The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-02 00:00:00

•
Ztg, A4.4-‘

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1855.

Lord GODERICH'S motion for an address to her
MAJESTY, on the subject of promotion in the
Army, was last night rejected by a majority of
44, there being 158 against, and only 114 in its
favour. The advocates for military reform should
not, however, be discouraged on that account.
Few questions have received such respectable sup-
port on the first occasion of being brought for-
ward, more especially when au " aged vice" was

the object of attack, and a large proportion of
those whose votes were demanded possessed " a
veeted interest" in retaining matters in statn quo.
Indeed the discussion and subsequent division

may be regarded as conclusive. The stone has
been set in motion, which will acquire velocity as
it proceeds, until in its irresistible progress it
prostrates every impediment, and creates a breach
much wider than would have been demanded in
the first instance. Concessions that would now
be joyfully received will on a future occasion be un-
hesitatingly rejected. The " pressure from with-
-071," already sufficiently marked, will become more
decided, and a radical change must be effected
where a fair modification would now be thank-
fully accepted.
Mr. FREDERICK Pssi. was, in virtue of his
position, put forward as the champion of the
existing abuses. It was possibly in reference to
this very subject that ke was pitchforked into the
situation, for which he certainly possesses no very

extraordinary qualifications. Mr. LAYARD had

too earnest a feeling as to the necessity of im-
proving the very foundation of our Military
system, of affording hope of promotion
to the meritorious officer or soldier, and
showing that an efficient person might hope

to rise in the service, albeit, without rank or
money, to be gi the right man" for the supporters
of the system. He was therefore deprived of the
situation which had but a few days previously
been tendered to him, and the fortunate young
gentleman taken from the Colonial-office, where
he might be useful, and placed in the War-office,
with the duties whereof he was wholly unac-
quainted. In vindication of the appointment,
however, he last night put forward his most
pompous platitudes, in order to show the vast ad-
vantages incidental to the sale and purchase of
commissions rather than promotion either by
-I""u'ritY, as in the Engineers and Artillery, or
by merit, as supposed to be in the Royal
Navy. Re
also endeavoured to prove that the
a
position of deserving ed officer
was by no means non-wnimissiin
improved by promotion. If his
arguments could be sustained, then not only has
every recent movement of the Horse Guards been
in the wrong direction,- but we should go back to
the old system, and make purchase the only pos-
sible way of attaining military or even naval or
civil rank. The Hon. Gentleman should himself
have paid pretty smartly for his Under-Secretary-
ship, with the chances of further promotion in
the Ministerial ranks which it holds out.

Another argument put forward was as to the
pecuniary results, and the compensation which
the country might be required to pay to those
who had purchased their rank, if the system were
now altered, and they could no longer dispose of
what they had bought. It is unnecessary, how-
ever, to enter on this point. The most strenuous
reformer would not, we believe, hesitate at any
expenditure necessary to establish the military
system on a sounder basis, and to produce the
greatest efficiency, not only 'amongst the officers,
but also in the men, by affording the strongest
stimulant to zeal, energy, ability, and steadiness.
Objections may unquestionably be urged against
the in,
arasole promotion by seniority—that re-
cognises no claim
for services, however distin-
guished, a,p d against that which gives everything ,

The labours of the Grand Inquest now sitting,
under the presidency of Mr. ROEBUCK, would, we
are inclined to think, be a good deal facilitated if
it were taken for granted that everything at-
tempted in connection with the War has been set
about on the principle of doing it in the worst
conceivable way, and in utter recklessness of what
might be the consequences. A good deal, doubt-
less, might be said in favour of the supposition
that what was apparently attempted was never
designed to be done ; but, as this would be re-
garded as an extreme view of the matter, it is as
well that it should give place to one so moderate

as the preceding.
If this be not entertained and acted upon, the
gentlemen of the Grand Inquest will run a great
risk of being bewildered for want of a cue, as
blunder after blunder, to use the popular phrase,
presses on their attention ; for how else are they
to account for so uninterrupted a succession ? A
blunder they well know is an event of an excep-
tional nature ; consequently, if there is little else
than apparent blunders, the presumption is ap-
pearances have proved deceptive, and what seem
to b• blunders are not so in reality, but the
result of design.

Passing over the selection of Varna, notoriously
an unhealthy locality, as a halting-place--the in-
vasion of the Crimea and the Siege of Sebastopol,
with inadequate forces, at the worst possible
period of the year, all of which, by the way,
favour the supposition we have humbly hazarded,
let us turn to the housing and provisioning of
our troops, and see whether the principle has
been carried out there. In a country so
cold in winter as the Crimea, so fickle at all
times, and far removed from this country, the
materials for shelter and fire could not, one would
think, be procured too near, or with too great
regularity and speed. Such, it would appear on
our hypothesis, was the opinion of the offieials
both at home and abroad, for they have most un-
questionably adopted the very worst modes to
secure these desiderata.

