The Sun. — London, England, 1856-02-04 00:00:00

THE BR:171BH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA. We r Aublish this day the first report of Sir John WNeill and (;Adonel Tulloch, the commissioners sent out last yea• ` by Lord Panmure to inquire into the state of the Ll%l:fly in the Crimea. The late hour at which the report has reached us pre vents us from doing more than to entreat the careful at tention of our readers to the facts stated with judicial calmness by the commissioners. They corroborate in every particular—where, indeed, they do not exceed in force of statement—the letters of our correspondents ; they utterly disprove the charges of " exaggeration" which have been so frequently and so glibly made, and demonstrate, indeed, that no language could adequately describe the sufferings of the army or the imbecility to which they may for the most part be traced : " FIRST REPORT. " Constantinople, dune 10, 1855. " My Lord—We have the honour to report that, in pur suance of your lordship's instructions, we set out from London on the 23t1 of February, and arrived at Constan tinople on the 6th of March. We proceeded at once to Scutari, and having visited the barrack and general hos pitals, examined the purveyor and principal me dical offi cer. As the condition and arrangements of those hospi tals have been the subjects of a separate inquiry and report, we shall not trouble your lordship with any de tails in regard to them. " The information which we obtained at Scutari and at Constantinople was of great importance to our future pro ceedings. We ascertained that the sick arriving from the Crimea were nearly all suffering from diseases chiefly at tributable to diet, and that the food supplied to the army during the winter, consisting principally of salt meat and biscuit, with a very insufficient proportion of vegetables, was calculated, in the circumstances in which the troops were placed, to produce these diseases. "It was, therefore, evidently desirable to increase the su pplies o f fresh meat and vegetables, and to substitute fresh bread for biscuit. On this subject we had the advan tage of a conversation with Dr. Sutherland, of the Sanitary Commission, who confirmed, from the results of his profes sional investigations, the information we had obtained as to the causes of the prevailing diseases, and entirely con curred in the necessity of substituting fresh meat for salt, an d fresh bread for biscuit, as well of increasing the supply of fresh or preserved vegetables. Colonel Talloch had ac quired experience in such matters from having been chiefly instrumental in providing a supply of fresh bread for his regiment when stationed in the ceded provinces after the first Burmese war, and, therefore, it was arranged that he should direct his especial attention to that suitjeot from the moment of our arrival in the Crimea. " We entered the harbour of Balaklava upon the 12th of March, and the following day proceeded to head-quarters to wait upon Lord Raglan, and to arrange our proceedings in conducting the inquiry intrusted to us. The course which we proposed to pursue was explained in the letter of the 13th of March, of which a copy i■ annexed ; his Lordships entire concurrence in that course is conveyed to as in his letter of the 15th of March, of which a copy is also annexed ; and on the following day we commenced the examination of the regimental officers stationed in the vicinity of Balaklava. "Following out that course, we have seen and personally examined, either separately or collectively, the command ing officer, surgeon, and quartermaster of every corps in the Crimea, who was not prevented by illness from attend ing; and from them have obtained evidence of such defi ciencies as have occurred in tie supplies of each corps, and of the consequences of those deficiencies. We next exa mined the officers commanding brigades and divisions, with the exception of Sir George Brown, who was absent at Keitch ; together with the staff officers, the principal medical officers, and the Commissariat officers attached to brigades and divisions ; finally, we examined the Quarter master-General, and the senior Assistant Quartermaster- General, the Commissary-General, and the two Deputy Commissaries-General who are present with the army. The personal examination of the Quartermaster-General, however, having repeatedly been interrupted or prevented by his being called upon to attend to more pressing duties, and finding ourselves unable from illness to postpone our departure till he should be sufficiently disengaged, a series of written questions was sent to him to be answered. " The notes of the examinations taken down in presence of the witnesses, - without the assistance of a shorthand writer, were in all cases subsequently sent to them for cor rection and signature. Printed queries were also addressed to the commanding officer and to the surgeon of each corps and the answers returned were signed by them. These documents have net been subjected by us to any correction beyond what was aecessary to rectify mere verbal errors or omissions obviously arising from inadvertence. It would have been easy to relieve them of many repetitions, and otherwise to dress and polish them, without materially altering their import; but we have thought it better to submit them without erasing the rough original stamp of authenticity then to change in any respect the form in which they were returned to us, corrected and signed by the witnesses. "It is a great satisfaction- to us to find, on most of the important points, a remarkable concurrence in the testi mony as to matters of fact, " The sufferings of the army in the course of the winter, and especially during the months of December and January, must have been intense. We have not noted all the par ticulars related to us , many of which were unconnected with our inquiry ; but we may state that it has been only by slow degrees, and after the frequent repetition of simi lar details, as,one witness after another revealed the facts that had come under his own observation, that we have been able to form any adequate conception of the distress and misery undergone by the troops, or fully to appreciate the unparalleled courage and constancy with which they have endured their sufferings. Great Britain has often had reason lo be proud of her army, but it is doubtful whether the whole range of military history furnishes an example of an army exhibit ing, throughout a long campaign, qualities as high as have distinguished the forces under Lord Raglan's command. The strength of the men gave way under excessive labour, watching, exposure, and privation ; but they never mur mured, their spirit never tailed, and the enemy, though far outnumbering them, never detected in those whom he encountered any signs of weakness. Their numbers were reduced by disease and by casualties to a handful of men, compared with the great extent of the lines which they constructed and defended ; yet the army never abated its confidence in itself, 'and never descended from its acknow ledged military pre-eminence. " Both men and officers, when so reduced that they were hardly fit for the lighter duties of the camp, scorned to be excused the severe and perilous work of the trenches, lest they should throw an undue amount of duty upon their comrades ; yet they maintained every foot of ground against all the efforts of the enemy, and with numbers so small that, perhaps, no other troops would even have made the attempt. . _ _ " SUffering and privation have frequently led to crime, in armies as in other communities, but offences of a serious character have been unknown in the British army in the Crimea. Not one capital offence has been committed, or even alleged to have been committed, by a soldier, and in teamerance has been rare. " Every one who knows anything of the constitution of the army must feel that, when troops so conduct them selves throughout a long campaign, the officers must have done their duty and set the example. The conduct of the men, therefore, implies the highest encomium that can be passed upon their officers. They have not only shared all the danger and exposure, and most of the privations which the men had to undergo, but we everywhere found indi cations of their solicitude for the welfare of those who were under their command, and of their constant readiness to employ their private means iu promoting the comfort of their men. Doubtless there has been, as there always must be, better management in some regiments than in ethers, but among much that was painful in the evidence that we have heard it was always gratifying to observe the community of feelings and interest which appeared every where to subsist between the men and their officers, and which the regimental system of flee British army seems almost al ways to produce. "We hope to he excused for venturing to offer these general observations upon the conduct of the army. It was impossible to refrain from expressing, however inade. quately, the admiration which a careful investigation of the circumstances cannot fail to produce. " It was inevitable that the operations of a siege, carried on throughout the winter in the Crimea, should involve a very considerable &mount of hardship and. sickness. These aro consequences of such operations as certain as losses in action when a battle is fought. The sickness and conse quent mortality in the British army in the Crimea have, however, been very great. The deaths, including those at Scutari and elsewitere, appear to amount to about 35 per cent. of the average strength of the army present in the Crimea from the Ist of October, 1854, to the 30th of April, 18:',5, and it seems to be clearly established that this ex cessive mortality is not to be attributed to anything pecu liarly favourable in the climate, but to overwork, exposure to wet and cold, improper food, insufficient clothing dur ing part of the winter, and insuffieieut shelter from incle ment weather. " To determine the limits beyond which we should d e . cline to pursue our investigations, demanded careful deli beration. The influence of overwork and exposure on the health of the troops might appear to be foreign to the ob jects of an inquiry which had reference exclusively to the supply of the army and the arrangements of the Com missariat • but much of the labour and exposure which the troops h a d to undergo was a consequence of the want of sufficient land transport, which it was the duty of the Commissariat to provide. The effects of overwork and exposure could not, therefore, be excluded from our consideration. In like manner, the injurious conse quences of defective cooking, which are not obviously connected with the subjects of our inquiry, were in a great measure attributable to a deficiency of fuel, or of trans port to convevit fronalialakla.va to the both of which are matters affecting the C ommissariat. camp ft may be right hero to state that, in doubtful ea u s r s ie we s i, ning the risk of pasbing our i n have preferred run have been contemplated, to incgtirrin the what might hazard of falling short of what was intende.l. At the same time, we have not pursued our investigation s lido matters unconnected with the supply of the army. QTJANTITIES STORE. "The Commissariat have furnished return ta,„ tities in store, at various dates, of a great neuOnifi,;-- ar ticles,(lftlan- as they appear upon the ' books, but, as /-1 number ,credited in those books till the whole has been discharged these these returns do not show the quantity afloat. 