The Sun. — London, England, 1855-03-20 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT• HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.) The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack at five o'clock. There was an unusual attendance in their lordships' house this evening ; the galleries on either . side of the house were filled with ladies. The neighbourhood of the throne was densely crowded, as als o were the galleries devoted to the members of the House of Commons, among whonalwe observed Sir de Lacy Evans. The Earl St. Germans appeared in the house this evening for the first time since his return from Ireland. Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the mayor and corporation of Kidderminster, in favour of munraary jurisdiction being given to magistrates. The noble and learned lord said that, seeing his noble friend the late Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in his place, he begged to give notice that tomorrow he should ask him a question relative to the liberation of Mr. Carden, who h a d been convicted of the abduction of Miss Arbuthnott. THE RECALL OF DORD LUCAN. The Earl of LUCAN said,—l rise, my lords, in pursu anoe of notice, to move for a copy of Lord Raglan's report of the Battle of Balaklava. I consider it due to your lord ships and tomyself not to foregotbis, the first, opportunity which has occurred to me to make a statement of what was my conduct on the day of that battle, and at the same time to show what has happened since in reference to it. Up to the present moment I have most scrupulously ab stained from saying one word in this house upon this sub ject. Having applied for a court-martial, I considered that court the most competent to deal with charges exclu sively of a professional character. As long as I could hope to have each a tribunal it beat became me to be silent in this house, but, my lords, this has been resolutely refused me, and I am told as a reason for this refusal that there is no precedent for such a court-martial, and therefore I cannot have one. My lords, I believe that it is equally unprece dented that an officer of high rank should be summarily recalled from the army in the field, and that he should have charges of the greatest severity reflecting on his pro fessional character brought against him four months after the event, he having in the meantime commanded his divi sion before the enemy. I believe it to be equally unpre cedented on his arrival home—these charges being br ou g ht for the first time against him—that he should not be lowed an opportunity of meeting or refuting them- Having failed in my application for this court.martial, w hen come to make my statement in this house I am met by the Minister of War, who warns your lordships against allow ing this house to be made the arena for the discussion of mili tary discipline. He also warns you against trenching on the prerogative. There is no noble peer in this house less inclined than myself to trench on the prerogative. I freely admit that her Majesty has the power to recall from the array , and the service any officer she thinks fit, but I tell the Minister of War when he, as the adviser of the Crown , can a dvise the exercise of that p reroga ti ve, h e mus t not allow himself to accompany that recall with charges discreditable and disgtaceful. As in the case of a person in the noble lord's employment, he would undoubtedly have a right to dismiss him, but he could not make charges of a disgrace ful nature against him without affording him an oppor tunity of proving their inaccuracy. I cannot believe that in this house, however your lordships may be disposed to pay attention to precedent, or however sacred you may be disposed to hold the prerogative, you will prefer either precedent or prerogative to justice. It will be necessary for me to trouble your lordships at some length, and in my endeavour to exculpate myself it is my intention and my wish not to inculpate others. (Hear.) It is now my intention to make this matter as clear as I can, and I shall now have to take your lordships to the Battle of Balaklava. At about eleven o'clock on the 24th of October that excellent soldier Sir Colin Campbell —I cannot allow myself to mention in this house the name of that officer, with whom I was acting in concert for four months, with out stating that a more (reliant or useful soldier never existed! in the army- (cheers)—forwarded to me a letter stating that a spy had arrived with news of the approach of the Russian army. I immediately joined Sir Colin Campbell. We examined the spy, and we thought the re port he brought so deserving of attention that Sir Colin Campbell wrote a letter to Lord Raglan, which I though t of such importance that I ordered it to be conveyed by any aide-de-camp, who happened that day fo be my son. The spy reported that 20,00 J infantry and 5,000 cavalry wei e marching on our position at Balaklava from the south and 'I south-east. My aide-de-camp told me that he delivered the letter to General Airey, who made no reply, and that. he subsequently met Lord Raglan, who only said that if any thing new should happen it must he reported to him. At this time we were accustomed to be mounted au hour before daylight, and immediately at dawn I proceeded to the fort No. 3 on the plan. (A. plan of the position had been fur nished to all their lordships, and the noble earl continually referred to it.) This was the extreme fort of our position. I then found that heavy columns of infantry were advanc ing from Tchernaya river and from the Kamera range. Sir C. Campbell prepared his troops and battery on the left of No. 3 fort, and I brought my cavalry in position and posted my battery on the left of No. 3 fort. The engage ment commenced very soon afterwards, and Nos. I, 2,3, and 4 forts were attacked by the Russians. No. 1 was driven in after a very respectable resistance. I am anxious to state this, because the Turks on the occasion got less credit than they deserved. No. 2 fort was then driven in. There were in these forte in all 9 English guns. After these forts were evacuated by the Turks I, by previous concert wtth Sir C. Campbell, brought my cavalry close to No. 5 fort. The cavalry wore particularly well placed in a position to receive in flank any Russian force which might come from the east. To my great discomfiture, I received an order from Lord Raglan to take the whole of the cavalry and take ground en the second line of the redoubtsoccurieci by the Turks. By this order all the cavalry were moved in a mass to the westward of N0.6-fort. Tliertverintanding 1n mass according to Lord Raglan's order, when through the orchard, I saw some Russian cavalry coming over the kill. I ought to mention, that just before, I had received an order that part of the cavalry just moved should go back to Balaklava ; and eight squadrons of heavy dragoons had just gone a-quarter of a mile on their way when I saw the Russian cavalry advancing. I rode at speed, and just succeeded in joining the cavalry as they rounded the or chard, and had just time to wheel up the Greys and Ennis killen Dragoons and to order a charge under General Sear lett. As the Russian cavalry advanced with wings our cavalry oily covered their centre, and, their two wings outflanking them, wheeled inward and enveloped our force. Having the sth Dragoons disposable, I took the opportunity of attacking the Russians in the rear. This shook their column, but did not break it, when I ordered the 4th Dragoon Guards to charge. They did so, and this enormous column of Russians, consisting of five times as many as their assailants, and amounting at least to 3,500 men was repulsed and routed. (Cheers.) I should do little justice to the heavy brigade if I did not take this opportunity of stating how they had distin guished themselves. (Cheers.) I believe there never was an action in which the English cavalry more distinguished themselves than in this action, and what were its results? They were most important. Lord Raglan has told you that the Russian infantry amounted to 25,000 men on that occasion ; and that great masses were moving up the centre valley between Nos. 1,2, 3,4, and were marching on Balaklava, but when that large mass of routed cavalry fell • back on the infantry, it induced them to retire. This cavalry charge was not only a wonderful feat of arms, but its results were of more importance from this fact that no infantry had come down to oppose tho Russian infantry, excepting a portion of the 93d Regiment, under Sir C. Campbell. Ido not think there is a disposition in this country to do fall justice to that charge. The French, than whom there are perhaps no better soldiers in the world, and who understand the science of war to a greater extent than any other European army, did full justice to it, for they looked upon it as one of the greatest feats of arms in military history. It has been asked why there were not more men present at the charge ?—why I did not take advantage of the light cavalry ? My answer is, that Lord Raglan had placed them in a position in which they were altogether out of my reach. After the charge we dismounted, and the prisoners were being taken away when I received an order (No. 3) from Lord Raglan, which I think will create much discussion. At that moment the heavy dragoons were very much in the position which had been occupied by the Russian columns. Tho order put into my hands was— " The cavalry to advance and take advantage of any oppor tunity to recover the heights. They will be supported by infanty, which has been ordered. Advance on two fronts," The original order did not say " to advance," but it is pos sible that the word " to" may have been inserted by mistake in the copy which I furnished to Lord Raglan, and I therefore wish to impute nothing to his lordship with respect to it. There was a full stop after the wont " ordered," there was no " to," and there was a large A to " advance." It would have made a great difference if " to" had been inserted and " advance" had commenced with a small " a," so as to make the whole one sentence. But the sentence, " Advance in two fronts," stood by it self. Immediately on receiving this order, I took up a position to the eastward with nine squadrons of cavalry, the heavy cavalry, being in the rear of the front marked No. 5 on the plan, which was merely a sort oflsreastworlr. When we first mounted our horses the infantry wet o coin ing down the hill from the Sebastopol heights, and theme wore no infantry in the valley. I was anxiously waiting their arrival, as I had been told that they were to support me in endeavouring to recover the heights. I had been waiting here for 35 or 40 minutes, when Captain Nolan galloped up with what I considered, and what I think your lordships will consider as a fresh order, quite inde pendent of any previous order. The order was to this effect : " Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy we lrlilla away the guns. Troop of horse artillery may 7'''''PanY• French cavalry is on your left." ' eura elan when he gave this order was upon very high could se the ta Ru quarter of a mile to my rear, whore he au the infant %man cavalry to the north and east, and s hi p a l so fanc r i Y e d:al: a lie other aide of No. 3 fort. His lord man who laboured un der d ho saw —and he was not the only in fact, I did not see. n 2,3, and 4 forts, °omelet" e t t n the same impression—although, Nos. I, taking our rb uns out of sent this order to proventapoefiTwiiinn: off, and. Pceoruefldorei'e I move pr o ducement T_ nt s F t hey yet there m a - t ere under wasl dzisreaaiet prove; very much the danger attending it ; but if your lordships a will read my letter explaining what passed. (Hear .) rue I "In your lordship's report of the ca.valry action ), in the liners , ° I "ala klava of the 25th ult., given which have just arrived from England, you. observ e that, /Fein som e Tuhicon. eeptiou of the instruction to advance, the lieutenant -general considered that he was bound to attack at all hazarasti. he accordingly ordered Lord Cardigan to move m m. grave ch arg e , and a oveforwardvgith the light brig lard, Surely, lay , this and au imputation reflecting seriously on my professional cha racter. I cannot remain silent. It is, I feel, incumb e nt n be.irite f rom en nse. , to state those facts which I cannot doubt n rtt e what I respectfully submit is altogether u nmerited. The ca valry was formed to support an intended . the t of the infantry, when Captain Nolan, the aide-de-camp of Qaar termaster-General, came up to me at speed , and p laced in u ry hands this written instruction." (The noble earl then repeated the order and proceeded.) I certainly understood the order to be an imperative and positive order to be takes per se, even before anything h ad been said by the aide-de-camp, but when I spoke to the aide-do-camp he told me somethine that Lord Raglan did not say in the order —namely, tha * t his lordship intended that the cavalry should attack immediately. " After carefully reading this order, I hesitated and urged I the uselessness of such an attack and the dang,crsattending it. The aide-de-camp, in a most authoritative tone, stated that they were Lord Raglan's orders thatthe cavalry should attack immediately. I asked him, Where, and what to dor " I think it is right that I should now read to your lordships what an aide-de-camp is. The general orders of the army, r ~i ~/_.