Within twelve hours' sail of the port of Bala-
klava an abundance of wood, coal, sheep, cattle,
fowl, fruit, vegetables and forage, have been
available from the hour of landing to the present
moment, and some of these almost at the mere
cost of transport. Of course no advantage has
been taken of the fact. Huts, firing, and pro-
visions must be brought from this country at all
risks. Everybody knows the result. Thousands
on thousands of our gallant soldiers have
fallen victims to the want of adequate shelter
and suitable food. Dieted on salt pork and bis-
cuits, the soldier, fresh from a too-prolonged ex-
posure to the inclemency of the weather, found in
his chilly tent no means of restoring lost heat and
wasted strength. Then came dysentery, and other
diseases having a like origin, and did their work.
Nature, at 12 hours' distance, bountifully offered
the means of life and health. Red-tapism, how-
ever, could not countenance the notion that
Nature could be bountiful out of Great Britain.
So the fruit and vegetables on the Anatolian
shores of the Black Sea were suffered to rot, the
cattle, sheep, and poultry to increase and mul-
tiply, the forests to grow still more rank—and the
coal to remain unwrought. Huts and firing, long
wanting, came, it is true, at last, but only when
they had almost ceased to be wanted.
The treatment of the hordes has closely re-
sembled that of the men. Forage must be brought
them from this country. It was sent, but arrived
so irregularly that the animals, weakened by ex-
posure, have died by hundreds of starvation.
Others, again, have died of sheer exhaustion, after
working as long as they could knee-deep in the
muddy roads between the camp and Balaklava.
Yet all this while an abundance of wood (for
stabling), of forage, and of buffaloes, animals best
adapted for such work on such roads, was to be
had within twelve hours' sail. It is scarcely
within the verge of possibility that this was not
known—for it is notorious that now and then the
barque of some rascally Greek arrived from the
Anatolian shore, laden with fowls, vegetables,
S-c., to be sold at the most exorbitant prices.
But why proceed with a subject so revolting ?
Justice will not be done, and there is reason to
fear the principle we have suggested will practi-
cally be carried out further. Government mean
to avail themselves of the resources to which we
have called attention, but, according to a writer
in Bentley, evidently well acqutLinted with the
subject, after the clumsiest fashion. Instead of
selecting for head-quarters Tium or Samsun, the
points from which alone access to the interior of
Asia Minor is tolerably easy, it is understood they
have selected Sinope ; the best port, it is true,
but having little or no intercourse with the in-
terior.

FUNERAL OF THE LATE JOSEPH Hums.:—Yesterday
morning the remains of this gentleman we .3re removed
from his town house, Bryanston-square, .Marylebone
(to which they had been conveyed from Be Imlay Hall,
by special train of the Eastern Counties I Zailway), to
Ke nsal-green Cemetery, Harrow-road, acct irding to the
wish of the deceased. The funeral arrange manta were
of a most unostentatious character.
A deputation of the Court of Aldermen cal the subject
of a Lunatic
consisted of Myr,
Asylum, had an interview whiz k hir George
Grey yesterday, at the Home-office. The ,'deputation
A deputation frometPty Rurnembrancer.
Cubitt, M.P., and the Farebrother, Mr. Alderman
consisting of Mr. Josiah Wilkinson
and Trustee 3 Society,
and Mr. F. H. Robinson (,Okinson, Mr. Geori ;-e Harris,
London
of ! frade.
PArliamentary agent, hailiraenctors), and Mr. Clabon,
Stanley of Alderley yesterday at the Board wi th Lord
A Queen's messenger arrived in
%Ali yesterday afternoon from Constmtinopi'e,at 2. o'clock
des-
patches from the Commander of the Force
Crimea for Lord Paninure, Secretary of State i :or s in
the
War.
A deputation of licensed victuallers from Sc. aithwark
consisting of Messrs. Foster, White, Harris, G • ,
. rimes,
and Candelet, had an interview with Sir Wil: 11' dm Moles-
worth, yesterday, at the office of Public 1 Vorks and
Buildings, Whitehall.
A deputation on behalf of water and gar i companies,
as affected by the Public Health Act Ame ndment Bill,
had an interview yesterday with the Prr ,sident of the
General Board at his office, Whitehall. f .he deputation
consisted of Messrs. Baxter, Shadwell, gawkins, and
James.