The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-07 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHL

Proprietor, Mr. B. Webster.—Direetress, Madame Celeste.
THIS EVENING.
Will be performed a new and original Drama, preceded by a Pro-
logue, and called JANET PRIDE.
To be follby THE UNKNOWN AND THE RAYADERE.
Characters Messrs. P. Redford and G. Lee; Misses Woolgar and
Keeley, and Mdlles. Maraquita and Benoni.
_ ____

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, Mr. A. Wigan.
THIS EVENING,

Will be presented the new Comedietta, called TIT FOR TAT, In
Which Messrs. F. Robson, A. Wigan, and Miss Maskell will appear.
Followed by A LUCKY FRIDAY.
After which, a new Fairy Extravaganza, entitled THE YELLOW
DWARF AND THE KING OF THE GOLD MINES. Characters
by Mr. F. Robson, Miss Julia St. George, Miss E. Ormonde, Miss
Marston, Miss Bromley, and Mrs. Fitzallan.

ROYAL STRAFED THEATRE.
'Under the direction of Miss Rebecca IsaacS.
THIS EVENING
Will be performed TUE MARRIED BACHELOR.
Followed by THE VILLAGE NIGHTINGALE Supported by
Mr. J. HaHord, Miss R. Isaacs, Miss F. Beaumont, &c.
After which, the new Operatic Burlesque, entitled, ALONZO THE
BRAVE.
To conclude with the new Comedietta, entitled CITY FRIENDS

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, Mr. Wm. Cooke.
THIS EVENING,
Attraction Extraordinary ! Three Great Battles in one Spectacle !
those of BALAKLAVA and INKERMANN being now aided (by the
Introduction of a Third Act) to the BATTLE of the ALMA, which
this week reaches its 122 d representation

To conclude with Novel SCENES in the CIRCLE, introduchw.
(first time) Herr Johann Endersohn, le Fil-de-Fer, and the Entree
du Clown A la Franoaise.
Box-office open from Eleven till Four. Stage Manager, Mr. W.
West. Acting Manger. Dir. W. H. Cooke. Equestrian, Director,
xr. W. Cooke, jun.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Ting DAs —Morning 5 min.after 4 I Evening 20 min.aft. 4
To- Vosaow Mornini34 min.after 4 Evening 51 min.aft. 4

THE WEATHER.—Sum OTYLCI, March. 7.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADS.
50—highest since noon yesterday.
33—lowest this morning and during the night.
40—this day, at noon.

BAROMETER, 29'92.
WIND, S.E.—Light breeze, and fine, cold, sunshiny
weather.

Last night was the coldest since the great frost.

Tbz

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1855.

The anxiously looked-for inquiry into the state
of the army before Sebastopol has actually com-
menced ; nay, more, it is a fair and bony fide in-
vestigation, without any attempt at mystification
or concealment. The public are freely admitted ;
there is no limitation to members of Parliament,
the only effect whereof would be the publication of
mutilated and badly-authenticated accounts of the
proceedings. Duly-qualified reporters are in at-
tendance. We therefore may be certain that
what has occurred will be accurately detailed and
spread throughout the entire country. Should
there be any erroneous statement it will be im-
mediately corrected ; and there can be no danger
of vague apprehensions arising from false or ina-
dequate information.
The vast importance of this state of affairs will
be duly appreciated by those whO understand the
nature of the excitement occasioned by even the
appearance of mystery how the public curi-
osity is thereby stimulated, and unwarrantable
means too frequently adopted to satisfy the de-
mand. However stringent might be the regula-
tions adopted for the purpose of securing secrecy
some scraps of information would unquestionably
leak out. These would be exaggerated, and mag-
nified into undue importance. Nor would exag-
geration be the only evil to be averted. Where
"facts" were wanting invention would be resorted
to, and topics would be gravely argued, not resting
on the slightest foundation. The attempt at
secrecy, more especially a partial secrecy, where
every_member of the Commons House of Parlia-
ment was admitted to information denied to the
rest of the community, would neutralise the value
of, while it would necessarily materially enhance
the objections to, the investigation. Fortunately,
We have, through the sound and judicious decision
of the House of Commons, been enabled to realise
the full advantages and to avoid. the threatened
cl"gera of the inquiry. Already we have been
Inawrially enlightened by the evidence of two
intelligent and trustworthy witnesses, men who
possessed ample Opportunities for the formation
of a sound opinion,
who had intellect and
judgment sufficient to render all the data fully
available, to give its full Weight to every
element
in the calculation.
The testimony of Mr. G. DIJIWAR very
telltale. The honourable gentleman clearly and
distinctly explains that which he actually saw, and
of which he was enabled to take a more correct
view, from the fact that he was a bystander, and
not in any way engaged in the gigantic game.
He was an eye-witness to the deplorable state of
the cavalry—" The soil very muddy. The horses
standing at their pickets with no rugs on, and
totally unprotected from the weather. Appa-
rently they had very little to eat indeed. Many
had recently died. The ground in the vicinity
was covered with their dead bodies. At the
pickets 'almost every horse was lying on the
ground. In that position some were dead,
iothers dying !" This is a graphic though deeply
.sinful picture ; and yet, at that very time,
4`lllo harbour was hardly a mile from the
cavalry gip," and " there was a 'considerable
"quantity :of forage at Balaklava at the time.

