The Sun. — London, England, 1854-12-13 00:00:00

etefal, because your example will inspire your country eon, you will be the men who will have upheld and main tained the honour of your flag, you will be the men who have delivered Europe from the power of the oppressor, and yOu will deserve the blessings of England and of the sworld." (Much cheering.) The Duke of NEWCASTLE said—Whenever on a former ooeasion I have had to follow the noble earl, I have always felt the difficulty under which I laboured in reply ing to statements and rebutting arguments brought for ward by so able and practised a debater ; and upon the present occasion, which was rightly characterised by the noble earl as one of momentous interest, I feel those diffi culties to be greater than usual. Let me say at the outset that I rejoice that, though the noble earl, in the latter half of his speech, somewhat departed from the spirit of the first part, and entered a little perhaps into unfair and party attacks, yet it will be known to our great and pow erful:enemy that the only cause of dissension, at any rate, which could be found in this house, was, that Government not been energetic enough in carrying on this war ; *cause, at a moment like this, the interests of a humble ndividnal like myself, or those of the Government, are •mall indeed as compared with the interests e estimation in gr ea t country. Better that we should suffe t r h ine t h e world, rather t of every man in this country, and than that the Emperor of Russia should be under the smallest delusion as to the s entiments of this country, and as to the complaints which can b e isan a g a i n st called"out and-out" ma d e ttlt (Cheers.) lam not about to make wh at and-out" defence of the G ov ernment, and of the depart ment f ar to which I belong. l am by too sensible o f my own shortcomings, and of the defects of administration, to the n2a r sad the that de day prepared to say that e ver y thin g which has been done has been right, that no mistakes eonne h e av 29th h been ef made,Ma r ch , if we had now to begin, as on w hich war was declared , we should do everythi ng as we have done it. Some thing might be omitted and ethers night be mended. Before I comment upon the principal fault* of omission and commission to which the nobleearl has alluded, I must in justice to Governm en t reca ll t o your lord ship's recollection the circumstances attending the decla ration of war, and the measures which were taken by the Government at the commencement of those operations. The noble earl seemed to me to be a little intonsistent in sa ying that at the commencement of warlike operations it was clear that we had some other object in view than the mare defence of Turkey and the assistance of the Turkish forces, and shortly afterwards, when it suited his purpose, endeavouring to prove that, until the siege of Silistria was raised, we had no notion of what we were about to do. I say at once that the first of the noble earl's propositions was correct. We had throughout a double object. The first object was the support of the Turkish forces and the pro tection of Constantinople from any possible attack from the Russian forces which were then in the Principalities. Our second object was, that if war were once declared, and we had to send force. to the East, we would not be satis fied with the expulsion of the Russians from the principa lities—we would not be content with the status quo—bat we would endeavour to obtain from the enemy such secu rity for the future as should prevent the recurrence of those evils which had involved us in war, and of attempts upon the integrity of the Turkish empire. In this double object our policy was identical with that of France, and let me tell the noble earl that not merely from the first moment of warlike operations, but from the commencement of the negotiations which eventually concluded in war, our policy has been identical with that of the Emperor of the French. Our union and alliance with that great emperor has from the first been complete, and I freely confess that I do rather pity the noble earl for that not very dignified attempt en his part to sow dissentious between the Go vernment of her Majesty and that of the Emperor of the French, by resuscitating upon this occasion some misera ble election speeches delivered long ago by members of the Government—(cheers)—when the noble earl knows as well as I do that never was alliance firmer, never was the de termination to maintain that alliance more resolute or more fixed in the mind of every member of her Majesty's Government, than at the present moment. And when the noble earl taunted my noble friend the First Lord of the Treasury that he had at this moment discovered that alliance with France was worth having, even with others than Orleanists, I must take the liberty to say that the noble Earl (Derby) is perfectly aware that the policy of my noble friend and of the Government has been that, as we were faithful to the alliance with Louis Philippe so long as he was upon the throne of France, so will our pre sent alliance be fixed, and perhaps more firmly, from the resolute character of the Emperor of the French, and the openhanded fairness which he has shown to us. (Hear.) I apprehend that the noble earl might have ascertained for himself that our objects in this war were, as I have ex plained, twofold, from the steps which were at its com mencement taken in the Baltic. The noble earl has com mented with considerable severity upon the operations in that sea. lam not about -to allude to his jokes upon the First Lord of the Admiralty or the Commander-in-chief of the squadron in the Baltic ; but I think that if the results which this country at first anticipated from those opera tions have net been realised, nevertheless they have not been unattended with beneficial results. It is undoubtedly true that Cronstadt and Sweaborg have not fallen, and that the Russian navy in that sea is at present intact ; but will your lordships bear in mind the results to the pride and position of Russia ? That fleet, though intact, has never been able to attack us, and her trade has been en tirely suspended. (No, no.) A noble marquis says " no." I am not, of course, alluding to her trade overland through a neutral state, but to the trade with which a fleet could interfere ; and I repeat that the trade of Russia has not only been crippled but completely suspended. It is not unnatural that the public should look slighting ly on the capture of B omarsund, partly owing to the facilit - with which the op erat i on was completed, a other partly owing to the far greate r magnitude the les tion which we have undertaken; but if your lord ships will remember what Bomarsund was to have been, and what it was rapidly becoming, I think you will admit with me, that a very great object has been attained by the destruction of that fortress—one to which, in a few years, Sveaborg and Cronstadt would have been as nothing—a port wherein all the fleets of Russia might have ridden with perfect security, and a fortress of much strength that, had it been completed, the Gulf of Bothnia would have become another Russian lake, and Stockholm would have been at all times at the mercy of the Emperor of Russia. The noble earl (the Earl of Derby) commented upon the budget at the commencement of the war, and said that the Government proposed an estimat o merely for sending 25,000 men to Malta and back again. He dwelt repeatedly upon the phrase " Malta and back again ;" I do not know whether ha had found the phrase in the speech of any minister of the Crown, but I men say from my own knowledge of the facts that it never was dreamed for a moment that the troops should come back from Malta unl see-which we never an ti c ipated—the Em peror of Rus s i a e d f or peace b efore they got any further. i The original fo r amounte d to between 28,M0 and 30,000 men, including officers, and of that 10,000 were sent to Malta, net to remain there, nor to return home, but to ex pedite the transport of the whole force to Turkey. The noble earl also laughed at the supposed boasted activity of the Government, and said that this sending off 28,000 men Consumed the months of March, April, and May, arid, as he said, well into June. Let me remind the noble-earl thet, with the exception of two or three regiments of ea- Valry, the whole force was sent to Turkey before the end -of April, and that on tha 22d April Lord Raglan received from me instructions to move forward that force from its position at Gallipoli, which it had occupied in conjuction with the army of the Emperor of the French, to Varna, in order to support that place, and subsequently with a view to the support of Silistria. I may mention, as complicat ing affairs, that about this time events had been taking place in Greece which appeared likely to embarrass other nations, and which rendered it necessary that, on, I think, the 20th of May, certai n f orces of Prance and England securing should be sent to th e Pi rrone, for the purpose of s• g that neutrality on the p ar t o f G reece which had be g un to be departed from. When th e no bl e earl came to that part of his speech at which he thought it was favour able to his case to represent that it was only after the raising of the siege of Silistria that we contemplated , the invasion of the Crimea, he quoted two speeches— one of my noble friend the President of the Council, the other of my noble friend the Chancellor of the Duch of Lancaster—in order to prove his case. He said that it was only after the siege of Silistria was raised that we asked ourselves " What next ?" and that the generals were ordered to proceed to the Crimea ; and he asserted that it was in spite of the representations of generals that that order was given by the Government at home. Let me inform the noble earl that he is entirely in error in the whole of this statement. From the first, the invasion of the Crimea was contemplated. I wish it were consistent with my duty and that of the Government to lay upon your lordships' table th e d es p a t c h es w hi c h h ave passe d be tween Lord Raglan and myself with reference to the con duct of this war ; but I think your lordships will ag ree with me that we sho u ld b e en d angering the public service if during the conduct of the war we produced suck docu ments. The production of these documents—and lam sure your lordship. will tak e my word for th e f ac t— wou ld prove that on the day on whisk the first official instruc tions were given to Lord Raglan, instructions were also given to him in a separate despatch to make inquiries with reference to the condition of Sebastopol, with reference to the forces in the Crimea, and to the means of invasion, and the best mode of carrying it out. When the noble earl proceeds to say that this order was given from home In spite of the opinion of competent generals, I admit that the order was given from home, but I deny that it was given in spite of the opinion of any generals. O n th e eon trary, as far as military opinions were received, they were in favour of the measure; and all the information we were able to acquire—l admit it was less than we could have obtained in any other country—tended to show that the step was a proper one to be taken. The noble earl then proceeded to say, upon the authority, I believe, of some speech which he had seen in a newspaper, that it was net until the end of July that these orders were issued. Here again the noble earl was entirely in error. The siege of Silistria was raised. The moment the intelligence of its' having been so was , received in this country by the telegraph, the Cabinet * met, and decided that, as any immediate inroad of Russian forces into the Turkish empire was at an end, the time was come when, with a Kew to the accomplishment of the great object of the Irofariit Was necessary to strike a bold blow at the power anin, and to deprive her of the means of aggres aid: twilehch2uk f sks a had employed to the detriment of Turkey. ing of Th e •June, only seven days after the rais cons f __„__Sifir y 0! %Maria, say despatch, giving direc- Ragia Z b",Aie' noble of the Crimea, was written to Lord expedition