The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-31 00:00:00

302 The subject was new to him and rather complicated, but they commenced by calling for full explanations with regard to medicines, medical comforts and stores. The commissioners demanded returns from the medical officers and the storekeepers, but no returns were ob tained. The commissioners had only power to report, not to remove. The commissioners waited two or three weeks to ascertain whether the returns were forthcoming. Finding that they could not obtain the necessary informs. Lion, he went down and inspected the apothecaries' book, in which he found that no entry had been made from the 21th of September until the 28th of November. Up to the time he left the hospital he did not believe the apothe cary had any idea of what he had in store. The report he had made stated generally these facts, and he believed the evil was there traced to its source. Captain DRAKE said— He went ont as a supercargo on the 17th of August in the Courier, 386 tons, a sailing vessel, laden with a cargo of beef, preserved meats, broths, vegetables, and all sorts of provisions. She arrived off Balaklava about the 19th of October, but he was not allowed to go into the harbour for some time. The harbour wus then very much crowded, and the vessels were lying at sixes and sevens. He offered the whole of his cargo at Malta, at Constantinople, and in the Crimea, to the English authorities ; they de clined the offer, and he sold it to the French. Mr. Com. missary Filder told him that he did not want provisions. He offered it for sale at a reasonable price, and the French bought it for the sum he asked. He had occasion to visit the harbour of Kamiech, and he found it in capital order. Captain Emasow, the commander of the Avon, was next examined : He deposed to that vessel having been, while at Bala klava in November and part of December, converted into an hospital for the accommodation of between 300 and 400 sic& and wounded, and to the deplorably filthy condi- tion in which they became from want of proper medical attendance, and especially of orderlies, until Lord Raglan instituted an inquiry into the subject, and caused their grievances to be removed. THE THIRD POINT. THE following is the interpretation given to the third point by England, France, and Austria, on the 27th of December : The object of the revision of the treaty of July 13, 1841, should be more completely to attach the existence of the Ottoman empire to the European balance of power, and to put an end to the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea. The arrangements to be made in this matter depend too immediately on the events of the war for their bases to be settled at present. It is sufficient to have indicated the principle. Subjoined is the form of Prince Gortschakofes ac ceptance of the same on the 7th of January : Revision of the treaty of the 13th July, 1841, to attach more completely the existence of the Ottoman empire to the balance of Europe. Ido not refuse to come to an under. derstanding in formal conferences for peace on the means which the three Courts may propose to put an end to what they call the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea, on condition that, in the choice of those means, there be not one of a nature to infringe upon the rights of sovereignty of my august master on his own territory. MR. ELLIOTT, member for Candlewick Ward, has given notice of motion for the next court-day of the Common Council to the following effect :—" That in the conduct of the war there has been grievous official mismanagement exposed before all Europe, causing great misapplication of the public money, waste of food, clothing, and stores, and great misery, disease, and loss of life; that this national dishonour and these calamities arise from no want of valour, discipline, or hardihood among the gallant troops themselves, but they are entirely attributable to bad civil and military organisation, because the superior authorities and other salaried public officers who have bad the direction of the vast expenditure of the war are unfitted by previous intellectual and moral education to manage public business in a competent and trustworthy manner ; that a committee be ap pointed to prepare a petition to her Majesty, praying that she will exercise her prerogative and cause such a reorganisation of the public service as will insure more competent appointments, and prevent evermore a recurrence of such disgrace and disaster from similar causes." ki ALTOGETHER upwards of 300,0001. will be ex pended at Aldershott in military lodgings, and, as 20,000 militia will go into the huts, while the bar racks, when completed, will be occupied by 10,000 regulars of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, some 30,000 troops may probably be massed together for a considerable period, and 10,000 stationed there permanently. For the future, it is