The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-07 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT•

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.)

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the wool-
sack at five o'clock.
PETITIONS.
Lord LONDESBOROUGH presented two petitions
praying for the total prohibition of the sale of intoxi-
cating liquors.
Lord LYNDHURST presented a petition from New-
litatle-upon-Tyne, against the present system of promo-
n in the army, against flogging in the army, and pray-
la a searching inquiry into the war.
Lbrd BROUGHAM presented a petition from Pais-
ley in tupport of a vigorous prosecution of the war ; the
petitioners further prayed that the.independence of Po-
land might be proclaimed, and thatiithe aid of Hungary
and Italy ought to be secured.
Lord BERNERS presented several petitions against
the Maynoeth grant.
Lord LUCAN gave notice that, on Thursday, he
should call the attention of the house to the land trans-
port service in the Crimea.
The Earl of CARLISLE presented a petition from
Yorkshire, in favour of a total prohibition of the sale of
intoxicating drinks.
LORD LUCAN AND THE GOVERNMENT.

Lord LUCAN, approaching their lordships' table, said 1
be regretted being compelled again to present himself I
before their lordships.
Earl GRANVILLE interposed and said, if the noble '
lord intended to speak upon the same subject which he
had before done, he submitted that it would be highly
incorrect in the absence of the noble lord the Minister
of War and the Commander-in-Chief for him to do so.
Lord LUCAN said he was in the bands of the house,
and he felt himself fully justified in again presenting
'mself to their lordships' notice. The noble lord was
ben about to enter into his case in respect to his con-
u ctin the Crimea, when
Earl GREY apologised for interrupting the noble lord,
but said he felt strongly the inconvenience of the course
he was pursuing. The noble lord came forward to read
'fitters and public documents which were not thrown on
their lordships' table. If the noble lord wished to
have the documents produced, he should make a
motion for their production, and when they were placed
upon the table it would then be in his power to raise the
whole question. The course he was now pursuing was
contrary to the rules of the house.
Lord LUCAN said he had no desire to proceed
irregularly.
- Earl GREY----,Well, then, make a motion.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE was sure the noble
lord would see the inconvenience of proceeding as he
was now doing.
Lord PANMURE, who had -just entered the
house, apologised for his absence on Friday when
the noble lord addressed the house.
Lord LUCAN hoped that his lordship would have
no objection to • his reading a letter which he had re-
ceived from the noble lord opposite yesterday after-
noon. (Laughter.) He then read the following letter
from Lord Panmure :
" My dear Lord,—As I perceive- that you bad read
an incomplete correspondence last Friday in the House
of Lords, I think it right to forward to your lordship
a copy of Lord Raglan's despatch, dated the 16th of
December, and addressed to the Duke of Newcastle.
(Signed) "PANMURE."
I did not know of the existence of this paper, and for
reasons best known to the late Government, or rather
to the noble lord himself. It is a paper which I think
ought to have been produced long since. Now, my lords,
I hold this paper in my hand, and as I do not intend to
offer a single word of comment upon it, I shall certainly
read it, unless I am stopped by your lordships' house,
and for this reason, because I think that I should not
be acting fairly by the Government, or by Lord Raglan,
if I did not take the earliest opportunity of putting your
lordships and the public in possession of the facts of
the case. The noble marquis, to whom there is no peer
more ready than I am to yield deference, says that so
long as "I refrain from itey comments I am justified in
reading this litter." I shall take advantage of this per-
mission :

