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

178 cause of the present confusion. He blamed the Go vernment for entering on a gigantic enterprise with means totally inadequate. Lord SEYMOUR defended the financial reformers and Mr. Hume, who, he said, never grudged money fairly spent, but would insist upon having value forh. He complained of the miserable deficiency of our cavalry force. A discussion then arose on various points of de tail, the mode of enabling promoted sergeants to support their new ranks, clothing and tents for the army, with a recommendation that experienced Indian officers should be invited to take part in the campaign, and inquiries respecting the Foreign Legion. To all this a reply was made by Lord PALMERSTON, who commenced by adverting to an opinion which had been given in the course of debate, that we should have confined our proceed. ings against Russia to naval action. Such a course of proceeding would have exercised no effectual coercion on Russia. The Baltic fleet had been charged with doing nothing—was it nothing to destroy a fortress intended for one of the most im portant in the world, and to shut up twenty-seven sail of the line and thirty frigates ? The expedition to Sebastopol had been criticised, but were the troops to have been sent wandering up and down the steppes of central Russia ? The blow must have been struck somewhere. The great power of Russia against Turkey lay in Sebastopol; if anything was to be done, it was to be done there. The difficulties had been great, and some indulgence should be shown to those who had had no experience of the duties they were suddenly called upon to perform. The Premier then adverted to the advantages of the continental armies, always on their own territory, to those of England, scattered up and down all over the world. The favour shown to the Guards had been found fault with ; but if there was one system more fixed than another in foreign armies, it was the exist ence of privileged regiments. He defended the effi ciency of our Guards, saying that wherever a gallant action was performed there some part or other of the Guards was sure to be found. He defended the present arrangements of the War•ofce from the charges of reckless expenditure. Consolidation would not lessen the number of clerks, and there must still be separate offices. He then explained the system which before existed for the transport services, and that which was now established in its place. Having disposed of these objections, he came to the Foreign Legion, and thus explained the reasons of its failure : In the early part of the session we urged the necessity of passing a bill to empower us to raise foreign troops ; and I especially intreated the house to consent to it, in order that we might, without loss of time, enlist these troops to go to the assistance of our own in the Crimea. It is perfectly true that we have not as yet succeeded in getting a single man—and why? I must. tell the house the truth, however unpleasant it may be. The reason why has been the language used. I am forced to say the language used in the debates in this and the other house of Parliament has created such feelings of re sentment and indignation on the continent of Europe — that those persons who before had accepted letters of ser vice to raise men in Germany threw them up. The neces sity imposed on Government of not giving half pay to the officers also tended greatly to impede us. I undertake to say that if a clause had not been inserted prohibiting the grant of half-pay to the officers—if language of the most insulting kind, talking of the mercenary troops of Belgium and Germany, and arousing the national feeling of the Continent against us, had not been used, no doubt at this time we would have had a very different story to tell. It has not, however, altered the feelings of the people of the Continent towards our cause ; they say, ' England is right ; we wish her to succeed ; but after the language held towards other nationalities, we cannot take service." I would not have made this statement, which may be con sidered to convey a reproach on members of this and the other house of Parliament, but it is the true reason, and I am forced to tell it. After explaining several matters of detail, and the allowance to non-commissioned officers who bad been given their commissions, tents, clothing, and other similar matters, Lord Palmerston observed, in refer ence to the strictures passed on the aristocratic cha racter of the army : • There where the system has broken down, there where evils have arisen from want of capacity, want of energy, want of intellect and vigour for the performance of duties, it was in those departments where the gentry were not, the noblemen were not, but which were filled by persons belonging to the other classes of the community, the com missariat, the medical, and transport services. He concluded by expressing his belief that before the opening of the next campaign a sufficient army of reserve would have been organised to cope with any difficulties it might have to contend with. Pro fiting by the experience of the past, and by reorganis ing the different arms of the service, he