The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-24 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 24, 1855.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY.)
Their lordships re-assembled last evening for the
despatch of public business.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at fire o'clock.
The Earl of Cardigan was present, and occupied a
seat below the gangway, on the Opposition side.
THANKS TO THE NAVY.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—I have to acquaint
your lordships that a few days ago I received the fol.
lowing letter from Admiral Dundas

"Britannia, at Malta, Jan. 6.
"My lord,—l have bad the honour this day to receive
your letter dated the 18th ult., transmitting the resolu-
tions of the House of Lords, expressive of the high sense
it entertains of the valuable services rendered by myself
and by the officers, seamen, and marines of the fleet lately
under my command.
" Having, on the 31st ult., transferred my command to
Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, I have transmitted a
copy of your letter to him, and the resolutions of the House
of Lords have been made known to the several officers who
were serving under me.
`.! I have also, in obedience to the order of the house,
forwarded to Admiral Hamelin the resolutions, thanking
that officer and the French navy for their cordial co.opera-
tion in the various services in whisk the combined fleets
have been engaged, and as Admiral Hamelin has also trans-
ferred his command, I have sent copies to Vice-Admiral
Bruat for communication to the French navy.
" The high honour and distinction the House of Lords
has thus been pleased to confer on myself, the officers, sea-
men, and marines of the fleet lately under my command,
will be received by all with deep gratitude and respect,
and I have to beg your lordship will be pleased to accept
my sincere thanks for the generous terms in which you
have conveyed to me the resolutions of the house.
" I have the honour to be, my lord,
"Your lordship's most obedient humble servant,
" J. W. D. DuNDAS, Vice-Admiral."
It was ordered that the letter should be inserted in
the journals of the house.
TROOPS SENT TO THE CRIMEA —THE CON-
DUCT OF THE WAR.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH gave notice that en
'Thursday next he should move for a return of the num-
ber of troops sent out to the Crimea, distinguishing the
infantry, cavalry, and sailors ; and also the number of
killed, wounded, sick, and otherwise disabled. The
noble earl ales intimated his intention of making some
observations on the general conduct of the war.
THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
Earl GREY gave notice that he would move an ad-
dress to the Queen in reference to the creation of the
office for the administration of the army.
THE ARMY AT THE CAPE.
Earl GREY also gave notice that on Thursday next
he should ask a question of the noble duke the Secre-
tary of State for the War Department respecting the
orders sent out to the Commander-in-Chief at the Cape
of Good Hope to send home the 12th and 91st Alegi-
, meats.
THE CRIMEAN MEDALS—A CLASP FOR
BALAKLAYA.
The Duke of RICHMOND—In pursuance of a
notice which I gave to my noble friend the Minister for
the War Department, and which I gave privately, be-
cause the house was not sitting, and I could not place
it on the votes, I rise to move for a copy of the order
which was issued for the purpose of granting a medal to
the army in the Crimea. (Hear, hear.) I call your
lordships' attention to the subject because I am quite
sure that the soldiers in the Crimea will feel grateful to
her Majesty for having given a Crimean medal with
clasps for Alma and Inkei man. I also think that when
her Majesty's Government gave" clasps for those two
splendid victories they did not go far enough, because
they omitted the victory at Balaklava. (Hear.) If your
lordship will refer to Lord Raglan's despatch, and he
must be a competent judge of the conduct of the troops
there engaged, you will see that he states that the con-
duct of the 93d Highlanders, in repulsing in single line
an attack of a large body of Russian cavalry, was mast
meritorious—(hear)—and that the conduct of the heavy
brigade of cavalry, overmatched in numbers as they
were, it was impossible to praise too highly. (Hear.)
