The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

say that any peace, to be secure, must rest rather upon
your own convictions of your own power to resist Russia
than on any imcgery and foolish treaty that you can
possibly make. But I say this—if the war is to be
continued, we must be prepared to make greater sacrifices
than we have yet made. England is too great to afford
to wage a little war. We cannot afford to send merely
some thirty, forty, or fifty thousand men to the Crimea;
we must send an army that can hold its own, and will be
equal to that of the French.
The speech was received with much applause, but
subsequently Mr. Chewler stated that the farmers
did not wish for extreme high prices, but were con-
vinced of the justice of the present war.

MR. SIDNEY HERBERT AND THE REV. S. G.

OSBORNE AT WILTON.
A TEA-1'4.111Y, at which five hundred persons were
present, was held at Wilton last week. Mr. S. Her-
bert, and the Rev. S. G. Osborne, with nearly all the
leading families in Wilton and its vicinity, attended.
The speeches of Mr. Herbert and Mr. Osborne con-
tained some points of interest. The former gentle-
man dwelt on the deeds of our army and the justice
of the war, but said nothing on the present state of
affairs

He felt proud of the courage and conduct so nobly dis-
played by our army during the war in the Crimea. He
confessed he was not one of those who were disposed to
find fault or to depreciate the efforts made by the English
army during the late siege. He thought, upon looking
back upon the history of British wars, they would hardly
find an instance iu which, in so short a time, such eminent
and decisive successes had been gained as those lately
achieved by our army in the Crimea. (Cheers.) When
did they ever see in so brief a period such victories as were
commemorated by the names of Alma, Balaklava, and In-
kerman—nauies which would ever be household words in
England? . . . He thought that there never was a
more justifiable war than the present one. (Cheers.) He
would say that even those who thought no war justifiable
could not but feel sympathy with the merits of such sol-
diers as those of England.
He also extolled the merits of Miss Nightingale and
Mrs. Bracebridge, the latter of whom was present,
and then introduced to the meeting the Rev. S. G.
Osborne, who spoke with great moderation and good
sense on the character and convictions of the Rus-
sian soldiery :
Yes, we might have our opinion on the war—we might
deem it our duty to shed blood to drive the Russians to
those terms which only, for the safety of Europe, could
realise a lasting peace; but the enemy also had their opinion.
However bad we might deem the Russian cause, we must
admit that, at all events, they fought like men who felt
themselves in the right. We could not dispute their bra-
very, though we deprecated its direction ; and, however
proud we might be of having conquered them, we must own
that they are an enemy worthy of our arms. Adverting to
what he called the fanaticism of the Russians, Mr. Osborne
proceeded to say they were fighting for their Czar, whom
they worshipped with a feeling of awe and reverence for
his power scarcely less than they felt towards God himself.
That monarch whom they had so blindly reverenced had
been taken from them. We, as a Christian nation, had
felt it our bounden duty to make the cause of liberty our
cause, to protect the weak against the oppressor, that
nothing wrong should be done. He trusted that we felt so
on sure and certain grounds. We must not forget., how-
ever, that the Russians also went to battle for what they
felt to be the cause of religion and justice. They had all
heard of the great Mass which was celebrated by the Rus-
sian army before they attacked us at Inkermann. There
was real, if mistaken, religion in that observance, and as
such we were bound to honour it. The Russians had a
strong feeling that they were right, and in that feeling they
went to war.

He displayed some curious trophies of the war :

Upon the bodies of the slain Russians were found charms.
Some of them were fastened round the head, and others,
composed of small pieces of brass, were round the breast.
Mr. Osborne here exhibited one of these charms, being a
small pictur e of the Virgin and child, which he stated to
have been taken from a Russian officer. That officer was
killed by a bayonet thrust, and they would observe that the
blow passed just above the charm. The Russians consi-
dered that if the blow had struck the holy body of the
image the wearer would have been safe. The next trophy
he had to show them was, as they would see, nothing but a
leather bag, used ordinarily to contain tobacco—in fact,
what was familiarly called a " baccy-bag." He would, how-
ever, sooner part with all the relics he had brought from
the East than that bag, for it had belonged to one of the
bravest of men—a man who had even roused the apathy of
the Turks, and excited their admiration;. he meant the
gallant Butler, whose energy had saved Silistria, and com-
pelled the Russians to raise the siege. The next thing he
had to show them was a pair of boots, made of Russian
leather by M tiller of St. Petersburg, who, he supposed, was
the " Hoby "of the Russian capital. They had belonged
to no less amen than Prince Menachikoff—they were, in
fact, Menschikoffs boots, found in his carriage when it was
taken by our troops after the flank march. The way in which
they came into his hands was this :—Orders had been issued
that there should be no plunder, but it unluckily happened
that an English offleer was seen early in the morning with
a turkey in his hand, whereupon the soldiers, following the
presumed exam)* of the officer, proceeded to plunder also.
Among others Major Nasni3th got hold of those boo,
which he gave him, with an intimation that they had be'e'
taken from Mensehikoffs baggage. Certainly neither ten
prinoe nor his shoemaker would ever have anticipated wh