~~iT which no officer can violate with impunity, say,—" All or ders sent by aides-de-camp are tobedelivered in theplainest terms, and are to beobeyed with the same readiness as if de livered personallyby a general officer." I ask any military man—l ask the noble duke near m e (the Duke of Richmond) who has been aide-de-camp to no less a man than the Duke of Wellington—whether an aide-de-camp is not the organ of his general, and whether an officer who took upon himself not to receive an order brought by an aide-decamp would not risk his commission ? If this were not so, why could not an orderly dragoon deliver an order as well a' an aide-de-camp? An aide-de-camp is chosen because he is an officer of more education and intelligence than a dragoon, and is therefore more likely to convey an order correctly; he is also supposed to be in the confidence of his general. I shall be told that Captain Nolan was not in the confidence of his general. Was he not? General Airey told me this,—" I first of all communicate') the order verbally to Captain Nolan. Captain Nolan turned his horse and was galloping away, when I called him back and pet it in writing." Under such circumstances, I would ask any reasonable man whether I am to be told that any mistake was committed on the part of Captain Nolan ? The words of Captain Nolan were that the ca valry should attack immediately ; and I may here quote from my letter to Lord Raglan what passed between my self and Captain Nolan e " I asked him, Where, and what to do ?' as neither enemy nor guns were within sight. He replied, in a most disre spectful but significant manner, pointing to the further end of the valley, `There, my lord, is your enemy ; there are your guns.' So distinct, in my opinion, was your written instruc tion, and so positive and urgent were the orders delivered by the aide-de-camp, that I felt it was imperative on me to obey, and I informed Lord Cardigan." My lords, I here wish to bring another matte r under your consideration. The words of the order were those "French cavairy is on your left." Now, the French ca valry were not within my reach—in fact,. they aw I n pre not within three-quarters of a mile of my position, d had reason to suppose that they were much nearer to Lord Raglan than to me. They were entirelyc out of my sight, and out of my reach ; and what was the meaning of the words " French cavalry is on your left," but to inform me that I was to receive support from that French cavalry, and that the French cavalry were to act with me in a combined movment Had I failed in an y part of the duty intrusted to me, I felt performing have placed the French ca v a l r y in a position tia I should w t i ich it would have been difficult for them to defend themselves. (Hear, hoar.) I felt perfectly satisfied as to what my duty was, and that I could not hesitate under the circumstances. I accordingly desired the light brigade to advance, and your lordships are well acquainted with the brilliant character of the charge which was then made by Lord Cardigan. (Cheers.) It is impossible to exae * gerato the gallantry of the British troops on that day, and, from all that I have witnessed, I believe that a more brilliant charge was never made. (Cheers.) I may now tell your lord ships what arrangements I made when I found, as I con sidered, that I had no choice left in the matter. I thought that a senseless attack was about to be made, and I endea voured to take measures to render it as safe as possible. I formed the cavalry in three lines, and I brought up, not, my lords, two regiments of heavy dragoons, as it has been supposed, but every heavy dragoon I had. It isundoubtedly true that in my letterof the 30th of November I only men tioned having brought up two regiments of heavy cavalry, but everybody knows that I had in support, in addition to those two regiments, the 4th Dragoon Guards, the fith Dra goon Guards, and the Enniskillen Dragoons. I myself fol lowed the light brigade up to near No. 3 fort. It is a mistake to suppose that I ever imagined the charge could be successful by the aid of one brigade alone.. I thought that the services of the whole division were called for, and the only reason why the whole of the division was not in the same difficulty as the light brigade is, that when I found the perfectly hopeless nature of the charge, and that any further advance of the heavy dragoons would merely lead to their destruction without rendering assist ance to the light cavalry, I prevented them from advan cing, and placed them in a position where they would be enabled to render the most effective support to the light brigade. (Hear.) The consequence was that they were not pursued; and can any man assert that they would not have been pursued if the enemy had not seen that the heavy ca valry were watching their movements? (Hear, hear.) It is right to tell your lordships that at this time the first di vision, commanded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, and the fourth division, commanded by an officer whose death your lordships must much lament—Sir George Cathcart -advanced, and it is also right that your lordships should recollect that both these officers were icy seniors, and were, therefore, my commanding officers. Having gone so far, it is now proper that I should deal with the letter of Lord Raglan. Oa the night of the ac tion at Balaklaya I saw Lord Raglan, and the first remark made to me by his lordship was --" Why, you've lost the light brigade." I denied that I had lust the light brigade, and I said—" I felt myself obliged to early out your lordship's orders." Lord Raglan made no further remark upon that occasion, except to say that I, being a lieutenant-general, ought to have exercised my own discre tion. Notwithstanding that Lord Raglan, as commander in -chief, was upon the spot at the time, and far better able to see what was going on than myself, his lordship said to me that if I disapproved the charge, as a lieutenant-gene ral I had a discretionary power and ought not to have made it. He said, " You did not advance far enough in the movement before," but he never attempted to show that one order had the least connection with the other. The day but one after the action at Balaklava Gen. Airey called upon me in my tent. The moment he came in I said " General Airey, this is a most serious matter ; you may depend upon it, it will create a g reat deal of talk and dis satisfaction at home." GeneralAirey's reply was, "Oh ! these sort of things will happen in war; its nothing to Chillianwallah." (Hear, and a laugh.) I said, "I know nothing about Chillianwallah ; but I tell you, Gen.Airey, that this is a most serious affair; and what is more, I tell you that I do not intend to bear the smallest particle of responsibility. I gave the order to charge under what I considered a most imperative necessity, anal will not, bear the blame." General Aire7 thou tried to convince me that the order was not imperative, and after some conversation with him upon other matters, I said, " Now be careful, General Airey, that no responsibility is placed upon me, for I will not bear any." His reply was, " You may rest quite satisfied, Lord Lucan. You will be pleased with Lord Raglan's report." Perhaps I had better here call your lord ships' attention to the fact that throughout the whole of this conversation General Airey, though he had signed the two orders which I received from Lord Raglan, never gave me any reason to suppose that there was any connection between the two. Had the last order been in any way connected with the first, would he not naturallyhave called my attention to the fact? But he did no such thing. He never pretended that the last order had the slightest or remotest connection with that which preceded it. Now, my lords, I did not expect that any injustice would be done to me at home. In my simplicity I even omitted to supply the English public, who do not appear to deal very justly with their absent friends, with a copy of the order I received. I did nothing until Lord Raglan's re port arrived at the end of November ; and I beg to evil your lordships' attention to what then happened. On the 28th of November I read Lord Raglan's report in the newspaper, and I felt exceedingly hurt and grieved to receive at the same time several letters from my friends asking what I had been doing, and saying that my conduct had been strongly censured at home. I considered what I should do, and I thought the most model ate course I could take would be to wait upon Lard Burghersh. I accordingly waited upon Lord Burghersh, and said, "I come to you more as a nephew of Lord Raglan than as his aide-de-camp. I feel greatly grieved at the report which his lordship has made, but Ido not wish to say anything which can give Lord Raglan the slightest pain. Will you ask Lord. Raglan to see me, so that we can talktke matter over in a friendly way ?" Lord Burghersh came over to me the next day, an:! said, "If you particularly desire to see Lord Raglan ho will see you, but he is very much occupied at this mo ment." I replied, " I can very well believe that Lord Raglan would rather not have any conversation with me, but it has occurred to me that it would not be objection able to Lord Raglan if I were to write a letter to him explaining the facts, and requestin g him to send it to England." Lord Burghersh immediately brightened up, and said, "Lord Raglan can have no objection to that, if that is all yox require." I replied, " I require nothing more on earth than that the English public should know the facts of the case ;" and I added, " If in ray letter there should be anything offensive or annoying to Lord Raglan, if he will be kind enough to point it out I shall have great pleasure in altering it." Now, my lords, I don't think that was either an unfriendly or a disrespectful communication to make to my commander-in-chief. I wrote the letter that very night, as the post was going out on the Ist or 2d of December; and I delivered it early next morning in the hope that Lord Raglan would have sent it by that post. But I heard nothing more of the letter until the 4th of . . December. On that day. an aide-de camp of General Airey called upon me and began to talk about the hutting of the horses. At last he said, " General Airey will be glad to speak to you upon that subject." Well, my lords, I went to General Airey, and he began in a rambling manner to talk about the lautting for the horses ; but after some time he produced my letter, and said, " The real object of my wishing to see you is with respect to this letter," I said, " That letter ! I believed that letter to have been half on its way to England by this time." Ha replied, "No ; Lord Raglan thinks that this letter is very unnecessary. You have received the thanks of her Majesty and the thanks of the Minister of War ; surely you ought to be sat sled." I said " General Airey, I don't know way lamtobe so particularly grateful. I think both her Ma jesty and the Minister of War have said quite as much as Lord Raglan's report would have warranted ; but if you put the question to me whether I am charmed with this repast of Lordßaglan, I saY I think my Lord Raglan was exceed ingly scanty when he came to my praise. I wanted nothing more than justice in that report, but when I recollect that with 700 men I have successfully repelled the attack of some thing like 3,000 or 4,000 men, and I repelled i t undortho most disadvantageous circumstances, I do not see in that report anything with which lam very much enetnoured. But I have only touched upon this subject in consequence of your having sent for me, for if you had not, I should never have mentioned it either to you or any soul living." I also said, "I am very much annoyed by the word ' miscore caption ; there was no misconception of the order." Gen eral Airey answered, " Lord Raglan is very much annoyed by this letter, and says that no power on earth shall in duce him to hange his report." My reply was, " I have not expressed any wish that he should change his report ; it would be most unreasonable that I should ask him to do so, for I take it for granted that when ho made that report ho believed it to be true, and I have no right to ask him to change it. I only ask him to carry out what I understood to be agreed upon—namely, that my statement of facts should be sent with it to England." General Airey, not a very unskilful diplomatist, then thought he would take a higher tone, and threaten ; he was sure that Lord Raglan would be so annoyed about it that he would wish me to be sent back to England. I said I was very sorry, bat I could not help that. Lord Raglan had not objected to the letter ; it was written by agreement, and I did net ask him to change his report. Upon that Gen. Airey changed round all a t once . " Oh," sa id h e , "if y ou d on 't ask Lord Raglan to change his report he had no objection to 7 b n i : l o ,.t,.h,e e statement." and upon that we parted. On the Ihim accordingly, saerin'.'