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

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1855.

TESTIMONIAL to the late LORD DUDLEY
COUTTS STUART.
At a POT: Meeting held at Willis's Rooms, on Friday, the 23d
March ;
The Right Hon. the Earl of SIIAFTESBURY in the Chair;
It was Resolved,—That a subscription ba opened for the purpose of
erecting a Testimonial to Lord Dudley Contts Stuart, in commemora-
tion of his persevering advocacy of Ills rights of the Polish Nation,
and of his incessant and bsnevolentlabours iu saccouring the afflicted
and oppressed of every country awl condition.
Contributions will be received at Messrs. Coutts and Co., 59,
Strand; Messrs. Banbury, Taylor, and Llnyd, 60, Lombard-street:
and by the Secretary of the Literary Association of the Filen& of
Poland, 10, Duke-street, St. James's.
It. MONCK ros MILNES, Chairman.
W. L. 13 REB ECK, 7 lion.
CHARLES SZJLCZEWSKI, Secretarle..

SPIRIT OF TILE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE NECESSITY FOR IMMEDIATE
ACTION IN THE CRIMEA.
( From the Times of this ddy. )

It is exactly half a year since England learnt the
truth of the battle of the Alma, and the falsehood
of the capture of Sebastopol, At that time we had
all been kept on the tenterhooks of expectation for
three months, that being the period occupied in
collecting, embarking, conveying, disembarking,
and marching the army from Varna to its present
position. Somewhat fidgetty at this delay, and
dreading a campaign so late in the season, the Bri-
tish public were requested to " suspend their judg-
ment," and wait for the result of the next week or
two. But the prevailing thought in everybody's
mind was, that if the work was not done in Octo-
ber it would not be done at all in that year, and
then we should have a winter campaign. "Mos-
cow" was on everybody's tongue, and there was
hardly a man who did not say that the assault
ought to be attempted at any risk, rather than in-
cur the certain horrors of a winter in the Crimea.
These forebodings became stronger when, at the
end of the month, it came out that the batteries
had failed, and that what it had cost more than a
fortnight to make it would take a month to renew
and improve. It was evident, indeed, that another
month would be expended in repairing the short-
comings of October the 17th, and that when the
batteries were ready to open fire it would be mid-
winter. So quickly did the season for action slip
out of our hands. Now, at this moment we are in
precisely the same situation as we were on the 4th
of October last year, with the immaterial difference
that then we had winter fast approaching and now
we have summer. Of the two it is hard to say
which is the more formidable in the Crimea. We
shall probably settle the question by suffering both.
But that is our present prospect. By the Ist of
May the sun will strike with terrible power on
the moist soil of our camp, and on the vast area
of half-buried corruption, and no mortal man can
say what our armies will not suffer. There is,
then, this month for work. We do not speak of
the Russian reinforcements and supplies poured
into the Crimea in one continuous stream ; we are
speaking only of times and seasons. By the end
of this month fever, thirst, prostration, and all the
more violent or more insidious forms of disease
will begin to attack our army, and it will be found
quite as much as we can do to maintain our posi-
tion and our numbers, which at this moment we
do not believe to amount to more than 15,000
bayonets—perhaps 25,000 men in all—for the work
before us.

As Parliament is not sitting and there is nobody
else to put the question, we think we may ask
Lord Panmure and his colleagues whether they are
satisfied with the present state of things, with
the prospect of April slipping away, as October
slipped away last year, with the slow pace of our
own preparations and the quick pace of the Rus-
sians, or with the fact that all this time the Rus-
sians are actually gaining ground on the allies and
pushing them into a corner, not here or there
only, but along the whole line, so that we can
neither get our batteries up nearer nor even make
a reconnaissance to see what the Russians are doing
in our rear 7 There is not a single point on which
we can look with satisfaction or hope, unless it be
that at the date of the vernal equinox the army
was in better health than it had been at the sum-
mer solstice in Bulgaria, or at the winter

