The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times eulogises the First Lord of the Admiralty. In
Mr. Corry the navy has an excellent spokesman. He
understands naval matters in the same sense that ad-
mirals and post captains understands them ; he has the
traditions of office, if not of service ; he can command the
attention of the House of Commons, and he speaks with
the firm conviction that the first duty of us all is to uphold
the British navy. So far the service ought to be satisfied
with its chief and the Government with its representative.
When we read the speech in which the First Lord intro-
duced the estimates we feel that everything has been said
to reconcile us to the present system. There is a man
before us who knows where every ship in commission is
at the present hour, how many guns it carries, how many
men form its crew, how long it has been abroad, and when
it will come home. As the well-kept books of an insol-
vent are said to disarm the anger of creditors, so the nation
may be satisfied with the knowledge that every pound
sterling of its expenditure will be duly accounted for. On
this head at least we may be at ease. No one can give
the narrative of the Admiraty's operations with greater
effect than Mr. Corry, and last night he made out what
may be considered as the best case possible for
the naval policy of the Administration. As to
the estimates ore announcement of the First Lord
will give general satisfaction. It has been the practice for
a ship to go out to the West Coast of Africa and remain
there during the whole period of her commission, for
three or four years or longer. After a certain time the
climate began to tell on the constitutions of those em-
ployed. It is intended for the future that no ships shall
be kept on the coast of Africa for a longer period than
eighteen months. The most important information which
the House received related, however, to the construction
of armour-clad vessels. Mr. Corry is able to boast that
the amount of work accomplished for 1867-8 has
nearly equalled that which had been promised. This
year six armour-clad vessels are to be built, including
a turreted Monitor and a ram of great size. If the
Admiralty has time and money enough, it will, no
doubt, provide the country with the most effective
marine defences which skill and science can devise.
But, what with constructions new and old, it is evident
that the navy estimates, like those of the army, have a
tendency to increase. Mr. Childers criticised them in as
temperate a manner as could be desired. The elaborate
speech of the First Lord, shewing a complete acquaintance
with the principle and practice of the subject, demanded
such a tone, and the homage was paid to the clearness of
his explanations. But when all is said it is still the fact
that there has been an increase, though a small one, on
the total cost of the service, and this although there is a
large diminution in the number of men employed. It may
not be Mr. Corry's fortune to superintend the expenditure
he proposes, nor to devise the operations of another year ;
but whoever may be in office will have before him a meri-
torious though difficult task —that of completing the work,
on which he has somewhat timidly entered, of transform-
ing the structure and system of the British navy.
It was not so very difficult, the Daily News says, to find
a good man for the bishopric of Hereford, provided there
was the disposition to take him ; but there are always rea-
sons why the best qualified persons should not be appointed.
These Mr. Disraeli appears to have set aside, and in
nominating Dr. Atlay to succeed Dr. Hampden he has
made a really good choice. Dr. Atlay passed through his
university career with distinction, but he never set par-
ties in the Church quarrelling about his opinions ; he has
doubtless been made a bishop on account of the success
with which for the last nine years be has administered the
large and important parish of Leeds. The selection of
bishops on account of efficiency that has been tested in
parochial charges was becoming the settled practice of
Governments until the important controversies within the
Church which began about nine years ago, when scholar
after scholar was recommended for the highest posts in the
Church by his theological publications.

In an article on Napoleon's speech at Orleans, the Post
declares that the guarantees of European peace depend on
bases more solid than the naked protestations of princes.
Napoleon does not intend to make war, for the best of all
reasons—namely, that it would be madness to do so.
With everything to lose and nothing to gain by an attack
upon Prussia, there can be no question respecting the
course which so shrewd a man as Napoleon 111. will pur-
sue. He will do his best to preserve that tranquillity in
France which he has so long maintained, and will adopt
every means in his power to promote the commercial
prosperity of the country, well knowing that in the
al,sence of that prosperity he can never expect the French
people to submit to those burdens which the exigencies of
the time in which he lives compel him to impose.
The Herald points out that the speeches of the Emperor
t.. 11 us nothing more than that he does not contemplate
var at present. They corroborate the belief that he has
no notion of going to war unless forced to it by some com-
bination of circumstances which he does not yet anticipate,
although there are a number of people who have made up
their minds that he has resolved upon war, or feels that
war will be forced upon him, and only awaits a favourable
iTportunity to bring on the struggle that is unavoidable.
Some people may think that he might have spoken more
emphatically in favour of peace, but they forget that pro-
testations of that kind are really worth nothing. A
Sovereign or his Minister has seldom any difficulty in re-
•:onciling these protestations with a declaration of war
following them at an interval of but a few weeks. The
peaceful assurances represented their wishes and their
intentions ; the warlike declarations and the hostile mea-
sures following them are only steps in a policy into which
they have been forced by the wickedness of others. That
Napoleon 111, has not made another protestation of his
peaceful purposes cannot be regarded as any misfortune.
But, in the presence of the stories of war told on every
side, and the confident assurances given us of his bellicose
intentions, it is a satisfaction that he has not seized
such an opportunity to appeal to the warlike passions of
France.