? Lorduth I got another letter from Qeneral Airey, some-7 a th g t .s o ß ui a v g e l t a s n a ti wished °n w it h very b immuch (Generaltha that A l i should rey). I m have et this letter at 4 : when he said, " Lord Raglan don't like Fell, not see it. Point out to me where justice." I said, ~i e d s ay s You have charged him with in ter beating about and hesitatime I have done so." Pointed seid " There." I said a long time, he tea o a the word "unmerited," and Raglan had had this letter tes: d v ery extraordinary—Lord any alteration, and it was drat g r ih l a he(cl should red to snake ob ject to that ono word. General Airetyhsailr his now said something about the cavalry, upon which I said,ldshi p I to understand that you, as quartermaster -general 'f'Air army, say that his lordship is dissatisfied with the tcom mandere of the cavalry ?" He said," laQ not mean that;" but, said I, " You said someth ing 'Well, butto that effect." Then, my lords, he said, L really, aft er all, it was agreed betwe en yourself and Lord B urg l ieesh that any word i objected to should be removed," an d b understanding that any little we parted with the thorough THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 20, 1855 difficulty about the word " unmerited" was explained away, and that the letter was to go. My lords, I heard no-more of this letter, and fancied it had gone to England by the next post., but it did not appear to have gone till two posts after. I now come to the letter of observation, bat before ladvert to it I may be permitted to say—and I believe I can say it with truth—that there never has been anything approach ing to a quarrel betweeeu myself and Lord Raglan, but that all our communications since have been as friendly as they were previously, and fully as friendly as with any other divisional officer. My lords, on the 13th of February I received my recall, and I now come to the letter of obser vation, and I will enter into an undertaking with your lordships that I will refute every sentence and every word in that letter of observation. I will read it to your lord ships, and I will tear it to rags : "My Lord Duke,—l regret to be under the necessity of forwarding to your Grace the copy of a letter which has been addressed to me by Lieutenant-General the Earl of Liman. When I received it I placed it in the hands of Brigadier-General Airey, the quartermaster-general, and re quested him to suggest to his lordship to withdraw the com munication, considering it would not lead to his advantage in the slightest degree." Now, my lords, I have given your lordships every word which passed between Brigadier-General Airey and my self. and I put it to your lordships whether he asked me to withdraw the communication ? No doubt he wished me to do so. and tried to induce me to do so, but that he did not put that question to me I boldly and solemnly assert. His lordship continues " But, Lord Lucan having declined to take the step I re commended, I have but one course to pursue, that of laying the letter before your Grace, and submitting to you such ob servations upon it as I am bound in justice to myself to put you in possession of. Lieutenant-General the Earl of Lucan complains that in my despatch to your Grace of the 28th of October I stated that from misconception of the instruction to advance the lieutenant-general considered ho was bound to attack at all hazards. His lordship conceives this state ment to be a grave charge, and an imputation reflecting seri ously on his professional character, and he deems it incumbent upon him to state those facts which he cannot doubt must clear him of what ho respectfully submits is altogether un merited. I have referred to my despatch, and far from being to recall one word of it, I am prepared to declare that not only did the lieutenant-general misconceive the written instructions that were sent to him, but tint there was no thing in that instruction which called upon him to attack at all hazards." My lords, I never said there was, and if your lordships wil refer to my letter of the 30th of November you will no see one word of the sort ; on the contrary, I always talked of movement. It is perfectly true that Captain Nolan told me there was to be an attack, but I never said there was to be an attack. I never used the word " attack," but this word " attack," which was used by Lord Raglan, he endeavours to fasten upon me. Lord Raglan proceeds :—" There was nothing in that in struction which called upon him to attack at all hazards, or to undertake the operation which led to such a brilliant display of gallantry on the part of the light brigade, and, unhappily, at the same time, occasioned such lamentable casualties in every regiment composing it. In his lordship's letter he is wholly silent with respect to a previous order which had been sent him." Unquestionably I was, and I was equally silent with respect to orders 1 and 2 ; I had received altogether three orders ; and why, in the name of Heaven, should I be expected to allude to an attempt to dovetail three separate orders ? But I defy any person reading the two orders in question to fin' the least connec tion between them. At all events, General Airey never once attempted to do so, although his signature was at tached to them all. This previous order was in the fol lowing,. words :—" The cavalry to advance and take advan tage of any opportunity to recover the heights." Very well. You have the map before you. The cavalry were to advance, and the order goes on to say, " They will be supported by infantry, which has been ordered to advance in two fronts." Now, the infantry never were so ordered. The Duke of Cambridge never received any order to ad vance, nor did Sir George Cathcart ; because my aide-de camp went to Sir George to ask him, and ho said he could not, because he had had no instructions to do so. (Hear.) Under these circumstances, I did all I could do. I put myself in the position which Lord Raglan's aide-de-camp told me to take up, and I was waiting there for the co operation of this infantry which was to support mo—which infantry. for want of orders, were stationary, and had their arms piled. Now, from 35 to 40 minutes had elags3dbetween the arrival of the two orders, Lord Raglan being on the hill all this time; and if the former movement which I was ordered to snake had been mismanaged his lordship was surely close enough to see it, and could have given directions accordingly. I am not to suppose that Lord Raglan was not looking on between the delivery of the first and the second of these orders, and, therefore, if ho found that the first had not been properly carried out, ho had nothing to do but to send an aide-de-camp and call my attention to it, and say " You have not executed this movement exactly as I wished it to be executed." But nothing of the sort ;he sends an order that the cavalry are to advance to the front, and " take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights." Now, what did taking advantage of any oppor tunity mean ? Was Ito create the opportunity myself, or was it to be created for me by the infantry ? As to re covering the heights, the fact was there was not a single Russian on the heights. In the morning redoubts 1,2, 3, and 4, upon the evacuation of the Turks, became occupied by the Russians ; but after the heavy dragoon charge the enemy evacuated No. 4, and there was not a single Russian until you came to No. 3 fort. Now, I ask any military man here present, what the cavalry were to do in order to "recover the heights," when the whole of the enemy upon those heights were in redoubt No. 3, the strongest of the whole, or beyond it ? Did Lord Raglan intend the cavalry to attack that redoubt ? Was it not more reasonable that the infantry should attack, and that the cavalry should wait for the opportunity of cutting off the retreat of the Russians, when the infantry had succeeded in their attack? (Hear, hear.) I ask, will the order admit of any other construction? Had I given an other directions than those which I actually gave, should I eket have been justly charge able with imprudence? There were no heights to recover, but there were three forts, Nos. 1,2, and 3, to recover, and I know when the infantry were ordered down to our position it was intended to recover them. It was the wish of Sir George Cathoart to attack them, but it was thought that, as they could not be held, they were not worth the loss of life which would certainly attend any attempt to recover them. I have now shown, I think, that there is not a single sentence thus far which I have not shivered. But Lord Raglan goes on to say :—" So little had he sought to do as he had been directed that he had no men in advance of his main body." Now the fact is that Lord Cardigan's brigade was so much in advance that I received a communication from his lordship through his aide de-camp, objecting to stand where he was, because he was so much in advance that he ex pected the batteries on the left to open upon him. I think, therefore, that I have disposed of that statement, for it would have been very imprudent to place my men more in advance than they actually were.—" He made no attempt to regain the heights" (No ; first of all, because there were no heights to regain, and, secondly, because I was waiting for the co-operation of the infantry); "and was so little informed of the position of the enemy that he asked Captain Nolan where and what he was to attack, as neither enemy nor guns were in sight." Now, if your lordships will only read my letter, you will understand in what tone anti in what manner I put that question to Captain Nolan. I was extpressing to him the absurdity and uselessness of the order, and when he persisted in telling me to attack, I said, " Attack, Sir ! attack what ? and where ? Where is your enemy ? " I knew very well whore the Russians were, not having lost sight of them since 6 o'clock in the morning. "What guns are those we aro to recover ?" I asked. " There," said Captain Nolan, and he pointed exactly to where the Russian battery was. Your lordships should observe this. I have stated theim preesion which prevailed that the Russians were taking away our guns from forts 1,2, and 3, and the spot pointed to by Captain Nolan was the only road by which they could bo taken away. Now, those guns were never moved. The whole thing was a misapprehension, or, to use a snore popular word, a misconception. The letter proceeds— " This is the lieutenant-general's own admission. The re sult of his inattention to the first order was, that it never occurred to him that the second was connected with, and a s epetition of the first. He viewed it as a positive order to attack at all hazards." (The word " attack," be it observed, was not made use of in General Airey's note.) Now, my lords, I altogether dispute the inference here drawn as to the use of the word " attack." [Lord PAN MURE here made an observation that was inaudible in the gallery.] My lords, I thought I had shown just now that the orders of an aide-de-camp are to be received as the orders of the general himself; and did I not th a mt u y tema. aete immediately iorn t al t C dyße, e l,:y, i; Cap If tain t Nolan hi s was aordered so, then m was to