The Express.
London, England, 1855-05-24 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

The ifoniteur of yesterday contains an article on
the sanitary state of the French army in the Crimea.
Its substance is summed up in the following conclud-
ing sentence:
The army enjoys as good health ea meld possibly
ham been ►oped for. The number of WA taken into
the ambulanoss, Which la the month of Kush ems 7,686,
was in April reamed to 6,600, while the number of those
who left eared i• the same swath was 1,399. having be..
1,064 la harsh. This has boa the result. althoagh, is
sonaMpesses of the siege operatics., the mounded were
some sameram la April thee is lamb. The army of the
Cll4lOl Is, this, la geod eseditim to fail its mission—
Deily New.

THE DEBATE TO-NIGHT.

Tat country, we believe, is marvellously indifferent
as :to what may be the decision of the Haase of
Capons in the great case of DISILUILI o. BAILING,
whisk ems* on for bearing this evening. Whether
Roderige do kill Nettie, or Cassia Rodsrigo, or each
do kill the other, is to the public at large a matter of
little interest. Mr. Dlintszas motion and Sir nuncio
Basuto's amendment consist, each of them, of a pledge
and a prefatory declaration. The former gentleman
declares that the House of Commons is dissatisfied
with the ambiguous language and uncertain
conduct of Ministers ; the latter that the House
sees with regret that the negotiations at Vienna
have not led to a termination of hostilities. Mr.
Dlensufs refuel Is decidedly preferable to that of
Sir FIANCIII. The House ought to feel dissatisfied
with the ambiguous language and uncertain conduct
of Ministers; and the House ought not to regret that
a pesos has not been concluded on such unsatisfactory
teems as were propounded in the Vienna Confer-
ences. As regards the pledge which both motion
and amendment propose for the adoption of the
Heim, it is eminently unsatisfactory. It binds the
House to nothing more than to support Government
in the prosecution of the war, until " a safe and
lenourable peace" shall have been obtained. The
phrase " a safe and honourable peace" may mean
anything or nothing. Government might conclude
a peace upon any terms, and then set itself to prove
that they were " jut and honourable ;" and a House
of iCoesmons hlts the present might easily be w-
ended to profess its belief that they were so, however
dangerous and degrading they might be. In a pledge
that the House would support Government until the
great objects for which the war wee undertaken had
been attained there would have been some meaning;
bat to prate about that indefinite sad undefinable
thing "a safe and honourable pesos" is to me language
quite as ambiguous as that of Ministers. It is true
that in Mr. DISILLILA motion the vagueness of the
phrase is somewhat diminished by the prefatory cen-
sure of the ambiguous language and ascertain con-
dos! of Ministers.
These are considerations to be weighed by the
public in general, and the electors in particular,
against the Advent of a general election. To urge
them on the members of the House of Commons
wield be shriniwuthof tides and lade. 'the parts
to be anted by the varicose interlocutors in to-night's
debate are already east t the result of the contest is
already imaged. The tact of Sir Pumas Basuto
has saved his oMoial friends. Hensurahle mew
begs who are not prepared for such a decided
move as a censure sof Ministers will be right glad to
alai* Mule" reproish by adopting a pledge which
may be interpreted into one for carrying on the wer
with vigour, and yet ties them to nothing de •
And Ministers will; be equally flied to swallow the
pill of a seemingly warlike declaration, gilded as it is
byl &preliminary declaration of something very like a
wish that pesos had been accepted on the terms pro-
pounded at Vienna. The whole affair is already
settled between the " whips" of the wounding
parties ; Mr. Thsnautt will be allowed to master a
respectable minority, and will take goodoare that it is
not a majority. The grunaawill listen patiently to the
orators on both, or all sides, end will ultimately de-
clare that the Ministerial amendment is carried with
as much gravity as it he had been unosertain what
wu to be the result up to the, moment when the
tellers gave in their returns.
Such " hedges " and " craves" may suit the books
of the political gambler's in Parliament, but they do
not suit the book of the eouatry. In less than a
month midsummer will be upon us, and the campaign
in the Black Su hat not yet begun. The armlet of
the Russian Governue rat to its diplomatic agents
proclaims &load that the seccessfipl defence of Sebes.
tool hap does more for it than the most skilfully
conducted negotiations could, and yet nothing is
being done on our part to deprive it of this advan.
tags. The bettering cl the walls of Sebastopol has
hitherto been as pare a matter of form as to-eight's
debate in the Huai of Commons will be. The expe-
dition, ostensibly directed *Oust Herta, has been
embarked only to take a short sea voyage, and be est
ashore spin at the place whence, it started. The
result of the Leech expedition pretty closely NOM'
bins that st-Johis Gagne s, who stopped not tiff
fiber, ne,first get up
Re 4a ague gat . .
Our troops are • 108* together A,' the ple.throa
above Sebeetopol, and theie;for tot;sittato Maui