The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-15 00:00:00

of the board, or, like the Master-General of the Ordnance,
a superior officer with power to overrule the decision
of the board ?-a-He has no power whatever to over-
rule the decisions of the board. He presides at the
board, and the practice is, on documents being read,
for the First Lord presiding to give his opinion on the
matters submitted for consideration, which, if the mem-
bers present receive in silence, is noted by the secretary
as being assented to ; but should any member dissent,
he has an opportunity of stating it. The First Lord of
the Admiralty was an integral part of the board.
If the majority of the board was against the First
Lord's opinion, would the majority govern ? I can only
answer that question by stating that I should have acted
on the advice of Lord Spencer to me some years since,
.441aad made up his mind, the Avant of two of the
board refusing him Weir to his request, that
one of the admirals should strike his flag, he would have
dissolved the board ; but I have never found any differ-
ence of opinion existing with the members of the
board, but on the contrary, they were always
most willing to coincide with my views. He
had the control of the transport service until the
transport board was established. Previous to that there
were orders andinstructions pouring into the Admiralty
respecting the transport service from seven different de-
partments. The change had not altogether taken place
before he left office, but the concentration of organisa-
tion had commenced. In November the requisitions
from the Treasury and from the Horse Guards had ceased
and came from the Secretary of State for War. The
Ordnance, however, continued to send theirs to the Ad-
miralty, and the medical requisitions from the Secretary
at War until Mr. S. Herbert ceased to hold office, and
he remained at the Admiralty. Having mentioned to
the committee the large powers vested in the First Lord
of tha Admiralty, he held him responsible for anything
that might occur. When the expedition was first pro•
posed, we had three iron steam-ships of war capable
of carrying two thousand men, and as the
requisitions came in for transports, they
were taken up in the home market, and a number of
steamers taken up, but the demand being greater than
the supply he bad recourse to sailing vessels until there
was a continuous flow of vessels from this country to
the seat of war. The transports in the Black Sea wa,
under the command and authority of the Commander in-
Chief, and generally throughout his command accord-
ing to the fleet regulations, apart from all spe-

cial instructions. Where there were combined mili-
tary and naval command the transports were moved
under their joint authority. Admiral Boxer was sent
out specially to superintend the transport service within
the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, but subject always
to the control of the admiral in command. He appointed
Admiral Boxer from the manner in which he was men-

tioned to him about 30 years since by Sir Thomas
Hardy as being the best seaman he knew. Admiral
Boxer has more than justified the opinion so formed, of
him. He (Sir James) selected him from the list, and
much surprised him by giving him an appointment.
Admiral Boxer's instructions, on the Bth March, 1854,
informed him that he received his appointment subject
to orders he might from time to time receive from the
Lords of the Admiralty, or Vice-Admiral Dundas,
Commander of her Majesty's fleet in the Black Sea and
he Mediterranean.