And, my lords, we ought never to forget the splendid
conduct of the heroic and devoted band—the light
cavalry—(hear)---under the command of my noble friend
(the Earl of Cardigan), whom I am glad to see in his
place. (Cheers.) When we see what the conduct of
those heroic cavalry soldiers had been, when they were
seat to do what they knew it was utterly impossible for
them satisfactorily to carry out—when we found that
those men, surrounded by a large body of Russian
cavalry—hemrned in by infantry—swept from the field
by continuous discharges of grape from the enemy's bat-
teries, still retired, as we have learned from Lord Rag-
lan's despatch, in good order, and cut their way back to
their comrades, surely, my lords, no man can say that
Balaklava was not a victory. (Loud cheers.) Did
not the Russians attempt to turn our flank—did they
not attempt to raise the siege of Sebastopol! and
if it had not been for the gallant bearing and heroic
conduct of the soldiers there engaged the siege of Se-
bastopol would have been raised. (Hear, hear.) Will
not the people of this country, who speak so much of the
gratitude which they feel to their soldiers, say that the
army there engaged, both infantry and cavalry, have
the strongest claim to clasps with Balaklava placed upon
it I (Hear, hear.) know very well that up to a very
late period medals were not given for actions such as
those I have described. My lords, formerly, is the late
war, Parliament and the country were satisfied if they
gave ribbons and stars to the commanding officers of re-
giments, and to commanding officers of the army ; but
I am happy to say that that system is entirely exploded
now. (Hear, hear.) I wish to ask nay noble friend on
what ground it is that he has not given clasps for Bala-
klava, and I will ask him also whether it is the inten-
tion of her Majesty's Government to give the Crimean
tedal to the sailors who have lightened and shared
in t..e dangers, and participated in the victories,
in the Crimea ? (Hear, hear.) I cannot under-
stand why a private gunner in the royal artillery,
working a battery, should get a medal for work-
ing tha:alleattery, and that the man at the next gun,
subject to the same privations and dangers, should not
get the medal because he wears the blue jacket of a
sailor. (Hear, hear.) When men are doing equal duty,
and rearing their laurels from the same stem, why should
there be one rule for the one, and a different rule for
the other I (Hear, hear.) It is not necessary for me
to detain your lordships by describing the great pleasure
which the soldiers and sailors of England feel on receiv-
ing medals for actions in which they have distinguished
themselves. (Hear, hear.) I believe it is admitted now
by all that they do value these testimonials of their
country's and of Parliament's gratitude. (Hear, hear.)
What is the use to a private soldier of a vote of thanks
of Parliament ? It must be very gratifying to him
when he reads the paper signed by my noble friend on
the woolsack conveying the thanks of Parliament. It
may do very well so long as that man remains in that
ship or a that regiment ; but if a man is wounded and
comes horse, and if, when he goes back to his native
village and to his cottage, he speaks of the dangers he
has undergone and the triumphs he has achieved, he has
nothing—if he be without a medal—to show that he was
present in those actions. (Hear.) To remedy that want
is the object of the medal, so that the soldier on his re-
turn to his domestic hearth may be enabled to show with
pride upon his breast the mark that he had done some
good service for his country. (Hear, hear.) I object
also that her Majesty's Government do not give the
medal to the representatives of those who have fallen in
action. (Hear, hear.) I think there can be no reason
against it. (Hear.) Formerly there was this reason—
you delayed so long the giving of it to the Peninsular
and old war officers and sailors that there would be
great difficulty in finding out who were the persons
entitled to receive it as representatives. But now will
there, I ask, be more difficulty in findirg out the repre-
sentatives who are entitled to receive the war medals
than there is in finding out the persons who are entitled
to receive a portion of that Patriotic Fund which has
been so properly started by her Majesty—(hear) a fund
which does credit to the people of England from the way
in which they have subscribed to it. (Hear.) I think, how-
ever, that it should be a tax on the country at large, for
I do not see why you should ask the good, generous, and
liberal people of England to subscribe, when you know
well that the peacentongers, be they few or many, make
that an excuse for not subscribing to this fund. (Hear.)
