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

MARcir 3, 1855.

happily (at least in my opinion), the Conservative
Government thrust from them many—very many, of
their old adherents, by pronouncing definitely against
the revival of Convocation. This was a pity, because
the subjectwas comparatively little understood. Now,
however, that the real object of churchmen is more
developed, cannot our Conservative statesmen be in-
duced to withdraw their proclaimed opposition to it ?
lily intercourse with my brethren of the clergy leads
me to the decided conviction that a manly recanta-
tion of a too hastily-formed opinion would go very
far to re-establish the object of our hopes—a strong
Conservative Government.

Use this letter publicly or privately as you deem
best; the matter is one of great importance.—Believe
me, your faithful servant, FAx.

AN INCIDENT IN THE CAMP.

Sir,—About eight weeks ago I saw an account in
THE PRESS, and other journals, of the capture of a
large number of riderless Russian horses in the
English lines at Balaklava. The cause of their
breaking loose has not, to my knowledge, been men •
tioned in any accounts from the seat of war. A few
days ago I was visiting a sick man in my parish, who
has just returned from the Crimea, where he was
groom to a cavalry officer, and he gave me an expla
nation of the circumstance. It appears that a large
body of Russian horse were picketed close to the
French lines, and on the night in question two
English sailors (whose courage had, if possible, been
raised by an extra glass of grog) obtained leave to
make an attempt to cut the picket ropes. Crawling
on their hands and knees they succeeded in doing
so ; they then returned to the French, who discharged
a few rockets among the horses, and of course drove
them wild with terror in every direction. This expla
nation, which " I tell you as 'twas told to me," may
perhaps interest your numerous and (as I can say
from personal knowledge) rapidly-increasing circle
of readers.—l remain, sir, your constant reader and
subscriber, Ciantcus.
Fab. 26, 1855.

e.r.1••...
BANK FOR THE ARMY.

Bir,—Although innumerable projects for the bene-
fit of our army in the East have recently appeared
in the form of letters to the daily papers, there is one
suggestion of which we have yet heard nothing,
but which is of first-rate importance, because it
relates to matters of finance, and therefore touches
the sinews of war. Having had the honour of serving
under the Duke in Portugal, Spain, and the South of
France, and of serving in a capacity which afforded
me peculiar opportunities of forming au acquaintance
with the state of monetary affairs at the British head-
quarters, I in this manner became cognisant of the
injury to the public service, the embarrassment, the
loss, and often the suffering which arose from the
absence of financial arrangements such as the exi-
gency of the case required, and such as might vary
easily have been adopted and carried out.
It is now known that the Duke of Wellington, as a
remedy for the evils resulting from the state of our
military finances in Spain and Portugal, was desirous,
while in command of the Peninsular army, to see
the establishment of a headquarters' bank. I have
also a sort of impression that the army of the United
States, in its foray on Mexico, had a bank. Now, that
is my proposal for our army in the East—establish
a head quarters' bank. But, though induced to re-
commend this expedient now, by what I witnessed
under the Duke during the Peninsular war, I am far
from intending to represent the two cases as strictly
parallel. There are many differences as to circum-
stances; there is a difference as to the monetary ar-
rangements. Moreover, the financial evils of our
Peninsular campaigns gradually grew more aggrava-
ted by time ; those of Balaklava are now but incipient.
Yet, from the little we can at present gather on the
lilitary finances the Crimea from
Indent