The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-04 00:00:00

or me, expressed himself glad to see me, but desired
me to go back to my ship."
The day previously I had also been directed from his lord-
ship not to come to the front till perfectly recovered.
"I then asked him if be would pardon my offering an
opinion relative to the state of the armies, &c. He said
he would. I offered my poor opinion in deep earnestness,
and, at any rate, sincerely. He is not a man who dis-
cusses, at least not with those in my situation, I believe.
But he appeared by no means displeased—and I think,
possibly, was not altogether uninfluenced by it. This,
however, I may be entirely mistaken in. There are in fact,
as you know also, two chiefs—French and English ; and,
although most true, faithful, and cordial, yet inevitably
different policies to be considered. And I believe the
French have momentous reasons for their course of pro-
ceedings, and their course, apparently, must not be de-
viated from by the British."
The grounds upon which the last sentence was written
will at a future time appear. To enter into a strategical
discussion at present, while things are still unsettled,
would be most objectionable. (Hear.) I only hope that
I have not been wanting in my explanations. (Cheers.)
Lord C. HAMILTON—I hope that, under the pecu-
liar circumstances, the house will favour me with its ate
tention for a few minutes while I refer to what took
place on Friday night. I can with unaffected sincerity
assure the hon. member for Westminster that I never
intended by any expression of mine to reflect in the
slightest degree on his known and well-tried gallantry,
or in any way to call in question his brilliant courage.
(Cheers.) The very words which I addressed to the hon.
and gallant member when I spoke to him with reference
to the matter+ now under consideration are so fresh in
my memory that I can repeat them to the house. I
told him that his courage had been so well established on
many a hard-fought field that any man who would cast
an aspersion on it would but cover himself with confu-
sion. (Cheers.) It is clear, therefore, that I could not
have myself intended to take any such course. All that
I desired to impute to the hon. and gallant gentleman
was a certain want of fair play in the attack he made
the other evening on a gallant relative of mine. But
now that the house has heard the remarks which the
hon. and gallant officer has thought fit to offer with re-
ference to a somewhat remarkable statement made by
me on Friday evening, I trust that I also may be allowed
to say a few words in explanation. (" Hear, bear, !"
and "Oh, oh !") lam sensible that in so doing I shall
be trespassing on the rules that govern our proceedings,
but I venture to hope that tinder the peculiar circum-
stances of the case the house will extend me its indul-
gence—(hear)—and the more particularly when I assure
them that I will not trespass at any length on
their attention, nor 'deviate from what I believe
to be necessary for establishing the simple fact that
the statement which Imale on Fri-lay evening I did
not make without believing that I had good ,grounds for
it. (Cheers, and cries of "Order !") Ido not ask the
house to declare that I was justified in my opinion. All
I ask is that they will permit me to liy before them and
the country certain facts ; and, having done so, I will
leave to theta and the country to decide whether or not
I was so justified. (Filar.) lam apprehensive of being
thought to occupy the position of one who lightly and
without sufficient foundation has made a very remarkable
statement afflicting in some degree the military character
of the hon. and gallant member. (No, nu !) I will
not refer in detail to the language I used the other even-
ing;. but I will show that my as -ertion, that on the night
of the ,:th of November, the night after the battle el
Inkerman, the hon. and gallant member counselled and
strongly and repeatedly urged the immediate embarka-
tion of the British army and the leaving of our guns
and our French allies to the mercy of the enemy, was
not wholly without foundation. (Cries of " Order !"
and " Oh, oh !") I will real to the house the
evidence on which that statement was founded
(No, no I) I kohl in my hand. (Order, order !) If the
house will not bear with me—if they think it right that
I should remain in the position of having made a state-
ment for which I cannot give grounds or assign reasons
I of course muet acquiesce in their decision and resume
my seat. (Order, order.)
Sir D. L. EVANS—I be_r the noble lord to under-
stand that I never charged him with having made a
statement which he did not believe to he correct. lam
ready to enter into any explanation why I raid this or
thought that, but I eat it to the noble lord and to the
house whether it is desirable that I should he compelled
to take such a course? (Hear, hear.) I put it to the
house whether it is possible that a question such as this
should be disposed of by a single statement ? Ido not,
think that the noble lord should continue his observa-
tions unless it is understood that I shall be permitted, in
reply, to discus the question in all its bearings.
Tne SPEAKER—I hope that the noble lord will not
attempt anything so irregular as the revival of a former
debate. (Hear.) It is competent for any hon. member to
offer a personal explanation of anything that may have
fallen from him on a previous occasion, should be think
fit to do so ; but it is against the rules of the house that
he should revive a former debate. (Heal.)
Mr. A. H. GORDON rose amid cries of "Oh, oh,"
and- ".Order," and said—l have no intention to prolong
this discussion ; but I hope I may be permitted to state,
on my own behalf and on that of my gallant relative,
the great satisfaction with which I hare listened to the
speech of the hon. and gallant member for Westminster,
to whom I offer my best thanks for the manner in which
he has this evening expressed himself with regard to cer-
tain words used by him on a former occasion. For his
complimentary allusions to myself I know not how to
thank him ; but I beg that he will do me the justice to
believe that I am not ungrhteful. Having said so much, I
venture to think that the hon. and gallant gentleman wilt
thank me for taking this opportunity to bring under his
notice another expression—(oh, oh, and laughter)—used
by him in the course of the same debate. (No, no.) I
would appeal to the indulgence of the house while tres-
passing for a single moment on its attention. (Loud
cries of "Order!'