If you can find the representatives of those who have
fallen, or who shall fall, in the Crimea, and when you
are giving to those representatives relief in money, there
is no reason why you should not give to them the honour
of I must apologise to your lord-
ships theip medal.sforb
bringing the
ging (Rear.)tht subject before the house, but I
feel most deeply the justice of the case of those peoples
that I have now ventured to allude to. (Hear.) I will
venture to say this—that in no part of our history has
there been an occasion on which the gratitude of the
country ought to be more called into action than the
present one, when our brave men have acted so nobly,
amidst great dangers and under great privations—the
necessity for which I stop not to inquire into, though
every man must admit that the privations have been of
no ordinary character. If any man come into the house
at the present moment, ho would think that I was
asking for a large grant of public money to reward those
brave and heroic men ; and I am only asking yOu to
give them a clasp in order that when they shall come
home they may go to their domestic hearth and show
that they have done service to their country. (Hear,
hear.) In conclusion the noble duke moved for the
order to which he referred at the commencement of his
speech.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE—I am sure your lord-
ships will feel that no apology was necessary on the part
of my noble friend for bringing forward this subject.'
On the contrary, I am sure that every one of your lord-
ships, as well as every one out of doors, feels the great-
est interest in a subject that involves the giving of re-
wards to those gallant men who are fighting our battles
in the Crimea. (Hear.) I am sure there is no person
more aware than my noble friend of the difficulty of ex-
erting a nice discrimination in the distribution of such
`honours as those to which he refers--wiroolh the giving

of clasps. He would not, I am sure, think it would be
right, throughout a long year or a protracted cam-
paign, that clasps should be given for every engage.
ment, however gallant, that might occur. Although no
general rule has been absolutely laid down, yet the gene-
ral practice has been that clasps should be given for
general actions when those general actions have led to a
victory. There can be no doubt that Alma and Inker-
man conic within that category, but I feel there is F omo
doubt with regard t Belaklava, though there can be no
doubt that every man engaged in that tattle was as
fully entitled to re ward and honour as any man who
took part in the other battles to which I have referred.
There might be a doubt with reference to Balaklava on
the ground I have mentioned, but her Majesty feels that
if there be a doubt, that doubt should be given in favour
of men who have so greatly distinguished themselves,
and she has trrected that a clasp coal! be given for the
action at Balaklava. (Rear, hear.) I trust it may not
be considered that the Governuient or the military autho-
rities arc about to depai t from the rule to which I have
referred by gotetiug this clasp ; but certainly I do feel,
after the comments that have been made on that action,
and the words that foil from my noble friend in call-
ing attention to the subject, that it would be ungracious
and undesirable that the reward should be withheld from
these gallant men. (Hear, hear.) I say with the
greatest confidence that in all the records of our battles
—whether fought by large numbers or by small—there
is no battle in which British troops have been engaged
in which greater gallantry and self-devotion, and more
unexampled fortitude have been shown than were dis-
played by the officers and men, both cavalry and in-
fantry, who were engaged at Balaklava. (Hear.) 'Having
disposed of the first of the observations of my noble
friend, I shall now come to the second part, in which
he called attention to some supposed defect in reference
to the mode of granting the Crimean medal. I do not
know whether the misapprehttision in the mind of my
noble friend arose from the despatch which I wrote to
Lord Raglan, but undoubtedly it was never intended
that the Crimean medal should be confined exclusively
to the soldiers actually engaged in those battles, nor was
it even intended that it should be confined to the
sailors who were engaged in manning the guns. (Hear,
hear.) Her Majesty feels, in giving the Crimean medal,
that the navy is as Justly entitled to that reward as the
army. No doubt the navy has not participated in all
the hard-fought engagements that took place, but they
have participated in great dangers, and have rendered
the most valuable assistance on every occasion to the
troops that were engaged. (Rear, hear.) Under these
circumstances, it has been always intended—and if
there has been any misapprehension on the subject I
thank my noble friend fur affording me this opportunity
of correcting it—that the medal for the Crimea should
be given not only to all the officers and soldiers, but to
all the officers and sailors who have been engaged in
that part of the world. (Hear, hear.) As to the third
point to which my noble friend has referred, here again
I am able to meet his observations in the spirit in which
he offered them. (Hear, hear.) My lords, I entirely
agree with my- noble friend, that if the families of
those who have fallen in engagements can derive con-
solation from the circumstance of possessing a medal
which would have belonged, if they had lived, to their
gallant
afford relatives,
itto them.(Bear, it is right,
should hear.)