The Telegraph notices the thoroughly unsatisfactory
state of the law on court-martials. As now constituted, a
court-martial is an anomaly that would not be tolerated
in any legal system. It differs materially, both in essence
and process, from a criminal court ; and, while it affords
little protection to the private soldier, it does not effect
much more for the officer, unless he happens to be rich.
For instance, what can be more repugnant to all notions
of fair play than the practice of permitting the prosecu-
ting officer, the advocate who urges the guilt of the
prisoner at the trial, to give evidence against the
accused, to wind up the case, and then, it may be, to
adduce supplemental testimony ? On the other hand,
the prisoner, nearly always an ignorant man, pleading
before superiors, is left to defend himself ; and, although
he may secure the services of a friend to compose a written
defence, he is compelled to read it himself. Frequently
the poor man can barely read anything, and he is rarely
,ble to read with effect. Surely the accused might he
permitted to have his answer to the charge delivered for
him by some competent person. Much depends on the
manner of putting a document before the court, and at
present the defence is often produced in the least impres-
sive style. Again, the mode of taking the evidence is
literally a disgrace to the age. Instead of question
and answer delivered in the manner suggested
by common sense, every interrogation and every reply
must be written—a process which, to say the least
of it, involves a painful loss of time, and must
often defeat justice. When the sentence is deli-
vered it is not promulgated until it has been confirmed,
and whether a man is declared guilty or innocent he is not
the less subjected to imprisonment. There is no sort of
reason why a sentence should not be promulgated at once,
as it is in the civil courts and in the navy. The necessity
of preserving the royal prerogative is pleaded against
this reform, but the precedent of the navy chews that the
custom can be revised without injury.

THE LATE LORD BROUGHA3I.—The venerable
13rd's remains are to he brought to England for inter-
ment, and will ultimately be deposited near those of
his beloved mother, in the village church near Brougham
Hall.

DEATH FROM SUNSTROKE.—A man named George
Grafton, aged 35, who had been a soldier, but had latterly
been in very bad health, was at work in a field at Worksop
a day or two ago. Ile stopped to eat his dinner, and was
going to resume his labour when he complained of dizziness,
and falling down, he expired immediately. It was the
opinion of the medical man who was called to his assistance
that death was the result of sunstroke.
FEMALE MEDICAL PR.ICTITIONERS.—At the recent
Arts Examination at Apothecaries' Hall, Mrs. Isabel
Thorne presented herself in company with sixty-six gentle-
men. Out of the sixty-seven candidates forty-seven
passed. Mrs. Thorne came out among the first six, and
her papers were so excellent that the usual gird voce
examination was dispensed with. Last May Mrs. Thorne
finished the curriculum at the Ladies' Medical College in
Fitzroy-square by carrying off double first honours in the
medical and obstetrical classes.

DEATH OF GENERAL SIR GEORGE W. PATY,
K.C.8., K.H.—We have to record the death of tin
above-named general, colonel of the 70th (the Surrey)
Regiment of Foot, in his 80th year. The late general
entered the army in 1804, as ensign in the 32nd Foot, and
served in the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807. He after-
wards served in the Peninsula from 1811 to the end of that
war in 1814, including the siege and capture of Badajos,
battle of Salamanca, retreat from Madrid to Burgos,
battles of Vittoria, the Pyrenees, and -nyelle, battles of
the Zrive on December 0, 10, 11, 12, and 13, 1813, besides
various minor affairs. He had received the silver war
;hrtial with 4;4c cl43P4t