surelyattack orderedenem t y o a and will i a l tv l oa g u i , v c, e e p y rra c ep u vie r tni l l o ty r: t l tho s h etm i h p a s f if a .or n om o n t t h :_ e r r rti argument.l n"foalwloawy the guns.' Now, I confidently ask any military man what that means if it does not mean immediate attack? (Hoar, hear.) Were we, in the face of such an order, to stand with our hands in our pockets ? (Laughter.) Were we not clearly called on to pursue till wo reached the enemy ? Will the noble lord opposite say what I was to pursue ? Lord PANMURE, when ho interrupted the noble earl, had simply pointed out to him that the word "attack" was used in his own letter. He had made no comment whatever. The Earl of LUCAN—What I ehject to is the phrase here used, " attack at all hazards." But, to proceed, I was told that hi carryieg out this operation " a troop of horse artillery may accompany." Your lordships will observe that the word " may" was used. I considered so much of the . order as discretionary, and, I may say, I never exer cised more discretion in my life. Just fancy a troop of horse artillery proceeding through this field, which was a ploughed field, at a gallop, to face three of the Russian guns opposite. Why, there is not a noble lord here who will not think as I did, that if I had taken these guns into that valley the horses would have fallen, and the gun s would have been lost without ever coming into action, or with any probability of doing so. (Hear , hear.) • I , how ever, exercised the discretion which I thought was reposed in me, and saved your guns. (Hear, hear.) Then the letter proceeded—" He was informed that the French ca valry was on the loft, and he did not invite their co operation." This is a most extraordinary charge. Why, in the first place, we had that co-operation without seeking it, and, iu the next place, they were out of sight on the other side of the ridge of the Inkerman valley, and much nearer to Lord Raglan and General Canrubert than to me. I could not tell whether there were 300 or 3,000 French cavalry, and I could not guess whither they were governed by subalterns or by a general. Moreover, I was told the attack was to be immediate, and I could net have reached the cavalry in less than a quarter of an hour. (Hear.) Bat, my lords, we had the co-operation of the French cavalry, and of the greatest use that co-operation was. There wore only three squadrons of French dragoons, and they took the battery in the flank and reverse, silenced the battery, and saved my brigade of heavy cavalry by so doing. (Hear, hoar ) It is next said—" He had the whole of the cavalry at his disposal ; lie mentions having brought up only two regi ments iu support." Now, in my letter of the 30th of No vember, I then montione:l two regiments, but Lord Rag lan must have seen that I had every heavy dragoon under my command in his proper place at that moment—that the whole five regiments of heavy dragoons were in lino at in tervals of 300 paces, which is the proper distance, and were the last men in the field. (Hoar, hoar.) It is after wards said—" Ho omits all other precautions from want of duo consideration," &c. Now, I cannot help thinking that I took every precaution that could be expected of me, and I should like to know what precaution I omitted to employ ? It is immediately added that I showed " a want of sue consideration." As to this charge, it must be evi dent, from what I have said, that I did not jump into this business bnt after a great deal of consideration. (Hear.) Then it is stated that I acted on the supposition that ll were.o dh half-paste like e kso n: ei n y oi my ky ‘ tn v hl e ooe r wr e , sy n v,oh o r not yn wheniinni tg s ach wash at hds n ue u pf i nbpa beenoc es e e r odi s ifn t a tthh s haee t t they really fileiddidf enemy, rnool know something of their force ? (Cheers.) My lords, I said I would answer every charge in that letter from Lord Raglan ; I said I would tear it to rags and tatters ; and I as k if there is a single word iu it that I have not fully answered? (Hear, hear.) I shall now allude to a letter from the Commander-in-Chief. When 1 am obliged, in my own defence, to refer to any communi cation of my Commander-in-Chief, I shall remember to whom I am referring, and it shall bo my endea vour to show him that respect to which he is entitled, and which I have accorded to the commander-in-chief ever since I became connected with the service. But, my lords, I must ask the Minister of War whether, when ho gave an extract from the letter io which I allude he was aware that he was not giving the exact copy of the letter sent to me, but that, whether accidentally or purposely, there has been an additional paragraph added to it. I wish to know whether that was done purposely or accidentally ? Lord PANMURE--I was not aware of any difference. The Earl of LUCAN—The letter states :—" It is to be regretted that the lieutenant-general, acting upon a mis conception of a written order, did not show that order to Lord Cardigan." Of course, my lords, if the commander in-chief tells me it is the duty of a lieutenant-general to show his orders to his two major-generals, unquestionably that will be my guide for the future, but certainly I never conceived it to be the duty of a general to do so. There was no more reason why I should show that letter to Lord Cardigan than to General Scarlett, because it was not in- tended to be an attack of a brigade but of the whole divi sion, for which reason I placed myself in the rear of one brigade and in advance of the other. I cannot understand how it could possibly be ray duty to discuss the order with my major-general, unless it were supposed I had a wish to throw on him a responsibility which ought solely to attach to myself. (Hear, hear.) And that, influenced by the authoritative tone and disrespectful manner of the aide de-camp, he did not decide upon his own judgment." With the greatest respect for the noble viscount, I ask why he supposes I allowed myself to be influenced in any way, except by a sense of duty, to carry out the orders conveyed to me? Ido not know where the noble lord has been so informed, but I ask the noble lord to tell me how I showed myself to be influenced by the tone of the aide-de-camp ? I altogether deny that I was influenced by anything said or done by th a t a id e -d e - cam p. I wa s influenced by a sense of ditty, which imposed upon me the necessity of carrying out what I considered an imperative order, and therefore I say, to impute that I a ll owe d my feelings or temper to be actuated in any way was not doing me full justice. (Hear.) "Supported by the concurrence of his major-general that the charge ought not to be made —I deny that it was necessary to ask the concurrence of anybody, or that a divisional general should consult with a brigade general. I think a divisional gene ral is, unfit to be at the head of his division if he does not consider himself fully qualified and fully able to carry out tho instructions ho receives from his commander-in-chief. (Hear.) I never did conceive it to be the duty of a divi sional general to consult with a brigade general, and I should very reluctantly adopt such a course. (Hear.) I have certainly heard many strange things said since my re turn in the way of private crit cism. I have heard it said, "You should have had moral courage enough to disobey your general." I say to you, my 'fords, I had not the moral courage to show myself insubordinate, and to con eider my opinion as superior to and overruling that of the commander-in-chief s (Hear.) Then I have been told it is asked, why I did not head the light cavalry charge? Be cause, had I taken the light cavalry charge I could not have commanded the cavalry division. (Hear.) It seems to be imagined that I was unexposed in the affair. All I can say is, that I was under No. 3 fort, with four staff officerstand out of five of us only one escaped untouched. My own aide-de-camp was killed. I was wounded myself. Another officer had his forage cap shot off close to his head. Another had a ball in his horse; and I think that for four out of a party of five to be struck is sharp prac tice. (Hear.) One reason of my recall is stated to be that I placed myself towards my general in a position which made it most advisable that I should be recalled. I could •ily have placed myself in that position by my letter of the 30th of November. I have no doubt that appeared to the noble duke to be a very uncourteous and insubor dinate letter, but I can assure the noble duke I never heard that letter so characterised by any other person. Perhaps the noble duke did not always think it is so very violent and immoderate. Perhaps, at ono time, ho thought it calm and temperate. If he did, I believe he only enter tained what is, at the present moment, the universal opinion. (Hear, hear.) lam ostensibly recalled on account of that letter, but, with regard to any quarrel, I never had a word of difference with Lord Raglan. Lord Raglan never found fault with a single act of mine, or said that I could do anything better. Long subsequently to the letter he very kindly received recommendations from me and appointed officers to my staff on my nomination. I have not only communicated with Lord Raglan since upon the subject of the command of the division, but on matters totally foreign to that command—respecting transport, ambulance, and other corps—and I therefore think, when the noble duke found it necessary to withdraw me from my com mand in consequence of bad feeling between me and Lord Raglan, the noble lord acted under a mieconceptioc. (Hear, bear.) I can tell your lordships a fact which will appear rather extraordinary. This recall, which, as your lordships are aware, came very unexpectedly on me, came as unexpectedly on Lord Raglan. My Lord Raglan, I am told, said he could not in any way account for it, that Ise never asked for it, that he did not understand what le meant that he knew nothing about it. My autho rity is GeneralSEstcourt, who told me, when I was putting my foot on board ship to come to England, that Lord Raglan could not guess, that he had not the least notion what occasioned the recall—that he was as en tirely ignorant of the cause of the recall as I was myself. I will tell your lordships how I obtained this command. When I heard of troops being embarked on active service I wrote to the Commander-in-chief asking for employment. Not believing much cavalry would be sent, I asked the corn• wander-in-chief to be good enough to appoint me to a brigade of infantry, stating that, having already served in the infantry, having served a campaign in Bulgaria, and being accustomed to foreign armies and foreign oftlers, I thought iny services might be useful. The noble lord, in the kindest manner possible, and I believe of his own accord, for which I have always felt I owe him a personal obligation, wrote to say the Government had determined on sending a division of cavalry, and to offer me that appointment. I very soon embarked, and I arrived in the East previously to the arrival of the division. Unlike many of my brother officers, I was blessed with continued good health. The consequence was, from the time that the division landed till the noble duke so summarily recalled me I was never absent one hour—one moment—from my duties. I believe I am not overstating it when I say there was no divisional general in the army who exerted himself more than I did. I believe I can say that not only was I constantly at my post and doing my duty, but that I was not altogether an unsuccessful general. During the time I was at the head of the cavalry division the flanks or rear of our army were 'never annoyed by Cossacks or the enemy's cavalry, and I had the good fortune to command and carry out all the details of the heavy dragoon charge at Baird:lava. (Hear.) Therefore I do not think I was altogether an unsuccessful general. (Hear.) I may be allowed to state that I acted in concert with Sir C. Campbell for four months, and what did he say at the time I came away? He said, "I shall always remember this, that when we had in the army croakers, grumblers, and dissatisfied men, you have always laughed at every difficulty"—(hear)—and that observation, coining from Sir C. Campbell, was very flattering to me. I knew that the Adjutant General of the army said, not to me, bat to others, "If they recall that officer they will re call a man who, while other officers are skulking and flinch ing from their duty, is always at his post." I am told that with regard to the battle of Balaklava