Many bags of bran were standing on the beach
when he arrived, and they continued there
until he left. There was also a considerable
quantity of hay floating in the harbour ! ! !"
And yet in the vicinity of abundance the horses
were in such a state that they could not have car-
ried their riders in a charge.
But this was not all. " The condition of the in-
fantry was even worse than that of the cavalry.
In every respect the clothing, victualling, and
lodging was exceedingly scanty, and of the worst
description, while the men were kept totally without
fuel, although a quantity of timber was floating
about in the harbour which might have been col-
lected with very little trouble, and sent up to the
camp, where it would have been very useful."
Such were the deplorable facts, and the causes
were clearly explained, viz., the many forms re-
quired by the system of " checks and counter-
checks"—(pure and unmitigated Red-tapisna)—by
means whereof the starving cavalry horses (or
the starving men) could not get a single belly-
ful, even if taken to Balaklava.
The evidence of Sir DE LACY EVAIsTS was
still more important. The gallant Ge-
neral, by the exercise of prudent fore-
thought, had been enabled to save the men
under his command from a large proportion
of the losses sustained by those under
less experienced commanders. He showed,
too, the inconvenience of many of the re-
gulations, and exposed the real fountain and
origin of all the evils—namely, that " the War
was commencel under the delusion that matters
would be settled without any explosion of gun-
powder, and that there was no necessity for any
magazines at all !" This was the ABERDEEN
mania. This was the result of allowing that good
and excellent Minister to have his own way ; and
all the sufferings sustained by our troops may be
ascribed to the abdication of its functions by the
House of Commons, and their implicit confidence
in a Minister not competent to the duties of his
position.

