The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-10 00:00:00

THE MILITARY BOARD OF INQVIRY.

[A. part of the following appeared in our impression
of yesterday re-]
The Board of General Officers re-assembled Mir; morn-
ing at the usual hour, at the Great Hall, Chelsea. As
the inquiry proceeds public interest appears to be more
excited in the inquiry, and the ball to-day was three
parts full before the commencement of the business.
Lord Lucan and his friends arrived before 11 o'clock,
as did Cal. Tulloch, Lieut.-Col. Gordon, Col. Doherty,
Cal. Connelly, and Col. Griffiths.
There was a much larger attendance of ladies, the
friends of general officers and others connected with the
inquiry, in the reserved portion of the ball surrounding
the president's table.
Lord Lucan said that his object was not so much to
secure justice to himself as to those officers who were
inculpated with himself by this report, and again called
attention to the publication of another article in to-day's
Times, and to consider how far that paper had attended
to the suggestion of the board.
The Deputy-Judge-Advocate (to Lord Lucan)—To
what do you attribute the great mortality amongst the
horses I
Lord Lucan -D3es this refer to any particular period,
or *te the whole of the time the cavalry division was
under my command ?
The Deputy-Judge-Advocate—The question has been J
altered to this form. To what do you attribute the
great mortality amongst the horses during the time the
cavalry division was under your command !
Lord Lucan—The cavalry was not under my command
until they landed in the East, and I need not refer to
the horseslost on their passage. His lordship, who spoke
slowly and cautiously, said the question I am afraid will
require a very large answer. I may say independent of
of the horses lost in action, and which I can explain, I
might attribute the loss of the horses in the army first., I
may say, that perhaps excepting a day or two-for a
very few days at long intervals—l may say that the
horses of my cavalry were never properly fed any one
day whilst under my command. From the inefficiency
of the food, and from the irregularity by which they ob-
tained it, the horses were never in condition at any one
time during •the whole time they were under my com-
mand. I may say thatthe horses deteriorated in condition
from the mornentthey landedat Scutari or Varna. lean-
not saythey continued to deteriorate, because they could
not be in a worse condition- but they deteriorated from
that moment until they got into that desperate state of
emaciation from starvation that, as you observe, but a
very small proportion of them survived. It must be
well known to all accustomed to horses, that when ex-
posed, it was the same with them as, I believe with all
other animals, that they required more food than at any
other time. I say that the rations of food issued to the
cavalry were insufficient ; and when the whore of the ra-
tions were given it happened very rarely in Bulgaria.
I will confine my remarks to those regiments under my
immediate command at Varna,srather than speak of what
happened at Devna, and which came under my personal
knowledge, because my brigadier did not keep me sup-
plied with very perfect information of what occurred
there. At -Varna, till tbe time of the great fire in
August, there was not much difficulty in procuring bar-
ley and chopped straw. My first duty after arriving at
Scutari was to become the president of a board to in
quire into the supply of rations for troop, artillery, and i
baggage horses of the army. His lordship's statement was
of a very rambling character. We gathered, however, from
it that the subject of foraging was considered, and it was.,
arranged, with the consent of Lord Raglan, that the
artillery and cavalry horses should have 12ibs. of barley
and 10. be. of hay or 16ibs. of chopped straw, and the
baggage horses were to have a quarter less of barley,
but the same quantity o hay or chopped straw. At
Varna, before the fire, there was not much difficulty in
getting the quantity of forage, always getting the barley
and in most instances the quantity of hay ; but some-
times they got but 61bs. of hay, and in the Crimea the
greatest quantity of hay they had was Bibs. After the
fire at Varna there was a want of both hay and barley,
and I had only the services of Mr. Murray, who was
both new to the country and the servica, to asssist me
in getting what I required ; and bad it not been for my
aide-de-camp, Capt. Walker, the cavalry would have
been in a much worse condition than they really were.
One of the great evils at that time was that of the Com-
missariat sending all over the country young men to
secure forage for the horses, the consequence of
which was that in many cases they were bidding
against each other, and raising the prices considerably ;
a sheaf of corn, that generally sold for two or three
piastres, fetched on this occasion f,ur or five piastres.
At Devna the fora;e was so short (and it generally
happened that if the soldier was deficient the General
ass so also) that I had to deprive my baggage horses of
their forage, and leave them to do their best, to provide
my chargers with food. This deficiency continued
(luting the time the cavalry was in Bulgaria, and I
called personally on Mr. Commissary Filder often re-
specting it ; and, although I a 111 always prepared to
give him the greatest possible credit for the manner in
which he rationed the men, I must say, with equal fair-
ness, that I was always dissatisfied with tha way in
which he fed the horses. I never had an interview with
him about the forage that I did not leave him without
being dissatisfied with hint on that account. I four d
from the inefficiency of the forage that my horses
were failing, and as they were almost my first
care I could not feel sati-fied at finding they were
starving. When the light brigade came in from Deena
I inspected them the morning after their arrival, and,
with the exception of a few of them, I could not see much i
difference in their cenditit st between them and the heavy
brigade, although Lard Cardigan had stated they were
in good condition, and that he was satisfied with their
condition. I consider there was tbe greatest ruisrnan-
agement p issible in embarking the cava'ry for the Cri-
mea, consisting of 1.100 horses. After they had been
at sea a few days, one of the officers on board of the
Simla came to me and complained that there was no
forage on board for the horses, rt.though Lord Raglan
had ordered, previous to their embarkation, that there
should be six weeks' forage put, on board each of the
vessels. In consequence of that deficiency it became
necessary to shorten the rations. His l-r Wrist then
described the debarkation of the troops in the Crimea,
which occupied three days, to show what a condition
the horses must leave been in. After then tlandieg,
Lord Cardigan took 200 horses on patrol, and these
horses, in addition t t short forage, l,ad to go 30 hours
without water, from which they suffered much, being
sucject to a harrassing patrol. As the cavalry proceeded
they found no forage except a few stacks of what could
hardly be called strays—there was a total absence of
corn. The horses for some days after the commenced ,
their march in the Crimea had but little corn and but
little water, which was also very scarce. On the morn-
ing of the battle of the Alma I was promised some
corn, and a little was given to some of the regiments,
who shared it with the others. So alarming was
the state of the cavalry at this time that on the
morning of the battle I spoke to Lord Raglan
about it, to which he replied, " I fought to have
come to him before, and not to annoy him then
about it." I informed him I had not done so,
hoping it would have been better by that time. The
cavalry remained at Alma two days, and the first night
-4_tle forage was supplied, and the horses were then
much below condition, having had to do 12 or 14 hours'
work a day with short rations. From the moment the
cavalry landed in the Crimea the supply was irregular
and very short, and on one occasion the cavalry divided
their forage with the French. When they were within
a quarter of a mile of Balaklava barley was supplied to
the cavalry, and the horses were in a better condition at
the battle of Balaklava than they bad been pre-
viously, from the extra fodder that had been
supplied, but they still suffered from want of water.
After marching to the plateau on the 30th Oct , 1554,
the horses had their allowance of barley, but only 81b.
of hay, whilst the artillery horses had 1016. of hay,.ated
on my remonstrating I was intermed by Mr. Filterter
that it was in accordance with Lord Raglan b
orders, which I foolishly believed was the case, but
I afterwards found that the reduction had been
made by the Commissary, and not by Lord Raglan's
orders. On the Ist November the light brigade
was ordered to take up a position seven miles from
Balaklava, on which I remonstrated on the difficulty
there would be of providing them with forage, but I was
informed that I must proceed. If I had had the assist-
ance of a Commissary General, whose business would
have been to have superintended the forage of the ca-
valry, I should have been informed of what was going
on, which I did not receive from the Commissary, who
probably considered the brigadier was his commanding
officer, and not me. The noble lord then proceeded to
state thel nature of the weather at this time, the difficul-
ties he bad ta contend with in supplying forage, the
harassing nature of the work the horses bad to dis-
charge, and the unavailing representations he
made of the elate of the cavalry to his supe
rior officer, and said that the effective strength
of the cavalry at Varna was 16 squadrons of 155
horses each. The light brigade lost during September,
from horses being thrown overboard and a considerable
number that were lost in landing, between 50 and
60, besides what were killed in action. The heavy bri-
gade lost on the passage to the Crimea 226 troop horses,
besides a considerable number of baggage horses, and
many officers' chargers. In all the heavy brigade
lost then about 300 horses. I have an account of the
daily loss of horses, and I find that in October not more
than a dozen horses were lost. In November 46 horses
were killed. and 68 wounded in the Battle of Balaklava.
The light brigade lost 341 horses, which arose from the
enemy crossing the lines and taking them away ; 120
horses, however, died in the month of November.
In reply to a question from the Deputy-Advocate-
General,
Hie Lordship said that hie recommendations, in many
instances, were attended to, and his lordship read vari-
ous docirinents in confirmation of his statement.
General Peel asked the noble lord if he agreed with

