The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

There is a 'vulgar saying, that " we may have too
" much of a good thing," and never was it more ap
plicable than to the infinite system of routine and
reference, which at present appears to flourish so
luxuriantly in our Commissariat Department at
Balaklava. Everyone appears unwilling to incur the
slightest responsibility, no matter upon how serious
or how trifling a subject; it is all the same to these
gentlemen at Balaklava ; and each respective office
gets rid of a troublesome necessity by declining inter-
ference, or referring to higher authorities. If a ship
arrives with a cargo of sheepskin coats for the army—
of which fact the authorities at home have neglected
to inform the gentlemen of the commissariat at
Balaklava—the coats cannot be landed, because
there have been no instructions received ; and
by the last accounts a steamer is about to sail
to Corfu with invalids, and with sheepskin coats
still in her hold, because, forsooth, instructions have
not been received for their landing ! Under such
extraordinary circumstances as the present times
educe, would not a little wholesome relaxation of
such stringent regulations be advisable ? To the
same cause may we trace nearly every evil which has
befallen our army ; for to what other can their mis-
fortunes be attributed but this extreme of system,
this refinement of order, which, like all other ex-
tremes, meets its opposite half way, and ends in
thorough disorganisation. Every department has
something to do with the business that happens to be
going on . one supplies the order for the landing, ano-
ther the order for the boats to be used in the landing,
another superintends the care of the goods when
landed.; another finds storeroom, another finds mules
to move them to the store-rooms outside the town,
while another yet has to transport them to the camp,
and another again to issue them to the troops. The
result of such a system is to be seen in Balaklava,
that " Slough of Despond," as it has been well called.
What is everybody's duty proves to be nobody's busi-
ness : it is every man for himself—in Balaklava, and
devil take the foremost—in the camp. Our goods and
stores rot by tons, and our soldiers die by the
thousand for the want of them. Huts and planking
have been sent out, but they are either floating about
the harbour, or lying on the beach, or being stolen
and burnt by the poor shivering wretches on the spot.
Will our army ever be hutted ?We think not. These
huts and planks will lie so long at Balaklava, or reach
the camp by ones or twos at a time, that most pro-
bably they will be broken up and burnt for fuel.
Will they ever get their sheepskin coats? We think
not, as long as the bales of these goods are left to rot
in the rain, uncovered and unthought of, upon the
beach at Balaklava. This is the fate of these bales
at present, and will probably continue to be for some
time to come.

For excuse of all this error and mismanagement,
the War Ministers declare that they have " issued
" the necessary orders," and done their best, which
which appears to extend to noticing the errors and
failures of their subordinates, and inviting Lord
RAGLAN to inquire into particulars and punish the
offenders. As if Lord RAGLAN had not quite enough
to do to maintain his position and carry on the siege,
without having to reform the civil departments of
his army and seek out for offenders in a system that
is so ingeniously constructed as to preclude the pos-
sibility of fixing responsibility upon any individual
officer.

We should have thought that the War Ministers
possessed summary power sufficient to correct the
negligence and abuses so plainly apparent in the
system, without shuffling the responsibility on LORD
RAGLAN'S shonlders ; but it appears that responsibility
is no more liked at Whitehall than at Balaklava.
Both Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT and the Duke of NEW
CASTLE are fond of quoting passages from the Duke of
WELLINGTON'S despatches in support of their wisdom
and foresight. It is a pity that they cannot remember
a favourite aphorism of the venerable Duke : " If you
" want a thing well done you must do it yourself," which
withoutbeing taken in its purely literal sense implies a
little more looking after business than simply issuing
your orders, and then lolling back upon your red-
leather chair, before a good fire, satisfied that you have
done your duty, and that everything will go well. Is it
possible that no more capable men are to be found
to manage the Commissariat Department of the army
than those who mismanage it so sadly at present'
Can the authorities at home find no one who could
carry ont the execution of their orders, which they
say have been issued to insure promptitude and re-
gularity in this harbour of Balaklava, in a manner a
trifle more businesslike? Is it positively necessary
to the morale of the army, and to the general dis
cipl Me of its several departments, that such a cross
belted, stiff-stock system of commissariat arrange-
ments, no doubt neat and pleasant enough in its
working in England, should be persisted in the
field ? Campaigning in the Crimea and home
quarters in England require a system somewhat
different in detail, though perhaps essentially the
same in principle ; but as long as the Minister of
War simply " issues his orders," and does not

SATURDAY,

look after their proper execution, so long will the
present wretched confusion last; and so long will
our stores be wasted and our army starved.