The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

THE CRIMEAN DISASTERS.

MR. COMMISSARY-GENERAL FILDER has put forth
an elaborate reply to that part of the finding of the
Crimean Commissioners of Inquiry which relates to
his conduct, in the shape of " Remarks " on their
Report. Whoever may read his " Remarks " will find
another exemplification of the old proverb—" One
" story is good till another is told." We think he
disproves most of the charges made against him, and
shows that the defects in his department were inse-
parable from the uncertainty atteading the place
where the army was to winter. When at Varna he
wrote (Ist of August) to Lord RAGLAN, stating that
if the army was to winter there it was necessary the
Commissariat should make preparations accordingly,
and Lord RAGLAN replied, " I will speak to Mr.
FILDER." On the 13th of September, in a letter to
Lord RAGLAN, appropriately dated "At Sea," he
respectfully solicited instructions as to " lodging and
"provisioning the troops." He writes—" The period
"has arrived when there is barely sufficient time left
" before the termination of the present expeditionary
" service to complete these arrangements." From
this and other passages in his letters, Mr. FILDER
evidently supposed that the "expeditionary service"
in the Crimea would be over before the approach of
winter, and that the troops would be, as he wrote,
" cantoned in Turkey during the winter." Lord
RAGLAN replied, "I cannot give these orders at the
"present time." When it was at last found that the
army would have to winter on the heights at Bala-
klava, it was impossible for the Commissary-General,
or for any one, whatever his genius for administra-
tion, to save the troops from great suffering. The
Crimean Commission was a clever movement to
divert inquiry from home. It was the " head" at the
War-office that was at fault, and that being so all infe-
rior parts of the great military machine went wrong
by an inevitable necessity. But if blame could be
thrown on Lord RAGLAN, or Mr. FILDER, or Captain
CHRISTIE,—or if the public could be taught to be-
lieve (as it wag hoped they would be), by the mere
fact of sending this commission to the Crimea, that
it was there the blame lay,—then the mismanage-
ment at home might hope to escape scrutiny. In
reality the whole case is comprised in the answer
wrung from the Duke of NEWCASTLE before Mr.
ROEBITCK'S committee. He had, he said, prepared
for two contingencies—for the army wintering in
Sebastopol, or wintering somewhere on the shores
of the Bosphorus. The chairman observed !—" You
" made provision for two contingencies which did not

SATURDAY,

" occur; did you make provision for the army win.
" tering before Sebastopol, which was the contin-
" gency which actually did occur?" The Duke
NEWCASTLE'S admission was one of the most rnemk
rable ever made by a British Minister—" No!
Here was the root of the whole evil. Our Wat
Minister, who surely ought to have been best in-
formed as to the prospects of the army, never con-
templated it would have to winter where it did
winter, and made no kind of provision for it. In the
face of this fact, how pitiful are the accusations tlit
a cavalry commander refused to let his horses be
employed as pack-mules, and that the chief of the
Commissariat neglected to serve out white bread and
fresh meat to the troops daily. Confusion and
disaster there, were inseparable from the want t
foresight here ; and large allowances should be made
for the unexpected circumstances in which all the
authorities found themselves, and the unprecedented
difficulties they had to contend with. Our Govern-
ment, instead of sending out a commission to rake
out charges against its officers, should have taken
the manlier part of saying—" We never expected the
" army to winter where it did; we made no provision
" for it; and though there may have been faults .
" detail, the great fault of not foreseeing, and not
" providing for, the contingency which occurred was
" ours, and we will abide the blame." But see how
the case stands now. The House of Commons he
refused to censure the Duke of NEWCASTLE for the
enormous oversight of not calculating on the proba-
bility of the army having to winter before Sebas-
topol ; while Mr. FILDER and others are to be
censured for being unable to repair the effects I
that oversight! These petty persecutions are dis-
graceful. They resemble the pertinacity of Mr.
LAYARD, who, while other members of Mr. ROEBUCK'S
committee were endeavouring to arrive at important
facts, badgered witnesses with queries whether Lord
RAGLAN had not kept for himself a certain win!'
house at Balaklava! A fair perusal of Mr. FILDE
remarks will dispose the reader to concur in the
justice of that much-abused gentleman's defence:—

That, under such a mass of difficulties as I had to con•
tend with, my proceedings should have been altogether
exempt from error, is a merit that I will not venture
claim ; but, after a careful review, L still believe them
have been in the main correct, as far as the then existing
circumstances could guide my judgment.