Mnjor Thompson, sth Dragoon Guards, who apolo-
gised for not being in regimentals, from not having been
summoned before the Board to give evidence on this
occasion. his horses were in a very bad condition in-
deed in December, and required e,pecially shelter at
that time from their being in that reduced condition.
The horses standing in the pickets were exposed to the
severity of the frcez:ng weather at that period, and he and
his brother-officers endeavoured to initiate the suffering
of the horses by digging a trench round them and throw•
ing a mud wall up to their knees. It was of immense
advantage to the horses. The Greys had it to a air•
tain degree, but he was unable to say if it was generally
adopted. All the men be had to spare joined in this work,
and provided this shelter for their own and their com-
rades, (who were in hospital) horses. It took the men
be could spare a fortnight to do this for 150 horses,
and it would have taken about two days if he
could have put the whole of his men to the
work. He had not a sufficient- number of trench-
ing tools. The pickaxes were very bad, the points bent.
The shovels were very bad and the handles broken.
The difficulty he had to contend against in providing
this shelter for his horses wai from want of men
and the badness of the trenching tools. If ho had
had canvass and tarpauling he could have put them
up, and it would have been beneficial. If it had been
blown down it could easily have been re-erected. If he
had had sufficient canvass and 20 carpenters to assist his
men that kind of shelter could have been er, cted f:►r his
men's horses in a day. It required no great ingenuity
to provide the shelter his horses had at the time re-
ferred to.
The Court then adjourned till Friday.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—('his Day.)

