The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

GRAND BANQUET TO SIR HOUSTON STEWART
AT GREENOCK. ,

On Friday, the friends and admirers of Admiral Sir
Rouston Stewart, entertain-el —a-
-Elm at 'banquet 'in
Greenock,-which was lirilliantly attended; . the gallant
admiral in returning thanks on his health heiog toasted,
made a somewhat lengthy speech t_ of which the following is
an outline:—lt was the privilege of Englishmen to
grumbleeand the Government had been blained because of
their havingheen taken by.surprise. ; It was asked why had-
they not had gunboats prepared for an attack in the Baltic ;
bat.it seemed to have been forgetten that in this country we
have a free press, and a press with Argus eves in all our colo-
nies, and any preparation which we make for war is at once
circulated over the world. Had we begun to construct
gunboats it would at once have been said that were.going
to war. There were various opiniiine npon the necessity
'of that step, and they knew that it had beenattempted to
stave off such a calamity; and it has only resolved to go to
war when it was found that it was no longer possib'e to be
'at peace. Well, then, was it trot the duty of every officer
on foreign stations who knew the intentions of government
to put forth every ' energy. Malta s halt-way from
the seat of war, and he. would say-that the Adiniraity of
the day were most Cordially supported. Sir J. Graham was an admirable man of business, and sill his duty; Sir C.
. .
Wood, who succeeded him, did the same thing, and the
review of the navy at Spithead' showel to the world what
England could' do after a' little preparation. Generally
speaking, Britain could not compete with occupations
which mi"ht be said to be that ,of. war. We were- a -
nation or shopkeepers, bat when they did begin.
then the shopkeepers shut their shops. (Laughter.)
Well, then, from Malta he had the good fortune t)"bei
allowed to go up to, the Mediterranean fleet, and he found
there a squadron the equal of which had never left the-.
English shore's, and never• was there a fleet under a more
patriotic and accomplished officer than that under Sir Ed--
mutid Lyons. The provost had said that in the new appoint-
ment he had received he might have occasion to act the part ef
a diplomatist as well as an admiral: He hoped that he would.
not be put to the test in the former.capacity, but if he did
succeel he trusted it would not be by the • running of any '
risk which prudence, combined with gallantry, wouldi
justify. It had been said they could not get their enemy:
to meet them in the Black. Sea. That was true ; and-bat
thought that they were quite wise not to come out. The
application of steam had made a vast difference in . the
art of war, and especially naval
.war. They might talk
as long as they liked about ships and batteries from
stone walls, but what was their experience at Algiers and
Acre? At Algiers they allowed their ships to take up a
pos. ition The Q teen Charlotte was sailed to within an
arm's length of the-quay. Biloys were put upon the shoals,
and the Egyp'ians, thinking the B -.Wail shipping were
going to anchor upon these shoals, and level their guns for
the buoys, but the moment we had passed the buoys we
opened fire from the ships, and succeeded in destroying
their batteries. He would ask any seaman here, 1601 -
-44 at the. position occupied . by the Baltic fleet,
whether an attack had been made upon Cronstadt, our
ships would net have been cent to the devil, 'and
assuredly it was much easier to say things than to do
them. With . regard to the bombardment on the 17th
November, at whieh be was not present, the French maga-
eine blew up, and, as 4ncl been remarked, they were Ruffed
out, the astau't contemplated, therefore, could not he
j diciouslymade.; but it,was a difficult thing with an allied
fleet, all burning fir distinction, to countermand orders,
and they went at it;, The screws did beautifully ; but what
was.the consequence ? We did show the weak point of the
ene6ly, only to
afford them an opportunity of adding addi-
tioea strength. to th-ir„ fortress. That noble fellow,
Todtlehen—l thise. it; must. be a Scotchmau—l wished
_be, had "to4dlol bto."—made. a good use of our ex-
periment, and he (Sir Hou-ston) had been told prayers
had Leun offaed up that our fleet would favour them
with another attack. The result, of course, must have been
a bombardment, unless there were a sufficiency of troops
increased damage to our ships. It was absurd to think
'of
e hen a breach, was made ta- go in and take possession.
He would like to say a word in refer‘nce to a man who is
now no mere. He believed that there never was a corn-
mauder of more noble or generous spirit, or cooler in the
hour, of danger than was Leid Raglan. He knew that
sooner or latertustice would be done to that great mat,-but at
the same time be was persuaded that the position of Lord
Raglan was not generally understood in this country.—
He made a remark to Admiral Lyons, after coming from
a conference, that he did not believe, if even the Duke of
W,ltington had been in Lord Itaglai,'s place, he wonld•have
been able to have done more. It was a difficult position
for a man to occupy, the command of merely a portion i,
an army. ,The great Napoleon himself had said, be
