The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-26 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE.

"Your committee have now adverted to the chief points
contained in the replies to above 21,000 questions; mid in no-
ticing these various subjects they have divided them under
distinct heads, in order fairly to apportion the responsibility.
." Your committee report that the .suffering of the army re-
sulted mainly from the circumstances under which the expi-
dition to the Crimea was undertaken and executed. The
administration which ordered that expedition had no adequate
information as to the amount of the forces in the Crimea.
They were not acquainted with the strength of the fortresses
to be attacked, or with the resources of the country to be in-
vaded. They hoped and expected the expedition to be imme-
dfateiy successful, and as they did not foresee the probability
of a protracted straggle, they made no provision for a win'.er
campaign.
" The.patience and fortitude of this army demand the admi-
ration and gratitude of the nation on whose behalf they have
ibught, bled, and suffered. Their heroic valour, and equally
' heroic patience under sufferings and privations, have given
them claims upon their country which will doubtless be grate-
fully acknowledged.
"Your committee will now close their report with a hope
that every British army may in future display the valour
which this noble army has displayed, and that none may here-
after be exposed to such sufferings as are recorded in these
Pages."

TRANSMISSION OF NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS BY
PosT.---Two notices have been issued from the Post-office,
relative to the transmission of newspapers and periodicals
through the Post-office. One of these notices refers to
3 stamped newspapers sent to British colonies and foreign
3 countries. It contains a table of the rates chargeable for
their transmission to various places abroad, and states that
from and after the 30th instant, the period allowed for posting
. newspapers intended to go beyond the limits of the United
Kingdom will be extended from seven to fifteen days after the
date of publication. All newspapers must be registered at the
Post-office by the proprietor or printer. The other notice
contains the regulations under which periodical publications,
, including newspapers, bearing a stamp or stamps denoting
the stamp duty, may be transmitted and retransmitted through
the post within the United Kingdom free from postage. For
two sheets of the superficial extent of 2295 inches the amount
of stamp to be impressed on the publication is to be Id. • for
three sheets, of 3,443 inches, For four sheets, of 4,591
inches, 2d. The stamp must be distinctly visible. The pub-
' lication must be posted within 15 days of its date. Many of
the present regulations are to continue in force. An irregu-
larity merely consisting in the non-exposure of the stamp will
only be liable to an additional postage of ld. Stamped or
unstamped publications, after 15 days' date, may be trans-
mitted under the regulations of the book post.
EXTENSIVE RAILWAY ROBBERIES.—In consequence of
serious losses of goods daring the past three years, while in
transit on the South Staffordshire Railway, the lessees lately
obtained the services of Detective-sergeant Manton, of Bir-
mingham, by whose skill and activity a well-orgamsed and
widely-spread system of plunder has been traced to its
originators. Eight men are in custody, including the
receiver, the landlord of the George and Dragon, at Walsall.
All the other prisoners were employed on the line as stokers,
drivers, guards, or pointsmen. The most important revela-
tions have come out. The statements made by one of the
prisoners, who has
yoeb been
frightful
totehr osasliee nsadmittedsseotienomxntpeset uidt
implicated. .ft
aniestaohmraigpfteopiujy:si
seittnri
trains
a id
jagimsv:hiswodoshulatvain.ell
addes
that dishonestyi had prevailed amongst the servants of the
nightly
roiOger
yindY stations,te
oep urnee ne principally
afrl
those in charge of them took from a truck a cask of tobacco, a
chest of tea, or a package of some kind of merchandise, and
buried it in the embankment until arrangements could be
made for its safe removal. Casks of Burton ale were con-
tinually being appropriated, the contents emptied into jars, or
other vessels, which the men in charge of the train had with
them, and the empty casks broken up and thrust into the
fire of the engine. On one occasion no fewer than three
trains were at a stand-still in one cutting, all being robbed in
one way or other.—Daily News.
THE POST OFFICE.—The first report of the Postmaster-
General states that a mail for carrying Government despatches
was established as far bark as 1481. • James I. established a
post for conveying foreign letters, and his son established an ,
inland post. In 1044 a weekly conveyance of letters to all
parts of the kingdom was established. In 1083 a penny post,
and in 1708 a halfpenny post was established in London. In
1836 the stamp on newspapers, was reduced from 31-d. to Id.,
which caused a great increase to the number which passed
through the Post-office. From the earliest period to the pre-
sent
day, every time the postage was reduced and greater
facilities given to the public, the postal revenue increased.
The accounts of the Post-office revenue are perfect from 1685
to the present time. These documents reveal some curious particulars of the abuse of the franking system. Among the I
items franked by the Holland mail packets in 1695 were some
"parcels of cloth for the clothing colonels in Lords Grey and i
North's regiments." Also a pack of hounds. Only just before I
the franking privilege was abolished, it was well known that
a pair of buckskin hunting breeches was franked by a govern-
ment official to go by post, and was enclosed in a cover and
sent in the mail bag. Lord Canning is troubled with great
discoverers and long-range inventors for the improvement of
the Post-office. "Crude, ill-considered schemes," says his
lordship, " conceived in ignorance of the simplest details of
the business of the Post-office, or pilfered from inventions al-
ready well known, reach me in plenty, generally followed by
pressing claims for remuneration."

