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

duct as well as to their undoubted bravery.
thatTi tees thaosf
a soldier's conduct is not only in the town
sacked, but also in the country in which he is encamped.
ee
The conduct of our troops in Bulgaria, among a population
soldier is as distinguished.
alien in habits andreligl'onin,
egaimveps
aperhooeftethharetvtehiehßhatitttilseh.
of your lordships, in reading the records of the
I have, at various periods of m. y life, taken a deep interest,
like moat
uinntrmyy;
humble
hllecannot bring
judgment, surpasses
m), r
re-
collection ()f mhiyeli c°,
,
w
this in the distinguished conduct of the soldiers. 'I have,
cogrellaetctbioa
stated, my lords, that these are not only my sentiments,
but that they are likewise the sentiments of the Sovereign
—(cheers)—as they are, no doubt, the sentiments also of
all your lordships. Her Majesty has been pleased to sig-
nify that approval by conferring a medal upon all the sol-
diers, and others, to be inscribed with the word "Crimea;"
and, following general precedents, clasps also are to be con--
ferred for the two great battles of Alma and Inkerman,
and those names shall in future be inscribed on the colours
with the names of those previous victories gained by the
regiments who have again distinguished themselves. It is
further my duty, my lords, to ask you to pass a vote of
thanks to the naval officers who rendered their assistance
and evinced the greatest devotion to the service of their
country and the most honourable interest in the sister ser-
vice during the engagement. I know that no person more
than Lord Raglan and the soldiers under his command
feels how much the country is indebted to the navy for
their services on this expedition. I will not dilate upon
their services, but I have only to add that the seamen
and marines, as much as the officers of the navy, de-
serve your lordships' consideration, and I will ask your
lordships to accord a vote of thanks to them. There are
two other services which it is not usual to include in votes
of thanks of this nature, and I do not intend to ask your
lordships to depart from existing precedents. I cannot
forbear remarking on what is due to a large body of
seamen who are not engaged in her Majesty's service,
but who have zealously fulfilled their duty in this under
taking. I allude to the officers and men of the transport
service at the disposal of Government. Their services
were most indefatigable and deserving of every acknow-
ledgment. The other body of men to whom I refer are the
medical men of the army. I speak not now of the medi-
cal organisation, of which so much was said the other
evening, but let say, in justice to those persons, that
never were greater exertions used—never greater humanity
evinced—than by those medical officers. I will only ask
you to recur to the services rendered by Dr. Thompson.
He was left, under circumstances of the most painful na-
ture, on the field of battle ; not to attend to the wounded
of his own army, for they had all been removed and cared
for, but to a largo body of Russians, many of whom
thought an Englishm;in little less than a devil, and were
prepared to murder the man who came to their assistance.
He attended to their wants, although left alone, and he
bound up the wounds of hundreds under circumstances of
great danger to his life. Nevertheless, he escaped safe
and came back to service in the cause of his own army ;
but it pleased Providence to remove him two or three days
after his arrival, partly in consequence of his extraordinary
exertions, and partly through the disease from which he
was suffering. (Hear, hear.) Although it is not according
to precedent to include such men as these in the vote of
thanks, it is not for a Minister of the Crown, under such
circumstances, to forget all mention of them. I am, how-
ever, about to ask your lordships on -this occasion to de-
part somewhat from the precedents usual in cases like the
present. We are called on to accord a vote of thanks to
those who have served their country, but I regret to say
that there is a large body of those who left this country
high in expectations and confident of success, but who are
not now within reach of our mortal thanks. Though
their names, my lords, are not on the list presented to
yourlordships, I am convinced that theirs are names which
are not to be forgotten. in the midst of triumph deep
sorrow has been occasioned, and we re I to look round ,
at present I know some are listening to me who are bear- 1
ing the outward symbols of that greet which preys upon
their inward heart at the loss winch they have sus-
tained. I think that your lordships would not con-
sider it unbecoming to depart from precedent so far as to
express our regret of the loss of thous noble men, and to
vote words of condolence to their relatives. The noble
duke then referred to Sir George Cathcart, whom it was
impossible, he said, not to recollect on this occasion. I
have had the happiness to become acquainted with
that gallant and noble man by official communications,
and I never was more struck with th 0 ability of any man
than that of Sir George Cathcart in b is official correspond-