My noble
friend has rightly said this evening that, as the system
heretofore has been, medals have been granted so long
after the service for which they have been conferred that
it has been impossible to give those medals to the repre-
sentatives of those who have fallen, because it would be
impossible in very many instances to ascertain them.
The same difficulty does not exist now, and a new
pre.
cedent may be made, which I believe to be a sound and
good one. In giving this medal her Majesty's Govern-
ment think that this wholesale innovation may be intro-
duced, and we propose that the medals shall be given to
the representatives of the officers and soldiers who fa 1
in the various actions. (Hear.) My noble friend will
see that to render this boon of value and of practical
effect it is absolutely necessary that the name should be
engraved upon the rim of the medal. When first the
medal for the Crimea was ordered, I had hoped that by
dispensing with this usual form we should have gained
the grea
t advantage gaereof
fightingsea din
for their country at a muchg out these medals to the
bravetraotp
earlier period than we could send them out if the name
were engraved on the rim of the medal. (Hear, hear.)
I hope this explanation may suffice, and if; for the pus--
pose of carrying out the object more effectively, some
two, three, or four months may elapse before the medals,
which' are very numerous, can be completed, I hope
those to whom they are granted will feel that there is
ne neglect. (Hear, hear.) I hope they will feel that it
is the impossibility of completing them that has caused
the delay, and I hope, also, that I have satisfied my
noble friend. (Hear, hear.) When the country recollects
the services that have been rendered, I am confident it
will approve of the determination of the Government
which I have now the pleasure to announce to your
lordships. (Hear.)
The Earl of HA.RDWICKE considered the plan of
the noble duke to be most liberal, and it-seemed to him
to go as far as even theimagination of any Iran could
expect. The noble clukujirapesed to,#ire, L 110.9 medals
to everybody, but he Oho 3eerl of Lrar wialco) Would ear
this, that if they gave dec,ra•ions and honours for the
iatiefaction of those who put them on, they must be
earned in some way or other, so that when a question
am put to the wearer of them, ho might be able to give
a ea' isfactory answer. Nothiug could be so degrading as
to wear a decoration that had not been earned, and if
those medals were to be given to officers and seamen
who merely had served in the Meek Sea, he felt they
would be unacceptable. (Hear.) From the knowledge he
had of the character of officers of his own profession,
from the desire they evinced on all occasions iu refer-
ence to the honours they might receive that these honours
should be fairly won, ho felt that this extremely
liberal distribution was likely to act in a contrary way
from that which was intended. (Hear.) If they de-
sired to make honours valuable, those to whom they gave
them must feel that they were deserved ; but if they
gave them to every one, those who had really earned
thorn would teel that those honours were depreciated by
giving them to those who had not earned them.
(Hear, hear.) It was a subject so far as it went
of some importance in this country, though not so
generally in Europe, and the decorations received
from the Sovereign should be rendered of value by
always giving them to those only who were deserving of
them. The custom had been to confer them on those
who had done great deeds, or
,had participated in them.
Those honours up to that time had been bestowed upon
those only who were under fire, except in the case of
a general action, where there was a reserved force, and
in that case medals were distributed, find very properly
so, to the reserve where they had obeyed orders and had
done their duty, and had performed as importaet a part
in obtaining the victory as the force that was actually
engaged. (Hear, hear.) He recommended his noble
friend, however liberal he might be in the distribution of
honours, to maintain the principle, and to make the
honours valuable to the officers and men who had earned
them. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH—The point to which
my noble friend has called the attention of the noble
duke is one of great importance. At a time when it is
intended to extend the grant of medals, it is well we
should truly understand on what principle they are given.
