The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-16 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCII 16, 1855.

Whatever may be thought of Lord Lt CAN.
capacity as a general, there can b-;" no doubt that
he makes an admirable witness. His testimony
is clear, distiriel,.and unequivocal, bearing the
impress of truth in every sentence, and perfectly
conclusive to every disinterested and uppreju-
diced mind. He has not in any degree alluded
to the points at issue between himself and Lord
Rsocis ! These must form the subject of another
iuvesti.4ation, which, although refused by the
gorse Guards, cannot be denied to the Noble
Earl when the fitting time has arrived, and Lord
RAGLAN is in attendance in this country to sup-
port the grave accusations he has preferred—a
circumstance which, for the sake of our suffering
army in the Crimea, cannot long be postponed.
The conduct of LOrd RAGLAN during action was
also carefully avoided. But on other matters,
scarcely less important in a commander, a degree
of careless indifference and apathy was displayed,
which proved the noble Field-Marshal utterly un-
fitted for the position into whi.ch he was pitch-
forked, and which occasions the utmost astonish-
ment as to the grounds on which he was originally
appointed ; or why, having been appointed, he
has been allowed to retain 3 situation for which
he is clearly incompetent.

We long since declared that the triumphs of
the Noble Lord had been with the pen, not with
the sword. His services Lad been iu the bureau
rather than in the field. He generally acted as
" secretary" wherever he chanced to be engaged;
and, although he lost an arm at Waterloo, it could
Scarcely be asserted that he had experience suffi-
cient to qualify bins for the supreme command of
an army so circumstanced as that in the Crimea.
He showed himself thoroughly versed in the
principles of " red-tapinn." He was always
ready with an assurance that any matter which
could not be "pooh-poohed," and thus got rid of,
was "under consideration." That was all the
satisfaction which Lord LtiCAN or any other gene-
ral could obtain, however urgent the subject of
complaint. The cavalry General pointed out the
inconvenienee and impoliey of imposing harass-
ing
duties on the cavalcy, which occasioned the
loss of many horses_(each worth rcil. sterling), in
a merely pecuniary point of view, but under the
Peculiar circnnastances, of the case perfectly hi-
valuable.
Tilese 'night !lave been saved by the purchase
of baggaZe ponies, which would have cost 61. or
eaelt, and
cavalry
of which would have done the
alry I
work of funi horses. But, in accordance
with the penny_wi
se-and-pound-foolish policy
that prevailed from the
beginning, the obvious
precaution was neglected, and
behold the deplo-
rable result—the loss of no less than seven or
eight hundred trained and valuable 1101,„5
This matter was strongly represented to Lord
RAIIIAN. Lord LL-CAN, who found it advisable
• to put his communt 'cation in writing, addressed a
letter to the Adjutant-General on the subject, i„
which he complained of the cave • lry being employed
on business so foreign to their proper duties, and
pointed out the serious mortality that had already
occurred among the horses of the division in con-
sequence thereof. To this letter no answer was
returned i Indeed, a tolerably thick folio borl
was produced full .of similar complaints, which
seldom produced redress. He proposed to Lord
RAGLAN to form •a _ transport corps entirely

separate from the commissariat. He was
;thanked for this suggestion, which was
L° tinder the consideration of the English Govern-
inon A. similar suggestion as to the formation
.44 an ambulance cops like to that of the Fronch
-1 ,41/so "under the consideration of the Govern-
-134/4-t!r). fal the iloQe§ 4Q4
_