The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-21 00:00:00

JULY 21, 1855. Mr. WHITESIDE quoted largely from the evidence of the committee to prove that the charges against the late Government were made out, and protested against the assertion that Lord Palmerston bad been condoned by the Conservatives because he was asked to form a part of Lord Derby's Administration. Lord JOHN RUSSELL began by observing on the importance of a proposition which demanded that none but those who had been opposed to reform and to free trade were henceforth to be considered qua lified to conduct the affairs of the country. On such an issue the strictest impartiality should be observed in the statement of facts, and he charged Mr. Roe buck with having violated that impartiality, emitting facts which he ought to have mentioned, and giving an interpretation to others which he knew they would not bear, for the purpose of making out his case. As to the subject itself, it involved two questions which had been often confounded. One was the state of our army in the Crimea, respecting which inquiry was due to the country, and which could have been carried out without interfering with dangerous subjects. The other was the policy of the expedition to Sebastopol. Lord John Russell defended that ex pedition at great length, calling attention to the chances of taking the town unprepared by a sudden attack, and the effect of such a blow in shortening the war. Those who had projected the expedition had, he added, furnished it with all the means of success in their power. He then came to the ques tion of the policy of a vote of censure, remarking upon the confusion which would arise from the dis placing a Government at such a moment. Even the movements of the successors would be cramped by the fear of future censure. He argued—supporting his argument by a quotation from Mr. Canning— that in military operations a despotic government had tinny advantages in secrecy of design, celerity of execution, and boldness of enterprise. Was it pru dent to exaggerate the difficulties of a constitutional government by severity of scrutiny and too great hardness of animadversion upon failures ? Mr. BRIGHT said that the statements which had alarmed the country bad been proved to be true by the committee, and asked if all this was to end in a few changes in the War and Ordnance Departments. He accused Lords Palmerston and Russell of having in former days resisted these very changes. Lord Palmerston had not merely escaped punishment, but had been rewarded for wrong-doing. He denounced the truckling of the Ministry to the press, quoted in sarcastic terms one after another the negotiations of Lord Palmerston, and commented on the tone of his speeches in that house; and while he found much to admire in the conduct of its preceding leaders, saw in that of its present leaders much to humiliate them. He regarded the resolution as a direct vote of cen sure on the Premier, and as such should give it his support. Sir DE L. Everts, though he could not concur in .the sweeping censures of the resolution, thought that the late Government had neglected the most ordi nary precautions, mismanaged the militia, and ima. gined that they could carry on a great war by pro tocols and demonstrations. He expressed the fullest confidence in the ultimate results of the war. _ Captain GLADSTONE opposed, and Mr. MUNTZ supported, the resolution. Mr. S. HERBERT, after adverting to the personal difference of position in which he stood in regard to the motion from other members, admitted that Mr. Roebuck, in bringing forward the resolution, only acted as became him under the circumstances. He then proceeded to analyse the report, which was, he said, incomplete, not by the fault of the committee, but because the House of Commons had charged it with duties which it was impossible for it to perform. At the same time he criticised many of its state ments, and defended the details of our organisation in many points. The late Government, he urged, had a right to the consideration of the house from the difficulties of its position, and demanded a definite verdict upon their conduct of guilty or not guilty. Mr. G. ELLICE entirely concurred in the motion of the previous question. Sir G. GREY animadverted on the conflicting views of the supporters of the resolution, who did not seem decided in their views as to what they were to vote for. He claimed for Lord Aberdeen's Government the merit of boldly facing the circumstances, and re fusing to sacrifice single individuals to save themselves. Lord J. MANNERS supported the moticn. Lord PALMF.RSTON, while he admitted the entire responsibility of Ministers for the actions of their colleagues, submitted that distinction must never theless be drawn, and that there were cases in which one Minister could not interfere with the depart ment of the other. He referred to the offer to him self by Lord Derby, as a proof of the opinion of that noblemen ; defended once more the expedition and his own