The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-12 00:00:00

" Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen !"

(Laughter.)
Lord PALMERSTON—Sir, I am perfectly ready to ad-
mit that the hon. and gallant gentleman is justified by the
position of public affairs, and what ought to be the opinion
of this house and the general feeling of this country, in
bringing forward this motion. Hutt no fault with the hon.
and gallant member on that ground, and I am perfectly
willing to do justice to the motives which had induced him
to rise. It was perfectly true, as was stated by him, that
when it was her Majesty's pleasure to authorise me to form
a Government, public expeetation had indeed risen highs
and, if I may be allowed to say so, had overrun the bounds
of reasonable and practicable execution. (Hear.) It was my
duty to endeavour to obtain the assistance
,of those persons
who I thought was the most capable, from their position in
Parliament, to make a strong and efficient Government. I
was actuated by none of those considerations which have
been without cause imputed—of private partiality, or of
family connections, or regard for rank. My object was to
look around, to see the men who were most eminent and
distinguished in public life, who had shown themselves
capable by the part they had taken in public affairs, and
whose opinions were most in conformity with my own.
That, I apprehend, is the d uty of any man who may be
called upon by his Sovereign to form an Administration. I
know that it has been said by many that instead of taking
these persons who have by their previous experience acquired
knowledge—who have displayed their abilities in public life
—who have devoted themselves to public affairs—it was the
duty of a person placed in the situation in which I found
myself, to have gone elsewhere, and-to have selected a Go-
vernment of persons employed and engaged in commercial
and private affairs. My answer to that is plain andsinsple.
Those persons who have devoted themselves to commercial
and business-like pursuits, who are endued by nature with
the highest talents, have generally engaged themselves in
transactions which make it impossible for them to abandon
those pursuits for a precarious situation of political office.
Does not everybody know that Lord Derby, when he was
commanded to form a Government on a former occasion,
was desirous of having as Chancellor of the Exchequer an
hon. member of the house, the member for Huntingdon
(Mr. Baring),who is most eminent for his talents, and most
fitted for that situation, and whom it was an honour for
any Government to have enlisted in its ranks. (Hear.)
That hon. member was obliged, from the immense engage-
ments in which he was involved, to decline that offer
which Lord Derby then made to him. When I was form-
ing the present Government, I wished to avail myself of
the assistance of the hon. member for Wick (Mr.S. Laing),
who would have represented the commercial in his depart-
ment of Government. That hon. member told me that his
commercial engagements were such that he could not pos-
sibly abandon them, and accept the duty which I proposed
that he should discharge. The person who is appointed
to form a Government has not that free.com of choice
which some gentlemen imagine. He must look out, in
the first place, for public men ; for men who have, by
their former conduct, shown a capacity for the dis-
charge of public duties, and for men who are free from
private engagements which would prevent them from
accepting public office. Well, sir, I cannot but think that,
as it stands, Government is composed of men who are en-
titled, from their own ability and political acquirements
and sagacity, to command the confidence of this house and
of the country. But, sir, the hon and gallant officer says
he wishes to know what the views of Government are
with regard to the Ministerial changes which the voice of
the country has so loudly called for. Wall, sir, lam free
to admit that considerable improvements are required in
many of the departments of State, and I can assure the
house and the country that these matters have not escaped
the attention of her Majesty's Government. Much has
been done already, and. very successful results have al-
ready been achieved. If we take the army, which is the
branch of the publ:o-service that has more peculiarly,
from unfortunate circumstances, attracted the attention of
the public, I am happy to say that the army in the Cri-
mea is by universal consent and admission in as perfect a
condition as any British army ever was. I say that, not
from the mere testimony of officers who are friends of the
Government, or from official report, but from the unsus-
picious testimony of the Commander of the army of our
allies, who has rendered honourable justice to the condi-
tion of our gallant army. Now, sir, lam asked what has
been done, and what is going to be done. (Hear.) In the
first placcA will call attention to what has been done. It
is vain to conceal that when after a peace of 40 years'
duration we undertook an expedition on a great scale, and
to a great distance, under circumstances of very consider-
able difficulty—it is in vain to conceal that great mis-
chances in the way of details and arrangements took place
—that those who were employed to execute those arrange-
ments, with which they were not conversant, have made
many mistakes. This was to be expected; it perhaps
might have been less ; but certainly it did happen to a
great extent, and was productive of consequences which
we must all lament and deplore. Now, sir, I will begin
with the Commissariat department. That department was
under the Treasury; it has since been placed under the Se-
cretary for the War Department. It is a military depart-
ment, and ought to be under the command of the military
chief. It ought to be administered by that officer of State
to whom belongs the charge of the military departments of
the public service. With regard to the details of that de-
partment, Sir John M'Neil, a moat able man, was sent for
a temporary purpose to organise and arrange them. He
has acted with great success, and I believe the arrange.
ments of the commissariat service are as perfect as the
nature of such a service admits. Great inconvenience
arose from the combination of the duties of supply with
the duties of distribution and transmission—that is to say,
great inconveniences arose from the circumstance that the
same commissariat officers who were charged with provid-
ing the supplies were charged with the duty of providing
the means of transport to carry those supplies from place
to place. That department has been separated from the
department of supply, and under the very able direction
of Colonel M`kturdo, the transport department has been
placed in a state of great efficiency. There is, therefore,
reason to hope that from henceforth the army in the
Crimea will be furnished with an ample supply of
everything which the commissariat ought to furnish, and
with an ample supply of the means of transport. Well,
sir, then comes the medical department of the army ; that
department is about to be remodelled at home. New per-
sons will be appointed to the head of it. There will be a
military man united with a civilian, and both will be under
the immediate orders of the Secretaryof State for the War
department, with whom it naturally rests to give all direc-
tions for the management of the department, and to regu-
late all appointments and promotions in it. I am happy
also to be able to say that the hospital arrangements have
been placed in a most satisfactory condition. Not only
have civilians been sent out to assist in some hospitals, but
a commission, purely civil, well versed in sanitary arrange-
ments, whose names are well known, Dr. Sutherland, Dr.
Gavin—who, unfortunately lost his life by a sad accident
of recent occurrence—and Mr. Itawlinson, an engineer,
have also been sent out for the purpose of placing all the
hospitals in camp and quarters of the troops in a condition
as free from evil influences as it is possible to place them.
I am happy to say their arrangements have produced many
beneficial results. Well, sir, great complaints were made
of the want of sufficient arrangements for naval transport.
It is understood that, from the pressure of business, the
arrangements far this service were not carried out with the
despatch and promptitude that it was desirable they should
he. My right hon. friend who was then the First Lord
of the Admiralty, the member for Carlisle (Sir J. Graham),
made an excellent arrangement, by which the naval trans-
port service has been placed upon an official footing, from
which I augur the beat results, So far with regard to the
commissariat, the medical, and the naval transport de-
partments. I trust that the arrangements made with re-
gard to these most important branches of the military ser-
vice have already produced good effects, and will prevent
the recurrence of those inconveniences from which the army
suffered so much in the course of the autumn and winter of
last year. Well, sir, with regard to what we are going to do.
Every body acquainted with military matters knows that
the part of our military arrangements which consisted in
the separation of a very important trench from the rest
of the military service—l mean the Board of Ordnance

