The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-28 00:00:00

IN O, APRI L 28 185

Armac,rh against the Mayrrooth grant ; by Mr.- Horsfall,
from Liverpool, with a similar prayer; by Mr. 0. Gore,
from a place in Shropshire, praying that the public-
I oases might be closed the whole of Sunday ; by Mr.
Dundas, from a place in Scotland, against the proposed
Scotch spirit duty.
NOTICES OF MOTION.

Mr. LAYARD gave notice that on an early day he
should move a series of resolutions to- the effect that the
house viewed with deep and increasing concern the actual
state of the nation. 'Whilst atall times the administration
of public affairs should be entrusted to those beat qualified
it was the more necessary that there should be so at a
moment of great national emergency. That the manner
in which the interest 9 of party favouring influence had
been consulted in preference to merit in appointments to
the highest offices of State diplomacy, the army, and
other branches of the public fiervice, was opposed to the
best interests of the State, and had already given rise to
many great misfortunes, and were calculated to bring
discredit on the national character, and involve the
country in much distress. That the house would give its
support to any Ministry which in the present emergency
should propose to place the different departments on a
proper and efficient basis in those respects.
SIR JAMES BROOKE.

Mr. SCOTT asked her Majesty';Government whe-
ther the reports of the commissioners appointed to in-
quire into the position and proceedings of Sir James
Brooke would be laid before Parliament prior to the
Whitsuntide recess ?
FLOATING BATTERIES.

Mr. HUTCHINS asked the First Lord of the Ad-
miralty whether the screw pr Tellers made for the new
floating batteries had not been found insufficient, and
whether the batteries had not been again placed in dock
to have another screw to each added ?
Sir C. WOOD replied that he had not heard of any-
thing being the matter with them ; at all events it was
quite certain they had not been placed in dock. (Hear.)
OFFICERS' WIDOWS.

General WYNDHAM asked the Under Secretary for
War whether any and what arrangements had been
made for granting pensions to the widows of the general
and other officers who had been killed in the Crimea ?

Mr. F. PEEL said he was not aware of any new ar-
rangement having been made with this view, but pen-
sions were usually granted to the widows of officers who
fell in action, or in the service of the country. (Hear.)
NATIONAL EDUCATION.

Mr. MILES asked the right hon. member for Droit-
wich whether it was his intention to make an alteration

in Committee in his Bill for the better Encouragement of
Education in England and Wales, in the words by
which he proposed to raise money for educational pur-
poses, by substituting parochial for union charges.
Sir J. PAKINGTON said it was his intention" to pro-
pose the alteration indicated by the hon. member when
the bill was in'committee.
ARMY MEDICAL OFFICERS.

Col. DUNNE asked the Under Secretary for War
whether it was the intention of the Government to asso-
ciate a civil practitioner with the military medical offi-
cers who direct that department of the army ; to state
who had been selected, and whatamount of payhe was to
receive ; also, whether he was to become subject to the
articles of war ?
Mr. F. PEEL replied that it was the intention of the
Government to send out a civil practitioner with the
military medical officers alluded to ; but he was not pre-
pared at that moment to furnish the further particulars
sought by the hon. and gallant member.
JUVENILE OFFENDERS.
Mr. ADDERLEY asked the Secretary of State for
the Home Department whether it was his intention to in-
troduce a short bill to supply the defect in' the Youthful
Offenders Act of efficient provisions,for recovering; in
fit cases, from parents, a portion of the coat of their
children's maintenance at Reformatories ?

Sir G. GREY said there had been found to be some
practical objections to the matter referred to by the hon.
member, but as a bill would be shortly introduced by
an hoe. member on the subject it could be further con-
sidered.

MORTAR AMMUNITION AND SHELLS.
Colonel WYNN asked the Clerk of the Ordnance
whether there was any truth in the report that many of
the fusees fitted to the shells fired from the mortars in
the batteries before Sebastopol were made so long ago
as 1798, 1801, 1804, and 1812 ; whether it was true that
the powder employed to fill many of the shells was da-
maged powder restoved, instead of being fresh and good
powder ; and whether the new pattern fusees made in
1852 and subsequently had not frequently been found to
be inefficient? '
Mr. MONSELL said that all the 12-inch fusees sent
from Woolwich were made in the years 1853 and 1854.
The 13-inch fusees sent from Malta might have been of
older date. With regard to the second part of the
question, he might say that re-stoved powder was gene-
rally used for such purposes. As to the last part, the
fusees bad not been found inefficient; as they were on an
improved principle. (Hear, bear.)
OFFICERS' HORSES IN THE CRIMEA.
Colonel WYNN asked the Under Secretary for War
whether it was the intention of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to give any compensation to those officers whose
horses (provided at their own expense) had been de.
Buoyed by the labour they had been subjected to in
bringing up from Balalilava to the camp clothing, medi-
cal comforts, and provisions for the soldiers : whether
aay compensation would be given to those officers whose
horses were left behind at Varna when the army em-
barked from thence to the Crimea?

Mr, F. PEEL said that compensation was always
,made to officers who lost their horses in the country's
service, but he could not say whether' the regulation
would apply to the instance pointed out by the gallant
member, as it would depend upon the circumstances of
the case. No application had, however, been made to
him At present.
THE CASE OF LUIGI DURANELLI.
Mr. BRIGHT moved, that the house at its rising do
wl:rurn until Monday, in order to have an opportunity
of calling the attention of the Home Secretary to
the case of this uni trtunate man now under
sentence of death. He understood that many medical
gentlemen were of opinion that the loan way insane when.
he committed the crime with which he was accused, and
he had beard that Mr. Shaw, a medical practitioner,
and a person most competent to judge as to the
prisoner's state of mind, bad been subpoenaed by the
Crown, but bad not been called and examined, it having,
been ascertained that his evidence would be favour-
able to the prisoner.