6,i' t l : l l ' &her hand, as issues were necessarily made, occasionally , from cargoes still afloat, and which, therefore, had not y - ei, been credited, the cargo, when credited, might, in fact, have already bean issued wholly or in part. The Com missary-General has, therefore, been unable to furnish a return of the smallest quantity at any time in store of any of the articles constituting the rations of the troops, as re gulated by general orders. In regard to all of those arti cles, we must rely upon the general statements of the o cers of that department as to the sufficiency at all times of the supplies in store. From those statements, however, the accuracy of which we do not question, it appears that, in cluding what was afloat in the harbour, the Commissariat has never been without a supply, at Balaklava, of the arti cles issued as rations to the men. But the ration of biscuit hav ing, on the 1:)th of October, been increased Or General Order to in consideration of the severe labour to which the troops were subjected, it was reduced on the 7th of Neyembe,r to Ilb , on the express ground of the supply of bis cu it being insufficient to furnish the increased ration lately atith or i, e d . , ap;r i e tv n i c a le g d he , , , a_rl that th ere h a d b een suc h a deficiency, or A of Januaryy of salt neat as to make it DIECCS- Nary to appl y 'c en the 21adency ance, we inquiredtnitytettithe cirmitnstatnoceihs.e nFavryomforthaessirset: his statements, it a turns banded to e Commi ssary -G enera l , an d f ro m p pe had at that time in store in s that, althou g h the Commissariat .sufficient for se vera l d a y s ' con sumption, there was still,l sequence of some mistake, it is stated, on the p ar t of the considerable Commissariat officers at Constantinople, cause forft without anziety lest the whole army should be 1,, salt meat at a time when no other articles of food wart available, except biz ouit, rum, and the ordinary gro o ' • eries. The arrival of a • ♦essel with a supply of salt meat, before that which had been obtained from the navy was issued, relieved the Com missary-General from the anxiety which he had previously felt upon that subject. " SHORT RATIONS._ _ the Inspector• General, and had been especially pointed out in those which he transmitted to the Adjutant-General for the months of November and December. In these he anti cipates the speedy arrival of a supply that would admit of the issue generally to the troops of what they so much needed. Tet from the 10th of December, the limejuice brought by the Esk was lying in the commissariat stores at. Balaklava, and none of it was issued till the first week in February, an interval during which the sufferings of the army from scurvy were probably at their height. Had the General Commanding been informed of the arrival of that supply, it cannot be doubted that it would have been issued to that part of the army which most required it nearly two months earlier. " It is somewhat remarkable that the regulations re quire the issue of limejuice to troops on board ship, when salt meat is issued for a certain number of days, but that there is not any similar provision for the protection of troops on shore, though the necessity may be equally urgent, as it has been in the Crimea, and would be in a fortress that was invested or blockaded, It appears to us, after careful consideration of the facts that have come to our knowledge, that it would be expedient, whenever salt meat is issued to troops, to assimilate their diet to that which is used so successfully in the navy. This has been strongly recommended by several officers, and especially by Dr. Walsh, the naval surgeon in charge of the marines on shore, who states, in his evidence, that during a ser vice of 17 years he has never seen scurvy in the navy. FRESH ♦ND PRESERVED VEGETABLES. " The health of the army also suffered from a deficiency of fresh or preserved ♦egetables. Lord Raglan seems to have been urgent to supply this deficiency ; but it ap pears that, according to the regulations, vegetables do not constitute a part of the soldiers' rations, and it is there fore no part of the ordinary duty of the Commissariat to issue, or even to provide them. This arrangement, which leaves the soldier to purchase vegetables in the market, may be an advantage to him where such a market exists, but it is obviously inapplicable where, as in the Crimea, there was none. The first attempts to import green vege tables were not successful, and some time elapsed before the defects in the arrangements could be so far remedied as to secure a regular supply. In the meantime scurvy in its ordinary form, and scorbutic diseases in various forms extended rapidly, till in several regiments hardly a man was free from the taint. " The evidence of the commanding officers and quarter masters showed what indeed was admitted by the Commis sariat, that on several occasions, especially in the month of December, some of the divisions did not receive full rations. For the purpose of ascertaining the precise amount of these deficiencies returns were called for from each corps, but in many cases, owing to the difficulty expe rienced in keeping or preserving records of any kind, the regimental officers were unable to vouch for the accuracy of the details. Au abstract of these returns has, however, been printed in the Appendix. " It appears that in the Cavalry and Ist Divisions, and in the 2d Brigade, 2d Division, the deficiencies were merely fractional ; and that even in the Third Division and the let Brigade, 2d Division, where they were somewhat greater, they were not such as could, in ordinary circumstances, ma terially affect the health of the troops. "In the 4th and Light Divisions the deficiencies in the rations were not only greater in amount, but also much more continuous. In those divisions the men were fre quently on three-quarters, two-thirds, and sometimes on half rations ef meat and of rum ; on two occasions they had only quarter rations, and on one day they had none at all. In the oth er it ems the defalcations were not very im portant except in rice, of which the Fourth Division did not get any for the first 10 days in January, nor for three other days in that month, while a brigade of the Light Division received for six days iu that month only half the usual quantity. rr With reference to the probable effects of such deficien cies, it may be proper to state that, prior to December, 1850, the ration of salt pork, then issued twice a-week to the British troops on several foreign stations, was only 12 oz., with 11b. of beef, fresh or salt, on the other five days, and that, prior to 1337, the ration of pork was only 9oz. on three days in the week, with 11b. of beef, fresh or salt, on the other four days, which is less than the average quantity actually issued, even in those divisions in which the deficiencies were greatest. On those stations, however, in addition to 11b. of soft bread, the troops had at all times either 4oz. of rice or half-a-pint of peas daily, besides which a portion of their pay was expended in purchasing vege tables in the market, whereas in the Crimea, during the greater part of November and December, and also in a great measure during January and part of February, the soldier was confined exclusively to biscuit in addition to his salt set at. " The advantag es attending the use o f preserved and compressed vegetables, more especially when the army is in motion, are so great and obvious, and the men h ave now become so well acquainted with the manner of using them, and relish them so fully, that we venture strongly to recommend that they should be regularly issued to the troops, when fresh vegetables, in sufficient quantity and in good condition, cannot be provided, and that a specified quantity of the one or of the other should constitute a part of the regulated rations of troops in the field. "FRESH BRZA.D. " The only bread issued to the troops, till the month of April, was biscuit, which appears, however, to have been of excellent quality. The sick complained much of the want of soft bread, and the men who were affected with scurvy, many of whom ooatinued to perform their duties, wale often unable, from the state of their gums, to eat the hard biscuit, or could eat it only with much pain. At length some private establishments for baking bread, in Russian evens which had been found there, were set on foot by pri vate enterprise at Balaklava ; and the men, especially the sick, eagerly purchased the loaf of the nominal weight of two pounds, at 25., and even at 2s. 6d. or 3s. The most urgent craving of the sick was for a morsel of soft bread. Shortly after our arrival an arrang ement was made with those establishment s , by Lord Ragan's direetions ' by which they engaged to supply th e p urveyor w ith a certain quan tity daily for the use of the hospitals, to be issued, on re quisition, as a medical comfort. " We are not aware of any snfficient reason why soft bread might not have been baked at any time for the use of the sick, and also for the whole army. The French army has been regularly supplied with fresh bread ; and the erec tion of a sufficient number of ovens was not an operation involving any great expense, or reqniring much skill or much time, if it had been undertaken by the proper publio de partments. There were bakers enough in the regiments to have worked many more ovens than were required to supply the whole army; and if these could not be spared from their military duties there was no difficulty in procuring bakers from Constantinople. But there appears to have been an indisposition to make the attempt. (See Colonel Tulloch's memorandum appendix, p. 20.) The Commissary-General understood that a floating bakery had, for several months, been in preparation in England, and it was considered un necessary, or impossible, to do anything till it arrived. " From the information we have obtained, we are satis fied that it is of great importance to the hsalth of the troops that they should be regularly supplied with a pro portion of soft bread, and is standing camp, where flour tan be obtained, there is rarely any real difficulty in pro viding it. The French troops, it is understood, had only 12oz. of beef, or 10oz. of pork daily, when salt meat was issued ; but, besides being always able to use their coffee and sugar with advantage, they had 2.10 z. of rice or dried vegetables, and 270 z. of soft bread, or 20oz. of biscuit daily. "In considering the probable effects of the deficiencies referred to, it may be presumed, from the facts above stated, that it was not so much from default in the rations of salt meat and biscuit that the diet of the troops affected their health, as from the insufficiency of other descrip tions of food. At the same time there can be no doubt that the short rations wore considered an additional hard ship and privation by those who could use them, and that any diminution in the nutritive value of the diet, which, even when issued in full, was insufficient to maintain the strength of men undergoing hard labour and much ex posure, must have been injurious to all who could have consumed it. Many of the men, however, did not eat the salt meat, especially the salt beef, when full rations were issued. The prevailing diseases were, at that