The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-07 00:00:00

THE MILITARY BOARD OF INQUIRY.

[A part of the following appeared in our impress ion of
y :sterday.]
ALARMING ILLNESS OF COL. TULLOCH.
The Baarl re-assembled at the usual hour.
The Judge-Advocate-General inquired of Dr. Balfour,
Col. Tulloch's medical adviser, if he could inform the
Court whether Col. Tulloch would be able to attend to-
day!

Dr. Balfour said that after leaving the Court yesterday
Col. Tulloch had been obliged to have further medical
advice, and be produced a certinoate from Sir James
Clarke and Dr. Martin stating that Col. Tulloch was suf-
fering so severely from illness, brought on by severe
mental and bodily exertion and anxiety, that his attend-
ance before the Board was altogether impossible. .
Toe Board, having consulted for a few minutes, asked
General Airey what he proposed to do ?
General Airey said that, whilst he expressed his sin-
cere regret at the indiepsition of C Tullocb, he must
say that his absence placed him (General Airey) in a
position of great difficulty, because, after the adj mra -
client of the Court yesterday, he compared the MS.
minutes of Col. Gordon's evidence with that in the
printed report, and had discovered some serious thnis
sione, and he should hardly like to go into such a ques-
tion unless Col. Tulloch himself were present.
Gen. Peel said that the absence of Col. Tulloch ought
not to prevent the progress of the inquiry, since the Go-
vernment, in the appointing this Commission, did not
anticipate the presence of the Commissioners before the
B )ard•

Gen. Airey submitted that if Col. Tulloch could not
attend, Sir J. 11.1!Neil, the other Commissioner, might be
able to do so?
The Judge-Advocate-General said that he understood
Dr. Balfour to say, that he yesterday informed Sir J.
M'Neil of the state of Col. Tulloch's health, so that
that gentleman could have been present if he hal
pleased.
After some further conversation Gsn. Airey consented

to procood.
The Board again conferred for a abort time, when

The Judge-Advocate-General addressed Gen. Airey,
saying that the Board had come to the conclusion, that
if be (General Airey) intended to continue the course he
pursued yesterday of impugning the conduct of the Com-
missioners in the preparation of their report that it
would be improper to proceed without him.
General Airey disclaimed all intention of impugning
personally the conduct of the C )mmissioners, but at the
same time said it would be impossible for him to con-
duct his case in any other way.
The Judge-Advocate-General said that the Board
thought his course of proceeding yesterday somewhat
personal.

General Airey disclaimed any personal feeling of hos-
tility against the Commissioners ; but it was impossible
for him to conduct his case without impugning the cor-
rectness of the evidence as published.
After some further conversation on the subject, Gen.
Airey called
Major Keane, of the Royal Engineers—He went to
the Crimea to construct huts for the army, and under-
stood he was to have a certain number of Sappers to go
out with him. That arrangement was not carried out,
and he was unable to say why Delays in con-
structing the huts arose from various causes--
the difficulty of landing materials, the want of
wharfage ground, and, after that, the want of
transport of the materials to the camp. He though
the statement in the Commissioners' report with refer-
ence to the difficulties attending the want of materials,
and of providing shelter for the troops as well as the
state of the men, not an exaggerated one. He thought
canvass shelter could net have been constructed ade-
quately for wants of the army in the Crimea. Can-
vass from ani t's dew often shrunk so as to draw the
tent pegs, add to have constructed canvass shelter for
the horses elaborate framework would have been re-
quired. Canvass had been spoken of for its facility of
transport, and to use it an extra quantity of scantling
and spars would have been required, the difficulty of
transport of which would more than have counter-
balanced the lightness of the canvass. In having to
allow for the shrinking of canvass its stability was
gre.itly endangered in stormy weather. Canvass shelter
would not have answered in the Crimea. He ex-
plained the difficulties he had to encounter in getting
men to assist in constructing shelter. Tho crews of the
ships in harbour were fully employed in attending to
their own duties.

By the Judge-Advocate-General—ne was ordered by
the Adjutant-General to proceed to the Crimea, and Col.
Mapson informed him he was to have a number of sap-
pers, who were carpenters, to go with him. They did
mot go, and he experienced great difficulties in the
Crimea from the want of them. The horses could not
have been sheltered by tho erection of side walls from
the want of stones.

General Airey then read a report from the Assistant-
engineer stationed at BAlaklava to show that no analogy
existed between providing temporary shelter for the
baggage animals of the sappers and miners there, and
that for the cavalry.

