The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 28, 1855.

cHmars HOSPITAL.

TO TIM 1017011 07 TOO OMIT WIWI.
Sin —A very important meeting of Governors is
to take place at Christ's Hospital on Tuesday next,
May 1, to decide upon the report of the select com-
mittee, upon which all hope of improvement In that
institution at present depends.
The Committee of Almoners !twin data warp
thing that they coula to it'oetruot and °ppm ills psi
work, ate now leaving no stone unturned to stultify
the governors at large, and to confirm themselves in
Weir quasi-irresponsible power.
Among other means they have issued an "Address
of the undersigned (25) members of the Committee
of Almoners to the Governors of Christ's Hospital;
in which they attempt to upset the report of the
select committee, and to show that the school is in an
abominable condition, &c. I
wish I could send you a copy of this precious
document, which contains little else but arguments
which cut their own throats, or roes misrepresenta-
tions of facts. I have endeavoured in vain to get a copy
to put into your hands, bat perhaps you may be able
to procure one from some governor ; and if you could
find room to print the main portion of it, as you did
the Report of the Select Committee, you would gra-
tify the curiosity of many, while some remarks upon
its contents would do good service to the cause.
I would particularly call your attention to the follow-
ing paragraph in page 3 of this address :—" The
Committee of Almoners cannot pass from this part of
the report without noticing the description of the
education stated by the upper grammar master to be
given in the school ; and they beg to recil to the
recollection of the governors the disturbed state of
the school for the 12 months previous to Dr. Jacob's
entering upon his duties as upper grammar muter,
arising from the failing health and sudden death of
Dr. Rice ; the prevalence of scarlet fever amongst
the boys ; the death from that disorder of the Rev.
Mr. Collingwood, another of the masters ; and the
consequent breaking up of the school for the
unusually long period of three months: whim
it is added that Dr. Jacob's first exami-
nation was commenced within three weeks
of the reopening of the school after that vacation—
I that the boys were subjected to four set examina-
tions within nine months, for which very little pre-
vious reparation was allowed, and which were con-
ducted by a muter wholly sew to them—and that
almost all the books used in the school (including the
Greek Grammar) were changed during that period,
on Dr. Jacob's advice, the Committee of Almoners
could not help feeling that much allowance was to be
made both for the masters and the scholars under
these difficulties ; and they have therefore much satis-
faction in laying before the Governors the reports of
the gentlemen who conducted the examination of the
several schools in November last, which are appended
to this address."
The whole of this paragraph is a tissue of absur-
dit and misrepresentation throughout.
How could the failing health and death of Dr.
Rice so greatly affect the Lower School, which he
never examined, or in any way superintended? Do
the committee mean that during these twelve months
the other masters were neglecting their duties, and
teaching the boys nothing? What an absurdity is it
to talk of the boys being "subjected to Lux set
examinations." Does the fact that Dr. Jacob exa-
mined them several times, and took pains with his
examination., and endeavoured to ascertain what the
boys really did know—make his reports less worthy
of credit? Tho committee seem to approve of no
examinations but those which are superficial, care-
less, and hasty.
But it is asserted that " very little previous pre-
paration was allowed." Who prevented this pre-
paration P The boys were examined in the lemons
which they had previously learned and said to their
respective masters. Did these masters teach them
nothing during all this time? Do the committee
mean to make a desperate attack upon the masters
of the Lower School? For, according to their
account, the boys learned and the masters taught
little or nothing for nearly two years. If they do
not mean this, then the only alternative is that they
blame Dr. Jacob for discouraging the false and dis-
graceful system of cramming and humbug which
prevailed in the classical examinations at Christ's
Hospital before he came.