time, affections of the bowels, in most cases connected with scorbutic tendency in the system ; and net only the men, but the medical officers also, believed that those diseases were aggravated, and that tendency increased, by the con tinued use of salt meat. In many cases, the aversion to that description of food seems to have amounted to abso lute loathing. Several of the officers who had lived for a considerable time upon their rations experienced similar sensations, and ultimately found it impossible to eat the salt meat, especially the salt beef, although it is admitted that both beef and pork were quite sound and of good qua lity. It was remarked that, while whole pieces of salt beef were frequently left unconsumed, sometimes to the extent of hundreds of pounds' weight in a day by a single regiment, nearly all the pork was eaten, except by some o f th Scotch regiments. " DEFICIENCIES. " The deficiencies in the supplies provided by the Com missariat, from which the army, and especially that part of it which was encamped upon the heights before Sebastopol, suffered most, were a deficiency of fresh meat, a deficiency of vegetables, a deficiency of fresh bread, particularly for the sick, aed more especially for those whose gums were affected with scurvy, a deficiency of fuel, a deficiency of hay and straw to such an extent that enough could not be procured to fill the paillasses of the sick, and, above all, a defi ciency of land transport, to which many of the other defi ciencies are mainly to be attributed. " FRESH MEAT. " GREEN COFFEE. " We need not revert to the issue of green coffee, which has been alluded to by nearly all the witnesses whom we examined. That subject had already been so fully discussed that we did not consider it necessary to investigate it. Bat there is reason to believe that, being imperfectly roasted and pounded by the men, it became injurious to their health. This is not only their opinion, but also that of those medical officers upon whose judgment we should be most disposed to rely, and it is much to be regretted that the simple expedient of assembling a board of officers as had been done at Varna, was net resorted to, as they could have recommended tea to be substituted for coffee. " When the difficulty about fuel to roast the coffee be gan to be seriously felt in December, there were 2,7031 b. of tea (equal to 173,000 rations) lying in the Commissariat stores at Balaklava. This would have afforded the usual quantity of a quarter of an ounce per man daily to the corps in front, where the greatest difficulty was experi enced in making use of the coffee, till a supply could be obtained from Constantinople, or other quarters, suffiraent to make the issue a general one. A temporary supply, too, might probably have been obtained from the navy, as there are generally large stores of tea on board. Nothing of this kind, however, appears to have been attenalit,ed, and the coffee continued to be issued in a green state to the men in front till the mouth of February, though much of it was not used in consequence of the difficulty of preparing it. " The army appears to have been supplied with a suffi cient proportion of fresh meat while in Bulgaria ; and dur• ing the latter days of September, and nearly the whole of October, the cattle obtained in the Crimea, either by cap ture or purchase, furnished the troops with a considerable proportion, but after the beginning of November they were dependent upon the cattle imported. From that time till the month of March the supply of fresh meat was not suffi cient to maintain the health of the troops. During the interval they suffered to an alarming extent from diseases of the bowelq, to which there was a general predisposition; and the medical officers of all ranks are of opinion, with hardly one exception, that the continued use of salt meat aggravated those diseases, and increased that predispo sition. " With reference to this subject we have obtained returns from all the regiments employed in tho Crimea, showing the quantity of salt and fresh meat issued to each of them respectively during the winter, an abstract of which has been submitted in the Appendix. A return was also fur nished, at our request, by the Commissary-General, from which it appears that the average quantity of fresh meat issued to each man of the five divisions composing the army, including the sick in camp, was in December 61b. 40z., in January about tub., in February glb 20z.; but several of the issues which go to make up this amount were in small quantities for the use of the sick only, to whom a preference was given in almost all instances ' • and it is probably that the men for duty did not actually receive more than 31b. in December, 51b. in January, and 41b. in February. Some of the corps received even less ' than that quantity, and there is hardly any difference of opinion as to the evil consequences. "VEGETABLE FOOL " That evil was aggravated by a deficiency of vegetable food. The issue of 2oz. of rice daily to each man, which had been ordered by Lord Raglan, in Bulgaria, to be con tinued till the 30th of September, in consequence of the prevalence of bowel complaints, was extended, at the sug gestion, it appears, of the Commissary-General, till the 15th of November, when it unfortunately ceased, the order not having been renewed. The Commissary-General states, and the returns show, that the supply of rice in store was such as would have enabled him to continue the issue; but 1. also states that, from the deficiency of laud tran sport, it was impossible to carry that additional weight to the front. The troops were then as completely dependent upon th• Commissariat as if they been on board ship, and were subsisting almost exclusively upon salt meat and bis cuit. It was, therefore, most unfortunate that the issue of an article of diet so valuable, in those circumstances, as rice should have been suspended in consequence of the want of transport, just at the time when it was most needed. " When the original order for the issue of two ounces of rice per man expired, on the 30th of September, the Commissary-General states that, finding there was a suffi cient quantity in store, and that bowel complaints still continued to prevail, he suggested, as a measure beneficial to the health of the army, the extension of the order to the 15th of November. It in much to bo regretted that, when he subsequently found himself unable, from want of transport, to carry the 2 ounces of rice iu addition to the salt meat, he was not induced by the same motives to in form the General Commanding that he bad still enough of rice in store to continue the issue, which had become even more necessary than en the 30th of September, and that he did not call for a decision as to whether the army then suffering not only from bowel complaints, - but also from scurvy, should be deprived of the only vegetable food, besides biscuit, which was immediately available, or should submit to r reduction of two ounces in the daily supply of salt meat, which a large proportion of the men did not consume. The troops felt the loss of the rice se verely, many of them declaring that they would rather have lost their rum ; but they submitted without remon strance, because the belief appears to have been general that the issue of rice had ceased in consequence of the supply being exhausted. "It appears tons, from the statements of a great majority of the medical and other officers examined, that tea would on the whole be preferable to coffee, especially on a march, provided the ration of sugar were increased by one quarter of an ounce, that is, from 1- °lances to 2 ounces. That change would somewhat diminish the weight to be carried, always an important co'imideration, and would materially diminish the cost of the ration. It was objected by the Cmtmissary-General, tkat tea is more likel:; to be damaged than coffee, especiAly on a march ; but as the whole of the tea used in Rassia, and in some countries of A..ia, where it is largely consumed, is carried overland from China, there can hardly be any serious difficulty in carrying a supply with an army. " DEFECTIVE COOKING. "One of the causes of sickness is the army, to which all the witnesses refer, is defective cooking. On the march from Old Fort to the Alma, and during the battle, most of the men threw away or lost their camp kettles. Some divisions did not preserve even one in ten of the regulated number, viz., one to every five men. When the army arrived before Sebastopol it was, therefore, impossible to organise the established regimental system of cooking, which is by companies, telling off a certain number of men per company as cooks. Each man had to cook for himself in his small mess tin or canteen, to procure his own fuel, and to li g ht hi s own fire. "FUEL. " For a time there WAS little difficulty in procuring fire wood ; but after the brushwood in the vicinity of the camp was consumed fuel could not be obtained, except by dig ging up roots, an operation which, to unskilful hands, in volved great labour, and, in bad weather, mach exposure. When there was snow upon the ground, and during frost, the men, who were inadequately supplied with tools, and who, from want of skill in using them, soon spoiled or broke each as they had, often found it impossible to procure elioueh of fuel. In wot weather the inexperienced, who colnposed the great majority, had much difficulty in getting the green or ',vet wood to burn. Men who had been e.fl night iu the trenches, up to their anklesin mud, and who returned to the camp exhausted and benumbed, c0u1.. 7 t not cook food for themselves without first grubbing up roots for fuel, which in many cases were to be found only r,.6 a considerable distance. Many of them wanted either e . ,, orgy or streugh enough to undergo that labour, and co'Atented themselves with their biscuit and rum, adding in some cases a bit of raw pork. liany more made the attemipt to cook their meat, hut, in conse quence of the diff.criltiea just re f erre d t o, the process eaten half was often very lil , Pe.rfectly p er f orme d , and the meat was aw. Even .aft er k ett l es had been procured, y gimente was no t unt il some time in Janu awrhi,cial and in after Drat',:e ' n had been told off to cook for companies ' the labour e: e d exposure undergone by the fatigue partis sent out tA obtain fuel was a serious addition to the other severe adad harassing dntiee which they had to perform. " rne Commissariat maintained that it was not the pra'ztice of the service to issue fuel to troops in the field ; Q ie e a soldier was not entitled to a ration of fuel unless in barracks. Lord Raglan, however, on the 11th November instructed the Commissary-General to provide a sufficient supply of fuel for the ensuing winter ; and by a General Order dated the 4th Dec., directed the issue of rations of fuel to the troops. But, although it appeared that even long before the 11th Nov. the Commissary-General had provided a depot of fuel at Scutari for the use of the army when in barracks, he was not prepared to issue fuel in the field when it was ordered on the 4th December. " To provide and issue fuel was, no doubt, a considerable addition to the duties of the Commissariat, and the difficnl ties arising from the deficien' u state of the land transport, the narrow space for landing stores at Balaklava, and the great amount of labou r which t'ae other duti es of that ' department involved, in the pecul',.e.r circumstances of the army, may have led the Comrni aaary-General to insist upon the alleged previous practice in the Peninsula and elsewhere of leaving troops in the field to find their own feel. But the circum stances of the army before Sebastopol were obviously ex ceptional, and an appeal to precedent was out of place. In consequence of 'the representations of the Commissary- General, howeever, the order of the 4th of Dec. appears to have been Toodified, and it was not until the 29th of De cember that the troops in and near Balaklava received rations of. food. This rapparent want of alacrity on the part of the Cora missa.riat to provide fuel for the army in the field, could not have arisen from any difficulty in procuring firewood. The southern coast of the Black Sea is wooded down to the shore for hundreds of miles; firewood could have been procured there in unlimited quantity, but the resources of that coast had not then been explored. Wood has more recently been obtained thence at little more than one-fourth of the price paid for it during the winter at Scutari and. Constantinople. Unfortunately, after fuel had been pro vided at Balaklava, the want of land transport made it impossible to carry it to the front, except in small quanti ties for the use of the hospitals ; and, being issued only in the vicinity of Balnklava, it was of no use to the soldier on the heights, unless he could find the means of carrying it to tie regimental camp. "IMPROPER DIET% " From what line been stated, it appears that the diet provided for the t roops was net well calculated to preserve their health in P,ny circumstances, and that, instead of tending to count eract the other causes of disease to which they were expo sad, it tended rather to aggravate thoso evils. Aud the same unvarying diet of salt meat and bis cuit, without a *aufficient supply of vegetables, acting upon constitutions g i lebilitated by the other causes previously referred to, produced scurvy, which, there is reason to be lieve, eonaPli .sated and rendered more fatal almost ever! other dieea., o b y w hi c h t h e troops were attacked i n D - ember and J anuary. It' appears from the evidence of the Commissary- General that it has not been the practice in the British army to keep the General Commanding informed of the amount of provisions in depot, or available for the use of the troops, but only of finch as be in the possession of the troops, and in the charge of the Commissariat officers of divisions. It was not until the latter end of January, when circumstances forced upon Lord Raglan's attention the necessity for his being kept personally informed of the actual amount of the supplies on which he could rely for the maintenance of the troops, tfutt periodical returns of the quantities in store at Balaklava were ordered to be submitted to him. " It appears to us, not only that periodical returns of the supplies in store, and available, ought regularly to be sub mitted, but that it ought to be the duty of some officer to call the attention of the Goaeral Commanding to such as are likely, in special circumstances, to prove beneficial. Had Lord Itaglar's attention been called to the stores of rice, and other farinaceous and vegetable food at his com mand,* or had there been any officer on his Staff who could be held responsible for the proper application of the avail able supplies, there can be no reasonable doubt that the men would have received, in lieu of two ounces of the salt meat which many of them could not oat, au equal weight of food that would have been both more acceptable, and infinitely more beneficial. " The'doficiency of transport, which is assigned as the reason why these supplies were not conveyed to the front, need not have affected the corps in and around Dalaklava, which were suffering from the same diseases, though not to the same extent. "LTNIEJUICE. "A more unaccountable and still more unfortunate fail ure to apply to the use of the army stores, of which it stood in the most urgent need, occurred in regard to limej nice. On the 10th of December 278 cases, containing nearly 2 0,0001 b., arrived by the Esk, for the purpose of being issied generally to the troops. Small quantities obtained from the purveyor, and also, it is understood, from the navY, bad been issued to the hospitals for the cure of scurvy during the previous month, but no measures had been taken t i, o p rceoanteract the t en d ency to th at di sease which NV as rapidly lactic ha },eon The necessit y for issuing limejuice as a prophy eon stated in many of the medical reports to * The the table, abstracted from the store accounts, will show the quantities of farinaceous and preserved vege table feed lying in the stores at Balaklava and Scutari, while the troops were sufferinfi in health for want of them nice. Available a P n r,e l se d r r v ie e til d i Period ota lb to ._ es. availahle. Awl the ------i ------4,574 IPF:rrist:lolv.. 3 Froin At Balaava • • • • • • • • ••e were lying ini 4, IhB 1 NOT. store at Scutari, ready, to be brought over asl the above supplies be came reduced ........1 296,001 I Nov. COlO 1 Oct. i I --- Peas. i Period Scotch Period . 1.---- available. barley. available. ______—..---_.......—......_ —.........._ ---- --- lb. 1 From lb. From _it Barak-lava • • • • •• • • 31,200 I 16 Dec. ! 23,123 1 Jan. And there were lying in store at Scutari, ready, to be brought over as Nil. ""; 42,720 1 D3C. pp . I . l , e . s be- And about half the above .. that qzantity from calve reallee s ci u • - .l.`;' ' the ld vf October, " ABUNDANCE OF CATTLE. issue"lll, C ADMlnisAary•General states that he considers the but c l u f le n e g b intuit the rule, and of salt meat the exception; It he I LI,. s eet explained, iu a manner that we consider s 4 isfac " ° ry, the reason why this order was reversed. In s ib l : ° , 4 i n f zies subject to Turkey, which were easily acces in 4 0 " Aere is not, and there never has been, any difficulty arm . % a sufficient number of cattle to supply the b n , i 'with fresh oat. In Decemer, when scarcel an salt meat was issued, the Commibssary-General says that ,zd 8 . head of ca ttl e seetred. He a tt r ibute s trio de -7000 L ielei ?a ill the camp to the want of sea transport, She ditli: THE SUN, LONDOisi, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 4, 1856, culties of the winter navigation, and the delays caused by the tele of Balaklava as the port of the army. " All of these circumstances, doubtless, increased the difficulty of bringing forward a sufficient number of cattle; but, looking to the ear *ant of sea transport at his command after the 11th of December, when the sailin g horse-trans ports were placed at his disp osa l, f or another purpose to which they were not applied, and could have been made available for the conveyance of cattle, in addition to tho steam vessels already at his disposal, and, considering the vicinity of Samsoon and other ports on the southern shore of the Black Sea, where cattle could net only have been procured, but were actually tendered to him in December and rejected, we are forced to the conclusion that the Commissary-Goneral was not then sufficiently alive to the importance of that article of food ; and that the quantity might have been considerably increased during the months of December, January, and Feb ruary, if proper measures had been taken for that purpose. The time is not very re mote when armies depended upon sailing vessels for all the supplies transported by sea, but the Commissary-General was deterred from using such vessels for the conveyance of cattle by what he describes as the frightful' proportion of casualties. This does not appear to us t be a sufficient rea son. 3,000 additional bullocks, in the three months above mentioned, would, on the average, have given the whole army fresh meat every alternate day; and we cannot per suade ourselves that three or four of the sailing horse transports could scot have landed that number in three months, in addition to all that were brought by steam ves sels, chiefly from the Bosphorus. If there was difficulty in bringing the additional cattle alive, they might have been slaughtered, and at that season of the year the meat might have been carried without much loss. In short, it appears to us that fresh meat, in much larger quantities, might have been, and ought to have been, supplied to the army. "The common belief that, in the navy, the seamen are fel upon salt meat and biscuit, may, perhaps, have misled persons who did not sufficiently attend to the precautions which it has been found necessary to adopt in that branch of the service, for the purpose of insuring variety of diet, and of counteracting the effects of a diet consisting of the two articles in question. It is also right to keep in view that we are judging after the event, when the importance of a sufficient supply of fresh meat has been proved, though not by any means for the first time, by the consequences resulting from the want of it. IMPORTANCS OF FRESH MEAT " Wherever large armies h ave b een co ll ec t e d a t en d enc y to diseases of the bowel s has been manifested. These are emphatically the diseases of the camp, and it is of the utmost importance that every precaution should be taken to counteract that tendency. But experience has proved on many former, and some comparatively recent occasions, that the long use of salt meat increases both the number attacked and the Proportion of fatal cases. The influence of improper diet is augmented in proportion to the constitu tional depression; and predisposition to disease produced by other causes, and in ci rcums t ances so un f avoura bl e t o h ea lth as those in which the army in the Crimea was placed, by the nature of the service, the season at which it was carried on, and the unusual disproportion of the numbers to the amount of work to be done, no practical means ought to have been left untried to protect the troops from the inju rious effects of diet—one of the few conditions of the sol diers' existence eehich were absolutely within control. " Regarded merely in a pecuniary point of view, irrespec tive of higher considerations, moral and political, the most wasteful of all expenditure is the expenditure of men. There is hardly nny conceivable price that it may bo neces sary to pay for What is required to preserve the health and efficiency of the soldier that is not advantageously laid out. Every soldier ha: costa large sum before he is landed iu the Crimea fi t for date., and it costs alike sum to replace him. The valueof the other, onsideratione cannob be estimated in money for they are above all price. But the h i ghost price that has been paid per lb. for fresh meat, including freight and casualties, was sd. or 6d., and therefore less than the lowest price at which salt meat has been put into store in the Crimea ; and if the casualties, which in the winter voyage from the Bosphorus, in steeru-vessels, are variously stated at from 14 to 20 per cent., '„ad been double that amount, or even a larger proportie -e that would not have been a sufficient reason for leavin the army without an adequate supply of what was necesse y to preserve the health of the troops. "Considering v o preference which has been shown, not only in the presen but iu other campaigns, particularly those in the Burmese Ned Chinese empires, for issuing to the troops salt meat, ~nd biscuit instead of fresh meat and bread, notwithstaing the alarming extension of diseases of the bowels which usually manifests itself in military operations, there seems reason to apprehend that the faci lity of obtaining and distributing the former description of supplies may not unfroquently have had an influence in causing too extensive a use of them. "The duties of the Commissariat are, then, in a great measure confined to maintaining an ample store of these in the general depot by shipments from home, which involves little trouble; and the distribution of this supply, accord ing to the numbers in each division, merely involves the simplest operation of arithmetic ; bat when cattle have to be sought out and pnrchaeed, often in remote provinces, have to be fed and cared for, and kept in condition before shipment ; when transport has to be provided, forage ob tained for the voyage, and subsistence thereafter till they are given over to the troops, the measure, however useful, is one which must necessarily be attended with much extra trouble, great complication of accounts, and no small per sonal exertion. 