The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-17 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 17, 1855.

NAVAL AND MILTTARY INTELLIGENCE.

Nile, 91, screw, Captain Munday, has been paid down
and her crew granted 14 days' leave of absence.
Orion, 91, screw, Commander Pollard, is in Chatham
Docks fitting for sea. She is to have a complement of
850 men. The engineers are working on her from six
in the morning until eight' in the evening to expedite her
engines.

The 74,gun ships, the Pembroke, the Hawke, the
Rus.ell, and the Hastings have been converted into 60-
gun screw blockships, and will be taken out of dock the
first week in February. The Cornwallis and the Cen-
turion are also being converted into screw, blockships
and are in a forward etate.

Ajax, 60, screw, Captain Warden, will leave Ports-
mouth in a day or two for Leith, and Edinburgh, 60,
screw, will go to Portsmouth.
_ _

Aretbusa, 50, Captain Simmonds, bas been paid off
into ordinary, and her crew granted 50 days' leave of
absence.

Imperieuse, 51. screw, Captain R. B. Watson, hauled
out of the steam basin dock at Portsmouth, yesterday,
and Blenheim, GO, screw, Captain Nemesia Hall,
hauled in.

Esk, 21, screw, Captain Birch, will go into Ports-
mouth harbour to-day.
Bonetta, 3, Lieutenant Commander Wake, has been
paid off into ordinary at Chatham.

APPOINTMENTS.
Commander—Lacon Usher Hammett (1854), to the
Alban, paddle-wheel steam-sloop .at Woolwich.
Lieutenants—John Townsend (1844), to the Himalaya
screw steam troop-ship at Portsmouth ; Richard V.
Hamiltsia.(lssl), to •the Desperate, screw steam-frigate
at Sheerness.

Chaplain—The Rev. Francis Hannan, B.A. (1847),
to the St. Vincent, 102, guardship of ordinary at Ports-
mouth.

Master's Assistants—Albert Carr, to the Nile, 91,
screw steam-ship at Devonport ; Perceval Rees, to the
Tartar, 21, screw steam .corvette at Chatham.

Lieutenant H. Bradley Roberts, of the Royal Marine
Artillery, is appointed an acting engineer in the force*
serving in the Crimea.

Mr.-J. Norris Norman, wounded in the trenches an
the 17th ult., First-Lieutenant of her Majesty's ship
Trafalgar, on her way to England, has been ordered to
return immediately to the Black Sea.

MR. W. 3. LINDSAY, M.P. ON THE
TRANSPORT SERVICE.

The Equitable Freight and Insurance Association
held its annual dinner at the Albion Assembly Itboms,
Tynemouth, on Thursday last; Alderman Pow Was
,in
the chair. The usual loyal toasts having been iiven,
followed by " Our Allies, the French and Turks," and
"Her Mejesty's Ministers," all of which were drunk
with applause,

. .
. -
TheCiutintstAx gave the health of the borough raero-
ber. Mr. Lindsay, he said, had not long represented
ate town, but if he went on as he bitd begun be could
not fail to give satisfaction to his constituents. (Ap-
platise.) _ _

