The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

Inkerman, and for their distinguished exertions, in co
mon with her Majesty's troops, in the siege of Sebastopol;
and and that Field-Marshal Lord Raglan be desired to convey 1
to them the present resolution.
" That the thanks of this house be given to Admiral
Hamelin and the French navy for their cordial co-operation
with her Majesty's fleet in conveying the allied forces to
the Crimea, in effecting their disembarkation, and in the
siege of Sebastopol ; and that Vice-Admiral undas be de-
sired to convey to them the present resolution."
The Earl of DERBY—My lords, having, upon a former
occasion, taken an opportunity to express, feebly and in-
adequately indeed, but most sincerely, my deep sense of
the debt of 'gratitude which this country owes to those
gallant and distinguished men of every rank in our army,
to whose efforts we owe the great and brilliant successes
achieved by their arms, I should not have thought it in-
cumbent on me to say a single word, nor should I have
risen on this occasion had it not been to give to the noble
duke and to your lordships the most convincing proof of
mydesire—though, unfortunately, opposed to her Majesty's
Government—to express, on my own part, and on the part
of those with whom I have the honour to bo connected,
our entire and cordial acquiescence in the motion now
made. The noble duke, in his appeal to me, has done in-
justice to the manner in which be has brought the subject
under the notice of the house ; for, in no lengthened ad-
dress to your lordships, he has most clearly, most simply,
and with the truest eloquence, because it was the elo-
quence of the heart, enumerated with official authority
those services for which he calls upon you to give your
willing tribute. (Hear, hear.) I feel, therefore, that
the appeal of the noble duke is one with which I can-
not comply without exposing myself to the charge of
overweening presumption. I concur, and lam sure your
lordships all will concur, in the vote of thanks which the
noble duke has moved to the distinguished officers whom
he has mentioned, as also to those whose names, from the
impossibility of enumerating all where all are best, are
of necessity omitted. I concur with him, and without
following the indication which he has given to contrast the
achievements of the army with the deficiencies which some
may perceive in the provisions made for them by the Go-
vernment. Their deeds require no such contrast, their
achievements need no such adventitious colouring, and this
is not an occasion on which to awaken the memory of such
shortcomings. Let us be content, my lords, on this occa-
sion to award our tribute of sincere admiration and grati-
tude to those men who, under whatever difficulties, have
so nobly sustained the honour of their flag, and most gal-
lantly maintained the arduous struggle in which they were
engaged. It falls very naturally to the part of the noble
duke in the position which he occupies to enumerate by
name some of the most distinguished commanders anti
leaders. I speak with no such authority, and it would be
presumption on my part to speak in such detail, because
from the highest to the lowest, from that gallant and dis-
tinguished officer who had the advantage of enjoying the
confidence of that great master, the Duke of Wellington,
and who has proved himself a worthy pupil of that emi-
nent school ; from that distinguished Prince, who has
added another title to his royal blood, who has shared the
soldiers' labours, privations, toils, and dangers, and the
latter to an extent and degree which may be thought im-
prudent—from these : the one by his high position in the
army, the other by his position in social rank, and his con-
nection with the royal family of this country, down to the
humblest in the British ranks—all were actuated by the
desire to perform that first object in the mind of every Eng-
lishman, to perform unostentatiously, indeed perseveringly,
firmly, and unhesitatingly, their duty, and that in the hour
of greatest peril and privation, satisfied thatthese perils and
privations would not be lost on tho gratitude 3f the country,
and that the admiration, if not thanks, of the Sovereign,
the Parliament and their countrymen, would be freely,given
to these who had undergone such perils and privations, and
who had achieved such successes. (Cheers.) The navy, it
is true, on this occasion, had not had an opportunity, with
respect to this particular service, of distinguishing them-
selves en their own element ; but whatever it was in their
power to accomplish has bean accomplished with a zeal and
an activity which contrasts not unfavourably with any for-
mer achievements in the history of that gallant service; and
when I speak of the achievements of the navy on their ele-
ment, I must not forget to mention, and I do so with satis-
faction and respect, those volunteer exertions of the gallant
seamen and marines not at sea, but assisting their fellow-
heroes of the other service in sustaining the toils and dan-
gers of the land service also; and I believe that for the ad-
dition of the marine artillery, the army would not be slow
to acknowledge the debt of gratitude which they owe them.
My lords, the noble duke has said that he was about to enter
into a course somewhat peculiar, in expressing the condo-
lence and feelings he has experienced in looking back to the
lamentable losses we have unstained, and contrasting the
present state of the army, and looking through the lists and
observing the melancholy gaps that have been made—and
made in our own observation— in this, and that, and many
families. If it be an irregular course on this occasion to
mingle with our thanks and honours to the living our re-
grets, and admiration, and respects for the dead—surely,
if that be adeviation from common practice, no one of your

