The Express.
London, England, 1856-02-01 00:00:00

THE EXPERS3, FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 1, 1856.

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in question in the royal Address to Parliament. Ad-
verting to other topics tanatingly Washed on by Lord
DEIBY, Lord CLMUIDON stated his readiness to lay
upon the table papers relative to the fall of Hare;
and begged for a suanci:enseosts judgment until their
lordships should be in ion of the whole cir-
cumstances of the case. He volunteered the ,
nouncement that he had himself been named as Pleti.
potentiary from England to the Paris Conferences,
and that he undertook the task with many mis-
givings as to its result. Of the sincerity of the
Cues intentions be declared that he had serious '
doubts: of the sincerity of the Allies in agreeing to
Austria's suggestions, he protested that there was
ground for none. Both Governments wore cordially
desirous of peace. if it could be lately and honour-
ably obtained ; bat they were equally resolved to
commence hostilities with preparations unexampled
in magnitude and extent, the day after peace was
found to be unattainable by negotiation.

AT a moment when the great issue of Pesos or
War is intensely occupying the whole mind of
Europe, it is natural that the eyes of men should
turn with lively attention to the proceedings of the
Bailie& House of Commons on the first occasion of
its re-assembling sines that issue has assumed its
present shape. It cannot with troth be said that
what took place last night in that august assembly
was of a nature to gratify any very high-raised ex-
pectations. The Roue of Commons, in fast, like the
nation at large, is just now in a state of suspense.
Upon the only subject on which men at the
present moment much. are to speak, it his
no sufficient materials for forming • satisfac-
tory opinion, and it wisely prefers silence
to solecisms, and an absence of comment to an
indulgence in platitudes. Everyone out of the House
has said already, what there is therefore no great
occasion for anyone in the House to say again, that
England is ready to accept a safe and honourable
peace, bat that till such peace is finally ratified and
concluded the true attitude of this country is one of
hostile preparation, 'ordering activity, and armed
mistrust. Sash appeared last night to be the para-
mount feeling of the House.
Mr. Berns, the seconder of the address, who in-
fused into his task somewhat more of vigour and in-
dependent), than is generally looked for on such
occasions, was cheered when he gave expression to
the sentiment that we must have no repetition on the
present occasion of the sham negotiations of Vienna,
bat insist on knowing as soon as possible whether
pesos or war is to be the destiny of the world :
he was still more cheered when he declared that
there must be no remission in our preparations for
war, and that the only way to treat with Russia was
to treat with our hands on oar swords.
Mr. DISRAELI disclaimed alike all intention of
attempting to criticise conditions of peace of which
he had as yet no accurate knowledge, and of im-
pugning the conduit of Government in not having
imparted mere detailed information to the House.
Recommending to his followers the exercise of •
"prudent but high.spirited reserve," he counselled
them to watch with the utmost vigilance the
progress of the negotiations. He expressed a
firm, but by no means a very sanguine eon-
Aden°, in the prospects of pea«, and de-
nounced the notion fostered "by journalists who
have become statesmen, or statesmen who have be-
come journalists," that England, though she may
have gained the substantial objects of the war, is yet
to go on fighting till she has added another victory
to the bloody list of the decisive battles of the world.
With a few general references to the glory of our
arms, and a paving allusion to the " mysterious
catastrophe of Rare," the necessity of inquiring into
which was assented to by general expressions of
adhesion from all parts of the House, the eloquent
Leader of her Muurr's Opposition sat down after
having delivered what Sir Da LACY EvAns truly
enough characterised as a Ministerial speech. Lord
PALMERSTON, under these circumstances, had little
to do except to let well alone, and that he sue-
waded in uccmplishing. With regard to the F•mo•e
of an intended adjournment if Parliament until the
pew negotiations should be terminated, he declared
emphatically that such a conception had never
crowed his mind. The presence of Parliament was
an aid sod not an embarrassment. While Ministers

