The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

496 Alas ! for his foresight. He conceded the question without securities, and the evil which he dreaded from resistance has since been realised, after concession, in " The Tail," "Lichfield-house Compact," and the " Sad leirites." Supposing, argued Sir Robert on the 12th January, 1829, in his private memorandum, the measure is not granted, here will be the con sequence : The Parliamentary business would be impeded by the addition to the House of Commons of fifty or sixty members, whose only chance of maintaining their in tnence would be unremitting attendance in the house, and violent and vexatious opposition to the progress of public business. Again, alas ! for his foresight. That very state of things became chronic under O'Connell and Sheil, who never forgot that they had driven Sir Robert Peel into an ignominious defeat in 1829. Our readers must recollect the scanda lous debates of 1851, during the " year of the Exhibition," when the Aggression Act was before Parliament. Those discussions might be described in the language of the foregoing extract ; yet it was to prevent such results, forsooth, that Emancipation was conceded, the Conservative party broken up, and public pledges set at nought ! Take the next sentence. Ho feared, in 1829, the following emergency, if the Catholic question was not given up : The very circumstance of severing altogether the con nection between the constituent body of Ireland and the natural aristocracy of the country would be a great, per haps an irreparable misfortune . Again, in that instance, the evil to be depre cated was brought about and exaggerated by the manner in which the bill was conceded " without secutities," and the " Catholic Ques tion" will have yet to be argued again. Now, we recollect many severe speeches re flecting on the public character of Sir Robert Peel. We recollect the language of Lord John Russell, in 1835 ; of tho invectives of Mr. Macaulay, in 1844; of Mr. Shell's tirades; of the blunt accusations of Lord George Ben tinck ; and of the exquisitely polished irony and wit of Mr. Disraeli; but we are bound to say that we never heard or read anything so damaging to the fame of Sir Robert Peel as his own apology for his conduct in 1829. Our space will not enable us to ex hibit at length the tortuous half-reasonings, the short-sighted glances, and the strange contradictions in this paper. It is written without lued order ; it omits most important facts ; and it puts the case in no new light, except, in our opinion, to sharpen those charges against Sir Robert Peel, to which his fame is responsible. We observe that a critic in the Times writes of the apology as " defending " himself in the manner of a sinner, rathcr " than in the spirit of a statesman." Non roster hie sermo. The Atheneum says :—" Sir " Robert Peel is not exhibited in this memoir " as a statesman with an extensive political " coup dceil, a grand and s3steinatic creed, or a " profound knowledge of the principles of " empire " We cite these words from our contemporaries to show that political con siderations have not biassed our opinions in this matter. But the apology is " crumpled up " by its unfortunate last paragraph : It may be that I was unconsciously influenced by mo tives less perfectly pure and disinterested—by the secret satisfaction of being, when the waves went high, A daring pilot in extremity. nut at any rate it was no ignoble ambition which prompted me to bear the brunt of a desperate conflict, and at the same time to submit to the sacrifice of everything dear to a public man, excepting the approval of his own eon soience and the hope of ultimate justice. The glory of enjoying the sensations of great political power cannot be snatched at or engrossed without reference to party honour. Trusts are given to chiefs of parties, and con nections must not be betrayed. But we shall adjourn to next week further consideration of this painful apology. L'Expedition de Crime. jusqu'ci la Prise de Sebas topol. By the Baron de Bazancourt. Paris : Amyot. THE second volume of this work (the first of which was reviewed exclusively in THE PaEss of Feb. 16) appeared in Paris ozi Friday week.; THE PRESS. but some proof-sheets of it having been com municated to one of the Paris papers some days before, we were able in our last number to give a translation of its most interesting feature—the plan of campaign which the Em peror Napoleon drew up for himself, in the event of his having, as he at one time intended, gone to the Crimea to take the command of the allied armies. Considering, however, that (as we stated in the review of the first volume) the work has been written by direction of the French Government, and by the aid of re ports, letters, and documents, some of them of a strictly confidential character, communi