I need not have obeyed that order—that I ought to have had moral courage not to have done so. But what is the opinion of all the military men—of all the best authorities in the field there? That the order was imperative, and that I had no choice ; and there was not a commanding officer of the ten regiments of my divisiou but said that the order was of a character that I dare not disobey. It is said you might have unquestionably taken another course ; but you could not have shown yourself in that army—you would have been hold responsible for the guns which it was erroneously imagined were being carried away. The censure would have been thrown on you,—you would have destroyed yourself. That is the opinion of every senior officer—the opinion of every officer whose opinion was worth taking in that army. lam talking of li eing officers, but I will now give you the opinion of an officer who, un fortunately for the army and tho country, is now no more, —I mean Sir G. Cathcart. I will give his opinion with regard to that cavalry charge, and with regard to my con duct. (Hear, hear.) This is a letter which 7Sir G. Oath ' cast could not have anticipated I should have seen ; it came under my notice by the merest accident. This opi nion is contained in a latter written by Sir G. Cathcart to Lady Georgina Cathcart. This letter was on his poison when he fell, an d w h en ta k en f rom hi s b o dy it was f oun d that a bullet had passed through it. The letter was written on the 2d of November, three days before the battle of Inkerman and eight after the Balaklava charge, and the following is the extract which refers to it : " I have another opportunity of writing to you. You will read about the affair a Balakiava in which the Light Cavalry Brigade suffered so severely. It was a most gallant, but un fortunate affair. Neither Lord Lucan nor Lord Cardigan was to blame, but, on the contrary, for they obeyed orders. • . . I was sent for with my division to set matters to rights, and did so as soon as wo could arrive, but we had six miles to march." Without wishing pour faire valoir, I may say that I did my duty, and I suddenly fled myself recalled. I am not told that I am recalled by the prerogative, but I am given to understand thatel am recalled in diegrace. for I defy yew lordships to put your fingers on a sentence in the letter contaioing a word of comfort. You might have endea voured to have softened the recall, but there was not ono word of consolation to be found. Before I left this country . her Majesty did me the honour, in consequence of my ap pointment, to invite me to Buckingham Palace. On their return from the army there has been no officer of any rank who has not received from her Majesty that gracious invitation ; but she has not—and I conceive could not do otherwi,e--thought me a proper person to receive that honour. I am positively in such a position that I have not been able to avail myself of even the satisfaction of waiting on her Majesty at a levee. I have troubled your lordships at some length, but I believe I could not have compressed what I had to say. To the Government I say—you have wronged—grievously wronged—as zealous a soldier as her Majesty has in her army. (Hear, hear.) I say to you, if you have acted in error, give my statement your attention, and if you become convinced that you have committed a gross injustice, I ask no more than this,—tha'.; you will reconsider your decision, and give me a court-martial and a fair trial. The Earl of CARDIGAN—I regret that I feel myself called upon to address your lordships upon this eccasion, because I came down with the firm determination and w i s h not to mix myself up in this question or to take a pa r t i n the pr ocee di ngs . (H ea r.) My lords, I only rise to correct a statement made with respect to myself. When the noble earl, in his address, said I sent my aide-de-camp to state that the force of the enemy were so numerous in front of the Light B. igade that I felt it difficult to hold my ground —(cries of "no") —yes ; those were his very words. I sent no such message whatever. In the message I sent, I said, observing a movement was going to be made, that the hills ou both sides of the valley, leading down the valley at right angles with it, ea which was the Russ'an battery, with the cavalry behind it, were occupied by Russian riflemen and artillery. I sent this message; and when the lieute nant-general came in front and ordered me to attack the battery in the valley, behind which was placed the large force of Russian cavalry—which had been perfectly per ceptible to myself and the whole of the Light Brigade for at least 20 minutes—my reply was, " Certainly, sir, but before I go I must be allowed to point out that the hills in both valleys are covered with Russian artillery and rifle men." The answer I received was, "They are Lord Rag positive orders." I immediately obeyed orders ; and so true was the report I had made with regard to the Rus sian batteries and riflemen that we had not advanced 20 yards before Captain Nolan, who was galloping in front at about the distance of 100 yards from the Light Brigade, and in no way leading the charge, was killed by a shell from one of those flank batteries which I had pointed out. I have nothing further to-say. I only wished to re move any nsiseonception as to my having said that the Light Brigade was not safe in the position in which they were placed. (Hear, hear. ) Lord PAN.AURE—I am sure your lordships will agree with me in thinking that a more painful discussion than the present has never been brought before this house, and that a gallant officer, whose courage, be it remarked, has never been accused, was never placed in such a position as that in which we have witnessed the noble and gallant earl. The noble and gallant earl has gone into detail as to his services, and has given the history of certain great and aallant actions in which he was engaged with great mi nuteness, which may have been extremely interesting ; but, at the same time your lordships will perceive this is a subject into which it is impossible for me to follow him ; it is a subject upon which I cannot presume to have an opinion. I must sayl am somewhat surprised at the course which the noble earl has taken, not only in making state ments which it is impossible for me to contradict or even in any way to modify, but also in making statements im pugning the discretionary powers of hie Commander-in- Chief and the orders and counter-orders given by him upon the eventful day in question. No one can regret more deeply than I do the existence of what has been called the misconception "of an order by any officer. The disastrous effects which attended that misconception were lamented throughout England; but I cannot say that I altogether regret the occurrence of a cavalry charge which will never be effaced from the history of British arms—(hear, hear)—or that I look u p on it as entirely ineffective, because it has carried into the heart of the enemy a terror of the British cavalry that I am quite convinced will be of good service to the army, for the very appearance of those squadrons in some future well-fought field may perhaps put to flight the squadrons of Russia even without the necessity of a collision. (Hear.) I had anti cipated that the noble and gallant earl—for gallant I admit him to he in every sense of the word—(hear, hear)—would have dwelt upon that part of his case upon which he has on former occasions laid so much stress—namely, his demand for inquiry at the hands of a court-martial. But the noble and gallant earl has simply referred to that point in the latter part of his speech ; he has contented himself with a vindication of his military conduct, and with laying before your lordships what he terms the injustice of the report to which he has referred, but he has altogether omitted to touch upon any of the doubts which I am sure must have arisen in his mind as to the legality of his claim to a court martial and the expediency and propriety of granting such an inquiry. With reference to the recall of the noble and ' gallant earl, I have simply to referto the statement in your lordships' hands. He states that it mightbeen more cour teously worded, so as not to have hurt his feelings as a soldier ; but I think it sufficiently sets forth that it is in no way connected with any doubt as to the gallantry of his conduct in the field. Differences had arisen between the noble and gallant earl and the Commander-in-Chief with regard to the term used by theCommander-in-Chief in the despatch wherein he attributes the unfortunate result of the charge to a misconception of his orders by the noble and gallant earl, and it was quite evident to her Majesty's Government that the confidence which ought to exist be tween the Commander-in-Chief and an either commanding a division in his army had to a certain extent been shaken. It therefore appeared to the Government and to my noble friend the Commander of the army, that it was for the benefit of the public service and for the advantage of the army that one or other of those officers should be so called, and, with all deference to the officer commanding the cavalry, I think he was the person to whom the recall ought to have been directed. The noble and gallant earl says that he is entitled to an inquiry into his conduct upon this eventful occasion. Now, if this had been a question confined to the noble and gallant earl, there might have been less difficulty in coming to a decision upon it ; but in this, as in all other military matters, a precedent set in the case of the noble and gallant earl must be followed throughout the army—what is law for him must also be hew for the meanest private ; and the question wises whe ther there are grounds in the complaint of the noble earl which would justify him in calling for inquiry, any more than a man in the ranks who has been censured by his superior officer, who has claimed a right to have that cen sure reversed by a military court. There is no law which can guide this case, except that law by which all armies are governed--either the Mutiny Act, or the Articles of War, or the custom of war. I have looked with care into the Mutiny Ao6 and the Articles of War—l have reviewed under the meet competent advice all the customs of war in cases similar to the present, and I cannot find in, the one or in the other any ground whatever for granting the in quiry before a military court which the noble and gallant earl has demanded. There are cases stated in the Mutiny Act in which a soldier has an option of being tried by a court-martial or of submitting to certain punishments, such as forfeiture of pay or imprisonment; but they are specifically recorded in the net and in the Articles of War for the information - the soldier, and among none of them can the case of the noble and gallant earl be ranked. But it may bo said that the peculiar circumstances of this case ought to make it on exception to the general rule. I cannot see any ground for their so doing. And here let me draw a distinction with respect to a word which has been frequently used by the noble and gallant earl. He says that cer tain charges have been brought against him by Lordßaglan. Now, no charge, in the technical sense of the word, bad been brought against him, and I will presently show your lordships that,in the technical moaningof thephrase,no charge could be brought against him by Lord Raglan. His conduct has been described by Lord Raglan as a miscone ception of orders, which led to unfortunate results. Has not such conduct as that been attributed to officers and general officers in former days over and over again During the Peninsular campaign did the Duke of Wellington never say that, owing to the misconception of one order, the non-fulfilment of another order by officers, certain great operations bad miscarried, and did the Duke of Welling ton ever dream of bringing those officers to a court martial, or have they ever been brought to a court-martial in consequence of such observations having been made ? If you are to recognise the right of every officer to be tried • by a court-martial who may make the claim on the ground of his feelings having been injured by remarks made by his superior officer, there would soon bo an end at once to all discipline in the arm, to all the power of the Com : mandendn-Chief, and to all -y control over the troops. But suppose wo were to recognise the right of the noble and gallant earl to an inquiry, by whom are the charges against himself to be framed ? Aro