was ord earl also complained that when this did not sufficiently strengthen the oaten frc under L o ri d ' whiMari,'!command. I cannot forget that, h time f there was not a voic e ra * ea inl thisani speak ing, i/Is e o r ini nthjeucnoeulnastryt, which did not say that d th ep e re tue d :v la ere sufficient for the expedition, and did not said there was no sufficient reason,y, T T e r which it was n t h roug h o ut_ his speech, enti re l y threw out of acco ob u le nt e t a h r a l t the war was not undertaken b y our own army of 30 COO men alone, but that we undertook it i n conj unction with a great military po wer ; and, in spe a ki ng of the sufficiency ought to cons i der it in _ or insufficiency of the force, yon The first step whichwe took upon ordering the aggrega te. to send out reieforceme• e s this expedition, was So long was the first m ' as the defence of the Balkans consideration, under the we thought that the force we of Lord Raglan was sufficiently strong, and h ad reserved .a companies of artillery fourth division of infantry and c om e 'red to concentrate tAs soon as the forces were or d e red ordered out, under in th e Crimea, that reserve division wa s officer Sir G. Cathcart e command of that distinguishe d of artillery, two regi ments to it were added three compan i es attering train of 42 guns meets of cavalry, and a second abandon supply of am -veal e of equal =aunt, with an a I believe that never le - already sent out. ni , ieton, being , resat estate ins sent out in so g ' befcts*vo two battering tra tv of ammunition, 4 oteb,JSciatlcy, and with s . ) la r g e a su pp ., t authorities - t • ' Alleittititibg the opinions of the most competen t ' Coief• , avo (lireet;oo s for 1 •, , • ;:zirael,E4lyytkio Coininandef"'n" " wuclie,(l lightly e -' ' - 11 • ' o the amouut. The noble earl the ^` ,. /:e - e'..e.e.'„' )(set which has been made d'h IV object of louder took place ',,,- - e'e l' : i • . • i out of doors, viz., the delay which :, '',--# 1 1 - q THE SUN. LONDON. WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 13, 1854. which the noble lord is at the head ; and notwithstanding the " critical position" of affairs, I hope your lordships will not think that Government is dispirited, or, what is stilt more important. that your lordships will imagine that our brave men, with their gallant general, are discouraged. My lords, I feel that our gallant army is beyond any praise of mine. The time has been when it was thought that there existed a feeling of jealousy between army and navy; but if that were so, it does not exist et the pre sent moment. So fax fram jealousy, the navy has shown — and I speak not of admirals, or captains, or officers, but of the navy generally—a thorough anxiety to assist in every way possible the sister service. They knew that the sea men of Russia were beyond their power, and they knew that they had no opportunity of proving that they were emulous/to rival the fame obtained by the sailors under Nelson—to prove that the captains and sailors of the fleet of the present day had not degenerated—they knew that those Russian ships now in the harbour were out of the way of becoming honourable prizes to the ships of France and E.ngland ; and finding that this glory was not to be theirs, they lost no opportunity of slaving and toiling for the army'. (Hear.) To them it was owing that, after the battle hour, when the wounded lay extended for miles along the shore, and the means of carrying them were in sufficient, the soldiers were treated and conveyed with ten derness and brought on board the ships. I rejoice to think that the seamen and marines of the fleet have been enabled to take part in the siege of Sebastopol, and to prove that they are as gallant onshore as the soldier himself. (Cheers.) Then with respect to our Allies, with regard to whom fears were at the first moment expressed that we wou!d look upon each other with mutual distrust, the greatest cordiality and friendship existed between Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud while he lived, and Gen. Canrobert ever since. But this cordiality and friendship not o-ily existed between the generals and principal officers, but between the subalterns and common soldiers. Side by side they fought ; side by side they lay together in moments of suffering and disease. Never before, under any circumstances, have two nations, between whom amity subsisted, sbeirn a snore thorough co-operation than those gallant soldiers. (Hear.) There were not wanting those who had prophesied that the mili tary character of this country had perished with the long p eac e ; who said that years of refinement had so reduced our energies that when war should come our soldiers would succumb, and that we should never again make head against those who had been trained under a more military system. But that is not the case. Luxury has net weak ened the character of the aristocracy or gentry of this country. (Cheers.) The noble earl (the Earl of Derby) has appealed in eloquent terms to the loss we have sus tained, and it has been my painful duty, on more than one occasion, to break the sad tidings of the loss of rela tions to those to whom they were most dear. The men, one and all, fell gloriously in the service of their country. (Cheers.) We are told that it is the privilege of the Eng lishman to grumble, but it is we, who indulge in luxury at home, who grumble. Wh a t has been the conduct of those who have been exposed to the changes of climate and to the ravages of disease ? They have borne all with the most endurine. patience. Nothing could be more touching than the incident of that stalwart soldier in the hospital, who, when the nurses attended him, with tears in his eyes exclaimed—" This is, indeed, like Eng land now ; she is a country which cares for her poor wounded creatures." (Hear, hear.) They have shown themselves as superior as Christians to those whom they were fighting against, as they are superior as soldiers. I hope I may be allowed to say a word respecting the illus trious commander-in-chief. No oie but one who has been in constant communication with him can form any accurate notion of his merits. Greatly as he is valued in this country, his full merits will not be known until his despatches, and perhaps his private letters, which are in the custody of myself and of his family, are made public. (Hear, hear.) It would be most insulting to Lord Raglan to speak of his courage, for that ho possesses in common with all the other officer..; but he hasishown greater qualities than this ; and nothing is more eminent thea that characterised the other day by a gen tleman, who had seen him under circumstances of trial, as the " divine calm" with which he spoke when he learned the disastrous intelligence of the loss caused by the storm, and that his ar:ny was deprived of a most valuable part of its traasports. (Hear.) It may be my duty on an early day to refer to the services of Lord Raglan, but I could not avoid some slight allusion to them on this occasion. The noble Eerl (the Earl of Derby) has put a question which he said might probably be beyond the province of a mem ber of this house, whether, as we were n3w about reward ing the services of our army, and when the admiration of the Sovereign was expressed, some expression of the admi ration of the Sovereign and people of this country for the army of our brave ally should not be conveyed to it. I kuow not whether it be beyond the province of the noble earl to ask the question, but it obliges me to make a state ment. Her Majesty has not required the suggestion of anybody in this matter. (Cheers.) About is fortnight or three weeks ago I received her Majesty's command to con vey to Lord Raglan her intention to confer the order of the Bath on General Canrobert, and to convey that deter mination either to the ambassador of the Emperor of the French, or to the Emperor himself, and that has been de layed because it was not felt that the compliment would be complete to him if not offered at the same time as our own soldiers. (Hear, hear.) My lords, I believe it is the resolution of this country to prosecute the war, and I con fidently approve that resolution. (Cheers.) I look around use, and I see hardly a dissentient. I look to Ireland, and I look to the colonies, and I see in each aid all the most gratifying testimony of approval and support. Canada contributes largely to the Patriotic Fund, and this not merely for this country, but equally for the profit of the army of France as that of England, thus showing the complete identification that has been effected in the allied forces. The army has nobly done its daly, and the country is prepared to do its duty. (Chews.) I am not afraid that we shall suffer auy harsh judgment for our acts. The people are generous and just, and I will only say that I, for one, will rejoice at any amount of pressure which may be applied to me by every party in the country, and by the noble lord opposite, for I see .proofs that there is everywhere a d e t erm i na ti on to carry on the war with vigour, and all the efforts made on our part will be seconded by Parliament and the people. (Cheers.) I am conscious that there are many who could better have undertaken the heavy duties which have fallen on me, and I have often reflected on the fact that I as a civilian should be called on to administer the affairs of the army : bat still I hare felt that, with the exception of the commander-in chief, there is st this moment in the country hardly any experienced generals who have taken the lead in active war. They aro all in active service, and with the single exception of my noble friend we have not the benefit of the assistance of any one possessing military experience. I assure your lordships I have no object but that of bring ing the war to a successful termination, and to attain that object everyeffdrt shall be made. There aro necessarily re verses in a war, and we must expect some reverses on our part ; and should reverses come, I believe the country and the Government will alike bear them. It is said that Englishmen never know when they are beaten, and I am convinced that when we complete our success we shall prove that the saying is a true one. (Hear.) I will new explain the objects for which Parliament was called toge ther for this short session. As the noble earl rightly antici pated, we propose to bring in a bill to enable the militia regiments to volunteer their services abroad. The object of that is obvious ; it is to enable us to remove to the seat of war the regiments in garrison in Malta, Gibraltar, and the lonian Islands . As that bill will be in the House of Commons immediately , an d will before long come up to your lordships' house, I will not further Wert° it. I shall Majestyhav have th t e pow drill er liad trainflaying on the table a bill t o ena b le her foreign troops to a limited num ber. We cannot at present drill or train foreign troops in this country, and we believe that, as oaformeroccasions, it would be advantageous to have that power, for troops so drilled and trained might join an army, though the number could not be very considerable. There is another measure which would not require the sanction of Parliament, but which we consider necessary—it is that of increasing the organisation of our regiments by adding four companies to each regiment on foreign service, thus raising the com panies to sixteen. Great inconvenience was felt in sending reinforcements to an army 3,000 miles distant, and there fore it was most desirable tohave reserves at Malta or else where. It is proposed in raising these four companies, with the view to encourage the enlistment of the militia, that commissions be given to each battalion on bringing a certain number of men. Noble lords will see that we aro believe it will be very desirable to in giving considerable encouragement to enlistment. We propose to increase our two rifle regiments byone battalion each. The services of these troops have been found most to each battalion two officers' coca cerffieaciseentheainrdst;eength by one battalioneacla. I trust it will not be necessary to depart from that glory of England, rgeants in Lord