LordPALMERSTON—You, eir, hare laid down the
rule which, unless on very extraordinary and exceptional
occasion; ought to govern our proceedings, viz., that it
is irregular, and at variance with good order, to refer in
ons:debate to what took place in another. (Hear.) Ca--
curnstanoes will no doubt occasionally arise as in the
case of the speech delivered this evening by my hon, and
gallant friend the member for Westminster, which jus-
tify. a departure from this principle ; but I am sure that
the house will agree with me that the explanation offered
by the hon. and gallant general ought to be satisfactory
to the feelings of all those who might have conceived
themselves in any degree affected by the remarks which
in the warmth of the moment and in the eagerness of
debate, he, as often happens with hon. members, may
have made during the discussion on Friday evening.
(Hear.) This being so, I cannot but think that, after
the handsome explanation of the hon. and gallant officer,
the house will best consult the feelings and character of
all concerned and act in the manner mast consistent
with its usual practice, by now allowing the matter to
drop. (Cheers from all parts of the house.)
Mr. DISRAELI—WhiIe expressing my entire con-
currence with the noble lord, I may be permitted to ob-
serve that the speech of the hon. and gallant member
for: Westminster appears to me to have removed the
painful feelings which pervaded the house in conse-
quence of his remarks the other evening. (Hear,
hear.) I have listened with extreme satisfaction to the
observations he has this evening offered ; and I am
sure that the cordial and generous manner in which he
addressed himself to the various points, requiring expla-
nation must be appreciated on both sides of the house.
(Hear, hear.) Having said this, I feel that it is due
to my noble friend the member for Tyrone (Lord C.
Hamilton), to add that there ought to pe no mistake as
to his position in this matter. (Hear.) The house will,
I am confident, be unanimously of opinion that no im-
putation whatever rests upon my noble friend of having
made a statement which he did not believe to be author.
ised by the facts. Nobody can doubt that my noble
friend made it upon what appeared to him—and what
may hereafter prove to he—sufficient evidence. He
cause down this evening prepared to produce the evi-
dence on which he founded his assertions ; but the house
cannot fail to perceive that statements of this kind can-
not, according to the rules which govern our debates,
be satisfactorily disposed of by any discussion that may
take place here. It is possible that sonic analogous ex-
ressiens—or, it may be, that the identical expressions
—quoted by my noble friend may have been used by a
gallant officer in the position of the hon. and gallant
general the member fur Westminster ; but to form an
accurate judgment on those words, and to arrive at a
safe conclusion as to the propriety of hie conduct in using
them, we must have before us certain details which are
not within our reach, and which cannot be available for
the purposes of popular discussion. The opinion of an
experienced and veteran officer like the hon. and gallant
member for Westminster must of course have been
looked to with interest on a question of such importance ;
but the precise value of his opinion, in this parCcalar in-
stance, must depend on the manner in which it was ex-
pressed, the circumstances under which it was offered, and
a thousand matters of detail of which it is net possible that
we should have a, competent knowledge. (Cheers.) Tuere
is A general sentiment of satisfaction that the hon. andgal-
lant member should have come down to the house to re-
mote, by a frank and manly explanation, the painful isi-
preesions produced by his remarks on Friday evening ;
and I am sure there is also a general concurrence of opinion
on both sides of the house that my noble friend ;he mem-
ber for Tyrone lies under no imputation of having made
a rash statement, or one which he did not believe himself
capable of justifying. This being the state of the case, and
it being obvious that no satisfactory result can follow
from the prolongation of this discussion, I trust that it
will proceed no further. The hon. and gallant officer
has male his explanation, and it is, I think, the univer-
sa/ feeling of the house that the matter was revived only
to be terminate,' for ever in a manner agreeable to all
par►ies. (Loud cheers.)
The eubj-ct wag then permitted to drop, and it was
not without a smile at the violence and rapidity of the
contrast that the house at once passed from the fierce
excitements of the camp to the humble sorrows of under
gardeners.

TAX ON UNDER GARDENERS;

On the motion for going into committee of supply,

Colonel 11A.RCOUIZT called the attention of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to the mode in which the
tax on under gardeners was assessed and levied.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCREQUER said the
question turned on the construction of a clause in the
A'sSessed Tax Act passed is 1853, whereby one
guinea was assessed for a gardener, and half-a-
-1044 for under-gardener, and the difficslty was
the interpretation of that clause as to what
constituted an under-gardener. The interpretation of I
enact of Parliament did not rest with this house, but with
the proper tribunals of the country.Parliamen t could watch
the operations of acts of Parliament, and if necessary
repeal or modify them. He was of opinion that 4'
construction that had been put on the clause -
laW officers of the Crown was the corn-
sufficient grounds had been shown fe-
of the house with reference

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