The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

JANUARY 20, 1855.

has now lost about sixty since we came here,
and other regiments are losing in proportion.
The poor sick fellows are wonderfully patient, and
their faces light up as I visit them in the cholera
hospital tents, where they are lying cold and com-
fortless on the ground. Forty have just gone from
thence, with the sick of some other regiments, to
Balaklava ; but we shall soon have their places filled
if this weather continues!

There is great talk now about our soon going
ahead to storm. I trust they will not delay much
longer. Ido not care in the least for fatigue and
hardships myself; but it is painful enough to lose
one's comrades every day. . . .

The other night the Russians made a sortie on
the French advanced batteries. We were turned
out; but our gallant allies drove them back without
our assistance. We had, however, a good view of
the firing, making the sky look like a scroll of fire.
It. was kept up steadily with a roar like thunder for
about two hours. lam concluding this letter on the
22nd. The weather is very wet, varied with snow,
and sickness is on the increase; but I am safe and
sound, thank God I don't deny we have
plenty of hardships by day and by night; but what
were soldiers meant for? I can willingly submit to
there, and would to greater ; but I cannot but feel,
and deeply too, seeing so many of our fine fellows
dying daily. What should be done is to go ahead
at once. S.

MR. LINDSAY, M.P., AND THE ADMIRALTY.
AT the anniversary dinner of the Equitable Freight
and Insurance Association, held in Newcastle on the
12th, Mr. Lindsay, the borough member, entered
into some criticisms touching the naval administra-
tion of the country, of which he had opportunities of
judging from personal experience. The hon. mem-
ber said :

In the navy there was great need of better organisation.
This he knew. Vt ith regard to the management of mat-
ters connected with the transport service, France was
greatly in advance of us. We had men of the first ability
at the Admiralty: we could hardly find a more able man
than Sir James Graham ; but when he told them that the
same system was now in operation which was pursued a
hundred years ago, they would not be surprised at the diffi-
culty and confusion which prevailed. The form of the
charter party was verbatim the same as in the days of the
Butch war and Lord Camperdowu, whereas the French
adopted a similar form like tbat used in the merchant
service, being in this respect, therefore, a great step in ad-
vance of us. (Cheers.) These were facts the recital of
which might give offence to some, but he thought it his
duty to the country to state them thus publicly. Then,
again, France had a responsible head to whom all might
appeal. If a merchant had occasion to send a message by
telegraph to the Minister of War at Paris, requesting to
know, for instance, what goods were to be shipped in a
certain vessel, there was an answer by the same rapid me-
dium by four o'clock in the afternoon. But if you wrote
to the British Admiralty, though so much nearer, the pro-
bability was you would not get an answer in a week, and
sometimes five weeks elapsed before an answer was
returned. (Hear, hear.) This was not the fault of the
men, but the system : there was no responsible head,
responsible to the House of Commons, and through it to
the country Messages were sent from the Admiralty to
the War-office, from the Minister of War to the Ordnance,
from the Ordnance to Deptford, and then came back to the
source from which they originally proceeded. A change,
therefore, must be made in this respect before they could
reasonably hope matters would improve. (Loud cheers.)
He should wish it to he clearly understood that his com-
plaint was solely against the customs and old•fashioned
systems to which they still rigidly adhered at the Admiralty.
While that system was persisted in it was impossible for
the business to be conducted with promptitude and eco-
nomy. There are too many heads—irresponsible heads—
and far too great a machinery of useless forms. With such
men as Captain Milne (of whose unwearied exertions and
practical knowledge he could not speak too highly ), and a
simple system—a system similar to that which is adopted
in great mercantile establishments—we would not have
heard of the fearful sufferings to which our troops had
been subjected, through want of covering, food, and
clothing. They had excellent men as subordinates, but
the staff must be increased. At Deptford they had the
same staff as during peace, which rendered it impossible
for the men to get through the work; and he ventured to
sly that if 10,IXXU. bad been disbursed in clerks at the corn:

mencement of the war, some hundreds of thousands would
have been saved to the country. (Cheers.) Having dwelt
at some length on this question, he would only add a few
words on the burdens on shipping. A consolidation of our
maritime laws was effected last session—he wished it had
been still more extensive and simple, but a great improve.
went had been effected—but the Admiralty Court had not
yet been reformed, consular charges had not been abolished,
burdens on shipping still remained to be removed, and he
would only assure them that to these measures he should
continue to direct his attention so long as he had the
honour and satisfaction of being their representative in
Parliament. ( Cheers. )

GOVERNMENT have engaged the following steamers
as regular transports, in addition to those already
engaged, viz. the Amity„ Imperador, Retriever, and
the Rajah. The screw-steamer Amity arrived at
Southampton on Sunday, to take out wooden huts to
the Crimea for the English army.