Mr. Buxton gave notice last Thursday night that on Tuesday
next he would move " That this House, while only imputing to Admiral Kuper a misconception of the duty imposed upon him, deeply regrets the burning of the town of Kagosima, as being con- trary to those usages of war which prevail among civilized nations, and to which it is the policy and duty of this country to adhere." Mr. Buxton is wise in exempting the Admiral from serious Parlia- mentary blame, though no one who considers his conduct impar- tially can avoid seeing that he used such discretion as he had in a very mischievous way. But the House of Commons would never consent to sacrifice a subordinate officer whose instructions were not as explicit as they ought to have been to the indignation of the public, so far as such indignation exists at all — which is not in any very great degree, because the death of a few thousand Japanese affects the English imagination scarcely more than the disappearance of so many elephants from the Ceylon forests. Looking to the enormous importance of preventing such a barbarity from growing into a precedent in the East—where alone it could take place at all—we are glad that Mr. Buxton has thrown his resolution into a form likely to win the assent of the House of Commons, and mark its displeasure of such acts for the future.
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