,0001.
in Australian gold.

FRANCE.
_ _ PARIS, WEDNESDAY.

Their Majesties and the Prince Imperial arrived
at Bayonne yesterday morning at half-past ten
o'clock, and wore received with the most enthusi_
astic acclamations. Although the Imperial party
had expressed a desire to travel incognito, several
triumphal arches had been erected in the town, and
an immense crowd vas assembled in the streets to
welcome their Majesties, who, after a short pause,
proceeded to Biarritz, where they arrived a little
before e!evon o'clock, in excellent health. A special
train had arrived some hours before at Bayonne
with six carriages and twenty horses for the service
of their Majesties.
Prince Jerome, yesterday, after visiting the
Public Garden at Havre, took an excursion a short
way out to sea, in a pleasure boat which had been
sent from Cherbourg to be at his Imperial High-
ness's orders. The Ariel, state steamer, is moored
in front of the Hotel Frascati, awaiting the Prince's
orders. _ _

Rear-Admiral Clavaud has been appointed to the
command of the French squadron in the Levant,
vice Rear-Admiral Count Bouet-Willaumez, whose
term of foreign service has expired ; Rear-Admiral
Viscount de Chabannes sumeeds Rar-Admiral La
Rocque de Chaufray as Commander-in-Cbief at
Brazil • Rear-Admiral Fourichon replaces Ad-
miral Vicomte de Chabannes as commandant of
the naval force at Algeria ; and Rear-Admiral
Aubry-Bailleul has been appointed Major-General
of the Marines at Toulon, in the room of Rear-
Admiral Clavaud.

By imperial decree, 267 military medals have
been conferred on non-commissioned officers and
privates who distinguished themselves during the
late expedition in Kabylia.
" Our correspondent at Mogador," says the
Semaphore of Marseilles, writing tinier date of the
4th, states that the Emperor of Morocco, after a
residence of four years at the capital of that name,
has left for Fez. His son, Sidi Mohammel, the
heir presumptive to the throne, who had bceu go-
vernor of Fez, replaces the Emperor at Morocco.
The prince, just before his journey, put down an
insurrection which had taken place among some
tribes." _ _ _

The following telegraphic despatches have been
received here :

MARSEILLES, Aug. 18.—Intelligence from Tunis of
the 13-1 announces that three days before a sanguinary
disturbance todk place against the Jews. Even the
Christians were menaced. Several persons were killed,
and the English consul was insulted. Milit‘ry measures
of repression were adopted, but not until after grave dis-
asters had taken place.
BERLIN, Aug. 18.—At a geßeral meeting o: the share-
holders of the Royal Bank, held to-day, it was proposed
to raise the rate of discount from 5 to 5. per cent., leav-
ing the rate of interest on advances as before at 6 per
cent.

BOURSE, Aug. 19.—The following were the last
quotas ions :

Cub. fr. c. End of Month.
li per Cents
3 per Ceuta 67 5 67
Bank Shares 2,790 Credit Fowler —
Credit Mobilier 965 ---- Rcrnan
Do. Account 960 Atetrian /
Belgian 4i ....... ..... 994 Spanish Threes -
Piedmontese (5) B9l— lime Debt

AMERICA.

(BY ELECTRIO TELEGRAPH.)

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY MORNING.

The Liverpool, Philadelphia, and New York
Steam Ship Company's screw steamer Kangaroo has
arrived from New York, with one day's later ad-
vices, 150 passengers, and $51,000 in specie.
The screw steam ship New York, of Glasgow, had
arrived at New York.

Advices from the Washington correspondent of
the .New York _Herald state that the New Grena-
dian difficulty has been virtually settled.

No difficulty was anticipated between Spain and.
Mexico. The Spanish Minister bad called and de-
livered to General Cass a draught on Havannah for
$35,000, with which to pay the interest on the
Spanish debt in New York.
The St. Louis Democrat reports that Governor
Walker was still encamped at Lawrence. His force
bad been increased.

The legislative apportionment gave 10 members
to 50 counties, and 42 members to 17 counties.
A collision had occurred on the St. Lawrence
between the steam boats Quebec and Montmorency ;
the latter was sunk, but no lives were lost.
The dissolution of the Tehuantepec Company had
been commenced at New Orleans.

The coast of New Brunswick had experienced a
disastrous gale, which caused great loss of life and
destruction among the fishing boats.
Two Americans and four democrats are said to
have been elected for Kentucky.
Alabama had elected a democrat.

The New York commercial advices report that
there was more activity in the money market, but
the demand was freely met, and there was no
difficulty ix finding any amount on call, on current
securities.
The Stock Market was inactive and more de-
pressed, and with no indications of improvement.
The rate of exchanges remained unaltered.
The Persia's advices had caused au advance in
cotton of Hc. per lb. Midland uplandi was quoted
15ac., and middling new Orleans at line. Flour
was firm, with a good eastern demand ; Indian corn
was also firm. Freights were moderate, and rates
unchanged.