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—is an arrangement so inconvenient that it is highly
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to the framing
to that department. I shall now proceed to describe
what it is intended to do to effect this object. I am sure
that the house will feel that it is almost more difficult to
remodel a department of the public service while the public
service is going on, than it would have been at a period
when, comparatively speaking, there was less pressure on
the time and attention of those persons who have to remo-
del it. When heavy business presses upon the heads of
departments, it is difficult not only to find time to make
them, but to make them without in some degree interfering
with the despatch of current affairs. In the first place, it
is intended to remodel the corps of Ordnance, and to abo-
lish the office of Master-General. The corps of the artillery
and the engineers will be placed under the same authority
as regards matters of discipline which govern the army at
large. It has been the result of ancient arrangements; but
I, for one, could never understand the principle that the
line should be under one military chief, and the artillery
and engineers under another. It is not the case in
any other army in the world, and it is strange how
it should have been allowed to go on for so long a
period
in our own army. I think great benefits will
arise from these changes. It will be of advantage
at home, and of great advantage abroad. There will no
longer be the distinetiou which now prevails between the
ordnance corps and the army in general—a distinction
which does not exist in any other army, and which has on
many occasions
been attended with groat inconvenience to
as a separate establishment,
The
office of master and ieu-
the public service. The Board of Ordnance will be abolishedl
tenant-general will cease, and the military part of the Ord-
nance will be placed under the Commander-in-Chief, to
whom the discipline of the artillei y will be transferred. The
civil department will also be placed under the Secretary for
War. The object has been to centralise—to give unity of