The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

114

APRIL 19, 1856.

THE CRIMEAN INQUIRY.
'DIE Crimean inquiry has continued during the
week, with the exception of Tuesday. On Saturday
Colonel Low (4th Light Dragoons', Major-General
Beason, Major Thompson (sth Dragoon Guards),
Mr. Rawlinson C.E., Mr. Bracebridge, and Sir R.
Airey, were the principal witnesses examined by
Colonel Tulloch.
'1 be evidence of the military officers was to the
pint that the horses were landed in a poor condi-
tion, and that a want of proper tools and material
re:arded the erection of stabling. Mr. Bracebridge
and Mr. Rawlinson both thought that much more
might have been done and less horses lost, " pro
vided always proper tools and materials were at hand,
and forange for the horses."
Sir Richard Airey regretted that the commissioner
when in the Crimea had not examined him per-
sonally. In his written replies to their letters he
had answered merely in a general sense ; and he
thought that in one ride from Balaklava to the camp
much more might have been obtained from him, as
they would have conversed freely, openly, and
honestly on all matters, and many false impression.;
would have been set right. At present he was
in a peculiar position, from having been in
close conference with Lord Raglan, and, fully aware
of every transaction between the commanders in-
chief of the allied armies, there were many things
which he could not with propriety state in open court.
There was a particular reason why the cavalry were
kept upon the plateau so long; and he was unable
to say that the permanent camp was really fixed
upon so late as the 16th December. In reply to
further questions from Colonel Tulloch, Sir Richard
Airey said be thought it a great pity that the com-
missioners had come to the conclusion that there
was a want of promptitude and ingenuity evinced by
the cavairy in erecting stabling, without taking fur-
ther evidence. He thought the cavalry, in the
circumstances in which they were placed, did all
they could.
On Monday the examiration of Sir Richard Airey
was continued. In his evidence given on that day, Sir
Richard spoke decidedly against the use of canvas
as a covering for horses upon so exposed a position
AS the cavalry held on the plateau and at Kadikoi.
On Wednesday the examination of Sir Richard
Airey, Colonel Gordon, Lieutenant• Colonel Yorke,
Feld Lord Lucan, was proceeded with by Colonel
Tulloch.

sir Richard Airey completely exonerated the
cavalry from all blame in not sooner erecting sta
bling. Timber arrived on the 21st of November,
but Lord Raglan was desirous that everything should
he first done for the sick in front, then for the in-
fa.itry in front, and that, except for hospital pur-
poses, the cavalry were not to be served with hutting
until the forces in front had been supplied. As to the
Frendl cavalry, there were none of them under cover
till the next summer. Lord Lucan in his evidence
insisted that the loss of horses arose from excessive
over-work and under feeding, and not from any want
of ingenuity or promptitude on the part of the officers
of the cavalry.
On Thursday, Mr. Filder gave evidence to the
effect that the cavalry was well supplied with rations
during their stay in Bulgaria, and that the defici-
encies in the issues of forage at any time after were
not so great as Lord Lucan had represented.

On Friday, Colonel Tulloch, in his counter-exami-
nation by Lord Lucan, denied that there was any
animadversion upon Lord Lucan in the report. It
was the duty of the commissioners to point out
defects to the Government, leaving them to find out
who the parties were to blame. In reply to Lord
I.ucan whether he had satisfied himself that there
were materials and labour wherewith to shelter the
horses, before he wrote that paragraph attributing
want of promptitude and ingenuity, Colonel Tullocb
said:—

I did satisfy myself, by the Quarter-master-General's
answers, that there was no difficulty, so far as I could see,
except that of labour, in providing shelter ; and that labour
appeared principally to apply to the Turkish soldier; not
being good workmen. I certainly considered that there
was a certain amount of cavalry available for the construe•
tion of shelter. With regard to the tools, I now learn
there was a greater deficiency than I expected. I only
thought it was a partial deficiency, confined to one or two
regiments. I knew sufficient timber had arrived on the
25th November.

General Scarlett was then called, and in answer to
a question from Lord Lucan, said :

Yea never discouraged me or any other officer, but, on
the contrary, you were anxious that every shelter possible
should be provided for the horses.

In answer to another question from Lard Lucan,
General Scarlett said :

I don't think more promptitude or ingenuity could have
been displayed by your lordship and the other officers in
command of the cavalry in the position we were then
Pl'wed. If so I should have thought it my duty to have
stated that fact to your lordship at the moment.
The court adjourned till Monday, when Admirals
Sir Edmund Lyons and Sir D. Dundas will be
•rammed by Lord Lucan.

