The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-11 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 1855.

The opinion of the popular branch of the Legis-
lature will be formally asked on the extraordinary
inconsistency of the ex-Plenipotentiary and pre-
sent Secretary of State for the Colonies ! That
of the country has been clearly and unequivocally
independent
all men,je notete d
i 0
pronounced. Among
de-
voted to the Ministerial will, nor
even less constitutional influences, there has been
neither doubt nor hesitation. The duplicity and
insincerity of one who had previously enjoyed an
unblemished reputation, an irreproachable cha-
racter, have excited indignation and disgust.
They feel that the person who has so brought
such serious discredit on all public men
who has so completely shaken confidence in
Ministerial professions, can no longer occupy a
Place in the Cabinet with credit to himself or ad-
7411tage to the community, and that Nhile he does
8°) the condemnation must also fall on all his col-
leagues, who
must either shake off the inauspici-
ous co-operation, or make up their minds to sink
with him
in publiC estimation, and to expose
themselves to the
of imputation of being not the
Ministers p
Coburg. England, but of Austria or of

Sir EDWARD BiTT.„,„
LYTTON it i
portant duty of who has
undertaken the im
cc belling the
cat," wh© has boldly and
manfully flung down
the gauntlet against ic Germa• nnnn" and put
The her
Hon.
MAJESTY'S Government to the test.
Baronet has given notice that he will, on Friday next,
on the motion for going into
supply Or on the
earliest opportunity that may present itself, move
a resolution to the following effect, ,viz, That
the conduct of the Minister charged with the ne-
gotiations at Vienna, and his continuance in office
as a responsible adviser of the Crown, have shakes
the confidence which the country should place in
those to whom the administration of public affairs
is entrusted." There can be no doubt that the
Honourable Baronet will fully redeem his pledge,
and that he will perform his self-imposed task
with ability, fidelity, and zeal. But when will
he have the opportunity of so doing ? That is
the question, and it is one of no ordinary im-

portance. In the olden time, when the conduct
of her MAJESTY'S Government was in any degree
callrl in question, when a vote of censure on
Ministers, collectively or individually, was even
hinted at, there was a laudable anxiety to meet
and to repel the charges. They were champions
who held their posts against all corners, and who
could not venture to disregard a challenge, no
matter from what quarter it proceeded—from
high or low—from a doughty and vigorous as-
sailant—or from an unknown and undistinguished
knight. Any one " who had gained his spurs"
was entitled to hurl forth his defiance to mortal
combat—any one who had a seat in Parliament,
to fling down his gauge, which Ministers were
bound to accept.

But the days of chivalry have gone by.' Minis-
ters are contented to remain exposed to obloquy
and censure—well contented if they can postpone
the evil day, and continue in the enjoyment of
their unmerited power. In place of eagerly
grasping at the challenge—one, too, from so
worthy, so renowned an adversary—they strive to
obtain an ignominious respite by adjourning the
intended Committee of Supply, and trying to drift
over the session without abiding the formidable
onslaught or engaging in the conflict, at the result
whereof they tremble. The Premier tells us that
it is not the intention of the Government to take
Supply on Friday, but to proceed with the
" Limited Liability and Partnership Amendment
Bills in Committee." Now, we are by no means
disposed to underrate the value of the modicum
of justice—the small instalment offered by these
measures, the chief utility whereof is that they
may be regarded as " the introduction of the small
end of the wedge," the entry on a course in
which more rapid progress must speedily be
made. But no person can for a moment
allege that they are of importance suffi-
cient to justify a single day's delay in a matter
which strikes at the very existence of the Ministry
—which calls for a Parliamentary declaration of
want of confidence in those to whom the adminis-
tration of public affairs is entrusted, and directly
inculpates at least one, if not many, of the most
influential members of the Cabinet. That is a
point on which there can be no second opinion.
, The community should then demand an immediate
decision on this all-important topic, for
how can the maintenance of the national
honour be confided to those who seem so
strangely indifferent to their own ? How
can it be supposed that they would brave
every danger and make every sacrifice to avert
disgrace from the British name, when they are so
careless and apathetic with respect to the ignomi-
nious position in which they themselves are placed,
and to circumstances which English statesmen
were wont to consider of the most vital and urgent
consequence. The mere procrastination is alone
sufficient to prove them unworthy of the position
they now occupy, and of the confidence and re-
spect of the country.

