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

4

Business done
this day.

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of an action at law, to enforce a judgment in any part of
the United Kingdom.
The house then divided, when there appeared—
For the second reading
Against it
Majority
The bill was accordingly thrown out.
TEA DUTIES DECLINE SUSPENSION BILL.
This bill was passed through committee.
MARINE MUTINY BILL.
This bill was passed through committee.

SIIPISLY.
The report of the Committee of Supply was brough
up.

On the question that it be agreed to,
Mr. PALK took the opportunity of directing atten-
tion to the state of our cavalry force in the Crimea,
which had been greatly reduced by disease and disasters,
and he complained that they were about to be reinforced
by a body of young men and raw recruits. It was to-
tally impossible to make a cavalry soldier in less than
eighteen months, and he was afraid the reinforcements
we were sending out would be unequal to the task they
would be called upon to perform.
The report was then agreed to.

MUTINY BILL.
This bill was considered as amended, and ordered to
be read a third time to-morrow.
EXCHEQUER BILLS.
The Exchequer Bills (17,183,0001.) was read a third
time and priced.
SECRETARIES OF STATE.
The Secretaries and Under Secretaries of State (House
of Commons Bill) was passed through committee.
The other orders were then disposed of, and the house
adjourned at five o'clock.

ARMY BEFORE SEBASTOPOL COM-

MITTEE - (THIS DAY.)

The inquiry was resumed to-day at twelve o'clock.
The space in the room allotted to the public was again
crowded throughout the proceedings.
The first witness examined was General Bentinck,
commander of a brigade of Guards. He stated that
they left Southampton in Feb., 1f54, and remained at
Malta till the middle of April, when they went to Scutari.
They were under canvas during the whole time they
were at Scutari, though they occasionally experienced
some difficulty in provisions. They made the passage
from Scutari to Varna in a steamer, and the transport
was very well (conducted. They encamped at Varna
under canvas, and they were well supplied with provi-
sions. The troops were not sick when they were at
Varna, but they subsequently became so when they had
moved up the country—aud he attributed this sickness
to the bad climate at that season of the year. The
original strength of their division was 2,500. They left
Varna on the 29th Aug., and after that sickness stopped
short. The camp was kept clean, and either himself or some
other superior officer was always riding about to look
after the removal of any nuisances. When they landed
in the Crimea it was between Eupatoria and Old Fort.
The weather was at first rather wet, but it was after-
wards fine. He supposed there was no means of land-
ing the horses, or they would have been sent up. They
lauded on the 14th and marched on the 19th. They
were then without tents, but they could not have brought
them with them. Some of the men were without
knapsacks. The reason for that Was, that when
a soldier was fully equipped, the whole was con-
sidered too heavy for him, and the blanket in some
cases was used as a knapsack, the latter being left be-
hind as more likely to be safe. As soon as the actions
in which they were engaged were over, means were
taken to remove the sick and wounded to the ships,
which was done with stretchers, as they had no horses.
The wounded were so removed within a few hours after
the battle. Six or seven medical men attended his bri-
gade, but he ought to have had twelve, which at first
he had. He did not consider this number sufficient
under the circumstances in which the army was placed.
The duty was performed as well as it could be ; but, in
consequence of the vacancies occasioned by sickness, the
work was very heavy upon those who had it to do. As
to baggage, they always carried with theta what they
wanted for the day. It was not his opinion that his
brigade suffered very materially from the night exposure
to dews. The men who left their knapsacks behind did
not get them back again for many weeks. During that
time the men had a change of clothing, which they carried
in their blankets, but the officers had none. He left after the
battle of Inkerman, and they had no very bad weather up to
that time. The troops had not then received any winter
clothing,
were
and o muchwie
winter
ntcheerrtea.i n t
Theyy existedw
e as to whether
they
well supplied
with provisions—the greatest difficulty which had to be
contended against being the want of fuel. He did not
know when the ambulance carts were first landed. As
to their utility he thought they were too large and too
heavy, and required too many horses to draw theM.
The posture iu which the wounded were obliged to lie in
them must be very painful, and had been complained of.
He had observed the French ambulance system, but lie
did not prefer itto our own. Most of the tents:sent to them
were very good, but some of them, be had no doubt, bad
been used in the Peninsular war. He was very
well satisfied with his commissariat officers. He
attributed the diseases of the encampment not to
the salt meat supplied to the troops but to overwork and
exposure to the climate. The officers had to carry their
own tents, and rations for the day as well as accoutre-
ments with which the privates were not encumbered ;
uhich was inconvenient for them, and in some cases
occasioned excessive fatigue. When we left the sanitary
ceneitte— uerore neuastopol was very satis-
factory, and he saw no dead bodies of horses or other
nuisances lying about. He never heard of an especial
arrangement for the supply of winter clothing
before he left. He attributed the subsequent
sufferings of the men to exposure to the wea-
ther, hard work, and want of proper clothing.
He visited his hospitals constantly. The men had no
mattresses to lie on. He thought hospital tents were,
under certain circumstances, well adapted for their in-
tended purpose. The r ad from Bal,tklava was not in such
a bad state when he left, but it would not have remained
so in winter. It might have been hardened with stones,