they to be framed by Lord Raglan himself? (Hear, from the Earl of Lucan.) The noble lord, who expresses his assent, knows little or nothing of military law. (The Earl of Lucan again cheered.) If the noble earl assents to that proposition he knows little or nothing of military law, or he would be perfectly aware that the first maxim of military law is that any officer or soldier who shall have been guilty of any crimes for which ho may be brought to a court-martial, if he shall have been employed upon any day before the court-martial takes place, such employment absolves him the crime he has committed. (Hear.) The person who would have had to frame the charges against him has con doned his offence, and cannot therefore make those charges. While I admit that the noble and gallant earl is competent to perform gallant and glorious actions in the field, I will not yield to him in the technicalities of military law, and I think ho will find that I am putting a proper interpretation upon them. (Hear.) If then, my lords, Lord Raglan cannot f rame th ese thi ngs , is the Judge-Advocate-General to frame them ? If I am right, I believe that tho person who would have had to frame them would have said, at the very outset, "These charges will never hold water. The crime or act has been condoned by the general officer in command of the army." (Hear, hear.) It is impossible, in such a case, that the sentence of any court-martial could be confirmed, or that the carrying out of aay such sentence could be re commended. Upon these grounds, therefore, even if it were expedient, it would be impossible to grant a court martial in this case. But I rest the whole facts of the ease with regard to a court-martial upon the question of disci pline. I resisted it on the question of discipline from the very beginning, for I believe that to grant a military in quiry in this case would be to strike at the root of the whole discipline of the army. (Hear.) Now, my lords, let us look at what happened last year. A military com mission sat upon the promotion of officers in the army. What can be so great an offence iu the eyes of en officer as to see himself passed over in a promotion ? That military commission, however, recommended that promotions for merit should be made by selection, and that officers of noted and general merit should be promoted out of their turns, and over the heads of other officers who wore their seniors. This, too, was to be done without any other rea son being given than the merit of the iudivi lual officers promoted. Now, if all the officers over whose heads other officers were promoted for merit were to complain of being passed ever, end were to claim an inquiry into their merit, I apprehend that it would be impossible to carry out the recommendations of the commissions. Without imputing to the noble earl anything whatever that could injure hie reputation as a soldier, either in point of courage in per son, or of conduct in the field, or upon any other matter except on these points of misunderstanding which have arisen between the noble earl and Lord Raglan, I think the Government can, without casting any re flection upon the noble earl, refute the inquiry for which he asks. lam afraid I can hold out no expectation of our reconsidering the determination to which we have arrived, and I am afraid I can give him no answer to the ex parte statement which he has made of the events which have attended the campaign in which he has been engaged. I only hope and trust, after the appeal which the noble and gallant earl has nutcle—after the opportu nity which your lordships have kindly given him of stat ing, in his own vindication, all the acts of his public ca reer during the last four months—that hero the matter will rest, and I do hope that when this ex parte statement goes forth to the Crimea it will not add to the anxiety of the gallant general to whom we are all so deeply indebted for the exertions ho is making for his country in the field of battle, nor render the position lie occupies s till more painful ran it must have been from all that has passed in this country during the last few months. (Hear, and cheers.) Viscount HARDINGE hoped that as the noble and gallant earl had referred to him in thecourseof his speech, their lordships would allow him to say a few words in ex planation. He regretted, with the Minister of War, that the statements made by the noble and gallant earl had been so one-sided and ex parte, and that the noble and gallant earl had thought it necessary to detail so much of what had passed between himself and Lord Raglan. It was perfectly impossible that any- person should he able to answer such statements on the instant ; but ho had the highest confidence in the honour and integrity of Lord Raglan, and, without imputing to the noble and gallant earl that he had rids-stated anything that had passed be tween himself and his Commander-in-Chief or Col. Airey, he had no hesitation in saying that nobody could read the firm and explicit words of Lord Raglan, in his despatch of ' the 16th of December, without perceiving that the noble and gallant earl was wrong in supposing that he was or dered to attack at all hazards. Lord Raglan said :—" I have referred to my despatch, and, far from beir"i willing to alter one word of it, I am p re p are d t o d ec l ar e that not only did the lieutenant-general misconceive the written instruction that was sent him, but that there was nothing in that instruction which called on him to at tack at all hazards, or t o un d er t a ke the operation which led to such a brilliant display of gallantry on the part of the light brigade, and unhappily, at the same time, occasioned such lamentable casualties in every regiment composing it." Tho despatch proceeded in the same strain, showing that Lord Raglan had no doubt in his own mind on the subject, and it then stated that the noble and gallant earl " was so little informed of the posi tion of the army that he asked Captain Nolan where and what he was to attack, as neither enemy nor guns were in sight.' This, your grace will observe, is the lieutenant general's own admission." Tho noble and gallant earl had stated in explanation that be obeyed the orders of Captain Nolan, but it was his duty to have obeyed the written order of Lord Raglan, and to have paid no attention to what Captain Nolan said. (1-lea.r,!hear.) There could be no doubt, from the following passage, that Lord Raglan considered his order discretionary, and not imperative:— " I undoubtedly had no intention that ho should make such an attack; there was nothing in the instruction to require it, and therefore I conceive I was fully jw i tifi e d iu stating to your-grace what was the exact truth—that the I charge arose from the mi sconcept i on of an order for tho I advance, which Lod Lac in considered obliged. him to at tack at all hazards." Their lordships would observe that the despatch from which ho quoted was written by Lord Raglan some time after ho had received the letter of the noble and gallant earl. Was it likely that a man of the strict honour and veracity of Lord Raglan would have stated in such strong and unmistakeable terms that he never meant his order to be imperative if the fact were not so ? Ho believed the noble lord had, to use his own emphatic words, stated " the exact truth," and that he never did intend the at tack should be made at allhazards. `Moreover, he would undertake to say with the greatest confidence, although he had not read the private corres pondence of Lord Raglan, that upon no occasion had his lordship reflected in the slightest degree on the conduct of the noble and gallant earl. For his own part, ho thought the noble and gallant earl ought to have shown the written order to the Earl of Cardigan, and taken his opinion upon it. The Earl of Cardigan had told him since his arrival in England that if ho had seen the order he would not have considered it an order to attack at all hazards, brat he should have thought him self justified in exercising his discretion. Ho believed the noble and gallant earl had no right to demand a court ; martial. His recall was a measure of prudence, and he was not entitled to make it the subject of a military inquiry. The Duke of RICHMOND expressed his earnest regret ' that this subject had been brought before their lordships. He thought the noble and gallant earl ought not to have added the weight of his high character to the attacks which had been made so unjustly upon the conduct and capacity of Lord Raglan. (Hear.) The noble earl had appealed to him to say whether an officer was not bound to obey the orders of his superior in command. There could be no doubt he was so bound to obey ; but he would tell the noble earl what Major-General Robert Crawford, who commanded the light division, did in the Peninsula. An aide-de-:amp took an order from the Duke of Wellington , to General Crawford, and then he did pretty much what Capt. Nolan did in the Crimea—he gave his advice as to hew, when, and where the attack was to be made. The reply of Crawford was, " When General Crawford seeks Colonel A—'s opinion, he will give it, but not till then." (Hear, hear.) ThA was the way in which he would have treated Capt. Nolan. (Hear, hear.) As ho understood it, the noble earl meant to say that he had re ceived both a verbal and a written order from Captain Nolan. [The Earl of Lucan—Hear, hear.] Then what, iu Heaven's name, was the good of sending a written order ? (Hear, hear.) He should not have himself regarded the order to " advance in pursuit" as one to attack the enemy at all hazards. (Hear.) The Earl of DERBY hoped that, after this painful perhaps, under the circumstances, unavoidable—explana tion, their lordships would be spared any further dis cussions on this subject. He was not prepared to say that there wore not legal and technical, as well as sub stantial, difficulties arising out of the exigencies of the public service, which might have rendered it impossible, or at all events inexpedient, to grant the court-martial or court of inquiry for which the noble and gallant earl had asked. But if it was impossible to afford him the opportunity of defending himself against charges, and accusations, and imputations upon his professional character, which seriously affected him in the opinion of the army and of the public, and perhaps also of his Sovereign, it was most unfortunate that the second letter of Lord Raglan, which contained these serious charges and imputations, was ever placed in his hands by the noble lord the Secretary of War, as indicating the reasons for which he was recalled. He did not think the noble earl would have had any ground for demanding a court-martial to inquire whether there had or had not been on his part a " misconception" of the order s g i ven t o hi m ; but when he was charged by the General Commanding-in-Chief with having committed the grime of disobeying a positive order, and that charge was stated officially by the Minister of the Crown as the reason why he was brought back to this coun try, to a certain degree under a cloud, then he said that the position of the noble earl was oue of great hardship, and one in which every noble lord must deeply sympathise with him. Nor could he blame his noble friend that, after having urged, entreated, and besought the Government to give him an opportunity to have his conduct investigatsd before the fittest—a military—tribunal, he should avail himself of his right to a seat in that house to make the plain, straightforward, and manly statement they had heard from hire that night. He was not going to enter into the merits of the question at issue between Lord Rag lan and the noble earl; but he must say that he thought the latter had been placed in a most unfortunate dilemma, from one of the horns of which it was hardly possible for him to ()serape by the exercise of any amount of judgment. He was accused by the noble lord the Commander-in-Chief (Lord Hardinge) with not having exercised, with regard to the order to advance the cavalry, that discretion which was to be expected from him as the lieutenant-general in com mand. But, on the other hand, his bad exercise of this dis cretion with respect to the former order, that the cavalry should occupy theheights, was in Lord Raglan's letter made the ground of a charge against him of positive disobedience of orders. (Hear.) Well, on receiving the second order, in oonsequence of not having obeyed the first, the noble earl conceived he had no discretion, and executed it; and then he was told that he should