solstice in the Crimea. For that, of course, we
were entirely prepared, and therefore see in it
small matter for congratttation. But, if we
look to what is out of the calendar, to what
depends upon presence of mind, forethought,
energy, and courage, and not on tLe ordinary ope-
ration of the elements, then we look in vain fcr
anything to reassure us. We see only the greatest
probability that this year will be as the last, and
that before the end of the session we shall have our
Ministers deprecating censure, on the ground that
nobody expected a summer campaign, and that the
summer had turned out rather hotter than the aver-
age of summers in the Crimea. We are forced to this
unpleasant importunity, because when Parliament.
meets again on Monday, the 16th inst., it will then
be vain to urge preparations for the spring cam-
paign. Befoi • a single regiment or piece of ord-
nance„ sent on that suggestion, could reach the
Crimea, the spring of that climate will be past, and
the sun will be in fearful ascendancy. The present,
the present is the time ; now is the day for doing
something ; and what is being done there ? What
are we doing here ?
We don't want to croak about our own position
on the heights of Sebastopol. We will assume that
it is very strong ; that, after the result of the 25th
of October, the Russians will not hastily attack
Balaklava, and after the sth of November, they
will be shy of attempting to surprise our camp.
We will assume that they have generally a judici-
ous reluctance to come to close quarters with us,
and that, though they seem to have nightly colli-
sions with our allies, thanks to the greater nume-
rical force of the French, and thanks also to those
excellent Zouaves, they are net likely to drive their
besiegers yet into the 'sea. We will assume that
the railway will do wonders,—that there will be no
more deaths by mere famine and nakedness. We
will assume that the new Turkish contingent and
the Piedmontese army will find their way into the
Crimea in time at least for an autumnal cam-
paign ; we will assume everything that may
reasonably be required. What we want to know
is this :—Supposing everything to be done that has
been promised or promulgated hitherto, what more
likelihood is there of taking Sebastopol before the
Dog-days than there ever was ? What more chance
is there of our taking Sebastopol during the Dog-
days than there was during the dead of last win-
ter ? What more chance is there of taking Sebas-
topol next October than there was last Otcober ?
In fine, what chance is there of our taking the
place at all, under existing auspices, and as long
as the present estimate of the odds of war prevails
at head-quarters ? Has Lord Panmure any reason
to believe that something will be done this April ?
It is for this April—for the very purpose of being
on the spot, in position, and with our supplies
about us by this month—that the Allies determined
to stand the rigour of a Crimean winter in their
then unprepared state, instead of re-embarking
after the failure of, the 17th of October. If this
month is passed in inaction, in vapouring, in wait-
ing idly upon Providence, or in expecting successes
that never will come of themselves, it is evident
that the fearful sacrifices of the winter campaign
will be entirely thrown away, and our army might
as well have passed the winter pleasantly on the
Bosphorus, and returzed to the Crimea last month
as fresh as if it had just come from barracks in
England. If the Government at home has no as-
surance, and can give no assurance, that April will
be made use of before it is added to the months that
have been lost, we have one more question to
ask, and that is, how long they mean to leave
the conduct of the war in the present hands ? It
cannot be our design to spend twenty millions of
money year by year, and 20,000 lives, merely to
maintain a position in the Crimea. The British
people do not contemplate a second siege of Troy,
which, at the present rate, will cost us 200,000,0001.
and 200,000 men. They expect something to
be done. They are not satisfied with a mere
exhibition in the Crimea of those excellent de-
fensive qualities which have won so much respect
at the Horse Guards. They want something_ to
be done; and, if something is not done before long
the same public impatience which has already
effected great things will certainly insist on some
radical change in our present system of Govern-
ment;

MR. ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE.
(From the Daily News of this day.)

Mr. Roebuck's Committee stands adjourned to
the 17th inst. On Friday—when the Committee
held its last sitting before the holidays—a good deal
of time was wasted before a quorum could be got
together. Three or four of the members had sys-
tematically absented themselves for some days pre-
vious. These symptoms ought not to be passed over
without comment. Our readers cannot have for-
gotten how, at the time when the Committee was
nominated, several members rose in their places in
the. House of Commons to declare that though they
had consented to serve upon it, they disapproved
of the inquiry. Those who have 'closely watched the
proceedings of the Committee have been struck
with the obvious efforts of one member to turn the

