The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-23 00:00:00

HANGO MASSACRE.

THE Russian version of this detestable cruelty in
no way invalidates the evidence of the seaman
BROWN. The official report of General De BERG,
while omitting all notice of the flag of truce,
charges the boat's crew with having landed with in-
tention of plundering—with having fought when
attacked—and, finally, with having laid down their
arms and surrendered. In opposition to this, Capt.
FANSHAWE assures ns that the muskets of the boat's
crew were not loaded, and that they were stowed with
the men's cutlasses at the bottom of the boat when
starting. Now, although between leaving the ship
and landing on the jetty there was ample time and
opportunity for the boat's crew to have loaded their
muskets and buckled on their cutlasses, yet is it
p robable that, coming in with a flag of truce,
and seeing no signs of troops in the neighbourhood,
such precautions would have been deemed neces-
sary! And, moreover, the testimony of Baows is
distinct in stating that they dragged the bodies,
himself included, from one end of the boat to
the other, to get these arms out of the bottom
of the boat. The Tory number of the arms

SATURDAY,

supplied "seven muskets and seven cutlasses"
for eleven seamen, to say nothing of the
officers and btewards, would be sufficient
answer, if the mere fact of a ship sending in a
solitary boat unsupported made any proof that
no hostile intention could be meant. But the flag of
truce was flying in the bow of the boat from within
a mile of the shore to the moment of landing.
Fastened to the end of an eight-foot boarding pike, it
must have been seen from the shore, and who is
there to believe that an enemy who secreted himself
and laid a trap for his approaching foe would not
keep a good look out upon the movements of that
foe ?

With regard to the resistance which General De
BERG asserts the crew to have offered, little need be
said. He admits that the boat's crew were first
attacked, and "resisted feebly ;" but is it likely th*t
a British boats crew would, if landing with hostile
intentions, have only " resisted feebly," and so feebly
as not to inflict any loss upon their assailants?
The last paragraph, asserttng that the boat and its
gun had been sank, is manifestly disprove i by the
actual circumstances. No cutter ever carries carro-
nade ; no boat under the size of a barge or pinnace
carries guns; and as to the boat being sunk, the fact
of its being brought on board the Cossack with its
bloody freight is sufficient answer to the assertion.

There is but one feeling throughout the country
in relation to this savage atrocity, which nothing
short of the most severe and condign punishment of
its perpetrators will satisfy. Whether the Russian
Government will so far acknowledge its submission
to the laws of war among all civilised nations, as to
mark by a vigorous investigation and appropriate
punishment its sense of this ferocious and unmanly
deed, remains to be seen. Should it dispute some
minor points of the charge, and refuse to punish the
assassins who instigated the attack, the Allies would
then, in the language of VATTEIy be authorised to
put in practice everything against a barbarous enemy
which shall bring him to reason and to a sense of
those despised laws which govern honour and hu-
manity.

JUNE 23, 1855.

Vrott6ings in Varliamtnt.

ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM.

Lord Gonzales, on Monday, resumed the debate
on Mr. Layard's motion. After referring to the
report of the Sebastopol committee, which had just
been read at the table, as a proof of the urgent
necessity of Administrative Reform, he inquired
what the Government had as yet done. They had
consolidated the war departments, and issued the
orders in council. For the first, it did not appear
to contain. any provision for improving the plan of
promotion in the army. For the second, Sir S.
Nortlicote had already shown what it was worth. It
seemed to him to be indispensable that any person
offering himself for examination should be perfectly
independent of Government nomination. An annual
return of all appointments to the civil service should
be made out, and the reasons given why particular
persons were selected for staff appointments. He
then attacked the argument that it was necessary to
keep up party influence, and argued from the
disunited state of parties on both sides of the house
on the folly of attempting to bind heterogeneous
elements by the link of patronage. He supported
the motion, as necessary in the present state of the
public mind, which was raising, in consequence of
the delay of reform, an unjust outcry against the
aristocracy. He did not think that all reforms could
be carried at once—a long course of reform would be
necessary to satisfy the country. Amongst other
things, he advocated greater freed pm in the removal
from their offices of incompetent persons.
Mr. F. PEEL addressed himself to Mr. Layard's
attacks on the system of promotion in the army.
That gentleman had supported his allegations by
citing particular proofs, and those he proposed to
refute. It had been said that twice as many rewards
bad been given to staff officers in the Crimea as to
regimental officers. Now, the actual fact was the
precise contrary. He then entered into detailed ex-
planations of Mr. Layard's cases, one after another,
and endeavoured to establish that each of them was
in accordance with the necessary rules of the service,
that they violated no principle of justice, and that
the charges both of favoritism and neglect were
founded on misapprehensions of the real facts, and
broke down when fairly tested. He came next to
Mr. Layard's recommendations, argued that his plan
of making a part of the commissions in the several
regiments free would produce confusion and injus-
tice, that plans for educating the staff were at that
moment under the consideration of a committee, and
that the privileges of the Guards had already been
seriously invaded. He concluded by some remarks
on the undiminished reputation of England in the
eyes of foreign nations.
Mr. DRUMMOND, in defence of the aristocracy, asked
if the witlille classes were perfect administrators, or
perfectly pure. He referred to the scrapes in which
Mr. Lindsay, the shipowner—one of the loudest advo-
cates for Administrative Reform—had got into in the
management of his ships, and instanced the conduct
of the East India Company, belonging exclusively to
the middle classes, as full of jobbery and corruption.
Had the middle classes in the great towns succeeded
in draining them ? He quizzed Mr. Layard and his
friends as volunteer statesmen, and who, like other
volunteers, were not statesmen, though like them.
He could not see the use co; either of the resolutions
—thought that constitutional government had come
to a stand—that the middle classes had taken the
executive into their own hands, so that it was im •
possible for it to go on—and that the Star Chamber
was not so iniquitous towards private individuals as
committees of the House of Commons.
Mr. Jose MACGREGOR believed that all depended on
the heads of the Governments—thought that fitness
for office was less considered in this country than in
any other—and deprecated the debate as useless.
After Colonel LINDSAY bad explained certain. cir-
cumstances connected with individual promotions,
and Mr. J. G. PRILLiMORE had said a few words
against the motion,
DMr. DISRAELI rose to reply to the sneers of Mr.
rummond at Administrative Reform, and took the
opportunity of explaining the intentions of Lord
Derby's Government on that great question. It had
appointed commissions to inquire into all branches
of the public service, and had come to the conclusion
that what was now called Administrative Reform was
imperatively required. Feeling the necessity of great
financial reforms, they were anxious to obtain the
largest possible surplus to deal with them effectually,
and felt that for that object the first require-
ment was efficiency in the several departments.
That of Ireland had been first dealt with, and a
saving effected of twenty five per cent. After that
experiment, Lord Derby's Government had resolved
to bring the whole question before the house, and to
have asked the house to recommend
.to her Majesty
the issuing of a commission to inquireinto the con
duct of all departments of the State,
.with a view of
drawing from its report the regulations necessary
for the intended reforms. Two reforms he should