The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the desire of their Queen, have gone forth to the East, to
suffer every privation, exposed to every disease, and pre-
pared to encounter every enemy who might venture to
oppose them. The question which this meeting has to
decide is not one depending on the general policy of
the war ; but it is, what, in your judgment, has been the
deserving of your countrymen in arms? (Cheers.) i
said that, as regarded the justice and necessity of the
war, the opinion of the country was nearly unanimous,
but I think that upon this point its opinion is quite
unanimous, and that the people of England are univer-
sally of opinion that never have Englishmen more dia.
tiuguishekthemselves—never have they shown greater pa-
tience under privations—never have they exhibited greater
valour in the field than during the present war. (Cheers.)
We have seen how they met and overthrew the enemy
on the heights of the Alma. (Loud cheers.) We know
that every obstacle was opposed to their success. We
know that all the machinery of war, all the dread engines
employed in martial enterprises, were there collected to
oppose their progress ; but the nerve and bravery of
British infantry overcame every obstacle, and succeeded
in planting the English standard victorious on the crests
of the hills of the Alma. ( Applause.) This shows that,
notwithstanding the many years of peace which we have
had the good fortune to enjoy, the character of our coun-
trymen has not deteriorated, and that our soldiers have not
become enervated during the long period of inactivity. It
shows also that discipline has not been relaxed, for, how-
ever brave our soldiers may be, they would not have at-
tempted such an enterprise or encountered such an enemy
unless they had been bound together by discipline, and
had full confidence in one another. The British soldier
is, perhaps, changed in one respect since the last war;
but it is a change which must be viewed with the deepest
gratification. The letters which have been published—
(Hear, hear)—from non-commissioned officers and private
soldiers during the last few weeks show that our rank
and tile can express themselves with a degree of intelligence
and propriety which, while it marks their good feeling, indi-
cates how much progress has been made in education since
the last war. (Applause.) The result is, that, while this edu-
cational progress has been made under the auspices and
with the encouragement of those intrusted with the ad-
ministration of the army, British soldiers have lost no-
thing of the nerve and energy which distinguished them
at former periods. (Cheers.) We have, then, an earnest
that, whatever operations may be undertaken—and we
know that at this moment a great enterprise is keeping
the whole country in a state of anxiety—w a many confi-
dently rely on the intelligence and bravery of our soldiers
to do all that skill and valour can accomplish.
Alluding to the opinion which had been expressed
that provision for the widows and orphans of the
war should be niade out of the national exchequer,
Lord John added:

- -
That is a question which I am not going to discuss. It
has been the opinion of Parliamen4 hitherto that such
grants could not be made on ordinary occasions without
leading to a great abuse of the funds. Be that as it may,
however, we know that there are no such funds at present,
and that it is to the voluntary zeal and liberality of their
countrymen that our sailors and soldiers dying in battle
must look for supplying comforts to their widows and
orphans.
Mr. BARING, who seconded the resolution, touched
also upon this point, observing :
It must surely be much more gratifying to those who
fall in the service of their country to know that the wants
of their wives and little ones will be met by the liberal
sympathy of their countrymen themselves than by any
formal votes of Parliament which might be contested at
every stage. Englishmen abroad had nobly done their
duty; let Englishmen at home now do theirs. (Loud
cheers.)
-•

A resolution pledging the meeting " cordially to
respond " to the proposition for raising a Patriotic
Fund was next moved by Mr. HUBBARD, Governor of
the Bank of England. It was seconded by Mr.
BEVAN, who announced that the committee of the
Infant Orphan Asylum at Wanstead had agreed to
recommend to the governors at the next half•yearly
meeting, to place twenty free admissions at the dis-
posal of the commissioners.
On the motion of Mr. DIIIMN, a resolution was
adopted to the effect that the several London bankers
should be requested to receive subscriptions, and a
committee formed to promote the collection of funds
by any steps they might think proper to adopt.
Before the meeting separated subscriptions ex-
ceeding 16,0001. in amount were announced by the
Lord Mayor. Among the list of contributors, were :
the Corporation, 2,0001.; Governor and Company of
the Bank of England, 2,0001.; Goldsmiths' Company,
1,0001.; Grocers' Company, 1,0001.; Marine Assurance
Company, 5001.; Messrs. A. Gibson and Co., 5001.;
London Assurance Company, 5001.; Messrs. Baring
Brothers, 5001.; Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, 5001.;
Fishmongers' Company, 5001.; Messrs. Smith, Payne
and Smith, 500/.; Messrs. Morrison, Dillon, and
Co., 2501.; Messrs. Truman, Hanbury, and Buxton,
2001.; the Sun Fire Office, 5001.; Messrs. Glyn and
Co., 5001.; Baron Rothschild, 500/4 the Shipwrights'
Company (working men), 1001.; the Vintners' Com-
pany, 1051.; Messrs. Roberts and Curtis, 2001.;
Messrs. Hankey and Co., 200/4 Messrs. Crawford
and Colom, IOU.; Alderman Salomons, 10014 Messrs.
Pickford, 5001., &c.
The committee then appointed held a first meeting
yesterday at the Mansion-house, to carry out the
object in view.

