The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

SATURDAY,

imagined. The Russians came on to the number of 30,000 or 40,000
men, with eighty pieces of artillery. The attack commenced at day-
break, and, covered by a powerful fire of artillery, the infantry three
times advanced to the assault with their scaling-ladders, and as often
were compelled to retire. Finally, they retreated at ten o'clock a.m.,
but were too powerful to be pursued. Of the enemy 453 dead bodies
were counted and buried. Their wounded they took with them, and it
is believed many of their dead. The Turks lost eighty-seven killed,
and had 277 wounded. Among the killed was SELut PecnA, a general
of the Egyptian force. This brilliant action raises still higher the
military reputation of OMEn PACHA, and shows how well the Turkish
troops may be relied on when commanded by him.
Accounts from St. Petersburg state that Prince MENsonixoss is
recalled, and that he is to be replaced by Prince OORTSCHAEOFF ; Ge-
neral OSTENSACEEN is named second in command. The change is
not, we should think, to be regarded with apprehenaion by the allies.

The parliamentary proceedings of the week have not been of much
importance. The short discussion provoked in the Lords by Lord
LucAN, and the reading of Lord RAGLAN'S letter illustrative of the
charge at Balaklava, gives a new character to that transaction, and
completely clears the Commander-in-Chief from the blame which the
publication of what it now appears was his second order was calculated
to throw on him. This disclosure, with several others of a minor
kind —that regarding the green coffee-berries, for example—show how
unfounded were many of the charges made against Lord RAGLAN.
The case of Sir CHARLES NAPIER occupied the Commons on
Thursday. He has certainly legitimate cause of complaint that the
thanks of Parliament were not voted to him and his fleet as well as to
Admiral DuNDAS and the Euxine squadron. The effectual blockade of
the Baltic ports and the capture of Bomarsund may fairly be pitted
against the embarkation of troops from Varna. What else the Gallant
Admiral late in command of the Black Sea did to win the thanks of
Parliament we will not say. We have heard rumours of inefficient
blockades, and of certain ships being allowed to be sunk before Sebas-
topol, to say nothing of a host of other wifs and waifs which stray about.
The whole tenor of the debate on Thursday night proved that the
Admiralty made a scapegoat of Sir CHARLES to save themselves. Sir
JAMES GRAHAM was most earnest in his exhortations to Sir CHARLES
not " to knock his head against stone walls," to " satisfy the wild
" wishes of an impatient multitude at home " (Sir JAMES'S own words),
and intimated that he required " 50,000 men, and 200 gun-boats "to
do something great and decisive" that season, Up to the end of
August all Sir CHARLES'S proceedings were highly lauded ; his capture
of Bomersund was approved as a notable instance of his skill and
discretion, and he was exhorted not to " be goaded on, or beaten out
"of his determination." But when the news reached England that
the French troops and ships were returning home, and murmurs of
discontent reached the Admiralty, the tone of the First Lord changed.
Sir CHARLES was directed to hold a council of war—the council decided
nothing could be done; then the report reached England of the fall
of Sebastopol, and Sir JAMES, eager that his department should be not
less distinguished than that of the Duke of NEWCASTLE, goaded Sir
CHARLES (contrary to all the First Lord's previous advices, and to the
deliberate reports of Sir CHARLES) to attack Sweaborg. Then, on the
falsehood of the Tatar's story being exposed, directions came from
the Admiralty not to hazard the attack, so that, says Sir CHARLES in
his petition, the assault on Sweaborg was not to depend on its
feasibility, but simply on the fact whether Sebastopol was taken or not.
There can be no question that Sir CHARLES has been hardly treated.
In this journal it has always been held that he commanded his fleet
with great ability, and did all that could be expected from a brave
and skilful commander, and it is not possible to read his plain narra-
tive of facts, distributed to members of the House on Thursday
evening, without feeling that after having served his country under
fonr Sovereigns for fifty-five years, he has been ill rewarded for
his successful command of that great fleet, which should have cast
fresh lustre on his name instead of tending (so far as official slight
can) to degrade it.
or-

