The Express.
London, England, 1855-05-12 00:00:00

rft
Omits

MAY 12,, .1855.

has been Sload Mill •

board satins orders of the Admiralty.- Thuiiihe
far es repute the etundeseriat, medical, and beiteport as
portliest% 'Melba atougemeets had bees made whisk 1$
already predated mast besefleial effects, and will, I truer
preeset the neurones of the serious imonveniencee which
dlitiArasSed Otelantima of last year. Then, with regard
to what we are grin to de, I know it has struck 'embed,
wise Me attended to military =Ken, that that poetise of
our military arrangements which consisted in the sopa-
ed very important branches of the service
web e rest under the Board of Ordnance, was highly in-
aad loudly called for remedy. My noble freed
Lad Pasture des given his seriou atteation to the matter
iipirbes effected some important arrangements. That whisk
r etteaded to be done I shall proceed to explaia to the
The house will, I am sure, feel that there always
Inall be difileulty in remodelling departments of the public
sleelle Millie important public services were actually going
11,14 as is well known, is the ease at present, so that
we seaboolly fled time for making the necessary alterations,
while lbw might actually be danger in interfering with
the despot* of public Menem. The intention is to abolish
the Beard of Ordnance and the dies of Muter-Oeneral as a
separate establishment. The corps of Artillery and Engineers
will, as military bodies, be placed under the same authorities
m govern the discipline of the army at large. For my own
part I suer weld understand why thee, branches of the
mil Vary service should have been separated. It was, I be-
lieve, tie malt of ancient arrangements, and is nor, I
believe, permitted la say army is the world bat oar own.
It often happens that things are allowed to go on for a long
period of years merely on amount of their antiquity, which,
if they were to be instituted now, no one would have the
hardihood to propose. I think that a great advantage will
arise from &slag the artillery sad engineers under the
same head as the rest of the army, as the distinctions which
now exist have oftea been atteaded with inconvenience to
the service. (Hsu, hear.) While these changes ars being
made, and the Ordnance placed under the Commander in
Chief, the civil department will be placed under the control
of the Secretary f r War. TM object in making thus
artaagemensa has been to centralise as mach as possible
the direction of the army, sad to give unity in all matters
in which unity is necessary or desirable. (Hear, hear.) The
provision of stores, cannon, ammunition, end everything
connected with fortification and barracks will be placed
under the direction of the war department, of curse with
subordinate departments to carry the orders into ex-
ecution. The house will see that when we have
the commissariat, medical, and oedemata' departments
transferred to the Minister of War, there still re-
mains a branch of the serving which has hitherto
been entrusted to the Secretary at War—that is to
say, the exasiaatioa of the aosesats of the army. That
is a department of great importance—one that has
business to do which must be done under some re-
sponsible head. This once has also been molted
with the war department under my noble friend,
Lord Paramus. Under him will be all the different military

departmente,the political management of the army,the distri-
bution of troops, and the direction of expeditious. He will also
perform the duties of seeretarq-at• War besides having the
direction of the commissariat, land transport, medical de.
partaken', sad the ordnaatte. I know there are some persons
who think that oonsolidation should be carried farther, and
that the Mialeter for War should also be the Commander-in-

Chief—that is to say, that the person controlling the disci.
plias of the army should also control its political action. Now
I confess that I for oce am not of that opinion. (Hear,
hear.) I think that there would be grave objections to that
as regards the interests of the
mature. It mast be

