We regret to hear that Major de Vere, the officer
shot at Chatham by the sapper Currie, has sunk under his wound. The assassin, who still asserts that he was right in killing a "tyrant," was committed for murder, and the event has revived the old discussion as to the propriety of leaving such offenders to be dealt with by court-martial. At present a soldier who adds murder to mutiny is tried by the civil tribunals, and his comrades, who see the crime, do not see the punishment. The
change might be beneficial to the army, but there is one reason against it. The lower classes would never believe in the fairness of such a court, and every death-sentence inflicted by officers for an offence against an officer would be reviewed in the provincial papers, and seriously check recruiting. Are the civilians who advocate this reform prepared to let officers try an officer for kill- ing a private,—and if not, where is the line to be drawn9 Half England still believes, in the teeth of the evidence, that the court- martial intended to screen Colonel Crawley, and would have screened him under any circumstances.
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