LOUIS NAPOLEON AT CALCUTTA.

(From the Freeman )
Twenty-two years have elapsed since the press of
India was relieved from the incubus of a censor-
ship. It was the act of Lord Metcalfe, during his
short tenure of the office of Governor-General, and
was never pardoned by the Court of Directors, in
opposition to whose views it was done. It was,
however, a concession worthy of that upright
statesmen, and a graceful inauguration of the new
policy forced on the East India Company by the
Charter Act of 1833. Previous to that year a
native political paper did not exist. Several sprang
immediately into existence, for a short time flou-
rished, and then vanished away. At the present
time, the entire native political prers of Bengal
comprises two daily papers with a circulation
of 1,200 copies ; two issued twice, and two
thrice a week, each issue consisting of 500 copies ;
and four weekly papers, with a circulation only of
330 copies. Ten thousand copies a-week will
cover the entire circulation of these native papers,
among the 35,000,000 of inhabitants of Bengal.
Unfortunately, as a means of political instruction,
the native press is worthless. It is violent, lying,
filthy, and treasonable. It misrepresents every
act of the general government, and is bitterly anti-
English. It has, in every way, pandered to the
worst, passions of the multitude, excited to rebel-
lion, and done its best to render good government
impossible. At an early stsge of the , present
mutiny, the general commanding at Barrackpore
informed Lord Canning that to repress the revolt
.was impossible while these papers were permitted
to be read in the ranks of the army. The editor of
one of the daily papers is said to have been the
first person to join the mutineers at Delhi, and to
have assisted in the elevation of the Great Mogul
to the ancient throne of Hindostan.
Under such circumstances it is not to be much
wondered at that Lord Canning should seek to put a
check on the native press. Events have shown that
its power is not to be despised. The Governor in
Council bag, therefore, reverted to the machinery of
license and kiionition. An act was in rine day passed
through the Legislative Council, conferring despotic
powers on the Governor-General, and the press of
India lies at his feet.
To a considerable extent the character of the na-
tive press justifies this proceeding. But the case is
totally different with the English press. Throughout
the revolt it has been unmistakeably loyal. It has
given the most strenuous aid to Government. Yet
it also has been laid under ban. It would have
been a graceful acknowledgment of the service
the English press has rendered to have exempted
it from the operation of the act. Its exemption
would have emphatically expressed to the native
mind the resolution of Government to repress a
mischievous spirit wherever it exists. The effect
has been what any one might have anticipated.
The unofficial English residents in India are irri-
tated. Distrust everywhere prevails. Gagging
the press is truly regarded as a sign of weakness.
The candour and approbation which Lord Can-
ning's acts have hitherto met with are exchanged
for dissatisfaction and smothered discontent, only
the more dangerous from the absence of its na-
tural means of expression.
The first exercise of the power vested in Lord
Canning by the Act of the Legislative Council by
no means tends to allay the excitement. The Friend
of Indict has been warned, the only Inclian paper
-which deals worthily with the great subject of
Indian Government. This is the more surprising,
inasmuch as the Friend of Indict has ever been the
defender of the Government, and, at the commence-
ment of the mutiny, received the distinct approval
of Lord Canning himself for the ability with which
it sustained the measures he saw fit to adopt. But
now, in a few brief weeks, this advocate of
English supremacy in the E tat, and of the vigo-
rous steps taken by the authorities, is, declared in
the' judgment of the Governor-General in Council
to utter sentiments " fraught with mischief, and
calculated, at the present time, to spread disaffec-
tion towards the British Government, both among
its native subjects, and among dependent and allied
states." Strangely enough, this charge is founded
on an article on the centenary of the battle of
Plassey. It is a spirited defence of the extension
and benefits of English rule in India. It vindicates
the policy of elevating the native population,
though it be effected at the cost of deposing in-
capable kings, and even the ruin of India's aristo-
cracy. "Had princes and rajah's in Hindostan been
worth censuring," says the writer, "they would have
retained their titles and power. The class speedily
dies out in the natural course of mortality, and it
is not for the benefit of society that it should not
be renewed." If, however, the families of kings
and princes lose the means and power of indulging
in vices and crimes disgraceful to humanity, the
middle classes gain security, and commerce enriches
every grade of society. Surely the most rigid cen-
sor cannot discover aught to reprove in the hope
expressed in the closing sentence of the essay, that
" the second centenary of Plassey may be cele-
brated in Bengal by a respected government and
a Christian population." Yet these are the senti-
ments which Lord Canning condemns, and which
are said to be fraught with danger to the stability
of our empire in the East !
Ihe freedom of the press in India is a ques'ion
of the greatest moment in England. It is our con-
cern more even than the concern of our friends
resident iu that country. To a certain extent, the
Government of India must be despotic in its cha-
racter, or at least exempt from many of those con-
stitutional checks familiar to the inhabitants of the
British isles. So much the greater reason is there
for the vigilant eye of the " able editor." Officialism
is never very scrupulous as to the truth of its repre-
sentations ; and the officialism of the Honourable
Company's servants is not free from this reproach.
It is only by the newspaper press that the people
of England can learn the true condition of its
Eastern empire, and never was its freedom snore
necessary than in such a time as this,
when every effort will be made to relieve
the Government of the blame of the fearful
revolt, the atroci•ies of which make every man's
blood congeal with horror, and to mislead the pub-
lic mind as to its true cause. It is with infinite
regret that we find the son of Canning, the liberator
of oppressed peoples, foremost in this work. The
fetters are, indeed, imposed for a year only ; but
his lordship's speech, in proposing the measure,
not obscurely hints that, when the time for its re-
consideration shall have come, the freedom hitherto
enjoyed will need some limitation. Let the people
of England look to it, that it does not lose this great
safeguard to the liberties of both Europeans and
natives resident its India, this powerful check on
the vagaries of irrespon-ible power.