admitted, and intended to art upon, the duty of them-
selves conducting the negotiations, all information
which it was consistent with State exigencies to
give, should freely be imparted to the Rouse during
their progress. Lord PALMERSTON then proceeded
in a tone of dignified and manly firmness to point out
that this country was never better prepared for war
than at the present moment, that oar strength was daily
increasing ; while that of Russia was daily diminish-
ing, that if another campaign were forced on as, its
remelts would no doubt enable us to demand condi-
tions more brilliant than those that might now be
offered; but that at the NUBS Brae if those now
offered should turn out to be satisfactory, we should
not be justified in rejecting them, with a view to the
ultimate chancre of a more splendid and decisive
success. This speech, the general tone and manner
of which was at once cautious and resolute, and which
was unquestionably well received by the House,
called up Mr. ROEBUCK, who proceeded to deliver
himself of a war oration, Desinosthenic no doubt
in intent, but, as it struck us, rather infelicitous
in execution. Mr. Ronuret, indeed, stumbled at
the threshold. In order to warn his beaten
against the danger of concluding an unworthy
peace, he announced his intention of answering
the oft-asked emotion, why did we go to war.
To this self-addressed query he gave, in the
compass of about as many sentences, no Iris
than three distinct replies. We entered into this
war, first, for the general interests of hu-
manity; secondly, to check the aggrandisement
of Russia; thirdly and mainly, as all the world, ao-
cording to Mr. ROEBUCK, was well aware, out of
fear for our possessions in lodic. The same vague-
ness pervaded the whole of his speech. The Howie
was in no temper to be led away by arguments for
parrying oa the war, founded on the assumed neces-
sity of retrieving the honour of oar arms alleged to be
tarnished by two fruitless expeditions into the Baltic,
by the failure at the Ratan, and by the capture of
Hare. The House hardly appeared to entertain the
same view as the honourable end learned member
of the military and naval disgrace connected with
I thee' events, nor were they much moved by
his exhortations that, is order to retrieve our Int
honour, we should carry on the war single-handed,
notwithstanding the possible defection of our great
ally.
Oo the whole, as we said at the outset, the temper
of the House, as far as can be judged from the pro-
ceedings of last night, represents pretty fairly the
temper of the nation. We are not going for any
mere purposes of ambition or vengeance needlessly to
protract a contest which there is good hope of termi-
nating with enerity and honour : on the other
hand, we see equally determined not to drop
oar arms from our hands one moment before
the further employment of them would be a crime
against the tins interests of the world, and the wise
dictates of an elevated morality. We relax not a
, we keep every limb in its fullest tension—at
the first suspicion of any double dealing or evasion in

those who profess to wish for Peace, we give sternly
and instantly the watchword, War. But we are not
to be persuaded into the grave immorality of shed-
, ding blood without purpose and without stint, by
any echoolboy declamation about the necessity of
retrieving a national honour that bu never really
been tarnished, and a military character that is still,
u it ever was, " without fear and without reproach."

OUR ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
CAMP, SEBASTOPOL, JAN. 19.

There is little to record during the past week bat
the various rumours with which the camps have been
agitated respecting the chances of a cessation of
hostilities, and the plane of the future campaign in
case the negotiations for peace should be unsuccessful.
These rumours are so contradictory that they are
scarcely worth repeating; more especially as on these
subjects we, at the seat of war, are generally less
fully informed than the press at home. In the mean.
time, preparations are being made to meet all contin.
gencies. The leisure and opportunity which were
wholly wanting last winter, on account of the an-
' ceasing duties in the trenches &pi sickly condition of
,1 the troops, are now being converted to the best uses for
I fitting the army for active operations in the next
campaign. The younger soldiers are actively trained,
and their older associates, by frequent parades and
inspections, kept in the moat efficient condition. The
regiments are frequently drilled, and march out at
' regular intervals, by brigades; so that not only the
men themselves are exercised, bat the generals and
staff are practised also in the handling of bodies of
troops and their various duties. It is impossible to
observe the men on the march, and not view with
pleasure their elastic tread, vigorous frames, and the
general appearance of health which characterises
them. It may also be noticed how frequently in
General Orders occur the appointments of instructors
of musketry.

The fact is that the whole army is going through
a regular course of target practice. Detachments
from every regiment are daily engaged in this exer-
cise. The new system of instruction in the use of
the rifled musket, as taught at the Government
School of Musketry at Hy the, is strictly carried out,
and thus, before the winter terminates, the men of
the whole army will be fully trained in one uniform
method of using their firearms. Many causes con-
curred to prevent this obviously desirable result from
being carried oat before, and many were the evils
which were experienced in consequence during the
past campaign and siege operations. Each
brigade has now one, and some brigades
two, qualified instructors of musketry, under whom
numerous regimental officers teed non-commissioned
officers, who have been qualified, by previous training
in England, give the necessary instructions to the
men. Colonel Clarke Kennedy, who formerly held
an appointment at the school at Hythe, and who
now occupies a situation on the Adjutant-General's
Department of this army, superintends the whole.
Orders have been given, and measures are being
taken, to ensure that every officer and department
are complete in the necessary equipment for the
field. The Land Transport Corps is reported to be
fast regaining its efficiency, under the active sur-
veillance of Colonel Wetherell, who is acting es
Director. General in the absence of Colonel
M'Murdo. Thus the prospects of the British forces,
so tar as the army in the Crimea is concerned,
' being found in an effective condition at the ensuing
spring, are now on all aides exceedingly favourable.