It so happened that I bad to distribute nearly 60,000
medals for good services performed in India, and I acted
upon one strict principle, which I would earnestly re-
commend for the adoption of the Government—l held it
to be wrong to give any medal unless for distinguished
service actually performed under the fire of the enemy.
My lords, that principle has not always been acted upon.
I know that men have received medals because they
bap piened to belong to corps which had contributed to
the general success by a position which they occupied ;
but I think that is a very false, a most erroneous, and a
deceptive system. (Hear.) When we see a man wearing
a medal, the meaning conveyed to our mind is, that that
man has done good service under five. For my part, I
never see a man wearing a medal -without coming to that
conclusion, and feeling disposed to give him my respect ;
but how can that feeling be entertained if men receive
medals who were never under fire at all ? Every pecu-
niary advantage
--every other advantage that can be be-
stowed on men who have a just claim, from having con-
tributed to success by the position they occupied, or by
having done all they could to engage the enemy—should
be given by the Government, but never that medal
which should be always the mark for good service
actually performed under fire. (Rear, elem..,
) And I
most earnestly recommend the adoption of that principle
to her Majesty's Government. (Rear, hear.,
) I rejoice
that the clasps are at length conceded for the action at
Balaklava. I rejoice to hear also that they are to be
granted to the seamen ; but I think the noble duke who
made the motion adverted only to the general order ero-
ceeding from the Horse Guards, which of course could
not include seamen. (sear, hear) I have seen no cor-
responding order from the Board of Admiralty, and I
do not think that the claims of the seamen in the batteries
—the strongest of all—have yet been noticed by the
Board of Admiralty. (Hear, hear.) I entertain the
strongest doubt about giving the Crimean medal to all
the men engaged in the ships in the Black Sea. I look
BO strictly to this matter that I would hesitate very much
how I gave medals indiscriminately even to all the sea-
men who were engaged in the attack of the 17th of
October. I should get strict information as to the
conduct of the men before I would do so, because I
most strictly would wish to give the medal according to
the rule I have laid down. (Herr, hear.) I am glad
the medals are sow to be given. I cannot eay how
much I regret there was ever any hesitation on the sub-
ject. (Mae.) What soldiers and sailors love, is
promptitude in rewarding their services. They are of
all men the most sensitive. Honour to theta is life.
Life without honour is not worth having, (Hear, hear.)
The only thing
they desire is personal distinction. It is
for this they rush into action, as did the men who fought
at Balaklava and enacted deeds of arms for which I can
scarcely find a parallel in history. (Hear, hear.) I can
find a parallel for the deeds at Alma, great as they were ;
I can find a parallel for • the deeds enacted at Inkerman,
still more remarkable as those deeds were, but I do ,not
see where I can find a parallel for the deeds performed
at Balaklava. (Hear, hear.) Cavalry have charged
guns before ; cavalry have charged infantry before ;
cavalry have charged cavalry before • but I know not
the inetance though there may be such, ill Which cavalry

have charged cavalry, infantry, and artillery, belonging
to a powerful army in position. (Hear.) I never heard
of such a thing, and I do, not believe that there exists
such a thing in history. (Hear, hear.) Why did it not
occur to the noble duke that to reward the army as it
should be rewarded, the medal for Balaklava should be
instantaneous ? When •Cu.rtius threw himself armed
into the gulf in order by the sacrifice of himself to pro-
mote the future glory of his country, he did not enact
or do'a deed of more desperate fidelity. (Hear, hear.)
He did not do an act of more absolute self-devotion
—(hear, hear)—than was performed by that cavalry
when they obeyed the order to charge. (Hear, hear.)