have exercised a discretion, and disobeyed the order. He (the Earl of Derby) would ask , their lordships what would have been said if, on the second . order having been sent, in consequence of his non-compli ance with the first, the noble earl had again abstained from obeying the order, and acted on his own discretion ? . (Hear.) There might, indeed, he some one man in ten theu , i eand who would venture to incur the responsibility of such a double disobedience of orders, acting on his own discre tion; to te noble earl that he conceived himself bound by such positive orders, even though he deemed them injudicious. Then the noble earl was accused of not having assumed the proper responsibility attaching to rank ofi ieutenant ' general,while, on the other hand, the Commander-in-chief : had blamed him for not having consulted the Earl of Car digan, because they were nearly of the same rank, both being major-generals—forgetting that the noble earl had the rank of lieutenant-general, and that the Earl of Cardi gan and General Scarlett were only major-generals com manding brigades under him, and were consequently of in ferior rank to himself. After expressing au earnest hope that the noble and gallant earl would not again feel it necessary to bring this subject before that house, his lord ship said that his gallant friend need be under no appre hensions that, whatever opinions people might form as to the responsibility attaching to him with respect to that brilliant but unfortunate charge of light cavalry, the coun try were likely to forget the important services which he and the officers under his command had rendered, nor that, on the very same day, ho had the merit of having ordered another almost equally brilliant and more success ful charge, under the command of his old and valued friend, General Scarlett, which covered with glory the troops who were engaged in it, and must reflect credit on the general who had the good fortune and the skill to direct -that important movement. Hisnobleand gallant friend would also have the satisfaction of reflecting that it was no fault of his if there had not been the fullest investigation of every part of his militaryconduct, and with that knowledge he (the Earl of Derby) trusted that he would thenceforth permit the subject to drop in that house, and would rely on the justice, the feeling, and the honour of his countrymen. (Cheers.) The Duke of NEWCASTLE said he was not about to enter into any discussion of the questions between the noble and gallant earl and Lord Raglan, because it was impossible for any one so imperfectly informed as all their lordships necessarily were with respect to the facts, to do this with out injustice to the latter noble lord. He thought, how ever, that the noble earl who spoke last had done injustice to Lord Raglan on one point, since he did not understand his lordship to make any complaint of his first order for the cavalry to advance not having been obeyed by the noble earl. He simply gave the fact as a reason why the second order was sent. Nor should he enter into the question of the propriety of granting the noble earl a court-martial. He was, however, confidant that his noble friend the Se cretary of War and the Commander-in-Chief had fully con sidered that subject, and had arrived at a conclusion on the fullest and most sufficient data. He could not, indeed, help regretting that it was not thought advisable for the sake of the army that such a court-martial should bo held, as it would undoubtedly go forth to the public that a gene ral who might have a seat in that house had over other officers advantages which it was most unfortunate he should possess. The noble earl who spoke last complained that his noble friend the Secretary of War should have given the noble and gallant earl the letter of Lord Raglan,which contained, he thought, accusations against him. But the noble earl forgot that the noble lord did not give the noble and gallant earl the letter until he had come forward in his place in Parliament, road a letter of his own to Lord Raglan, and made an ex parte statement on this subject. Then his noble friend did feel that it was only just to au absent man to give the noble and gallant earl Lord Raglan's letter, in order that he mi,ghtprodnee it if he thought fit, and thus put the house and the public in possession of the whole facts of the case. He thought his noble friend had acted with prfect fairness and propriety in taking this course, and that he had done no more than was requisite in justice to the noble lordat the head of the army in the Crimea in subsequently laying his lordship's letter on the table of the house. The noble and gallant earl having appealed to him on one or two points, ho could - Utisnro Vim that Lord Rag lan's private letters home were all couched in the kiudest spirit possible towards him, and that his lordship had made no complaints other than those which were contained in the papers before the house. The noble earl also asked if ho (the Duke of Newcastle) had not at one time said that the letter which be wrote to Lord Raglan was not calm and temperate in itself ? He had said so, nor had he ever altered that opinion ; but he had at the same time ex proceed an opinion that if that letter over came before the public, it must be most detrim en t a l t o th e pu bli c serv i ce and thei discipline of the army. lb (the noble duke) had only to say in conclusion that he had never performed any act of his official life with greater pain than when, in obe dience to a sense of his public duty, he felt compelled t recall the noble aid gallant earl. (Hear, hear.) The Earl of HARDWICKE differed entirely from his noble friend as to the inconvenience of discussions of this kind. He thought it was a great advantage to the House of Peers that officers of the army or navy who were mem bers of it should be able to come before them and to de fend themselves against charges which would cloud their honour and lower them in the opinion of the country. A similar course had already been pursued in the other house on behalf of a gallant admiral whose con dint had been im pugned, and whose case was brought under consideration by an hou. and learned member. The Marquis of BREA.DALBANE thought the noble earl took quite a mistaken view of the privileges cf their lordships' house, which were only given them for a useful purpose. When a peer became an officer in the army or navy he was as much amenable to military law as the meanest private in that service, and to take advantage of his privilege to bring before that house questions which ought only to be submitted to the militaryor naval autho rities, was not, he thought, a use of those privileges which would tend to the public advantage. The Earl of LUCAN, in reply, said the noble duke (the Duke of Newcastle) had charged him with betraying some private letters. The Duke of NEWCASTLE begged to contradict hit noble and gallant friend. All he said was that as his noble rend gallant friend had asked him whether he did not ex press a certain opinion with reference to his letter to Lord Raglan, he (the Duke of Newcastle) would ask the noble earl whether ho had not also, at the same time, expressed another opinion? The Earl of LUCAN was quite ready to produce the oar respondence which had taken place between him and the noble duke. He certainly made no private communication to the noble duke, although the noble duke did, no doubt, send bins a private letter. What passed was simply this. A gentleman waited on the noble duke on behalf of him (the Earl of Lucian) to ask him to produce to the house his letter of the 39th November. On that occasion the noble duke gave his reasons why that letter should not be pro duced, and said, " Lord Lucan, 1 conceive, should not publish that letter until he is attacked Wore the public. When he is, I think it is your duty to publish that letter." The Duke of NEWCASTLE must again beg to contra dict the noble earl. The witness of what passed between 0.11110 ----- ..-----------"....-----•-''''''. them was now, unfortunately, 1, t What t A DO more; .e>lle• ~ • I'll" \'''' fl'i'e I Vbi' 1 i'l ne-1, --' 'e ) .0 ~ " , ,". , e: • ^ e, -- • . ys i o 6 0. S-3e,i•etary at War, the I..te Mr. Parkinson (the In l birs ILitor both of himself and the "'anent earl) waited on on behalf of the gallant earl, of the 30th of November, teu'days before ha 0°, 1" Newcastle) had received a copy from Lard Itego u i, to said that he had been authorised by the noble 0;40 nl'aced in his hands the ke of publish it in the Times; but he felt this wan• 13° 0 00 0 and proper course to pursue, and he had thereforete pi, as a friend to himself (the Duke of Neweeet' lo d i et, what should be done. He told Mr. Parkins(3l.,,,,o. holding the official position which h e did, P.' it wes on sible for him to give him any advice. Mr. Pa i k in n,ora at this interview stated that ho was instructed 1 1 4 . rg e Lucan to ask him if he had received this letter lir, Lord Raglan, and on his replying in the uega ti ;said Parkinson asked if he was likely to receive it SOL . A WS that he did not know, and Mr. Parkinson then enl . , 'pas lie would wait until the next mail; on which, he (w e 00 ? doing. o l of Newcastle) said, " I think you act wisely n In consequence of a detention of the mail (the thren re m o o of which all arrived together ) it was some time b e° 003 0 further proceedings took place. Mr. Parkinson the% 0 1 to him again at the last moment and said, " 1 1 1 1 then publish this letter." He (the Duke of Nevreo wei elst acknowledged that ho went beyond his duty; to hold Mr. Parkinson harmless with the noble and.; Ors earl, he consented to write private letter to the A..„ l i, a , _.,,,,,, ia n xpressing his opinion that Mr. Parkinson hauneb iet tern! the course which he had taken. It was in thet,' 1 3 ) stated that he thought the letter which the noble wild written to Lord Raglan was calm and temPerste, 0 01 1 for, ii , 1 ,0 0 the same time, he added that the noble earl vt_ ...a si l . L i l t tacked, that Lord Raglan had made no charge s rord, and that ho thought that any one who caroo_d 0 00 improperly Them o motion o a n n d was publish letters before they were attacked ig°' then (li to e . ar.) 13 01 The Despatch of Business Court of Chancel/ • read a second time. h 00 i The Commons Incloss Bill passed through after which befor e Their lordships adjourned at ton minutes , o'clock. °WO. HOUSE OF CONIMONS--VS T . d g iock. The SPEASIIIB took the chair shortly De'°re PRIVATE BILLS. The following bills were considered, and read a third time t—Brighton Improveraeo sioners and Municipal Corporation, Folk( Hoarwithy Bridge, Lands Improveteen' Price's Patent Candle Company, Ratcliffe rey Gas. PETITIONS. Mr. THORNELY presented a petition merchants and metal brokers of Liverpool decimal system of coinage. Mr. BAXTER presented a petition praying for the repeal of the newspaper sl Sir G. PECHELL presented a petition to the same effect. Mr. LAYAIM, Lord 10:INGARVAN, and of bers, presented petitions praying that the eating liquors may be prohibited on the w 1 Mr. 11. BERKELEY presented two from Duckinfield, and the other from Lyne, praying for the repeal of the beer sion. Sir B. HALL presented three petitio lebone —one praying for the repeal of stamp, another in favour of the Public fife the third praying the National Gallery Museum may be opened on Sundays. Mr. ORA UFURD presented two petiti, in Scotland praying for the repeal Of stamp. GOVERNMENT OF THE METP Sir B. HALL brought in his bill for tl res , Management of the Metropolis, which Wag os tbe time, ana ordered to be read a second tirae of April. 