Admiral Sir D. pandas was next called, and examined
by General Airey—He said that the fleet under his
command in the Black Sea was fully employed during
that period. The fleet was divided into three divisions.
He was before Sebastopol, Admiral Lyons at :Bala-
klava, and the other division at Eupatoria. He lauded
2,400 seamen and 2,000 marines to assist the army.
Every ship landed all the spare canvass and material
she could spare. The spare set of sails on board each
ship could certainly not have been sent ashore. Con-
sistently with the safety of the fleet, every man and all
the spare canvass that could be spared were sent on
shore during that portion of the winter of 1854 that he
was in command of the fleet. Every man in the fleet
readily and cheerfully did his utmost to assist the army.
The gallant admiral was examined by the Judge-Ad-
vocate-General on the points Sir E. Lyons was examined
by Colonel Tullech, viz., the quantity of spare canvas
on board different size Government vessels, and the
difficulty of getting carpenters from Constantinople, to
which he gave similar answers as Sir Edmund Lyons.
Mr. Boyd, storekeeper at Ba!aklava, was examined
by General Airey. He had command of the quarter-
master-general's stores, and issued them under the direc-
tion of Mr. Archer, assistant-commissary-general. He
described the state of the harbour from the over-crowd-
big of vessels, and the stores lying about on the wharfs
from the want of storehouses in which to deposit them.
Tee bales and packages were frecriently broken open in
the morning, having been plundered during the night
of their contents by the Maltese. Stores were
issued as speedily as possible, and no objection was
made to their issue from any irregularities in the
orders. He often issued stores without orders. Tee
quartermasters of regiments were daily at his stores, and
saw what was there, and anything they required they
had. During the winter when he had a supply of great
coats, sheepskins, rugs, blankets, and other warm cloth-
ing, the men had a full supply. They preferred sheep
facing to the great coats, and would not have rugs or
blankets. The witness was examined into the details of
his mode of issuing the Stores to the army, and with
regard to the issue of the boots and shoes. He said the
men were allowed to fit themselves. The general effect
and impression of his evidence was that the army was
at all times abundantly supplied with necessaries and
had every comfort. In fact, they had only to ask and
have.

By Sir W. Rowen—He was not examined by the
Commissioners.

By the Judge Advocate-General—He took charge of
the stores at Balaklava on the 12th Dec., and continued
in office till June following. There was often want of
transport to convey the stores to the camp.
Captain Milne, of the Admiralty, in charge of the
Transport Service attended, and was examined by the
Judge Advocate-General as to the transport contracts,
and the instructions given to the captains of the trans-
ports. It would have been injudicious on the part of
any person to have taken from the. transports their se-
cond suit of sails, but instructions were issued to them
to supply the army with all the sails and canvasa they
could spare. The terms of the contract did not require
the transports to supply spare canvass to the army. The
charter party required that a certain number of sails
should be on board each transport, and a Government
officer inspected the vessels previous to their sailing to
see they were on board.
Col. Chapman, of the Royal Engineers, was examined
by General Airey, relative to the evidence give* by bin"
before the Crimean Commissioners, in providing tempo-
rary shelter for the baggage mules at Balaklava, and
said, in providing that shelter, they had the advantage
of dwarf walls over which to stretch the canvas. Such
facilities did not exist on the plateau. He was of opi-
nion sailcloth would not have answered , for shelter.
ing the cavalry on the plateau without strong frame-
work on which to nail it. His evidence appeared
to be correct in substance in the printed report, but
he compared it with a copy he made of it before signing
it. He obtained his supplies regularly, but he thought
he did not get his issue of blankets till the 10th Jan.
Gen. Airey, in the course of a conversation relative to
the transports not delivering their cargoes on the wharf
at Balaklava, said he believed it arose from a defect in
the contracts. In the usual contracts for a veirsel to
take a cargo to any given place no provision was made
for landing, because plenty of labourers could be pro-
cured to do so, but in this instance it appeared net to
have occnrred to the persons who made the contracts
that the cargoes were to be delivered where labourers
were scarce.

General Airey, in reply to an inquiry from the Judge-
Advocate-General, said he could not proceed further
with his evidence without the attendance of Col. Tulloch
or Sir J. 2.l.`Neil, as ho wished to examine one of them
before he called more evidence. He should prefer the
attendance of Col. Tulloch.

The Judge-Advocate-General said it was not likely
Col. Tulloch could attend again for at least a week.
Sir W. Rowan said he did not think the Board could
compel the attendance of either of the Comtnis.sicriers.
Ultimately it was arranged that the Court should
adjourn till Thursday, to enable the Board to communi-
cate with the Commissioners. They would then decide
what course they would pursue.
The Court then adjourned till Thursday.