What are we fighting for ? Mr. M. GIBSON
and Mr. COBDEN reply no one knows. They
convict the successive Premiers and their Govern-
ments of ignorance, or aimlessness, and infer that
all England is in the dilemma of its Cabinets.
The Cabinets say the honourable members are halt-
ing between two opinions, or between some opinion
and none at all, and therefore the country is in
the like perplexity. We regret to admit the pre-
mises most completely, but entirely deny the
conclusion. We must, however, at the same time
allow that there ought to be less plausibility in
such a conclusion. If the country knows its
mind it ought to furnish her MAJESTY with ser-
vants who know their mind also.

Perhaps we hardly put the case in its right
light in accusing the two War Cabinets of vacil-
lation ; in one sense they have both had a
definite purpose and pursued it steadily—
the purpose of pleasing Germany as much as pos-
sible, and, therefore, of weakening Russia as
little as possible. The ABERDEEN Ministry are
now confessed to have begun the War as a de-
monstration, not as an earnest reality ; and even
their most warlike orator, Lord JOHN, he of the
dash at Sebastopol, uttered the famous encourage-
ment to the enemy that we did not mean to de-
prive her of any of her territories, not even of
the Crimea, and the den of the pirates of Sinope.
The PALMERSTON Cabinet, especially considering
the conditions of its installation, has evinced the
same fear of doing too much, the same desire to
please the perfidious and slippery Government
at Vienna. It consented, apparently with plea-
sure, to the negotiations on the basis of the
worthless Four Points, and endured to the last
all the sarcasms of Prince GORTSCHAKOFF, and all
the assumptions and evasions of Count BuoL. It
was not unwilling to have accepted the useless con-
dition of limiting the Russian fleet, as the grand
compensation for all the cost of the War.

—a continental Sebastopol--and when challenged,
is on Friday, with an English feeling for Poland, ex-
claiming—" Who ever heard me talk of a crusade
in behalf'. of Poland, except with the aid of A us-
tria ?" Austria, of course, being in the way again
as usual. 'Hardly a week -passes that does not
reveal some military or diplomatic mishap or
omission from this attempt to serve two masters—
Aristocracy and the despots, the people and Euro-
pean liberty.

As to the people, however, nothing but sophistry
can misconstrue for what it is that they are willing
to pay the GLADSTONE Budget, and to bear all the
anxieties and burdens of War. They demand
the utmost possible curtailment of Russian
territory and strength, they want to see
Turkey free, Circassia free, the Crimea free,
the Provinces and Bessarabia free, Poland free,
and Sweden regaining her own. This is what the
people want. The means they think, with all
the money they provide, the genius of Govern-
ment ought to devise. They are not foolishly
impatient, but they are indignant when they see
their leaders more concerned to soothe Austria and
the Coburgs than to do the work of. the English
public—when they see that disgraceful waiting
on Austrian jugglery, and sparing Russian
honour, territory, or anything else, protract the
war and sacrifice our troops. If any tolerably
informed Englishman then were asked what the
War is for ?—we affirm he would at once answer,
all we can get in the direction indicated—i. e.,
liberation of the nations, with certain consolatory
stipulations of a financial kind.

*The Honourable Gentleman the member for
the county of Cork has brought forward a tangi-
ble and practical instalment of Administiatiire
Reform, and it has been rejected by a majority of
15 ! all, doubtless, honourable men all
firmly imbued with the wholesome principle of
getting " the right men in the right places "
—all supporters of the amendment of the Ho-
nourable Baronet the member for Hertfordshiro,
which was carried as a substantive resolution.