Raglan's army. It was voluntary enlistment. My noble friend the general com manding in chief has, with the consent of her Majesty's given after the battle of Alma, and it will be given again. Government, f e o n r t This encouragement to the soldiers will be found to work well. Lord Raglan has also conferred the good service pension en the n on-commissioned officers under him, and • will be made to increasethe etfi • of the force. exertion menu force. (Cheers.) As the noble earl has entered on all these points, I felt it my duty to explain them as well as lay in my power. I have endeavoured to admit defects, not to Ilie gi v en se extenuate faults, and to lay before your lordships what I believe to be a correct statement of what the Government has done, and if blame attaches to any, it is certainly not to the army, nor to any mass serving his country abroad. (Hear, hear.) I assure your lordships that we look to prosecute this war, if we continue to possess the confi dence of Parliament, with firm resolve and unflinching perseverance. Ido not underetaud what is meant by ' moderate counsels." (Ch ee rs.) I say we are prepared to prostente the war with firm res.ilve and unflinching firmness. We will not reject overtures of peace, but we will not consent to any but an honourable peace. We have the fullest confidence in our army, and, in our noble people, and in the firmness and friendship of our powerful and generous Ally, and we do not fear the least for the result. (Cheers.) We have full confidence in the Ruler of the destinies of nations and we hair', the highest hope of bringing the contest to a satisfactory issue. It is not for us to determine the time when it will be possible to bring such a war to a close ; but we will bring it to such a close as will give repose to civilisation, and security to those nations of Europe which have been thrown into confusion by the act of one aggressive Sovereign. (Cheers.) Earl GREY having been one of those who objected to the policy of engaging in war in the first instance, was anxious to express his cordial concurrence in the Address, which he thought should be unanimously adopted. Al though his opinion was against the original policy of the war, and though that opinion was not altered, but rather confirmed, he thought that, being once embarked in it, there was no alternative but to carry it on with the utmost vigour and firmness. (Cheers.) He should therefore cor dially vote for the address to her Majesty, pledging the house to second with all the energy in their power the efforts of her Majesty's Government in carrying on the present contest. He was glad to say that, while he de plored all the misery and waste of human life, and of those resources which might have been employed for the general improvement of mankind, be found that in all this evil there was some good. He rejoiced that it bad been proved that the British nation had not degenerated. The noble duke at the head of the War Department had, in the course of his very elaborate ad lrese, expressed some opi -1110123 which appeared to him (Earl Grey) to be exceed ingly erroneous. The noble duke had • also said that some gentlemen connected with railways were about to send out labourers and all the apparatus necessary for the construction construction of a railway from Balaklava to the camps, in order to provide the means of carr • up with greater facility the stores for the carrying . . army. Was it not rather late in the and was not the lc •l ea an obvious one from the first? Then, again, it was only a few days since that the first supply of wooden ]ruts for the men had been sent out. They could not expect to be put up in the Crimea before at least the middle of January, and by that period the greater part o f th e w i nter would I • 1 have passes_ away. But eiirely this was a want which coot,] have been foreseen; ! ,, t. it t * t '' , ' , op. had. i eh - wined in the Crimea, or eve , ' ]gave ',',.'" ‘ ,.4, i , ...,,i i „,1, ..,;. wi ot «.,- , 1 i A hoi: , e o'_'l,3l- iii.,c 3 of the t;lack ;Sea, huts for the winter would have still been ne cessary for the comfort and health of the troops. (Cheers.) If, too, the large fleet sent to the Baltic was not intended between the 27th of -June, and the em barkation of the troops of Varna. He read a letter from anoffi r 'p f s w r , or m any of the commanders, for this delay. Certainly from l said that it would be most unjus t to blame but before the me they will receive no such blame ; e thetreoo noble earl says that becaus e no b a me attaches to the army it therefore attache s to the Government, let him look at the facts. In the fir st p lace, a slight delay arose from the late Marshal St. A r naud having thought it neces saryi to order off a portion o f the French troops n the di rection of the Danube, to co-operate d in obtaining an I. Then great difficulty was exPe le r o i 7ts ce a dother adequate supply of flat-bottomed . n things required for embarkation and disembarkation, and the greatest activity w as required 1 o n the part of Sir Edmund Lyons and Sir George Brown, and the officers under their command, to obtain materials, the neglect of which might have ruined the success of the expedition. The third and most serious cause of delay was the breaking out of the cholera. The noble earl said that the orders to go to the Crimea were only given after the army had been wasted by the cholera. Again I tell the noble he is wrong. The order was given before the cholera broke out. There may have been some exaggeration in the touching picture drawn by the noble earl of the graves prepared during the night for the burials ' in the morning, but I readily admit that the calamity was most serious. It caused a considerable number of deatA in our forces, and more, I regret to say, in those of our French allies ; but that was not its worst effect,"for those who died were few compared with the number who were so debilitated as to be unfitted for any exertion, however slight. The army was barely recovered from this digester when the fleet was prepared to embark a portion of the troops. A sudden blast of the malady seems to have rushed from the shore and struck the ships which were waiting for this purpose. I believe in one of them 100 men perished of this fell disease. Acting according to practical experience, the ships put to sea in order to stop the disorder. A gale came on, they were obliged to close the hatches, and the malady increased. This caused additional delay. At the same time let me say that I think we suffered very little from this delay ex cept by the loss and debilitation of our troops. The climate of the Crimea is very peculiar, and I have been informed by a medical man well competent to judge, that during the summer months the neighbourhood of Varna is more salubrious than any portion of the Crimea. I, there fore, very much doubt whether, if our troops had gone to the Crimea at an earlier period, they would have escaped from the calamity which befel them in Bulgaria. My lords, with regard to the deficiency in preparation which the noble earl charges against us, I really do not know to what the noble earl refers, except what he has specified—namely, the paucity of men. I can assure your lordships that these preparations were not only immense, but minute. I can only say that the transports collected and sent out were such as I believe it would not have been possible to have obtained at any former period of the his tory of this country, and we were only able to obtain them in consequence of the immense increase which has taken Place in our steam navigation within the last two or three years. (Hear, hear.) I can only say that so far as regards the quantity of stores and ammunition of all kinds sent out from this country, no practical man has ever expressed an opinion of their inadequacy, but that, on the contrary, those who were best able to judge have pronounced them to be quite sufficient, and in many cases they have been more than double the quantity usually supplied. (Year.) I said in the commencement of ray observations that it was net my intention to tell your lordships that there had been no mistake—that I was not about to tell your' lord ships that every arrangement had been perfect. I say at once that it is not sufficient to prove that this immense amount of ammunition and stores was sent, out, if they were not rendered available at the moment when they were wanted. And here I readily admit that mistakes have, been made, and that difficulties have arisen, which I hope in the further progress of the war will be altogether avoided. The noble earl speaks of this expedition to the Crimea as if the force which was carried across those seas was so small and trivial in amount as not to be worth speaking of. The noble earl forgets the operation of em barkation. He forgets still more the admirable and see cessful manner in which that great armament was disem barked. The English force alone amounted to 27,000 men. The French force amounted to 24,000 men. I am nowspeak ing of the forces which were carried across at one particular time, and which were disembarked within a few hours of each other. And, besides these numbers, there was a body of about 8,000 Turks attached to the" French army, Here was a body of nearly 60,000 men, landed at once upon the shores of the Crimea; and I believe the records of his tory do not chew such a successful accomplishment of an undertaking upon so great a scale. (Cheers.) My lords, then came the battle of Alma. The noble earl, with his accustomed eloquence, has dwelt upon the efforts and cou rage of our troops, and on that point I will mot at this moment add anything to what he has said. Then followed the march to Balaklava, which was so justly characterised by my noble frond who moved the address. I now COlll3 to the charge made by the noble earl with reference to the want of reinforcements. I have already stated that when the expedition to the Crimea was decided upon, the origi nal force of Lord Raglan's army, which amounted to some thing not much short of 30,000 men, was increased by about 7,000 additional troops. The noble earl says that no reinforcements were subsequently sent, until, I think, after the battle of Inkerman. The noble earl again is not correct. I do not wish to enter into figures. I do not wish to take advantage of any small mistakes on the part of the noble earl. But I will attempt to explain to the house why it was impossible to send out larger reinforce ments, even if larger reinforcements had been considered necessary. The node earl is not correct in his assertion, for reinforcements were prepared as soon as possible; and before the news of the battle of Alma arrived in this coun try, a force of between 6,000 and 7,000 men was under orders to proceed to the Crimea. The noble earl alluded to the period when the Prince steamer sailed from this country. That vessel carried out the first portion of the reinforcements to which I have alluded, as well as the stores to which I shall presently advert, and if the re mainder of this reinforcement of 7,000 men did not pro ceed with the same rapidity with which.the previous rein forcements had been sent out to Lord Raglan, it was because the whole of our available steam-transports had been sent to the Crimea. Others were coming in no doubt from foreign countries, from the colonies, and from dis tant parts of the world, and as they came in they were taken up by the Government, but at the moment when these 7,000 men were ready to be embarked we had not steam-transports for their conveyance. (Hear, hear. ) Look at the :Position of our great ally—our great and powerful military ally. France liks now collected a very powerful army; but was it not the Tact at the commence ment of hostilities that they were unable to scud those re inforcements which they are now pouring in ? (Hoar.) Look, again, at that power which, I rejoice to say, we may call our ally—l allude to Austria—look at that military power. What has Austria been doing during the last 4 or 5 months? Was that country in an effective state to take the field when war was declared by this country? Cer tainly not ; and if they had been obliged, as we were, to