One objection to promotion from the ranks is
so often urged, and is evidently so much a matter
of feeling on the part of military men, and others,
belonging to or connected with the aristocracy o
birth or money, that a few remarks on it can
hardly be deemed out of place.
As it appears to us, these exceedingly sensitive
gentlemen have a very dim perception of the
nature and requirements of the service. To judge
from their indignant tone when the subject of
promotion from the ranks is mooted, they seem
to imagine that a commission in the army is
meant to be a passport to the drawing-room
rather than an introduction to the stern responsi-
bilities of command. If this notion were cor-
rect, we should have nothing to say on the
subject, but, unfortunately for their feelings, it is
not. The art and science of war call for other
qualities than those necessary to grace the draw-
ing-room. They call for a vigorous frame, a
manly resolution, an apt intelligence, an
ardour of feeling far removed from common-
place, self-command, and a souni judgment,
speeding rapidly to its conclusions. With
most of these the drawing-room will not re-
luctantly dispense. The polite simper, the easy
vacillation, an aptitude for common-place, the
subdued yawn, and judgment at second-hand,
are better adapted for that meridian.
Thus a man may be admirably qualified to
serve his country, to fight her battles, and con-
tribute to her safety and renown, and by no means
be welcomed in polite circles. But on whom does
this reflect discredit ? Not on the worthy aspi-
rant for military distinction, but on the circles
which shrink from contact with him. It is a
striking proof of their worthlessness, of their
utter frivolity. Such a man I,ao a patent ur na
bility such as none of them can lay claim to.
He is honourable at first hand, generous by in-
stinct, and chivalrous by every aspiration. Rough
he may be ; but the gentleman will be found
underneath—capable of cultivation undoubtedly,
but the true gentleman after all. Among auto-
biographies—always interesting—none are more
so than those of non-commissioned officers, and
commissioned officers who have risen from the
ranks. The true chivalrous feeling, in its gentle-
ness as well as in its resolution and ardour,
pervades them all. The dutiful son, the
affectionate brother, the generous friend, and
daring but not implacable enemy, stands
before us in each, and we daguerreotype his like-
ness without any consciousness on his part. He
has a tale of adventure to tell, and he tells it—his
main personal anxiety being to convey the im-
'pression that he has endeavoured to do his duty.
What we gather else he had no desire to throw
in our way. To talk of men like these
—and the majority of those deemed eligible
for promotion would be found such—being
unfitted to associate with gentlemen by
birth and position is, on the part cf
the latter, to propagate about as great—we
will not say a libel, but—a reproach as could be
uttered. An aristocracy that cannot grasp with
the hand of good fellowship the hand of a chival-
rous soldier is an anomaly which the good sense of
the people cannot long tolerate.

Great excitement has been created amongst our
Allies by a pamphlet respecting " The Conduct of
the War," not merely from the subject on which
it treats, and the amount of information respect-
ing the most secret councils of the French camp,
but from the high rank and position of the alleged
author. It purports to be a memorial addressed
to the French Government by a General Officer,
and it is manifest that the author must have
taken part in the operations which he describes,
and of which he so strongly complains. It has,
we trust erroneously, been acribed to Prince
NAPOLEON, whose -views it is said to embody, and
whose notorious discontent has found expression
in its pages.

Such a production might have been justifiable,
however erroneous, if submitted only in confidence
to the Government. It would be the duty of
every officer to state his conscientious impressions
to those by whom the evils of which he com-
plained might be corrected, provided he did not
thereby give any information to the common
enemy, and stated his facts fairly and without
exaggeration. But a general publication of such
matters would be highly objectionable—a gross
misapplication of the knowledge officially ob-
tained, and most improvidently and unwarrant-
ably Communicated. And this, which would
at any time be a serious offence, alike against mili-
tary discipline and the obligations which every man
—and the higher his rank the more imperative
these obligatiens—owes to his country. But
when the publication had actually been suppressed by
order of the Government—when the memorial had
been rejected after due consideration, we cannot
imagine an offence of greater magnitude than that
of which the author, whoever he may be, has

been guilty.
We shall not now dwell on the inaccurate state-
ments respecting the English troops at the Alma
—and the attempt to deprive those who so
gallantly discharged their duty of the credit
to which they were justly entitled, for

that splendid victory, nor even the cold-blooded
and malevolent attack on a departed hero, or the
implied censure on the E3IPEROR himself. All
these matters are in such deplorably bad. taste
that they carry with them their own antidotes,
and cannot possibly create any injurious impression
in any well-regulated French or English mind.
The author must be unequivocally condemned ;
but that will be the only effect, so far as the
Allies are concerned. But if authentic, it
may afford information to the enemy of a
very improper description, may assist the Rus-
ians, and add to the destruction of his compatriots
and their Allies. These are matters for which
there can be no excuse, which should expose the
author to the deepest censure of every right-
minded man, whatever be his country. We
only hope that the party to whom it has been
ascribed may be enabled to exonerate his cha-
racter from the grave imputations—to show that
it is a spurious, unauthorised, and wicked in-
. v ention.

THE NEWSPAPER STAMP .D UTIES BILL,