There is, however, that strong objection to
details, that implicit reliance on Ministers, that,
for the time being, prevents any direct or prac-
tical application of the doctrine so generally cf 3n-
ceded, and unanimously affirmed in the Hou3o of
Commons. Examinations are to be held, but they
are not to be thrown open to all corners, near to
be competitive. A candidate must still be n.cxmi-
nated by Government influence before he can be
allowed to give evidence of his qualifications.. It
is scarcely necessary to show how completely ridi-
culous is an examination merely required to pass
a person already selected, and conducted under
the direction of the head of the department, or of
those who have just exercised a right of pate °nage
in favour of the person who, having conquered
the first difficillty, has but a very trivial impedi-
ment to surmount--who is assured of the sympa-
thies of the judges, and whose rejection would be
a very invidious and unpleasant duty. It may
stop the smaller fry who have no influential
friends to sustain them, but it will scarcely ;arrest
the progress of the men with aristocratic eon-
, nexions, who can bring lordly influence to bear
on the judges. We believe it was Captain MAR-
RIOTT who gave an instance of a model examina-
tion, where the only questions asked were
How is your noble father ?" and " Will you
give me the pleasure of your company to dinner
at half-past seven o'clock to-day." There may
be a slight caricature in this, but who can say
that it would not be possible under the system
so highly lauded by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and which he thinks so far superior
to any in which the objectionable principles of
publicity or competition are fairly developed.
The Administrative Reform Association has
difficult game to play. We only trust that it
may prove competent to the arduous task which
it has undertaken. The impediment which they
have to encounter, although apparently smoothed
down by Ministerial compliments and vague
promises, is really rendered more diffi-
cult by that which seemingly offers the
prospect of an easy triumph. The zeal and
energy of the working men are abated
b the hope that it will not be necessary to make
many sacrifices' where the adversaries exhibit such
unequivocal symptoms of yielding, and not putting
the assailants to the difficulty of capturing the
position. But the white flag they hung out is
perhaps the chief obstacle to their ultimate
triumph. The old tale of Sir BALAAM tells us—

The drift of our Cabinets then has been, in
this respect, plain enough. The hereditary des-
pots from him of Moscow, to his slaves at Berlin
and Vienna, were the true object of their solici-
tude. Our lordly Cabinets of Lords have all
along dreaded suggesting the idea of liberty to
oppressed peoples. To balance comfortably the
relations of crowned tyrants has been their sole
object. The annoyance to our aristocracy has
been that one of the sacred batch would persist
in engrossing more than his share of beloved
absolutism. Like his great prototype too of
Macedon he was hardly emerged from the
shell of barbarism, and it was provoking to
see a Tartar Czar strutting before all the
old. Palaces of Europe in his borrowed
plumes. With all that they would not have
drawn a trigger at him if they could have helped
it, but the people here compelled them to take to
war whether they liked or not, their fear being
that if the
people set them to work they would
have to do more of the people's work than they
liked.

" That Satan, now grown wiser than of yore,
More often tempts by making rich than making poor."
Our wily defenders of corruption find that they
can do better by pretending to yield, and assent-
ing to abstract propositions that lead to no prac-
tical results, than by sturdy opposition. The
lessons of Austrian duplicity and insincerity have
not been altogether thrown away on the garrison
of jobbery, while those who so manfully opened
the trenches are already slumbering on their
self-assumed posts. It was not thus that the
original Committee of " the League" discharged
their task. They left no stone unturned—did
not spare their labour or their pockets ; but they
received salutary lessons in the school of adver-
sity. The name of Anti-Corn-Law Reformer had
not become fashionable at the very commencement
of the struggle. They had to achieve every posi-
tion by a fierce contest, and hence came their ulti-
mate and complete triumph. But the Admini-
strative Reformers have apparently taken a leaf
from the Government book. They are waiting
for " the Ministerial Austria," and seem to think
that a demonstration will be sufficient without a
real conflict—.that a transient success will enable
them to patch up an ignominious peace without
having accomplished the objects for which the
struggle was undertaken. We would em-
phatically urge them, while there is yet
tine, to shake off this dangerous apathy—to
show that they are really in earnest, and
that they merit from the country the support
they demand. As yet we cannot say that
they do so. Let us hope that they will take the
hint while there is yet time, and avoid the too
palpable nets spread for their reception by those
to whom the vary name of reform is hateful, and
whose seeming acquiescence in their objects is no-
thing but a " mockery, a delusion, and a snare."

