The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-03 00:00:00

THE BANDS IN THE PARKS.

On the motion that the house on rising should
adjourn until Thursday,
Lord R. GROSVENOR urged various objections to
the Sunday performances of music in the public
parks.
The subject was followed up by the Marquis of
BLANDFORD, who insisted that in sanctioning the
performances in question the Ministers had ignored
a recent vote of the house recognising the principle
of Sabbath observance.

Some further remarks were offered by several hon.
members, and Sir B. HALL vindicated the course he
had adopted.
Lord PALMERSTON also justified the step as ex-
tending the means of innocent enjoyment afforded
to the working classes on their day of rest.
The subject then dropped.
THE BUDGET.

Replying to Mr. Glyn, the CitaxcErzon of the
EXCHEQUER intimated that he intended to bring
forward the annual financial statement on Monday
the 19th inst.

THE ENLISTMENT QUESTION.

Lord PALMERSTON laid on the table the papers re-
lating to recruiting in thi• United States.
POLICE (COUNTIES ♦ND BOROUGHS) BILL.

. .
The consideration in committee of this bill was
then resumed, and the remainder of the sitting was
chiefly occupied in discussing successive clauses of
this measure.

On resuming, the remaining business on the
paper was disposed of, and the house adjourned.

THE CRIMEAN INQUIRY.
LORD LUCAN, on Monday, made his final reply upon
the whole case. The gallant earl first explained the
circumstances connected with Colonel Griffiths'
charge :

Colonel Griffiths visited me in the morning, and I quite
remember complimenting Colonel Griffiths on a large
white great-coat which he wore, and which had been pro-
cured from Constantinople. Colonel Griffiths might then
have spoken about the horses, and how long the cavalry
camp was likely to remain in its then position, and I might
possibly have received with a sneer sonte extravagant
suggestion which Colonel Griffiths made about a subject
on which I was almost daily in communication with the
commander-in-chief and the quartermaster-general. To
my amusement Colonel Griffiths suddenly threw himself
back on his horse and told me I was not speaking as one
gentleman would to another. Upon which I said I had a
great mind to put hint under arrest ; and upon Colonel
Griffiths replying in the same manner again, I ordered him
to hold his tongue and join his picket. That was the
truth, the whole troth, and nothing but the truth of what
passed upon that occasion, on my honour as an officer and
a gentleman.
The gallant earl then entered upon the question of
the relative amount of deaths between the cavalry,
artillery, and hawse animals, ipeopwatably proving

SATURDAY,

from the official returns that while the losses of the
light and heavy brigades
nt
to.
at ctsea,
hose ryao,int doeutdhnuetec
amounted
artillery
nrtgtio.l
16:948
average of oafet4oBn peran" l
amounted to 67 per cent., and of the baggage to 73
or 71 per cent. Lord Lucan then explained the
duties of the " idle men " in a cavalry regiment to
show that at most but three hours a day could be
given to the erection of stabling, but that the want of
tools and material retarded the work. The noble
earl then pointed out the great incorrectness of the
commissioners' report, originating in their taking in-
formation from any but reliable sources, and coin.
mauled of the non-examination of either himself or
Lord Raglan. He next condemned the interference
of the War Minister in reference to the drawing up
of the report, and charged the commissioner with
having sent slips of the report to the War-office as
they were produced for correction, and declared his
belief, founded on Colonel TulloA's own admission,
that the report was the joint production of the
War Minister and Colonel Tulloch. In conclusion,
the noble earl contended that the report had been
drawn up to secure the temporary ease of the
Government, to lull the indignation of the public, and
to excuse the Government from having sacrificed the
finest army that ever left the shores of England.
The Earl of Cardigan's case was opened on
Tuesday, when the noble earl read a state-
ment, in reference to the charge made by the
Crimean Commissioners against him, that he hail
refused to send the horses of his brigade down to
Balaklava for forage before the supply in front
failed. The noble earl, in a detailed statement
of the services of the light brigade, pointed out that
after the battle of Balaklava the light brigade was
removed to a plateau four miles nearer Inkermann,
and seven miles from Balaklava. Hence the diffi-
culties of foraging the brigade at all from Balaklava;
and in addition to this, grave military consiaerations
existed against employing the brigade horses to
bring up forage from Balaklava, as it would from
the severe nature of the work have involved
the total destruction of the brigade. The heavy
brigade horses suffered severely from having to
transport their own forage half the distance; and
it was not reasonable to suppose that horses in so
weak a condition as those of the light brigade, from
their exposed position and short allowances, could
possibly have transported forage a distance of seven
miles. Proposals had been made to employ the
troop horses to bring up the forage, but he had no
authority to apply his horses to that purpose, and his
opinion was that it would have been inexpedient and
improper if he had so employed them.
General Airey explained that the cavalry were
placed on the extreme right, from the urgent request
of General Canrobert, who apprehended an attack
from the Russians on that point.
On Thursday the court resumed.
Mr. Crookshank, of the Commissariat, was briefly
examined with reference to a proposition he had
made to Lord Lucan to send the troop horses of the
light brigade down for forage.
Colonel Low and Colonel Douglas gave evidence
that the troop horses could have been so employed
after November 14th. Every two horses could bring
up rations for twelve others.
Lord Cardigan's case having closed, General Airey
was called on by the board, and immediately pro.
ceeded to address the court at great length. General
Airey, vindicating his department from the charges
brought against it by the commissioners, proceeded
to point out the principal causes of the lamentable
state of affairs in the winter of 1854.5. In the first
place the transport of the army was grossly defective.
The intention to winter in the Crimea was never
decided on till after the battle of Inkermann, when
the position of the army became so critical that
no other course was left open to Lord Raglan. Then,
on the Bth of November, immediate preparations were
made, when instructions were given for the purchase
at Constantinople or elsewhere of the materials and
implements for building huts. Orders were also
issued to preserve all animals, hides, and to purchase
fuel and charcoal at Constantinople ; while 3,000
tents and camp materials were requested from Eng-
land, none of which, however, arrived for several
months. Forage long ordered from England neither
arrived. The animals died; the transport became
exhausted, and an army of 12,000 men were com-
pelled to do the work of 30,000. It was nothing but
the want of transport and want of human labour
which caused all the miseries of the winter.
On Friday General Airey concluded his statement
by a criticism of the commissioners' report, and
emphatically disclaimed the possibility of any two
men, civil or military, coming to the Crimea in the
middle of Maroh, and being able to arrive at a fair
report or opinion upon what could, or could not, be
done by the army there, placed as it was in a peg-
non of difficulty—beyond all human conception--
and in the middle of winter. Sir Richard Airey con-
' eluded his statement with an elaborate panegyric on
the conduct of the late Lord Raglan during the time
be commanded the army in the East,