"Before Sebastopol, Dec. 16, 1854.
"My Lord Duke,—l regret to be under the necessity of
forivarding to your grace the copy of a letter which has
been addressed to me by Lieutenant-General the Earl of
Lucan. When I received it I placed it in the hands of
Brigadier-General Airey, the Quartermaster-General, and
requested him to suggest to his lordship to withdraw the
communication, considering that it would not lead to his
advantage in the slightest degree; but Lord Lucan having
declined to take the step recommended I have but one
course to pursue, that of laying the letter before your
grace and submitting to you such observations upon it as
I am bound in justice to myself to put you in possession
of. Lieut.-General the Earl of Lucan complains that in
my despatch to your grace of the 28th of October, I
stated that' from some misconception of the instruction
to advance the lieutenant-general considered that he was
bound to attack at all hazards.' His lordship conceives
this statement to be a grave charge, and an imputation re- '
fleeting seriously upon his professional character, and he
deems it to be incumbent upon him to state the facts,
which he cannot doubt must clear him from what he re-
spectfully submits is altogether unmerited. He has re-
lerred to my despatch, and far from being willing to alter
One word of it, I am prepared to declare that not only did
the lieutenant-general misconceive the written instruction
that was sent him, but that there were nothing in that in-
struction which called on him to attack at all hazards, or
to undertake the operation which led to such a brilliant.
display of gallantry on the part of the Light Brigades
and unhappily, at the same time, occasioned such lament-
able casualties in every regiment composing it. In I: is
lordship's letter he is wholly silent with respect to :1
previous order which had been sent him. He merely
says that the cavalry was formed to support an intend s 1
movement of the infantry. That previous order was *L-i
the following words ` The cavalry to advance and ta'Ku
advantage of any opportunity to recover the heigh
They will ba supported by infantry which have been sr-
tiered to advance on two fronts.' This order did not widen
to me to have been att ended to ; and, therefore, it was
that the instruction by 'Captain Nolan was forwarded to
him. Lord Lucan must have read the first order
very little attention, fc r he now states that cavalry w is
formed to support the iinfantry, whereas he was told Ivy
Brigadier-General Airey; `that the cavalry was to advances
and take advantage of any opportunity to recover tho
heights, and that they t Could be supported by infantry'—
not that they were to rapport the infantry ; and so little
had he sought to do as he had been directed, that he hr
no men in advance of his main body,'lnade no attempt to
regain the heights, and was so little informed of the pesiti ea
of the army, that he a eked Captain Nolan ` where and what
Les-was to attack, as r ,either enemy nor guns were in siert:
This, your Grace wi 11 observe, is the lieutenant-general's
own admission. TI ie result of his inattention to the first
order was, that it never occurred to him that the see° no.
was connected with i and a repetition of the first. Ho viewei I
it only as a positiv' a order to attack at all hazards (the wort I.
attack,* be it ohs srved, was not made use of in General
Airey's note) an t!.nknown • enemy, whose position, flume -
hers, and oempos-iti on he was wholly unacquainted wit)l,
and whom, in toe sequence of a previous order, he ha t
taken rio step wlle toyer to watch. I undoubtedly had n o
intention that he should make such an attack ; there W 3 a
notVng in the ire etruction to require it, and therefore I
conceive I was ally justified in stating to your grace what
was the exact latenth, that the charge arose from the mils-
conception of sat order for the advance, which Lord Lucan
tonsidfixed, didiged him to attack at all hazards. I wish I
couldaaef, my lord duke, that having decided against hie
convitti on to make the movement, he did all he could to
render it as little perilous as possible. This, indeed, is far
from' oeing the case in my judgment. He was told that
the ioese Artillery might accompany the eavalrv. He
did not bring it up. Ye was informed that the Frenah
cr fairy was on his left. He did not invite their CI,-
peration. He had the whole of the heavy cavalry at
his disposal. He mentions having brought up only two
regiments in support, -and he omits all those pre na-
tions either from want, of "due consideration or from
the supposition that the unseen enemy was not in with
great force as he apprehended, notwithstanding that
he was warned of it by Lord Cardigan after the latter bad
received the order to attack. lam much concerned, my
lord duke, to have to submit these observations to y our
grace. I entertain no wish to disparage the Earl of 14710,11
in your opinion, or to cast a slur upon his profession:, re-
putation, but having been accused by his lordship of hav-
ing stated of him what was unmerited in my despa tali, I
have felt obliged to enter into the subject, and trou.Me your
grace at more length than I could have wished in v indica-
tion of a report to your grace, in which I had strictly con-
fined myself to that which I knew to be true. I had in-
dulged in no observations whatever, or in any ex7xessions
which could be viewed either as harsh or in any- -way grat-
in to the feeling of his lordship.—l have, Stc,.._

``RAGLAN.

" To his Grace the Duke of Newcastle."
Now, my lords, nearly at the same time at which I
received this letter, [ received another from the Gene-
ral Commanding-in-Chief, in answer to au application
which I had forwarded to the noble lord :--
"Horse Guards, March 5, 1855.
"My Lord,—l have had the honour to submit to the
General Commanding-in-Chief your letter of the 2d
of March inst., reporting your arrival iu London, and re-
swatting that your conduct in ordering the charge of the
e2astb
ltiit Cavalry Brigade at the action of lalaklava, on the
of October last, and writing the etter you addressed
t'Zita-liarahal Lord Raglan on the 30th of November,
Marshal
and investigated by a court-martial.
state ran reply that, by the General Comotanding-in-Chisf to
respondence „wiliatth. after a careful review of the whole cor-
her Majesty that so passed, he cannot recommend to
Your lordshi
tions should be invoatia,A ship's conduct in those transao-
" I hare the honour-to Tat by a court-martial.
obedient servant, my lord, your lordship's most

InEcT9RALL, AM.
"•
NIT
" Lieutenant• General the Earlof
7,4aftenticneooonf which I
Having read this letter, with the
was not acquainted until yesterda
appears so entirely altered, that I think my„lfindrllica_s,;
to read finis letter to the General Cornmading.in.ede`f",
which I have delivered to him this da y•—

_
"Hanover-square, March 5.
" Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
pour letter, informing me that the Commander-in-Chief
+cannot recommend that my conduct should be investigated
by a court-martial. Until this day I have been kept un-
informed of the letter from Lord Raglan. It appeared,
to have been addressed by his lordship to the blinister
when forwarding mine of the 30th of November last. This
letter contains entirely new matter, and is replete with new
eharges re&eting more seriously than before on my pro-
fes.sional judgment and character. There is now imputed
to me, and for the fir-t time, inattention to, and neglect
of, another order, and, again, a total incapacity to
carry out my instructions, and to avail myself of the
means placed by his lordship at my disposal. Charges so
grave, and of a character so exclusively professional, can-
not, I submit, be properly disposed of without military in-
vestigation. I find myself, therefore, compelled to express
my anxious wish that the Commander-in-Chief would be
induced kindly to reconsider his decision, and consent to
my whole conduct on the day of the action of Balaklava,
on the 25th of October, 1851, being investigated by a court-
martial.

"I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient ser-
vant,

" LIICAN, Lieutenant-General.
•
To the Adjutant-General."
I Will not depart from my undertaking by adding one