army, with others of a

remembered that this country is under parliamentary go- ,
vernment, which government is liable to be changed from
time to time, and must always be composed of men of car-
tain politial characters. If then the Minister for War
was also to be director of the discipliao of the ,
army, it is obvious that mach inconvenience must I
follow. For instance, I thins it would be fatal to I
the discipline of the army to have it directed by a civi- ;
lira. The soldiers would hardly look ap with proper respect
to a chief who was not • soldier also. Hie praise would .
have no value, and his censure would convey no reproof.
(Hear, hear.) Would it be possible, on the other hand, oa
all occasions of • change of government, to find a military
man who bed so devoted himself to political matters as to ,
be qualified to represent the army in the cabinet t 1 think
not. (Rear, hear.) Therefore, with regard to the interests I
of the army, it is very undesirable that the suggested I
arrangement should take place; but I am also of opinion
that to have the whole patronage of the army distributed
by a member of the cabinet would be • very bad arrange-
meat. I think Wit the present arrangement ought to be
continued, bemuse there is la great advantage in
having the discipline of the army superintended
by a military man who is not a member of ,
the Cabinet, as it would be a great evil if military
patroness were dispensed by men intimately connected with
any of the political parties of the country. There are many
persons who at present complain of the mode in which the
patronage of the army is distributed ; bet if such nom-
plaiats are made when the distribution is entrusted to •
military man not connected with the Cabinet, how mach
would those complains be multiplied if the patronage were
entrusted to a man sitting on the Treasury bench in this or
the other house of parliament! (Hear.) I have now stated
what has been done, sad also what we are immediately
going to do. I think that the arrangements that I
have described will produce very great advantages
to the military bnaches of the public service. These
things, however, are matters which cannot iv made perfect
at once. It is very possible that experience may suggest
further improvemeats, and we shall always be ready to
adopt any improvement which we may discover ourselves,
or which may be suggested to as from other quarters. I can ,
amore the hon. and gallant officer and the hoses that the
greatobject which the government has at heart—sad 1 do
not claim any merit for It, because the feeling must be par-
takes of by any ma who steads is the responsible situation of
minister of the crawls—oar great object is to reader all the
departments of the public service as efficient as it may be
possible to make them. (Hear, hear.) We east have no
other motive, and it is our duty to de so to the best of our
ability, as it is only by infusing the greatest energy
into the admiaistratien of affairs that we can hope to carry
to • eurnemstal conclusion that great war in which
we are engaged. (Hear, hear.) It is only by the sseeeselul
prosecution of that war, through iIItrOVOUNIIIie IS the pub-
lic service, that say government can hops fee the essidesee
of parliament, or be worthy of the geed opium of the
nation. (Cheers.) Ido trust that if the imam eaturallyV
Impatient, rues in its expectations a-head of the action of
the government, that the slowness of the latter will not be
ascribed to apathy or want of seal, but to thou difficulties
'which are laseparable from the present state of affain and I
the character and constitution of the varies public depart- ;
meats. I trust that government will not be asked to edemas
farther until by mature deliberation they have satisfied
themselves that what they an about to do is that which is I
beet calculated for;effeeting the objects at which they aim.
I trust that the explanation which I have given will satisfy
the hon. and gallant gentleman, and the house generally,
that the support of this hones, which I meet admit has been i
given generously and largely to the government in all mat- I
tins in which the public service was concerned, has been
justified. (Hear, beer.) lam bound to say that the liberal
manner in which the home has afforded to the government i
all the mesas for which it has asked for carrying on the
war and the conduct of public affairs, exhibits to the world
the most honourable spectacle. (Hear, bear.) For we have
seen that no party feeling, no strife of different sections, has
been permitted to interfere with the puteic service. lam
hosted to make the fullest and suet handsome acknowledg-
ment in my power to all sides of the home la this respect.
(Hear, hear.) And I say if that has bee. the case, sad the
country has also shown itself willing to wait to see what
arrangements and improvements we were able to make—l
do trust that the house and the country will sow admit that
the changes which have been mad*, sad those also which I
have stated we are about to make—that the great and
marked improvements which have already followed those
changes es far as they have gone, and which may be yet
further imputed from them—that these reply
will be sessidered to justify the forbearance whisk
has been shown to us, end ands into a *antinomies of the
confidence both of this house sad of the country. (Hear,
hear.) R,r, we are engaged is a :great straggle. It is not
a struggle upon a question of mere conditions, or of thus
points which have beenlately discussed—lt is a usteet upon
Which ell Europe, all the world, the whole universe, have
their yes Axed—(beer, hear)—the contest of England and
France, two of the greatest powers is the weed, on the one
side, and Ramis, • gigantic and **lanai power, on the
other—(hear, bow)—aced deviant win it, upon the
issue of that 'attest, is dependent no mete gustiest of miner
arrangements or conditions, but mew the hue of that
mutest dep.ede whether Eagles! aid Freese shall continue
. • . .. . . .

kokr their prima whpoiltiwo among rho Radom oTtb—e
world, or wltorbor, ow the °that head, we and Frame shill

dak down t eta Wadi
sad whether thss
shall hesseheireid It
tits world. (Chiers.l

a inferior and ....ad rate Mateo.
r' with whom we are matending
dictator and dominant power of