TERRIFIC HURRICANE IN THE UNITED STATES.—The
New York Weekly Times gives the following account of a
hurricane which took place in the town of Jefferson, Cook
county. On the afternoon of the 22nd, a revolving funnel-
shaped cloud passed swiftly along near the ground about
sixteen miles north of here, carrying up large sticks of wood,
stones, &c. It described a semicircle towards the south-east,
twisting off large trees, and whisking them out of sight
instanter. The whirlwind then broke in two and disappeared,
but almost immediately formed again and passed directly back
north and west with redoubled violence. It struck a heavy
frame house, one mile from the Illinois and Wisconsin Rail-
road, tearing the roof instantly off, and almost immediately
afterwards taking the house up the spout with all its contents.
Nine persons in the house were drawn up and hurled down in
different places. Four of them were instantly killed, and
others mutilated beyond any prospect of recovery. The whirl-
wind then passed over a pest and rail fence, leaving not the
slightest vestige of it. It next broke up a barn, and threw it
upon the horses and cattle it contained, crushing them at
once. The timbers of the house and barn were hurled down
to the ground with such violence as to bury them almost out
of sight. The house belonged to Mr. Page, whose wife, son,
and two grandchildren were then killed. Additional
game received from the above locality more than confirmsi the I
one
above. Accounts are given of persons being carried.
'roaf'n daen3ddee"city, afte
rvhaiunovleagdnereedse:offetAl intenummtlpbi
eeesrta,
same afternoon 'severe hailstorm cccurred in this c
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describe
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ashedamv
roost
so
ttwestentrriwfiifieitdch: :go
The
tehha:
tweohartitcpitwo
ettliede, :smatdoyattpFapeakeiiiinent.atilletdberaosepvlbenrenyrgeesdinfrgouZirbaepniopeasrtanopirs'teouTe

Tins document (which occupies upwards of seven columns
of the daily journals (commenced by stating, that the nature
of the inquiry, rendered expedient by national exigencies,
together with the number of subjects it embraced, had rendered
the task imposed upon the committee no easy matter. These
difficulties had also been much increased by many witnesses
whose testimony they could not procure. There had been other
parties left under imputation which the committee regretted
they could not find it proper to remove; while, on the other
hand, there were reasons of state policy against their proceeding
with the inquiry as they could have wished, so that it had been
left by them unsatisfactory and incomplete. The inquiry of
the committee was limited to two beads—the conduct of the
army, and the conduct of the home government with respect
to the management of it. In the first place, as to the conduct
of the army. The army was employed on an expedition in a
distant country, 3000 miles distant from this, in besieging a
fortress which they had been unable to invest, and the fatigue
and hardships they had endured had been immense. These were
increased by insufficient clothing and want of hospital accomo-
dation. In arriving at that conclusion, the committe had made
allowance for the storm of the 14th of Nov., and all the diffi-
culties attendant upon a new campaign, after so long a period
of peace. From the landing in the Crimea, up to the end of
Oct. while there might have been many difficulties to contend
with, those were not of such consequence as to warrant any
remark. But as the campaign went on, the difficulties and
hardships seemed to have increased. Throughout the month
of Nov.. the army was totally insufficient for the work it had
to perform, while it was otherwise suffering great distress,
though not unprovided with fond. It was in the want of
clothing and all the comforts which could render it efficient.
As the season advanced, the army became reduced to a condi-
tion melancholy to contemplate. The number of men became
still more disproportioned to the amount of work they had to
do. They were exposed, under single canvas, to rain and the
inclemency of the weather, while they were without sufficient
supplies for in any way contribUting to their own comfort or
health, or which could have enabled them to carry on the work
they were called upon to perform,—under all these suffer-
ings, unparalleled in the annals of war, the committee con-
sidered the conduct of the army unparalleled for endur-
ance and noble bearing, as were the sufferings to which
they were now subjected. Then, as to the conduct of
the home government the committee considered that the
expedition to the Crimea rested with the government at
home. So early as the 10th of April, 1854, the Duke
of Newcastle wrote a despatch to Lord Raglan to endeavour
to ascertain the force of the Russian army in the Crimea, while
in another dispatch:of the 29th of June, he repeated his opinion
on that point, and referred to the capture of Sebastopol as the
only means of bringing Russia to terms. The cabinet then,
in fact, appeared confident of the success of the expedition, and
of its results. Lord Aberdeen seemed to entertain the opinion
that Sebastopol would fall almost immediately on its being
attacked, and that their army could either then winter in the
Crimea, or return to the shores of the Bosphorus. Sir James
Graham said that the expedition had been undertaken at the
right time, and executed in a proper manner. On bearing
that, the committee were led to inquire what was the informa-
tion government possessed which induced them to undertake
the expedition ; and all that they could make out on that
point was, thatqlwamount of the force of the enemy ascer-
tained was 70,000 men, 8,000 of which was cavalry ; 40,000 of
that force being in Sebastopol, and 30,000 in the Crimea.
The expedition was, therefore, undertaken by Lord Raglan out
of courtesy to the Home Government, and its responsibility
did not, therefore, rest on him. The committee also considered
the cabinet much to blame in leaving town at the end of the
session of 1854, without making any proper arrangethents for
the vigorous prosecution of the war. The report went en to
state that, with respect to clothing, hospital accommodation,
the ordnance department, the surveyor-general's department,
the sea transport service and land trrnsport service, the com-
missariat department and depots, there was gross mismanage-
ment and signal failure. The report closed as follows :
"Your committee, in conclusion, cannot but remark, that
the first real improvements in the lamentable condition of the
hospitals at Scutari, are to be attributed to private suggestions,
private exertions, and private benevolence. A fund, raised
by public subscription, was administered by the proprietors of
the Times newspaper, through Mr. Macdonald, an intelligent
and zealous agent. At the suggestion of the secretary of war,
Miss Nightingale, with admirable devotion, organised a band
of nurses, and undertook the care of the sick and wounded.
The Hon. Jocelyn Percy, the Hon. and Rev. Sydney Godolphin
Osborne, and Mr. Augustus Stafford, after a personal inspec-
tion of the hospitals, furnished valuable reports and sqgges-
tions to the Government. By these means much suffering
was alleviated, the spirits of the men were raised, and many
lives were saved.