1 inqiiiry in the direction of the French army, it
having been made one of the main objections to the
appointment of the Committee that it must neces-
sarily touch upon the proceedinsof our Allies, and
thereby give umbrage to the French Government.
Nay, some who have access behind the scenes do
not scruple to insinuate that the same member of
the Committee has been insidiously labouring to
work upon the personal susceptibilities of some of
his colleagues, with the view to produce an ex-
plosi9n that might bring the inquiry to a prema-
ture close. Without pausing to inquire how far
the symptoms of relaxed interest evinced by some
members of the Committee niay be taken as forerun-
ners of a cessation of its researches, or to what ex-
tent the reluctant participators in the investigati n
may be trying to obstruct their more zealousconfreru,
thus much may be taken for granted, that the Com-
mittee is looked upon with unfriendly eyes in high
quarters, au 1 that preparations are being made to
inaugurate a system of pooh-poohing it during the
recess, preparatory to clapping an extinguisher
won it. .

The sagacity and persevering disposition of Mr.
Roebuck afford good security that this insidious
game will be played in vain. There is no harm,
however, in directing the attention of the public to
this manoeuvring of party coteries, in order that
public opinion may be prepared to support Mr.
Roebuck, if necessary. We have felt it our duty
to remonstrate, on more than oni/moecas".on,_ with
the committee for the unsysteLnatic manner in which
its inquiries have been conducted ; still it must be
admitted that an invaluable mass of facts has al-
ready been dragged to light through its instrumen-
tality. Already has it been made apparent that
an utter want of system pervades the administra-
tion of our army and of- all the auxiliary civil de-
partments. Already has it been made apparent
that men are habitually thrust into appointments ,
of the highest trust and responsibility without any
attempt being made to test their official aptitude.
We are engaged in a war in which the enemy has
never confronted our troops in the field without
receiving a signal defeat. Hitherto our operations
have been confined to the sea-coast, to which our
numerous transports have had safe and uninter-
rupted access, and yet food, clothing, fuel, shelter,
medicine—all have been withheld from our soldiers
to an extent that has produced disease and death
in their most hideous forms. The mismanagement
has been as glaring at home as abroad ; over-
crowded barracks have engendered disease among
the troops of the line, and our militia appears to be
melting away like snow heaps before the breath of
spring. The efforts of the honest members of the
committee which are throwing light on the causes
that have produced this lamentable state of affairs
deserve the support arid encouragement' of public
sympathy and approbation.
We can pardon our Government officials for the
dismay with which the progress of the committee's
inquiries inspires them. Its sacrilegious hands are
withdrawing the veil which screened their indolent
imbecility. And the insight obtained in to the secrets
of the prison-house of the War Department is setting
men Co conjecture how matters may stand in other
Government offices. Luckless individuals connected
with the colonies—West Indians, Canadians, Aus-
tralians, natives of the Cape—all, in short, who
have at auy time waited for an interview with the
Secretary or Under-Secretary for the Colonies, in
" the chamber of sighs," shrug their shoulders,
and mutter that the War-office and the Colonial-
,office are " as like as two peas." They recollect how
long the Home Colonial Administration was in a
state of perennial feud with the Colonies ; they re-
collect how the representations of men long practi-
cally conversant with the affairs of these settle-
ments were scouted because clerks, accustomed
only to copy and register letters, could not compre-
hend them ; they recollect how the wayward in-
competency of Colonial-office employes drove the
Canada's into rebellion, drove the Cape to the verge
of insurrection, beggared the West Indies, and
brought bankruptcy over Australia. The recesses
of the Foreign-office have yet to be explored, but
the conduct of our diplomatic and consular agents
abroad suggests ugly suspicions that affairs are no
better managed there. In short, John Bull is
awakening to an uncomfortable suspicion that the
whole of his Executive..Goternmes is little better
than a sham ; that his public affairs were admi-
nistered he has believed simply and solely because
he never allowed himself to examine the matter.

