The Press. — London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 25, 1854. of the elements in the Crimea, and, far more cruel still, from the incapacity of the War Minister in power ! PAST AND PRESENT OF THE EXPEDITION WHEN it was first proclaimed that the Crimean expedition was on the point of sailing from Varna, we were among those who received the announcement with incredulity. We could not believe that the force collected was suffi cient for an enterprise of such magnitude ; still less would we think that if definitive arrangements had been made they would have been pompously heralded for weeks beforehand. But we were deceived. We reasoned on the supposition that an invasion, if attempted at all, would be effected by a force amply adequate to ensure success. We were not prepared for " a leap in the dark." Neither was the country. Hence, from the presumption that the ex pedition was duly organised, and far more than a match for any resistance which could be ofiered to it, no doubt was entertained of its complete and rapid success. The public expectation of its triumph preceded its progress. The whole world, save Russia, was deceived. Knowing what the allied force was, it was concluded that through some unaccountable oversight, or admi nistrative weakness, Sebastopol was left undefended, and that the allies had but to appear before it to receive its submission. Of this confidence was born the credulity which so eagerly received the Tatar's story. Who could believe that this expedition was sent forth without information as to the strength of the enemy, or the defences of the fortress it were commanded to capture. The very fact that no reserves had been pro vided to support it formed a presumption that none would be needed—that all the chances had been calculated with exact precision—that the fall of the fortress within a limited time was a determined inevitable certainty, admit ting of no more doubt than the successful performance of an ordinary engineering opera tion, with a supply of the forces necessary for Is achievement. This was the conviction throughout the country, and it was to some extent justified by the reputation which, pre. vious to the Coalition, successive Governments had won for the successful execution of their designs. But at last the truth has burst upon us. The expedition was au experiment, and the expe riment has failed. Its chance of success was lost when it was not strong enough to follow up its success at Alma. Truth oozes slowly out It is now known that the allied corn manders were well aware of the desperate character of their enterprise, and the risks they ran. Immediately on their arrival at Balakluva, Marshal ST. ARNAUD, General CATH CART, and General DE LACY EVANS, urged an assault on the fortress. More cautious, Lord RAGLAN hesitated. He had no reserve. If the assault was repulsed, the army might be de stroyed. He would not consent to incur so great a risk. From necessity, the siege had to be commenced in due form, and time was given for the Russian reinforcements to come up. The expedition should have been in grcater force, or it should have been delayed. An army equal to the invading army should have been collected as a reserve at Constantinople, or some other port. Such an army might have been raised in England alone, had the Admi nistration acted with energy earlier in the year, when the Militia was embodied. We know with what ardour men rush from the ranks of the Militia to volunteer. With proper management, a force more than equal to our army at Alma might have been obtained from the Militia alone. Too late we discover the opportunity which has been lost, and deplore the wretched bungling which has given to a great military enterprise the character of a desperate foray. As the result of the ex pedition, we have yet only a number of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S promised butchers' bills. 1107 since 1815, when first the title of Ormonde was created, the famous race of Butler has been prolific of heroes in its twenty genera tions, there was not a bolder spirit than the Captain BUTLER who fell at Inkermann. Grandson of the second Earl of CARRICK, he Was the brother of the hero of Silistria ; and we feel profound sorrow for this second sad bereavement of his surviving and revered father, Lieutenant-General BUTLER. He has left a widow to weep his loss. But it is the privilege of the Butlers to meet the fate of heroes ; and we pass on to notice the greatest loss which the public has sustained in this campaign by the fall of General CATHCART. Like the brave BUTLER, the accomplished CATHCART belonged to a race famous for its military chieftains. At Flodden Field, at Longside, Sherittmuir, and in still later fields of fame, the name of CATHCART is conspicuous. The fallen General was son of the Earl CATH CART who commanded at the capture of Copen hagen. With extensive knowledge of his profession, Sir GEORGE CATHCART, if he had survived, would himself have been a general-in-chief. His services at the Cape of Good Hope will always preserve his mane in our military annals as that of one who joined the talents of a strate gist to the valour of a cavalier. Lieutenant- Colonel E. W. PAXENHAM, of the 3rd Grenadier Guards, was also a scion of a military family whose genealogical tree is twice intertwined with that of the Wellesleys. He was the son of that famous Peninsular warrior the lute Sir HERCULES PAKENHAM, and nephew of the Sir EDWARD PAICENHAM who fell while leading the onslaught at New Orleans, to whom a national monument is erected in St. Lieute- rant-Colonel CONWAY SEYMOUR sprung from the house of Hertford, illustrated the far-de scended valour of his ancestry, falling in the hour of victory in the thirty-second year of his age. He fell in the thick of the combat, close by the side of the brave CATHCART. General Fox STRANOWAYS, heir to the Earl of ItCHESTER, after being mortally wounded, with unruffled countenance saw death approaching, while he dictated his last recollections to his bereaved kindred in England. But we shall not linger on one whose name has been affectingly com memorated in the despatch )f Lord RAGLAN, within whose immediate vicinage (riding close behind) the brave old General was shot down by a cannon ball. Other noted names press for commemoration. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, contributed their blood. In the splendour of Viceregal state, at Dublin, the family of Lord ST. GERMANS mourns over a most promising o ffi cer, the Honourable Captain Eller. Endowed by private virtues and many graceful qualities, he is lamented in hie regiment, and, short as was his gallant career, he did honour to his old English name. The Senate and the Commonage have also contributed their names to the slain at Inker mann. Colonel J. H. BLAIR, of the Guards (like Colonel PAKENHAM) was a county repre sentative. Attached to the Conservative party from principle, he was a most able and active though unobtrusive member of it. The Ramsdcns of Yorkshire, the Bouveries, Disbrowes, Mackinnons, the Nevillee (of the Abergavenny branch), the Newmans of Devonshire, the Vesey Dawsons, the Grevilles, and the Wynnes, with other patri cian families of English, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh race, have all seen their names written in ensanguined letters amongst the killed at Inkermann. And as to the wounded—but we fear to look at the long list, and we pray that many of them may survive to enjoy the laurels they have won. Officers and privates, the highborn and the humble, fought in the same cause, and fell in the same field, equal in manly spirit, both honouring their respective stations As they fell together, so they now lie in the same glorious graves. Whether in marble, or in the hearts of their comrades, their names shall bo affectionately preserved. For, while a history of England shall be read, the men who fought in the terrible fights of Alma, Balaklava and Inkermann shall be honoured. They died as they lived, with aspirations after glory, and the voice of ages shall give them that undying honour which none but heroes can attain. THE PRESS. It is impossible to allude to the Militia without a word on the noble service it has done us. It has saved the character of our arms. Without it Lord RAGLAN would have called for reinforcements in vain. It is the Militia which is making good the terrible gaps torn in the ranks of the Crimea army by our victories. It is that Militia which Mr. WALPOLE, in Lord DEBBY'S Government, estab• blished on the voluntary principle, in spite of the determined opposition of the party now in power, which, according to all human pro bability, has saved us from disgraceful discom fiture. Was there no sagacity in this most provident and constitutional measure ? Does it establish for those who planned, orga nised, and carried it into execution, no claim on the gratitude of their country ? The nucleus of a new expedition remains at Balliklava, but it is now unquestionable that the expedition itself has failed, and failed from causes which it is most disgraceful to our Go vernment not to have foreseen. The allied forces will winter on the heights above Sebasto pol till the reinforcements can be collected which should have been supplied them at the first. Beside the besieging force there must be an army to take the field equal to keep in check the relieving army of the enemy. Further, there must be an army of reserve at hand, that the commanders may act with greater boldness from knowing that they can rely on supports if required. For these ends mighty exertions will be needed, but they must be made. The only question is,—Will the country longer trust its armaments and resources to the mercy of men whose proved incompetency has already cost the country so dearly, and may, perhaps, cost it more dearly yet? THE GRAVES OF THE GLORIOUS DEAD ! IF respect to the dead, even in civil life, be one of the duties suggested by the instincts of humanity, it is still more imperative to honour those departed spirits who have gone to a better world while maintaining their country's honour. Laurels deck the brows of the surviving conquerors ; but we must not for get to give chaplets, though mingled with cypress, to the graves of the fallen heroes. While the nation's pulse beats high at the prowess of its suns, by many a fireside there are tearful faces, and in many a lone chamber there are mourning ones with whom sorrow will dwell while life remains. We cannot help these sad dispensations. War is one of the permitted evils of the earth; and it would be visionary to hope for its entire discontinuance while human nature shall remain as now. But, in the meanwhile, it is permitted to alleviate our sorrows by thinking of the brilliant chivalry and soul-stirring heroism of the brave men who freely rendered up their lives for Old England, and who fell foremost in the field of fame with their fronts towards the foe. Would that we had space to allot our memo rial words to each and all of the brave fellows who fell in the bloody battle of Inkermann! Mere social or military rank would not be weighed by us in recording, as far as words can allow, those names worthy of all honora ble fame. Reading the list of the killed, our eyes are dimmed as school and college recol lections come thronging upon our memory, while many a name amongst the fallen takes us back to days when we little dreamed of such a grim, though glorious, death-bed for some of those with whom we commingled youthful joys and sorrows in life's early morn. More than one of the brave fellows who lie before Sebastopol are associated in our recol lections with homes where honour was in stilled into their hearts by parental examples of purity, worth, and patience under worldly trials. Yielding to personal feelings, wo must first notice the fate of Captain H. T. BUT LER, the Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General. We knew BUTLER personally ; and, though 1