The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-09 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY. FEB. 9, 1856.

POSTSCRIPT.

A telegraphic despatch from Berlin, on the Sth
announces :

The Austrian communication ou the subject of the
five points accepted by Russia was yesterday presented
to the Diet of Frankfort, and was referred to the respec•
tive committees without discussion.

A telegraphic despatch from Madrid, dated the
7th inst., announces the commencement of a change
in the Cabinet :

M. Bruil has left the Ministry of Finances, and yes-
terday M. Francisco Santa Cruz took the oaths as Minister
of Finances.

Marshal O'Donnel, in order to be able to bring his
quarrel with M. Orense to an issue, had sent in his
resignation. The Queen had refused to accept it.

The Chevalier d'Azeglio, on account of ill health,
has declined the office of Plenipotentiary to the Con-
ferences. Sardinia will be represented by Count
Cavour and the Marquis Villamarina.

Letters from Berlin state that Russia has declared
that the participation of Prussia in the Conferences
is a special question, entirely independent of the mg
nature of the preliminaries of peace, and the solu-
tion of which may take place at a later period in the
course of the Conferences.

At the conference on the Sound dues, on the 6th,
Denmark proposed that 36,000,000 of thalers be
divided among those interested.

General do la Afarmora left I'aris on Wednesday
to resume the command of the Sardinian army in
the Crimea.

A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday afternoon
at the Foreign•othce. The Ministers present were
Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne, Earl Granville, the Earl of Her-
rowby, Sir George Grey, the Earl of Clarendon, Lord
Panmure, the Chanceller of the Exchequer, Sir C.
Wood, the. Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Lord Stan-
ley of Alderley, the Right Hon. M. T. Baines, and the
Duke of Argyll. The Council sat three horns and a
quarter.

A Cabinet Council was held on Tuesday afternoon
at the Foreign-office. It was attended by Viscount
Palmerston, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Gran•
vine, the Earl of Hai rowhy, Sir George Grey, the
Earl of Clarendon, Lord l'anmure, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon.
R. Vernon Smith, Lord Stanley of Alderley, and the
Duke of Argyll. The Council sat two hours.

Dr. Travers Twiss, vicar general of the province of
Canterbury, has been appointed by the Bishop of
Hereford to the chancellorship of that diocese, vacant
by the death of Chancellor Corbet.
The official accounts published on Tuesday show
that., in the year ended the 31st of December, 1855,
the public income of the United Kingdom amounted
to 63,384,0051., and the public expenditure to
84,505,788/., leaving a deficiency of 21,141,1831.

THE PRESS.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY.
MINISTER Of EDUCATION.

Lord GRANVILLE brought in a bill creating a Vice-
President of the Council of Education. Intimating
that it was intended to appoint to this office a mem-
ber of the House of Commons, the noble lord pro-
mised at some future stage of the measure to explain
more fully the duties and responsibilities which this
Minister of Education would be called upon to
undertake.
The bill was read a first time.
LIFE PEERAGES.

Lord CAMPBELL, referring to the vote of the pre-
vious night respecting the Wensleydale peerage,
suggested that, instead of referring the question to
the Committee of Privileges, an address should be
presented to the Crown, praying that the title to be
conferred on Sir James Parke should be made
hereditary. By this step, he contended, the privi-
leges of the house would be maintained, and all
chance of collision with the Crown avoided.

The Earl of DERBY said that he had as yet had no
opportunity of consulting with Lord Lyndhurst as to
the future steps to be taken in pursuance of the vots
already passed by their lordships. On abstract
grounds, however, he concurred entirely in the sug
gestions offered by the Lord Chief Justice.
The subject then dropped, and the house ad-
journed at a quarter to siz o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRIDAY.

Mr. WARREN, Q.C., took the oaths and his seat for
Midhurst.
Lord RAYNIIAM took the oaths and his seat for
Tamworth.

THE CAMEL REPORT.
In reply to Lord W. GRAHAM,
Mr. F. PEEL stated that replies to the allegations
contained in the report recently presented by Sir J.
M'Neil and Colonel Tulloch had been prepared by
Lord Lucan and the Quartermaster-General. Other
officers, whose conduct was inculpated, were, he
added, still in the Crimea, and had not yet seen the
document.

THE PACIFIC SQUADRON.

Replying to Mr. H. BAILLIE,

Sir C. WOOD recapitulated the chief incidents of
the last naval campaign in the Pacific and China
Seas, vindicating the conduct of Commodore Elliott.

THE UNITED STATES DISPUTE.