And let me not forget that noble regiment, the 93d—
(hear, hear) —who were under that gallant officer Sir
Cohn Campbell on that occasion. (Hear, hear.) They
justly felt confidence in that officer—one of the very first
officers we have—an officer who had the entire c,,nfi-
deuce cf the late gir Charles Napier for morn than ten
years, and who I believe had designated him on his
deathbed for that command in the army which I trust
he will hold. I say that they justly felt confidence in
that officer, and he justly felt confidence in them, and
it was that mutual confidence, and that mutual confi-
dence alone, which enabled them to receive the charge
of that mass of cavalry in that one single red line which
has so often secured the victory. (Hear, hear.) My
lords, I will say no more, but I cannot, I assure your
lordships, express the pain with which I have witnessed
the delay that has occurred in granting this honour.
It does not look well that there should be a doubt upon
the subject. (Hear.) It does not look well that the
communication of the concession should be deferred
until the noble duke moved for the general order in this
house and drew public attention to it. (Hear, hear.)
It is not well, also, that the medal for the great services
at the Cape of Good Hope should be deferred until the
noble duke again and again put a question upon the
subject in this house. (Hear.) Still more strange was
it that an occurrence which took place months ago
should not have been made known till a late period.
I will say no more at present, except to express my hope
that Ministers will look thoroughly into every circum-
stance connected with every particular action, and that
they will form their opinions on just and deliberate
grounds, and at once grant the honours they judge fit
to award. (Hear.)
' The Duke of RICHMOND—I have only seen the
general order from the Horse Guards, and I have not
seen any order from the Board of A.diniralty. Although
there may have been one from the board, I have not
seen it, and therefore I thought it right to bring the sub-
ject under the notice of your lordships ; for I believe
that the Royal Marines and the seamen who landed in
the Crimea have well deserved the honours that are to be
conferred on them. (Hear.) With respect to what has
fallen from my noble friend behind me, I must say that
I do not wish that any medal should be given to any
man unless he has been engaged in active warfare with
the enemy. I was never an advocate for the bestowal of
medals on the principle upon which they were given on
the occasion of the battle of Waterloo ; and lam of
opinion that the indiscriminate way in which they were
them bestowed was one reason why public opinion has
net gone with me since with respect to the distribution
of medals. There were some 15,000 men on the road,
who ware not actually engaged, who did not know that
the battle of Waterloo was fought until the next morn-
ing, and yet these men got the medals. (Rear, hear.)
The men who received medals should have been in posi-
tion, or should have been exposed to fire, or should have
been in a general action. (Hear.) There was one re-
giment at Waterloo, commanded by a general officer
lately deceased, of which a certain number of the men
belonging to one of the battalions were glad to go away
with the wounded, and who did not come back again
that evening. They were brave men, but their com-
manding officer knew that after they had taken the
wounded men to the rear, where the the baggage was,
they amused themselves by looking at what was in the
baggage. (Laughter.) That officer ordered an inquiry,
and it is on record, and I do not wish to mention the
regiment ; but in that battalion there were sixteen or
seventeen men whom the court of inquiry awarded had
not given sufficient reasons for their absence from duty,
and therefore those men should not have get the medal.
Hear.) When one calls into consideration what has been
done by the army in the Crimea, it is self-evident that
every man there has nobly done his duty. When it is
remembered that there were six to one against them,
every person feels satisfied that they have all deserved
well of their country. (Cheers.) My lords, I will either
move for these returns, or I will withdraw my motion,
after my noble friend's speech ; or I will now move for
the order issued by the Horse Guards, and on a future
occasion move for any order of a similar nature which
may have been issued by the Board of Admiralty.
. _

The Duke of NEWCASTLE—Under the circum-
stances, perhaps, the better course for my noble friend
to propose would be to postpone his motion to a future
day.
The Duke of RICHMOND acquiesced in the sugges-
tion, and postponed his motion to a future day.
The Earl of WINCHILSEA gave notice that be would
on an early day draw the attention of their lordships- to
the course taken by this country with respect to the Cri-
mean wars, and that he would then give the noble duke
at the heart of the War Department the opportunity of
replying to the statements published throughout the
country, that the reporter of one of the leading journals
bid been sent out to the East with the sanction and
authority of her Majesty's Government, awl that a part
or the whole of his expenses had been paid by the
country.