The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-27 00:00:00

r PRICE SD.

the power of inquiry, it is a most valuable privilege of
this house. This house has no power of appointment, no
power of directing the measures that may be taken ;
but by the power of inquiry it corrects abuses, it reforms
maladministration, and strengthens those establishments
which it may seem for a time to shake. A motion for
inquiry, however, may be resisted on two grounds—the
one, that there are no evils existing of sufficient magnitude
to call for inquiry ; the other, that. sufficient means have
been taken to remedy those evils, and that they will be
best cured by other means than by a resort to the inqui-
sitorial powers of this house. Now, with respect to the
first of these grounds which I have stated, it is obvious
that is impossible to be resorted to. No one can deny the
melancholy condition of oar army before Sebastopol. (Loud
cries of hear, hear.) The accounts which arrive from that
quarter every week are not only painful, but horrible and
heartrending—(hear)—and I am sure no one would oppose
for a moment any measure that would be likely not only
to cure, but to do anything to mitigate those evils.
(Cheers.) Sir, I must say that there is something, with
all the official knowledge to which I have had access,
that to me is inexplicable in the state of our army.
(Cheers.) If I had been told as a reason against the expe-
dition to the Crimea last year that your troops would be
seven smiles from the sea, seven miles from a secure port,
—which at that time, when we had in contemplation the
expe4ition, we hardly hoped to possess,—and that at that
seven miles' distance they would be in want of food, of
clothes, and of shelter to such a degree that they would
perish at the rate of from 90 to 100 a-day, I should have
considered such a prediction as utterly preposterous, and
such a picture-of the expedition as entirely fanciful and
absurd. (Hear, hear.) We are all, however, free to con-
fess the notoriety of that melancholy state of things.
(Hear, hear.) It was not therefore by denying the exist-
ence of the evils that I could hope to induce this house to
reject the proposition of the hon. and learned gentlemen; J
but I had further to reflect that I was in a position not to
give a faint "No" to the proposal—net to express in vague
and equivocal language a wish that the motion should not
be carried, or to use any evasion with respect to the letter
of its terms with a -view to defeat the motion. (Hear,
hear.), It was ray duty—a duty which, I trust, I have
ever performed when in that situation—to stead in the
coccus reason eron T heel
re
front of the battle, and manfully to take my part in op-
posing the appointment of that committee. (Hear, hear.)
Tehenn
hcoemtlimeritlteme
i
alluded—viz., that measures had been taken, that ar-
rangements to
consider
rhwe toht wnhoiethgilve the
cohave
were in progress, by which those evils would
be remedied, and by which the administration of the war
would be vigorously and, as was to be hoped, successfully
prosecuted. Sir, I should have been more disposed to
give that reason, because it is obvious that the concession
of a committee on the subject, a committee sitting for
weeks, perhaps for months, would be fatal to the efficiency
of those military purposes which it would chiefly affect.
There was therefore the strongest inducement, if possible,
to put forward such an objection to the inquiry which the
hon. rind learned gentleman proposed to make ; but,
sir, I found upon reflection that it was impossible for
me to urge with effect, and according to my own conscience
and with truth, that objection to the proposition for a
committee. (Hear, hear.) I hope the House will here
permit me to refer to some circumstances personal to my-
self, t'flough they hardly come within the scope of the
statement I have to make. When the office of Secretary
of Stat o for War was separated from the office of Secretary
of Stet e for Colonies, Lord Aberdeen thought it right to
propos e to the Duke of Newcastle to keep which of the two
offices he should most desire. The Duke of Newcastle,
with a commendable ambition, as I think, replied that,
having exerted himself in fitting out a very large ex-
pedition,, he should, of course, like to remain at the
head of the department which should have the di-
rection of the orders for that expedition, and the
general management of the war. Lord Aberdeen con-
sented to that arrangement, and I was a consent-
ing pas •ty to the appointment. At the end of the see-
siun the various members of the Government, especiallz-
those who are members of this house, dispersed, as they
usually do ; and it appears to me that that dispersion,
after tl le excessive labours of this house, is necessary to the
due pa rformance of their duties, and no one, unless he has
to disc barge very urgent duties, is to blame for resorting
for pus poses of health to distant parts of the country. I
was not in any office which obliged me to take any part in
the conduct of the war, but during my absence there was
scarcel.r a day in which I did not both receive from and
write a letter to my noble friend the Secretary of State for
Foreig a Affairs with respect to the occurrences that were
daily t eking place. It has been said that I went lecturing
about .;he country at that time. (A laugh.) The truth is
hon,-an friend of mine, the member for Bristol, has said,
on the day this house separated for the holidays, that it
would give-great gratification to his friends at Bristol if I
would attend a literary society in that place, and the day
was ser kmod between us. Then, when I was cominefrom
the no rib, and being at the house of my brother, he in-
formed' me that his neighbours in Bedford would be
gratified if I would attend a literary meeting in
that to wn. I complied with these two requests, which certl
-
tainly did not exhaust much time, or call for much study
with r aspect to what I had to say. (A laugh.) I con
seived,, however, that, as President of the Council, these
meetin kips were not very alien from the objects of that office.
(" lies kr, hear," and laughter.) It has, nevertheless, *keen
east on 'me as an imputation that I attended to the request
of thee; gentlemen. But, passing from that to a mare im-
portene point, T have to state that, having attended all the
Cabinet. Councils that met on this subject, I wrote to my
noble friend Lord Aberdeen at the time that I supposed
there • rould be Cabinet meetings—at the beginning of Oc-
tober— -that I should be ready to attend them whenever
they n set. My noble friend, in reply, informed me that he
should not return from Scotland till the 14th of October,
and on the 17th of October a Cabinet Council was held,
which I thought it my duty to attend. But in the course
of that, month, and from the beginning of the month of
Nov., it struck me that a better administration of affairs
relating to the war was required. (Cheers.) I made up my
mind vrith considerable difficulty. It was a matter that
affecte.d, in some degree, the reputation of a colleague who
had len4 before assumed the office which he held ; but,
still, I thought that duty imperatively called upon me to
state nay views, and a correspondence ensued between my
noble friend at the head of the Government and myself,
from which I shall be obliged to read some extracts in order
to put the house in possession of the ground on which I
came t o the decision at which I arrived on Tuesday evening
last. (Ilear.) The correspondence itself is long, and entess
into the, details of some personal matters it is quite unne-
cessary- to quote ; but as it is I must request the house to
listen to the representations which I thought it necessary
to make., and to the answers I received. (Hear.) I wisheei,
if possible, to put the matter in a light that would bear
rather else air of indifferent official arrangement than any
displaces nent of individuals. I therefore stated the ques-
*then of 'LhoWar Department in two points of view—the one
as referiring to au arrangement which it was necessary to
make in. consequence of the pledge given to this house
last sesitioa that the whole of the War Department should
be considered with a view to arrangements which should.
provide for its efficiency; and the other point of view re-
lating to the carrying on of the war. (Hear, hear.) With
respect to the first point, I said I thought it was of the
utmost importance that a person of the rank of Privy
Councillor should hold office in this house, upon whom
should devolve the moving of the war estimates, and who
should be an authority able to answer the various difficult
questions which I foresaw would come before the house.
(Hear, hear.) I will not trouble the house with any de-
tails on that part of the subject, bat I proposed that the
office of Secretary of State for War and the office of Secre-
tary at "Pirar should be held by the same person. (Hear.)
In a letter addressed to the Earl of Aberdeen on the 17th
of November, 1854, I said :

