The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

has treated us, we think that his attempt to
become an orator is also " too late."
On Tuesday, however, the Duke preserved
with much effort a decent show of temper;
but on Thursday his feelings betrayed them-
selves. When Lord DERBY followed up Lord
ELLENBOROUGH'S vigorous speech by a keen
exposure of the shortcomings of our War
Minister, the Duke of NEWCASTLE lost 841 self-
control. He writhed under the infliction of
criticism, to which he had neither facts nor
eloquence to oppose. He got more tidgetty
and fussy than ever, and tried to conceal it
under an ill-assumed air of disdain for his
assailants. As if it was not enough for him to
encounter Lord DERBY, he saw Lord MALYiss.
BURY also preparing to address the House. It
was positively painful to look at him, and even
those most ready to condemn his blunders
could not help feeling compassion for his piti-
ful condition.
Several have thought that the Crimea expe-
dition was a late, and comparatively neat, de-
sign on the part of the Cabinet. His Grace
has undeceived them. He tells us " that it
" was determined on from the very first."
Then why was there not more foresight into
the requisites for such a plan ? Why was there
not some anticipation of the wants of the me-
dical department ? His Grace answers,
" Here, again, I am compelled to admit,"
&c. &c.
Again his Grace pleaded, that " with the
" exception of Lord HARDINGE, he hud scarcely
" any experienced military authority to con-
" suit." The assertion is offensively absurd.
Lord SEATON, Lord STRAFFORD, Lord Goucu,
Sir JOSEPH TiLtexwEtt, and other distinguished
authorities, were all within his reach. But
observe the offensiveness of " except Lord
HARDINOE." Such a style resembles his Grace's
discourteous allusion to " the present character
of the Emperor of the French." Really the
Duke of NEWCASTLE should measure his
language with a little more care. If he
cannot be eloquent, or brilliant, at least
he might consider what is due to the
decorum of the House of Lords, and
to the dignity of her Mtkjesty's
We can tolerate a bad speaker if we find that
in office he shows himself fertile in re-
sources, and practically successful in his
measures. But insipid and incoherent
speeches are bad methods of making people
forget the blunders committed, and reluc-
tantly acknowledge by presumptuous vanity.
Nature never intended the Duke of NEWCASTLE
for a great Minister, as even a slight know-
ledge of his Grace might teach the least oh-
' servant. His plans are industrious demon-
strations of his mental defects, while his
speeches are reckless exhibitions of his per-
sonal deficiencies. His Grace will one day
awaken to the folly of his ambition, when, like
that of his other perceptions, it will be ", too

OUR HOSPITALS AT SCUTARI.
IT must be gratifying to the public to know that
after active hostilities have continued for nearly four
months, that after three great battles have been
fought, and two months of open trenches have lasted,
our enlightened and energetic Government have
"expressed an intention "—let that be marked—" have
" expressed tin intention of contracting for a supply of
" 4,000 beds for the use of those vessels engaged in
"the transport of the sick and wounded from Bala-
"klava to Scutari, and from Scutari to England."
Admirable forethought! How grateful ought our
soldiers to feel for such delicate care—for we may in
far (and we know, in fact) that at this moment
the vessels so employed have never been supplied
with beds or bedding for the wounded men, who du-
ring the voyage have had nothing under them but a
great-coat, and nothing over them but a blanket. It
is the extenuating plea of the present Government
that, whatever may have been their faults hitherto in
the conduct of the war, their measures ought
not to bo criticised in every minute point of detail,
but considered more as generally dictated by wisdom
and prudence; and that their energetic anxiety to
perfect details at present must be admitted as sails-
iaotory proof of their competence for office. But we
would ask what excuse can be found for men who in
the first phases of a war neglected the arrange-
ment of that most simple, yet most necessary, accoin-
s pan-latent to a campaign, au efficient hospital? What