What a gross inconsistency again is involved in
the assertion that Dr. Jacob was " it master wholly
new to them," when just before they complained that
he had examined them so often. Yet Dr. Jacob, for-
sooth, who was living amongst them day after day,
was a stranger compared with Dr. Major, whom they
bad not seen for a year and a half, when he
examined them in November last, and who had
never examined them but once before. There
really is no end to the ridiculous absurdities of
these men. Bat the declaration that " almost all
the books used in the school had been changed
by Dr. Jacob's advice," is something more than
an absurdity—it is a gross mis-statement. A new
Greek Grammar for the Lower School was intro-
duced at Easter, 1851; and this could in no way
affect any examination but that of the Mid-
summer following. With this exception, not a
single new book connected with the classical exa-
mination, either was or has been introduced into
either of the two highest or the two lowest
classes—i.e., more than two-thirds of the Lower
School. It is evident that these almoners
will stick at nothing in their mad attempts
to throw dust in the eyes of the governors. On look.
ing at the report of Dr. Major, given in the appen-
dix, and referred to with so much satisfaction by the
committee, it appears that the worthy doctor consi-
dered himself to be entraining the masters more than
the boys. He endeavours to exculpate the masters,
by pleading in their behalf that, under all circum-
stances, "as much is effected by them in extent and
accuracy of classical instruction as could reasonably
be expected." But what is the extent and accuracy
of the boys' knowledge he prudently forbears to tell.
Dr. Major evidently knows how to cater for
the almoners' taste far better than Dr.
Jacob, who in his simplicity imagined that it was
his duty to state plainly what the boys did or
did not know, and thus brought upon himself the
wrath of the committee. Again, Dr. Major evidently
did not think it right to subject the boys to a set
examination, as Dr. Jacob was foolish enough to do,
bat got over in a day what the latter, poor man, took
the greater part of a week to accomplish. On the 9th
of November Dr. Major examined no less than eight
classes, each class bringing up two subjects for exa-
mination—a Greek and a Latin book—and each book
requiring, with such large classes, at the very least an
hour for anything like a bonafide examination. This
would have made 16 hours' hard work for the doctor,
besides all the time requisite for shit dug the classes,
&c. But it was all got through in one day. Pro-
bably the examination may have been conducted
something on the plan of the Lord Mayor's show,
which was going on at the time—so the ground was
soon got over, to the equal satisfaction of the boys
and the committee. Yet this is the report on which
the almoners rely to overthrow the careful, detailed,
and we 11-considered communications of their upper
grammar toaster.
I will not trespass on your time by dwelling upon
many other parts of this address, which invite remark
by their weakness or mis-statements. But there
is one point alluded to in page 12, to
which I must call your attention. I should like
to ask the almoners what they mean by saying that
"they consulted, as a matter of course, the upper
grammar master, with reference to the promotion of
the under grammar masters." When did they ever
ask Dr. Jacob's advice in this matter? The fact is,
that whenever a vacancy in the under mastership has
occurred, the master next below has bccu, as a
matter of course, recommended by the committee
sad appointed by the court. The committee further
&b re that "they return to the court the names of
oil saudidates (for mastershipt) to whom there does
sot appear to be any positive objection." If this be
I so, why did they reject the name of the Rev. G. H.
Stevens from the list of candidates last August P
What " positive objection" did there appear to
be against that gentleman, who had actually
been in the service of the hor'tal for nearly
a year, and who (if I am rightly informed) diatith
qui lit d himsel, greatly for his talents, skill, burgess
in tea *.ing, and admirable power in " influencing
boys for good ?" The governors would do well to
.resist upon the particulars of Mr. Stevens's case being
laid before them—thr y will display in pretty strong
oolours the rinciples ard practice of the almoners
whose addr,..: 3 will, I trust, have no other effect bat

that of opening the eyes of the governors at barge
still Tider to the real state of the case, and bringing
thorn in hap numbers to the court on Tuesday next,
to support the select committee and the oasis of re-
formation. Q.

THE ARMY BEFORE

MR. ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE.
Yesterday, on the nraesembling of the committee,
the room was cleared, sad how. ambers remained is de-
liberation for about half an hour, bat upon what topic did

not tramples.
Captain Decree, in command of the Sammiell hem Jane
le November, was the first witness. Hs said he went to
bras and Bilaklan with his vowel, and was present at the
embarkation of the troops at 'Varna. It would have been
better to have had more large boats for Undies the horses.