Mr. COBDEN referred to the pending controversies
with the United States Government, and inquired
whether the official correspondence on the subject
would be soon laid before Parliament?

Lord PAL3IERSTON repeated the explanations
already given on this subject, stating that, after
receiving the complaints of the Washington Cabinet
respecting the attempted enlistment of men in the
States for the British service, the Foreign Secretary
had transmitted certain apologetic missives in re-
turn ; and although, from the rejoinder that had
since arrived from the American Government, it
appeared that some dissatisfaction still existed in
that quarter, a supplementary reply had been de-
spatched whose reception was not yet acknowledged.
Until the arrival of the answer to this last communi-
cation, any publication of the correspondence would,
he submitted, be inexpedient and premature.
After a few words from Sir DE L:►cv EVANS, the
subject dropped.

METROPOLITAN POLICE BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
PARTNERSHIP AMENDMENT BILL.

On the motion for the second reading of the Part-
nership Amendment Bill,
Mr. SPOONER complained of the haste with which
so important a measure was hurried through the
Legislature.
Mr. WATSON, while concurring in the principle of
the measure, contended that some amendments were
required in its details, especially as regarded the
definition of the term "sleeping partner."
Mr. MVNTZ opposed the bill, of which Mr. CAIRNS
approved, as did Mr. MOFFAT.
Mr. F. BARING urged many strong objections to
the measure, in whose provisions he discovered
various opportunities and encouragements for fraud.
The bill threatened to change and degrade the whole
commercial system of the country. It was also, he
maintained, wholly unnecessary, since no lack of
capital was ever experienced for the prosecution of
any sound branch of enterprise.

Sir W. CLAY defended the bill, remarking that
gigantic frauds existed in private mercantile estab-
lishments even under the present law.
Mr. HASTIE recommended the postponement of
the second reading of the bill, in order to afford
time for its fuller consideration.

Mr. BIGGS believed that the subject was satisfac-
tory, and would prove useful.
Mr. GLYI4 and Mr. MALINS approved of the sug-
gestion for postponing the present stage of the
measure.

Mr. CARDWEI.I. congratulated the house on the
prospect of a final solution of the partnership ques-
tion. He suggested some considerations which

SATURDAY,

should, he believed, be entertained when the bill
went before committee. <4ll
Mr. A. Pellatt, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Sergeant Shee,
Mr. J. G. Phillimore, Mr. Laing, Mr. M. Chambers,
having spoken, Mr. Lowe replied to the criticism
that had been offered upon his bill, and which was
then read a second time.

The Joint-stock Companies Bill was also read a
second time.

The Burial of the Dead (Ireland) Bill passed the
second reading.