An unfortunate accident occurred on the 15th inst.
Lieutenant J. Homdon Messenger, el the 46th Regt.,
was engaged with a few men in blasting some rock
near the main military road, not far from the iron
huts. He had been some time employed i.e an acting
engineer, and wu then sup-rinteuding the repair of
a portion of the road. The usual method for obtain-
ing the fragments of atone—" metal," as it is techni-
cally called—for filling up the depressions caused by
the rain and constant traffic, is by blasting the lime-
stone which is found everywhere at a moderate depth
below the superficial soil of the plateau. This is
accomplished, even in the midst of the camps, without
any danger, underordinary circumstances, by placing
sandbags, or portions of the old Russian rope want-
lets, over the stone to be detached by the explo-
sion. In the present instance the explosion of the
charge did not take place so speedily as was anti-
cipated, and Lieutenant Messenger at once went
forward to examine the cause. A noncommissioned
officer who was present warned him against ap-
proaching the blast so quickly. He thought, as no
doubt was the case, that the lighted alow•mAtch might
be burning more slowly than usual on account of
damp or some other accidental cause. Mr. Messenger
had just stooped to see if the slow-match were
still ignited when the explosion took place,
and some of the detached fragments of rock were
projected with fall force against the unfortunate
officer. He received some dresdtnl injuries abort the
head, which proved immediately fatal. The non-
commissioned officer, who was mending near, was
severely scorched and bruised ; he was removed to
the neighbouring hospital of the 531 h Regiment, in
the 2nd Division.

Since the lastrmail left, the weather has been very
variable, but without any remarkable extremes of
temperature. The roads are maintained in an efficient
state by constant repairs. No change has taken place
as regards the fire from the north heights, nor, as far
as observation can detect, in the disposition of the
enemy on the Mackenzie platten.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, JAx. 19.

On Wednesday an armistice wee declared till boar
o'clock in the afternoon, up to which time the Rus-
sians and the French amused themselves by walking
about in the Tammy& Talley in front of the outpost..
They were so near together that they could distinctly
see each other's countenances.

Since the last mail left the English engineers have
blown up the entrance gate to the east dock, and to-
day there will, in all probability, be another small
explosion ; but, at the prevent rate of proceeding, the
whole of the English half-portion of the docks will
not be destroyed till the middle of next mouth.

Le Nord is reprinting the Holly Tree lan," the
Chrifemu number of the Household Words.

It will give some idea of the hopeless absence
of knowledge ow the part of the foreign j ,arnals in
all that concerns the character and position of the
British press, if we sate the fact that Le Nord of
yesterday, referring to an alleged change in the tone of
the English newsmen, while treetiag of the war, alleges
that " Lords Palmerston and Clarendon have presided
over a meeting of the prop ' f the rrinci-al English
journals, and explained to them the trait situation and the
necessity of modifying their language upon peace, in order
not to eompromise the alliance with France. The English
correspondents at Paris (continues Le Nord) bare received
a similar order, and obey it with remarkable seal and do-
cility."
. .

HOMES Vernet has just tiniehed his great painting
of the battle of the Alma.

At the celebration about three weeks since of the
dOth anniversary of the Moscow S ciety of Naturalists, the
Cs er tustrected the Minister of Public Instruction to el
press to the society hi. great +atisfactieo with the services
it has rendered for hells century to the cause of science in
Resole. lie also ropreseed his resd:nese to accept the dedi-
cation et the sixteenth V,lllOlll of the Itecords of the S-ciety,
and farther presented diamond rings to the des-president
sad the secretary. Almost all th• State bodies, sod thirty-
nine foreign societies, sent in addressee of congratulation.
Atenng the honorary members flirted was General Tot-
tlebea. . .

A royal decree, in the Madrid Gazette, nominates
the Cowen Minn, in con(iderot on of her 'wrier" an
govern's, to the Queen of Spa n end rf h•r virtura, and
(specially h r rharity—vice-protelve.a of all the 1 har table
so.iet.es in the kingdom, of ehi,h the Quoit Is pro carol.