The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 25, 1854.

of the elements in the Crimea, and, far more
cruel still, from the incapacity of the War
Minister in power !

PAST AND PRESENT OF THE
EXPEDITION
WHEN it was first proclaimed that the Crimean
expedition was on the point of sailing from
Varna, we were among those who received the
announcement with incredulity. We could
not believe that the force collected was suffi-
cient for an enterprise of such magnitude ;
still less would we think that if definitive
arrangements had been made they would
have been pompously heralded for weeks
beforehand. But we were deceived. We
reasoned on the supposition that an invasion,
if attempted at all, would be effected by a
force amply adequate to ensure success. We
were not prepared for " a leap in the dark."
Neither was the country.
Hence, from the presumption that the ex-
pedition was duly organised, and far more
than a match for any resistance which could
be ofiered to it, no doubt was entertained of
its complete and rapid success. The public
expectation of its triumph preceded its
progress. The whole world, save Russia,
was deceived. Knowing what the allied
force was, it was concluded that through
some unaccountable oversight, or admi-
nistrative weakness, Sebastopol was left
undefended, and that the allies had but
to appear before it to receive its submission.
Of this confidence was born the credulity
which so eagerly received the Tatar's story.
Who could believe that this expedition was
sent forth without information as to the
strength of the enemy, or the defences of the
fortress it were commanded to capture.
The very fact that no reserves had been pro
vided to support it formed a presumption that
none would be needed—that all the chances
had been calculated with exact precision—that
the fall of the fortress within a limited time
was a determined inevitable certainty, admit
ting of no more doubt than the successful
performance of an ordinary engineering opera-
tion, with a supply of the forces necessary for
Is achievement. This was the conviction
throughout the country, and it was to some
extent justified by the reputation which, pre.
vious to the Coalition, successive Governments
had won for the successful execution of their
designs.
But at last the truth has burst upon us. The
expedition was au experiment, and the expe-
riment has failed. Its chance of success was
lost when it was not strong enough to follow
up its success at Alma. Truth oozes slowly
out It is now known that the allied corn
manders were well aware of the desperate
character of their enterprise, and the risks
they ran. Immediately on their arrival at
Balakluva, Marshal ST. ARNAUD, General CATH-
CART, and General DE LACY EVANS, urged an
assault on the fortress. More cautious, Lord
RAGLAN hesitated. He had no reserve. If the
assault was repulsed, the army might be de-
stroyed. He would not consent to incur so
great a risk. From necessity, the siege had
to be commenced in due form, and time was
given for the Russian reinforcements to come
up.
The expedition should have been in grcater
force, or it should have been delayed. An
army equal to the invading army should have
been collected as a reserve at Constantinople,
or some other port. Such an army might have
been raised in England alone, had the Admi-
nistration acted with energy earlier in the
year, when the Militia was embodied. We
know with what ardour men rush from the
ranks of the Militia to volunteer. With proper
management, a force more than equal to our
army at Alma might have been obtained from
the Militia alone. Too late we discover the
opportunity which has been lost, and deplore
the wretched bungling which has given to a
great military enterprise the character of a
desperate foray. As the result of the ex-
pedition, we have yet only a number of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL'S promised butchers' bills.

1107

since 1815, when first the title of Ormonde
was created, the famous race of Butler has
been prolific of heroes in its twenty genera-
tions, there was not a bolder spirit than the
Captain BUTLER who fell at Inkermann.
Grandson of the second Earl of CARRICK, he
Was the brother of the hero of Silistria ; and
we feel profound sorrow for this second sad
bereavement of his surviving and revered
father, Lieutenant-General BUTLER. He has
left a widow to weep his loss. But it is
the privilege of the Butlers to meet the fate of
heroes ; and we pass on to notice the greatest
loss which the public has sustained in this
campaign by the fall of General CATHCART.
Like the brave BUTLER, the accomplished
CATHCART belonged to a race famous for its
military chieftains. At Flodden Field, at
Longside, Sherittmuir, and in still later fields
of fame, the name of CATHCART is conspicuous.
The fallen General was son of the Earl CATH-
CART who commanded at the capture of Copen-
hagen. With extensive knowledge of
his profession, Sir GEORGE CATHCART, if
he had survived, would himself have been
a general-in-chief. His services at the
Cape of Good Hope will always preserve
his mane in our military annals as that
of one who joined the talents of a strate-
gist to the valour of a cavalier. Lieutenant-
Colonel E. W. PAXENHAM, of the 3rd Grenadier
Guards, was also a scion of a military family
whose genealogical tree is twice intertwined
with that of the Wellesleys. He was the son
of that famous Peninsular warrior the lute Sir
HERCULES PAKENHAM, and nephew of the Sir
EDWARD PAICENHAM who fell while leading the
onslaught at New Orleans, to whom a national
monument is erected in St. Lieute-

rant-Colonel CONWAY SEYMOUR sprung from
the house of Hertford, illustrated the far-de-
scended valour of his ancestry, falling in the
hour of victory in the thirty-second year of his
age. He fell in the thick of the combat, close
by the side of the brave CATHCART. General
Fox STRANOWAYS, heir to the Earl of ItCHESTER,
after being mortally wounded, with unruffled
countenance saw death approaching, while he
dictated his last recollections to his bereaved
kindred in England. But we shall not linger
on one whose name has been affectingly com-
memorated in the despatch )f Lord RAGLAN,
within whose immediate vicinage (riding close
behind) the brave old General was shot down
by a cannon ball. Other noted names press
for commemoration. The high and the low,
the rich and the poor, contributed their blood.
In the splendour of Viceregal state, at Dublin,
the family of Lord ST. GERMANS mourns over
a most promising officer, the Honourable
Captain Eller. Endowed by private virtues
and many graceful qualities, he is lamented in
hie regiment, and, short as was his gallant
career, he did honour to his old English
name.
The Senate and the Commonage have also
contributed their names to the slain at Inker-
mann. Colonel J. H. BLAIR, of the Guards
(like Colonel PAKENHAM) was a county repre-
sentative. Attached to the Conservative party
from principle, he was a most able and
active though unobtrusive member of it.
The Ramsdcns of Yorkshire, the Bouveries,
Disbrowes, Mackinnons, the Nevillee (of
the Abergavenny branch), the Newmans
of Devonshire, the Vesey Dawsons, the
Grevilles, and the Wynnes, with other patri-
cian families of English, Scotch, Irish, and
Welsh race, have all seen their names written
in ensanguined letters amongst the killed at
Inkermann. And as to the wounded—but we
fear to look at the long list, and we pray that
many of them may survive to enjoy the laurels
they have won.
Officers and privates, the highborn and the
humble, fought in the same cause, and fell in
the same field, equal in manly spirit, both
honouring their respective stations As they
fell together, so they now lie in the same
glorious graves. Whether in marble, or in the
hearts of their comrades, their names shall bo
affectionately preserved. For, while a history
of England shall be read, the men who fought
in the terrible fights of Alma, Balaklava and
Inkermann shall be honoured. They died as
they lived, with aspirations after glory, and
the voice of ages shall give them that undying
honour which none but heroes can attain.