SATURDAT,

wisdom or prudence can be found in those general
arrangements which, after six months of declared,
and four months of actual hostilities, find the great
hospital for the thousands of sick and wounded, in a
most lamentable state of positive inefficiency ? with
neither sufficient medical supplies in use or in store,
nor sufficient medical force in practice, with stores,
though wanted at one place, sent out to another, and
when landed in error never reshipped in earnest, but
sent back, case by case, with weeks intervening, in
the face of pressing appeals for a speedy transfer,
and while the hospitals at Scutari, with 4,000 sick and
wounded, are almost without supplies, the sheds at
Varna are crowded with cases which have been sent
there in mistake ? With such a system were our hos-
pital Arrangements commenced. Can it be believed
that such things now are occurring at Scutari and
Varna?
Can it be believed, moreover, that our sick and
wounded are embarked at Balaklave, on board vessels
wholly unsupplied with hammock or out, bed or
bedding, without additional supplies of medical
stores, or even without additional medical assistance
beyond that found in the complement of the ship?
Let any man picture to himself the horrors of such
a voyage, short though it be, from Balaklava to
Scutari. Let him redeet upon the poor heroes,
bloody and mangled, wan, suffering, and groaning in
agonies of pain, shipped on board the transport, and
placed side by side, upon the hard deck, with hun-
dreds of suffering companions. Let him imignie
the horrors of such a scene : uo easy bed here, or
soft mattress to rest the racking limbs; no pillow
to support the aching head; no nurse to tend or
minister to the agonies ur wants of the poor suf-
ferers ; no wife, no mother here to smooths the
clammy brow or soften the approach of Death! Let
any man reflect upon this, and ask himself for "the
" wisdom or prudence " which is to be found in such
gross neglect of wounded men? And what, may we
ask, after the voyage is ended, is to be found at
Scutari? Acres of lint, and surgeons by the square
mile, with mountains of medical stores ? or a hos-
pital counting but an insufficient and overworked
staff of medical men, a wretched system of internal
organisation, without medical stores, without linen,
without beds, without clothing, without stretcher:,
without basins, sponges, operation-tabl s, or the com-
monest requisites of a hospital establishment, and, if
it were not that the medical men supplied their own
instruments, it would be without tourniquets or am-
putation knives. And this is the result 01 till( mouths'
wisdom and prudence in the general preparations for
a campaign ! It is a fitting adjunct to every other
act of those energetic Ministers who prepared a
summer campaign against the greatest military
power of the world, and counted upon easy conquests
and bloodless victories with a handful of men, with-
out reserves, but with a " Newcastle" on one side,
and a Sydney Herbert on the other.
But how long is this to last ? How long are oar
brave but disabled heroes to be treated in their ship-
ment from the field upon which they have spilt their
best blood with less care than empty coal-sacks.
Shovelled on board in heaps, they are stretched upon
the bare decks, and left to fever, festering, or death,
and filially, if surviving the voyage awl lauding,
placed in a hospital where, unsupplied with Mean
linen or regular food, they lie iu their stiff and
bloody rags as clothing, with foul blankets and more
foul sheets as bedding ; and a hospital, too, which,
without the private and patriotic aid of humble
individuals, would long ere this have been
found utterly inadequate to the emergencies of the
day, to the wants of the suffering, or to the com-
monest care of its unhappy inmates.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT under the Duke of New-
castle was removed to Pembroke-house, 7, White-
hall gardens, during last week. The department
will be constituted after the model of the other
Secretaries of State. Colonel Munday and Mr.
Henry Roberts will be the Under-Secretaries of
State. Mr. Roberts will be succeeded as private
secretary to the Duke of Newcastle by Mr. Herbert
Fisher, assisted by Lord Robert Clinton, who
will serve without salary, in consequence of his
having a seat in Parliament. The stall of the new
department will be made up chiefly from the Colo
flied-office, and completed by the addition of two
clerks from the office of the Secretary-at-War, and
the removal of the whole of the commissariat staff
from the Treasury Chambers.
A MEDAL will be promptly issued to the troops
serving in the Crimea. The medal will be given to
all those who have been in any part of the present
campaign. A clasp will be added for the Alma, and
one for lukermanu. The regiments engaged are to
have on their colours and appointments di.; words
" Crimea," " Alma," and " Inkermann."
THE LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY have presentedto
Captain M'Clure a very handsome gold watch, with
a suitable inscription, as a token of their entire ap-
probation of his conduct during his absence on the
perilous enterprise which he has been so fortunate as
to carry to a succssfal issue.

DECEMBER 16, 1854.

ttorrtsponliture.

