The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 24, 1855. Cartspatatutt. INDIAN EMERGENT SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir, —Upon the principle of experientia docet, it is proper that the public should know that in the Indian army there is a system which renders the starvation of an army in the midst of plenty, as at Balaklava, impossible. It is simply this. Whenever the matter is too pressing to allow of the forms estab lished by the regulations as a check upon issues to be complied with without material injury to the public service, the commander of the division, or regiment, or party, if the latter be detached, sends in a requisition on his own responsibility, headed "Emergent Ser vice." With a requisition so headed, the commissary paymaster, or other functionary, immediately com plies, holding the stores, ammunition, or money, so issued, to the personal debit of the person signing the requisition, until the latter can in due course obtain formal sanction for the issue from the proper authorities. When this sanction is procured, the " Emergent Service " receipt is returned, and the papers in due form sent up to the Audit-office for audit, where they are duly passed. Officers in the Indian army being generally de tached at an early period of service, are in the habit of thinking and acting for themselves in emergen cies, and seldom hesitate to assume a responsibility which, when exercised for the advantage of the State, they are generally borne out in taking, by the con firmation of their acts by Government. Now, in the eases given in the papers regarding the difficulties at Balaklava, all these would have been removed bad a system of this kind been fol lowed there. The camp had to be cleared and roads made. Well, the Commander-in-Chief would have ordered the Quartermaster -General to see to this— he would have got men from Constantinople fbr the work, paid them their wages, and drawn under the head of "Emergent Service" for the amount, which would have been held to his personal debit till passed, as it must have been, by Government. Fresh meat, wood, and ground coffee, were wanted for the men ; he would have ordered these to be bought, and paid for in the same manner, the account to be finally adjusted when sanctioned by Government; and the same as regards skin coats, shoes, &c. In the same way divisional commanders would have acted regarding stores emergently required, and in respect of which valuable time would have been lost in waiting for the orders of Lord Raglan. As regards the hospitals, also, the same plan would have been pursued, and the medicines not in stores would have been purchased, when procurable,—as opium, mercury, antimony, and corrosive sublimates, always are in Turkey in the Constantinople Bazaar. Provisions, blankets, beds, &c., would have been pro cured in the same manner. As a matter of course, Government must, and in all cases in India would, sanction the issue afterwards, and relieve the officers who had passed the vouchers from any personal risk. And here, too, they must have done so, or themselves been disgraced and ruined. I do not mean, of course, to say, that ridiculous extravagance would be tolerated, but everything that might fairly be deemed necessary would be always passed. When the cholera raged among the troops at Cnrrachee, for instance, Sir Charles Napier, without regard to cost, or regulations, or Government sanction, at once got for the hospital all the champagne, and ice, and soda-water, that the doctors thought necessary, and that was procurable. Such is the Indian system. Ido not know how far that pursued in the English army tallies with it. If the English system does tally with it, then there can be little doubt that a large share of the respon sibility for the late state of affairs rests with Lord Raglan and the staff of the army in the Crimea ; but if not—if, as I apprehend, these, as far as civil departments and civil disbursements, have had till lately their hands tied by the Government at home, then the Government at home are the persons wholly and solely to blame.—Your most obedient servant, AN INDIAN OFFICER. PATRONAGE OF OUTGOING MINISTERS. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,--When Lord Derby resigned the Premiership a valuable church living was vacant in Cornwall. I have reason to know that an application was made to his lordship by a staunch supporter for the appointment. The earl, however, at that time " only holding office until his successor was appointed," de clined to do any " dirty work," and lett it open for the incoming Administration to fill up. Now mark the contrast. Lord Aberdeen having actually re signed, receives a petition from a large metropolitan pariah, the incumbency of which was then vacant in favour of a hardwoking curate : he, however, refuses to comply with the request contained therein, and the petitioners, thinking that ha, too, declines "dirty work," apply to Lord Palmerston, and find that the noble earl late at the bead of her Majesty's Govern ment has added one more to his numerous qualifica tions for the highest honour the Sovereign has to THE PRESS. bestow, by presenting the living to his own nephew. Rest assured, sir, that such conduct as this will be duly estimated by those who know how to distin guish the scholar and the gentleman from the mere placeman and nepotist.