'the preparation of soft bread, in like measure—involving, as it does, the purchase of wheat, its conversion into fleet., the building of ovens, the hiring of bakers, and extensive superintendence—requires a very different amount of trouble and responsibility from what would be created by the receipt and issue of a certain number of bags of biscuit daily. It is, perhaps, but natural under such circumstances that those who have the charge of supplying the troops should cling to a system which tends so materially to relieve their ditli culties during a protracted campaign ; but, as experience has shown that this saving of trouble in the first instance can only be effected at the risk of great suffering, vast ex pense, and tenfold trouble in the end, the dependence on a diet of salt meat and biscuit only should in future be con fined to cases in which the general officer in command has satisfied himself as to the impassibility of procuring other supplies, and, therefore directs, in general orders, the issue of that description of food. The restriction to this ration should, then, be communicated immediately to the home authorities, in order that they may send out guppliei of preserved moats and vegetables, to counteract its same ness and innutritious otality. " SUPPLIES OF VEGETABLES COULD BE OBTAINED. " The deficiency in the supply of vegetables is even more objectionable and more unaccountable than that of the fresh meat. If the army was to bo fed on salt meat, a sufficient supply of vegetable food was known to be indis pensable to the maintenance of health. The Turkish pros viuces could have furnished, and a later and more unfa vourable season did furnish, a considerable amount. There are several varieties which can safely be carried by sea, and which will keep several months, of which potatoes and onions are perhaps the best, and the different varie ties of preserved vegetables are available at all seasons, and at a moderate cost. will begin to fall off after the month of October, unless arrangements are made by the Commissariat to have them properly fed and kept in condition. Such arrangements, instead of increasing the cost of the meat; would, probably, produce a considerable saving; for the oxen, if se attended to, would yield nearly double the quantity, and of better quality. We anticipate no difficulty in maintaining, or, if necessary, in largely increasing, the supplies of cattle, and also of vegetables, from the Turkish provinces. " BAT HORSES AND MULES. " At the time when the army was suffering in conse quence of the want of vegetables there was in store, at BA laklava, a considerable supply of vegetable food, both peas and preserved potatoes, which were not issued. The greater part of the peas were not split, but whole, and the men, ex periencing great diflculty in boiling them, became unwilling to take them. They did not know, and do not appear to have been informed, that the addition of a small quan tity of soda would have made the process comparatively easy ; but for this omission the Commissariat cannot be considered responsible. As a reason for not issuing the preserved potatoes during the winter, when they would have been so useful in preventing scurvy, the Commissary- General states that the men rejected them, and returned into store several cases that had been issued. On investi gating the circumstances, however, it appeared that they had been returned ,nto store at a time when the troops had a sufficient supply of fresh meat, and when they understood that they were to pay for one pound of the preserved the price of four or fils pounds of the fresh potatoes. When they were afterwaras issued gratis, and the mon had learnt how to cook them, they became exceedingly popular.* "NO ONE SPECIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DIET, OR FOR THE ADAPTATIOII OF THE RESOURCES TO THE WANTS OF THE ARMY. "The most disastrous of the deficiencies to which we have referred was the deficiency of the land transport. This was not confined to the transport more properly belonging to the Commissariat, but extended also to the public and private bat animals, the former being such ae, previous to the formation of the Laud Transport Corps, were provided by the Commissariat, and handed over to each corps in regulated proportions for the carriage of the field equip ment, the latter being the private property of the officers, who are, however, authorised to draw rations for them. Public bat animals appear to have been provided for such corps as were in Bulgaria, and most of the officers of those corps also provided themselves ; but when the army em barked for the Crimea neatly all of both descriptions were left behind, and it was not till the end of October that about half the regulated number was landed in the Crimea. A second and smaller detachment arrived in January, but by that time a great part of those received iu Oct ber were dead, or no longer effective, and, in consequence of the con tinued deficiency of forage, and the exposure and fatigue, most of those received in January shared the same fate. When the Commissariat transport failed, this deficiency of regimental transport, which otherwise would have been of comparatively little moment in a standing camp, was severely felt. " LAND TRANSPORT. " All the witnesses examined upon the subject are of opinion that the duties which the men had to perform under arms in the trenches, and en pickets and guards, in volved an amount of labour and exposure as great or greater than they could bear, without injury to their health. It was, therefore, of the utmost importance that they should be saved all additional labour and exposure, but, owing to the delicieucy of land transport, they had to perform a large amount of the work that ought to have been done by horses and mules. The roads, or tracks, were so deep in mud that the journey which the men had to perform from the camp on the heights to Balaklava and back, carrying up rations, warm clothing, huts, or ammunition, frequently occupied 12 hours, during the whole of which time they were without food, shelter, or rest—unless standing in deep mud, drenched and cold, instead of struggling through it, can be called rest. It was in consequence of the want of transport that, even after firewood hail been provided at Balaklava, the men had to undergo the labour and exposure of digging up roots to cook thir food, without always being able to procure enough for that purpose. It was in consequence of the want of transport that the men were repeatedly on short rations, and that they were deprived, for about six or seven weeks, of their rations of rice, which would have been so beneficial at that precise time, when hardly any vegetables were supplied to them, and hardly a man in the army escaped the prevailing disease. The mon were overworked in the trenches, and on pickets and guards ; and they suffered in health from the excessive fatigue watching, and exposure which those duties involved. To these, in consequence of the want of transport animals, were superadded other duties, involving an amount of fatigue and exposure which alone would have been trying to their constitutions. Several of the officers stated that the draughts for their corps, which were excused duty in the trenches for the first ten days after their arrival, were sent, during that interval, on fatigue to Balaklava, but that it became necessary to relinquish the practice, because a fatigue party to Balaklava seat se many of the young soldiers into hospital. " From the commencement of the campaign in the Cri mea the scale upon which the Commissary-General pro posed to provide land transport for the army appears to us to have been dangerously small • yet the scale upon which it was actually provided fell far short of even what ho had proposed. From a return prepared by the Commis sariat, there appears the startling fact that in January, 1835, the whole number of effective animals belonging to that department was 333 pack-horses and mules, and 12 camels. The Commissary-General had considered it ne cessary, before the army should move from Varna, to have transport at his disposal equal to about 14,000 pack animals. "In the month of October, however, assuming that the whole army was fixed immoveably in its position, the available transport may have been sufficient fur purely Commissariat purposes, exclusive of the conveyance of firewood--that is, for the carriage of rations of food and forage from Balaklava to the camps cf the different divie sions. But from the commencement of the operations transport was required for siege purposes also. From the evidence of the Commissary-General it appears that this diversion of a part of his transport from Commissariat to siege purposes prevented him from completing the forma tion of a depot near head-quarters which he had com menced, and which was a measure of great importance to the army, as subsequent events too cleaily proved. He was, therefore, from the commencement of the operations against Sebastopol, aware that the transport he had col lected was not all available for Commissariat purposes, and was not sufficient for all the purposes for which it was required. In answer to the question why, in those cir cumstances, he did net increase the transport in the Crimea, he states that ho had as many animals as he could feed. The measure of the amount of transport to be pro vided for the army in the Crimea was not, therefore, what was required, but what the Commissariat could feed. The reason for not increasing the amount of transport was not that a greater number of animals was unnecessary, but that a greatr number could not be fed in the Crimea. But if proper arrangements had been made to provide the army with forage for the winter, wherever it might be at that season, the forage would have been available for use in the Crimea. " SUPPLY OF HAY. " The Commissary-General had indeed concluded a con tract for about 1,000,000 pounds, or about 800 tons of hay, to be made at Buyook Tchaktnedge, on the Seaof Marmora; and hydraulic presses were sent out from England to com press it for shipment. The contractors failed, it is said, to complete their contract, and only about 600 or 70 tons of hay were made. They appear to have been rrkou withornt capital, who borrowed money at a high rate of interest to carry out their