MAY 3, 1856.

'fittraturt.

211emojr$, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas
Moore. Edited by Lord John Russell.

Vols. VII. and VIII. London : Longmans.
IN spite of all that has been written and said
(not without strong grounds) against the cha-
racter of Thomas Moore, the conclusion of his
biography will be looked for with interest. Of
the entire eight volumes, the two first arid
these two last are the best; and we much
regret that they were not intrusted to the
care of any one else rather than Lord John
Russell. We heard an eminent person, whose
name frequently appears here in connection
with Moore, offer leis opinion that the poet
never meant that the diary should be given at
full length to the public. An able literary
artist might have executed a classical bio-
graphy of Moore in three volumes, which
would have amply satisfied the claims of pos-
thumous interest. As the work stands it is a
huge olla podrida of scraps about fashionable
life, stale scandals, anecdotes at second-hand,
and flattering paragraphs about Moore's aris-
tocratic friends, with stinging reflections on
the hollowness of the Whig party, and the
hypocrisy of its pretended democracy.
The closing years of Moore's life were in
painful contrast with the earlier portion of his
joyous existence. Pecuniary anxieties, the
unfortunate end of his son, and the wretched-
ness of worldly disappointment, fell upon him
heavily, and his health gave way. Lord John
Russell sadly describes the dreary picture
which the once genial poet thus exhibited in
his closing days :

The death of his only remaining child, and his last and
most beloved sister, deeply affected the health, crushed the
spirits, and impaired the mind of Moore. An illness of
an alarming nature shook his frame, and for a long time
made him incapable of any exertion. When he recovered,
he was a different man. His memory was perpetually at
fault, and nothing seemed to rest upon his mind. He made
engagements to dinners and parties, but usually forgot
half of them. When he did appear, his gay flow of spirits,
happy application of humorous stories, and constant and
congenial ease, were all wanting. The brilliant hues of his
varied conversation had failed, and the strong powers of
his intellect had manifestly sunk. There was something
peculiarly sad in the change. It is not unusual to observe
the faculties grow weaker with age ; and in the retirement
of a man's own home, there may be " no uirpleasing melan•
choly "in the task of watching such a decline. But when
in the midst of the gay and the convivial the wit appeared
without his gaiety, and the guest without his conviviality—
when the fine fancy appeared not so much sobered as sad-
dened, it was a cheerless sight.

Neither of the poet's sons turned out well,
they both died after attaining manhood; and
Moore had thus the misfortune of surviving
his five children His life, indeed, was more
chequered with sun and shade than is usual iu
the case of prosperous authors, and the con-
templation of his whole career and character
presents something enigmatical, as there are
many contradictions recorded in these volumes.
Upon the nature of his character we shall say
a few words.

Moore was a voluptuary at heart, with a fine
physical constitution, and rare literary facul-
ties. It was really remarkable that a being so
epicurean should have emerged from such a
political hotbed as Dublin society in 1795.
Love and wine were as often his lyrical themes
as " Liberty " and party politics ; and that a
young Irishman should have had such a
lusciously Oriental character is not a little
strange. It was not altogether as a tufthunter
that he delighted in the gay parties of fashion-
able celebrities. Beauty, wealth, grace, splen-
did houses, sumptuous feastings, the grandeur
of the great and highborn, the pomp of their
retinues, their imposing equipages. their so-
ciety free from the jarring tone of vulgar
strife, polite flattery from patrician lips, all
fascinated Moore with a Circrean sorcery. He
was so constituted as to be intensely affected
by dazzling life, and every page of his diary
proves his gusto for the kind of existence
opened to him by his literary fame, his
engaging manners, and his exquisite singing.
It was therefore in sensation, as opposed to
reflection, that the essence of Moore's intellect
was to be found. Vivid utterance rather than
deep thought was to be expected from his
mind. Hence when the pen of a diarist was