The growth of this opinion among the public out
of doors is an awkward affair for those who have
hitherto enjoyed the exclusive entrée to administra-
tive employment. Party divisions among them are
almost entirely effaced—only a microscopic eye can
detect any difference between their professions of
principle. Th 3 Duke of Argyll protests that Lord
Palmerston entertains the same views, is follow-
ing out the same policy, as the Earl of Aberdeen.
The Earl of Derby is a Whig turned Tory, as Lord
Palmerston is a Tory turned Whig, There is no-
thimg, to prevent a man of any party among them
acting in concert with a man of any other party ;
and yet no Premier can collect a sufficient number
of competent men out of the whole batch to make
up an efficient Ministry. Government in the
hands of the lordly exclusives is waxing daily more
feeble ; and apparently the machine must come to
a stand unless the unprivileged classes—Cromwell-
like—shoulder the incapables out of office, telling
them to "make way for better men." The recent
exposures of scandalous nepotism in appointments
to lucrative offices have taken from the exclusives
their last argument in defence of the system by
which they have so long profited. We have
been told by them that statesmanship is a trade
which men learn ; and that only members of the
aristocracy can afford the expense of the long un-
remunerative apprenticeship. Which branch' of
state-craft has Sir Charles Wood studied Ho is
transferred from the Exchequer to the Board of
Control, and from the Board of Control to the Ad-
miralty, as if the same education could train a man
for employment so entirely distinct. And as for
the unremunerated political adventurers of noble
families, where are we to seek for them, when peers
gorged with wealth unscrupulously quarter their
callow broods of unfledged statesmen—sons, sons-
in-law, and nephews—on the public purse ? Only
the middle-class representatives of the people in
the House of Commons serve their country with-
out prospect of fee or reward : for every appoint-
ment that has a salary attached to it is secured in
reversion—three deep—for the scions of the aris-
tocracy.

THE VIENNA CONFERENCES.

(From Galignani's Messenger.)

the opinions of the London journals, thus expresses
The Pays, at the suite of an article reviewing
its own sentiments on the situation :—"M..enna It
Drouyn
will set off this evening for Vi
Affairs is prepared to declare in the conference the
isde presumableilitlY that the French Minister for Foreign
s
last word of the Western Powers ; that is to say.,
the extreme limit of the concessions which may be
granted to Russia upon the third point of the gua-
rantees exacted from her. The labours of the con-
gress are about then to enter upon their most im-
portantphase, and the most decisive. Public
justice to the allied powers,
that they do not spare the most serious efforts in
order to make the conditions for the re-establish-
ment of peace more acceptable to Russia. But
if the Government of the Czar is not inspired by
the sentiments, it it answers by conclusions of non-
content to render this
content to the conciliatory intentions of France,
England, and Austria, it will place itself in a very
grave situation, from which terrible calamities
may follow to Russia. In case of the rupture of
the conferences, the events of the war, of a war long,
energetic, and decisive, can alone dictate the con-
ditions to which the aggressor must submit. M.
Drouyn de l'Huys will doubtless reach Vienna on
Wednesday. The conferences may forthwith
almost be resumed, and it is permitted to hope that,
by the end of the week, the question may be re-
solved. In presence of an eventuality so close at
hand, patience is easy, and we wait."
A letter from Vienna`of the 29th ult., in the
Consautionnel, says :—"ln order to understand
the veritable progress of the conferences, it is ne-
cessary to correct the error which the London
newspapers make of confounding the minutes of
the sittings with what in diplomacy are called pro-
tocols. The minutes are only an exact analysis of
all that takes place during a sitting ; they enregister
the declarations of the plenipotentiaries, mention
the communications made, and'take note of every
important incident that may occur. The minutes
of one sitting are usually read at the beginning
of the next, and, when found exact, each mem-
ber of the congress signs them. This fact of af-
fixing a signature gave rise to the premature ru-
mour that the plenipotentiaries of Russia had
already signed the protocol of the 28th December,
whereas they have only signed the minutes of the
sittings which thus far have been held. When the
discussion of the "four points of guarantee shall be
concluded, a summaly of all the minutes will be
made in order to form a protocol '; that is to el
the principles admitted on both sides, and ee.t
in the minutes, will be again, specified 4` ~,IZ,I

