The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-01 00:00:00

THE VIENNA CONFERENCE.

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Mr. BRIGIIT wished to ask the noble lord at the
head of the- Cloverninent a question, and would, detain
the house but a few moments in putting it. He was not
present last evening when the noble lord (Lord J. Russell)
made his statementrelativeto theViennaConference, but
from what he had read in the public papers, he did not
think that it NM very distinct or satisfactory. He dial not
put this question for the purpose of embarrassing the
Government, for the noble lord knew that, for the last
six weeks he (Mr. Bright) bad been exceedingly
silent—(Hear, hear, and laughter) —whilst the peace
negotiations were progressing. We were now, however, in
a new stage of affairs, a',d he felt personally very
anxious, as no doubt hundreds of thousands were
besides, as to the result of those negotiations ;
and he therefore wished the noble lord at the head of
the Government to state distinctly what were the terms
that were offered to the 11u-slat government, and wlat
the Itussian,Gavernnieet had int,mated its willingness
to accept ; in fact, the exact difference between the,
terms proposed by the Allies and what Russia bad inti-
mated she would accept. He wished the noble lord to
state at what period he should be prepared to furnish

this information. (Hear.)
Lord PALMERSTON said if the hon. gentleman
had been present last eveni ig he would have heard his
question most substantially answered. (Hear, hear, and
laughter.) He stated that it was the intention of the
Government to lay on the table at the earliest oppor-
tunity, the'whole of the protocols of the Conference, and
he thought they would be found to contain all the infor-
mation sought by the hon. gentleman. (Hear,hear.) •
Mr. BRIGHT—The noble lord did not state whether
any counter-propositions were made, nor did he fix any
particular time when the papers would be ready.
Lord PALMERSTON replied that the hon. gentle-
man would find the whole of the information he sout
in the papers he alluded ta, which he was informed
would be ready in the course of aiew days, (Hear.)

THE MAYNOOTH COLLEGE.
On the order of the day for the motion of Mr. Spooner
on the p.ubjest of the endowment of Maynooth College,
A large number of petitions were presented from
various parts of the eountry against the Maynooth

Grant,
Mr.
it was free to withdraw. The hon. gentleman then
quoted the words of the late Sir R. Peel, to show that
secure a more united feeling between the two nations,
and more loyal subjects on the other side of the Irish
Channel. He asked e% ery one who had held
office under Government since that time, or
those who had watched events since that period,
contended that,
Rsurtehlyenif rpoaserliatto,,emntowve—as (f‘rTeehatto this
e
house do resolve itself into 'a committee, for the purrse
of considering the Acts for the Endowment of the
College of Maynooth, with .a view to the withdrawal of
any endowment out of the Consolidated Fund, due re-
gard being had to vested rights or interest!." He
observed that he once more ventured to bring this
impr,rtant question before the house. (Laughter.) He
thought that the time had now at-rivet when the settle-
ment of rhi4 question was necessary to the safety of the
Crown, the integrity of the empire, and the happiness
of the people. The question had become one of deep
interest to the inhabitants of this country. He regarded
the endowment of Maynooth etia greet national sin ; and
he would assure the house that the doctrines inculcated
at Maynooth, relative to the supremacy of the Pope,
were beginning to create a great feeling of jealousy in
France ; and he had it on reliable authority that a strong
feeling existed on the other side of the channel against
the ultraroontane doctrines which the Pope was endea-
vouring to force on the people of that country. Going
next, to the origin of the grant he observed
that it was a free gift by Parliament, and
the spirit in which the grant was made—namely, to
whether the object it was intended t r aecompleh hut
or had not been realised. lie affirmed that it had com-
pieteljr laded.

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

, -
ARMY BEFORE SEBASTOPOL COM-
MITTEE.-(BIAS DAY.)