send a force into the field, is it not notorious that they would have been obliged to send one much more inadequate, much weaker, much less fitted for service than it is now able to do? , Cheers.) If that be the case with great military nations—nations whose whole military system is based upon conscription—what must it be with a country whose military system rests entirely upon voluntary enlist ment? This country never undertook a war under the circumstances in which the present war have been under taken. The siege of Sebastopol commenced, after a con siderable amount of preparation, on the 17th of October. It soon afterwards became apparent, from the intelligence which reached this country, that the siege was likely to be more protracted than I readily admit the Government at first expected it would be. (Hear.) If any blame attaches to the Government in that respect, I readily admit that we did hope and believe that long before the period at which we have now arrived that fortress would have fallen, and if we erred in that expectation—if we were over-confident in our belief—we erred with many men of great experience in war, and men whose opinions were well worthy of consid eration ; and we erred with the public at large, both in this country and in France. (Hear.) My lords, from the moment it appeared that the siege was likely to be pro tracted, every exertion was made by the Government to obtain reinforcements, and to send them out as fast as possible to the Crimea. And here, again, I am ready to ad mit that, under any other circumstances than these which have occurred, these reinforcements ought not to have been sent, because the troops which have gone out have arrived too recently in this country to be effectively re cruited, and they have been sent not trained as efficiently as we could have desired them to be. I do not hesitate to say—your lordships may blame me if you will—l de not hesitate to say that it has been my duty to order those troops to proceed to the East with very great diffidence ; but the Government has done so because they felt that the exigency of the moment required that every possible exer tion should be made to succour our brave troops. And when you blame the Government for not having sent those reinforcements sooner, let me tell you this, that those ge nerals on the spot who are the best competent to judge did net desire to have raw recruits, such as those which have ' been sent out prematurely; they would rather have had them reserved for the next campaign, unless those events had arisen which have rendered their services necessary, which have induced Lard Raglan to pries for them, aid which have induced the Government to send them with out any delay. (Hear, hear.) My lords, that events have turned out differently from what we contemplated, in more respects than one, I have already admitted. I con feis we did not expect that Russia's power of reinforcing her troops before Sebastopol was se great as it has proved to be. We did not doubt her military power. We were aware of that power, but undoubtedly we slid not expect that an army could have been moved from Odessa to Se bastopol with such marvellous rapidity ' • and probably some of your lordships will b e surprised to hear that, from the extraordinary efforts of the Russian troops, from the means which they possessed in moving their forces, their marches were effected at such a rapid rate, that in one day a march of forty-two miles was accomplished. I may be considered imprudent in making these confessions; but I wish to deal frankly with your lordships. (Hear, hear.) I have said we do not profess perfection. I am ready to admit an error—if error we have committed. We did not calculate upon the power of Russia to send reinforcements to Sebastopol in time for the battle of Inkerman. If the siege had been protracted some three er four weeks longer we might have expected them, but certainly did not ex pect them at the time of their arrivaL I can only say that we did not form our opinions upon any haphazard ei: guess work, but we took the best opinions which we were able to obtain in this country—the opinions of these most likely to be able to inform Inas to the means.and capabili- ties of the Russian forces, and of the character of the cou n t ry th r ough which they had to pass. Now, what have b een th e re i n f orce ments which in reality have been sent out from this country ? These reinforcements have been greatly u n . derrated by the noble earl. SinCe the month of Junemore than 20,000 men have been sent from this country to the army under Lord Raglan, and of that number 12,3 . 0 have been forwarded within the last two months. I believesome of your lordships will be surprised when I tell you that the whole number of men from the time of the commencement of hostilities down to the present time—including a few who are about to proceed—the whole number of men, in cluding officers, will have exceeded 53,000. (Hear, hear.) When you consider that this is in reality an army sent out almost upon a peace establishment—and what I mean bye peace establishment is this—that the increase of the army has hardly yet become available, inasmuch as it has been made subsequent to the 29th of March, when the declara tion of hostilities was made—when you recollect that not many naonths a go we were t o ld th a t in the event of an in- ' vasion not 10,000 men of the regular army could bebrought to defend our shores—and when we have been able to send out such a force to the Crimea—l do not think the exer tions of this country ought to be underrated, silty so little has been d noble earl. (Hem hear.) one . the. operations of this r war, I doulstswhethe or that in re as has been represented by the My lords, in looking hack to country, when we had been longer at ~,,no space h time p r on any former occasion within the out under the corm: many British troops were ever sent b 231..) me 80, earl has of any English general. (Hear, speech to the 111. AI la!la alluded in the course of his Avnif.th have been ,mate supply of stores of all kinds sent to Sel ms t 1 on this subject, s h ow i ng the "I. I have here a return powder and other store s W hi ch 9iormous amount of gun have been shipped for the seat of war, buts after trespassing so long on your 1 usiships' attention Ido not wish to go into details. If any ques tion should arise at any future period I shall be prepared to go into that subject. The Earl of DERBY intimated that he had not mach any complaint on the subject. The Duke of NEWCASTLE—But the noble earl is aware that the Government has been taxed with neglect in this respect, although not by him or in this house. If I touch upon any question which has not been alluded to by the noble earl, I think your lordships will not consider that I am dealing unfairly if, at this early stage of the debate, I enter into some details with which it is more particu'arly my province to be acquainted, for the purpose of refuting the accusations which have been made. With regard to the provision of ordnance, 62 guns were sent out at the com mencement of the war. There were also sent out two com plete battery trains of 42 guns, with an enormous supply of shot and shell, seven nine-pounder batteries, and two troops of royal horse artillery. I believe that on no former occasion was such a quantity of ordnance supplied to a British army within so short a period. The whole amount of small ammunition sent to the army is 22,933,000 rounds, of which 18,000;000 rounds were Minie ammunition. But still the Government do not feel satisfied with having sent out that quantity, but are continually sending more as ships can be obtained, for the purpose. What I have stated to your lordships by no means represents the force at the disposal of Lord Raglan, even as regards guns and ammu nition, for from Malta there have been sent 42 large guns and mortars, 9,000 shells, and 27,000 round shot, princi pally of very large size. (Hear.) I now come to a matter on which the noble earl commented with considerable seve rity. The noble earl said that we had shown no foresight as regards the requirements of the troops in clothing, and that on the 17th October the first supply of warm clothing arrived in the Crimea. The noble earl is quite correct with regard to that single fact, but I think the noble earl will not deny that if the supply sent out in the Prince had ar rived at its destination there would not have been much reason to complain of the privations of the army, considering the character of the climate and the period of the year when warm clothing becomes necessary in the Crimea. I have no hesitation in saying that supplies of warm clothing were sent out in time, and, but for the great calamity which befel the Prince, the whole army would have been supplied before any suffering from cold could have arisen. The orders for the supply of the warm clothing were given by myself in the months of July and August, and they were sent out as soon as the orders could be executed and steam ers could be provide& [This noble duke here enumerated the articles sent out in the Prince, amongst which were 35,700 pairs of woollen socks, 53,000 woollen shirts, 2,500 watch coats to go over the ordinary great coats, 16,000 blankets, and,3,750 rags. The noble duke then went on to read a statement of the total number of articles sent out, from which it appeared that the number of pairs of socks amounted to 150,000 socks; of woollen shirts, 100,000; of pairs of flannel drawers, 90,000 ; of woollen gloves, 80,000 pairs ; besides about 40,000 railway wrappers ; 40.000 waterproof capes; 40,000 fur coats; and 12,000 pairs of seal-skin boots.] To show that the Government was not negligent, I may mention that, on hearing of the less of the Prince by telegraphic message, they sent off messengers to Glasgow, Nottingham, Leicester, and the woollen manufacturing districts, to purchase up all the stores which they could lay their hands en, for the purpose of supplying the loss arising from the wreck of the Prince, and before authentic intelligence arrived of that disaster a great portion of the goods were on the way to their desti nation. (Cheers.) Huts have been ordered for the accom modation of the troops, and independent of those to be sent from Turkey, Malta, and France, 11,500 have already been sent from this country. The noble earl, in alluding to the condition of the army, stated that the men were nearly in rags. It is undoubtedly the fact that, in conse quence of the exposure of the men, their uniforms are nearly worn out ; but this was anticipated, and before any representations were made on the subject, complete new suits of uniforms were oroered for the whole army in the Crimea. Extra rations had been served out to the troops, consisting of meat, spirits, and vegetables, aid no deduc tion had been made for them in any one instance. (Hear.) Let me remark on oneebservation which fell from the noble earl opposite, in which he said that the army was half starved. I must entirely deny that statement. Accidents have occurred; I admit that everything has not been per fect. I can confidently assert that there has not keen a single day, except perhaps that of the first march after the disembarkation, on which the regular rations have not been supplied. They may perhaps have had salt psavisions more frequently than could be desired, but I think your lord ships will admit that the peculiarity of the service jastities this circumstance, and, perhaps, it is only wonderful that the commissariat has been able to supply so large a quan tity of fresh rations, which I believe have been furnished not less than three or four times a week. The Earl of DERBY made some observations with re spect to the men having gone into the battle of Inksrman without having had their food supplied, but his lordship was barely audible in the gallery. The Duke of NEWCASTLE—That only enhances the merit of the troops. The British corps engaged upon that occasion were roused from their quarters so unexpectedly that they had not received their breakfasts, and it was un til a late hour of the afternoon that they continued fight ing, as the noble earl supposes, without food. My lords, I