These were to be had at Constantinople, and Admiral Lyons
towed up • large number, but pester provision ought to
have been made. If the army had bad to have
embarked a month earlier, he did not think they had sal•
elect means to have done it. The Freon boats ware ter.
but not better. No time wee lost in anbukation, sod no
loss of life occurred. There was only one hens het.
personally attended the embarkation. The bests were net
inn for-the purpose, and in heavy swells were destroyed.
The sailors brought down all the wounded after Mess from
the field, four miles off, and witness went there with his
shies company, and offered to bring down the sisk and
wounded. He did not know what would have been the
esnacquenes if the sailors had not been there to do this, for
there were no ambulances, and only country arm The
navy provided hammocks, snspended to oar., to carry the
Wounded down. The French bad all their wounded down
ea the night of the battle, by means of mules, but ours
did not come down entirely until two days after. The
wounded English were packed two or three in a cart. He
meld not speak u to the humanity of the method, but the
army made use of the best means they bad to perform the
process. Some of the country carts were without springs,
but the wounded were not placed like sacks on one another,
though the cholera patients were. The navy officers and
medical men cane down and exhibited great anxiety for
the wounded, who were transported to the ships where
every care was taken of them. Then was no special hospital
ship fitted up for them. Heard of signals of Wanes', but
did not see them from any of the ships. The cholera
patients were brought down three days after Alma. Witness
went to Bataklava with the guns for the siege trout, and
Ant took the command of the harbour on the 27th of Octo-
ber. Orders had been given for the vessels to evacuate the
harbour, but they came back a few days after to the extent
of 60 or 70 sail. The orders to evacuate were given by
Admiral Mind's, and after that time he (Caps. Decree) wu
responsible for the state of the harbour. On the day of the
gale there were several corpses in the harbour, which he
ordered to be blond directly, and he sent two bullocks out
to sea. The statements about the coadition of the harbour
made to the committee were exaggerated, and although he
was ill, he never gave in ; but the harbour was effectu-
ally cleared while he was there. There wu a
great difference of opinion as to the but way of
anchoring the vessels, and many wished to lay with
their beads outside the harbour, and others inside.
He recommended the captain of the Resolute not to lay out-
side, and told him if he went to sea he would be quite safe.
There were only three tugs to do the work of all the tran-
sports. It was thought dangerous to bring the Pans.
which was lost, into the harbour, on account of her emtnelln
length, and she had no more business, in witness's °pink*,
to anchor where she did than she had to fly. She lost ten
anchors, and ought to have gone to sea after that. A large
number of transports had come from Eupatoria with sheep
and bullocks, and suffered greatly from the gale. Many of
the vessels were obliged to remain outside the harbour be-
cause those inside could not ;get out. There was a great
difficulty in clearing the harbour, as the ships that came
with bay and bread came without ,ballast, and had to fill
again with ballast before they went away. The commissariat
supplied forty men from Malta to assist in unloading
the transports. Some of the men worked uncom-
monly well, bat other, were constantly on strike. Three
wharfs were erected, and much more would have been done
bad it been known they were going to stay there; but he
did not think there were ten men in the army who thought
they were going to take Sebastopol. (A laugh.) The Turks
had possession of Bataklava et.that time, and every house
was occupied by dead and dying Turks. Their condition
was wretched, and he did not an any provision made for
them. The soldiers jeered and laughed at the Turks, and
treated them in an insulting way, but truck them.
The fleet was not in a proper state of coaling. Coals were
short everywhere, and witness had only 14 tenon board the
Sanspueil. The burial place in witness's opinion was
badly placed. He never heard of any complaints about
Captain Christie. There was no neglect in the way in
which the sick and wounded were conveyed to the ships.
Two steamers were specially fitted up with bedding,
and where the vessels were not so fitted up, the
sick and wounded were' obliged to lie down on the bare
deck. The marine brigade on shore suffered a good deal,
and 200 sick were sent down on one mule's. They Isere
properly fed and kept, and did not work in the trenches,
and they were probably the finest men England ever turned
out. The cooking of the naval brigade camp was comfort.
ably done, and they had fire places and ovens for the pur-
pose. The marine brigade, in witness's opinion, were a
more intelligent class of men than the soldiers. Witness
was notat Bataklava when it was represented to be a perfect
cesspool. He understood Captain Christie wee an old gen-
tlemen of 70 ; and if it was imputed to Captain Christie
that be would not let the Prince into the harbour, it wu
mum. The Prince was the largest vessel they had there.