• MeDlSßAßLl—Reeollestiag the lecture which the Store-
,
tary of State read ter fast Friday, In regard to the great
ineesivenience of iuterposiag motions and raising desultory
dist:unions on motions of adjournmeat, which the right hon.
gentleman intimated was so great as abase of the privileges
of hon. members when tarried to snow, that if it were
persisted in, the house might find it isemesary to restrain or
restrict the privilege, I most confess my surprise to-night
on finding the Prints Minister takieg advantage of the same
machinery, and is a manner so entirely useepested, to
make • communication to the house of same impormace
certainly, and to express sentiments es to the imita-
tions of the government whisk, coming from • man
in his high position, were calculated to arrest the
attention of parliament and the country. (Hear, hear.) I
cannot help thinking that if the minister had to make a
communication announcing important changes in the public
department., and especially in thole connected with the con-
duct of the war, it would have been no mere surplusage of
courtesy If some notice of such intention had been given. It
would have been more convenient to the beets., and more
dignified to the noble lord himself, if due nodes heal been
given of his intention. (Hear, hear.) I confess when I
entered the house, and looked at the bill of our business
fee the night, 1 was considerably surprised by the sort of
portentous announcement introdueed to oar attention by
the somewhat extraordinary notice which first struck my
eye. I was told here of the highly critical position of public
again, and the increasing anxiety and dissatisfaction which
at present pervades all classes of society, and that some gifted
individual meant to press upon the attention of the govern-
ment "the wisdom of immediately anticipating those cows-
queues. which are certain to arise from continual popular
demonstrations, by at ones introducing each reforms in
every branch of the state as are consonant with the intelli-
gence of the age and the jest demands of the people."
(" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) One would have thought,
after what was said the other night about the inconvenience
of desultory debates upon motions of adjournment, that •
subject of this kind would not have been brought forward is
this indirect manner ; and for some time I was at a loss to
dissever what the object of this extraordinary notice was,
sad who was its author. (" Hear," and a laugh.) We bad e
illessedoa the other night, whether the first edition of the
"Sanyo. Man" was published anonymously, or the reverse
I happening to have a copy of the earliest edition in my
=ion, ventured to say that it was anonymone. And it
ions that wbea Pops published It anonymously he put
is some false rhyamms in order to pat the town off the scent,
sad that they should est, " Oh, this can't be Pope's for
he never could have made these bad rhymes." (" Hear,"
end • laugh.) And so I suppose that the flagrant violation
of grammar in this notice (loud laughter), wherein we are
assured that the increasing anxiety and dissatisfaction which
at present " pervades " all dames of society—("Hear,"
and a laugh)—was put in by the noble lord—(hear,
hear) in order to put the home off the scent,
and that It might be said—Oh, this nal be "Pope's"—it
would not be parliamentary to mention the other name.
Well, what is the answer of the ncble lord to this inte-
resting inquiry of the member for Abingdon ? Here we
are told that we must have " reforms in every branch of the
state," and the noble lord considering " the highly critical
position of public affairs, and the increasing anxiety and dis-
satisfaction which ' pervades'—(a laugh)—all classes of
society," and with the view of "immediately anticipating
these consequences which are certain to arise from continual
popular demonstration," has favoured the house with a
most meagre and frigiu programme of those reforms in
every branch of the state which he intends to propose " as
wasonant with the intelligence of the age and the just de-
mands of the people." It would have been well had the
noble lord informed the house and the country of the inten-
tions of the government in • less artificial m ; but, as
far as I could gather from the noble lord's speech,
the only information of any important* or novelty which
he has communicated to night, is that of which notice was
given, that the communication would be made in another
place. Now, I must say, that is a strange way of carrying
on the public business. (Hear, hear.) Notice was given in
another place, that great reforms and changes were to be
made in the departments connected with the conduct of the
, war and that in due time the nature of those changes would
be there announced. Bat, though the notice was given in
Mat other place, the communicatioa was cot made there,
Sidle here we have had the communication without the
notice. (' Hoar," and a laugh.) But what has the noble
Maid seesawed ? I need not touch upon the fact
nest Yes Sammeicating to us the confidence of the govern-
ment is the improved state of the army. That is intelli-
gence which must be gratifying to us all, and we have
only to hope that the noble lord has good foundation for
Mat confidence. (Hear, hear) Nor will I touch upon the
easitsry measures which have been adopted for the im-
provement of the army in the field, or of the troops in
bespital—important no doubt all of them, but not sofa-
Meetly so to be communicated es they have been tonight ter
the purpose of inducing parliament and the people of Eng-
les" to Ice. no heart in the great and historic straggle in
which we are engaged. The only announcement which the
noble lord has made conveying any information we did not
