The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

1156

after the recent discussions in Parliament
cannot be overrated ; and the public, we are
convinced, will have felt no little surprise that
so able an administrator as Mr. BAINES should
have apparently slighted the claims of several
old and competent public servants to choose
such an assistant as Mr. ABRAHAM HAYWARD,
the peculiar nature of whose services appear
to be so thoroughly appreciated by a section
of the Cabinet. In justice, therefore, to the
President of the Poor-Law Board, we feel it
our duty to state that, not only was he NOT
consulted in the matter, but that, ignorant of
the selection, he had actually applied on be-
half of a gentleman whose fitness for the post
he could well testify. Emanating as this
appointment does from the very statesmen
who, during the last session of Parliament,
were so " sanctimoniously "'eager for a reform
of the civil service, it will, we confidently pre-
dict, give to the public another and convincing
proof of the amount of reliance to be placed
on Coalition morality.

OUR ABSENT FRIENDS IN THE
CRIMEA.
WIIILE with singular brilliancy and rare histo-
rical power the free press of England has
chronicled the exploits of our heroes in the
East, there is one duty still left by it undis-
charged. " Our own Correspondents," indeed,
have made the events in the Crimea pass
vividly before our eyes, and as journalists we
are proud of their literary talents. But have
our gallant and absent friends in the Crimea
been sufficiently told of the intensity of the
domestic interest with which their position
is regarded in every household in the land ?
We wish, from our hearts, that we could
vividly place before them an adequate picture
of the daily, and even the hourly, interest felt
in their heroism, their sufferings, and perils.
Fine words in conventional panegyrics our
champions do not require. Though covetous
of fame, their soldierly sense of duty makes
such hardy spirits comparatively indifferent
to noisy applause. But, bold as are their
breasts, and stern as are their martial tem-
peraments, we know that many amongst them
would be cheered if they could hear the way
in which they are spoken of by the fireside,
how fondly their names are dwelt upon, while
affection dwells upon their virtues, and how
ardently, in every circle, people rejoice to
boast the privilege of personal acquaintance
with some of the army serving in the East.
The feeling we record is not confined to one
class. It is to be found alike in the cottage
and the castle, in the quiet hamlet and the
crowded town. It is to be seen in the village
alehouse as well as in the gorgeous clubs of
Pall-mall. The daily life of even our most
successful men at home seems tame and in-
sipid compared with tho chivalrous existence
of our absent heroes, enduring hardships with-
out murmur, and braving perils without
blanching. How their private letters are
thumbed, and sent rapidly from hand to hand I
How fervent are the aspirations for their
safety ! How tender is the grief over the
fallen ! It is at such moments, when some of
our champions are mentioned, when every eye
brightens, and some perchance are moist with
tears, that we are made to feel with thrilling
sympathy how glorious and sublimely pa-
triotic is the mission of the soldier.
Yes! we are all proud of the friends whom
we know in the Crimea. We feel that they
are engaged in a tremendous task, and that
one hour of their daily life has more of trial
and endurance than a year of our monotonous
existence at home. INhen we hear of the
exploits of our own kinsmen a more proud
sense of family spirit quickens our pulse, and we
feel greater for their deeds. And is not the
whole army kindred with us? Are we not all
entitled to hail them as our fighting country-
men, who uphold our nation, and present us
to a higher sense of moral by the stirring
spectacles of miracles of valour like Inker•
mann and Balaklava, or of protracted endu-
rance in the dreadful hospitals, or scarcely
less terrible trenches, exposed to the wild
storm, almost as pitiless as the half-barbarian

THE PRESS.

foe ? At home, in our daily life, many amongst
us, in the pressure of the crowded paths of
the world, are entirely forgotten by our
friends. Distance and diversity of pursuit
separate and extinguish old ties. In the dull
jostle of professional or mercantile struggles
the heart is not appealed to, and oblivion soon
falls upon our names. But it is not so with
the man who leaves Old England and draws
his sword for his country. If he survives the
struggle with what elation we all talk of our
friend or our old schoolfellow ; and, if he falls,
his name, his courage, his good qualities, can
never, never be forgotten by the associates of
his youth and the companions of his manhood.
The tomb of the merchant or the lawyer is
scarcely noticed, though the cenotaph be of
marble. But the rays of glory illumine the
soldier's grave. So it was in the olden time,
when HOMER wrote, and so it will be while the
human heart shall throb.
How often in daily life do we hear it said,
"Ah 1 yes ; I knew his father well. He fell at
" the bloody Talavera ; and a noble fellow he
" was. I rejoice to meet his son." Or it may
be that one of the gentler sex is the topic
and, whatever may be the fair one's personal
graces, how brilliantly they seem enhanced
when it is added that " she is the daughter of
" a Waterloo officer." And shall it not be the
same way with the heroes who fought the good
figh at Alma Balaklava, and Inkermann.
Shalt l not their, names always be honoured, and
shall not their memory be cherished with affec-
tionate regard ? Yes.
From what we see and hear around us in
English society, we can tell our absent friends
that they never were more loved and admired
than now. We can tell them that friendship
has a gazette of its own, which can record with
fidelity all the names that cannot be crowded
into a hasty official despatch, from which
many of the most meritorious are often casu-
ally excluded. Our hearts are with them,
and in the anniversary festival of Christmas
prayers for them will ascend to the Most
High. Let each amongst them be assured
that his name is often and often alluded to by
his old friends and companions Let him be
certain that his bravery in the field, or his
fortitude within his tent, is felt and sympa-
thised with by each and all amongst us. And
not without deep emotion, we would remind
them that the spectacle of their hardships
and Christian fortitude are seen by that eye
from which uo act or thought of man is hid.
Ha will reward the self, denying soldiers who
now in the Crimea endure their crosses with
the sublime fortitude of patriots and Chris-
tians, of the true stamp of WELLINGTON. For
as we know that such heroes are honoured
upon earth, so we are taught that Ow shall
be rewarded in Heaven.