THE PRESS.

jortign Comsgonbturt.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 12.
THE manifesto of the Emperor has diffused universal
satisfaction, but it will, no doubt, be criticised by the
senior wranglers of Radicalism and the wooden
spoons of the Whigs with wrath and contumely, for
abuse of the Russian is a staple commodity of
Liberal tactics. The Emperor of Russia had to an-
nounce the re-establishment of peace to subjects well
prepared to acknowledge the benefit, and faction
must indeed have paralysed the common sense of its
Radical devotees if it was conjectured that he would
have put the worst construction upon the siege of
Sebastopol, or have omitted to dilate upon the fall of
Kars from the improvidence of parties that shall be
nameless. It may be observed by the way, that
here, in the capital of the empire, justice is done to
the military ability of General Williams, and his im-
possible success attributed to the right cause, of
which damning testimony exists in Russian safe
keeping. There is one portion of the manifesto that
the most ill conditioned of Whigs must accept with
forced complacency, and that part contains a declara-
tion to institute measures of reform. When a
representative Government announces a projected
reform, the chances are that a large portion of the
members about to discuss its merits will be gathered
to their fathers before the measure be carried into a
law and bring forth fruit. It is not so uuder a sys-
tem of autocracy, notwithstanding its antagonism to
freedom and other disadvantages. That which is
wanted is ordered, and the matter ordered is well put
out of hand by the right man in the right place.
Let General Todtleben be quoted as a ready illustra-
tion of employing the best instrument to effect a
given purpose, without other consideration than the
right one—fitness. The announced reforms of the
Emperor are not a sham ; they will not prove a delu-
sion ; and English capitalists will not find them a
snare. They ) ave commenced already, and are in
active progress twenty lour hours after the imperial
declaration of their future "else."

Imperial ukases following the manifesto of peace
have at once caused change and practical advantage
—not always synonymous terms. 1. The first of these
confirms the title of peasants to land purchased
from the Treasury and nominally belonging to other
persons who might raise a question of title. It has
often occurred in the legal courts of Russia that
peasants having laid out the savings of a long life of
industry in the purchase of a small property have
been dispossessed by the unjust claim of a former
proprietor affirmed by a corrupt judge,and have thus
lost both capital and investment. This evil is reme-
died. 2. Rules have been given for the transfer of
freed serf, to other properties. The operation of
this law is tantamount to an approved certificate of
freedom and the rights of industry. It also releases
the former proprietor from the liability to maintain
his manumitted serf, and exonerates him from the
inconvenience of an onerous law of settlement. 3.
'I he children of soldiers are for the future not to be
compulsorily enrolled in the military colonies—that
is to say, the children may be free to choose a living
by sources of industrial labour. This is declaratory
of relinquishing a national reputation dependent on
the army alone, and provides fer a more profitable
source of greatness. 4. Regulations for the recruit-
ment of Bohemians and others lay down positive
rules of service and exemption. These ukases have
been gratefully held at their just value.
The attention of the Government has been turned
to a correction of the errors in the system of agricul-
ture, and this subject has been intrusted to the care
of M. de Kisseleff, formerly Minister at Paris. He
has acquitted himself admirably. One of the be-
setting grievances in the provinces is caused by the
cotters on Crown lands. When a Crown serf is cape•
ble of gaining his livelihood and marries, he has a
right to demand of the Government sufficient ground
fur a cottage, garden, and field. This application is
always carefully granted—for the Russian Crown is
scrupulous in performing those acts of kindness that
tend to endear it to toe lower orders. The effect of
this subdivision of labour has been to multiply patch
cultivation, and to diminish the breadth of pasture,
and thus of late years provender has been made dear,
and the head of cattle been diminished. With a
view to counteract this error, short pamphlets have
been published, couched in simple and homely lan-
guage, pointing out the prejudicial effects of a dis-
proportion of corn-fields to grazing-land, and im-
pressing the necessity of rearing a large amount of
stock. They also treat of agricultural improvements
every shape, suited to the holders of small tene-
ments. Another disadvantage consists in the diffi-
culty of the transport of produce from the interior—
which diminishes the price, circumscribes the
market, and makes the farmer careless of culture.
The statistical calculations show that over and above


367

the corn consumption of Russia there remains a sur-
plusage of the value of three hundred and
turfy millions of francs for foreign export,
of which not above one-third finds its way out of the
country, from a deficiency of carriage. To remedy
this drawback there is a promise of railroads and
other governmental expedients to remove every ob-
stacle to the increase and internal improvement of
agricultural commerce. These easy pamphlets,
written expressly for, and suited to the capacity of,
the peasants, are extensively circulated, and have en
gaged much attention. Thus it is that the
governor should deal with the governed, under any
form of Government; and of a country thus success-
fully treated it may be said, "Give her the fruits of
her hand, and let her own works praise her in the
gates." P. G.