intended to col lect our troops as much as possible in large barracks. ODE. ANDREW SMITH is no longer Director-General of the Medical Department of the Army. Amongst the reforms in course of preparation in the several departments of the War-office, it is contemplated to place the Army Medical Department, as well as the Ordnance and other Boards, under the more direct and immediate control of the responsible Minister for War. The Army Medical Board will, amongst other changes, be reinforced with an accession of civilians, who will be men of business, acquainted with the general conduct of its executive affairs, apart from mere professional ditties, THE PRESS. fortign gorrtsgotthutt. FRANKFORT, March 28. THERE are three subjects that at this moment com- pletely engross continental attention. The speech of Lord Lyndhurst on Prussia, the few significant words of Lord Palmerston on Poland, and the fatal and desolating inquiry on the mismanagement of the war before the parliamentary committee. They be come of direct and serious importance from the effect they may have, and indeed actually are producing, upon continental politics. It were vain to deny that the prestige of England has been affected by the Aber- deen Administration; there is, however, a conscious ness everywhere that the country is sound and patriotic. But such an amount of evil has been perpetrated by Lord Aberdeen and the Coalition, that it will take years, long years, to regain the con fidence of the Continent in our Ministerial action. Lord Lyndhurst, in his statesmanlike résumé of Prussian policy, has dealt a greater blow to the Hohenzollern than any which that dynasty has lately received with such unsparing liberality. M. de Bis marck may say, if he so will, and he did say and does say,' On se moque bien de l'Angleterre," yet the time is not far distant when that expression will have to be explained. Prussia, of her own free will, has abandoned her Europee.n position of independence, and the very fact of her ready and agreed vassalage to Russia has mooted the necessity of a Poland. The conduct also of the house of Saxe, royal and ducal, has brought forward the question still more promi- nently. The observation of Lord Palmerston has electri fied even the phlegmatic German. " I have no hesi tation in saying that Poland, as at present consti tuted, and as at present occupied, is a standing menace to Germany." These words are in every mouth. At Munich, Stutgard, Dresden, and Berlin, they are whispered in discontented accents, whereas in the universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, Manbeim, Jena, &c., they have been loudly repeated amid grate ful acclamation. The" Burschenshaft," who had been prostrated by the republican misdeeds of 1848, have acquired the vigour of regeneration, and are about to adopt publicly, and not secretly, the common bond of the Palmerston principle, which in its own good time will work out the most serious results. Then will be tested the value of the words uttered by M. de Bismarck. _ _ The cause of humanity is not bounded by terri torial limit. And here let it be said in justice that everywhere on the Continent, except in Brussels, the horrors attending the mismanagement of the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Sidney Herbert are lamented ; and the nation is absolved from all apathy, disloyalty, or error, except in not having em bodied a more determined and national remonstrance against the Ministerial abuses of Lord Aberdeen. His name is for ever linked with transactions that will eternally discredit that small portion of English history. The assertion of Sir De Lacy Evans that the army of the East was not intended to go beyond Malta, and was, therefore, unprepared with military material, is a point much canvassed, and that directly against Lord Aberdeen. It is the want of sincerity in these earlier episodes of Coalition disgrace that are detrimental to the old attribute of bluff candour. " Est it possible ?" This is the universal remark on the awful revelations of Mr. Stafford, Dr. Smith, Dr. Menzies, and the Rev. S. Godolphin Osborne The favourite mot of the husband of Queen Anne is again getting into vogue. One thing is certain, and one opinion is prevalent throughout Europe, that the inquiry must have a result directly crimina tory and judicial, otherwise the responsibility of constitutional government will become a by word. Fifteen thousand soldiers killed by administrative delinquency, and not by the sword, is a lapse that must bring down merited visitation. This is not a random expression, but one seriously and sorrow fully repeated everywhere, and in every grade of society throughout Europe. The conferences of Vienna are more rapid in their developments than the " quidnunca" of the Diet had expected. The Russian has very fairly implied that no interference will be permitted within the bound of national jurisdiction, meaning the dictation to reduce