- one
indifferent commander than two good ores..
however brilliant, could be cenc:us ye in
No
results, unless
it ,was vigorously followed up, "rete armies of England and
.No action,
Ftauce, ell first. landing iSI
perhaps that ctr
was sup,:liur. Marshal Arnaud
`'..e Crimea, were nearly equal,
Untl Lora 114.11':e. were of the same mind as to tactics,
bet it wea 'to he remembered that the French GenerAls
':.O aged three -times, and as the war proceeded the
e tench army was greatly increased. The peculiar cir-
cumstances which thereup en arose were understood
without his•dwel'ing upon them. He g„ve every pos-
sible credit to the honesty arid perfect lime fie alliance
'of the Emperor of the French, but it was not to be
expected that, with 'an array of 200 000 men, every officer
would be cf. ore opinion ; indeed, it bad been a marvel
to him that theallience had been so wen preserved, and a
credit to betb armies. Then it was to recollected that
according to etiquette, the French • General command'
the Frbech Admirals, and , this along with other
arrangements served very much to complicate matters.
Re had the greatest respect for the Frcnch, and he
believed they hid the same for us ; and one result' of
this straggle in the Crimea would be that it would- be
a long timo before they had their slumbers disturbed with
the idea of a French invasim. If they went to war again,
however, each must have, his own part to play—a single
commander with a single corps. He would like to say a
a word about the Malakoff and the Redan. That was a
soldier's question, and it might be admitted that he would
speak impartially on the subject. He bad been a witness
to the taking of the Malakoff, and if they would allow
him he would read an extract from a letter which
be had written from the Crimea to a very particular
friend—his own. wife. The extract is as follows:—.
Those who have seen the Malakoff and the Redan know
well that- no comparison as to difficulty of assault exists
between them. In the one case deep trenches cut
in yielding soil to within twenty-five paces of the
ditch having the Mamelon in the rear, keeping up an
incessant heat of shot and shell up to the very instant
appointed for the assault, and capable of containing
any amount of troops in reserve, as well as a
capacious place (terrace at the termination of the gam
In the other case—that of the Redan—a hard rocky
soil impossible to penetrate much beyond three feet
in depth, and the termination of the trench at a distance of 2. -
83 paces from the parapet. No possibility of forming
ny a - place d'armee, and•the whole advance open to a
. 1
'murderous fire from batteries on both Ranks of the Redan.
The Redan itselfStoo, perfectly open to its own rear, where
1,000 men amid march against its defence, whereas the
Malakoff being closely fortified-to its rear, was peculiarly
capable of being held when- once entered. And it wag
nobly entered and nobly held. by our French allies. ee'en,
confident in themselves, resolutely declined to al'ow
any
'urged upon them,
portion of the British and Sardinian truo);,s to join in its
,that the Malakoff' was the
key of Sebastopol, arid that, if ',he
if
on it failed, the
kienttoalevkin,g,thoosugeh‘eirty
remaining points of
wonase
ttncle; seven if successful, could not be
held for one hour. -0'12; let us net blame our soldiers for
not holding the R.o,tte- They gave 'material guarantees"
eapeat,tedly
at Alma, at Inkeeinir., and at Balak lava that no troop%
in tne world can sure.aqs them in courage and couduce,
and in that brave and truly British quality whieli our
friends Call selidarite, and which we know by the familiar
names of ptteck '• or bottom' Many an intelligent
Frenclarnati has avowed that it was well for the allied
eattee that the English -were on the right at Inkernsan."'
The gallant Admiral paid a tribute of respect to the.
Memory of Sir Qeorege Cathcart. and of the heroic deeds.
of the fallen brave, who sleep with him on Cathcart Bille
ants prooeeded to say that the late war was more of a
matt ary than a naval. war, and in support of the admirable
I manner in which the navy had discharged the duties which
it was called to perform, he read a lengthened extract from
the report of the Crimean Corninission. He referred with
.pleasure to the kindly reception which the army and navy
had-received at the hands of their-countrymen on their
return from.: active service, and predicted that When
.the country's extremity did come the fruits of that
kindness would exhibit itself. With regard to his
appointment to another commend,- he would .assume it
with a dettimination to do his duty, to preserve his own
temper, and to maintain his .country's honour.. 311 r,
Cobden was not more sensible of the
advantages of per.ee
than he wa's, and
,whether he was spared to come bad
here with the consciousness of having 'done his or
his bones left in'another country or under tht-, blue sea, ha
trnsted that his co-nduet would he such 'to give no man
cause to regret .the• kind and affectio:iste greeting which
had been given him this day: The' gallant admiral eon,
eluded his speech, of which the above is but a mere out-
line, amidst ithe prolonged cheering of the company,
standing up.

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