ATTEMPT TO MURDER A POLICE-

CONSTABLE.

Yesterday afternoon great excitement was created in
the immediate neighbourhood of Drury-lane, in coase-
quenco of an attempt having been made by an aban-
doned woman to murder a police-officer, while iu the
execution of his slaty, by sttbbindhim. From the par-
ticulars obtained it appears that a boy had been given
into the custody of Police-constable Gymer, No. 54, of
the F division, for 1301130 offence, and when he had suc-
ceeded in getting the boy near Endell-street, a woman
named Sullivan, who has 'frequently been in custody
for assaulting the police, came up to the officer and
en&avoured to rescue the prisoner. The oonsiable
finding that remonstrance with the woman was useless,
and that she was cplb-c4ing a crowd around him, made
an att,empt to take her into custody, and as ho was so
trying the infuriated woman turned upon him and
drew a sharp-pointed knife from some part of her dress,
and plunged the weapon into his face and body. Blood
in copious stre,:ms flowed from each wound, and the
injured officer was placed in a cab and forthwith re
moved to Charing Cross Hospital, where he at present
remains in a very precarious condition.

EXAMINATION OF THE PRISONER AT
BOW-STREET.

This morning the praana.r was placed at the bar before
Mr. Hall when she said her name was Ann Donavan,
and that she rosided in Neal's-passage, Seven Dials.
She appeared to be about 20 years of age and to belong
to the low class of persons who abound in St. Giles's.
William Saunders, living in Mercer-strdet, Long
Acre, said, about half-past three o'clock yesterday after-
noon, I saw a policeman running after a boy in
Endoll-street, whom he caught and took into the
workhouse. The prisoner was close to the work•
house door when the policeman passed in, and
after the door closed she sat down on the steps and
waited until he left the house. She followed him into
Short's-gardens, and I there saw her attack the constable
with a knife (a common pocket knife), and shortly after-
wards I saw blood flowing from his head and face. She
stabbed him once in the cheek, and three times in other
parts of his body. Assistance arrived and the prisoner
was secured.
William Backfield, 16, Ossulstone street, Somers
Town, said about ten minutes past 3 yesterday afternoon
I was at tie corner of Short's-gardens, when I saw the
prisoner struggling with a policeman. I saw her s
raisel
her hand and strike tie constable in the face with
sharp instrument. I ran across the road andseined her
hand, and found the knife proauced firmly clenched in
it. tried to take the knife from her, but shortly after-
wards she threw it to the /ground. She threatened to
serve me the same as she had don° the constrable.
Police-constable 95—1 WS the prisone struggling
prisoner and conveyed her to the station-
house. The wounded policeman was taken to
istauce of the office
in her hand. I went to the ass
with the coastabls and I also saw that she hada knife
I".
I
-
secured the
where he at present remains in a very
King'sCillego Hospital,
you seen the wounded man this
dangerous
eroliusaisitateiave
sir. He is in a very bad state, and
morning I
I shall remand the prisoner for a week.
•the place for some time.
albrsleeio leave
miNilirnri to. ntieibsaes
1-1
The prisoner, who appeared to treat the matter with
was then locked up.
the greatest indifference,

RAILWAY DIEETINGS—(This Day.)

NEWPORT, ABERGAVENNY, AND
HEREFORD.

The ordinary meeting of this company has just been
held—the Hon. Capt. Fitzmaurice in the chair. The
report stated that the line would be opened to the june•
Lion with the Taff Vale Railway by the end of October
Duct. Tie net revenue of the half-year was 12,208.
and after deducting 2,2921. for the late Nontyderry
accident, left 8,9161. 2s. 6d., to be transferred to the
revenue account, which, added to the last talance,
would make 16,4601. 103. 10d. The balance remaining
after the payment of interest on debentures, &c., and
5 per cent. shares, would leave 3,855/. 16s. 53. for the
next account. The report, after some discussion, was
adopted.