The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-01 00:00:00

•
CALAMITIES IN
OBLAhiE E CRIM P
EA.—WHO IS
TTH
TO TSB =MA Or TIM DAILT
Sta,—'fhe astoundiag achievements of our army
the Al.. at Balaclava, and Inkermann, are
doubtless treasseadant in glory, detracting
im-
r from the reputation of Russian proweas ;
nevertheless the campaign
in the Crimea is replete
with circumstancesdeelAy to be deplored; fee net
. only have we to bewail the loss of so many of our
• heroic couetrymen and allies, but we have to
sym
thise with the remains of our gallant army, enduring
patiently the most creel privations and dangers, to
many of which. with ordinary foresight, it need not
have been sabjeoted. The idory of its galling neces-
sities has been so recently and frequently depicted in
the press., that it need not here be repeated. But
the inquiry to whom the fault belongs for so many
aggravated calamities is one which it is the duty of
everzopestriotic bosom to make, and when ascertained,
to it at the door of the delinquents.
t may be, and indeed it has been admitted by
her Majesty's ministers, that wen have been com-
mitted attributable to the offset of inexperience in
war operations after so many yeerealsess. Although
a gleam of palliation may be dimmed in this, it is
no leas the uty of .the maths to dive
wee if a
tleibly
into the inquiry, and then lo pe
recurrent" of each blendiess. Now, Reis the
principal functionaries in the war departments have
proved their inallasy, no matter he. wing meek
it is ineentbena on le to eserrider the Neuss from
which es& a Odom of incapable, has sprang, and
at the way lest glance it may malimitatingly be
wououneed, that it is because Melds are almost
ria:ytted to plows et bank not on amount
of their • emeaseerrese, but an account of
their Not only does this
inflame earns atm* every appointment with
aai saility,bst it prevents all other out of
fizt=letrib peneming energy and judgment,
from swift fle .angry eees in moments of urgent
11110111147 ail deny. as is the present instance.
That the aristesentio body should be entrusted
with the mesnesattit of the country daring forty
yeses epees. not be of vital important"; but
the ease is very nt when the stern exigencies
of war appear : then the ablest talent is required,
and it behoven the nation to nee that it is supplied.
Moreover, since it has been found by sad expe-
rience not to exist in the parties hitherto employed,
It must be sought for in a humbler sphere.
The nation is bound to care more for the lives of
its heroes and for the honour of the country rather
than for the convenience of an effete, proud, over-
paid, and self-extolled body of privileged officials,
diffusing the aristocratic taint throughout every
branch of the national afflirs.
To wheat is the fault to be imputed P It is to the
nation itself, for the above denunciation of the mono-',
poly of government offices by the aristocracy and its
consequent ill effects, is nothing new : that tale has
been told over and over again until it is threadbare.
Efforts have repeatedly been made to rectify this
scandalous opprobrium, but immediately any party
has opened his mouth on the subject he has been
smiled with abuse, and with a loud outcry about
the valuable experience of individuals so long em-
ployed in such offices, that it would be an act of
madness to attempt any such change, which in all
probability might produce a chaos in the national
affairs, concluding almost invariably with an imputa-
tion of jealousy and envy to the individual who in-
troduced the ciuestion.
And the nation has witnessed these sallies, beard
the replies, has been silent, and by its silence has
acquiesced in the deception of the people, for decep-
tion it may justly be called. This quiescence of the
nation has rendered it portieeps eriminis.
Yes, ye widows and dear children of the heroes
who have fallen in this strife, not from the shot or
blows of the enemy, but from the absents of common
necessaries, from disease augmented by the want of
ordinary attentions, which in the French camp were
duly supplied—in your bitter grief blame not the
Ministers of the Crown for this ; they have honestly
done what they could, hampered on all sides with the
antiquated machinery of routine and precedent. Do
not -lay the death of your dear relatives at their
door, nor, above all, foolishly imagine that
any other Ministry, formed of thee. even who
now are carping at and maliciously assailing
them, could have done better. On the contrary,
they would in all probability have done much
worse. Remember this, the nation is to blame.
Let the recollection of every one of the heroes thus
victimised stir up in their friends and relatives a
spirit of revenge not to be satisfied until some steps
are taken for removing this monstrous, expensive,
and dangerous incubus.
Let petitions be presented to our beloved sov
and to the Rouses of Parliament to remove this
tical malady, so that in the event of any new appoint-
meats the choice may fall upon individuals of cha-
racter who shall be required to prove their talent and
fitness for the office.
When this happily shall be the case there will be
neither want of energy, of organisation, nor of talent
in the country to meet difficulties even greater than
those we now experience.—Yours, &c.,
ANTI-PRECEDENT.