The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

'EBRIJARY 24, 1855.

rat6ings in attiantent.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
Mr. LAILARD, on Monday, on the motion for a
committee of supply, took occasion to criticise at
great length the present conduct of the Government.
lie took that opportunity because he had understood
that Mr. Roebuck might make terms with the Go-
vernment as to the appointment of his committee,
and he might not then be able to make his state-
ment. After referring to the circumstances which
followed the adverse vote to the late Administration,
Mr. Layard said the Admiralty had taken credit
for meeting with universal approbation—this was not
true; and he instanced against it our inefficient
blockade, and the mismanagement of the transport
service. He then attacked our diplomacy, to the
follies of which he attributed the present war, and
quoted a case of arrangement between diplomatic
officers, which he characterised as a gross job.
What the country wanted, he affirmed, was truth ;
he could no where get at the truth. At one moment
we were assured that an effectual blockade had been
established in the Black Sea—a few months after-
wards it came out that no blockade had been estab-
lished at all. Then, at a time when our available
forces in the Crimea were estimated at 12,000 men, a
Minister assures us we have 30,000, and when pressed
for his authority, refuses to produce it. We were told
our army were in possession of every comfort, while
they were wearing French clothing and eating French
bread. The house had been summoned before
Christmas to pass the Militia and the Foreign En-
listment Bills, and, with regard to the latter, the Go-
vernment had not even yet made up their minds :
The result was that France had been beforehand with
us in forming a foreign legion; and as Germany was, as it
was called, " mobilising " her federal army—that is, pro-
viding men and horses, and placing them in such a state
of preparation that in fourteen days the army would be
ready to take the field—we were now unable to obtain any
men, or, if any, only the scum of the population. It was
very important that we should obtain a force of German
cavalry. Now, a foreign gentleman had told him the other
day that he had been prepared to point out where the best
horses were to be had, and the best means of raising a
cavalry force, but as no step had been yet taken, all the
best horses had been taken up, and there would be great
difficulty now in raising such a force.
Our contracts in Asia Minor bad been equally mis-
managed. The services of an efficient person had
been refused, who was now buying up for the French,
and it would now he most difficult to obtain anything
for the English Government. It was, again, proposed
to take Turks into our service under English officers,
but the Turks had been so insulted by the British,
both officers and men, that it was to be feared the
scheme carne too late. After referring to the working
of the committee, if appointed, the hon. member
came to the measures proposed by the Government
for the remedy of the present state of things. What
did the noble lord propose? He neither would re-
form a single evil, nor sweep away a single abuse.
Instead of this he sent out a series of commissions
What need of a commission when we now saw at the
head of the commissariat an eminent officer of the Penin-
sular war, who was somewhere about seventy years old,
and when we saw that commissariat in suoh a state that
our men were actually starving fur want of food? Were
not these two facts, put together, enough ground for his
recal, without sending out a commission of inquiry, by
which his mismanagement might go on with impunity for
two or three months longer? What did we see in the me-
dical staff? Nearly three months ago a commission was
sent to inquire into it, but the same state of things con-
tinued; Dr. Hall was still at the head of the medical com-
mission, and Mr. Lawson, who was reprimanded for conduct
which the commander-in-ohief characterised as disgraceful,
had been sent to Scutari and placed at the head of the
hospital, and thence removed to Rhodes. What did we
gain by the commission there? And whom had the Go-
vernment appointed? Sir John M`Neill was a man of the
highest ability, who had told him (Mr. Layard) that he
went out because lie considered it a great act of duty which
he could not refuse; but he was no longer a young man,
and his health was so bad that hitherto he had been obliged
to refuse those offices to which his eminent abilities en-
titled him, and accept a secondary appointment in Scot-
and. How could that gentleman go into the inquiry ?
Could he examine all the foul nooks and corners of the
camp, in the cold, and damp, and wet? It was physically
impossible for him; and what would be the result? Why,
like every man employed 11 the present Government, or
the late Government—which was the same thing—Sir
John M'Neill would lose a well-earned reputation, and the
fault would be attributed to him. Again, as to the thins-
loft system, Government were going to send a commission
blot* into that. We had evidence enough already about
it. At its head was Captain Christie, against whom he
would say nothing, but that he could not go on board his
ship an hour after dark without getting a catarrh by which
he was confined for some time. It was a fact that Captain
Christie was very often five or six days without being able,
from indisposition, to land at Italaklava. Was a commis-
sion to be sent, then, to ask Captain Christie the state of
his health? What we wanted was not commissions but
men.
After a reference to the conduct of the French under
similar circumstances, Mr. Layard said that-7