various contracts with the Commissariat. Their credit was such that it was found necessary to make an arrangement by which the sums falling du , ) to them by the Commissariat wero to be paid into the hands of the banker who advanced the funds. The banker considered it hazardous to make largo advances to enable thorn to carry out a contract for hay which was liable to be rejected on account of its quality, or because the whole quantity , contracted for had not been prepared. Objections to re ceive delivery appear to have been raised on both of these grounds, and payment was, in consequence, withheld. The contractors having no means of discharging the debt they had incurred to the bankers until they received the price of the hay, and conceiving, as they assert, that it had been rejected by the Commissariat, entered into an arrangement to sell it to the French. The British Commissariat then claimed it as their nroperty, and app!i cations were made by both parties to the Porte to compel delivery of the hay, which each asserted they had pur chased. At length it was secured to the British Commis sariat. But in the meantime the hydraulic presses had been erected in the vicinity of Constantinople, more than 15 miles from the place where it had been collected; and it became necessary to carry the loose hay that distance, either by land or water, before it could be pressed. This operation could not be carried on in bad weather, and thus, by defective arrangements throughout the whole transaction, the only provision for supplying the army with hay which had been ma•le in Turkey was rendered nugatory, at a time when 600 or 700 tons in the Crimea would have been invaluable. The Commissary-General admits that if the presses had been erected at the place where the hay was made he could have fed more animals ; and there can be little doubt that every addition to the transport ht the Crimea saved the lives of men. " When the roads or tracks between Bale,klava and the camp broke up about the 20th of November, and became one great slough of deep and tenacious mud, impassable for Commissariat carts, the transport power of that depart ment was reduced to one-third of its former amount, for a horse or mule will draw in a cart three times the weight it can carry on a pack. Even so early as the 14th of No vember, the day of the hurricane, the roads had become difficult, and the transport animals began to suffer. Tho Commissary-General then resolved to bring up a part of the reserve transport which had been loft at Varna, and had subsequently been ordered thence to Constantinople. At this time, however, he only contemplated bringing up 250, and the Jason sailed for that purpose on the 26th of November, and returned to Balaklava on the 16th of December, having been absent twenty days. The average passage at that season, including coaling, watering, &c., appears to have been about fifteen days. The Jason thus exceeded the average time by a few days, of which two may be accounted for by Cse, time occupied in sending for and bringing in the mules from Tehakmedge, where they were recovering from the effects of the journey from Varna. They had been badly cartel for, and many were utterly useless ; a certain number, however, arrived at Constantinople, in vary bad condition, about the end of November ; 250 of the most serviceable were selected to be shipped in the Jason, but even these appear to have hardly been considered effective by the Commissariat officers when they arrived at Balaklava. "ilt seems to be a defect, in the system of the 'gritish army that no one is specially responsible for the fitness of the diet supplied to the troops, or for the most advan tageous adaptatiot of the resources of the countries in which military operations are carried on to the require ments, in this respnet, of the army. Supplies of the utmost value to health may thus bo lying within reach, without being made available, because they are not specified in the scale of rations, awl because there is no ono whose special duty it is to find them out and to suggest their employ ment. A commander-in•ehief may be a man of consum mate genius, capaWe of attending to everything great or small, but a nation cannot safely ground its system upon the assumption that it can at all times command the ser vices of suchimen ; and it may be worthy of consideration whether there ought not to be upon the staff of •►n army in the field an officer, holding high military rank, whose duty it should be to devote his attention to the supply of the army, who should be responsible for everything con nected with the receipt and issue of supplies and stores of every description, in the same manner as the Quartermas ter-General and the Adjutant-General are responsible for the manner in which their departments are conducted, and who should be selected with reference to his special quali fications. • "On the 11th of December the sailing horse transports of the army were placed at the disposal of the Commissary- General, to bring up transport animals, but wore not em ployed for that purpose. On the 24th he applied for a steam-vessel, which appears. to have been immediately or dered. On the 28th he app!ied especially for the Jason, which had then discharged her cargo of animals, &c., and, in pur suance of orders given on the 24th, she was immediately placed at his disposal, and sailed on the 29th for Constan tinople. He makes it a ground of complaint, with refer ence to the reinforcement of the transport in the Crimea, that, having sick on board for Scutari, she was detained till the 7th Jan. lauding them; but, having been questioned on the subject., he admitted that, after landing the sick at Scutari, she was sent by the Commissariat, though not by his orders, to the Sea of Marnaora to take in a cargo of fuel, and he could not say that she might not have been absent a week or 10 days for that purpose. The deficiency in the land transport of the army cannot, therefore, be accounted for on the ground that ho could not obtain sufficient sea transport to convey the animals he was desirous of bringing to the camp. " The want of a road from Balaklava to the front, pass able for commissariat carts, greatly increased the difficulty of supplying the army after the middle of November ; but the officers commanding divisions, who were examined upon the subject, are unanimous in their opinion that it would have been i Eupossible to employ a sufficient number of m , n to make the r oa d, an d a t th e same time to carry on, ' t h e the military operations in which the army was engaged. on, only remedy, therefore, was to increase the number of transport animals ; and Lord Raglan, it is stated by the Quartermaster-General, atter uncea singly and urgently' impressing upon the Commissary-General the necessity of preparing a sufficiency of transport, sentofficers of the army to purchase animals at Eupatoria,.Constantanhoprlee., Smyrna, Sicily, &c. ; this measur e was, however, dpcst means odbyt fe hheefoeuldng them.'m i issary-General, who declared he had not the " In answer to the Teestion, was the Commissary-General at any time urged to increase t h e amount of trans p or t ? the , U a n h c a ea b s y in in gl y y se b l y u the Com 12C! !t u n a rdtecrr ofm a t s h t e e rf o e r c n e e s r , a p l " The real cause of the de ficienc y of tra nsport appears , e s a o y n s therefore, to have been the want of forage, not the want of ships or of animals ; and a similar failure to provide the requisite forage would again limit the number of animals available for the army in the Crimea, whatever might be the number in possession of the Land Transport Corps. It may be hoped that the formation of that corps will prevent the recurrence of any similar calamities from the same cause. " With respect to deficiencies of forage, which form the next branch of our report, there is very considerable diffi culty in arriving at accurate conclusions, because, previous to the Ist of January, no acoluut of such deicianeiea was kept by the quartermasters of cavalry; but it is admitted, both by the regimental and Commissariat officers, that very large deficiencies did occur in the hay wad chopp ed , " SUBSTITUTION OF PORTER FOR RUN. "Avery general opinion is ex - p - Ws;eahothby - command ing officers and surgeons that to continue the extra rations i of rum which the tr oo p s h ave b een rece i v i ng wou ld be n jurious both to their health and their habits; and there is a remarkable concurrence of testimony in favour of sub stituting porker o f goo d qua lit y f or a par t o f th e rations of rum, or even f or th e whole, as well as i n f avour of enabling the men to buy good porter, by providing a sufficient quantity to be supp li e d a t a fi xe d an d mo d e r a te price, while the army is in standing camp, under such regula tions, as may b e cons id ered expedient. , It cann o t , we f ear, b e d ou b te d , t h a t man y, es p ec i a ll y of the y oung soldiers, who had n o disposition to indulge in ardent spirit s , or to whom the rum was at first even dill tasteful, have acquired a habit of dram -drinking by the use of the rations issued to them ; and it is believed that the substitution of good porter, which is nutritious, anti sccrbutio, and, in moderate quantities, on the whole bene ficial, would also tend to correet or to prevent the forma tion of habits which are injurious both to health and to dis cipline. " SUPPLIES OF FOOD NOW ABUNDANT. "At a future time we shall be prepared to submit some suggestion s as to the rations of troops in the field; mean while we have the honour and satisfaction to report that, before our departure, the supplies of food to the army in the Crimea were abundant, and the diet of the soldier, in the opinion of those who are best able to judge, better than any array in the field has, in any former campaign, been regularly supplied with. We are able to state that, in their entire satisfaction with the rations new issued, the men concur with their officers. The only objection, so far as we can ascertain, is to the inferior condition of the cattle; and the grounds of this objection are in course of being removed, as the animals are daily improving in con dition upon the new grass, which is now abundant in the grazing countries. Bat as the natives of those countries are not in the. habit of winter-feeding their cattle, they * Among tb e reserve supplies at Scutari which were not brouglet over to the Crimea, at a time when they might have been of the utmost service to troops labouring under scurvy and insufficient nourishment, were 147,088 gallons of porter, which remained in store there from the Ist of December, 1854, till April or May last. It might have been impossible considering the inadequate means of transport, to carry any portion of this porter to the head-quarter camp, but there appears no rimson why it should not have been issued to the troops in the vicinity of Balaklava, as well as the numerous parties sent there from the camp on fatigue duties, which would by degrees have extended the supply throughout the force in front, without the trouble of carriage. It was one of the hardest consequences of the fatigue duty to Balaklava that the mna had often to remain there for the greater part of the day without food ; a pint of porter and a biscuit would have obviated this, and been of material benefit to their health; such a supply would also have been most valuable for the Sidi: ei "7= straw prior to that date. There appears always to have been enough of barley in store or iu the harbour, though there was occasionally much difficulty in getting at it, owing to the crowded state of the shipping, and it was at all times difficult to find conveyance for it to any consider able distance. The bay and straw began to fail about the 14th of November, after the gale in whiah so many vessels were lost off the coast; prior to that date no serious defi ciencies have been established. "During the great scarcity of hay and straw, between the 14th of November and Ist of January, the Commissa riat seem to have been in nearly the same difficulty as the Quartermasters in regard to furnishing any accurate state ments of their issues. The forage had to be sent up on the regimental bat animals, there being no other means of trans port. It was often late before they reached Balaklava, and they were in so weak a state that the men sent with them could only venture to carry up a portion of the forage due ; what was left behind would probably be considered by the Quartermaster a short issue, while the Commi ssar i a t of fi cer would, perhaps, hold that had made an issue in full. It is admitted on all hands, that there was groat irregu larity in the arrangements at that time, which we hope will be considered a sufficient reason for our not attempt ing to enter into any details of the deficiencies at that period. It may ouffice to state that they must have been very considerable indeed, and, coupled with exposure, were no doubt the cause of very heavy loss and inefficiency.