trusted to bring an army into the field of which England would be proud, and whose actions would deserve the thanks and acknowledgments of the house. The remainder of the debate brought out no state ment of interest, except an apology from Mr. WILSON, respecting the unroasted coffee, which was sent, he said, in that state to the troops in the Kaffir war, and THE PRESS. preferred both by officers and men, as more easily carried, and in better condition. The French were constantly in the habit of serving out their coffee in an uturoasted state. TRADE WITH RUSSIA. Mr. COLLIER, on Tuesday, in moving for papers, made a lengthened appeal to the house to adopt more stringent measures to stop the trade of Russia with this country. Examining the two blockades of the north and the south, he saw that the blockade of the Baltic, which was quite efficient in itself, was made almost useless by the land carriage of Russian produce through Prussia; while that cf the Black Sea, which admitted of no such evasion, bad never been properly enforced. In support of these state ments he said that ten millions of English money had this year found its way to Russia, the ordinary average being eleven millions; while from the Black Sea the export of linseed had risen enor mously since the war. The merchants of India, believing that Russian produce would be effectually prohibited, had sent over large quantities of produce, which, meeting still with Russian competition, had been sold at a great loss. He described the organisa tion by which Russian produce was sent through Prussia, and argued that the main loss fell upon this country. We ought to persuade the Prussian Government to close their frontier against Russian goods. More than that, we should prohibit Russian produce altogether from entering this country. Some things might be dearer in consequence, and some interests be injured ; but what was that to the great interest of the country? Either carry out the war by all the means in our power, or make peace, and stick to our business. He then detailed the many sources from which we could procure articles now obtained from Russia, and the ruin which would come upon the Czar if he lost his supply of English gold. Mr. MITCHELL corroborated many of the state ments just made, and dilated on the ruinous conse quence to the enemy of the entire stoppage of his trade with England. He believed that such was the opinion of almost the entire body of Russian mer chants, who were anxious for nothing so much as the conclusion of the war. After a view of the effect on the Russian nobility if the produce of their estates were unsold, he enumerated the amount of Russian goods which had found their way here at an advanced price, so that we paid nearly the same as formerly for two-thirds the produce. He contended that the only effectual remedy was the prohibition of all Russian goods in our ports. We need not fear that the stoppage of raw materials would injure our manufacturers—our rival must build factories, and before they could bring them into operation the war would be over. Mr. CARDWELL, after explaining the cause of the delays in carrying out an efficient blockade of the Black Sea, contended that injury done to Russia by the actual blockades had been far greater than was stated. He proved a decline in the Russian exports of hemp, flax, and tallow, showing the decrease to have been respectively 53, 52, and 62 per cent. The Russian manufacturer has seriously suffered from the stoppage of the supply of raw cotton. He pointed out the charge of tampering with our manufacturing connections, and called attention to the new factories which sprung up directly corn and raw material be came cheap. He detailed the inconveniences and losses to which Russian goods were exposed in the tedious and uncertain process of land carriage. The danger to our own factories of the stoppage of the supply of flax would be extreme, our linen trade being greater than the whole expert trade of Russia. He quoted several historical instances of the injury done to every country that had attempted to interfere with the natural channels of trade. He pointed out the small suffering which the present war had in flicted on the various interests of the country, and compared the present state of things with that of 1812, when so much distress existed in consequence of our adoption of different principles. Mr. J. L. RICARDO opposed the motion of prohibit. ing Russian produce. How was it to be ,lefined? The Prussians would mix Prussian tallow with Russian tallow, Prussian corn with Russian corn, and he defied any one to make out certificates of origin which would exclude Russian produce. The Prussians might keep Russian produce, and send out the entire stock of their own. It had been argued that if we impeded our home trade our rival would not venture to build factories with the pro spect of a termination of the war. He asked, in reply, if, with the same prospect, Indian or Irish growers would undertake the cultivation of hemp or flax. Let us be careful how we lost a market—we might never find it again. Lord Dinie.or argued on the injury that the country would sustain from dear flax. Mr. WATSON ccmplained that