management of the militia, thought that the country viewed with dislike the continu *rice of these pe►sonal squables, and declared him self ready to yield his post to more capable men, f such existad, " of which," he added, "the proof has THE PRESS. not come to my mind." He accepted the previous question, as in accordance with the incompleteness of the evidence of the committee. Mr. DISRAELI said that the committee was essen tially a people's committee. After a protected dis cussion a division was come to, and the noble lord took the unauthorised course of denying its conclu sions, and the value of its researches. He should have met the committee boldly, calling on the house to declare that it had not done its duty fairly, that it had misled the country, and poisoned the public mind. The noble lord accused of party motives a motion brought forward by one who a few weeks ago bad voted in favour of the existence of his Government. The gravity of the question should have precluded such a subterfuge as that of the previous question. The noble lord had then, as at other times, made great professions. He appealed to General Evans as to the manner in which those professions were realised. He blushed to think of the probable result of the division, in the face of a whole country intent upon their proceedings. After a short reply from Mr. ROEBUCK, the house divided, and decided that "the question should not now be put," by 289 to 182-107. INDIAN GOVERNMENT. The Earl of ALBEMARLE, on Monday, in present• ing a petition from the inhabitants of Madras pray ing for a complete transfer of the Indian Govern ment to the Crown, complained with some bitterness of the oppressive nature of the administration of the East India Company—of the manner in which taxes were wrung, often by torture, from a miserable popu lation—of the neglect which suffered public works to fall to decay, till famine was periodical—and of the total indifference of the Company to the misery of the inhabitants. Earl GRANVILLE said that the Government had inquired into some abuses, particularly the allega tion of the collection of revenue by torture. The present WWI an unfortunate time for making com• plaints respecting public works in India, where 3,000 miles of electric telegraph, and 120 miles out of 1,200 of railway, had been completed, the charges for the use of which were exceedingly moderate. The second reading of the Scotch Education Bill was lost on Thursday in the Lords, by 86 to 1. The Ministers bad offered to withdraw it, which being opposed, they refused to vote. Mr. Spooner's motion on Maynooth was disposed of on Tuesday, when the further discussion was postponed to that day threo months, by a majority of three. STATISTICAL SOCIETY.—At the last meeting of the council of the Statistical Society Mr. Scargill was appointed to the office of assistant-secretary, vacant by the resignation of Mr. Cheshire. Mr. Scargili's position in the list of wranglers for 1840 sufficiently speaks for his qualifications for the appointment. In reference to the retirement of Mr. Cheshire, the council passed the following resolution : That. the council of the Statistical Society accept with ex• treme reluctance the resignation of their assistant-secretary, Mr. Cheshire, and take the opportunity of expressing to him their high sense of the great advantages which have accrued to the society from the zeal and ability with which he has discharged all the duties of his Ake. THE LAST REPORT OF THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, like that of the previous week, indicates a favorable state of the public health. The deaths of 941 persons, namely, 515 males and 420 females, were registered in London in the week that ended on Saturday. In the corresponding weeks of the ten years 1845.54 the average number of deaths was 054, or, if raised in proportion to increase of population, 1,049. The re sult of the comparison is a difference of about 100 in favour of last week, arising from improved health, and also to some extent from the high mortality of the winter and spring months, which thinned the old and infirm part of the population. The mean tem perature cf the last three weeks has been eleven degrees higher than it was in the greater part of May and June. Ma. JOHN B. GREENE, son of an American banker, has succeeded, notwithstanding the difficulties atten dant on clearing away the palace of Medinet Habora, in discovering the celebrated Egyptian calendar of which Champollion could only copy the first lines. A cast of this monument was taken on the spot by mL ans of a particular kind of composition. Different colossal figures, the upper part of which were only visible, have been now cleared away, and brought to light; one of them in excellent preservation shows the features of Rameses 111., and is about sixty feet high. The excavations of Mr. Greene, which have just completely made known one of the most import ant edifices of Pharaonic Egypt, will, by the numerods inscriptions which they furnish, throw