The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

OFFICERS ABROAD AND OFFICIALS

AT HOME.

" These brave men perished from the neglect, in-
" competency, and indecision of an English
" _Ministry."
Such is the epitaph which, according to the
eloquent member for Enniskillen, should be
placed over the tombs of our starved and
neglected soldiers in the Crimea. When he
spoke those words their truth was painfully
evident to several Honourable Members on
both aides of the House, who loudly and vehe-
mently cheered them ; for many of the Com-
mons had by them letters from relatives still
living (and some no more) with abundant
evidence to justify Mr. WHITESIDE'S language.
Strangely enough, the columns of a leading
organ which gave a full report of Mr. Wein-
sines vigorous speech supplied also abundant
facts to substantiate his accusations.
Nor in this instance does the evidence come
fromjournalists or" Our own Correspondents."
The letters published from several officers on
Thursday communicate a fresh stock of facts
upon the miserable incapacity of our War
Del,artment.
Look how the case stands with respect to
the ordinary clothing of the troops. We are
not now alluding to winter clothing, but to the
uniform usually worn by our soldiers. One of
these officers, after giving a graphic picture of
the dreadful sufferings of the men for hours
in the trenches, describes their ragged con-
dition—" several of them with no soles to their
" shoes—no socks—no shirts." Now, no country
in the world can so rapidly supply clothes
as England. The Duke of NEWCASTLE knew
that the men were going on hard service, and
an extensive extra stock of actual necessaries
should have been prepared. But there was
not the least prescience in the preparations of
his Grace, though from the army being sta-
tionary at Balaklava, necessaries might, as Mr.
DRCUOND observed, have been conveyed
from ports in England to a port in the
Crimea, as systematically us goods could be
passed from one side of the House to another.
No wonder that we read of how " impossible
" it would be to recognise the careworn. ha/f-
-" starred skeletons," which left England only two
months since; and we must observe, that what
the officers have written respecting the " half-
starved " troops was previously advanced by
the literary correspondents of our contempo-
raries. " With a scarcity of wood," the men.
are told that " they may hut themselves."
Cholera and diarrhoea, more deadly than any
Russian attack, strike down our countrymen
by hundreds. We shall not horrify our readers
with a minute description of what our troops
have to endure. Mr. CoBDEN upon that point
spoke the simple truth on Wednesday, when
he said, " Our countrymen are rotting in
the
"Crimea in a state of unparalleled misery !
Let one fact describe, not only the horrors
to our men, but the injury to the State, re-
sulting from the Duke of NEWCASTLE being
the Ministerial manager of the war. Again,
we appeal, not to " correspondents," but to
British officers :—" The 48th Regiment (at the
" time of writing) have lost ninety men, and the
" 62nd seventy men." And these troops left us
only a few weeks ago. The regiments despatched
from Malta to the Crimea were actually sent
without their winter clothing.
But this is not the worst part of the case, as
told by these officers, against the Ministry:.
They write :—" Thelerench are getting on better.
And here, again, they are corroborated by th
manager of the " Sick and Wounded Fund;'
who, in the same paper, occupies a column