" Fro to, the other point of view the prospect is equally
clear. We are in the midst of a great war. In order to
carry on that war with efficiency, either the Prime Minister
must be constantly urging, hastening, completing the mili-
tary preparations, or the Minister of War must be strong
enough to control other departments. Every objection o
other M misters—the plea of foreign interests to be attended
to, of naval preparations not yet complete, and a thousand
others, justifiable in the separate heads of departments, must
be forcol to yield to the paramount necessity of carrying on
the war with efficiency of each service, and completeness of
means to the end in view. (Cheers.) . . If, therefore,
the first considerations here presented lead to the conclusion
that the Secretary of State for the War Department must be
in the House of Commons, the latter considerations point t•
the necessity of having in that office a man who, from expe-
rience of military details, from inherent vigour of mind, and
from weight with the House of Commons, can be expected to
guide the great operations of war with authority and success.
(Hear, hoar.) There is only one person belonging to the Go-
vernment who combines these advantages—my conclusion is
that before Parliament meets Lord Palmerston should be in-
trusted with the seals of the War Department."

(Cheers.) That is the opinion I gave, confidentially, to thri
Earl of Aberdeen. Before I read the Earl of Aberdeen's
answer, I have to say that, the Earl of Aberdeen having
requested some days to consider a matter of such inn ?or-
tame, I wrote to him again on the 18th of Noverr,ber,
stating that I concurred in that delay, adding—
" I wish, however, that before you decide you should show
my letter to the Duke of Newcastle. It was my intention in
writing the letter to avoid throwing any blame upon him,
Indeed, I think he deserves very great credit for the exer-
tions he has made. But he has not had the authority requi-
site for so great a sphere, and has not been able to do all
that might have been done with larger powers of conl,rol."
To my letter Lord Aberdeen replied—misstating my m.o.
ipt)horeus iis)toi:Lenl;
hmausd tmseade---. thoant
thhee
2c ol de
fnNo te
vaecmqbuei er shc ee in es

Your iiroposal being founded on the supposed impro-
priety of Herbert moving the Estimates, and the consequent
necessity of the Secretary of State for War being in the
House of Commons, renders the removal of the Duke of
Newcastle from his present office unavoidable. lint, although
you would regard this as the inevitable result of an official
arrangement, it is not to be supposed that it would be con-
sidered in this light by the public, or, indeed, by any im-
partial person. The dislocation of the Government would
be so great, and the reason assigned for it apparently so in-
adequate, that it could only be considered as a mode of
substituting one luau • for another. Although you. may be
far from entertaining any such desire, the transaetigolnzlisl,
receive no other interpretation. Injustice to the duke„ Ido
,vonotuthlidli‘lkisitlhtaot
place
ecolleagues,such 7aitih,oorttivonery” strong

lettersman w o
uLord
UndertakeA brde Aberdeen
the sdutiestad
which I proposed should be undertaken by one person—
tlhnatthhee
(outdhenrotp
art
thinkof any hiperson—
viz, those of Secretary of State for the War Department,
and, at the same time, Secretary at War. Ho considered it
to be necessary that a Privy Councillor's office should be
maintained, and that that office should beheld in connexion
with the finances of the army, independently of the
Secretary of State for the War Department. He stated
also—a consideration well deserving of attention—that it
might be de irable that hereafter some military chief, who
was in the House of Lords, should have the office, and,
therefore, it could not be always held by a member of the
House of Commons. I considered the various objections
of Lord Aberdeen, and on the 28th of November I wrote
as follows :

" I come, therefore, having cleared the ground of all these
obstructions, to the real question, what aro the requirements
of the great war in which we are engaged ? Setting aside all
historical references, both ou your
..luxrt and mine, I think it