ence during the year and a half that he was Governor at
the Cape a Good Hope. I bad believed that that man
would have taken a high position by his abilities, and
would have been of the highest value to his country and in
the service of his S ,voreige. (Loud tries of " hear, hear.")
Ho now sleeps with others upon flee bills of the Crimea,
but I am confident that their names .will long be honoured
in the remembrance of their country, and will be handed
down on the records of English history. I rejoice, my
lords, that on this occasion wo are able to extend our vote
of thanks beyond the usual extent. We have had on this
occasion an Ally such as it has rarely been our good fortune
to possess in any former war. (Hear, hear.) I propose to
your lordships that we should vote our thanks to that gal-
lant army which has shared with oars in its labours and
its triumphs, beginning with that eu anent man who un-
dertook the command at the cowmen cement of the opera-
tions, and including him who has so :nobly succeeded him.
Marshal St. Arnaud, as is known tee your lordships, left
his country to take the command of that army with the
conviction that a malady was upon lern, and that it would
be impossible, in all probability, for MI n ever to return alive.
He showed the greatest devotion to blue service of that army,
and I have it from various private betters of Lord Raglan
that he carried on his operations i a a spirit of the most
complete harmony with him, and indeed might have been
serving in the same army or brought up in the same ser-
vice. Marshal St. Arnaud left, on -the 7th of September,
the shores of Varna with the English forces. In the course
of the short voyage to the opposite coast he became so se-
riously ill that an officer commun' cated to Lord Raglan
that it was impossible that he coup( ever land. He never-
theless rallied ; ho mounted his horse, and although re-'
peatedly at the battle of Alma obliged to dismount from
his extreme suffering, he remains t at his post, and pe-
rished, it might be said, in the hour of victory. General
Canrobat succeeded him in the command, and his noble
conduct and his frank and generous bearinc, have endeared
him to the British army as much as Lord Raglan. They
all respect his military talents—ttley admire him as a sol-
dier, they respect him as a man. Let me say that we pro-
pose to add to the vote the name of General Bosquet, the
second in command. (Cheers.) Me has been brought into
more especial contact with our troops; he has served with
the English troops on our right,. and I can say from know-
ledge derived from the most :erithentic sources that our
troops look on him as if he w ere a general in our own
army, and that they would follow him to victory as
readily as any officer possessing at present a commission.
Such has already become the good feeling and affection
and concord between the two forces. I should also say
that I propose an equal vote of t„ hanks to the French navy,
in a similar manner as to our own, for the distinguished
services which they have neutered, and the assistance
which they have afforded in all 'these operations. (Hear.)
Both the army and the navy of 1 prance being allied in the
same effort as ourselves, I am cost fident that your lordships
will feel yourselves mingling in their emotions of enthu-
siasm, and will as readily afford your thanks to these
foreign officers as to your own. Now that I have made
this motion I will leave it in you r lordships' hands. Were
it not that I am certain he is pre pared to do so, I would
invite the noble earl opposite to !sewed the motion which
I have now proposed. It has ioi ien my fate, during the
two years that I have had the honour of a seat on this
side of the house, to be freqirrently in collision, irapar
congressus, with the noble emit I am certain that, •
upon this occasion, we shall be as completely united as
any two peers on this side of th s house. I invite with
the confidence that it will be :accorded, his fervid elo-
quence to strengthen my feeble ce mrse, to call on your lord-
ships to give this vote your most: unanimous approval. I
am confident that you will unanie iously record your admi-
ration and gratitude for services rendered by these united
forces who have added fresh lusts -.3 to the military fame of
England and Prance. The nolers. duke concluded by mov-
ing the following resolutions:—
" That the thanks of this house be given to Field Marshal
the Right Hon. Lord Raglan, 1C night Grand Cross of the
Most Honourable Order of the Iteth, for the energy and
distinguished ability with whi ch he has conducted the
operations of her Majesty's fore. :s in the Crimea, for the
brilliant and decisive victory ohs tained over the enemy's
army on the Alma, and the e.egnal defeat of a force of
vastly supe] for numbers on the h-eights of Inkerman.
" That the thanks of this house) be given to Lieutenant-
General Sir John Fox Burgoyne., Kni,ght Grand Cross of
the Most Honourable Order of the Beth.
"To Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown, Knight
Commander of the Most Honoura.7ele Order of tho Bath.
"To Lieutenant-General his IC. val Highness the Duke
of Cambridge, Knight of the kireost Noble Order of the
Garter.