-1 am, sir, yours, &c., A COUNTRY CURATE. February 21. CO ST OF STEAM TRANSPORTS. TO THR EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—A considerable time ago, I think about August, I called your attention to the great expense at which our transport service was being conducted, and my letter you inserted under the head of " Cost of Steam Transports." I believe the rough estimate I then gave of the unwarrantable waste of the public money will prove by no means exaggerated. I feel satisfied that no branch whatever of the service has cost us such an unnecessary amount of money as that of transport. As I then said I say now, that, cost what it may, we, the people, do not grudge it if it be not wasted, and that those companies who con tract are well entitled to be amply remunerated ; but I, as one of the people, most emphatically protest against a system by which we are paying fifty and one hundred per cent. more than we ought, and that to such an amount that, I verily believe, the estimate I formerly gave of a million being thrown away is under the mark, for I should really like to be informed how much of the five millions expended on the transport service has gone as a clear gain into the pockets of the contractors. Can you not urge this subject being brought before the notice of the House of Commons, or is a question of expense too low-minded a one to occupy that august assembly at present? But it ought to be put an end to. A system which continues to pay companies their postal subsidies, although not performmg that service, and at the same time remunerating them at an enormous rate per ton register for a steamer, by which the rate should have been per ton she can carry—a system paying some vessels 40s. per ton while they have managed to get others at 15s. per ton per month—a system presided over and conducted by officials who, I verily believe, do not know which is the stern and whioh is the bow of a vessel—is one which, even among the more weighty subjects of consideration by Parlia ment, should still occupy a little of their attention. —I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A CONSTANT READER. London, Feb. 20, 1855. TO THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. My Lord,—You lie prostrate under the verdict co the people of England given in Parliament with a general consent and unanimous censure such as never before accompanied the downfall of any Minister. You have fallen ; moreover, you have been con demned. Your fall was inglorious, and your con demnation marked by a reprobation which will out live your term of life and will be registered in the historic annals of public and political misdemeanour. Strictly have you followed the path of your former leader, Sir Robert Peel. You have both of you ajust reputation of private worth. Character only goes to magnify the evil by affording an example of a fatal discrepancy betwixt public and private conduct. If that discrepancy be permitted with impunity and to lerated without protest, the ultimate injury will fall heavily on the people. Your friend of forty years' standing, the Czar, was dissatisfied with you. Do you call for the private authority for stating this personal dissatisfaction? The Emperor Nicholas. Your connivance with his intended aggression was clumsy because disingenuous. It behoved you to have told him from the first of the impracticability of his ambitious project, or, in obe dience to the servility which you proffered, you should have acted with greater fidelity towards him. Here, again, insincerity was your fault. To the last you privately assured the Czar that the " vexata qutestio " would be settled without recourse to arms, whilst you told the people of England that they were drifting towards war. You despatched 25,000 men to Malta to frighten your old friend. You found him made of sterner stuff than that of the standard of self by which you had gauged him. Forthwith, on your failure, you made " a leap in the dark" —whereby you became responsible for the thousands of lives that have been lost. I have told you this before, and as since that occasion, when in the zenith of your untoward power, my pen has ceased its trifling contributions to THE PRESS ' S° new on your discomfiture do I resume it with something more than satisfaction. You stated on your resignation in the House of Peers that you quitted office at the moment when Russia had accepted the four points according to the interpretation of the three powers, and that peace was probably at hand. M. Drouyn de Limps, in his Ministerial circular, issued by command of the Emperor Napoleon, declares that Russia has not accepted the four points without important reserves, and that the prospect of peace is not only remote, but the chance of the war being extended to other coun- 183 tries is imminent. Could you not resign without increasing the damage to character which you have already