He never in his time saw the harbour in the state Captain
I Kellett described it—as being in a beastly state, full of
offal, and no steps taken to bury the dead, or that
the stench was intolerable; and Captain Kellett was
a much el man than witness, if he could have
cleared the harbour in seven days. (Laughter) Witness
did not allow.the ships to remits in the harbour because it
was so crowded, and Deviate, up to Nov, 17, when he left,
there was an apprehension of an attack from the Russians.
Winces had the general supervision of the harbour under
Captain Christie, and witness ordered vessels cut, bat it
rested with Capt. Christie and the commissariat to send them
in, and whether they should stay outside or not. If they
asked six sailors as to the best method of anchoring—three
"mild probably anchor one way and three another.
(Laughter.) The great error in coaling was in coaling in
the current of the Golden Horn, but there was not any want
of arrangement, and inconvenience in the coaling arms from
the boats intended for coaling being taken by the expedition.
The anchorage at Bataklava vu at all times dangerous, and
witness looked upon the lose there as the act of God.
What he meant by that was the tremendous hurricane that
occurred. It was not prudent at that time of the year for
vessels to anchor on that coast at all, and the gale began
and varied in violence for &length of time before the hurri-
cane. The services of the navy surgeons were at first relused
by the army, and there were more transports than were
required, but he could not speak as to the use or manage-
ment of them.
Captain Milne, one of the members of the Board of Ad-
miralty, in charge of the transport department, was then
examined. He said that consequent on communications
received from the Duke of Newcastle in February steps
were taken for the transport of 609 officers, 10,000 men,
1,698 hones, with a tonnage of camp equipage of 750 tone,
860 tons of baggage, 909 toss of ordnance stores, and other
army requirements of 1,088 tons. The transportdepartmett
wrote to all the steam navigation companies in
England requesting them to afford the meant of
steam communication for the conveyance of the
troops, and they were furnished with various vessels
by several of them, the names of which the gallant captain
enumerated. Twelve vessels sailed from this country be-
tween the 23rd February and the 20th March to the But,
contaimag 339 officers, 9,084 men, 248 women, 60 children,
and 50 horses. Under the Board of Admiralty he coasi-
doted himself responsible for the whole transport **rein
down to the 20th February last, when the transport board
eras organised. He had no doubt that the whole of the
'bliss employed in that service were taken up by the go-
vernment on the most advantageous terms ; and no ship
was taken up until she had undergone a rigorous
inspection by officers of the Admiralty. The superinten-
dence of the embarkation of the troops depended on the
place when they were embarked ; but in all cases the em-
barkation wu superintended by Admiralty agents. It was
the same with regard to stores. If • ship at any time war
detained beyond 40 days at a place, then the owners came
en the government for demurrage. That was in the cue of
tassels taken up by the job, and not by time. In making,
arrangements for the transport of the artillery, he laid it
down as a principle from which he never departed, that 'the
horses should never be separated from the trans, and the
artillerymen from neither ; but that all should be trans-
ported tigether ; so that wherever each a ship arrived, the
artillery she carried was complete in itself, as a part of the
whole artillery service. Eighteen ships were used in carry-
lag on that service. The ships used for the transport set-
vice for horses were chiefly fitted up at Woolwich,
under the superintendence of officers of the Ad-
miralty and several cavalry officers. Others were fitted'
up at Liverpool. There was, he believed, an expedi-
tion sent out from this country where so few casualties
occurred in the trans,:ort of the horses from accident or
death. Out of 6,248 horses sent out the average loss w,
under three per cent. That did not include the horses
in the Black Sea, but had simply reference to the voyage
between England and Constantinople. Tho Admiralty did
not know Dr. Andrew Smith ; they reeelvea their instruc-
tions for the shipment of stores from the Board of Ord-
nance only, and the Admiralty found the ships. The stores
were shipped under the superintendence of an agent of the
Ordnance and the captain of the vessel in each case, and the
responsibility of tarrying these stores to their destination
was shared between the Ordnance agent and the
captain of the ship. No part of It rested with the
Admiralty. The ship which carried the medical stores out
was not a transport ; she was freighted. No supercargo or'
Admiralty agent was sent out with any of the transports.