if they could have spared the labour nec ssary, but they
could not. There were no depots in his division for
provision, forage, or fuel. If communication had been
cut off between 'the camp and Balaklava there were two
days' provisions in the camp.
At half-past one o'clock General Bentinck withdrew,
with the assent of the committee,' in order to keep an
engagement.
Mr. Stephen Owen, the surviving officer of the Re-
solute, was next called. The Resolute was a sailing-
vessel, and arrived off Balaklava in tow of the Golden
Fleece. They did not anchor there, for the nature of
the anchorage was not at all good or secure. The coast
there was iron-bound, and there was but little shoal
water. Supposing a vessel arrived,
Resolutecon s consider r
was
s safe
Captain
sprung up, she might " beat off." They remained in
and a southerly wind
the harbour until the 27th or 28th October, when
they were ordered out of it by Capt. Christie. They then
anchored in the mouth of the harbour in 35 fathoms water,
fditdhenot
m whichande
rh
of
anchorage.
ew T, hae
ndeernhe
remonstrated with Captain Christie several times re-
specting the order to move out of the harbour, and
the danger which might arise of the vessel being
blown on shore if a gale should come on. It
rested he believed with Capt. Christie to order vessels
out of the harbour. There had been a southerly wind
previously to the gale, and it went on increasing, and
warranted Captain Lewis in thinking that there was
imminent danger to the vessel if she remained in
her then position. There were 15 or 16 vessels
out there, ten of which besides themselves were
lost. He should think there were upwards of 500
men lost amongst them. As an officer, he thought the
anchorage was very unsafe. Only 28 were saved ; and
he thought that was quite a miracle, considering the
nature of the coast. He thought that the vessels in
the harbour ought to have authored with their bows
" up" or "down" it, instead of broadside to it, as they
did ; which would have been safer, as when the gale
arose the rocks acted as a funnel, and blew directly upon
than. The reason why the Resolute was ordered out of
harbour was not to make room for any other vessel, be.
cause no other vessel entered afterwards.
Captain Wriotesley, of the Royal Engineers, said he
was sent to Gallipoli to prepare for the reception of the
English troops, when their expected removal was an-
nounced. He was at Constantinople when the troops
arrived there. They were placed in barracks, were well
housed and supplied with food. The system of contracts
in a country like Turkey was very objectionable, as no
penalties could be enforced. The French system was much
superior. They took possession of any slaughter-houses
they could find, and if there were none, they immedi-
ately constructed them. The army left England desti-
tute of all necessaries in the way of medicines, tools, and
other useful articles. There was a large depot, he should
imagine, at Varna, for stores of all kinds. He bad no
orders to make any preparations at Malta. The corps
to which he was attached had no direct orders from
England, but were under the direction of the Admiral,
and depended for information upon such casual gossip as
they could pick up. The only preparation made at
Scutari for the arrival of the troops was that the con-
tracts were signed. He was not aware of any contracts
offered to us, and declined, having been accepted by
the French. He was one of the first sent out, and
arrived at Gallipoli ten days before the arrival of the
troops, which he first heard of through the commissary
who received orders to effect contracts. Besides our
own men there were a corps of Mussulmen granted
by the Turks for land transport purposes. The
men who formed the ambulance corps were pen-
sioners. When the troops were at Varna it was sup-
posed that a campaign was intended, but the commissary
itself confessed that they could only despatch one divi-
sion at a time. He understood that the Varna hospital
contained ample medical stores. The expedition to the
Crimea bad been determined upon before ho left Varna,
and he understood that the supplies of all kinds were to
be drawn from Varna and Constantinople. There was
a line of Turkish steamers in the Bosphorus, but he
did not think it was possible to keep up a con-
tinual supply of food, fuel, and forage to the army in the
Crimea by that means, as the force
was one of such mag-
nitude. Me had referred to th© Varna hospital. The
only principal complaint with regard to it was that they
could not get rid of vermin. The engineers' department
required 70 horses for the conveyance of the tools ; but
neither the engineers' nor the ambulance waggons were
suited to the horses of the country, which were small.
From hie experience as a soldier, he thought the body of
Sappers and Miners attached to the general body of
troops at Varna was decidedly insufficient. He should
call the Commissary Department a military bra!iclo, and
he supposed it required some professional initiation in
those connected with it, to be at all properly conducted.
The great difference between the French Commissary
and ours was, that the former bought their meat alive
and slaughtered it, and employed bakers to make their
bread, instead of contracting We did. When at Varna

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 7, 1855,