sustained? You are at issue with the Em peror of the French upon a statement of fact. Yea or nay—truth or its reverse. He is right, and you are wrong—and this is your parting grace. You sent affectionate remembrances by some old ladies to your German allies, and as the Minister of England you denounced the policy that you had agreed to pursue and were actually pursuing with them. Now, these old ladies, officially and reveren tially named by you in the House of Peers, are worthy personages no doubt, and be it so said in all honour ; yet, as there has been a change in other Cabinets, would it not be wise—ay, prudent—yea, verily agreeable—to change these Ministries also ? You were at Harrow. Let not Horatian echoes be unmemoried and unfruitful, and take into your bosom confidence the " filia pulchrlor." For once, at least, be a man " sans peur," and your friend Mr. Gladstone will give T ou absolution " sans raproche." After the insincerity towards the Czar, you judged it advisable to continue that same policy with the Emperor Napoleon. Germany teemed with plots for the ultimate restoration of the Orleans family, and your name was quoted in approval of such projects. This did not interfere with your oongratulations to Parliament on the " entente cor diale" with France and its Imperial Sovereign. Your name was not the only one mentioned in rela tion to the possible combination of an Orleans revival. You know this, and you know also that documents exist pregnant with matter of the gravest compromise. Do you not ? Let us proceed. There is an office other than that of Downing street. This you know also. Access was accorded in Germany to two missives from that office and they were transcribed. An interruption occ urred during the transcription. In what manner might you suppose? By the entrance of a Minister of the Crown of England. The task was finished, the person departed, and on the marble landing place at the threshold stood a king in " mufti." Your fall from the high estate of Premier of England is not accompanied by real regret in any quarter cave one. Your own friends, so called, blamed you ; your colleagues deserted, and the country condemned, you ; and at its bidding Parlia ment passed a vote of censure. Is it or is it not true? Take your Garter, in memory of the dead of the Crimea—dead through your obstinate imbecility. If the raw article of its manufacture were to be in accordance with your official merit, of what would it consist? Jebel-Taff, February, 1855. THE CRIMEA. The following despatch appeared in the Gazette of last night : Before Sebastopol, Feb. 10. My Lord Duke,-1 have nothing material or important to report to your grace since I addressed you on the Bth. There was rain yesterday and the day before, and in the course of last night there was a considerable fall of snow, which remains on the ground; but it does not freesu, and the country is again saturated with wet. It is reported from the front that great activity prevails in the town and harbour of Sebastopol. Large convoys of apparently sick men were observed to be moving out of the place, and numerous carts, with one horse, to be coming in. The enemy appear to be breaking up hulks in the Arsenal Crook, and to be using the material for platforms and chevaux de (rise at the battery " du Mat." We are proceeding with the armament of the works on the right. The health of the troops continues to improve in some slight degree. They are amply supplied with warm cloth ing and with proviaims. Forage is our only want, and this arises chiefly from the Commissary-General not receiving from England the sup plies of hay ,'non which he has reckoned. 1 inclose tho return of casualties to the Bth inst I have, &c. ltsurAx. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, &c. &c. &c. Letters from the camp to the Bth instant were re ceived yesterday evening. They add a few details to the intelligence of later dates already communicated by telegraph, and published in another column : The tramway at Balaklava is making most astonishing progress. Already some of the filthiest and most noisome dens, where the Turks used to congregate and die in hun dreds, have been levelled. Psi t of the tramway has been laid down; and Mr. Campbell expresses himself confi dently, that before another month the rails will be com pleted to the foot of the plateau of hills on which our camp is situated. A considerable force of the enemy, to the number of about 18,000 men, have returned and taken up permanent quarters on the east of the plain of lialaklava, and round the village of Tchourgoum. Very few huts are erected, not more than about twentt or twenty-five in all. The whole of the English mortars, and the French twenty-seven The fire of these must certainly That we shall ruin the town earthworks 'teems generally adm our present lines will destroy as actual fortifications of Sebastopol question. ili lines only mount fowl, ~...:: twen ty-seven; forty-one In :e • .1 tainly produce much tn ise \,.. .. e % ,wn and destroy the Rued* It- a d m iited, but that tha fired' m y the shipping of lafama ;el 4 stopol is said to b• . ' ..‘ - .... '/F N.P.IsVIiES