The committee of inquiry into the mismanagement of the war
has already elicited some important disclosures. The conviction that
there has been guilt as well as folly in the mismanagement gains around.
The evidence of Sir Da LACY EVANS, on Tuesday, was particularly
striking. Speaking of the entire lack of foresight at the War-office, he
said :—" He believed that the war had been commenced under the
" impression that there would be no wounds at all ;" and, after detail-
ing a great variety of cases of deliberate neglect, he added his convic-
tion, " that war had been commenced under the supposition that
" there would be no explosion of gunpowder, and that there would be no
" necessity for magazines at all." Again he said :—" When the Russians
" crossed the Danube Oicita PACHA applied for assistance, and the
" answer was that the army had not the means of transport, which
" ought to have been provided long before. He thought the Govern-
" meet was still waiting for notes and protocols from Vienna, and no great
" exertions were made to put the army in a condition to move ; for delay
" from this cause, of course, the Commissariat Department was not
" responsible." In these statements of a brave and experienced officer,
what a tremendous charge is brought against the late Cabinet! Nor
can several of the most important amongst our present Ministers be
absolved from the imputation of credulity in the capacity of the Duke
of NEWCASTLE, and of " connivance "at his blunders. Though some of
them aided in overthrowing Lord ABERDEEN, they will find it impos-
sible to escape from the responsibility of having embarked in a Euro-
pean war, and left the War-office to utterly incompetent hands.

WIN

MARCH 10, 1855.

INQUIRE!
Oh, stout and true of heart,
Well have ye played your part
Since first ye made a start
From the English shore !
On the bloody battle-plain
Fell ye like the golden grain
When the araba for wain
Your dead bodies bore.

Oh, gallant, gallant band !
How shall your fatherland
Gaze on the awful hand
That points to your graves ?
Ye, who the steel and shot
Felt and regarded not,
Your rulers left to rot
By the Euxine waves.

All British hearth beat high
At the news of victory ;

Tears left the mother's eye
When his comrades told
How her lion-hearted son
To himself had glory won,
Tho' his corse at set of sun
On the field lay cold.

But who may dare to paint
How loving hearts grew faint
When deadly Fever's taint
Thinned those martyr ranks ;
When Want and Frost stepped in,
Their grim campaign to win,
Worse than the battle's din
By red Alma's banks?

Yet the noble English host
Firmly held their watchful post
On the bleak Crimean coast
All the winter long,
Spite of Death's blighting hand
That, midst that gallant band
In camp and on the strand,
Smote the valiant strong.

Out upon ye, men in place!
Whose vile stint has brought disgrace
On the Anglo-Saxon race
In their triumph's hour ;
For those ye should best prize
Your " routine " and scant supplies
Have slain before the eyes
Of the foeman's pow'r.

Lulled by the murm'ring deep,
Those brave hearts calmly sleep.
O'er their graves while we weep
Let us ponder too.
Shall we not know whose name
Must be blotted with the shame—
Not know where to cast the blame
Of the guilt we rue ?

The turf that binds their clay
Would burst should we delay
To drag unto light of day
Their sharp suffring long.
This atonement will we make,
Oh ye heroes for your sake,
And deep vengeance will we take
For your cruel wrong.

ANOTHER SONG BY OUR PREMIER.

AIR—" Fall of Parks."
Pla.cenlen who are young in years, and wish to know the kind o' life
A man who has such friends as mine must lead ere he can bind their

strife,
Listen to thelay of one whom onc most upid well you knew,
But now, as Hercules, you've set a egregious task to do.
Colleagues that so blandly talk within the walls of Parliament,
How oft their honied words for covert sneer or bitter snarl are meant
Ancient Whig or Peelite,
Alike will make you feel it;
They'll never let you have a single quiet moment more.
Pouting, spouting,
Sneering, jeering,
Seeming, scheming,
Smiling, wiling,
Lying, trying,
" Doing," brewing,
By-plots by the score.
I almost begin to rue it I have won with assiduity
The place I've been ambitioning for fifty years and more.