"To Lientenant•Genoral Sir )13 Lacy Evans, Knight
Commander of the Most llonoura 61e Order of the Bath.
"To Lieutenant-General Sir Rii,chard England, Knight
Comminder of the Most ifonourab le Order of the Bath.

" To Lieutenant-General the Eaa 1 of Lucan.
"To Major-General the Earl of 4 Jardigan.
" To Brigadier-General, now l) lajor-General the Ron.
JananYork Scarlett.

" To Major-General Henry John-. William Bentinck.
"To Major-General Sir Colin f atmpbell, Knight Com-
mander of the Most Honourable 0 vder of the Bath.
"To Major-General John Lyar kght Pennefather, Com-
panion of the Most Honourable Or, ter of the Bath.
"I'o Brigadier-General William John Codrington.
"To Bi igadier-General, now 31aj or-General Hoary
Wm. Adams, Companion of the ,s t Honourable Order of
the Bath.
"To Brigadier-Genoral, now Maisor-General Sir John
Campbell, Bart.
"To Brigadier-General, now Major-General Geo. Buller,
Companion of the Most Honourable (Di 'der of the Bath.
"Tu Brigadier-General, now Ma is ir-General William
E 3 re; Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the
Bath.

"To Brigadier-General, now Major-General Arthur
Wellesley Torrens.
" .Aull to the several other officers fon! their zoal,intrepi-
dity, and distinguished exertions in the several actions in
which her Majesty's forces have been; engaged with the
enemy.

"That this house doth highly acknowledge the distill-
guished discipline, valour, and exertions displayed by the
non-commissioned officers and soldiers of I hearrny under the
command of F. -M. Lord Raglan, in all tla 3 operations in the
Crimea, and that the same be signified to them by the com-
manders of the several corps, who are desired to thank
them for their distinguished and gallant behaviour.
" That the thanks of this house be givs in to Vice-Adtniral
James Whitley Deans Dundas, Coaxa anion of the Most
Hon. Order of the Bath; to Rear-Ada iiral Sir Edmund
Lyons, Knight Grand Cross of the Moss Hon. Order of the
Bath, and to the several captains and. -officers in the fleet
under the command of the said Vice-AJdmiral, and also to
the officers of the navy and marines employed on shore in
the siege of Sebastopol, for their indefa4 igable activity and
exertions in conveying her Majesty's .land forces to the
Crimea, in effecting their disembarka'k ion, and in co-ope-
rating with them during the siege of Saoastopol.
" That this house doth highly appria ve of and acknow-
ledge the services of the seamen and BUJ tines on board the
ships under the command of Vice-Admin al Dandas' and also
of the seamen and marines employed on shore in tte siege
of Sebastopol, in their indefatigable actl vity and exertions
in conveying her Majesty's land forces: to the Crimea, in
eting
lant conduct.
their disembarkation, and in -co-operating with
thorn duringthe siege of Sebastopol, a ni l that the captains
of the severalcrews, and d s hips do signify the same. t o their respective
o thank them for their pi •aiseworthy and gal-
tiliguishecl house
acknowledges,
" That this h
during the prefer and conduct of thos 9 who have perished
with; admiration, the dis-
try, and feels deepstruggle in the sea -vice of their coun-
try,
friends.sympathy with -their relations and
Canrobert and the Irreuchis
" That the thanks of this house b o given to General
for their gallant and
successful co-operation -with army,
n ivi Alma, for their
the attack on the enemy's porsitti e't-V's land forces in
re 134 ding the enemy at
energetic and timely assistance in

Inkerman, and for their distinguished exertions, in con- ,
non with her Majesty's troops, in the siege of Sebastopol; 1
and that Field-Marshal Lord Raglan be desired to convoy
to them the present resolution. 1
" That the thanks of this house be given to Admiral
Hamelin and the French navy for their cordial co-operation
thgerthhaettaelnliedanfdorictiesthtoe
twhiet hc
rhi emr
eMa , slue s teyff'
es
eflt
ienst g
ti
hn eci
ro ndvi es
siege of Sebastopol ; and that Vice-Admiral D'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
my'desire--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 be 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 and
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 that these perils and
privations would not be baton tho gratitude of the country,
and that the admiration, if not thanks, of the Sovereign,
the Parliament and their countrymen, would be freely given
to those who had undergone each 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 on their own element ; but whatever it was in their
power to accomplish has been 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 oils 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 sustained, 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 a deviation from common practice, no one of your
lordships' house will blame her Majesty'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 ormore sensible of the advan-
tages attached to their services. Though, on former occa-
sions, we were made to feel fiewilblo 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 been brought
into more immediate connection with the English troops
than any other, and whose assistance, both at Alma dud
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 Allies, yet lit might have the appearance of
usurping a place hich did not properly belong to us, 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 clone away with, and I
am glad to be enable to agree both with its form snil 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 be captious, 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
whom you confer it. They will consider it a glorious and
honourable compensation for all they have undergone, all
they have suffired, 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 an 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.)
The Earl of HARDWICKE said that he joined with
their lordships in the happiness ley felt at the perfect sue:
cess which had hitherto attended our arms in the Crimea.
Ho thought, however, the services in the Baltio 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
injustice to his feelings if he were to•omit expressing the
great sense he entertainod, he might say, the gratitude he
felt, towards Lord Raglan and the army which his noble
friend had proved himself most worthy to command. That
noble lord might, if he had been a man of less energy and
determination, havepaused before he undertook an expedi-
tion of such difficulty, but he did no such thing. He at once
entered into the views of tbe•Government. His noble friend
on that occasion, before even a mia 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 bad 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 in attack and defence. (Hear, hear.) He
felt he could do no more, after the able speeches of tho
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 clays 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 an unit themselves
—and proud of those deeds which they had heard of in
history, but had not had the happiness to behold.. Ho
could not lot that occasion pass without saying afew words
as to the gallant deeds of the Commander-in-Chief, Lord
Raglan. Of course he (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 of 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 gallants soldiers, had
evinced the highest qualities in tilt, field. (Hear, hear.)
When they looked at the list of offi-cors, 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
bravo 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
sisters, penned by hands almost red-handed from battle,
reflected the highest credit on them, and proved they were
something more than mere machines. Having spoken of
the letters which had been written by soldiers, he could
nut but call their lordships' attention to a letter which had