The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-08 00:00:00

The men's dinners in the meantime had been prepared,
and the grog mixed, when a message came from Sir C.
Napier, Commanding in-Chief, stating that the Penelope
steam•frigate had got ashore under the batteries, and that
very probably the line•of battle ships would have to go in
to support her, and requesting that the men should
return immediately to their ships. Directly the order
was given the grog and dinner were all thrown out, and
a general race was made for about three miles for the
boats. I thought then, and think now, that it was a great
pity that these men could not have been indulged in a
general action.

Viscount MELVILLE returned thanks for the
" British Army," and Colonel M'Alahon, Lieutenant
Colonel Kelly, and Lieutenant• Colonel Hamley, as
guests, severally for their corps.
Lieutenant-Colonel HAMLEY said that the late
campaign had left upon his mind the most vivid im•
pression of it as pre-eminent in splendour. He
alluded to the English attack at Alma, the capture
of the Mamelon, and the heavy brigade charge at
balaklava:—

Considered merely as spectacles, they were as brilliant
as ever met the eye of a soldier, and when I think of them
they rise in all the gorgeous colours of a picture by some
great master. I was passing along the crest of the
plateau with the artillery sent to support the cavalry in
the plain when the Russian horsemen streamed over the
slopes beneath. What a theatre was there! The spacious
grassy plains, inclosed by those grand old hills, and three
armies for spectators. And what a spectacle they saw !-
4,000 men met there hand-to-hand, and of these 1,090
were Pritish. For a moment the conflict was doubtful, till
the 4th Dragoon Guards charged on the flank, while your
guests of ta•night and another regiment charged in sup.
port of the main body. Then the conflict was no longer
doubtful—in a moment all the Russians might he seen
bending one way, like a field of corn that bows before the
blast--and every Cossack was crouching on his horse's
mane, and flying for safety to the shelter of his guns.
He thought, among all the honours and rewards
given, that the Artillery had scarcely met with their
deserts :

Considering our regimental motto is " libique." that we
are everywhere in the campaign, and that no operation of
the smallest importance in madern warfare can take
place without the aid of that arm. I think we have been—
I will not say neglected, because no one has a right to
claim praise for merely doing his duty, but I will say that
the services of the Artillery have been a little cast into the
shade by those of some other corps who have figured more
prominently before the public, but not perhaps before the
enemy. I was with them on every occasion in the field,
and I can therefore testify to the manner in which they
performed a duty which requires not only the strong arm
and the stout heart that the Lard Advocate has alluded to,
but a cool and clear head, with something in it, too,
besides coolness and clearness. Of tneir services in the
trenches no one can tell you better than my friend Major
Dickson, who filled a most honourable part in all the
operations of that unexampled scene. I shall forbear
to say more on this head, except to remark that in a
campaign which has been so narrowly watched, and
where ceusure has been so freely lavished, not one syllable
has ever been breathed against that arm of the service
whose duties are so complex, so various, so heavy, and so
incessant.

The Earl of ELGIN, in a vigorous speech, proposed
Our Allies." The noble earl said :-
1 know well that there have been times in the history of
our country when there would have been no room for such
a toast. There have been times when the British soldier
and the British sailor have had to stand well nigh alone
amid a world in arms, and right nobly, even in such cir
curnstances and against such odds, have they always justi•
fled the confidence reposed in them by their Sovereign
and their countrymen. But these days are past and gone
—past and gone, we hope, never to return. The gallant
armies of France and England sealed with their blood,
upon the heights of Alma and upon the hard•fought field
of Inkermann, a covenant of friendship which, please God,
will prove enduring. Never shall we cease to remember
with admiration the valour with which our faithful allies,
the Turks, resisted the common foe upon the banks of the
Danube, and in the beleagutecl fortresses of Silistria and
Kars, or the chivalry with which the high-spirited monarch
and people of Sardinia came forward to our assistance
when the fortunes of war seemed to be trembling in the
balance. I shall not say a word more on this subject; I
shall only add the earnest hope that peace, with its mani-
fol l interests, commercial, industrial, and progressive, will
rivet yet more firmly the bonds of amity and esteem which
have been forged by common defenders and mutual ser-
vices upon the battle-field. At any rate—and M. de
Bruant will bear me out when I say so—the alliances of
this war have taught us one useful lesson—they have taught
us that there is no more pestilent fallacy, no more arrant
humbug, than the talk of natural enemies. Let peace
complete the lesson by teaching us that what God and
nature will is, that the nations should live together in amity
and employ their energies in improving, for the common
good of humanity, the blessings which a bounteous Provi•
dere: has strewed around them.

Sir JOHN APNEILL, who was received with loud
applause, proposed the health of "Florence Nightin-
gdie," and in doing so alluded to the noble heroism
displayed by the troops before Sebastopol
The British soldier has long been the most formidable
in battle of all the soldiers of Europe. On a fair field,
with equal forces, he has not hitherto encountered any
enemy whom he could not beat. But, if we would juFtly
estimate our special obligations to the men who fought for
the freedom of Europe in the Crimea, we must look not