The health was drunk with loud cheers.
Mr. LINDSAY, on rising, was received with renewed
cheering. After adverting to local topics, the hon. mem-
ber said—With regard to the war, although holdin,g the
same principles as the Ministry, yet he must say that when
they first resolvedlo take up arms against Russia; they
shoul have done so with more hearty good will than they
had evinced.; if we had been better prepared for war, there
would have been fewer losses and sacrifices, and the object
would have been' easily secured. He would say one
word further: They were aware of certain propositions
for peace which had. been made, and of the native of
what were called the "four points ;" and, considering
what we had done and suffered—remembering the
vic-
tories of Alma, Bilaklava, and lokerman, , not gained
without the loss of much valuable 'treasure and many
precious lives—he believed that, even. if theie points
were agreed to by Russia, they would not satisfy the peo-
ple of this country. (Cheers.) He was an advocate for
peace ; he thought it a horrible thing* that civilised na-
tions should have to resort to cutting each other's
throats to settle their quarrels ; but it seemed neces-
sary to resort to war, and having done so, with re-
luctance as they all knew, he must say that he for one
was not satisfied with the four points. The honourable
member recapitulated those points, and urged that Rus-
sia had failed in its engagements to keep open the
months of the Danube, having' an interest in drawing
as many ships as possible to its own port of Odessa,
and insisted that not only must the Black Sea be
opened to our ships of war, as ,proposed, but that,
Sebastopol must be destroyed, if we would protect Tur-
key from the aggressions of the Czar. (Cheers.) There
way, he said, one point more connected with the war on
which he would touch. We had already expended a
great deal of money in carrying it' on—there had been
additional taxation in consequence—and he thought Eng-
lishmen, and he was sure our French allies (John Bull
had always been liberal in these matters), would expect
that one of the conditions should be that Russia should
pay the expenses of the war to which she has driven us.
(A.pplause.) Upon the conduct of the war'it would ill
become him to venture an opinion. He had read with
deep interest the accounts in the public press ; he had
admired the bravery, and indomitable courage of our troops,
and although he had also seen with much regret painful
statements of their privations and sufferings,' yet he'
scarcely thought things were quite so bad as reported. In
the sister service, the navy, however, there was great need
of better organisation. This he knew. With regard to
the management of matters connected with the transport
service France was greatly in advance of us. We had
men of the first ability at the Admiralty--we could hardly '
find a more able man than Sir James Graharn--but
when he told them that the same System was now in
operation which was pursed a hundred years ago, they
would not be surprised at the difficulty and confusion
which prevailed. The form of the charter-patty was'
verbatim the same as in the days of the Dutch war and
Lord Camperdown, whereas the French adopted a form
like that used in the merchant service--being in this
respect, therefore, a great step in advance of us. (Cheers.)
These were facts the recital of which might give offence
to some, but he thought it his duty to the country to
state them thus publicly. Then, again, France had a
responsible head, to whom all might appeal. If a mer-
chant had occasion to send a message by telegraph to
the Minister of War, requesting to know for instance,
by four o'clockraity
in_
what goods were to be shipped in a certain vessel, there
was
she ananswerafternoon.
Butsame
by
the
sraupwidrote to the
medium
much nearer—the probability was you would not get an
a).
answer in a week, and sometimes fire weeks elapsed be-
fore an answer was returned. (Hear.) This was not the
fault of the men, but the system ; there was no responsible
head—responsible to the House of Commons, and through
it to the country. Messages were sent from the Admi-
ralty to the War-office' from the Ministry of War to
the Ordnance, from the Ordnance to Deptford, and then'
came back to the source from which they originally
proceeded. A change, therefore, must be made in this
respect before they could reasonably hope matters would
improve. (Loud cheers.) Having dwelt at some length
on this question, he would only add a few words on
the burdens of shipping. A consolidation of our mari-
time laws was effected last session—lie wished it had
been still more extensive and simple, but a great im-
provement had been effected ; but .the Admiralty Court
had not yet been reformed, consular charges had not
been abolished, burdens on shipping still remained to
be removed, and he would only assure them that to
these measures he should continue to direct his atten-
tion so long as he had the honour and satisfaction of
being their representative in Parliament. (Cheers.)
Several other toasts were then drank, and the com-
pany separated. —Newcastle Guardian.

PECULIARITIES OF' THE ENGLISH
CA VALRY.