Here, then, begins their real vacillation ; not
a vacillation in their own purpose—that was
always distinct enough—but between carrying out
their own purpose and also that of the people.
They must do the latter to a considerable extent,
or quit the helm : the former they of course really
aimed at while professing to act for the nation.
Hence all the obvious inconsistencies. Now
dallying with Austria till the blood of Eng-
lishmen almost reached fever heat ; next casting
her off because the pro-Russian condition of
peace she would have forced upon us could not
be told to an English House of Commons. Lord
JOHN indeed secretly nursed it and kept it warm,
till Count BuoL, to- wriggle himself out of a posi-
tion too bad even for him, compelled him to un-
fold his toga, and produce, to the scoffs of the
nation, the illegitimate bantling with which he
returned from Vienna. The atmosphere of
-Vienna is renowned for seduction of all sorts ;
:Slrs iileee; of common fame.
Lora JOHN himself seems to have evidenced the
justice
a reli.h At one time talking of
gu-'7on, then quaking for Austrian hold
served in it quantum
men as a T .
gb
value. depriving those who
of poor Poland, and enlisting the
battalion
711
their
their strategical ardour,oand more than half
One while descanting with
us on Warsaw being a
standing menace to Germany

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 11, 18M

true to his aristocratic leanings, gave the command
of the most important Naval station to the father-
in-law of the coraiug, Duke, though there were
fifty men good as he, who, from seniority as well
as long and splendid service, had better claims,
but they were not allied to the powers that be.
In saying this we do not detract one iota from
the acknowledged merits of Sir Edmund Lyons,
who has deserved right well of his country, but
who has paid off his private gratitude at the pub-
lic expense, besides wounding the pride and damp-
ing the hopes of those whose only misfortune it
was that they had no friends at Court. Let
Administrative Reformers look to this. The
practice all along in the Navy, as well as in the
Army has hitherto been to prove the adage that
" kissing goes by favour."—En. SuNd

THE " GERMA N" CABINET DIVIDED

AGAINST ITSELF.