00 Mr. KERSHAW presented a s i m ilar Pe Stockport. ° Sir J. V. SHELLEY presented a sigill3e,3„oolo, 2,480 of the letter-pr e s s printers of the lile z ,1" 0 ",; fee' Mr. HUDSON presented a similar P Mayor and Corporation of Sunderland. f ri 3 .1 Mr. M. GIBSON p resen t e d a petitioo ireoivirto in humble life, n a m e d Joseph Cooper, O 2' n to - of i' L `j his wife had absconded, an d praying for 0 tbil that should he alike a va ilable by the 13°°rIoge The honourable member al s o presented 9 :: 00 0 1 * of petitions praying f or the repeal o f l '"! stamp. PASSENGER TRAINS' foes! Mr. SCOTT ask e d h er Majesty's Or: e , steps had been taken by the Board o f o bli 1 1' g e steps it was proposed to take, in order to tion b, railway company to establish a conernuoicenger the guard and engine-driver on every Sir G. GREY said a bill was prepar€".a g wer e A''' this subject, but it was not brought iv. Won id a bill was now ready for introduction a nd be brought in. ORDER OF MER I Lord of t t l Captain SCOBELL a s ked the First 34 deed sury whether her Majesty's Governw er tf recommend the institution of an ° rder nn ti whether such order was intended va l se' tr to be new ; i gen, ,s n a one, restricted to the military and d whether IP4t applicable to everygrade ther ; ~ Inerlb i n to ,J termined to bring s ein of uch order • ‘O O l operation the Ili s scr Lord PALMERSTON said it was d the the Government to establi s h an order of bet, Of course, it would apply to both serviet;viers j rangements for the institution of the ora" settled. NEW WRIT FOR CAT• 4 ' i tal 14 1 1 Mr. GROGAN asked if Sir J. Yottog °' t he the office of Lord Hi g h C omm issioner Islands I Sir G. GRE' replied in the affirmative.4Bo Mr. GROGAN begged l e ave, under tubift stances, to move that the Speaker do i seue o so' to the Qierk of the Crown to make out il tha e°l Le election of a knight of the shire for Cavan, in the room of the right hon. bor. The motion was agreed to. TRANSPORT SEEITIn rll Mr. CAYLEVasked the hon. member! ) , 0 0 when he intended t o b r i ng on his IO U" eiri the transport service ? eril ei • Mr. LINDSAY sa id, un l es s the G° Li n g give him a day for th e p urpose he must ". on going into supply. NEWSPAPER STAlg ii ' s yst' The CHANCELLOR of the E2CCIIEQ`"ne utl ot to the house pr e p are d t o i n t ro duce resol ew,,, ' so tO to the newspaper stamp; but although t h i sk I, s ll O P ' be made on th e reso l u ti ons , th e bill I 0 — 1 , 0 0 0 d of the house to int ro d uce i s no t yet in elir 00 1 ' 1 ' therefore it w ill b e inconvenient to enter it ter° , upon the question a t p resen t. If, the ra a be • ij o the wish of the hous e th a t there 01°111 apope d 1071 night, it may b e more conven ient to 1 1 % 6 0' OP meet until the sec on d r ea di n g. If the h eti 00 11 the d e a my statement, and agree to postpone Ira ti)i second reading, I am prepared to Ina— s een' l ,Acil' Mr. DISRAELI—It would be roll e i — f the house to be favoured with the statement" o f 11.- gentleman, for there is considerable ohg cf eo e the exact meaning o f th e reso l u tions. 31f. fr l The house then went into committ ee ' the chair. . prs 11 0 0 0 The CHANCELLOR of the ENC"- -- Q o r° We e , Tonle, in the year 1851 a select commit e iliv" po " r o d the motion of my right hon. friend the oreP3'„; jy chester to inquire into the question of the n os h l e ; 0' and that committee examined m any w it n'o_ ; e ',l o° gated the entire subject in considerable de' e ' t jer,, l # their opinions respecting the result of th i e l i a crioyltl7 port, and that report terminates with th e*° it W. l9' si ti ' der —"ln conclusion, your committee on e u l no tie ei a direct attention to the objections and 'L ug present system of newspaper stataP o . ll ',,aie" .. os of defining and determining tb ° ° le i ; tit ° " 9 °l ' news ;' to the inequalities which exist ro sli e t e „ of the Newspaper Stamp Act, and the ° P oi ta; sions that it oc cas i ons i n pos t a l Arrs l3l9l 2 l fair competition to' te/hi& ort%tped with iinstatripsd publications; to the by the stamp upon the circulation of th' and to the impediments which it throw e diffusion of useful knowledge regordi e g i , events among the poorer classes, wive"' ledge, relating to subjects which must them, calls out the intelligence, by spa-, sity, of those c l asses ." Th en they Pr eee ,, - far it may be expedient that this taz sb as a source of revenue, either. in its l modified form, you r comm ittee do na l°, upon to state ; other c o n s iderationg , ... l ' ° ' vince, would en t er i n t o th a t clues ti 7ier fiscal considerati ons , their do not eO,lll-0 itself a desirable s u bj ec t of tassti °lr , o 4oL friend followed up the subject in 1 1 s u " - * 1 last session be brou g ht f or ward are - 0 V 'debate, was carried by,an unanitnOne° That resolution is in itte followiggl idos , n • opinion of this housethat the' ria' ve periodical press aml s nowspaper:eto n3 S:ta , irregularly enf eed,.. and it' appea rs "`: subject deserves th e 't ear ly consideratl4:7o That resolution having been agreed to Il i ,. house last sessi o n, the question n• erg consideration of Lord Aberdeen's acil •thi recess. The subject fell necessarily wl tL my right hon. friend the member for,,„a Oxford, and the plan which he subroell7r; ration of the Government is now 1 1,1 1 ,- involves substantially the abolition 01 as a compulsory stamp. The ressone.7_, Lord Aberdeen's Government at that t2,l_`! () unanimous resolution of the Hous e of _; last session, and partly the anortior, which had grown up of late years uu 7 of the Inland Board of revenue. Te_he CO ) the law was fully investigated by the and it had grown up from the relaxatietroi.ooooostino, purpose of meeting the views of o sPe ci t h a Jet a bori' ;e l cation which are now known under ~,bich class newspapers. The first ease in ", r y ("Ai admitted was the case of the Liten s --re':Os a t which merely contained critical 0 ,0 1 - r iot 0 3- 0 and was not a newspaper within th 3 s e so eglcio . o .o act. It was found, however, by th 0 01 0 iio l 7 paper, that it would tee extremely e ° nv th° tion of its circulation should eoPY B post - f i fe stamp to be transmitted through th le Ail accordingly, in a portion of the inapre,ose to cif;cir o o political news were introduced, in ord r r the newspaper stamp. In that mon.; p otl& introduced of partl'* stamped a n sfte rwarait,,els' publicatik. net principle was rib lisorr'` .7 1 to a large number of periodical P 01 0.0:1410 to subjects which interests 1 partieular_,.looS instance, as professions. There werePn a isO r rdra to law, to medicine, to architecture,_Moslptr tune, and various other subjects. In li„. 10 0.14 grecs, the rills was established that WI fler edasn;sp - a; the couveuieccce After a time a port troduced news in tl tot political news I lgal, medical, anh do ubt that, accor di n large number of cl ielnaunity from the *jet meaning of tl Portion of the impr( Lions had hen, how 'tate of practice wl i stence last recess, 1 aeration. If the Go un animous resolutic force the law stricti' ,erder to make its adf lout, theym ust have this class of newspa bent fora bill t o re ict: My right h exercised a very ' der the law more sti tiaie to make it uni to anbinit to the cot t"liri,tcile with the p e are not ident credit may belong tc 10_,e, but to him. (E nil ask th e psrm i s: 7 41 5. it these resol ( 1 110 11 the following Z e ll of newspapers -e bsPapera to all I NI, Pear at intervals ' 0 All periodicals fa' lent penalty with re IN* without a star i t _etal with the prop stamp any portior other unstsanped. ~.,4 0 t of the sh ee t s sts ill be subject to pr TLtilierficial contents, hat is to say, the fi: fiches carried by a Z e tt May contain 1 "5 one halfpenny. ltion, but sim !ficial contents appear within ;t to all perio Portion of thi It to the °xi: ced insurance. Ms of printing ;ion to the Stan number of hi: •office, and the ace of the publi croprietor of any ung any portior a rule with resp that he shall bo securities he al the present rt cie s in London fc as assurance to action for libel. liieh we propos which shall stt reason s why we ] Or some time it make newspapers, it of separate le Its which impos than once, and be considered to Policy can be j us: le between pax)] • Newspapers h and -.. cuoation is immedi the circulation of Lutaneous, flying on tl 411 parts of the cc "hat libel on any pe %iautaneous influence t o p a rophlet. (Hear, 4, 411 0 who have exile: ~14 , and they know s Elea into notoriety. I publicity, ,whic , in fact, the cll.( 11cited, and partial, 10 circulation is qu I'4o* think that 4e ore b it t a laipers securities ,lofica.tions. But tb ij,_ 44l act these securi lePhemous libels, a . t he Government. l St e his re valuable securit e et vl i ho, and ir a n t g a a ab privatecs act C:kl from libel by tb Cc th e provisions I ities which we nc t r t. theynspd reasonsone o f o fpwtreh p i v e l ese "t oi th7 4 et pretia t io o n all . periodic; . 0 ,2 a are no essential , ,_Pose to the house ; 1l 0 (1, they do I el 4quer. They fc /k b at pr esen t oxidic t"3' are founded on I e l , to retain them. the whole effect of Present rule with re Cards the Athenceun areite &c., th e y wi old ulgence which the ! M sanctioned by l aw , 4 ttpression which the Renee will be extende to political papers, su rticle, Morning Bowl 3botilto the same re allowed to stamp as r to send by post, and 1 as they find it for t c hanges I do not prop Propose to submit tc !Rear hear.) I will J°etions which have I 13 ) that there would ilri nting-office by pri: L i da toped paper and hat there would, cot 1/r oprietors. I have l'acertain how far tl aimed that the num rhich a return has 'thud the member a nd all th ese con d uc aation, part stamped Plaints have been het ,9'4t4i-n ewspapers• it jot be found in prin -4t iera we propose. C I'llblishes a portion o Z i on on unstamped OW to all meml Y l444o ghter.) Punch 4 ,, t 'ar 1851, and I and : 1 4. 0 00 a week, of v •,„ - . 0 00 are uustampec ma er r of that pub bit Was not with r ;,eresting publicatil ,Te alleged difficulty • l"" 0 Manager of Pun, east difficulty in tb east confusion cause tart nastamped, am: further inqu 4 l eh newspar is " I tinstamp e d paper fat ed that there wa troll). of a mixed ci +; r of stamped copie „.' 4,1 0s ; that at the ',eat out of London 4 1,1 41 4 4 3 d copies to be rried s of the year, ',l,_onal trouble of cc Meer.) I have co: ),ell4°)lvion Xews, a nee 140,000 copie b acquainted wit' a confid en t opinion %I I," other newspape ata- , d and unst :Aiwa, and \tea to 1E to repea test dance , ay to sec inundat cress, thus the se'ec are not •hich bay measure to nija:ni Been c in.this.cta Eat, f,•he, 14 . 135‘ ft-4U 1 14, nittge t'We great , ;la the so d moralit fthi ter disco Ices rt,.th. , pers not d which Hugh thesl , of this matter tl rent char Are /1/us a week, "his new, it is cone , • B u t then price, w dasses. ,43 recently 1, which a circulat ded although it excee was T ires wa s p u bli s P l uie of the num/ resemble somewb foroaation, but car , fO.l pi c t ure of a CIL tho se who o bj ec t t ( !Inrea up. There is 'Which circulates 2 character of this ct show that in th aewspapers the t iclass of journal w c those dangerous l op s e the rover Years ago there cue of which Wag their illustration 'ted that these 1 Gentle these have tiou of publicatic is not one ulna' a 0104 itl • 41 ne 001 01 %term, kestone r Aistrfi eat Co s ; tZt i it Gite, Al3° an yPe wtz 131 stioijecl /I 00 3 ill° of 4 esir 11 , of in fsv° lit ' tiro,. 47, —er :9 tta Y 1 a fp m el,. til P . .0 stsoiN.n_wb thes'en, , 000 ',Pe , 1,62rc tTel7, Pi ether ho s ' . kad 4 e sale °,14,111 ' 4) , th,! l ' thole ol .---_ / -yr b.. titior,f kr e .1 pe . ,_ t te , Albtlio erc!l, s et of 4 °ll ac `Fr Nvb one fr°T, ' lere t h e tio” ' th at re, leattn oik k i to fc., sa t Ima of it Ab il je c t done ft ° t° bra ti "t b f the til thf il Y b 0 PO] iftOrY..,'. ly 4 he nce the etic' ,beis. -ad P/ Kt.ii . klii 4?a br::::::::004: i , ttezi:cio::::::ejicci 0 0°P ;; S e I „ at aroped a P ill 0 .1- •0 _ rop e ott 1 , den preleui 1 1 t is. p e aßure mo bo is of '11)4 1 th ro i ' 0' 0 , ..j 4(1 to the par r° jos P ,' ;?i t 4l aioral pr( ;li ° P ae l la itj o • '') ;:lt g ° win g ob vi° 0. 4 1 ‘ ) Piiil o 9n3 f ooDiaortil Lace tils.w` . to 0 , , this r 0 04 boli!.. to st , Cl• 1 / 4 4 IV 1 0.- t IP , i f ` „ - 4Orki LIDA. .4:0 f 9.. f 1 7 V el linletit . p. t yl f ii t , s lco , . . it . o el i t t ik a ti a , ~ , 14;0 ' a,,,' lha fo ol lot 4, 4 , ocif r i ' or .g..4•XI'S a . 0 i ' .ra, on Heill; wit:iv:l '' : 1 11: e:ifr° tutee,-. .il • b ti', l .0 : i 4 1 :, let 01 0 01° , , e i l :ikf , _ e , „01,,, I , 4 bi v ote ,( r it v ~,,,,.. 4 ( 7 -. , .. 1 / 4 y. And vot e 41 1 0!. t ° 1 41 : 10 t . ' beli g :-- - ,.... g pfrpei to ,, a matte t.% 0 7 ° 1 0°1 ' ' I 4tig e q u°fic PP • usait . f kiii t ''''agy ) 0 0 ,10.1 ft ata, p a l oso- 0 0 to il, t r . ......p. and .._ 0 . 4 A ill. Thou 11.1) .0 ..cy 03: 0 7, 0 , ev,rol, tp ,e Public ,bia ltiii - c sv , -a ttous in th° ihr / PY differ, tea the l ls ii i ° o uere is tl re 0 0 0 ,0 , if c s , Pies in a. le v p ri : 4 / 1 ". T #bic h ;ts ri‘is tI LY that it . .... .0, [Vi e 000 1 ' ti l l °4abl e ] :00,..10 113 ( V .. .. " a less . 1 OP;doi, ° e l ' CClrer cl a ) , al e 10°`'of' heard till soopoy ~.. fo g Deriodieall vi iiilt v e - ei, 1 ,0 e qUal t ' e? trO o dic P o n tut • ° a si_o_ r i „di. , to i t rtion e,