The Press.
London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

went up, determined to have another survey of that forti-
fication, which is one of the strongest in Europe. That
was in the month of September, and that month in the
Baltic corresponds in severity with November here and
among the Channel Islands. I then sent home a report of the
survey I had taken with great care and deliberation, and
with the determination to do all that a man could do to
satisfy, if possible, the expectations of the people of Eng-
land. The moment it was first reported (erroneously)
that Sebastopol was taken, it was also said " Why does
not Admiral Napier go and take Cronstadt and St. Peters-
burg?" In fact, I was asked, "Why don't you go and
take Moscow'?" (Laughter.) Now, I never did expect
that the Admiralty would have been so mean and des.
picable as to join in that clamour, in order to bring odium
on a naval officer who had done all in his power to bring
honour and credit to his country. (Hear, hear.) What
did Ido ? Why, I sent home to the Admiralty a clear and
detailed account, stating my opinions and what appliances
were necessary in order to take Sweaborg, You will not
expect me to state what those opinions were. (Hear, hear.)
Suffice it to say that 1 had given two separate opinions,
one of which, if followed, I believed, was certain to insure
success, and the other, certain to bring destruction on the
fleet.

The subsequent treatment which he received from
the Admiralty Sir C. Napier thus described :

What did the Admiralty then do? I mention this in
order that there may be no mistake whatever, because if
the Government have the least spirit about them they will
immediately discharge me, and turn me out of the service.
(Laughter.) 1 say that the Admiralty perverted my lan-
guage. They not only did that, but they sent to me the
most goading letters which they possibly could write. They
asked me why I did not take Sweaborg, and why I did not
do this, that, and the other? They received my letter,
giving them an account of how Sweaborg might be taken,
on the 4th of October, the very day on which the first
intelligence reached England of the capture of Sebastopol.
On the Nth of October—five days afterwards—the news
arrived that Sebastopol was not taken ; but the Admiralty
had not the plain, straightforward dealing, or the honesty,
to write to me and apologise. No; but what they did was
this—they perverted what I had written, giving them a
plan for the taking of Sweaborg. My Lord, I was not
going to stand that—jaughter and cheers)—l am not the
man to put up with an insult. 1 remonstrated most
strongly, but after all my remonstrances they still persisted
in saying that I had led them astray. Well, what could I
do? I was not going to be driven into all this, particu-
larly as Sir J. Graham, during the whole period I was in
the Baltic, had written to me admonishing me to beware of
stone walls; telling me not to risk her Majesty's fleet
against them ; that these stone walls were not to be trusted;
and reminding me that when I was first known to be
going out to the Baltic I had been accused by certain
persons of want of discretion, but assuring me that now,
in his opinion, I had proved myself a consummate com-
mander-in-chief. After that came the most insulting and
degrading letters to me ever addressed to an officer; and I
mention this particularly in the hope that it will go forth
to the world, and that Sir J. Graham will be prevented
from ever sitting in the Administration again as First
Lord of the Admiralty. I state it to the public, and I
wish them to know that had I followed the advice of Sir
J. Graham I should most inevitably have left the fleet
behind me in the Baltic. I will prove this before all the
world; and if Sir J. Graham has ono single spark of
honour in him he will never again take his seat at the
Admiralty until this matter is cleared up. On the other
hand, I will say that 1 have no right ever to be employed
again, and I ought, in fact, to be scratched off the Navy
List if I am not telling the truth in what I now state.
( Cheers.) lam taking the first opportunity of making
this statement publicly, and I am perfectly ready to answer
for my conduct before the House of Commons whenever
they choose to call upon me to do so. (Cheers.)

Lord CARDIGAN afterwards rose to return thanks
for " The Army," and entered into an interesting re-
capitulation of the services on which he had been
employed, first ir4 Turkey, and afterwards in the
Crimea. He said:—

It was my good fortune, when in Turkey, in the first
instance, to be sent forward by the commander of the
forces towards the enemy's outposts with the light cavalry.
It was not well known where the Russians were at the
time the siege of Silistria was proceeding. I was, there.
fore, ordered to ascertain the position of their army and its
outposts. I had to patrol the whole of the country by
means of detachments of the troops under my command.
Shortly after this, I received from head-quarters a pe.
remptory order, which was by no means unsatisfactory to
me, that I should immediately proceed with a strong body
of cavalry to discover what had become of the Russian
army ; for the siege of Silistria had then been raised, and
the British Commander•in-Chief was totally ignorant
whether the Russians were about to proceed towards
Varna to attack our position, or intended to retreat towards
their (wn country. You can easily imagine that this eas
rather an anxious undertaking, and one that required the
exercise of considerable caution on my part. We might
have come at any moment upon the Russian army—upon
the Russian outposts. We travelled over the country, which
I may call a perfectly wild desert for a distance of 300 miles.
My orders were to proceed 130 miles as far as Trajan's
Wall, on the confines of the Dobrudscha. We did so, and
marched 120 miles without ever seeing a human being.
There was not a single house in a state of repair, or that
was inhabited along all this route, nor was there an animal
to be seen except those that exist in the wildest regions.
Having ascertained that the Russian army had returned
by Itabadagh, and given information to the Commander-
in-Chief upon that subject, I then proceeded on a very
interesting march, patrolling along the banks of the
Danube to Rutachuk and Silistria, and returned thence