FRANKFORT, April 16.
WITHIN the brief period of a fortnight extraordi-
nary changes have occurred in the affairs of
Europe and the general aspect of the nations.
Peace has been ratified betwixt the three great na-
tions of the world. Under the influence of especial

circumstances, the object of strife for which Russia
had originally contended has, been ceded. On this
ground the late belligerents are now of one accord,
and Austria assumes, in its turn, and for its own
purpose, to be the protector of the sovereign rights
of the Sultan. Germany is teeming with dissension.
The Prussian Chambers are in conflict at home,
and the Rhenish provinces are dissatisfied. In
Austria the pretensions of the Pope are assuming an
inconvenient importance, whilst Italy is in a state
perilous for herself and for others. But the sin-
cerity of the peace between England, France, and
Russia invests them with a power that will compel
a specific settlement of grievances without recourse
to extreme alternatives. The union of this triple
might is a guarantee for the weak against the
misgovernment of the strong; and barely was the ra-
tification of peace signed al. Paris than the power con-
ferred has been called into action.

The subject of the Danubian principalities in-
volves three propositions; Ist, the sovereign rights
of the Sultan; 2nd, the rights and interests of the
principalities ; 3rd, the combined interests of Europe.
The Porte may well answer for itself—the Moldo-

Wallachian territory is as yet unrepresented, and the
plenipotentiaries of the Paris Conference are directly
commissioned to deal with the question of provincial
reform, for general and European advantages.
Austria, at the commencement of the war, assumed
the protectorate of the principalities by military pos-
session, and, in the spirit of usurped authority, issued
an order to the Hospodars, at the time of the Vienna
Conferences, to send two representatives to discuss
local affairs. The Porte resisted the pretensions of
Austria to dictate, disallowed the privilege of the
principalities to elect official delegates without special
order, and attempted to get rid of the difficulty by
signifying that two Boyards, chosen by the Porte,
would proceed to Vienna charged with the duty of
representing the sovereign rights of the Sultan.
This step became abortive from the Vienna failure.
At the Conferences of Paris the Porte has repeated
its demands in another shape. It proposed that a
" Kaimakan" should be immediately established in
each principality, conformably to the Russo-Turkish
treaty of Balta Liman in 1849. This was untenable
from the reasons that the present Hospodars, ap-
pointed for seven years, do not relinquish their func-
tions before June—that the lidoldo-Wallachian pro-
vinces are under the immediate control of the Euro-
pean powers, for the purpose of governmental
revision—and that it would be impossible for the
Porte to base any demand upon the strength of a
Russian treaty, after the general suppression of
those treaties, especially of Karnadji, Jassy, and
Bucharest. The Ministers of the Sultan show little
sagacity in preferring claims npon the sanction of a
treaty that, linked with others, has been set aside for
Ottoman benefit, and at Ottoman request. Neither
was the proposition that the affairs of the principa-
lities should be discussed and arranged at Constan-
tinople, with a full acknowledgment of the sovereign
power of the Sultan to interfere at pleasure, less
objectionable.
At the synod of Vienna the Pope has not aban-
doned a particle of his claim to pontifical pre-
dominance. A fundamental difference between the
Roman Church end the Government exists at the
outset. Cardinal Viale Prela, the president, declares
the synod to have been convened by a Papal sum-
mons, fully confirmed by the terms of the Concordat,
and ignoring the interference of the Austrian Go-
vernment; whilst the latter, in the official letter of
the Minister of Religion, affects to agree with the
objects of the Roman assembly, and to accord a
passive sanction. The Roman Church, with one
consent, adopts the 'validity of the Papal mandate as