Examination of Sir James Graham continued—On
the 13th April instructions were given to Admiral
Boxer to keep up a constant correspondence with Vice-
Admiral Dundas, and to follow his directions. On the
22d May Admiral Boxer's command was limited to the
end of the Dardanelles and the East entrance of the
Bosphorus into the Black Sea. The Admiralty looked
to Vice-Admiral Dundas as responsible for the transport
service, subject to the limitation he had stated. Vice-
Admiral Dundas had equal power in the harbour of
Balaklava and the transports there, and was held re-
sponsible for everything in the Black Sea. He (Sir
James) appointed Captain Christie, who had command
of the transports at Balaklava. Captain Christie had
no power or authority in the harbour of Balaklava ; he
was almost invariably on board ship outside the harbour.
All he had heard of Captain Christie induced him to
speak well of him, except in three particulars—one
with reference to the loss of the Prince, for
which he will he tried by court-martial, and he
believed he was now a broken-hearted man. Balaklava
harbour was more like a ditch than a harbour, and was
quite incapable of accommodating the immense number
of vessels that had to be discharged. Captain Christie
bad no authority in the harbour of Balaklava, as he had
already stated, but he did all he could to induce the
harbour master to receive the Prince inside the harbour.
He did not think Captain Christie responsible for the
loss of that vessel. The admission or refusal of admis-
sion of that ship into the harbour rested with the senior
naval officer in command of the harbour, and not Cap-
tain Christie, but he had the power of ordering her out
to sea. The Prince, however, being such a long ship, so
near the shore, and such a swell running he thought pro-
bably it was impossible for Captain Christieto have done
so. Sir Edmund Lyons commanded in the harbour of
Balaklava before the evening of the attack of the fleets
on the forts, then Captain Dacre, and after that Captain
Keith and Commander Ford, until Admiral Boxer went
up from the Bosphorus. He did not remove Admiral
Boxer from the Bosphorus to Balaklava in con-
sequence of any complaint, but from his duties
there swelling into greater importance than he at
first contemplated. Some censure had been cast
on Admiral Boxer, but he (Sir James) took the re-
sponsibility on himself, at not having adopted at the
time his suggestion, and appointed a receiving-ship at
Constantinople ; it was, however, subsequently done.
If Admiral Dundas had been dissatisfied with Admiral
Boxer he could not say if he could have discharged him.
. .

The question had never arisen, but he had the power to
deal with all officers under him. The defective state of
the transport service, or the delays in the Crimea, had
never been notified to him officially by any naval or

military authority. He was not aware of the transport
service being defective in its arrangements within the
Black Sea. Sir James then proceeded to give his op-
nion on the advantage of steamers used as transports,
and denied the assertion that 1,000,0001. had been lost
to the country, in the manner in which the transport
service bad been conducted, the assertion being based,
as he said, on two fallacies. About the loading of the
transports he bad nothing to add to the evidence already
given by Captain Milne. The Admiralty took up a cer-
tain number of ships for the Commissariat, and Lord
Raglan took up others, from time to time, as he re-
quired them. The number was limited, and the base
of operations was changed when the Russian army re-
treated from Silistria, and he believed it impossible for
the Admiralty tohavedone more, or procured more trans-
ports than they had from that time to August, when
the expedition to the Crimea was decided on.
In the course of the year the army moved 60,000
British soldiers and 6,000 horses from this country to
the Crimea, a distance of 3,000 miles,from 25, 000 to 30,000
French, and 45,000 Turks. Simultaneously with the dif-
ficulty experienced in providing transports for the Crimea,
the Admiralty moved 12,000 French to the Baltic, moving
in the whole somewhere about 150,000 men. Then,
again, they had to supply provisions and stores, and
they were engaged weekly in conveying about
1,250,0001b5. of biscuit, 50,000 gallons of rum, 250,0001b5.
of salt meat, and about 10,000 tons of coal, &c., &c.
He was not aware of having received a letter from Dr.
A. Smith in the course of last summer, asking for ves-
sels for the conveyance of patients, and being used as
hospitals. The question was never brought officially
before his notice, but he had several conversations with
the military authorities respecting it, and although he
was averse to the establishment of naval hospitals, the
number of the sick becoming greater and the urgency of

the service requiring them, he had two established. The
hon. baronet real a number of documents issued by the
Admiralty, some public and some of a private character
—the latter being subject to be made public documents
at any time by the first Lord—wherein instructions were
given. The responsibility of not providing sufficient
means for the landing of the sick at Scutari rested
with the officer in command of the Bosphorus,
subject to the communications he had made on the sub-
ject to the Commander-in• Chief of the fleet. Sir James
read copies of instructions sent to Admiral Dundas and
also to Adm ired Lyons,requesting-them to make every ar-
rangement necessary, and that they would be held respon-
sible for'what occurred under their several commands.
In reference to the warm clothing, Sir James Graham
went through a catalogue of the articles transmitted by
the Prince to the Crimea ; and added, that had not
that vessel unfortunately been lost nothing would have
been heard of the urgency of the want of warm clothing.
In reply t 0 Lord Seymour, the right hon. baronet
went on to state, that when formerly at the Admiralty