already know is, that the government are about to
introduce • measure for the consolidation of the military
departmeats. (Hear, hear.) Nor is there anything pro-
heasdly original in such consolidation. (Hear, hear.) The
subject ham been long under the consideration of parliament,
and it has been submitted to the scrutiny of select commit-
tees. For myself I may be permitted to say that I approve
entirely of the general principle of such changes, but until
we have the measure before us I can form no opinion of
the pruderies or the judgment which characterises the mode
in which it may be proposed to carry them into effect.
(Hear, hear.) But it is not merely that the mind of
parliament and the labours of select committees
have been brought to the consideration of the subject
of these changes that ought to have taken place, even were
we not involved in a great—l had almost said a disastrous—
war; but they have also occupied the attention of previous
ministries. And it was only last year, when you said you
were about to appoint • new secretary of state to preside
over the conduct of the war, that we pressed upon you not
only to appoint a new secretary of state, bat to defies hie
duties, and to place the department under one responsible
head ; you refused to follow our advice, and much of the
disaster, the disgrace, and the misery, which have linos
followed, an, I believe, attributable to your neglect in that
respect. I shall not be told, lam sure, by the noble lord,
that he is not respoasible for what was done by Lerd Aber-
dose's goverment. Such a shabby encase I am confident
will never be reworted to by him. (Hear, hear.) The
noble lord held a high position in Lord Aberdeen's govern-
ment. He was the Seminary of State, who was responsible
for the efficiency of the militia, sad it is due to him, there-
fore, that that force is in its present ineffective and disgrace-
ful condition. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the noble
lord's panacea for extricating us from all our difficulties,
the proposed measure—not recommended by any novelty,
for it is in principle the one which he rejected
last year when it was pressed upon the at-
Winton of the cabinet of which he was • member—
I shall reserve to the proper ocession, that is
when it is before us, any opinion as to its details. If the
details by which the principle ia which I concur is proposed
to he carried out are salutary, and salted to the exigencies
of the ease, I will support them • bat if they are not wall
considered, imperfect, and unadapted to the emergency-4f
the measures to be proposed for our acceptance are neither
bold in plan not well considered is detail—l shall not be
afraid to oppose them. (Cheers.)
The subject then dropped.
THE TRANSPORT SERVICE.
Ilt. BELLEW drew attention to the neglect which dm-
easterised the management of out transport service--espre-
Melly in regard to sending out troops in unseaworthy ves-
eels. He referred especially to the case of the Seringspa
Wm, is which a detachment of troops had been tient to the
Mauritius last year. This vessel, it appeared, was 'snu-
ggle years old, was classed as an Inferior vessel at Lloyd's,
Was sent out with the troops on board without being mar-
'eyed after her previous voyage, and was in so bad a state
that she made 26 inches of water per hour, though
weather was by no means rough, was not strong
allotigh to Piny the ordinary amount of sail, and, but that
the soldien were kept constantly at the pump, would have
thundered in deep water, hundred of miles from land. These
lea as he.. member confirmed by reports from Mejor
Illausadb, who commanded the detachment ; Lieutenant-
Geaseal Sutherland, to whom he reported at the Mauritius ;
the master of the Sariogapataaa ; and • letter from Mr. H.
Bell, of Warwick, who had • son on board.
Sir C. WOOD said that unless some sort of notice of
what was to be asked of the government was given, it was &f-
-aith to give • proper explanation, and he hoped the boom
ereald not impute to him want of ewe in not being acquainted
with the details of a particular ease, when the notice was
say "to sall attention to the transport envies." He weld
Mate that senora had been made in the tampon serene ;
• hoard had been wastitated of three genelenten—k septets
in the navy, an experienced captain in the transport ser-
vice, and an officer in the army—all of whom wen the
mast competent persoas that could ba found, and ha had
every reason to Dope that the service would be efficiently
performed. With regard to the particular ease be was glad
that thew papers had been brought forward, for they showed
how grey had beau the skill and gallantry of the officers on
board this nisei, and how creditable to them their conduct
wee. He was 'eery that anything of the kind bad
happened ; bat he was glad that an opportunity
of explanation had been given, which enabled
him to show that no care or precaution had been omitted
before the vessel left this country to ensure her being in a
proper state. There was • survey, and thew was no reason
to Isms, that she was not is • fit state for the voyage.
He Iregasal to have with him one or two documents re-
ndes le MO Seringacatant ; for when the report of Gwent
Owtheelsed was received, the Admiralty called on the proper
e•lee le report on what bad hew does. It used to be a
weeplaiat against the Treasport Board that they did not
take up ships from the best ewers. In this ealse, out of
et ships which were Madinat, sin belonged to *wens
who were said to be tawrirred, while two, of whisk the
Sedalls_ Paula was sae, hennaed to Maws. Orem, a In.
of the lushest obataators Mai that slaw would be ear
Mond a guarsatet Of their ship ; bet beelike lark
tweitafewasysloawnbrilf:ttiattleakenb: ando thawtes.umelassed -14-4
time
—ln
Lleplaimewse'sgliallorie.