TllO question salsich Sir E. B. L-stton is to ask the
iirsuse of Commons oa Feriay is simply, "Is ',he house
in earnest about this war, or not in earnest ?" That,
of course, is tantamount to another question—Whether
it means to conquer or to be conquered ? We appeal to
any man of business—to any man who knows human
nature—to any man of common sense, whether it be not
so ! In all human affairs, as a generalrule, the man who
is in earnest wins, and the man who is not in earnest
loses. It is so, as our preachers tell us every Sunday,
in the matter of religion ; it is so in all secular business.
We see it is so in art, where a man must be a devotee to
excel ; it is so in whatever arena man is pitted against
man. The vigorous, unwavering, unrelenting blow
anticipates the doubting one. Above all things it is so
in the matter of war, which least of all allows the indul-
gence of doubts and the luxury of a double mind. This
was the fatal weakness of the Cabinet which commenced
the war, and which could not be persuaded that there
would really be war. There was the full intention of
fighting on the one side, and the intention of not fight-
ing on the other side, if it could by any manner of means
be prevented. So it came to pass that, while the Rus-
sians were fully prepared for war, we were not, and in-
deed are not to this day. Nobody can even say that we
are quite serious in the war till we have got, for ex-
ample, a sufficient fleet of the particular sort of craft
fit to do the work in the Baltic. So we are not yet up
to the mark, and are as yet only half awake. But what
prospect is there of more resolution and energy when
there is at least one of her Majesty's advisers—rumour
says several—.who take upon themselves to repre-
sent the voice of conscience protesting against the
national part in the war ? At this moment England
labours under the imputation of implacability, of quick-
ness to shed blood, of revengefulness, and other crimes
of war, not merely at St. Petersburg, at Brussels, and
at Vienna, but among Queen Victoria's own constitu-
tional advisers, and in the Government charged with the
Prosecution of the war. A man may or may not be
right in this opinion. We do not claim for England a
perfect freedom from national vices. Doubtless, she has
sometimes rushed too hastily into war. But whoever
thinks this of any particular war ought at least to wash
his own hands of it, and should not undertake to conduct
the war all the time that he thinks it a great sin.
What is this but to introduce the vacillation of all
Germany into the Eritish Cabinet ? The conduct of
some dozen European Courts has been remarked upon
in nu measured terms in this country, and now, it ap-
pears, they can reply that precisely the same difference
of opinion exists in our own councils, and that even,the
Queen of England cannot dismiss from her presence ad-
visers who openly condemn the war. It is true that
their loyalty, their regard for their party, or more selfish
considerations, may induce them to render an outward
co-operation, but as English gentlemen they are not in
the habit of concealing their opinions, and they think
England in the wrong ; that is, they think she has
spurned a good opportunity of peace. It is very usual
to charge on the English character, and in particular
on the press, that leisurely, hesitating, and self-em-
barrassed way of conducting public affairs which has led
to so many failures. John Bull is supposed to be a man
liable to be disturbed by some odd crotchet at the mo-
ment proper for action, and to fall into a reverie
when he should be striking a blow. It is true he is
very angry when roused, and when he finds his orders
have not been executed ; but he relapses shortly, on
some new consideration, into his ordinary somnolence,
and leaves the work still to be done. As for the press,
the general charge against us is that, whatever Govern-
ment does, we are sure to find fault with it ; or, at all
events, be prepared with some unsparing comments on
its failure. It now appears that all these things usu-
ally charged on the British public and their organs are
really in the Cabinet. The speech is already composed,
I the phrases already invented, the periods already turned,
the drama of the Vienna Conference already worked to
its catastrophe—in fact, everything is prepared for a
vhondering philippio on the colleagues who rejected the
Austrian proposal, in the event of any considerable re-
verse in the war. If our arms prosper we shall never
hear that speech, and it will fare worse even than the
speech of Cicero, which was never spoken, for it will
never even be read. But at the first signal reverse the
mine is prepared, and the explosion will certainly fol-
low. It cannot be agreeable to the Cabinet to know
that it meets with such a mine under its feet, and with
the match always lighted that may at any moment lift
it into the air. But, if it is unpleasant to colleagues, it
Is dangerous to the nation, and most certainly detri-
mental to the conduct of the war; for there cannot pos-
.sthly be single-minded determination, promptness,
energy, and what is meant by a " will in the work,"
so long as one, if not several, of the men employed hate
their work, and have a bad conscience about it.
It is repeatedly declared that every member of the Ca-
binet is responsible for the conduct of the war, inasmuch
as all the principal measures and appointments are Cabi-
net affairs. Here, then, is a quantity of dead, neutral, cr
positively reluctant material, which a decided Premier or
War Minister has to move and work through at every
such question. The force of mere objection is terrible,
and still more that of mere inertia. We know that
there is at least one Minister, and, till it is contradicted,
we shall believe that there are several, who dislike the
war, not simply because it is war, but because they think
the cause a bad one. What a dead weight they must
-be in the meeting of the Cabinet, and how little pre-
oared for those vigorous, comprehensive, and far-sighted
pZaus, without which war cannot be successful ! It is
now evident that we must prepare for another winter
campaign, for the contingency of a march up the Cri-
mea to Ferekop, for a blow at Odessa, for more opera-
tions in the Sea of Azoff and up the Don, and for seve-
ral other still more important enterprises. But all this
assnmos that the war will last at least a year longer, and
become fiercer and fiercer every day. What sort of co-
operation in such schemes are we to expect from a Mi-
nister who thinks it our fault that the war is not already
over and the quarrel made up For our part, having
hugged the delusion of a compromise as long as it was
possible, and longer even than was agreeable to the bulk
of our readers, we are satisfied there is nothing to be done
hut to give it up altogether. Our best course is to give
t'tia all idea of peace, and prepare ourselves for a long and
a ,desperate struggle. It is by arms that such a quarrel
will he decided, and the sooner we see that the better
for ai't parties. But the presence of Lord John Russell
in the Cabinet after the recent revelation suggests a
constant doubt on this point. He represents the weak
thought that Russia will give up her prey on the first
resistance—juat the hope she would gladly infuse into
us. She herself has been preparing a whole century for
this struggle, and would have us believe it a mere half-
year's affair, and so suspend our endeavours to make up
fur the long-lost time.—Times.

