The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-17 00:00:00

though his Lordship acknowledged that the popu.
Ilation of England was much greater now than from
1812 to 1814—and also allowed that the number of
effective soldiers at our command ought to be propor-
tionably more numerous now—he quite forgot that
the means of transporting men from England to the
seat of war have become much more easy, quick, and
certain than they were when the century was but
a dozen years old. If the number of men sent
to the Crimea since hostilities first broke out will
bear comparison with those despatched during the
first years of the Peninsular war, the ships and the
shipping—both in quantity and quality—at the
command of Government whilst that war lasted,
must not be mentioned in the same day with the
splendid steam-vessels which are now to be had in
any number and at the shortest notice. Those who
are old enough to remember the wretched tubs
which used to be chartered for the conveyance of
troops in the times we speak of and the painfully de-
liberate manner in which all the arrangements
gahntrthe ultimate being wind.
con-
nected with the embarkation of 'soldiers were then
beffoeucntdedf—ortowseaeyk
weeks
o i tn h
tmh ge ocflitahnendeell:
risk all ships ran of being taken by French frigates or
privateers—must allow that the facilities of trans.
port are a thousand times greater than they were
then, and that for one soldier despatched forty odd
years ago to Portugal or Spain, twenty ought now
to be sent to the Crimea. We have now steamers
in abundance instead of a few indifferent sailing
vessels, and as we are now masters of the sea, and.
our enemy of to-day has not a ship outside his own
ports, the advantages which we have over those
who had to prosecute a like contest at any former
period are indeed great. Sebastopol is to-day vir-
tually much nearer England than Gibraltar was In.
1813. Lord Palmerston but half states the truth
of the case. The question is not altogether whether
we are doing as much, or less, or more, than we
did during the last war, but whether we are doing
as much in proportion to the improved means now
at our disposal, owing to the great advancements
made in every science since the peace of 1815 ; and
to this inquiry there can be but one reply.
Other portions of Sir De Lacy Evans's observations
show, in plain figures, that hitherto we have not in
other respects done all that we might towards prose-
cuting the war with vigour. We have in India an
army. of 280,000 native, and 40,000 European,
troops. Of these, although that country is through-
out profoundly tranquil, we have made no use
whatever in the Crimea, beyond bringing over two
regiments of English dragoons, via the Red Sea.
and Egypt, to Balaklava. Surely of so large a
force, now idling away their time in Eastern can-
tonments, some few thousands might be spared for
service against Russia ? If it is absolutely neces-
sary to maintain a numerically strong body of
Europeans in Hindostan, why not send our sea-
soned regiments from that country to the seat of
war, and supply their place by corps of younger
soldiers from England ? The overland route to
India is now practically open for troops as well as
passengers, and since the mail service between
Suez and Bombay was undertaken by a private
company, the East India Government have a large
fleet of magnificent steamers lying idle at the
latter port. The transport of a dozen young regi-
ments from England to India, and the conveyance
of an equal number of veteran corps from India to
the Crimea, might be effected in very few weeks.
At any rate a large portion of the 40,000 Euro-
peans now in Indian garrisons might be spared for
a season, and sent to join the army under General
Simpson. To take advantage of the only great
practical school in which our army has seen service
for the last forty years, and send its pupils thence
to where they are most required, would be but fol-
lowing the example set us by the French with
regard to Algiers—an example we cannot too soon
imitate.

But perhaps the most glaring neglect of means
at our disposal since the war broke out is, our
having made no use of the native troops of India.
Over and over again have many of these corps
volunteered, and asked to be allowed to take
the field against Russia. With some of the Hin-
doe soldiers there might be difficulties to over-
come on the score of religion, it being against the
rules of their " caste " to embark on board ship.
But there ire in our Native Army many thousand
Mahometans, all of whom hate the Czar, as the
common enemy of their faith ; and these, to a man,
would deem it a boon and an honour to be allowed
to fight side by side with E uglish, French,Sardinian,
and Turkish troops. A short order from the Go-
vernor-General would place at least 25,000 hardy,
energetic, brave, and trained Mussulman soldiers at
our disposal in a few hours, and within five weeks
of their leaving India they could be with the army
before Sebastopol, When to this force we add
10,000 European troops, which could be well spared
from India, and some five or six battarions of the
line which might be relieved from Mauritius, the
Cape, Canada, and the West Indies—partly by
raising local corps, and partly by a more ex-
tended employment of our English militia regi-
ments—it will be found that we have, at the
lowest estimate, some 45,000 trained men in
various parts of the world, who might, without
the slightest risk to any portion of the empire, be
added to the army now in the Crimea. With
these plain and incontrovertible facts staring us in
the face—and with the full knowledge that, not-
withstanding the public and patriotic spirit evinced
by all ranks of the nation, no encouragement has as
yet been given to the militia to volunteer for service
before the enemy—is it to be wondered at that the
most experienced soldier holding a seat in the Le-
gislature did at the last hour of the session protest
against the time and opportunity that have been
lost since we first determined to give Russia battle '?
Still less can we doubt that the feelings of the na-
tion are entirely in accord with those of the veteran
member, and that during the next few weeks it will
watch narrowly how far Lord Palmerston will re-
deem his oft-repeated pledges about carrying on the
war with all earnestness and vigour.