* There is one case, however, from which such serious con sequences how° arisen that it requires some special notice. " WANT OF FORAGE IN LIGHT CATALRY BRIGADE. "The Light Cavalry Brigade, which had for some time previously been stationed in the valley adjacent to Ba laklava, was removed, first to the vicinity of head-quarters, for two or three days, and thereafter, on the let or 2d of November, to Inkerman, where it was stationed near the Windmill, a distance of at least seven or eight miles from Balaklava. This change at a time when the roads were in an extremely had state, and when there was great diffi culty in obtaining the means of transport, created very serious obstacles to a proper supply of forage being ob tained. "It is alleged by Depety-Assistant-Commissary-General Crookshanks that there was a certain quantity of hay at Balaklava, but not the means of carrying it io the front ; occasionally he managed to brieg up a little till the 14th of November, when the supply failed entirely. After that date the want of transport affected the supply of barley also, which on several days did not exceed from to 21b. daily per horse, being all that they had to keep them alive. The returns of ono of the regiments show that, for the last four days they were on the ground, the average was only about 211 b. for each horse, previously exhausted as they had been by the want of hay or straw during the early part of the month. " When the supply began to fail, the Commissariat officer referred to, who appears to have done everything in his power to meet the difficulties of the case, proposed, as he knew there was plenty of barley at Balaklava, that if a de tachment of the horses were allowed to go down daily he would engage to bring up enough for the rest of the brigade. This proposition appears to have been brought specially tinder the notioe of Lord Cardigan by Lieutenant-Colonel Alayou, Assistant Quartermaster-General of Cavalry, who states that his lordship declined to accede to it, as he had previously done when a similar proposition was made to him to send the horses down for hay before that sup ply failed. "The whole brie•ade remained in this state till the 2d of December, when it was directed to return to its previous position, but by that time the horses were reduced to each a state from starvation that they could no longer bear the weight of their riders ; they had to be led down ; many were left on the ground in a dying state, and of the re mainder 17 died on the road before they could reach their former station, a distance of only about 6 miles. " It is no part of our duty to enter into the military reasons which may have led to the detention of this ori gade on a spot where the horses could not be foraged by the Commissariat, or which may have induced a refusal to adopt the only measure by which apparently they could be subsisted; we merely call attention to the fact, as one of the instances of a deficiency of supply which formed the special subject of oar inquiry. " With regard to tho period from the Ist of January to the 31st of March last, returns have been obtained from each quartermaster showing the quantities of forage re quired, and the quantities received and deficient, of which a summary is given in the Appendix. This does not esta blish any apparent deficiency of importance during that period, for it was the practice, when hay was wanting, to make it up by double the weight of shopped straw, or sometimes by half the weight of barley ; 21b. of bran were, in like manner, occasionally substituted for the usual issue of chopped straw, so that on the whole the horses during this period seem not to have been badly rationed, though not with precisely the same description of forage as they had been accustomed to on home service. " In comparing the regimental and Commissariat state ments and returns on this head, it is necessary, however, to keep in view that, owing to the difficulty of carrying chopped straw, the men often objected to take it, and much was in consequence left behind, when it could not be exchanged for any other description of forage. This ap pears to have been in some cases assumed as a deficien c y, though it could obviously not be considered by the Com missariat in that light, or borne on the returns as such. "LOSS OF HORSES DURING THE WINTER. " With reference to the effect of the deficiency of forage and the other privations to which the horses of the army were exposed, we have ascertained the loss among them from various causes in the Cavalry and Artillery. A sum mary of the return obtained on that head will be found at page 193 of Appendix, which shows the loss attributable to sickness to be as follows, for the six mouths from Octo ber to March inclusive : Died Ratio Strength. by per cent of Sickness. Deaths. Heavy Cavalry 1 055 493 47 Light Cavalry Artillery 2,832 1,190 42 Total " On referring to the loss sustained by the Commissariat animal, during tne same perion, It will be found lathes less than in the cavalry or artillery, the deaths among them having, according to a return furnished by Deputy- Commissariat-General Adams, amounted to about 889 out of 2,329 originally imported into the Crimea, or in the proportion of 38 per cont.—a result which could scarcely have boon expected, considering the advantages which cavalry horses might be supposed to have over hard-worked baggage animals, to whom little attention could be paid at such a period. " While we have considered it our duty to point out what appear to us to be serious defects in the arragemeuts of the Commissariat with the army in the Crimea, as well as the consequences that have resulted from these defects, we do not mean to infer that the Commissary-General, or the other officers of that department, have failed to make any exertion of which they were capable to provide for the exigencies of the public s -rvice according to the measure of their ability and foresight ; and it is but just to direct attention to the usual nature of the duties required of them, where a large army occupied as it were a barren island which furnishes nothing except water and a limited quan tity of firewood. The Commissariat, which appears for some time to have been without a sufficient number of hands, had also serious difficulties to encounter which could not have been foreseen. The tempest of the 14th of November was a great disaster, and the peculiarities of the harbour of Balaklava, whatever may he its advantages, created con stant difficulties, especially in landing the vast supplies re quired for the army. The breal- big up of the road from Balaklava to the front, and the impossibility of sparing from their military duties a sufficient number of men to ' make it practicable for Commissi triat carts, had not been anticipated or provided for, and the belief, apparently shared in by the Commissariat, that Sebastopol would speedily fall, and the campaign in the Crimea terminate, though not much insisted upon by the witnesses whom we examined, was unquestionably a most influential cause of many defects in the arrangements. It appears to have been assumed, till the beginning of November, that any present inconvenience could be but of short duration, and that any expedients by which the emergencies of the moment could be overcome were sufficient for the occasion, A man of comprehensive views might probably have risen superior to these disadvantages, and created an organisation suited to the circumstances. He would, doubtless, at once have perceived that the established practice of procuring all supplies by tenders and contracts is not calculated to draw forth the resources of Turkey, or to make them available when required. Finding that his supplies must be drawn from provinces of the resources of which he had little knowledge, and to the inhabiiants of which he was unable even to communicate his wants in any language which they could understand, he would probably have turned to good account the knowledge of the country and its re sources, possessed by a large and respectable body of pub lic servants, her Majesty's Consuls, and he would then have found those resources more ample and more easily made available than till lately they were believed to be. But it is unreasonable to expect that every man who may rise to the head of so limited a d e partment, even after a long course of meritorious service , is to display, when ever the occasion may demand it, inventive resources and administrative capacity of a very high order. " The purely executive duties of the department appear to be well performed. The officers attached to divisions and brigades are generally intelligent and efficient; seve ral of them are men of considerable capacity. The Gene rals commanding divisions and brigades, with few excep tions, expressed their satisfaction with- the exertions and services of those officers, and used terms of high commen dationof them, especi a lly of Mr. in speaking of so m e Power, attached to the Second Division, who was absent on duty, and whom we therefore did net see. "The evidence in regard to some of the subjects of our inquiry has not been corrected by the officers last exa mined, to whom it was sent for that purpose only the day before our departure from Balaklava ; and certain written queries were transmitted at the same time, the answers to which will be forwarded to us. When we have received those papers, and have had an opportunity of examining in a collected farm the whole of the evidence and other do cuments, we shall proceed to report upon the matters to which they relate, so far as they may fall within the limits assigned to our inquiry by the instructions received from your lordship.