lordships' house will blame her 35tajesty's GovernMent.
(Hear.) Perhaps their hearts were more deeply. engaged
even than in rendering honour to the living, in giving the
tribute of their sympathy and condolence to the relations
of those who had fallen so gloriously. (Hear, hear.) It will
not be doubted that I concur with the noble duke in the
expression he has given to the feelings with which her Ma-
jesty's Government have seen and appreciated the honour-
able and noble support given to the armies of this country
by the troops, military and naval, of our faithful ally. I
believe we had full reason, as we had full reason before-
hand, to appreciate, under very different circumstances,
the valour of the French troops and the French seamen.
We have never had an opportunity in which we were made
more conscious of that valour or more sensible of the advan-
tages attached to their services. Though, on former occa-
sions, we were made to feel sensible of it, now, I rejoice to
say, these two great nations, side by side, have carried on
the operation of their arms in the prosecution of a just
and honourable war with every prospect of ultimate suc-
cess. I rejoice that the noble duke has taken this oppor-
tunity of doing justice, not only to the memory of the late
French Commander-in-Chief—not only to that distinguished
man who succeeded to the command of the army, but also
to that general in the French army who has boon brought ,
into more immediate connection with the English troops
than any other, and whose assistance, both at Alma and
Inkerman, has been invaluable to the British arms.
(Hear.) But while I participate as cordially as any man
can do in acknowledging the services rendered by that
army, I put it to her Majesty's Government not as a matter
of reproach, but I should be glad to hear from them that
they have themselves considered whether there is any pre-
cedent in this country for returning thanks to the troops
of a foreign prince—
The Earl of ABERDEEN—Yes, after Waterloo.
The Earl of DERRY—My lords, it had occurred to me
that the thanks of the British Parliament, however it might
be most becoming that we should recognise on the part of
the Parliament and the country the obligations we owe to
our foreign Aides yet lit might have the appearance of
usurping a place Which did not properly belong to ns, of
passing over the Sovereign tf those troops, and that the
thanks of Parliament, when conveyed to the subjects of
another Sovereign, might, however gratifying to the troops
themselves, appear to be an interference with the internal
duty and allegiance of those troops to their own Sovereign,
which I am sure is the last thing intended by the vote
now proposed by her Majesty's Government. I rejoice to
find there is a precedent for such a course, and such being
the case, even the slight hesitation I might have felt, not
at the substance of the motion itself, but at the form in
which it is proposed, is altogether done away with, and I
am glad to be enable to agree both with its form And sub-
stance. I trust the Government will not think that my
having noticed this point showed in the slightest degree a
desire on my part to bo captions, or to introduce any diffe-
rence of opinion upon the question. To all of the British
generals, to the British soldiers, to our admirals, and our
navy, to the navy and army of France, as well as to the
arms of England, this country owes a debt of gratitude
which it cannot easily discharge. It is easy to vote the
thanks of Parliament, and in doing so, although I think
these thanks ought to be reserved for great and signal oc-
casions, because if given too frequently they will lose some
portion of their effect—depend upon it, your vote of thanks
will be deeply appreciated by all those gallant men upon
whpm you confer it. They will consider it a glorious and
honourable compensation for all they have undergone, all
they have suffered, and for all they have achieved, and they
will consider it—and I trust the thanks of Parliament,

embodying the thanks and gratitude of the country, will
always be considered by those who carry our flag in foreign
countries—not only au honourable compensation for the
past, but an honour able incentive to endeavour for the
future even to eclipse their former deeds by deeds of greater
valour and greater daring.- (Hear.)
pipi ie Es s
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suc-
cess which had hitherto attended our arms in the Crimea.
He thought, however, the services in the Baltic had been
of a most arduous description, and that while they passed
a vote of thanks to the fleet in the Black Sea, they ought
not to be unmindful of the exertions of the navy in the
Baltic.
Viscount HARDINGE said that he should be doing great
inju3tice to his feelings if he were to omit expressing the
great sense he ontertaiuod, he might say, tho gratitude ho
felt, towards Lord Raglan and the army which his noble
friend had proved himself most worthy to command. That
noble lord might, if ho had been a man of less energy and
determination, havepausedbafore ho undertook an expedi-
tion of such difficulty, but he did no such thing. He at once
entered into the views of the Government. His noble friend
on that occasion, before even a man had landed in the
Crimea, discovered the very greatest ability in the instruc-
tions he issued for the landing of the army. Upon that
occasion Lord Raglan had had all the happiness which a
commander ought to have, except that his great master
was not in their lordships' house to eulogise his conduct.
(Hear, hear.) He (the noble viscount) would not attempt
to enter into a discussion of the merits of individuals in
the army ; he would merely state that the discipline of
the army and its intelligence and courage had been equally
shown 'both iu attack and defence. (Hear, hear.) He
felt, he could do no more, after the able speeches of the
noble mover and seconder of these resolutions, than express
his extreme satisfaction that a young army, of which two-
thirds might be said to be mere recruits, should have acted
with so much firmness and determination.
The Earl of MALMESBURY thought this was one of
those days which the youngest member of their lordships'
house would not fail to remember to the latest hour of his
existence. It was one of those days which made them
proud of the land they lived in—proud of their fellow-
countrymen, of whom they each formed au unit themselves
--and proud, of those deeds which they had heard of in
history, but had not had the happiness to behold. He
could not let that occasion
_pass without saying afew words
as to the gallant deeds of the Commander-in-Chief, Lord
Raglan. Of course be (the noble earl) should not enter
into detail, but they were not so much surprised at the
honours conferred upon his noble friend when they recol-
lected that the victor of Alma and the originator of the
flank march to Balaklava was a pupil of the great duke,
and that Lord Fitzroy Somerset was the great duke's
favourite soldier. (Hear, hear.) Their lordships all re-
collected the ardent nature and high spirit of another noble
friend cf his (the Earl of Malmesbury's), who had per-
formed extraordinary deeds of arms in the light cavalry
charge at Balaklava. The Earl of Cardigan, who had ever
been held in great estimation by his gallant soldiers, had
evinced the highest qualities in the field. (Hear, hear.)
When they looked at the list of officers, to the number of
307, who had fallen in action, he felt that it was impos-
sible to withhold the highest meed of praise from those
brave men. He felt they would no longer be told that the
officers of our army were only fit to figure on parade or
loiter through the streets of country towns. The letters
which they had written to their mothers, and wives, and
reflectedsisters,
highestby handscre credit
talmost
them,
and red-handed.,
proved
efdr ot e
mh battle,
e r
e
something more than mere machines. Having spoken of
the letters which had been written by soldiers, he could
nit but call their lordships' attention to a letter which had