cated by it, the publication of the Emperoe's pica de eampayne by no means exhausts its interest. And so we proceed at once to give the reader some idea of its other contents. Resuming the history of the siege of Sebasto pol at the date at which his last volume left it, that is, the 17th October, the author con tinues it day by day to the battle of Balaklava, which he details at considerable length. His account of that ever memorable affair contains little or nothing that can be strictly called new; but coining from the chosen historian of the French Government, and representing what the Government believes to be the truth, it is singularly interesting. We can, however, only notice its principal points. The attack of the Russians ou the Highlanders is thus described : All at once a force of about 400 Russian cavalry turned suddenly to the left to attack the Highlanders both in front and on their right flank. This brave regiment, by order of Lieutenant Colonel Ainslie, who commanded it, waited in lire, with intrepid calm, the arrival of the enemy. When the latter was at a short distance the Scotch received them with a point-blank discharge which caused confusion in their ranks. A second time they returned to the charge on the right flank of the Highlanders; but they found before them the same human wall, immovable, unshake able, and the same fire received them. The cavalry then turned tail and disappeared, similar to the passing clouds charged with storms which fly rapidly across the sky. The encounter between the Russians and General Scarlett's heavy brigade is detailed at length, and the author then gives a clear de scription of the positions held by the Russians —positions which completely commanded the field—when Captain Nolan arrived with the fatal order to Lord Lucan to endeavour to prevent the enemy from carrying off the guns they had captured Lord Lucan naturally hesitated : In presence, however, of the hesitation of Lord Lucan, Captain Nolan repeated that the orders of Lord Raglan were to make the cavalry charge imme liately (de lancer la cavalrie immedialement). " But where must I send them ? " said Lord Lucan. " ➢ly lord," replied the officer, " there are our guns," showing the redoubts, " and there is the enemy!" On this,— Lord Lit can, not perhaps accepting in all its extent the responsibility of the important command which he held, believed himself imperatively obliged to obey, and sent the order to Lord Cardigan to attack. The author then goes on to sad• : In presence of this order Lord Cardigan hesitated, as Lord Lucan had done ; for to obey the order was to lead his valiant brigade to certain death, without having a single chance of success. He observed that his troops would be overwhelmed (ecrases) by the crossfire of the enemy's batteries during all the distance they would have to go, and that that distance was considerable ; that, moreover, the infantry would keep up a continuous fire on them before they could arrive. But to such just objections the reply was that the order of the general•in•chief was imperative. Lord Cardigan bent his head in sign of obedience, with. out pronouncing a single word, and placed himself at the head of his brigade. He cut, we are told by one of the persons who were near him, a look of profound sadness on his splendid regiments which inevitable death was about to decimate, and then gallopped off, crying, " Forward, the last of the Cardigans ! " On his right Captain Nolan placed himselftsword in hand, and throw himself in the first rank into the melee of grape•shot which tore up the plain. Perhaps he felt that, after the imprudent words which an unreflecting movement of impatient courage had dictated to him, he ought to be one of the first to brave the glorious death to wards which flew, calm and resolute, the squadrons of light cavalry. Often as the charge of the light brigade has been described in story and sung in song, we are sure that a translation of our author's account of it will be read with pleasure, if only because it be the best and most authori tative that has yet appeared from a French pen:— The troops collected on the hills saw with infinite sad• ness the superb brigade rash along the plain to an impos sible attack, the madness of which could alone equal its heroism. Every heart beat, and every eye was fixed, until it kad . dtsspimared in a doud of smoke; and theirit passed SATURDAY, • on, rapid as lightning, toward s th e murderous batteries which poured forth storms of grape-shot. One of the first who fell, stricken to death, was Capt a i n Nolan, carrying with him into the tomb the secret of this sanguinary enigma —a shot struck him in the midst of the breast. He uttered a loud cry, and one of his hands grasped his horse convulsively by the mane; and the aiiimat gallopped about with the corpse. This hurricane, which the fire