DR. HALL-THE WOUNDED-AND
MANLY CONDUCT OF THE " TIDIES."

A conversation which occurred last night in the
House .of Commons will afford the best comment upon
the utter fruitlessness of investigations into the defects of
the various military departments. Mr. Stafford in-
quired of Mr. F. Peel whether Dr. Andrew Smith had
yet retired from the direction of the medical department,
• and whether Dr. Hall still retained the post of Medical
Inspector-General of the Army in the East ? The po-
pular fallacy was that Dr. A. Smith had long since sub-
sided into the more congenial shades of private life and
had at the present rnotnent given himself up with re-
newed enthusiasm to entomological pursuits. This was
our own belief, for we could not but remember that
when Dr. A. Smith was under examination before the
Sebastopol Committee three months ago he himself an-
nounced that his connexion with the medical department
had terminated. It had occurred to us that under the
pretext of retaining his post until the nomination of a
successor this gentleman would be left month after
month in the discharge of duties for which, after the
disclosures made before the committee, he could scarcely
be considered as qualified. It is too much to say that
the respotteibility for the delay lies with Dr. A. Smith
'himself. The truth appears to be that the place is not
made of sufficient value to attract the services and devo-
tion of high medical and administrative talent. This
combination of professional knowledge with individual
force of ch araoter and habit of command is not very
common, and should command liberal remuneration.
Our rulers, -unfertunately, have regarded the question
from a different point of view, and have been lost in
amazement for many months past that there are not
hosts of select claimants for the responsibilities of a
most onerous office, when the advantages to be derived
from it are not equal to the emoluments of a private prac-
tice of the most ordinary description. Nor can it be said
on this occasion that the Government are labouring
under the difficulty of which so much has been made—
namely, that it is hard to saddle the public with a heavy
permanent charge in return for a temporary service. As
far as the head of the medical department is concerned,
even if we were to make peace with Russia to-morrow,
we should still require for the office the best medical
man who could be obtained. Herein lies the real im-
pediment. It will be quite in vain to look for a more
competent uuccessor of Dr. A. Smith until the post is
rendered 'worth the acceptance of a man who must
abandon private emoluments and the realities and hopes
of private success for the public service.
The next point regards Dr. Hall, of whom Mr. F.
Peel bas noehing better to say than that since Lord
Panmure has been at the head of the War Department
no complaint has been made against him. He was quite
aware, he admitted, that the Sebastopol Committee had
declared that they could not reconcile Dr. Hall's report
of the state of the hospitals at Scutari with their actual
condition at; the time. Mr. F. Peel deals with the stric-
tures of the committee in the gentlest manner. We will
endeavour to refresh his memory by help of the fifth re-
port of that committee, page 20, questions 15,134-
19,835. They report that, after examination of the
whole testimony and its confirmation by Dr. Dumbreck,
the Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals, they are
"totally at a loss to comprehend the report of Dr.
Hall, more especially with regard to the Barrack Hos-
pital, the s eene of so much misery and suffering." Such
is the expressed opinion of the committee, to which, no
doubt, Mr. F. Peel refers, but the facts mentioned by
them in confirmation of it add tenfold force to their cen-
sure. The Passage in the report goes on as follows :
" The Duke of Newcastle states that the disgraceful
condition of the hospitals was first brought under his notice
in the middle of October.' Dr. Hall was at Scutari from
the 3d to the 23d of that month. Dr. Hall's report seems
to have misled both Lord Raglan and the Government at
home, and to have occasioned much delay in measures
taken afterwards for the remedy of evils which might have
been arrested earlier in their progress."
Surely, a graver charge than this has seldom been
made against a public officer. It cannot be forgotten
that the occasion upon which Dr. Hall misled the Com-
manding General and the home Government was no
light one, but involved the welfare and lives of our un-
fortunate soldiers. Absolute neglect is bad moue'', but