believe that it is unnecessary to make any statement with reference to the commissariat beyond what I have already said with reference to the supply of rations and the condi tion of the army. I now come to the medical department. Here, again, let us bear in mind the position in which this department was at the commencement of the war. lam not about to defend, quite the reverse, but I say that these defects were consequent on that ill-judged economy which prevented the establishment of an efficient medical depart meat in time if peace—(hear)—and the blame is net to be attached to those officers under whose orders the medical department has acted, still less to the department itself. In what a different position has it had to act compared with our gallant allies. The French have an organised hos pital corps. We at the commencement of the war had none. (Hear.) We had even no code of hospital regulations. The whole thing had to be created deface)°, and under these cir circumstances it is almost wonderful that greater blunders have not, been committed and greater calamities incurred. My lords, what is the number of the medical officers at the present moment serving with the army ? The staff of medical officers is 280; the regimental sargeons number 192, and the ordnance 14 ; making a total of 186 ; and 14 have since been sent oat, snaking in all 495, which gives, according to the present estimated strength of the army, one surgeon to every seventy-seven men—about double the number which s-rued with the -army in former wars. lam not going to compare this service with what it was fifty years ago, in order to show what improvements have been made, or that the system is itself perfection—quite the reverse. I believe that there is a great deal to be done, and that great improvements may yet be made on the present system. The quaatity of lint sent out for the army was 26,561 lbs. Now, my lords, this immense num ber of pounds may not convey to your minds, any more than it did to my own, an accurate impression of the quantity sent out. It will, perhaps, enable your lord ships to form a better idea if I state that this quantity would cover thirty-six acres of ground. Linen bandages and other articles were sent out in similar proportion. Great exaggeration with regard to these deficiencies has been made to the public, and I believe that they have all been on a much smaller scale than the noble earl opposite appears to suppose. The noble earl said that when the nurses arrived at Scutari they were unable to supply one bottle of wine. • --- The Earl of DERBY.—My information was derived from one of the nurses. The Duke of NE WCASTLE.—If that statement was derived from one of the nurses it must be true, for I can not believe that any one of those noble women would state otherwise. My lords, 1 wish to impress on your minds that there have not beenthose defects of supply which might have been expected from that statement. The quantity sent out of this article, which the noble earl stated was so de ficient, was this, 4,080 dozens of port wine have been sent out for the use of the hospitals, and by far the greater por tion was in store, so far as we know, before the arrival of the wounded. Fer the better administration of these hos-. pitals, we have arranged that a general officer should go out to take the charge of them, and of military affairs at Scutari, and with a view of completing the organisation of the medical system ; and we have also sent a commission of three gentlemen for the purpose of inquiring into all complaints which have been made on these subjects, not so much with a view of condemning and punishing indivi duals, but for the purpose of ascertaining the defects of the system, and enabling us to rectify them. lam sorry to ffnd that an opinion has gone abroad that this commission has been sent out for the purpose of bolstering up a defec tive system. I think, my lords, I have proved that such an idea could never have been entertained by Government, or that such a disposition animates the gentlemen on that com mi pe ss i i ice wa on.W s Whatever report is made, I am confident that they will not b e influenced by such a desire. (Hear.) Dr. unfortunately lost on beard the Prince, and it was thought that he would be animated by such a desire as that which I have alluded to, inasmuch as he had been an assistant to Dr. Smith. My lords, what were the steps taken to fill up the vacancy thus oc cas ioned ? The commissioners had power to fill up any vacancy in their number, and they proposed to the Rev. Syd ne y Godolphin Osborne to join them in the commission. New, my lords, whatever may be thought of that reverend gentleman is other respects, he has always shown himself an ardent in vestigator ef abuses, and in his hands the Government or the medical department were not likely to receive lenient treatment. My lords, when the complaints first reached this country of the state of the hospitals at Scutari, we again directed our attention to the plan of sending out, narses, and we entrusted the organisation of that estab lishment to hands which, humanly speaking, must insure success ; and I cannot give too high praise to those ladies who have so nobly volunteered their services. They have left comfortable, and in mos t instances luxur ious homes, for the purpose of adopting a profession most distasteful to women of delicate minds, in the hope of assuaging the sufferings ef their countrymen, and fulfilling a high Christian duty. The noble earl opposite said that he had been informed that the Admiralty had been warned that the captain of the Prince was utterly incapable for such duties, and that no ship aught to have been sent out in the command of such an officer. When I heard of the delay in the discharge of the cargo, I immediately wrote to Lord Raglan, and stated that the impression on say mind was that great blame must. be attached to so me de partment. I requested him to make an immediate inquiry into the causes of that disaster. Of course no answer has yet been received ; but I have been informed by a person who was present during the storm that the state ef the sea was such that it was impossible to take tha t ship into the narrow harbour of Balaklava, or to discharge the cargo oa board ; and it was only by the assistanee of smaller steam vessels that the six companies of the 46th Regiment could be landed. Now, my lords, with reference to the other statement of the incompetency of the captain of that ves sel, until the noble earl made that statement I was not aware that such an accusation had been made, and I !lever heard one word of it before. It is, however, most desirable that the house should at once be informed upon the subject . A noble f r i en d h as just eiven me a report , i n which it is stated that an inquiry was made of the directors of the steam-shipping company to which the Prince had belonged. They stated that they had the fullest confidence in him, itmi the result was that he was continued in his cotarnand. There were two other naval officers placed in the vessel, and they were both on board at the time of the accident. I believe that the house will not now condemn the unfortu nate officer who was in command of that vessel, still less will they condemn the Board of Admiralty, who appear to have taken every possible precaution. In other respects to increase the facilities of conveyance of stores to the army, which has been found so difficult during the dry season, and which will be much greater at this period of the year, we aro sending out a complete railroad with all appliance', end a staff to save the labour of the troops. For this pur pose we applied at once to the firm of Messrs. Pato and Betts, well knowing that private enterprise often succeeded where the Government might fail. These gentlemen at once offered to place all their resources at our ctispesal for this purpose, hut with only one condition, that they should not derive one far thin: rrro!.t from the contirict, only sendlli„ bihn to the Tro tsury as tip-y more in to them. It is only justice to state thus much with respect to the conduct of these gentlemen. I have seen a statement this ,morning —l allude to a circular sent round to the pity of to attack the fortifications of the principal towns, it was obvious th at a much smaller number of ships would have been sufficient for maintaining an effective blockade, while a lei ge portion of the force sent to the Baltic might have been used to better purpose in the Black Sea. Not being pre.; etred ;with a large force of gun-boats was also another gi emt oversight which could easily have been fore seen. As g oon as there was real cause to apprehend hoe-. tilities with Russia, a large number of those gun boats should have , been put in hand. If we had had this flotilla of small gu7 s-boats ready, it could have prevented the Rus sians from obtaining supplies by the Sea of Azof, the shallow W 3: iers of which prevented our larger ships from establishing there an efficient blockade. fie could not understand why, when the expedition was sent to the Crimea meat weree should not have been taken to prevent Odessa being: able to assist the forces of Russia. The noble duke had se,' el that it was proposed to reward the troops in the Cri men by giving commissions in each regi ment to deem-sing non-commissioned officers. He was happy to he: .• that the Government intended to reward the troops in Craig manner, but trusted they would not in this repeat 'lhe old precedent of giving ensigns' commis sions to serg 5-. ants. The plan was one which would not be found to ans v ter. The effect of such a system was to put a man well ad leanced in life, who knew a great deal about the army, as It I was used to a great deal of responsibility, in the companj r of a number of young ensigns—boys of 18 or 19, without any responsibility, and who were, in fact, only beginning to, learn their profession.. He trusted, therefore, that in givii ;to sergeants these well-merited rewards for their gallant; conduct in the field, they would se far depart from their former precedent as to give commissions as captains at least. They would then give a position of re spectability,, and with it the means of supporting that po sitioa. He :had known many instances of sergeants hav ing been pr ex noted for good conduct to ensigncies who had boon ruined. by such promotion. (Cheers.) The Duke of ARGYLL said ho did not think her Ma jesty's Govern invent had any reason to complain of the mode in which the discussion upon the address had been carried on, and in th s criticisms passed upon the conduct of the Government; noble lords had shown nothing whatever of a factious spi; it. Some of the noble lords who had addressed the holise h ad, however, in his opinion, while criticising the minor d entails, entirely lost eight of the greater and more impor tent features of the case, as it presented itself to the notic e both of the Government and of the country. The remark r as to the unnecessary force in the Baltic were also quite u iefouaded ; for when Sir Charles Napier first sailed for th et Baltic he had with him bat 17 line-of-battle ships, while it was known that the Russians had not less than 27 in t heir harbours. Every exertion had been made to get that :Sleet ready for sea; and if the labour in the dockyards tit been diverted to the building of gun-boats, they would 7 sot have been able to get the larger ships ready for sea. Tb e, noble earl, in his remarks on the forbearance of our navy sat Odessa, was not more fortunate. He con tended that, if ever there was a war which was of European interest, thi e was that war ; and not only was this our con viction, but it was their conviction ; and yet, in spite of thir convic lion, we saw they were lagging behind us in the honourable course of asserting the independence of Europe and resistir ig the aggression of Russia. He confessed he had derived . the impression, from a consideration of the transaction of the last few months, that the fear of that power was i n every Cabinet, and was pursuing all the peoples of 13 trope, and that the time was come when a united stan d should be made against this aggression, and that it was t he duty