The military critic of whose memoranda, the fruit of
long experience in high command in the Peninsula and
now again in the Crimea, we availed ourselves on Satur-
day last, remarks, with much good sense and modera-
tion, on the peculiarities of the English cavalry. There
is not such universal admiration for our cavalry as for
our infantry. The horses are not broken nor the equip-
ments prepared in a manner to meet the approbation of
foreign cavalry officers ' • but on these he abstains from
offering an opinion. We cannot wholly prevail upon
ourselves to emulate his moderation in this respect. If
there be a sight at once ludicrous and painful, it is that
of a cavalry soldier ou a rough trottieg horse, with the
saddle canted up behind, and his stirrups of such a
length as to render it impossible for him to indulge in
the forbidden luxury of rising in his stirrups—braided,
belted, and shakoed, a perfect picture of
splendid and
superfluous misery. If any one wishes to know what it is
that the English Dragoon is called upon to endure, for
no ether reason than deference to senseless custom, let
him mount the largest and roughest carriage horse he
can find, on a boy's saddle, without stirrups, and, pre-
serving a perfectly erect position, keep the horse at a
trot as long as he can endure the process. He will find
that
es
setfeseedehthan ten
discipline
goes further to weary him-
selfridden in the ordinary way,
andandv
Ia l ml
:its/ma some faint idea why it is that the most
his
insignificant journeys wear out both horses and men, and
render our cavalry little more available for one of their
most valuable purposes—the gaining knowledge of a
country—than if they were not mounted at all.
Apologising for the digression, we return to our
Mentor, who observes that the British Cavalry soldier is
afflicted with the same helpnessness as the infantry, and
experiences the same inability to provide for himself out
of what the country legitimately affords, the evil being in
this instance d oubled, inasmuch as the horse must also suffer
for the improvidence of the rider. The cavalry soldier
also is said to be equally ignorant of the art of war and
of the duties required from officers, non-commissioned
officers, and private soldiers in the field, from which it
happens that the early periods of a campaign by a Bri-
tish army are almost always more or less marked by
serious errors on the part of the cavalry, which they
often vainly endeavour to compensate by extraordinary
prowess in actual conflict with the enemy. These are
mortifying criticisms, proceeding as they do from no un-
friendly censor. One would have thought that a nation
like ours, possessing undoubtedly the finest breed of
horses in the world, and a race of horsemen more bold
and more skilful than are to be found probably in any
other civilised country, would at least in this arm have
shown a marked and unquestionable superiority. But
the spirit of narrow and prejudiced routine and the effect
of a discipline which seems to aim at making men ma-
chines, instead of retaining for them the advantages of
reason and intelligence, have somehow or other con-
trived
to construct out of first-rate materials an article
not wholly first-rate. But even these defects are small
compared with, that pervading vice of the English ea-
valry which renders it, notwithstanding all its dash and
all its bravery, the most inferior arm in cur service.
There is little attachment between the man and his horse.
The best of our cavalry soldiers will do what the rules
prescribe for their horses, but it is a labour of duty,
not of love, and he will do no more. The bati, soldier
will avoid, when he can, even doing that, without re-
gard to the injury that his horse suffers, and the worst
will not scruple to sell the forage of his charger to ob-
tain liquor for himself. He views his horse much in
the light in which a Russian colonel regards the boars
who form his regiment—as creatures containing in
their organisation a power of indefinite starvation,
which he is at liberty to strain to the uttermost for
his own personal profit. The result is the same in
both cases. The Russian foot soldier dies on the
march or in the bivouac, from causes which hardly
affect the better-fed troops of other nations, and the
English trooper's horse breaks down and dies under
privations and hardships which, however severe, are
not found to dismount and destroy the cavalry of other
countries. So notorious has the inability of the Eng-
lish cavalry to endure long campaigning become, that
people have sought to account for it by the plausible
hypothesis that the English horse, pampered and Shel-
tered at home, is unable to endure the privation and
hardship of a campaign. Our censor is not of this
opinion. He observes that the Hanoverian troopers
in the Peninsula were actuated by a real spirit of huma-
nity and affection for their horses, and that this good
example and the effect it produced on the English
dragoon were the means of preserving the regiments
in far better condition at the end than they were at
the beginning of the war. In confirmation of this
view we may urge, that while our horses have been
dying by thousands from cold, wet, and starvation
in the Crimea, the battery commanded by Cap-
tain Barker, where care has been taken to shelter
thew, and gill them all the relief which circumgitaneeg

admitted, has not lost a single horse—a memorable .ex'
amply of what may be done by forethought and hum:.
nity, and an exploit as honourable as the most brilliant
achievement on the field of battle.
The last suggestion on this subject to which we have
to call the attention of our readers is the great want felt
in our army of really light cavalry. We have, indeed,'
many regiments rejoicing in this appellation, because
they contrive to load the horse when in heavy march-
ing order with a weight something under 19 stone.
Such troops, however useful in a charge or solid in resist-
ing an attack, are only "light" by comparison, and are
quite unable to perform those duties for which cavalry are
more peculiarly calculated. There is, indeed, very little dif-
ference between "heavy" and "light" in the English army.
It may be said of all our cavalry that their weight
renders them unfit for active outpost duty, such! as pa-
trols, escorts, orderlies, and messengers with ord,ers and
correspondence. For these purposes we require an a ctivo
corps, composed of men of lighter weight, for wh ese
height there should be fixed a maximum instead of a
minimum, mounted on active horses, with arms and
equipments to correspond. - The English Dragoon horse
can seldom be supplied out of England. However effi-
cient in a charge, —a consideration to which everything
else is sacrificed,—he cannot, if lost, be replaced except
from home. A. Dragoon who has lost his horse in Tur- '
key is as effectually dismounted as if there was not an-
other horse in the country, being reduced to the condition
of the Norman Rollo, who was obliged to perform all
his journeys on foot, because there was found no steed
strong enough to carry him. But really light cavalry,
such as we have suggested, would find no difficulty in
remounting themselves even in the Crimea, and thus
have saved he endless expense and delay which seem
likely to wait upon our attemptstomaintaina respectable
cavalry force with the army.
It seems to result from these observations, that, great
as is the loss which we have undoubtedly sustained by
the storm of the 14th of November, by the inclemency
of the weather, and the deep and miry nature of the
ground; the causes which have destroyed our horses lie
deeper, and would have asserted their fatal efficacy,
though not to the same extent, even had these special
circumstances been wanting. A short time ago we
should not have thought it fitting to trouble the gene-
ral reader with these military details and disquisi-
tions, high as is the authority from which we derive-
them ; but we share in common with the public the con-
viction that these things can no longer be left to be
managed, as they have been, by purely professional
minds. If that common sense which appears everywhere
so deplorably wanting is at length to be introduced into
our military system, it must be through the agency of
public opinion, and it therefore becomes a duty to assist
in forming that opinion, by laying before it the sugges-
tions of mature experience and the conclusions of sound
reason.—Times.