superior to governmental authority. The Cardinal
prelate will preside on all special occasions, and the
ordinary debates will take place under the provisional
superintendence of Monsignor Ranseher, the Arch-
bishop of Vienna. A committee of report is esta-
blished, to frame an authorised account of the de-
bates, to be submitted to the Cardinal prelate after
each meeting; and when a question is carried, it is
to be immediately forwarded to the Pope for confir-
mation or rejection, together with a report of the
proceedings. The authority of the Emperor in Roman
affairs is denied and derided. On the opening of the
pontifical chamber the assembled prelates and clergy
—Austrian, German, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, and
even Croatian—dressed in the sumptuous habiliments
of the Roman Church, marched in formal procession
to the cathedral of St. Stephen, where tho mass was
celebrated by the Cardinal president. On returning
to the chamber the session was formally opened by
tie Cardinal, in the name and by the command of
the Pope, without reference to Imperial per:nission.
It was purposely omitted to constitute a president
under the powers of the Concordat. In spite of this
sacerdotal obstinacy and presumption, public opinion
is against the synod. The question is thoroughly
understood ti be between the liberty of the subject
and the tyranny of the priest; and the absence of
any open remonstrance on the part of the Govern-
ment. to these Papal extravagancies is a proof that,
however blameable was the granting the Concordat,
the priest has lost his cause, personally, in public
estimation, and is no longer a subject either of fear
or respect. The synodal plot to reinstate the priest in
supreme power is a failure. France had been cal
cud aka upon as a coadjutor; but the conduct of the
Ultr.tmontanists on the birth of the Imperial Prince
savours of a doubt on the part of the Jesuit; and the
nomination of the Abbe Landriot to the see of La
Rochelle augurs yet more unfavorably for the " parti
pretre." The abbe was the champion of' classical
education against one solely and entirely clerical and
C iristian. He refused to banish Horace and Virgil
from the schools, and would not consent to abandon
the sonnets of Anacreon, and the graceful eloquence
of Euripides, for an exclusive study of the old fathers.
The Concordat has even been an obstacle to the
working of fiscal reforms, and the Austrian Minister
of Finance has strongly animadverted on its impolicy.
The priest does not find favour with any one, and
receives the doom without the name or reputation of
a favorite.
In the revision of commercial tariffs Austria is be-
ginning to display sounder views of political economy.
An Imperial ordonnance publishes a lower scale of
import duties. Cottons, woollen cloths, hemp, hard-
ware, &c., are to be admitted on terms of advantage,
that will give an immediate action to the markets of
the respective articles. In addition, railways are no
longer condemned as the conductors of revolution ;
and new lines, open for the employment of English
capital, are proposed, and meet with governmental
approval.
The majority of the Prussian Chambers in favour
of the " Croix" and Ministerial party is decreasing.
The insidious attack on the liberty of the press has
been firmly resisted, and the ft vat Ministers,
although motions to curb a disagreeable channel of
censure, are at last beginning to comprehend that it
education is made compulsory, no Government can
chain the expression of ideas to which its own educa-
tional instrument. had given birth. The liberty of
the press to education is as the railroad to commerce.
N -ether have MM. de Gerlach and Berg been more
firtunate in conducting the affair of the stolen
despatches. Pubic opinion, without justifying the
abstraction, runs counter to them personally, and
this may be considered as a decided expression
against the " Croix" faction. On the subject of the
Ministerial changes in the organisation of the
Rhenish provinces, M. d'Anerswald moved an
amendment against Ministers, which was carried by
a majority of two. The Rhenish provinces strongly
adhere to the interests of the Prince Royal, and the
Ministerial defeat:, temporary for the moment, is
significant of coming events. If Russia, as it would
appear, determines to take a step in advance on the
subject of reform, Prussia will have to march parr:

passu.
The Chambers of the Duchy of Baden have been
likewise occupied by discussions on the liberty of
the press, the Liberals demanding that the penalty
for a libel against the German Diet shall not be of
equal severity to that for an offence against the laws
of the duchy. Under the cloak of the question is
concealed the animosity against the interference of
the Diet in the domestic affairs of the German prin-
cipalities. The Chambers of Denmark are still un-
settled in their movements on constitutional matters
of grievance, and those of Hanover and Bavaria
have to contend with powerful oppositions. M. de
Bu.il, on his return to Vienna, will pass by Frankfort
to hold a consultation with M de Bismarck Selion-
hausen upon the state of Germany. There is but
one solution, and the attitude taken by England,
France, and Russia, places that by the sword out of
We VW**. J. E. L.

Ii