fresh light on different points of Egyptian philology. SOME OF THE GUARANTEE SOCIETIES have declined to become sureties any longer to the Post•ofice de partment for provincial postmasters, on account of the losses to which they have been subjected by the defalcations of those fonetionerisek THE WAR. The latest telegraphic advices from the Crimea are of the 18th inst. They report the occurrence of frequent sorties by the Russians upon the advanced work of the allies. Those attempts have been inva riably repulsed with triding loss. The most serious of these affairs took place on the night of the 15th, and is thus related by General Peßuler: The night has been a successful one on the side of the Malakoff rower. About one o'clock the Russians made a sortie with three or four battalions, and made 1111111 efforts to carry an ambuscade on the glacis of the hlalakotf Tower. Received by a brisk tire at close quarters, and by the fire of batteries 15 and 16, they retreated, carrying away a number of killed and wounded The ground in front of the ambuscade was found covered with muskets in the morning; there were also five dead bodies on the ground, one of which was that of an officer. The combat was obstinate, and does honour to General Ulrich, who was on duty in the trenches, and to the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 81ith. Our loss was nine killed and eleven wounded. Among the latter is Captain Catel, of the Zouavea of the Guard. On the 18th the general reports another attack. He says:— The Russians made a small sortie last night against the lnkermann line of attack. It it; needless to say they were repulsed. To-day I visited our works at Kamiesch; they are pro greasing towards completion. The despatches published by the English Govern ment relate to the same days, but contain very brief and unimportant announcements. The message of the 19th was : Nothing of importance has occurred in our lines. The army is in good health. And, on the lmth : Sortie on left attack repulsed with only three casualties on our side. Prince Liortscbakoff writes from Sebastopol under date of the 12th : The fire of the allies continues to be feeble. During the night of the I Ith many shells were thruwu into the city. From the other parts of the Crimea nothing uew. The last written despatches from the Crimea re ceived in l'aris state that the great works against the Malakoff rower advance but slowly, but the opinion is that, when completed, they will be irresistible. Every gun in the batteries is provided with ammuni tion for 500 shots. A place darner capable of holding 4,0(X) men had been constructed by the allies in trout of the Malakoff Tower. The sanitary condition of the allied armies had improved. Ihe population of Kamiesch had been weeded, and a municipality organised. There was no case of cholera in the town. General Caurobert had returned to the Tschernaya, and bad taken up his old encampment. The Russians nave received la►ge reinforce ments. An expedition against l'erekop and Odessa was talked of. A severe casualty has occurred among some men belonging to the 2nd battalion of the Hide Brigade. By the discharge of a single gun from the enemy (at a part of a trench which ler • short distance is ex posed to an enfilading fire) no less than sixteen men were killed and wounded. Since their anival in the Crimea the Sardinians have buried 53 officers and upwards of 1,100 men, and they have had 1,500 soldiers laid up in hospital with disease. It was rapidly on the decline at the last dates. THE WAR IN ASIA. Intelligence from Kars of the 23rd ult. informs us that the Russians were besieging that town, and also threatening to shut up the Turkish contingent in Batoum. General Mouravieff, who is considered by the Russians as one of their best generals, directs the operations on Kars, and has from 60,000 to 70,000 troops under his orders. The attacking force is stated to be 27,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 70 guns. The Turks, well provided, awaited the enemy with resolution, orders being given to hold out to the last, and, if necessary, to retire upon Erzeroum. The Moniteur of Thursday says : Kan is not invested ; bat the Russan army, having an effective strength of about 30,000 men, is encamped about two leagues from the town. The Russian general, who has selected Zaim as the basis of his operations, appears di.- termined on using all the means at his disposal for taking Kars. The very heavy torrents of rain, that have been in cessantly falling for some days past, have as yet retarded the attack, and greatly impeded the nianouvres of the enemy, who has been obliged to pitch his ►ents in the mud. The Russians have sent to Aleastiiiropol for eight large siege guns, but these have got imbedded in the track near the Arpa Tchai. General 31ounivieff has consequently been obliged to send several men and oxen to get them out Main, and bring them on to his head-quarters as soon as possible. There can be no doubt of the great important* the Russian 683