how much graver is the charge of having "misled" the
Inidtary authorities at the seat of war in the Crimea and
in England by a rake report ! Dr. Hail's subsequent
condUct, wht% Lord P:Larnure had assumed the seals of
efficc, constitutes lu.i justification. Now, let us see
what this conduct has been ; and. in the course of the
few remarks we shall offer upon it we must rectify a
misstatement in which we ourselves are concerned, and
which was made last night by Mr. Peel in the House of
Commons.

Dr. Hal], it may be remembered, informed Lord
'Raglan that every arrangement was made for the recep-
tion of the wounded after the affair of the 18th, and
that, in point of fact, so successful was the foresight
exercised, and so perfect the preparations, that the
suffering inevitable upon such an occasion was re-
duced to its minimum. How stands the reality of
the case? A few days back we published a letter
written by a military surgeon from before Sebastepol on
the 20th of June. This gentleman was actively con-
cerned in the care of the wounded, and he writes in
t( fans of the greatest indignation at the utter want of
medical preparation, although the assault bad been so
long expected, and so much time had been given for all
necessary arrangements. He describes the " ward"
which was given over to him at 5 a.m. on the 18th as
with most questionable accommodation for 14 patients.
No convenience of any kind, such as is commonly found
in such places, was forthcoming—not even a vessel for
holding water. The wounded men were soon brought
in. One orderly, who knew nothing of the work, was
assigned to 14 men ; but worse, far worse than all, was
the agonized scream for water, which bad not been pro-
vided. During the whole of the 18th there was nothing
for the poor creatures in the shape of food. On the
night of the 18th the wounded men were still brought in,
and deposited anywhere. They were admitted by the
orderlies, not seen by the medical officer, and conse-
quently their wounds were not dressed until the following
morning. On the 18th, until 9 o'clock at night, nothing
was given to them but a little hard biscuit and tea. Such
is the statement of a military surgeon actually engaged,
which should be read in connexion with the roseate pic-
ture of Dr. Hall. Now for own share in this matter.
Mr. F. Peel stated to the House of Commons last night
that he had written to the Times office, and had asked
for the name of the writer of this letter, and that his re-
quest had been refused. Here is our reply :—Lord
Panmure is perfectly welcome to the writer's name, on
condition that he will pledge his faith that his statements
shall be fairly and publicly investigated, and that the
writer shall not be made the victim of official vengeance
if his statements are true. But we were cautioned in Lord
Panmure's own office that "flesh is weak," and we de-
clined to hand over an honest man to the tender mercies
of Dr. Hall. If the pledge be given, our correspondent's
name shall be forthcoming—he has himself offered it—but
we know Dr. Hall better perhaps than our correspon-
dent, and will not betray him to his ruin. If Lord Pan-
mure or Mr. F. Peel wiH promise that our correspondent
shall not suffer for his breach of the regulations in
addressing us instead of wasting his time in appealing to
Dr. Hall, we will give up his name, but we will not
sacrifice a gentleman whose only crime is his humanity,
to the strictness of the regulations or the vindictiveness
of Dr. Hall.—Times.