The PJ
Tuesday.

THE PEACE CONFERENCE.
lenipotentiaries held their tenth sitting on

Baron de Manteuffel and the Prussian Ambassador
at Paris took their seats for the first time at the
conference table.

The definitive treaty of peace is prepared.

Le Nord states that the question of the Asiatic
frontier is resolved as far as concerns the restitution
of the districts occupied by the Russians. The latter
will restore Kars, the Turks will evacuate Mingrelia,
and the status quo ante will be restored.
The Independence Beige affirms that, with respect
to the Principalities question, the bases of the future
arrangement are agreed upon. Those bases are the
continued separation of the two Principalities, the
hereditary hospodariate, ministerial responsibility,
and deliberate assemblies, with slight political powers,
but having permission to exercise a rigorous surveil-
lance on the expenditure of the revenue.
As soon as the ratification of the treaty has taken
place, the extraordinary Plenipotentiaries will lea'
Paris, the resident Ambassadors, with Baron Brunow
being left to determine the execution of details.
The eleventh sitting was fixed for Thursday.

Mr. Layard, M.P., was reinstated on Thursday as
Lord Rector of Marischal College and Uuiversity
Aberdeen. In the morning he was entertained at
public breakfast, and had a most flattering reception,
On the subject of Peace he said :
There is every probability that by the end of the wont
we shall have a treaty of peace signed. Very few public
men desire war, and peace in the abstract is certainly
more to be wished for ; but I have no confidence that the
present peace will be upon the whole a satisfactory one'
and there is scarcely a man to be found, from the Land '1
end to John-o-Groats, but would like another year of war—
( great cheering)—snd for these reasons :—First, the
political aspect of the question does not warrant us to ex.
pect a lasting peace ; and, second, now we are fully pre-
pared for it, another year's war would show the world that
there is that in Englishmen which would conquer every
difficulty. (Cheers.) If we have peace now, matters will
be left iu pretty much the same state as that in which we
found them. (Hear.) Trae, we have protected Twit.,
against Russian aggression in the Black Sea; but, ao far
as the great questions of civil and religious liberty are con-
cerned, they remain pretty much the same as they were
before the war began; and therefore, I think, the peace
will be premature.

The Anti-Church-Rate Party have issued certain
resolutions approving of Sir George Grey's proposed
amendments to Sir W. Clay's Abolition Bill, now
before the house, and promising all their support.

MARCH 22, 1856.

THE CAMP IN THE CRIMEA.

As official notification from the War-office this week,
informs us that on the 15th instant the Armistice
had been agreed upon, and signed by the Allied and
lttr;:ian Generals.
The documents were to be exchanged on the 16th.
A general after-order, as early as the 3rd, from
English head quarters, fixes the left bank of the
TAchernaya as the line of demarcation between
the two armies. General Codrington appeals to
the officers and men " to moderate their very natural
curiosity, and respect the line of neutrality."
The weather in the camp for the first week in
March, up to the Ath, has been detestable ; snow
and rain alternately of a day, with bitter winds and
hard frosts of a night. Our men keep their health
well, hut the French army is suffering severely.
The men are dying at the rate of 170 a day, while
no less than 30,000 are reported to be in hospital
from typhus and scurvy.
The Russian army also was suffering a severe
mortality from typhus.
General Kokonovitch and 1,800 Russians, made
prisoners at Kinburn, have been exchanged at
Odessa. _ _

Intelligence from Kinburn, states that the Rus-
sians are strengthening the fortifications of Nico-
laieff. _ . _

The Turkish army in Mingrelia is in a fair state
of efficiency. The men are healthy, and well fed for
Turks. Ismail Pacha, famous at Kalafat, is ap-
pointe.l Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Anatolia.
General Kmety, it is thought, will accompany him as
his Chef d'Etat Major, in command of a division.
Omer Pacha had arrived at Constantinople.
THE ARMISTICE IN THE CRIMEA.

The following official notification of the signature
of the armistice, by the allied generals, has appeared
this week:—

Lord Panmure has received intelligence from Sir W.
Colrington, under date March 15, that the armistice had
b •en signed by the allied generals, and that the exchange
0(114(.111/lents would take place on the 10th.
War Department, March 19, 1858.

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