of cannon could not check, astonished the Russians. The soldiers gallopped up the mamelons, passed through the batteries, traversed thick columns, and left a void in them, in their sanguinary march. A strong mass of infantry, secreted in a sheltered spot ; rose all at once and received the English with a fierce fire. The intrepid brigade, reduced by death, passed throngh it also, and then found itself in presence of the Russian cavalry, on which it worked. A frightful melee ensued, in which cavalry and infantry were confounded. But soon the Russians, stupitied by this act of audacious desperation, formed themselves four ranks deep, and nwn and horses were nnable to break through that living ram part. Russian regiments of lancers took the disunited squadrons in the flank, and compact masses advanced from all sides. The valorous brigade, in order not to perish altogether, was obliged to retrace its steps : but it had '0 break through the enemy's ranks a seco n d ti me, and to traverse the plain which, so to speak, was enveloped in smoke, and shot, and flame. The French cavalry made some movements which enabled them to silence some batteries most dangerous to the light brigade, and thereby facilitate somewhat its return : The return was frightful. Across a plain filled with dead and dying, gallopped madly horses without riders, or dragging after them their riders mortally wounded; whilst others wounded, terrified by the dreadful tumult, and scarcely able to remain on their legs, went amongst the heavy cavalry and pressed against them. It was a sad and heartrending spectacle to see this fine brigade, diminished by one-half, brought back to the English lines by its valiant general. After the battle of Balaklava, General Can robert, we are told, saw clearly that the Rus• sians, who had received reinforcements, could not fail to make an attack on the position of the allies on the plateau before Sebastopol; and seeing this he was struck by— The insufficiency of the defensive works of the English who left in a dangerous position and without support the divisions encamped at the extremity of the plateau of Inkermann, where two roads coming from the bottom of the valley met. The French general-in-chief consequently ordered that from the 28th October the first division should cease to supply workmen anti battalions to the trenches, being desirous to have it entirely under his direct orders and at his immediate disposition, in order to send it to the point at which an unforeseen attack should render its presence necessary. He besides ordered General Bosquet to establish his corps of observation in such a manner as to he able to repel any attacks made from the valleys of Balaklava and the Tschernaya, and, approaching as much as possible by his left to the right of the English at Inkermann, be ready to support them if necessary. On the 26th,the Russians did make an attack on General Evans's position at Inkermann, but the English defeated them with consider able loss. At the beginning of the action,— General Bosquet seat five battalions to the position attacked, and went himself to offer to place his troops at the disposition of Sir De Lacy Evans. But th- English general did not consider that be needed the assistance offered, and he warmly thanked General Bosquet, at the same time assuring him that " the troops under his orders would suffice to repulse the enemy." On the following days the French pushed on their works with great energy, and were soon in a position to make au assault on the Mat bastion; but the English were behind in their approaches towards the Redan and Malakoff. However,— When the fear was expressed to them that they would not be able to make an assault at the same time es the French, they replied that they would march against the Hedan and Malakoff as, in the battle of the Alma, they had marched against the Russian works protected by a powerful artillery. On the Ist of November a vigorous fire was opened on the Russian works by the Eng lish and French batteries, and it did so much damage that " it was resolved in council that " the assault should be made on the 6th.' Preparations for the assault were at once made, with extraordinary activity, by the allies. But the Russians on their part, who had re ceived large reinforcements, and who had just been joined by the two sons of the Emperor Nicholas, had formed the audacious project of driving the allied armies into the sea, and were not less active—nay, were even more so — in their preparations. The first project of the Russians was to attack the allies by the A I teau on the side of Balaklava ; but it was tc strongly armed with artillery, and too lve4 defended by the French corps of obsprvation. They W.worer wr.c.eive.d The same difficulties did not exist on the side of Inky mann, where there was only a portion of the English arnlY