The Express.
London, England, 1855-05-11 00:00:00

ttose taken from this order of Wee 11111•., drew forth the
solution sot meth d •
.PlirAwd, and give 0. the peace of Bur. pe
sew ptedgas of security, the tentiaries of Rests
believe it 'heir duty to appeal to tee sentiments which
sonnet" the members of the,
sot r into this ealeury
:a. •:macrame, to miens them to
P..b, and to discuss propositions
Ars au up in this serAw.
Axsr
B TO Pw)TOCOL No. 12.
Article . Ti'. sliga Casetreeting Courts, beim desirous
of Pl,lllBl 11:4 lied le the sealed. which may arise fro:a
the d'ill'Al'.y of the easel forces of the two berel•Ang
~
powers ID the be is of the Black Bee, his Highens the
'9%41r. by • sposteassies alt of his sovereign will, consents
..) modify the rule of the closing t f the Straits .tf the Dar-
,dancing aid of the Bosphorus, as provided for by the treaty
of the 1 13 July, 11141, and to grant heeeeforth, wittiest
distinetloa, to the lisgs of war of sU &Mims, the free I
sage through these Straits to proceed ham the . I
into the Black Sea, and vice tonal.
An. . The emersion& for ropier/ ft the pemege if
'hips of war through these Straits, and layleg dews the
positions and the daraties of the amohoreges, shall form the I
subject of a special rerdatiee, which the Sublime Porte I
shall promulgate, according es it may think neeessary for
its security.
Art. . The necelatica mentioned is the reading article
shall be ideate' for the legs of war of all =Nome in a state
of peace wit., the Sublime Porto, who, osisel upon to enjoy
It on a footing of perfect equality, shell eery serupulonely
to observe W.
An. . His Highness the Salta*, bwwww, reserves le 1
bilmelf, with a view to particular ItireaßallMeie, to later 1
duce iota the provisiess of that regskiiime,, is Omer of meg
flag be pleases, esseptiosal sad temegeweez mmillikstissmy
destined to *steed the privileges foe • wow ow.
Art. .In case (which God forbid !) Wm liddisse Peels
should herself be in a state of war os shed/ISS ear mewl
rity compromised by hostilities 'Nisi glijkill Imeek est be' I
teem other powers, his Higbee', OM MIMMS =Mew lo
himself the power to suspend the hoe SOW 111111114011110
Straits sinter estirrlp or partially, until the 1111111110. if die I
circanistasecs which may have required sub a 11111•11116 1
Artmsz C ro PROTOCOL No. It
The High Contracting parties, impressed wilh trite hiller-
Mace to the resistants., of the general oqpilibelsm et '
genes the Sublime Porte participating in the edvantages
of the snips established by public law between the diffe
wet Setopean states, declare that they will hemeforth con-
Igor her as an integral put of this seam ; some each ow
its own part to respect the independence sad the territorial
inuterity of the 0 itossan:enipiee ; guarantee in common the
stric. observance of this esgsgement, and will in consequence
wonder every en, to.