act, .destined to form the invariable basis of the
preliminaries of peace. ' The last two sittings have,
I am happy to state, strengthened the hopes which
were entertained of the re-establishment of a solid
and durable peace. It appears that mattsrs have
so far advanced that the task of the negotiators is
almost accomplished, except so far as regards the
thir.l guarantee, which must be settled by the
sword—in fact, by the result of the attack of the
Allied forces on Sebastopol. Ido not mean to say
that peace is to be considered as completely assured,
for as long as the protocol c intaining the un-
alterable bases of the preliminaries of peace
shall not hare been signed by the Russian pleni-
poteataries, many difficulties may arise to check
the favourable progress which the Congress has
hitherto made. But still the Russian plenipo-
tentiaries would not have consented in principle
to the important concessions which have been
the object of the deliberations of the first six
sittings of the congress if their goVernment had
not formally authorised them, and if they did not
really intend to sign the final protocol. Russiais
certainly free, up to the last moment, to sign or
not sign that document. Nevertheless, Count
Nesselrode is too consummate a statesman to give
reason. to suppose that .he has authorised Prince
Gortschakoff and M. de Titoffto display the greatest
moderation and the most conciliatory spirit during
the discussion, if determined to retract their con-
cessions at the moment of signing the protocol:- -A
circumstance which increases the hopes of peace is
that in the last sitting the congress discussed the
propriety of increasing the number of its members,
in order to form committees charged to examine
questions of detail, such as the special institutions
to be given to the Danubian principalities, the for-
mation of a syndicate for preserving the free navi-
gation of the Danube, &c., &c. This development
of the conferences will give them the impor-
tance of a bona fide congress, and that, in the eyes
of any man experienced in diplomacy, appears a
certain indication that the negotiations have taken
a'decided turn in favour of peace."

A letter from Berlin of the 30th ult., in the
Debats, says :—" There is no doubt that on the
third point a strong opposition of principles has
arisen between the reciprocal pretensions ; and
that up to this time no understanding has been
come to. The representatives of the Western
Powers on the one hand have not declared them•
selves satisfied with the proposition of their
also establishing naval stations in the Black
Sea ; and on the other hand Prince Gorts-
chakoff decidedly refuses to accept the reduc-
tion of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea to a
limited number of vessels, and the transformation
of Sebastopol into-a commercial port. According
to his opinion, the sanctioning of any third power
to exercise a control over what takes place within
the port of Sebastopol would be to allow an inter-
ference with the rights of sovereignty of the Em-
peror. Prince Gortschakoff has declared that he
will not, on this point, depart one iota from the
precise instructions which he has received. The
difference of opinions was at length so strongly
manifested that no other resource was left but to
postpone the discussion in order to apply for fresh
instructions, and in the meantime to discuss the
fourth point. This information comes from a source
on which reliance can be placed. All the letters
from St. Petersburg agree in stating that the feeling
in favour of war has strongly increased in Russiaof
late. Notwithstanding this, the hopes of peace
have become so predominant here, and indeed
throughout Prussia, that people talk of nothing
less than an immediate armistice, a congress of
sovereigns, &c., and the Bourse has risen consi-
derably in consequence."

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The Bellerophon, 84, Captain Lord G. Paulet, arrived
at Spithead yesterday morning, having invalids on
board from the Black Sea. She has been detained a
great length of time owing to co-itrary winds.
One of the new screw gun-boats (Grinder) came into
harbour tl-day, and will go into dock to be coppered
and completed for the

The Avon, paddla tender, Ma4terCommanc:er Veitch,
sailed yesterday from Portsmouth for Devonport.
The Harbinger, screw tradsp.rt, left the Downs on
the 2d instant. •, •

A boat in going off to the Nile, 91, at Spithead, on
Monday afternoon, being heavily laden with provisions,
filled, and went down ; and but for the timely arrival of
the Little Bee, engineers' instruction vessel, three or
four would have met a watery grave. One man Lad
sunk for the last time, and was got on board quite in-
sensible ; however, by prompt measures and juclici.ns
treatment, be recovered. Too much praise cAnnot be
given to the officers on board the Bee for their active
exertions in rescuing their fellow-creatures from a• 1 tit,-
timely end. About 1501. worth of provisions went down
with tha boat.