the Ministers pro fessed a system of blockade and did not carry it out. Sir J. RAHAM explained the course of naval operation in the Black Sea which had interfered with the original intention of establishing a strict blockade SATURDAY, by employing the vessels elsewhere. At the present moment a de facto blockade existed everywhere in the Black Sea, except at the mouths of the Danube. With regard to the White Sea the blockade had not been established till the English and French mer chants bad had the opportunity of fetching away the goods for which they had already paid. Mr. COLLIER, in reply, repeated his assertion that the Russian exports had barely diminished, founding it on a paper signed by the principal merchants of St. Petersburg. He had suggested the most effec tual means of stopping the trade. U this were im possible, let them cease to stultify themselves, and abandon the blockade altogether. ARMY SERVICE. The second reading of this bill (an amendment bill) brought on a long speech from the Earl of ELLENBOROUGH on Tuesday. He considered that the recruits necessary for our operations, which he estimated at 90,000 men, to be obtained by this time next year, could not be got together without great difficulty, and urged the Government to take every advantage of our local authorities to urge on their arrangements. He complained that our recent movements had produced a shuffling together of the army and destroyed its discipline, and deprived it of all requisites for an army, except personal courage. The noble earl then adverted to the general policy, and, after praising the conduct of Sardinia and its army, highly approved of the convention by which Turkish soldiers were to be taken into our pay. He only complained that the measure did not go far enough—a much larger number should be engaged both by ourselves and our allies. Considering how largely India was interested in the present conflict, he thought that the Indian army should take part in it, with its splendid cavalry and almost unrivalled artillery. After the Earl of HARROWBY had urged the resus• citation of Poland, and other nationalities oppressed by Russia, Lord PANMURE expressed, in very strong language, his intention of urging the recruiting service by every means in his power, he was understood to say, even by compulsion, if it was found to be neces sary. The militia, he was sorry to say, had not shown the expected readiness to join the regular army. He then explained some details of the new regimental arrangements, under which each regiment was to be 2,000 strong, 1,000 to be sent to the Crimes, 400 to form a depot at Malta, and 000 to re main in England, under a lieutenant-colonel, of whom there were henceforth to be two. The Earl of MALMESHURY complained that those who had entered in the militia under the first act were deceived : they had been told they would only be wanted to repel an invasion ; they were now em bodied, and men refuse, in consequence, to enter the mihtia. These complaints were echoed by Earl GREY, who said that it was quite a mistake to suppose that the militia would form a good nursery for the regular soldiers. Now the militia were neither one thing nor the other. He protested against the notion that Indian interests were involved in this contest, or that Russia could send a sufficient force, or indeed any force at all, over the mountains and deserts which separated her from that country. After some further debate, Lord PANMURE ex plained that he did not mean to force the militia, but that if offers of service were not sent up, an officer would be sent to communicate with the com manding officer of the regiment. All would be done fairly and openly. The bill, of which the main object is to allow en listments for a more limited time, and by older per sons than heretofore, was read a second, and, by a suspension of the standing orders, a third time, and sent instantly to the Commons. When the bill was committed on Thursday in the Commons, Lord PALMERSTON said, in reference to the report of Lord Panmure, which had represented him as saying that" compulsion" would be used for the recruiting service, that her Majesty's Govern ment were disposed to use stringent compulsion, but that compulsion would consist of bounties adequate to find recruits. With respect to the militia, by law there was a power to resort to the ballot ; but he, for one, should be very unwilling to resort to that law. The ranks of the militia had been filled up by volun tary enlistment in a most satisfactory manner, and the men who had entered the militia had conducted themselves in so admirable and exemplary a manner, that he should be rorry to alter the nature and com position of that force, or to weaken the volunteering spirit so generally and so nobly displayed by the people of this country. He was sure that the words quoted had never been uttered by his noble friend in relation to the army, and he could only have said that if the militia was not filled up by voluntary en listment, it might be necessary, in certain eventuali ties, to have recourse to the ballot. PUBLIC PROSECUTORS. Mr. J. G. PIIIII/YORE moved, on Tuesday, for leave to bring in a bill for the appointment of a