THE ARMY BEFORE

MR. ROEBUCK'S COMM' t
Yestorday the committee commenced their further
inquiry into the subject nutter of the administration of the
Ordeals., by selling
Mr. Wood, secretary to the Board of Ordnance &nisi.*
last 18 mostbs, sad for 60 years in the service. Whim ill
MaseerGeseral (Lord Raglan), he said, was shiest. the
Lieatemantedeneral was appointed is his place and per
formed the duties of the Master-General, whose appoint;
Aunt was undo: act Geo. 11. He was not aware of say pa-
ginate intionventesoe arising from the absence of the
MesterHoneral. It had not been wind for one member of
the board to perform all the duties of the board legally ;
but when no other member of the beard was
present one member bad authority to transmit the
general buinese. Witness brought matters before
the hosed, and kept a record of all that was done. Formerly
copious minutes used to be kept, but now only on cartels
transactions and on matters that involved a priaeiple. The
Master-General had these minutes placed before him, and
could reverse the proceedings of the general board. The
iiieutenant-General had the same superintending power eal,
the Muter-General on all military subjects, but not with
unmans to the board, and he could not reverse the beard's
decision; so that the power that was complete in the Mu
ter-General become divided in the Lieutenant, General. All
mitten relating toneless would be brought airier by witness
before the board, or referred to the store amount offices ; sad
nothing was done in the way of carrying out directions from
the Minister of War without an order from the board. He
could not say whether, when these directions were given, a
minute was always mi:de of them; but there was a record
of the more important ones, sod be, es secretary, in a great
measure judged of what was important or not. If the shell
foundry at Woolwich was contmeueed before the matter
came before the board, and before the action of the board
bed commenced, it was irregular. The minute of the
board was put on the paper on which dirsetions were gives,
and signed by the members of the board. It would be • veep
peculiar cue if the board aocep:ed • tender for any poetics
of works that wee not already approved by itself; and whoa
works were decided on, officers of the Ordnance prepared
plans, which were submitted to the board, end received their
signature of approval. Daring the length of time ha bad
been in the service he knew of a large public building
being eotamenced without the sanction of the board and of
the Mar er 0 I. The minutes contained a record of who
nee • present at the board meetings, and it would be sees
from them who were present last autumn. Formerly the
minutes were kept at gloat length, but not so diffusely new.
Sir J. Pekington Were questions decided by •
majority of the board ?—Yes. If there was only one mem.
bee in town the contract would have to be sent to the absent
memben in the country, but a tender could be accepted by
one member of the board ; and, In het, a large wont:set
might be entered into by one member elan ; but the Board
of Ordnance would be responsible, though this in reality
was • legal question he could not properly answer.
Bear Admiral Deans Dundu, formerly in command of
the Binh Sea fleet, was then examined.
The Chairman asked the gallant admiral whether the
Admiralty, on his setting sail, gave him any conception of th•
maritime strength of the rival Russian power?
Admiral Dundere-They gave me • roughish statement;
an old one, but not enfant one.
The Chairman—But did you not know its strength better
when you got into the Black Sea?
Admiral Dundas—Not • bit of it. (Laughter.) I ap-
plied to the Ambanador at Constantinople, and he east
me jut such another as I had from the Admiralty—worth
no more then that.
The Chairmen—But had not the ambassador • large isles,
blishmast of attaches, and dames, and consols, frogs mimes
the information could be got?
Admiral Dundas—Not before Sebastopol ; only is the
Black Sea. For the tint three weeks of my cruise, I in-
gaited of the consuls in the Dardanelles, and Boding I
wanted imformition, I wrote a letter to Lord Stratford, the
ambassador, suggesting that he should allow a Maltese
interpreter to go to Sebastopol, to see what was going on
there, and what their fleet wee like ; hut I received no
answer from the ambassador. I then sent Captain Drum-
aged to the ambassador, and he stated that there was a
doubt or difficulty en the part of the ambassador about
erne' the Maltese mut • passport, and they both returned
to me.
Mr. Drummond—ls it use, as told to the committee, that
you bad at any time stated the, as there were two Revision
ships being repaired at Portsmouth, sad that as you had a
ship with • hole in her bottom, lon ted she should be
sent ism Sebastopol to be repaired ? (Laughter.)
Before Admiral Dairies could answer, Lord Seymour
asked that the room might be cleared. On madminion,
utter about • quarter of an hour, the question was not put
&pie. and
Lord Seymour said, it had been stated by the Duke of
Newcastle to the committee, when salted what steps were
taken by Admiral Daisies to acquaint himself with the state
of the fleet at Sebastopol , that the Retribution went on that
minion on one occasion, and obtained • very clever sketch
of the place, and that that was the only step that was taken.
Is that answer correct or not?
Admiral Daudet—lt is cornet so far as the Rotribudie
is ausierned, but not so far se lam concerned. In acidities
to pesposiag sending the Maltese interpreter, I endeavoured
daring my star at Constantinople to collect informatics
Made. to the Crimea and anemia; but my inquiries eoon.
corsiag the fleet in Sebastopol were not attended with ass
• names. sad I think I was hindered in obtaining this
iallsemeiss by backwardness on the past of the authorities.
They MI ass impodo me, but they wars excessively slow is
getting and giving information; but they were pretested
rthie by &faculties, and by the vigilance of the
goomemest My recommendation to the imbrue
dor ft sondtheMaltese was not adopted.
Lord Lyme/or—Did the ambassador assign any reason
Admiral Daselas—Captain Drummond wrote to me. say-
ing be saw rums' why the Maltese interpreter should not
rqoeit I was ender the ambansador's orders.
TheChelessam—Did any difficulty beyond the questionof
Passport who
Admfeal Duman—No.
1 ne Charmer—Did soy difficulty arise as to thectoraeMe
of the mason proposed ?
Admiral Dandea—Certainly not. He was amen of amt.
rate character, and had (as we understood the gannet admide
ral, who smoke is • low tone) absolutely beta offeroisgiont
ender the Rueful govennsent. (Laughter.)
=d
iearogr—Did the ambassador sties say aldsolias
Desks—No °bindles bead the posesseiL
lard SeDid any other pubile servant effibr emy
pertisular Was?oi
Admiral Dusdles—A complete plan of the fortifications cf
Sebastopol wee ordered, but I do not know whether it was pro.
cared. And a Mr. Games wrote to me on Marsh 23, 15.%
steers "It is confirmed to me that the winks are con-
structed at Sebastopol for its defence cm its land tide."
Lord Seymour—Did the letter fns Mr. Game, inform
you of the amount of the Russian fleet ?
Admiral Dead's—Not • bit of it.
Lord Seymour—Did you obtain any information as to the
fortifications of Sebastopol better than you had before?
Admiral Dendas—Not • bit of it, esorpting that they were
stungtheniag on the land side.
Lord Seymour—Did your orders direct you to cot ia con-
sort with the French admiral ?
Admiral Dundee—My ordain were to act is conformity
with the orders of the ambassador.
Lad Seymour—Might you have moved your fleet Side-
posibse of the French fleet ?
Admiral Dundee—No. I could sot move my fleet before
the 11161 babe oat without the ambassador, but after that I
was doposisst es the ambassador.
Led Bepaour—Was the French adders] under Ks sap
issiisdre
Moira Pandas--Yee ; and • - r the war broke oat WI
,:sse ■*rimy loder the order oar own lioverlimen.•
Mk; Ellice—Con:d y9u at: ~ore your rwr, or takt say