--We have ti,. honour to be, your lordship's most obedient servants, " JOHN M'NEILL. • "ALEX. M. TULLOCH, Colonel. " The Right Hon. the Lord Panmure, G.C.8." * At this time several hundred quarters of buck wheat and a species of millet seed which bad boen taken at the capture of the town were lying in a large stone building close to the cattle wharf under the castle, and might, it is presumed, have been made available for some of the horses or baggage animals when there was a difficulty in landing corn from the ships, but it remained in this store during the whole winter, and was still there when wo left Balaklava in June, thus unneces sarily occupying a building which might have been valuable as a store for other purposes, besides allowing a most u seful supply for horses o r ca ttl e to go to waste. LITIRARY PENSION. —The Queen has granted an annual pension of 501., chargeable upon the civil fist, to Mr. John Dalton, of Dublin, the author of several Irish historical works, including the Army List of King I James 11., the latter not yet completed. LEIDVER2ISMIENT.I—HoIIoway's Ointment and Pills Excellent Remedios for Abscesses. —Mr. William Alsop, of the sloop Wesley, informed Mr. Reinhardt, druggist, Hull, that a child of his bad a dreadful abscess on the thigh, and that the medical men gave him no hopes of the child's life. Mr. Reinhardt then recommended him to use Holloway's Ointment; he did so, and the abscess soon healed, and the little patient is now as well and as stroiN as any child can be, entirely through the virtues of tilt; ointment, wbich are above all praise.—Sold by all medicin e wudors thr)ughont the world ; at Professor Holloway's estabiishiuents, 244, Strand, London, and 80, Maiden-lane, New York ; by A. Stamps, Constan tinople; A. Guidicy, Smyrna; and B, Muir, 1410! '..lar.iKutia. HADDINGTON CORN MARKET-FEB. 1. First.. WHEAT. BARLEY 87s Od 41s Od „ _ OATS. 33- 6d IMAM. ' 4a , Od Second 7ls 8d i 37s Sci } 29s 5d } 41s 10 , 1 Third 6 ss Od 31s Od 1 24s 6d j 34i 0d Total quantity of wheat in market, 673 qrs., 584 sold „ ~ . barley „ 499 qrs., 461 sold PP PP oats ,; 465 qrs., 444 sold 1, PI beans 152 qrs., 145 sold 39 AVERAGES PER IMPEETAL QUARTER. Wheat, 31. 11 8 0-12ths } Barley, ...1/. 17 $ 2.l2thit Oats, ... 1/. 9 5 8-12ths 1 Beans, ..... 21. 1 10 9.12011 DALKEITH GRAIN MARKET —JAN. 31. Qrs. Best. Current. In feliot. 384 Wheat 75s Od 1100 Oats 32s Od OOs Od 719 Barley 39s 6(1 oos Od 32 Peas lz beans 50s Od -00s Od ABERDEEN-FEB. 1. Potato oats 25s Od to 268 (k 1 1401bs per hi; b Common oats 22s Od to 23 s Od ) Bere 34s Od to 35s Od 1531bs Barley 34s Od to 35s Od Wheat, red (spring)o2s Od to 66s Od 1 621bs ~ , white .......70s Od to 74s Od Oatmeal ' l9s Od to 20s 0(1 per boll. Flour 60s Od to —s Od per flask. PROVISION MARKET. Beef, per lb 4ld to Sd 'Butter, p lb. Os 10d to is Od Mutton, per lb ....... 5d to •8d I Eggs, p doz. Os ed to Os lid Veal, per lb 6d to 9d Hens, p pair 3s 6d to 4s Oi Pork, per st...Eis ed to 6s Od Chickens,do.22 6d to 0,1 Salmon, per lb ......0s to Os Ducks, do., Os Od to 3s 03 Grouse, per brace ..... Os to Os Ducklings,doOs Od to Or 03 Tallow, p stone, 4s9d to 5s Od Turkeys, each4s ( . d to 8i Od Potatoes, pr peck, 6d to 7d Geese, do., 4s Od to 44: 61 Butter for exportation (present cure) per cwt. Os Od to 8 1 ' Eggs, wholesale price, per dozen ...... ....... Od to 9 RETAIL PRICES. Flour —s Od to 3s 2d Barley flour, 141b.0s to 2s Od Oatmeal,l4lb Os Od to 2s Od „ dust, Os toOs 10d Beremeal ....Os Od to is 10d „ per lb 2d to 20 Peasemeal... Os Od to 2s 1 d Sids, Bd 4-Ib. 10af...10d. 1 2-lb. 10af...5d. Cheese, per imperial stone, 3s lid. to 4s. D ÜBLIN—P Rs. 2. The consumers have begun to derive some advantage from the considerable fall in the wheat market. Th e fall is, however, only one penny in the 41b loaf, which is to be had now from some bakers at 9d for first and Bid second quality. There was a further fall in all kinds of grain at yesterday's market, wheat being is, oats 6d, and barley 6d to is lower than on the preceding Tuesday. White wheat, 38s Od to 42s Od ; red ditto, 3U to 40 ; barley, 14s Od to 20s 6d ; oats, 12s 6d to 15s Od ; rapeseeat —s Od to —s Oct per brl ; oatmeal, 16.:40t1 to 17s Od ; baki•ib flour, 24s Od to 28s Oct per cyrt-; Indian corn, 37s Od to 41s Od per 480 lbs. B.BA BORIVR AIL (N signifies that the mails are sent from the General Post-ofilco ty the night—and X( by the morning--4espateho IDay Ivheli rnal nora what {~IA 9 COJ)iTRI in - General Pest- Office, London.* due n Dlsoatchti , Englaw! honerica(byßrit,pact)lc Every Fridal America (by United Ste. packet) ...........N America (by U. 'States packet) [Liverpool Jan. 31 iLivorpo(i Feb.' 11 li4outhAA-.• t Aiistralia (via idonth-i ampton) .......... Ni I .;. c • ~. Ditto (via Marseilles) N:' Ditto (via Cape of Good' se . Hope) .............N I •• ..... • Africa (West Coast) ..Nl 23 d of the month Alexandria ..........N1 8 ,_9, 24, It 30 of r Bouthumptou Dover Plymor.th Dover .... Southampton Southampton Dover ..... Southamptoi Southamptel; Various port. & 20th of mon. ' Bahamas ...........M!llth of the mow; Belgium Daily Brazil ............ m 9th of the month.. Buenos Ayres ........m 9th of the month.. Cape of Good Hope ..N Cape of Good Hope .. N Cape de Verds 9th of the month Ceylon (see India) Ceylon Channel 151e5.... &17th of monV China . Once a month.... Constantinople 8,13,18,23,&2t501n , Constantinople & 20th of mon. Cont. of Europe M & N 'Twice daily Egypt (see India) France .. at Fc i 4, Twice daily.... Gibraltar .. ....M 4 , 7,17, 20, 2744 ut Greece (see India) a nytown ..........m,2nd & 17th of mon. Ha mburgh .• NiTucad sy & Friday Savannah ..........M Ind of the month Holland .......... M;Daily.....• Honduras .. ...lti lit tithe month. India (viaSouthampt.)m 4th t 20th of mon. India (via Marsoilles)M,9th&2 s th of month lonian Isles (seo India)l7, 17, & 27 of mon Ireland ........M & N Twice daily Lisbon .............. M 7, 9 , 1 7, & 27 of m. l Madeira 9th . of the month' leouthamptor. Southamptc, Bouthampt,) mover „ southampto ' - Dover Dover Bouthampto., Southampton London Southampto , , Dover Southamptor Plymouth .. Dover • Strutharuptot Southampton Liverpool ... ,11123 d of month illadeira • • • • • • • • .. Malta (see India) !Walla •• •• •• • • •• Mauritius (see India) Mauritius •••••• .• • • N Mexico .••• •• »•• ••114 Naples •• koe ••• •• •• •• • . N New Granada New Zea1and........ .. Papal States ..N Peninsula •• •• •• •• Peru •• •• •• •• •e ••114 Port Natal •• •• •• •• •• ..N Tuscany •• ..•`. • • • • •„ N Venezuela •• .• •• • • 114 Van Diemen's Lan d (se‘ , Au.,.•••o") •• .• • Wear Indies I 18. 18, &28 of mon !Dover .. ~ 14th of the month 2nd of the month., Soathampten sthlsth2.sthofmon. Dover & 17thof month Southampton By private sP ip .. Various port stolsth2sthofmon.Dover .• ••, /thl7th27thofmon. Southampton' & 27th of mon. riouthampton fly private ship... Various ports stlllsth2stholmen, Dover sthlsth2sthotmor. Dover ...... 7d 8t A7th ofmonth onthampton 2d& 17th Southampton Feb. 9 liTncertai !Feb. 6 !Daily Feb 15. Fob 15 lUncertalv Feb. 15 iTu.Th. u st Feb. 4 jTwl~ed&l: ~ TWi ~ a ~~ii} I Feb. 1. 1416ath2ototninfr; 7.wieedo7 Feb. 15 1 4 86 20 ns !Feb. 1 luneortA is UneertAlD 1 tclfino 1 1 & 1 n iron Whenany of these dates fall on a Sunday, the tnalli will de spatched on the following day, with the exception of the ( 0 ° Southampton), and the Malta, both of w hi c h w ill b e despatgb e preceding day. SHARE MARKETS, LIVERPOOL, FEB. 2. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The tone of the market has been buoyant to-day, and 4 considerable attendance. Birken head, Lancashire, and Cheshire, 15 t c.—Ditto (late C. and B. 274/. shares,) 14—Caledonian, 28t—Lancashire and Yorkshire, 821 2 le—London and North Westerns, 101 i 111 I—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, 25 sd -South Eastern, 14 13s. 9 , l.—Midlands, 704 /I 4 13,i Great Western of Cana 'a, 25i 8— Dutch Rhenish, ; 6s. 3d. p.—Ditto, new, 2,1 3s. Pd. p. MANCHESTER, FEB 2. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The market to-day has been doing a fair business, at higher prices, but closed weaker. London and North Westerns, 1 004—Eastern Counties, 10 4—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, 234 - Midland Consols, 71 70 4—S ou th E as t ern and Dover, 18i 1:3-16 t —Lancashire and Yorkshire, 824 A - G rea t Western of Canada, 25—Electric Telegraph Company, 20 x d. BIRMINGHAM, FEB. 2. STOCK EXCHANGE.—The tone of the market was very firm today, and the prices were advanced. London and. North Westerns were quoted at I (sO-1V idland 6 per cent. Bristol and Birmingham Stock, 131—South Staffords, 2& dis.—Birmingham Old Canals, 90. LEEDS, FEB. 2. STOCK EXCHANGE.—A very moderate business to-day. Midlands. 70h 4—Eastern Counties. 10—North Western, 54—Thirils ' 143—Eastern llnion, B, s—Brighton, 974 Sheffield, 25 j —Craven Moor, 18s. 3d.--York Mines, 140. 9d. DUBLIN, Fins. 2. STOOK EXCIIAZTGE.—Three per Cent. Consols, 901 90i — Ditto for Account, Feb. 7,9 O I—Now Threer Cent. Stock, 'Ai 91—Ditto, for Ac coun t, 7th of F eb., pe 903 —Groat Southern and We s t ern , 520—Bank Stook, 220 —Waterford and Limerick (501. paid), 24—Grand Canal Company, 39. A letter from Odessa of the 19th ult. says :—"General Luders has definitively taken 'the command of the army of the South. General Osten-Saoken ret urns . to St. Petersburg, and w ill b e replace,' in the command of G. troops in and around Odessa by General Suchosanet. The cold is less intense, though the steppes are still frozen over." BIRTHS. O 7 A SON. On the 31st ult., at Chesterfield House, the Countess of Lichfield. On the Ist inst., the wife of Alfred Keyser, Esq., 21, Norfolk-crescent, Hyde-park. OP • DAUGHTER. On the Ist inst., at Taleers, Flintshire, the Hon. Lady Mostyn. On the Ist inst., at Yotes Court, Kent, the wife of Wm. Harryman, Esq. MARRIED. — On the 31st ult., at Marylebone, Henry R. Goldfinch, Eaq., of Lincoln's-inn, barrister-at-law, eldest son of the late Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Goldfinch, R.C.8., to Emily Reynolds, youngest daughter of S. Reynolds Solly, Esq., of Serge-hill, Her ts, and Manchester-square, London. On tho 31st ult., at Richmond, Mr. John Henriques, of Park.terrace, Regent's-park, to Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Mr. Richard Batt, of Edwards-street, Port• man-square. DIED, On the 2d inst., Andrew Honey, Esq., l a t e o f th e B an k of England , aged 84. At tTnichester ROW, Regent's-park, Henry H. Bronx, E sq ., aged 84. On the 2d inst., at 13, Portland-place, Johannah Jane, the wife of Sir J. Henry Pelly, Bart. On the lit inst., at Ham-common, Surrey, John Lewis Cox, Esq., aged 80. On the let inst., at Rawnsgate, George T. Bland, 8.A., youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Bland; rector of Lilley, Herta, and Prebendary of Wells, aged N. On the let just., b London, Joseph Philby, Esq., of Geldings, Loughton, Essex, aged 66. On the Ist inst., at Barnes, Surrey, T. Wiggin, Esq., aged 82. On the let inst., at Berkhempstead, Richard H. Steel, Esq., F. R.C.S., aged 89. On the 22d ult., at Dingwall. Lewis Mark Mackenzie, Esq., of Finden and Mount Gerald, Ross-shire, N. 8., aged_ 34. On the 30th ult., at Clapton, Miss Ann Smith, aged 83. On the 31st ult., at River-street, Myddelton-square, Joseph Ratliff, Esq., aged 65. LONDON : Printed and Published by Kußpo YOUNG , of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Offiee, No. ]l2, Strand ? in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the eouty of MMUS; Nonclitt, retritarY.4# 1854, ,- :. ,~ ...i• ..w. 4 4,