The captain of each ship was the supercargo, and he was
responsible for the safe delivery of the stores. Captain
Christie was appointed to the command of the transports la
the Black Sea, and Admiral Boxer to the same service at
Constantinople. Admiral Boxer was appointed by the First
Lord of the Admiralty, and chiefly for his long sad useful
services in the lest war, and in various parts of the British
ouninions -u`o•cquently. The eolmiral was 68 or 69 yeas
of age. N • cern; 'ants had ever been made to the Adak
',ley of Admiral Boxer • bat he was tanned from Con-
I buntline's to Sikhism' the First Lord of the Admiralty
on the ground of his not virg given satisfaction at C JD-
staatiaople.
To the Chairman—Corolainte might have been made to

the First Lied of the Admiralty without witness's know-
-111:111. Laprd—He was not aware of any complaints to
**Admiralty of Captain Obeli*, except is reference to
the lees oldie Prince and the Resolute; and in consequence ,
Of triplet ludo to the Admiralty by Sir E. Lyons on the ,
loss of those ships, Captain Christie had bun recalled and '
ordered to be tried by Gout-martial. The court-martiel had '
not yet taken plow He (witness) did not know exactly
what the waste of the army were; bat, so far as he was
aware, there was always as great • number of transports in '
the Black 81111 for the use of the enuoissary-general u were !
required fee the wants of the army. The commissary- '
general sever made any requisition to the Admiralty for
more transports. Up to the 23rd April the Admiralty had sent '
oat to Constantinople 111,448 tons of ooal and 4,178 tons of '
patent feel ; and to Malta, 69,123 tons dual and 3,639 tons
of patutteel.With respect to Sir ILLyona, he rather thought
that akar had a cede blereate from the First Lord of the
Ad to purchase steam tags, or to do whatever he
liked. He ensidered it a ggrreeat pity that the consolidation
of the AM* of the Admiralty at Whitehall and Somerset-
house had tel takes plea years ago. The present gaunt-
tion of the Wises had tended greatly to embarrass and im-
pede the peeper nation of the department, and it would
never be elbsewles until the baimes was conduesed under
one roof. The Adestralty had been blamed for the way in
which the traimpeet service had been carried on. He had
on all oceadems ought to conduct that service to the best
of his abft; bat it was at all times a difficult matter to
obtain arig like a sufficient number of ships to carry
on the souk*, though he had advertised for them at dif-
ferent times, and especially on great emergencies,
in all the large seaport towuki.in the kingdom. If
captains of transports had taken out stores of their own
on private speculation he had never heard of it. The
thing had beet suggested to him, and he immediately issued
stringent orders at all the outporta to prevent it; and he
never had any ease brought under his notice in which such a
transaction had actually occurred. He did not know of any
complaint having been made to the Admiralty of the con-
duct of Captain Goodall in connexion with the loss of the
Prince.
To the Chairman—Bad Captain Goodell survived a court
martial would have been instituted—not as • means in itself
of censuring Captain Goodall, but with the view of ascer-
taining the exult circumstances under which the Prince was
lest.
To Lord Seymour—On one occasion Admiral Boxer
wrote to the Admiralty, complaining of the great difficulty
he had in obtaining a sufficient amount of labour for coal-
ing the transport ships at Constantinople. At Balaklavoi
he believed, the ceiling was wholly carried on by means
colliers. If any difficulty had been felt in obtaining ships
to convey commissariat stores from Constantinople to Bala-
klava, as stated in his evidence by Commissary Smith, it
was the duty of Hr. Filder, the Commissary-G e I, to
have represented the circumstance to the Admiralty,
through Loral Raglan, but he did not do so.
, The witness was still under examination when the tom-
, mittee adjourned.