The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-19 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1855.

The Report of the Select Committee appointed
on Mr. ROEBUCK'S motion was last night pre-
sented to the House of Commons. From the
anxious care displayed by the Government in the
selection of its members, and their palpable adhe-
sion to the principle laid down by one of their
number, Sir CHARLES WOOD, at the time of the
nomination of the Commercial Crisis Committee,
it was tolerably clear that everything practicable
would be done to screen the delinquents through
whose misconduct the privations and sufferings of
as gallant a body of men as were ever sent forth
from any country were occasioned, and who were
responsible for a large proportion of the mortality
by which the ranks of that gallant army was
thinned—whose apathyand indifference occasioned
a far greater destruction of human life than the
Russian shot or steel. The attempt to do this is
manifest ; but, despite the Ministerial bias
of a majority of the Committee—despite
their resolution to prevent the most startling
revelations—facts have been elicited of the most
heartrending character, which fasten criminality
of a very serious description on some of the mem-
bers of the ABERDEEN Cabinet, and on sundry
subordinate officials, and which prove beyond the
possibility of doubt the imperative necessity of a
large and comprehensive measure of Administra-
tive Reform—a total change in the system under
which such intolerable abuses were possible, and
the exemplary punishment of those responsible
therefor, through sins either of omission or com-
mission. If a boiler bursts through the negligence
or incompetency of the party in charge, he may
be convicted of the manslaughter of all who have
lost their lives through his default ; and shall we
suffer the destruction of thousands of our fellow-
subjects to remain unavenged because the offend-
ers are of a better class, or because the victims
were sacrificed on the altar of routine, in strict
accordance with a long collection of vicious pre-
cedents 7 No. England, justly indignant, de-
mands that retributive justice shall fall on those
who have so deeply injured the best and bravest
of her children, and that the delinquents shall
bitterly expiate the wrongs and evils for which
they are justly responsible.
Fortunately, the House of Commons is not
limited to the diluted Report. It has also the
evidence on which it was founded. The answers
to more than twenty-one thousand questions re-
main on record, as abundant data to warrant
much more stringent and decisive conclusions than
the carefully-chosen Committee were willing to
arrive at. Much valuable information was con-
cealed in consequence of the decision of a majority
of the Committee not to allow the production of
the secret instructions from the Board of Ad-
miralty to the Commanders of the Baltic and
Euxine Fleets, and to restrain the publica-
tion of other matters, where publicity was
especially desirable. But there is still suffi-
cient not merely to justify, but imperatively
to demand, the speedy and decisive action of the
chosen representatives of the British people.
It is impossible within the limits of a single
article to enter at any length into the various
points referred to in the deplorable narrative of
privation and suffering on the one side, and of
gross inefficiency and culpable negligence on the
other. The heads of the inquiry conducted by
the Committee were—.

cc Ist.---The condition of our army before
Sebastopol.

"2dly.—The conduct of the departments, both
at home and abroad, whose duty it has been to
minister to the wants of that army."
will ex-
The matters relating to the first topic
cite the deepest sympatby—to the second the
fierce and burning indignation of the people.
There is, indeed, abundant materials for both, and
our first care should be to make the utmost
amends to the sufferers, and if we do not
aeverely punish the wrong doers, at least to