SATURDAY,

by that great fortress Schumla, which has been often at-
tacked, but never taken—it being, in fact, as I believe,
perfectly impregnable.
After our return from those quarters to Varna, then came
the order to proceed to the Crimea ; and here I must say
that that expedition was a noble undertaking, and had in
view an object worthy of the ambition of two great nations.
(Cheers.) On our first landing in the Crimea, I was em-
ployed within two hours afterwards, with a strong body of
cavalry, artillery, and infantry, in endeavouring to cut cff
some Russian cavalry, which were supposed to be marching
towards Simferopol. I am sorry to say that I did not suc-
ceed in this task, for I never could find the Russians.
(Laughter.)
A few days afterwards came that glorious affair, the
battle of Alma ; and here 1 must say that, according to my
humble judgment, nothing could be so perfect as the pre-
parations which were made by a great army for that attack.
The columns of our infantry, which bad marched in perfect
order for the attack, instantly deployed into three lines,
and advanced straight down the hill, crossing and fording
the river, then ascended the hill on the opposite bank, and,
marching straight into forts and batteries which ap-
peared to be impregnable, they drove out at the point of
the bayonet a Russian army of 40,000 men in the short
space of two hours and a half. (Cheers.) The arm of the
force in which I served had not the honour of being engaged
in anything important on that occasion. We sat upon our
horses under a heavy fire for a long period, and in that
position we witnessed the glorious exploits of our brother
soldiers.

Shortly after this was fought the battle of Balaklava, and
unfortunately our allies, the Turks, abandoned their posi-
tion in a very short time, without maintaining any contact
with the enemy. It was late in the afternoon when I re-
ceived an order to attack the Russian forces posted in the
valley, which consisted of a long line of guns drawn up in
the form of batteries. I received that order and I obeyed it.
( Loud Cheers.) I delivered that order myself to the
brigade under my command. I ordered them to march.
I ordered them to advance. I ordered them to attack the
Russians in the valley ; but I must say this, that on that
occasion, it being my duty to give the order to my men, I
did give it, though I deeply regretted it at the time, and I
am sure I should have much more deeply regretted it
afterwards if anything had prevented my performing the
rest of my duty, which was to share the dangers that those
brave men so boldly faced. (Cheers.)
We advanced down a gradual descent of more than three
quarters of a mile with the batteries vomiting forth upon
us shells and shot, round and grape, with one battery on our
right flank and another on the left, and all the interme-
diate ground covered with the Russian riflemen ; so that
when we came within fifty yards from the mouths of the
artillery which had been hurling destruction upon us, we
were, in fact, surrounded and encircled by a blaze of fire,
in addition to the lire of the riflemen upon our flanks.
As we ascended the hill the oblique fire of the artillery
poured upon our rear ; so that we had thus a strong fire upon
our front, our flank, and our rear. We entered the battery
—we went through the battery—the two leading regiments
cutting down a great number of the Russian gunners in
their onset. (Cheers.) In the two regiments in which I
had the honour to lead every officer, with one exception,
was either killed or wounded, or had his horse shot under
him, or injured. Those regiments proceeded, followed by
the second line, consisting of two more regiments of cavalry,
which continued to perform the duty of cutting down the
Russian gunners. Then came the third line, formed of
another regiment, which endeavoured to complete the duty
assigned to our brigade. I believe that this was achieved
with great success, and the result was that this body, com-
posed of only about 670 men ,succeeded in passing through
the mass of Russian cavalry of (as we have since learned)
5,42A10 strong ; and, having broken through that mass, they
went, according to our technical military expression " threes
about," and retired in the same manner, doing as much
execution in their course as they possibly could upon the
enemy's cavalry. Upon our returning up the hill which we
had descended in the attack, we had to run the same
gauntlet and to incur the same risk from the flank fire of
the Tiralleurs as we had encountered before. Numbers of
our men were shot down—men and horses were killed,
and many of the soldiers who had lost their horses were also
shot down while endeavouring to escape. But what was
the feeling and what the hearing of those brave men who
returned to the position ! ( Here the noble and gallant
officer's voice faltered, and he spoke with very evident
emotion.) Of each of these regiments (he continued)
there returned but a small detachment, two-thirds of the
men engaged having been destroyed ; and those who sur-
vived, having arrived at the summit of the lull whence they
had commenced the attack but a short time before, could
not refrain from giving three ringing cheers of triumph and
rejoicing at the exploit which they themselves had per
formed—(cheers)—for they had ridden over a formidable
Russian battery and attacked a countless body of Russian
cavalry in the rear.
I understand it has been stated that the British cavalry
are of a very inferior description, and require a thorough
reform ; that they are badly officered, being commanded by
gentlemen of too high a rank in the country, and that they
ought to be better officered. I can only say that Ido not
think you will find any body of officers more careful
of their men than those officers who now exist, and per-
form their duties better in the cavalry regiments, or that
you will find any regiments in the world where there is
such a mutual attachment between officers and men as is
the case in the British cavalry. The officers are at all times
perfectly ready to assist and to attend to the comforts of
their men. The men, likewise, are so attached to their
officers that wherever those officers lead them in the cause
of honour and glory there those men are always sure to
follow them. (Cheers.) In conclusion, I will only say
that in the minds of those who escaped the dangers
of that terrible attack to which I have referred there exist
reflections of which they cannot divest themseves. I think