[lr must be understood that the PRESB is not identified with
the opinions of its Correspondents, thow4h we insert no
ootuniunic.ation which does not appear in sows way deserving
or publicity. The letters of our Correspondents are open to
reply. We require only that the language of fair discussion be
employed, and that due attention be paid to the facts stated.
We beg that no mention may be made of our " ability, in.
flueuce," Lc., as we unhesitatingly strike our pen through
every allueitin of the kind.]
EMPLOYMENT OF GERMAN TROOPS.
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS."
Sir,—Lord Aberdeen—Lord Aberdeen!—attempts
to justify the raising a foreign legion by the example
of the first Mr. Pitt, the greatest War Minister this
country ever had. Why, sir, it is notorious that Mr.
Pitt strongly objected to the employment of foreign
mercenaries, though he did when in office consent to
German troops being employed in the service of
England for carrying on the war in Germany. I have
Almon's edition of his speeches before me at this
moment, and I find that when, in 1750, the King and
his Government proposed to bring over twelve batta-
lions of Hessian and Hanoverian troops to England,
Mr. Pitt declared his disapprobation of the measure.
" That state alone," he said "is a sovereign state,
qui suit stat viribus non alien° pendet arbitrio, which
subsists by its own strength and not by the courtesy
of its neighbours." And what was the result of
bringing over these mercenaries ? Were the people
of England encouraged at seeing that they had such
defenders ? Did their spirits revive when this
powerful aid arrived? The reverse was the case, as
everyone in the slightest degree acquainted with the
history of that period well knows. We are told
"The people hearing their danger from authority
and seeing these foreigners brought over to defend
them, were panic struck, and gave themselves up to
despair."—Almon Anec. i. 209."
So unpopular was this measure, that the merce-
naries were speedily sent, out of the country, and the
first act of Mr. Pitt's Administration in the autumn
of 1750, after getting rid of these German aids, was
to establish a national militia, and to raise two
thousand Highlanders; a measure equivalent at that
time to what the raising a Canadian legion would be
now.
" Nothing is so rash as fear !" Memorable words,
confirmed by experience as often as narrow minds
and craven hearts find themselves in a position to
which they are unequal. From one extreme our
ministers have rushed into another. A few months
ago an insignificant addition to our forces was
deemed sufficient. Now we are lost unless we can
enlist in our service " Swiss" and German mercena-
ries. Swiss, I say, for the Duke of Newcastle ex-
pressly alludes to certain districts of Switzerland and
Germany as being most likely to furnish troops to
enlist in the Queen's service. In Mr. Pitt's day, the
Sovereign of England was Sovereign of Hanover also,
and the German troops employed were the King of
England's subjects ; but now the Germans and
Switzers enlisted will be purely mercenaries, and it
will go forth to the world on the authority of her Ma-
jesty's Ministers that England is already reduced to
the level of Carthage and Venice, and those declining
commercial States, which, unable to fight their own
battles, were compelled—a sure evidence of their
decay and approaching fall—to take foreign soldiers
into their pay.
Anil why is this? Can it be pretended that the
martial spirit of England is extinct? that recruits are
wanting ? Nothing of the kind. Recourse is had
to mercenaries now, because an incompetent Minis-
try delayed too long the work of preparation. They
propose a foreign legion now, because they neglected
to embody the militia nine months back.
We are proud of Lord Raglan's army—we asso-
ciate its deeds, its sufferings, and its triumphs, with
the brightest glories of our military history, and must
we now dim its fame by proclaiming that bands of
Switzers and Germans are necessary to its safety ?
As Lord Chatham's name has been mentioned, we
are compelled to remember his strictures on the con•
duct, of the Hanovetian troops in the campaign of
1742. B; the bravery of the English Foot, he said,
the French troops were driven precipitately across
the Maine, when had they been pursued many must
save been lost, and he continued
"Did we endeavour to take the least advantage of
the confusion they had been thrown into by their
unexpected repulse? No, sir, the ardour of our
British troops wasrestrained by the cowardice of the
Hanoverian; and instead of pursuing the enemy,
we ourselves ran away in the night time, and in
such haste that we left all our wounded to the mem,
and care of the enemy, who had likewise the honor
of burying our dead as well as their own."—Chytha
Speeches.