a fortress on Russian ground. It can have no other meaning, and therefore the point of honour has already been conceded by Lord John Russell. If a disgraceful peacc, concluded by a Whig Ministry, should termi nate a war made disastrous by the Coalition, the climax of clique•infamy will have been reached. These are not English observations. It must be remembered that the officers of Austria and Prussia, here garri soned, and the Germans of all classes and castes openly publish this opinion. And M. de Bismarck will say, as he has said, "Je Pai preuve des le com mencement" on se moque Wen de l'Angleterre." di L L. SATURDAY, jut* aio Colonial (Inttlligente. FRANCE. The Moniteur of Thursday contains an official an nouncement that Queen Victoria has invited the Emperor and Empress of the French to the Eng lish Court, and that their Imperial Majesties expect to arrive in London towards the middle of next month. The French journals now frequently refer to the departure of the Emperor for the Crimea. A palace at Balta Limen is prepared for his MAjesty and the Empress. M. Drouyn de Lbnys, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, is about to proceed to the Vienna Conferences, taking London en route to the Austrian Capital. Detachments of the Imperial Guard depart for Toulon every day. The whole are expected to reach that city by the 10th of April. In the course of a few days another 10,000 of the elite of the French ,army will have left for the seat of war. Colonel Beville is at Constantinople making at rangements for a large French army of reserve, which will leave France as soon as transports can be found to convey the same. A circular by M. Duclos invites captains of mer chantmen to enter the Imperial navy, offering them the rank of Enseigne de Vaisseau. General Forey leaves the command he held in the army of the East, and proceeds to take the command of the Oran division in Algeria. GERMANY. Accounts from Vienna state that the Bing of Prus sia has invited Lord J. Russell to spend Easter at Berlin. The Cologne Gazette of the 23rd inst. contained a very short summary of Lords Lyndhurst and Claren don's speeches on Prussian policy, delivered in the House of Lords on Monday week, and for this the entire impression was confiscated. The Government agents siezed all the papers before they had well left the press. ITALY. In the Turin Chambers the army vote for the year was discussed on the 24th inst., and passed by a majority of 101 to 14. The Turin journals announce that Victor Imma nuel will proceed to Genoa to be present at the embarkation of the Sardinian troops for the Crimea. In order to leave a margin for non-effectives, 17,000, instead of 15,000, are to be despatched it:tithe seat of war. A small Sardinian squadron is to sailfor the Black Sea, under Commodore Dinegro. The treaty between Sardinia and the Ottoman Porte was signed on the 15th. RUSSIA. _ The Abeill4 du Nord publishes a fanatical appeal to the Russian people to rise in arms for the defence of the Orthodox Church. It calls upon the clergy to exhort their flocks to fight for the good cause, and to impress upon them that the present war is the ancient war "of the Prince of Darkness against the Kingdom of Christ." It concludes with a prayer to the Almighty to admit those who fall on the field of battle for the good cause at once into the Kingdom of Heaven. Letters from St. Petersburg assert that the nobles of Tiflis have offered to call out and arm their serfs at their own expense, in order that they may assist in carrying on the war with vigour. UNITED STATES. The Canada steamer reached Liverpool on Thurs day with New York dates of the 17th. She had 1,800,000 dollars on freight. There is no intelligence of moment from the United States. The news of the Emperor of Rus sia's death had been received. The Russian Mi nister, however, considered the report to be a hoax. The Illinois had arrived at New York, with ac counts from San Francisco to the 18th February, and 1,161,248 dollars in specie and gold dust. A bill had been introduced into the Legislature to exclude from the mines all persons who are not eligible to citizenship. This bill, if it become law, will drive from the mines many thousands of the Chinese. New gold mines had been discovered on Kern River, and large numbers were going to the new diggings. News from the Sandwich Islands, of the 27th January, state that the King bad discontinued the negotiations for the annexation of the Islands to the United States. AUSTRALIA. By the overland mail dates from Sidney of Jan. 27, from Melbourne of the 31st, and from Adelaide of Feb. 3, have been received. Sir W. Denison, Governor-General of Australia, arrived at Sidney January 17. No further disturbances had occurred at Ballarat. Trade in Australia had somewhat improved, but political matters were considered unsatisfactory. Prices of wool were flat, and the gold market dull at 111. Ns. per ounce. Freights had Mem