FEBRUARY 9, 1856•

THE CRIMEAN COMMISSIONERS' REPORT.
THE report of Sir John M'Neil and Colonel Tullocb,
the commissioners appointed last year to inquire into
the condition and the causes of the sufferings
of the British army during the winter of 1854 5,
has appeared this week. It is a document of great
length, embracing the result of investigations into
the arrangements of the Commissariat for the supply
of the army, the various deficiencies of fuel, provi-
sions, clothing, medical and general stores, the utter
absence of an effective land transport force, and
the total want of forage and shelter for the cavalry,
artillery, and bat animals.
The commissioners, after a preliminary investiga-
tion at Scutari, arrived at Balaklava on the 12th of
March last, and at once commenced the examination
of witnesses. Officers of all ranks and of every
regiment, brigade, and division, individually or col-
lectively, were carefully examined with a view of
obtaining evidence of what deficiencies actually
occurred in the supplies afforded to each corps, and
of the results of these deficiencies as affecting the
health of the men. The original documents have
been forwarded to the War office, and, "it is a great
satisfaction to us," observe the commissioners, " to
find, on most of the important points, a remarkable
concurrence in the testimony as to matters of fact."
The principal deficiencies from which the army
suffered were in the commissariat supplies of fresh
meat, vegetables, fresh bread, fuel, hay and straw
(to such an extent that enough couldnot be procured
to fill the palliasses of the sick), medicines,
warm clothing, huts, and, above all, a defi-
ciency of land transport, " to which," add the
commissioners, "many of the other deficiencies are
mainly to be attributed." This want of land trans-
port we find throughout the report to be the sole and
constant defence of the commissary-general. The
troops were kept without fresh meat, without vege-
table food, without limejuice, without fuel, in
short without every requisite, from want of
means to transport to the front the large sup-
plies collected at Balaklava. Second to the want
of transport, the want of a road from Balaklava to
the front is mentioned by the commissioners as
greatly increasing the difficulties of supplying the
army after November. That it was impossible to
make this road was admitted on evidence by the
commanding officers of every division, " who were
unanimous in their opinion that it would have been
impossible to employ a sufficient number of men to
make the road, and at the same time to carry on the
military operations in which the army was engaged."
The only remedy for this difficulty was the increase
of means of transport. " Unceasingly," says the
quartermaster-general in his evidence, " was the
commissary-general urged to increase the amount of
transport both by the commander in-chief personally
and myself." But here the want of forage prevented
him increasing the number of animals to be fed.
Turkish contractors had engaged for 800 tons of
hay at Bajvok Tchakmedge, on the Sea of Marmora.
Hydraulic presses were sent out from England to
press the hay, but were erected fifteen miles from
where the hay was made ! In bad weather the bay
could not be carted or carried by water to the presses,
the contractors, men of no or but borrowed capital,
failed ; and thus at a time when 800 tons of forage
would have been invaluable, as enabling the animal
transport to he strengthened and kept efficient, the
only provision made for a supply of hay failed
through mismanagement.
The great deficiency, that of land transport-, being
accounted for, we come to the sufferings of the army
from want of proper food and fuel, and the results.
From November to March the army was fed upon
salt meat and biscuit, with the exception, the com-
missioners report, of 31bs. of fresh meat per man in
the whole month of December, 51bs. in January, and
Albs. in February.
The explanations offered why fresh meat was
not supplied the commissioners report as not
satisfactory. The commissary-general admits
that 8,000 head of cattle were secured, but attri-
butes to the want of land transport, the difficulties
and losses from winter navigation, and the delays
at Balaklava, as the reasons why these cattle were
not brought to the camp from the neighbouring
coasts of the Black Sea. " All these circumstances,"
observes the report, "doubtless caused the difficulty
of supply; but,"
considering the vicinity of Samsoon and other ports on
the southern shore of the Black Sea, where cattle could
not only have been procured, but were actually tendered to
him in December, and rejected; we are forced to the conclu-
sion that the commissary-general was not then sufficiently
alive to the importance of that article of food. In short,
it appears to us that fresh meat, in much larger quantities,
might have been, and ought o have been, supplied to
the army.
9f vegetables, limejuice, and fresh bread, none was
Mimed to the army during the winter. On the 16th

THE PRESS.

of November the daily issue of two ounces of rice
ceased, from the neglect of the proper authorities to
issue an order for its continuance. Vegetables, which,
the commissioners state, could have been abundantly
furnished by the Turkish provinces, were not pro-
vided until scurvy was extending rapidly, owing to
the regulations not recognising vegetables as part of
a soldier's rations. Limejuice, although 20,0001b5.
arrived at Balaklava on the 10th of December, was
not issued to the troops till the first week in February.
The commander-in-chief, not having been informed
of the arrival of the vessel, did not issue the requi-
site order to the Commissariat.
Fresh bread, the commissioners state, was not
issued till April. " There appears," observes the
report, "to have been an indisposition to make the
attempt." The commissary•general had heard of
a floating bakery building in England, " and thought
it unnecessary or impossible to do anything until it
arrived."

The failure of the Commissariat to supply fuel ap-
pears from tbo report to have been very reprehensible-
Up to the 29th of December the troops were without
fuel, and then only were those regiments in and
about Balaklava supplied, although the southern
shores of the Black Sea offered an unlimited supply.
To want of fuel, from which an objective system of
cooking naturally arose, improper diet, want of me-
dicines, and the utter destitution of the men in point
of clothing, is attributer) in great measure that
aggravation of disease which every week swept them
off by hundreds. The strength of the men gave
way under excessive labour, watching, exposure, and
privation. The deaths from October, 1854, to April,
1855, amounted to thirty-five per cent. of the whole
force ; and this terrible mortality, the report states,
was only to be attributed to overwork, exposure, im
proper food, insufficient clothing, and want of
shelter.

In conclusion, the report recommends various
alterations in the future arrangements for the
clothing and provisioning the army, suggesting
among others the appointment of an officer to be
responsible for the fitness of the diet supplied to
the troops, and for the most advantageous adaptation
of the resources of the countries in which military
operations are carried on to the requirements of the
army; and sums up, on the whole attributing the
cause of all the disasters more to the exceptional
nature of the campaign and the errors of the corn
missariat system, than to the failure of the com-
missariat officers to perform their duties efficiently.