THE SECOND OF THE BUTLERS.
THERE is a beautiful incident in the life of the
great Duke of ORMONDE which was recalled to
us on reading of the death of the late Captain
HENRY THOMAS BUTLER, at Inkermann. When
some one was offering obtrusive condolence to
ORMONDE, on the death of the gallant and ac
complished OSSORY, the Duke replied with
exquisite pathos :—" I would rather have my
" dead son than any living son in Christendom?'
And as the venerable Lieut.-General Birri.na
thinks of his heroic sons who fell in the East,
he may feel some consolation in knowing that
it would be difficult for any parent in Chris-
tendom to point to two living sons that
equalled his own in merit and chivalry.
For the late Captain HENRY BUTLER was,
in all respects, worthy of fraternal rank
with the hero of Silistria. He was at
home last year on leave from Gibraltar,
and, previous to the commencement of the
war, he left this country to visit Egypt and
Sinai. This pilgrimage, undertaken in the
spirit of a Christian soldier, he accomplished in
time to join our army in the East, on the
staff of which he was placed in his absence.
It was with a heart full of fraternal sympathy
in the glory of " the hero of Silistrial' that he
embarked for the Crimea, too soon to emulate
his example and fall in the performance of his

SATURDAY,

duty to his country. From his bivouac tire on
the heights of the Alma he wrote home on the
morning of the 21st of September one of the
most graphic descriptions extant of that " al-
most incredible victory," as it has been justly
termed. In the great up-hill charge of that
day he dashed into the Russian battery with
the Coldstreams cilia brother's regiment). He
described the regiment, under that murderous
fire, as, at some twenty paces from the enemy,
taking aim with such field-day coolness that
every shot told. He was on horseback four-
teen hours, bearing orders through the day,
without his Arab charger or himself feeling
the least fatigue.
He described his feelings to a friend as
being those of one who felt himself under
God's providence in the fight; and, though
exposed to constant danger, he escaped on
that occasion with only a musket-shot through
his trowsers and boot. He was destined to
fall more gloriously at Inkermann, where, in
the bloodiest part of the field, at the Sandbag
Battery, in the foremost rank, while cheering
on the gallant Coldstreams, he sunk too soon
for his country, but not too soon for the
honour of a name that will be remembered by
his comrades as one of the bravest of the
brave.
In the very attitude of death he preserved
the characteristics of his famous race. Lord
DeLeon's, of the Guards, saw him lying dead
with his sword tightly grasped in his hand, as
if just going to strike. As one of his friends
well said—" He died as he lived, a true Butler
" to the last."
As we think of these two brothers, animated
with congenial chivalry, we feel that language
is weak to express the bereavement of their
not leas gallant father. To their deaths are
the beautiful lines of Dryden on OSSORY ex-
quisitely applicable :
Yet not before the goal of honour won,
AU parts fulfilled of subject and of son ;
Swift was the race, but short the time to run.
There is something so affecting, but at the
same time so elevating, in the fall of these
brothers, both in the prime of early manhood,
and both eager to meet death in their
country's service, as to call for some national
testimonial to their heroic devotion. Their
example and their memory belong in a pecu-
liar manner to :he country, and must ever be
esteemed among the most precious illustra-
tions of our military glory. A tablet in one of
our great cathedrals recording their names,
their services and their death, though unne-
cessary to perpetuate their fame, would on
the part of the nation be a
grateful recognition
of their eminent valour, and perhaps tend to
soften that sorrow for their loss now keenly
felt by the numerous relatives and friends by
whom they were in an equal degree loved and
honoured.

The Rev. Dr. BIACIEWOOD, and the Rev. PIERCE
BUTLER, a brother of the heroes of Silistria and
Inkermann, have been appointed officiating chaplains
to the hospital at Scutari, and will join forthwith.
The Rev. W. RowiNs has been appointed officiating
Roman Catholic chaplain to the hospital at Scutari.

The vacancy at Dublin occasioned by the much-
lamented death of the Rev. John KIRKLAND, Junior
chaplain to the garrison, has been filled up by the
recal of the Rev. Robert HALPIN, staff cbsplin,
from the Crimea, who will resume the duties he
relinquished in March last.
The following statement shows the present distri-
bution of the Church of England chaplains attached
to the army in the East :—Rev. R. Halpin, Ist
division ; Rev. J. W. Lewes, 2nd division ; Rev. G.
F. Gilborne, 3rd division ; Rev. W. Wuleatt, 4th
division ; Rev. W. Egan, light division ; Rev. R.
Hamilton, cavalry ; Rev. J. E. Sabine, senior chap-
lain at Scutari; Rev. Q. Lawless, Scutari, Rev. V.
Hayward, Balaklava ; Rev. H. P. Wright (principal
chaplain) head-quarters. This list is exclusive of
the twelve assistant chaplains, most of whom
have
now arrived.

From returns which we have seen, it appears
that
our regular army has been within the last two
months increased by upwards of 6,000 men, in-
cluding volunteers from the militia regiments. Is
order to expedite the training of recruits for corps
on active service, it is proposed to establish ailotber
depot battalion in Ireland, which we believe, is W be
formed at Mullingar.