and the privilege of the two Great Western P e wers to take the lead in that great contest. (Hear, hear .) He contended that it was the universal feeling of tie s people throughout this country that this was a war :a et only of justice, but of necessity. (Hear, hear.) The Earl of HARDWICKE said he thought the result of the debate was, that they stood very much in the same position as when it began, namely, that at the outset of this great NS r the Government of this country were not prepared in the first instance to carry it on with that vigour whic;ll. the occasion demanded. The noble duke (the Duke cif Newcastle) had made the important admis sion that the invasion of the Russian dominions was a por tion of the , e: riginal plan of the Government in carrying on the war. If that were so, he submitted the Govern ment were re of justified in saying they were prepared to carry out ass undertaking of that description. The noble duke (Argyl a) had stated that gun-boats alone would have been of no use in the Baltic ; but he (the Earl of Hardwicke). would remind the noble duke that between Cronstadt 'd St. Petersburg there was a flat of water ten or twain. a miles long, about nine miles in breadth, and five feel: deep • and he thought that a squadron of gun-beat - A would have operated with great effect on Cronstadt, a, rid even on St. Petersburg. It would bo too late next yea r for any operation of that sort. For him self, he ners :r expected that Sir Charles Napier would attempt to sal with the strong fortresses of Cronstadt apd St. Petersb , a rg ; but he knew well that if the admiral met the Russian .. fleet in the open sea he would have a good ac count to gi of them. He wholly absolved Sir Charles Napier fro n anything like misconduct or neglect. He thought the It, he had very ably conducted back our fleet without di, e 'Ater, and believed that if he had attempted any attack la pon the stronghold disaster was likely to have ensued. The only fault to be found with his gallant friend was that theta had been a little too much jollification and si ;nulling, wl; ich had led the public to expect more than had been accomplished. What was to be the end of the war ? The on ginal object was to drive the Russians out of Turkey, and se keep them out ; but by the invasion of the enemy's count.; er, and the attack upon Sebastopol, the cha racter of the e rar had been entirely changed. He wished success rnight . attend our arms for the sake of the honour of the country ; but his opinion was that if Sebastopol were taken we should be further from peace than we were now. The Earl of .CARLISLE wished to make a few obser vations with 1.0 gard to the views taken in the country with regard to the causes of the war. In the first place, he agreed entire] y with everything that had been said respect ing the admiral 314 conduct, the brilliant valour, and the steady devotedi less of the sister services, and of the army more especially . as upon it had devolved the gr e at er s h are of the labour. 1 7o the army it had been reserved to exhibit some of the it tost distinguished excellences which had marked the vari one epochs of the world, and they had dis played the steal ly devotion of the heroes of antiquity, and the solitary. vale 'Cr of ths days of chivalry, (Hear, hear.) The war, howeo - er, having commenced, it was, ho felt, the common risk cI all that it should be carried on with all possible vigour, in order to insure, at the earliest period, an honourable and durable peace. The spirit and energy of the country' were fairly roused, and them was, he thought, no da a ger whatever that any Ministry could fail in vigour or , r,;i mstancy in supporting to the utmost the power of our gallant troops. He hoped the Government would bear in 1 n ind that an honourable and durable peace might be obtai i led frithout insisting upon extreme terms, and that the fet ;lino- of the country would ultira a toly b e in favour of th ie who obtained such a peace at the earliest opportunity. - - - - The Earl of /LBERDEEN.—My lords, I should be sorry to detain your lordships at this late hour for any leigth of time, but I feel bound to make a few observations in reply to the coin plaint of the noble earl opposite. He said that the war ws ‘s undertaken in the defence of the liberty of the Turkish o inpire ; but, he added, you have changed the whole char cter of the war, and this expedition to Sebastopol has 3 'ail °Ted you from the possibility of obtain ing what you di, esire. New, I humbly beg to remind the noble earl that i f there be one point more than another more vital to th e safety and independence of the Turkish empire, and more clearly injurious to the power of Russia, it is the destri ction of the fort of Sebastopol. (Hear, hear.) Havini; driven the Russians out of the Principali ties, the next direct object of the war, which everybody must have had in view from its very commencement, and which we coup I only have been restrained in by a doubt of its practicability, was the attack and destruction of Sebas topol. (Hear, hear.) Notwithstanding the eager desire and expectation with which this country viewed the first landing In the [Crimea and its immediate can sequences—mistaken as they have been—a mistake in which all Ens ope shared at the time—still I think that there are zi )od grounds to hope that success will attend our efforts—(be , ar, hear) ;—and I totally disagree from the noble earl in thinking that the prospect of peace will be diminished by that success. Quite the contrary; I feel satisfied that nothing could contribute so much to the pro bability of obta, liming those terms of peace which my noble friend near me ,has alluded to as the signal of the success which I should hope we may achieve in this undertaking. The noble earl also referred to the mention of the treaty with Austria in the Speech, and said that he was unwilling to express satisfaction at a treaty of the contents of which he was ignorant, and which might bind us to terms of a highly objectioleabie nature, such as would not be sanc tioned by the people of this country ; and he talked of our supporting Austria in Italy, Poland, and Hungary, and de nounced any such object as a part of that engagement. The noble earl may make himself perfectly easy upon that score, as no engagement of such a description either exists or ever entered into our minds. It is unnecessary, how ever, to say this, as I presume that your lordships do not think it passible that we should have made such an en gagement ; but the noble earl who spoke early in the even ing (Derby) did not, I think, correctly understand the im port of the sentence in the Address. We do not propose that the house should express any satisfaction at the treaty. We propose only that the house should learn with satisfaction that her Majesty has made a treaty from which she anticipates important advantages. That is all the satis faction. It is not that we are satisfied until we know what it is, but that we learn-with satisfaction that the Queen has entered into a treaty from which she anticipates advantage. Now , my l ords, I think that y ou ma y safely as satisfactionth at w i without owuitt with thcommittinge treaty yourselves much eatroba es aaparticle i o o n f The Earl of DERBY—The phrase, as interpreted, then, is, that we are exceedi n g l y g lad that her Ma j est y and her Majesty's advisers approve the treaty which they have made. (A laugh.) The address was then agreed to, and the house adjourned at twelve o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS-(YESTERDAY.) Shortly after one o'clock the members of the House of Commons began to assemble, and before the half-hour there was a very tolerable number upon the Ministerial benches. The Speaker arrived at 25 minutes to two, at which time there were above 100 members present to receive him. After prayers, some ballotting took place for prece dence to attend the Speaker to the House of Lords. After that the house began to fill very rapidly, and at one time there were between two and three hundred members present. At ten minutes to two Lord John Russell entered the house, and having taken his accus tomed seat at once entered into earnest conversation with the Speaker and Clerks. His lordship looked re markably well. At half-past two Sir Augustus Clifford appeared at the table with the usual summons for the house to attend at the bar of the House of Lords, to hear the Speech from the Throne. The Speaker then left the house, followed by the mem bers in the order in which they had been balloted ; and upon his return, at twenty-five minutes to three, the house adjourned until a quarter to four. The House resumed at a quarter to four o'clock. NEW MEIIBERS. The following new members took the oaths and their M. ,j o 3 -l e:;h ae g k x ° t ' op M , r a . n W d . C D. seats, viz. :—Viscount Dun can Sir B. Hall, Sir W illiam Somerville, Mr. Watson, Q.C. Mr. F. Adair, Mr. G. W. t :S ai c a y,n s i t c ' T ia r rt. , Mr. J. B. Mo ore, Sir NEW "WRITS deceased ; for the county of Ayr, On the !notion of Mr. B.A.VTF,II, 110:\N" writs were nrclereql or 1, ; wyll ,1 "'" (- ' oold, Blair, deceased; for :Antrim 'in the room of Litut.. Colonel Pakenb.am, deceased ;, for Tremannagh, in the i n the room of Colonel room of Sir A. Brook, deceased ; and for East Gloucester shire, in the room of Sir M. Beach, deceased. SESSIONAL ORDERS. The usual sessional orders were 'considered and agreed to. THE PUBLIC EXCHEQUER. On the motion of Mr. WILSON, a return was ordered of the income and expenditure for the year ending 10th of October, 1854. BARNSTAPLE ELECTION. The SPEAKER laid upon the table certain papers contain ing information of informalities at tho late Barnstaple election _ _ Sir W. JOLLIFFE moved that the papers be printed and taken into consideration to-morrow. THE MILITIA. Mr. HAYTER, upon behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, gave notice of the intention of the Government to bring in a bill to enable her Majesty to accept offer of service from the militia out of this kingdom. NOTICES OF MOTIONS. Major BERESFORD gave notice that upon Tuesday week he should ask leave to bring in a bill t•o exempt the estates and survivors of our soldiers and officers who fell in the Crimea and elsewhere from paying the succession duties. Mr. C. BERKELEY gave notice that to-morrow he should move for a copy of the proceedings taken upon the trial by court-martial of Lieutenant Perry. Sir W. JOLLIFFE gave notice that to-morrow he should ask a question relative to the appointment of Mr. Abel Hayward to an office under the Poor-law Botta VOTE OF THANKS TO THE ARMY AND NAVY Lord J. RUSSELL roso and said—Sir, I rise to give notice that on Friday next I shall propose a vote of thanks of this house to oar army and navy for the operations that have taken place in the Black Sea. (Cheers.) I shall also propose a vote of thanks to the forces of our ally, his Ma jesty the Emperor of the French. (Renewed cheering.) THE ADDRESS. At half-past four o'clock the mover and seconder of the Address entered the house together, one attired in the uniform of a lord-lieutenant, and the other that of a de puty-lieutenant. At this time the house was tolerably full, but by no means so full as we have seen it on the iirst night of many former sessions. All the Ministers were in their seats, while the front Opposition bench. was crowded with the leading members of the Opposition, in cluding Mr. Disraeli, Sir John Pakington, and Lord Stan ley. The SPEAKIIa having read the Speech as it was delivered from the Throne this aftern2on, Mr. HENRY HERBERT rose to move the address, which was an echo of the speech. Ho said—Sir, in rising to move an humble Address be presented to her Majesty in answer to her most gracious Speech, he could not ask for that indulgence which was gen orally accorded to gen tlemen who addressed that hon. house for the first time ; yet, he was sure no member ever stood in greater need of that indulgence than himself. It was a source of the greatest pleasure to hear that her Mjesty had concluded a treaty with Austria, and also one with our transatlantic brethren. There was a topic in her Illajesty'sSpeech—one of the most solemn