Sir G. GREY said he had made inquiries into this
subject, and had consulted the learned judge who bad
tried the case (Mr. Justice Erle), and was fully satisfied
of the prisoner's criminality. With regard to what took
place at the trial he was not aware of the fact
alluded to by the hon, member, and was not therefore
in a position to pass an opinion upon it.
PROMOTIONS IN THE ARMY—STATEMENTS OF
MR. LAYARD.
Mr. EWART said the hon. member for Aylesbury bad
some days ago, at Liverpool, publicly stated that of the
officers promoted to appointments on Lord Raglan's staff
in the Crimea, only one, a relative of-his (Mr. Ewart's) had
gained a first-class certificate at Sandhurst. The hon. mem-
ber added that he did not know whether the officer to
whom he referred owed his appointment to any Podia-.
mentary influence, but he hoped not. With respect to the
first portion of that statement, that his (Mr. Ewart's) rela-
tive was the only officer on the staff in the Crimea who
had received such a distinction at Sandhurst, ho thought
it only due from him—nay, a most imperative duty—to
state at once that that was an inaccurate representation—_
(hear) and he was convinced that nothing could be more
painful to the feelings of his relative than that he should
stand in this unjitst and, ho might add, this painful position.
(Hear, hear.) There were many meritorious officers serving
on. the staff in the Crimea who had obtained the same
distinction as himself. (Hear, hear.) The honourable'
gentleman, therefore, had committed an error unintention
ally, having, in fact, adverted to one return, and omitted
to notice the previous one. He knew the hon. gentleman
the Under Secretary for War would do justice to those offi.-
cers, but the immediate question he felt bound to put was
one affecting himself as well as his relative, whether any
such influence had been used in his favour as was distinctly
pointed at in the statement of the hon. member for Ayles-
bury, directly, indirectly, or in any degree whatever; and
whether his relative owed the position he had obtained to
any other cause than his zealous and ardent endeavours to
discharge his duty to the State?
Mr. H. BARING said he found in a newspaper of the
day previous the following statement of ,the services of
officers recently promoted in the Coldstream Guards, made
under the sanction of the name of the hon. member for
Aylesbury :
C. J. Burdett, 19 years' service, without purchase ; no ac-
tive service.
J. W. Newdigate, 15 years' service, without purchase ; no
active service.
`Lord Dunkellin, 9 years' service, by purchase • Alma.
W. G. Dawkins, 11 years' service, without purchase; Alma.
C. W. Strong, 16 years' service, without purchase ; Alma;
Inkerman.
C. F. Wilson, 16 years' service, by purchase; West Indies,
Alma, Inkerman.
Lord Burghersh (son of Lord Westmoreland), 12 years' ser-
vice, without purchase ; staff.
Hon. A. Harding° (son of Lord Hardinge), 11. years' ser-
vice, without purchase ' • staff.
Now, it did so happen that the last two officers were men
who had seen more service than any of the officers whose
names stood before them. With respect to Lieut.-Colonel
Lord Burghersh,he had 'served through the whole campaign
of the Punjaub in 1846, and had also been present at Almi,
the despatches announcing which victory he was thought
worthy to convey hone. With regard to Lieut.-Col. the
Hon. Arthur Hardinge,he had been through the campaign of
the Sutlej, where he was present in three general engage-
ments, and he understood had a horse killed under him ; he
was present at the battle of Alma, and was in the charge at
Balaklava, where he accompanied the. Scots Greys in their
successful charge, headed by Gen. Scarlett—(cheers)—and
last, though not least, he was at the battle of Inkerman.
(Renewed cheers.) He would be glad to know why, in the
hon. member's opinion, the ominous and unpalatable word
"staff" was the only one which could be applied to desig-
nate the services of those two distinguished officers? (Hear.)
He asked whether the lion, member was aware that the
services of those two distinguished officers had been omit-
ted from the usual record, or whether.they might attribute
it to the high-minded and generous feeling of the hon.
member for Aylesbury—(loud cheers from both sides of the
house)--that he had omitted all mention of their services,assaor
because the onehappened to be the son of an
.anmh
_e
and the other son to the general Commanding-in-Chief
speech
General PEEL regretted extremely to be obliged to call
the attention of the house to another
delivered by the hon. member at Liverpool,Pang
adverted. But he
e toofthe
which
hon. member for Dumfries had alreadiy_,m the
i that when
thought the house would agree with
an accusation was made against an w.officer.chichfo,ldtihnagt thhoe
hdiasd-
tinguisbed position of Commander-in
when
hear)—still more especially
been guilty of scandalous
(hear, conduct iu refe.rence to promo-
tions in the army— when an oppor-
his own son was concerned—(bear)—nlanemd
ber of retracting
tnuitybad baba atforde
and he had refused.to do so--:then that an,
this statement, „
e. afforded him lir .place in that
opportunity. shop ~,
house of rePeating_ the accusation, and stating the ground&
on
hich be made it.(Lolid.cries of " hear, hew.") He
had ay persona
w feeling ngauat tto Loa, m 11Q.
ember ;