SATURDAY,

The parish of MARYLEBONE met on Wednesday, one
of the churchwardens presided, and Lords Wode-
house and Rokeby, with Sir Benjamin Hall, were the
chief speakers. The latter was more fussy than
could have been desired, but allowance must always
be made for natural character. Singularly enough,
at this meeting, called for a purely benevolent purpose,
the speakers could not avoid dwelling on the infinite
distress caused to the relatives of those engaged in
the Crimean expedition by the absence of authentic
intelligence. Lord Woot:HousE said :
Unfortunately, all the news we had at present from the
Crimea was an abundant crop of Russian despatches.
There were so many persons in every rank of life connected
with our soldiers and sailors who were now serving in the
East that in every circle, and almost in every family
throughout the land, a feeling prevailed which he could
only describe as one of the most painful anxiety. He him-
self had relations in that army, and he had a near connec-
tion in the cavalry, and it was a source of the greatest
anxiety to himself and the members of his family as to
what might now be taking place in the theatre of war, and
as to the sufferings those relations might be called to
endure. He had been recently residing on his own estate
in the country, and he knew that many of his own labourers
there, who had sons and nephews in the Guards and in
other divisions of the army serving in the East, were in a
state of suspense and fear equally painfhl. That anxiety,
indeed, was felt among all classes, from the Queen on the
throne down to every artisan and labourer in the country.
Sir B. HALL more clumsily alluded to the same
topic :
Time and space were now annihilated. By the
efforts and ingenuity of man news could arrive from all
parts of the known world in so short a space of time that it
might be counted by seconds. And what was the conse-
quence of those telegraphic communications ? What oc-
curred a very short time ago in reference to a regiment
connected with a locality with which he himself was
identifier ?—he meant the 23rd Regiment of Welsh
Fusiliers—perhaps one of the most noble, certainly one of
the most gallant, that ever went into a field of battle—
(cheers)—which had shown its gallant bearing in the Penin-
sula, and especially at Waterloo, and which was the first
that was put forward in the attack at the Alma. The tele-
graph stated that only three officers of that regiment were
left alive. That was on the 7th October; he (Sir B. Hall)
went down to the country that day, and when the train
stopped at Winchester anxious inquiries were made of
him as to the truth or falsehood of that statement, hut no
further information could be given. When he arrived at
Broadlands, on a short visit to Lord Palmerston, the
parent of one of the officers of the regiment came in the
greatest anxiety to know if his son was one of the three
who were stated to have survived ; but no information could
be had until the Sunday evening, when they received the
special edition of an evening newspaper of that day, which
told them that his son was no more. But if those feelings
agitated persons in that rank of life, would it not be wicked
in them to suppose that they were not participated in to the
full by those of another class of society? In addition to the
anxiety of a wife or child of a private soldier as to what
might be the fate of the husband or father, suppose they
had that great anxiety and suspense heightened by not
knowing what might happen to them if the husband or
father should die in battle? To alleviate that suspense
and anxiety they were assembled in public meeting that
day,in the wealthiest district of the wealthiest empire in the
world, and he hoped the result would be a magnificent
proof alike of their wealth and their patriotism.
Sir Benjamin, in addition to stating that he had
visited Lord Palmerston at Broadlands, said that he
had written to the Duke of Portland on the subject
of this meeting, and that his grace had replied regret-
ing his inability, through ill-health, to attend, but
saying he had already sent 5001. to the fund.
The Rev. J. H. GURNEY, rector cf the phrish
appropriately
deprecated the suggestion he bad lately heard made, that
our soldiers and sailors should all be single men, and con-
tended that the letters which had 'appeared in the public
prints within the last month from soldiers serving in the
Crimea proved that a man was not the worse soldier bey
cause he was a husband and a father.
Lord RONEBY gave the results of his own experi-
ence :
He had served forty years in one regiment, and he had
never been sic months away from it. He had filled
nearly every station in that regiment, and he
Chee trusted
be had endeavoured to do his duty in all of them. rs.)
He was adjutant for a great number of years, and he had
had ample experience of the great difficulty which soldiers
had, from their slender pay, in making anything like a pro-
vision for their wives and families, and in educating their
children. He might say he had trained every man in that
noble battalion, the Ist battalion of Scotch Fusilier Guards,
and he had resigned his command only two days before it
went out to the East. A simple narration of two cases,
which he had come up to town to attend that day, he thought,
would best show the necessity of passing the resolution be
held in his hand. They had reference to thefamiliehas of tw;ti
pa awy
isfee rigneao
thists countryof slow consumption,
battalion,hisolddyingriand five
fil one of whom, ving e
children, had since died in battle whilst nobly doing his
duty. The children had been provided for up to this time,
'kelih ,
ood b
and since his death the central association had undertaken
to maintain his widow for the remainder, in all
of her short life. The other was a still more painful
scases.
It was that of a pay-sergeant who had a wife and
child, s
girl about eleven years of age. He left his child wit heir
sister, and took his wife out with him. She died, bowevere,
of cholera at Varna ; the father himself and a brother
and the
killed in one volley during the battle of the Alms, an h