topics to every man, woman, and child, he meant the war —at which he hoped they would permit him to take a short glance. In making that retrospect he thought the country had ample cause to congratulate itself upon the victory, the splendid victory—(loud cheers) — which had been achieved. He did not Underrate the losses that had attended the splendid successes of her Majesty's arms, and he trusted th a t the efforts that would be made to alleviate the sufferers by those successes would prove that those sacrifices had not been made in vain. (Cheers.) The efforts made by the Turks at Oltenitza and Citate had surprised every one, and proved that their courage had not degenerated. Few could hav e expec t e d such splendid results with a foe so gigantic. The Russians passed the Danube on the 27th of March. When they had ad vanced as far as Silistria, they met with a blow from the Turks, commanded by the gallant Butler, they least ex pected. That campaign, already commenced by the cross ing of the Danube, ended by the Russians retreating across the Pruth ; thus, without the loss of a single man, the first object of the campaign was effected. He would now, if permitted by the house, take a glance at the naval ope rations. There were some in this country who felt disap pointed that no great battles had been won—no glorious results had been added to the naval glories of this great country. On former occasions we had noble foes to deal with, not those who skulked behind stone walls and dared not show themselves. Persons were apt to forget that long blockades had before led to the mast brilliant results. Was it nothing for our sailors to have done to have swept those seas which, until then, had been called Russian lakes? (Cheers.) Was it nothing that our flag should be as safe now as if we ware in a state of pro found peace ? Pleasure yachts could traverse the seas un armedjand unmolested by an enemy, and everywhere our ships were on the alert. And hero he might take the opportunity of congratulating our gallant seamen upon the noble spirit they had displayed through out the whole of the existing struggle. The house was aware that on the 3d of September the Allied Forces left Varna, and within eleven days they were landed in the Crimea. (Hear, hear.) That movement and the instructions which he issued on the occasion, were sufficient to satisfy the country that in Lord Raglan we had a military commander as able as any who had, ever borne arms in the service of England. (Hear, hear.) The glorious battle of the Alma followed the landing, and then subsequently came the Battle of Balaklava, which was fought on a day that would ever be mournful to us as the day on which our Cavalry was so terribly cut to pieces. (Hear.; On the sth of November was fought the battle of Inker. man, and on that day our troops well sustained the repo• tation of that army which never knew when it was beaten, (Cheers.) Since then we had been unable to carry on our siege operations with the same vig9fir as before, and though ho was ready to admit that we had underrated the power and ability of the enemy, he did not think our mistakes could be urged as a reason for not prosecuting the war with increased vigour. (Cheers.) The country was unanimous almost to a man in favour of its being carried forward until some effective result had been obtained. As an Irishman, it gave him great satisfaction to find that the Minister did not hesitate to withdraw troops from the Sister Kingdom to send against the enemy. There was a time when the Minister would have feared to leave Ire land as it were without troops, but thank * God that day was past, and now all classes of her Majesty's subjects in Ire land mere uniting to assist the Allies in carrying on the war. On the whole then he thought we had good reason for con gratulation. Notwithstanding that our losses had been great, our troops had obtained a position that was impreg nable, the flag of the enemy had been swept from off the waters where it was wont to be seen, and without wishing to shut his eyes to the power of Russia, he felt that the time had' not yet come when we should give way to a feeling of despondency. (Hear, hear.) Let the house, then, be unanimous in voting the means necessary for prosecuting the war with vigour and effect, and thus show itself worthy o f th e coun t ry, w h o were anx i ous to i see t terminated only on terms honourable alike to our selves and our allies. (Cheers.) Mr. E. F. L. GOWER seconded the address. He said he felt great difficulty in performing that task, because he had not the ability to do justice to the one leading topic of her Majesty's Speech. Every man must , lament that he had lived to hear a speech from the Throne which referred to no other subject than war ; but at the same time it must be gratifying to all Englishmen to find that the gallantry of our armies had been acknow ledged in suitable, nay, noble terms by her Majesty from the throne. (Cheers.) The gallantry of our own armies was only to be equalled by that of our own Allies, and he hoped now that the two greatest nations of Europe had united in the battle-field, that when peace should be re stored they would display a similar declaration to farther the mutual interest of each other. (Hear.) Of course, his seconding the Address indicated that• he had confidence in her Majesty's Government, and he did so because they had not only united all classes at home in support of the War, but they had secured the feeling of all Europe in our favour. (Hear, hear.) He would not attempt to criticise our military or naval operations, but he agreed with the mover of the Address, that though there might have been mistakes committed, yet on the whole many vast and permanent results had been obtained. (Hear, hear.) We had shut up the Baltic for the year ; we had done the same fer the Black Sea, while we had been enabled to send out to the East an army of 50,000 men, and he put it to the house whether they would have been credited had Ministers announced at the beginning of the year that they meditated attempting those great achievements ? (Hear, hear.) Well,lithen, he hoped the house would be unanimous in supporting them during the remainder of the struggle, and thus satisfy Europe, the British Parliament, as well as the British people, were resolved that the aggressive power of Russia should be destroyed. (Cheers.) Sir J. PAKINGTON—Mr. Speaker, if I am desirous of availing myself of an early oppdrtunity of taking part in the debate on the motion that has now been submitted to the house, I do so because I' have a strong impression that in the present state of public affairs, it is the duty of men of all parties in this house frankly to state their sen timents, and not because I entertain the.smallest desire to criticise, and especially in any hostile spirit, the speeches which have been delivered by the hon. gentlemen opposite, the mover and seconder of the address. On the contrary, I readily recognise the fairness of the tone in which those hon. gentlemen have spoken. I take na exception to the spirit in which they have addressed the house, and I most readily admit the ability with which they have done so. (Hear, hear.) I confess also it is to me a source of the greatest possible satisfaction in this motion that I find myself unable to take any serious exception to the address to her Majesty which has been moved by the hon. gentle. man opposite, in answer to the gracious Speech which her Majesty has this day delivered from the throne. Sir, in contemplating the first paragraph of that speech and, of the Address —namely, the paragraph in which her Majesty has appealed to Parliament for support in the great war in which she is now embarked—l do entertain a sanguine hope that, among every party in this house, there will prevail a degree . of candid unanimity which was never ex ceeded in any other popular assembly. (Hear, hear.) And, Sir, I am sure I may say, in the name of the great Con servative party, both in this house and in the country, that we do not yield to the gentlemen who have framed that Addre ss —th at we do not yield to th em nor to any body of m en i n thi s house or in the country, in the firm resolve to extend to her Majesty that suppo.rt.which. she . desires. • (L ou d c h eers from the Opposition benches.) Sir, the next portion of the speech appeals rn to this house to sanction an augmen t a ti on of the ar • I feel my self equ a ll y una bl e t o t a ke the slightest y exception to this demand on the part of her Majesty's Govern rfaetshi r e a r believe the feeling esf those raent. On the contrary, I friends with whom I have the in of acting, is, not to the 1 , • accedingt he army, y,but that we should now besitateeiinng of the Government for increasing f ee l disposed to e find fault with t o lie pp G o o s v it e i r o n ; that we should l a n: . r e e l: s t e h thet step?"ar m Govern ment for having so d t ela4 v d il d l oing not soone ti r cheers.) The questiobnivronyeou, now ?" but, "WhyeL esooner taken precautions to show that Why have aware"u o ° f the magnitude of that struggle in which you wer e now unhappily engaged ? I fear that the only this country 13n construction th a t can be put up on t h e policy which has been adopted by her i Majesty's Gover nmen t , and upon the course they have taken s, that u n til l ately, until within the last m onth, when they have app eare d t o awaken as from a dream—(laughter)—they have been entirely uncon „ions of the magnitude of the difficulties and of the perils of the struggle with-Russia in which we are embarked. Sir, that has been no fault on this side of the house. In the last session of Parliament, whatever demands the Govern ment made were freely and liberally acceded te. The noble lord opposite, I think, on more than one occasion, frankly admitted th e sp i r i t in which the Government was rn, et, and was th , er , fore not from any want of spirit on the part of this house that the army was not earlier augmented ; but I believe we shall trace:v. hat I must call the crippled state of our military km amen ts .merely to the financial arrange ments of her Majesty's Government during last session ; and to that attempt announced on the part of the Chan. cellor of the Exchequer, to the principle of which we tak no exception, but of the impossibility of which we warned him, in so great a struggle, namely, to pay for the expensed of the war entirely,from the revenue of the year. (Hear., I now approach two other passages of her Majesty's Speech —namely, the paragraph which refers to the sondust of the army, and the paragraph which refers to the conduct of our noble allies the French. In approaching those passages, I do so with a feeling, which f think every inqn will entertain who touches upon them, of the diffi culty of expressing himself upon those subjects as he would wish. No language can exceed the debt of grati tude which we owe to the British army in the Crimea-'-- (cheers)—and well does the language of her Majesty's peech point to that debt when it says, ". The exertions they have made, and the victories they have obtained, are not exceeded in the brightest pages of our history, and have tilled me with admiration and gratitude." Not only is that language just—not only did not the page of history record such gallantry, but we have not read even in fiction —either in fable er in song—anything equal to the gal lantry of that army. (Cheers.) And while considering the deeds of this gallant army, and of these among them who suffered and who bled in those saeguinary struggles, I hope it will net be considered inappropriate if I pay a passing tribute to the memdly of one of those who had fallen in those struggles, and whose loss that house had to deplore—he alluded to the gallant Col. Blair. (Hear, hear.) We valued, we esteemed him as a friend. No party feeling should mix in such subjects. (Hear.) He was esteemed by us all, and it was a matter of deep regret that one so full of promise should have been so soon and so pre maturely cut off. (Hear, hear.) There was yet another gallant officer whose name was familiar to that house, to whom I cannot refrain from reference, and whom I do hope we