The committee re-assembled this morning at the usual
hour.
Geneal Sir John Burgoyne waq the first witness
called, and wag examined by the chairman.
He stated that he had the management of the whole
engineering operations before Sehaetopol.
he had to
He arrived
tbere with the army. When the.army arrived
plan the approaches to the town and to direct the ffor-
mation of the trenches. They could not get one hal o
of
f
the work done which was necessary, in consequence
the weakness of the army. Before the siege operations
began the communication with Balaklava was very good.
That continued up to November, when the bad weather
set in, and the road became a mud-hole. It was their
opinion that Sebastopol would yield to the attack of the
Allies in 'a very short time after the commencement of
the siege. It would have required a very large force
t) have constructed the road, and the men employed
ought to have been to some extent acquainted wit
the
nature of the work. A sufficient number of men could
not have been spared from the army—they were all so
heavily engaged in the trenches. In fact the force was
scarcely sufficientto man the trenches with any degree of
efficiency. It was his opinion that it was at that time
more advantageous to the army that the men should be
employed in the trenches rather than in making the
roads. The discomfort which followed did not arise en-
tirely from the bad road ; it arose equally as much from
the mortality amongst the baggage animals. They died
off from want of care and proper attention.
Chairman—Had you any complaints of the want of

tools sent out ? -
Sir J. Burgoyne—No complaint wag made to me on
the subject. I never heard of it until I saw it mentioned
in the papers. I afterwards, however, made inquiri,
and the Sappers told me that the tools they had might
certainly have been of a better description. I also fd
that some of the tools were of the old Peninsularoun pat-

tern.
Examination continued—ln his opinion the labour of
the men was not impaired by defective or improperly
made tools. He could not understand bow the tools
could have been complained of to the extent they ha
been. There was certainly some little ground of objec•d
tion to part of them in the respect he had mentioned,
but not to the whole of them.
—o
roar t didg a l not recollect that
sbeanctk. To his knowledge no complaints were made of the
tools by the men. .
By General Peel—The. siege operations extended over
pace of 3 miles. The covering party consisted of
LAv2a3r dt
a 2,0860 men, but the working parties varied in strength
according to circumstances. • The covering party was
When then army landed, so far as he knew,
By Mr,
the army.
afterwards reduced in consequence of the weakness of
it was in ienurance of the amount of the Russian force
in the Crimea. It was manifest that they must, at all
events. receive large access-lona ; and it was therefore
advisable that the siege operations should be commenced
as soon as possible.
By Mr. Layard—He did not make any representation
to head-quarters for a larger supply of men to carry on
the trench operations. He was constantly applying for
men ; but the Adjutant-Genes al informed him that they
could not be afforded, in consequence of the weakness
of the army. He had the command of the corps of
Engineers. His position in the Crimea was different to
that he had held in the Peninsula in conducting siege
operations. The siege operations were, however, en-
tirely under his control, and he considered himself the
responsible person for everything connected with them.
The army arrived at Ba!aklava on the 27th September,
but no ground was broken until the 10th October: The
troops were in the interval employed in conveying up
materials and tents to the camp. At that time there
were no means at the command of the army to make a
road.
By Lord Seymour—Tt wag not believed on the Bth
November that the troops would have to winter in the
Crimea ;at all events it Wll.B not-so to his knowledge.
By the Chairman-When the bad weather commenced
he did not think of making good the road, principally
because he had not sufficient labour at his command.
By Lord Seymour—One important provision which
ought to have been made for wintering there was the
construction of a good and available road. No consul-
tation was held at headquarters relative to preparations
for wintering. If a number of "navvies" had then been
sent out to make the road, they would have been of in-
finite nse L but unfortunately the idea was not thought
of. In his opinion a good road would have been far
e placing l
p e e l them—T h e under
responsibility
constructing
a
more adapted for its purpose than the railway. Lord
Raglan had power to depute officers to inquire into the
best means of providing fur the care of the baggage
animals by
ea
to report to him (witness), but it was not done.
ByGeneral
road devolved upon the Quartermaster-General, but he
derived all the assistance he could from the Engineers.
Sir J. Burgoyne examined by Mr. Layard—He made
no representation or remonstrance to the Quartermaster-
MI. He did not think the
General relative to the r