LONDON, April 10.—W
light breeze with occasional,—
nst
othwf:r di, a
ofy at noon, W.S.W.
Wind W.—Arrived—Trent
(s.Pto„Rt.TN67.ll9Tol,PfroAluilalta., having in tow H.M. floating
battery Meteor.
April
9..—The packet. Dart, of Jersey, is
pLystourfr
aground oe the rocks nt Cutwater, and fills with the tide.
FALMOUTH, April 9.—The ship Boomerang, of and for
bil, was dismasted in a hurricanes
Liverpool,
and was abandoned, 27th Mi.rch, in 41 N. long. 49, by the
crew, excepting the mate, carpenter, and four seamen, who
were left ou the wreck, unable to be rescued, by the He-
len It. Cooper, from New Orleans to Havre. Artived—
Bange.lor, from Moulmein and Mauritius ; Arno, Buenos
Ayres. Sailed—Prospero, for St. Thomas ; Ocean, New-
foundland.

JERSEY, April W.S.W.—Arrived—Charles,
from New York.

CARDIFF. April 9.—Wind W.N.W.—Sailed—Meander,
for Monte Video.
WATEnFoup, April B.—Wind S.S.W.—Arrived—Ca.
pella, from St John's, Newfoundland.
SHIELDS, April 9.—Wind
Jane, for Canton ; Alabama, St. Stephen's, N.B.

tl' ickeiruit, Tra.meawru.
SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday Morning.
Arrived—Courier (s.), from Jersey; Minerva, Shields;
Laura and Active, Newport; Sportsman, Plymouth.'
Sailed—Alliance (s.), for Havre ; Wonder (s.), Jersey;
Le Coq, Cherbourg ; Sportsman an Alphea, Sunderland.
LIVERPOOL, Thursday left.rning.

Wind S.E.
Arrived—Refuge, from New Orleans.
Sailed —Taurus (s.s.), for Constantinople; Mary Woods,
ValparaiFo ; Brazilian, Newfoundland ; Shark, Para ;
Owego, New York ; Heimdal, La Guayra ; Theodor Bell-
rend, Dail( zic •' Penelope, Cape Verde; AlcYmone, Qutbee ;
Ellen Bates, Melbourne ; Scipio and Davidist Marys,
Newfoundland; Alice, Naples.
QuEENBTOWN, April 8.

Wind W.
Arrived—Lamorna, from Norfolk.
Sailed—Sesostris, for Barcelona.
ROI:MEAD, April 9.

Wind, W.
Sat led—Pastinita, for Havannait.
estIBMABIZIN AND BRITISH TELEGBAPH.I
GRAVESEND, Thursday, 10.25 a.m.
Wind W. ; tide 5} hour's ebb, fresh, with rain.
Arrived—Doris,
from New York ; Providence, Guern-
sey ; John Spence, Demerara.
Sailed—Shelburne, for Jamaica : Pearl, Montreal.
DEAL, Thursday, 10.16 a.m.

wind W., fresh.
Passed—Storm Cloud and Jacob Badge, from Calcutta ;
Lotus, Trinidad ; Juanita, Trieste ; John Spence, Deme-
rara ; Choice, Porto Rico ; Pacific, Leghorn ; Cataline,
Port Luuis—all for London.
Anchtzed—R. at. gun-boat Mackerel, from River; John
Sidney, from Savannah, for Elsinore ; Agathe, from Bre-
am, fiirr NoWport ; Siena, from Er &Tabu& for liiTerpool,