shall soon see amongst us in renewed health and vigour. I allude to the hon. and gallant member for West minster. (Cheers.) No hon. member lam sure will feel that I am drawing invidious distinctions when I am allud ing to a member of this house with whom we daily mix, and I think the house will agree with me, that amongst the noble deeds characterising the actions of our troops in the Crimea, there had been nothing more heroic than the manner in which that gallant officer had left his bed on tho bloody day at Inkerman, to share in the dangers of the fight—a gallantry which was only exceeded by the prudence with which he refrained from resuming the command of his division. (Cheers.) I hope the house will forgive me for stepping aside to allude to these topics—(renewed cheers)—but hope we shall soon see him amongst us. (Cheers.) Honour to all—to those who have fallen, and to those who have fought and bled. They have all suf fered for their country's honour, and deeply are we in debted to them for their conduct in the bead. And while I allude in such terms to the gallant deeds of our own army, I have no desire to disguise my feelings as to how deeply we are also indebted to the heroism of our gal lant allies. the French army. (Cheers.) The hon. mover of the address had already paid a just tribute to them—to their noble emulation with our own army, and their unparalleled gallantry, by which the French army had gained undying laurels. (Loud cheers.) I cannot, also, while on this sub ject, avoid referring with praise to the noble spirit with which General Canrobert rode side by side with our own noble and gallant Commander-in-Chief, aiding him by his counsel and advice on the day of Inkerman, and the readi ness and talent displayed by General Bosquet in coming to his assistance. I hope these acknowle , igments and ob servations will be read by, and prove gratifying to, her Majesty's allies, and I hope it will be known to our French allies and to the gallant French army that the Parliament of England recognise their services. (Cheers.) The next paragraph in the Speech to :which I will allude, and. to which I cannot refer with unqualified assent, is one of the most important. I refer to the paragraph respecting the treaty of alliance with Austria. We are at present igno rant of its terms; but it has been intimated that it will be laid forthwith upon the table of the house. With the read ing of that treaty, with the state of affairs in the East, and. and with the future prospects of the war, I hope that w* shall soon be acquainted ; I hope that we shall soon have an intimation from her Majesty's Government of what is the real scope and object of that treaty. (Hear from the Opposition.) With respect to the views and feelings of Austria, and as to her conduct and intentions in concluding the treaty, they had been watched by the country, in pro portion to their importance as bearing upon the present contest, and an impression has prevailed that she was fol lowing out her own interests in exclusion to those of the allies. The public were very little informed as to the con dition of affairs in the East, and as to the nature of the treaty of Austria with the Porte; and an impression had prevailed that Austrian 'intrigues had prevented Omer Paella and his army from keeping in check the Russian forces in Bessarabia, and thereby preventing the march of those troops to swell the army of the Emperor of Russia in the Crimea, and greatly augment the danger surrounding our arms in that country. (Hear.) These are, very important subjects. In the discussions on these sub jects last session, he spoke from memory, when the noble lord the leader of the Opposition (Lord J. Russell) was ex tenuating the conduct of Government, he said that delay which had taken place had secured the co-operation of the German powers. But was that the case? What had been their course of conduct from that time to the present mo ment ? The public had viewed with suspicion the conduct of the Austrian Government--conduct which had been marked with great ability as regarded the objects of that power. The treaties now concluded by Austria with the Porte and with this country and our French ally are mat ters of no little importance, and I hope the noble lord op posite (Lord J. Russell) will inform the house as soon as he can upon these subjects. In the meantime I hope it will be understood that the Address before the house will be worded as not to pledge that house to all the provisions of that treaty. (Hear.) Ido not know that there is any other paragraph that requires special observation. Yes, there is one—a somewhat mysterious paragraph, relating to matter's to be proposed for the welfare and interest of the country, which are .not specified. I hope that with the experience the noble lord opposite had now had that a reform bill will not form one of them. (Laughter and ironical cheers on the Opposition benches.) The noble lord, they could not forget, told them last year that it would be a noble speetaele for a nation to let the world see that it could at the same time reform its own institu tions and attack so great a power as Russia. (A. laugh.) I hope his views on this subject are now permanently changed, and, with the provisoes 1 have mentioned, I en tirely agree with the sentiments in the Address. It will not do, with the duties which the war devolves on us, to take unnecessary exceptions as to our domestic legislation. I cannot find any severe fault with the language of Govern ment, and I have no intention to resift the language of the Address. (Cheers.) I would gladly have limited my self to these remarks on this occasion. I feel strongly with hon. gentlemen on the other side of the house, that this is not the moment for a party struggle. It is most important that we should show a united Parliament and a united na tion. (Cheers.) If we have differences amongst us, let it be clearly understood that these differences refer only to the best mode in which we can support our Sovereign in this great struggle in which we are engaged. (Cheers.) But on the other hand, I will not admit that it is consistent with our duty as members of Parliament, on this side of the house, to abandon our duty to the country. I think, on the contrary, that when woo arts about to entrust to the Government large powers and large resources, it becomes our duty to state any grounds of complaint which may exist as to the manner of conducting the war hitherto, and to call for explanations upon points upon which the public) wished for explanations. That is a duty which' will not con sent to abandon. There was a feeling in the public mind that, whatever anxieties the Government could have to bring the war to a successful issue, yet that they had not, since it was declared, shown that wisdom, foresight, and prudence in the measures they had taken, and which were necessary most of all to conduce to that great end. (Op position cheers.). It was our duty last year severely to criticise the conduct of the Government in the course of the negotiations which were they sanded on. It was ad mitted that, when vigour and energy were most essential their conduct was most passive. And now that we are in volved in an arduous war, and when it was the paramount duty of the Government to show energy and decision in their measures, and to temper them with the caution, pru dence, and foresight of statesmen, we will have, I fear, to accuse them of rashness and incompetency. (Hear, hear, from tife Opposition.) The public attention was so filled with what was passing in the Crimea, that attention was diverted from affairs in the Baltic Sea. But attention would return to that subject, and when it fully considered the magnitude of the naval armament sent to that sea— that it was the finest fleet that ever swam upon the sea—and when it was, as now, returning to England, without accom plishing any one act for which it was commissioned to leave our shores, we have a right to complain. He he a rd ex pressions of dissent fro in hon. gentlemen opposite. (A laugh.) Did they allude to Berearsund ? Ido not admit that that formed any exception. Knowing the gallantry of our sailors, I cannot compare that expedition to anything but the well-known military expedition with which they were all familiar in their early days : " The King of France, with twenty-thousand men, Marched up the hill, and then marched down again." (Laughter.) This is a fair description of the Baltic expedi tion. Ido not allude to the Admiral of the Fleet. He had no occasion upon which he could show his gallantry. But after what passed at the celebrated dinner at the Re form Club, at the setting out of the expedition, no doubt they would again meet to present their congratulations on its return. I pass no censure on the gallant admirals, but we have a right to know and to have from the Government some explanation why so grand an armament had left our shores with so little resulting from it. I believe the Go vernment adopted an unwise course in sending so large a fleet to the Baltic. They knew that the Russian fleet was not in the habit of fighting but at an advantage, and for the purpose of a blockade the armament was altogether on a scale of folly • aid recognising the gallantry of the fleet, they had a right to complain of the comparative failure of the expedition. (Hear, hear.) There was another subject upon which the public mind had been much excited—l mean the bombardment of Odessa. It was accompanied by something like an apology from the admiral when at tacked, but after what had occurred since why was it left untouched ? Had not subsequent events made it clear that it was impolitic to refrain from attacking it ? Was it be cause it was a commercial town ? But when they found that a large military force had been stationed there, and its position between the principalities and the Crimea as a great military situation, there is good ground for explana tion why it was not attacked. The Government had been unwise and impolitic in leaving Russia free to throw her forces from Odessa into the Crimea. (Hear.) I now come to the policy of attacking Sebastopol. Ido not wish to call for explanation of that policy ; but as the noble lord at the head of the Government had only lately said that his was a policy of peace, I do not know but that this course has greatly protracted the war. This is not a . time to enter upon it, but I reserve to the house and myself to form an opinion upon a future occasion. Now there was another view of that subject which they were bound to take. If they attacked the Crimea, they were not justified is doing it unless they did it in a manner to secure success—(hear, hear) —but no Government could have taken a weaker course. They were bound not to attack a fortress with inadequate means, and there is a strong public opinion that we should not be doing our duty if we did not call for explanations on this sub ject. There were three questions upon which the public desired information. The first was, Why was the expedi tion to Sebastopol undertaken without adequate means to insure success? The second was, How was it that the forces sent to the Crimea for that purpose had been so little cared for, and so badly supported ? (Hear, hear.) The third point upon which information was necessar y was this. If anything could have added to the di ffi cul tie s • of that undertaking, it was the unwise manner in whi ch the Government and the organs of the Government adver tised it, if I may so say. (Hear, hear.) They had put the Emperor of Russia on his guard as to the attack from a speech that was to he made. I hold in my hand an extract delivered by the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) in July, and taking it in connexion with the daily intimations of the u f s 9 s r i a strengthening w as apprsea f r o rgan of o fGovernment , ex p edition, and t h h e e t E o o m k p m e r e o a r s oftir measures There was also a paragraph in apublie news' paper of the very day the expedition was to sail from Varna. When it was recollected that unmistakeable hints were thrown out in July, September,theandthata very late period expedition did d not for_ Rail till the beginning of