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

'RE MILITA

OF INQUIRY.

(From the Times of this day.)

The Military Commissioners have at length for-
mally opened their proceedings at Chelsea Hospital.
The inquiry commences at a fortunate moment for
the officers whose conduct has been called in ques-
tion. The boom of the Tower guns which an-
nounced the restoration of peace has scarcely died
away. We are at least assured that for a time we
are safe from the consequences of similar errors.
Whatever may come of the deliberations of the
Commissioners, we shall not,, until we are again
plunged into hostilities, feel the effect of their de-
cisions. It is so natural to forget when danger is
past,' and to forgive when the sun is again shining
on our own side of the hedge, that we could almost
understand an act of amnesty in favour of the ac-
cused. If there were any security that nations
would henceforth live in harmony, and that we
were freed once for all from the painful necessities
of military preparation, we also should be inclined
to recommend forgetfulness of the past, and to
acquiesce in the recent distribution of martial
honours. This, however, is not so. Philanthro-
pists have been somewhat harshly aroused from
their dreams and philosophers from their theories
by the cannon of Sebastopol. The millennium is
neither come, nor is it at hand. We are still living
in the old world of Caesar, of Marlborough, and of
Napoleon. The weak are still, as ever, a prey to
the strong, and the strong will still attack the
weak. The instinct of the tiger or of the ambitious
ruler—we care not which illustration is accepted—
still survives, and against it we must take precau-
. tion, as before. Therefore it is that an unusual
interest attaches to the proceedings at Chelsea. If
the members of the Court are not precisely the ar-
biters of the future military system of England,
they are at least the persons who must decide upon
the matter in the first instance, although their de-
cisions are liable to subsequent appeal. They are
called upon to determine whether the blame of the
disasters which befell the British army attaches
to individuals or to the system. Very true that
in the hands of the Earls of Lucan and Cardigan
the British cavalry melted away, like a handful of
snow in the grasp of delirious man, but if they can
show that these officers did all that could be fairly
expected from them under the circumstances—that
on their part there was no want of zeal or of dis-
cretion, it would be in the highest degree unjust to
sacrifice them because they were involved in the
fatal trammels of an erroneous system. In this
case the Commissioners, if they do their duty,
must pronounce the condemnation of the system,
not of the men. So with regard to Sir Richard
Airey and Colonel Gordon ; these gentlemen are
accuse I, rightly or wrongly, by the voice of the
Queen's Commissioners, of neglect of duty. It is
said on such high authority that in their quality of
Quartermaster-General and Deputy-Quartermaster
they did not avail themselves of the resources
which had been placed at their disposal by the
solicitude of their Government, and suffered many
brave men to die, whom they might have saved.
Now that the matter has been brought before a
Court of competent authority, it is not for us to
prejudge the case. Sir Richard Airey and Colonel
Gordon—and Sir Richard Airey especially—have
asserted that the report of the Crimean Commis-
sioners is one-sided and partial. It embodies, say
they, the substance of the charges against them, but
not their defence. It is upon the unchecked state-
ment of their adversaries that an opinion has gone
forth to their prejudice, and therefore they ask us
to suspend our conclusions until they also have
been heard. Nothing can be more just. If they
have at all suffered in reputation and character
from the precipitate judgment of their fellow-sub-
jects, they have no other persons to thank for it
than their friends at the Horse Guards and the
War-office. When Lords Hardinge and Panmure
did their best to stop all inquiry, and actually
showered premature honours upon officers who
were lying under a heavy accusation preferred by
Commissioners who acted under the immediate au-
thority of the Government, what wonder that pub-
lic opinion should discharge the office of the more
regular judge I
The point, then, which must be more immedi-
ately decided by the Chelsea Commissioners is
whether the system or' the men—the individual
officers accused—were at fault. A third alterna-
tive, which we will not permit ourselves to antici-
pate, of course remains. The Court may, by the
fatuity and partiality of its proceedings, insure its
own condemnation, as well as that of the system
of which it forms part. Our recent experience of
military tribunals has not been very encouraging,
but we are willing in the present instance to hope
for the best. A very fair test of the impartiality of
the Court may be found in their willingness or re-
luctance, or it may be in their positive refusal, to
admit the statements of Sir John M'Neil and Col.
Talker in favour of their report. We see with
pleasure that, in answer to a question from Mr.
Villiers, the Judge-Advocate, the Court decided
that a notification of its proceedings should bo for-
warded to those two gentlemen. They were to be
informed that their report was to be called in ques-
tiou by the inquiry then in progress. If this means
anything, it means, of course, that the Coinrnis-
siorers are to be heard, and such a step would go
far indeed to show that the tribunal is in earnest.
With the exception of this single point, which we
note as of superior interest, the proceedings yester-
day were merely formal. The Court very properly
deci led that the cases of officers whose conduct was
to be inquired into would be taken separately, ac-
cording to their rank. The Earl of Lucan's case is to
be taken first, next Monday, and summonses have
been forwarded to him and to his witnesses requir-
ing their attendance on that day. Whatever may be
be the rules which the Court may establish forits own
guidance, the inquiry can scarcely be conducted in a
satisfactory manner unless Lord Lucan and the
other officers accused can be confronted with the
Crimean officers who bare borne testimony against
them, and these again with Lord Lucan and his
fellows. As at present, the Court is called upon
to decide between conflicting statements, some of
s hick have been made in the Crimea and some iu
England, but none upon oath. This arrangement
gives fearful faeilities to a lukewarm judge, who
may be anxious to eveid the responsibilities of a
direct decision. It is very unfortunate, besides,
inasmuch as it affects public confidence in the de-
cisions of this tribunal, that Lords Harding° and
Panmure should have displayed themselves so
openly the partisans of the officers accused. The
patronage of the army is in their hands. There is
not an officer holding a British commission and in-
volved in this inquiry, from Sir Alex. Woodford,
the President of the Court, down to the humblest
witness for or against the accused, who is not de-
pendent upon the War Department and the Horse
Guards 'for his professional advancement. It is
therefore to be regretted that Lords Hardinge and
Panmure should have rendered it a matter of com-
mon belief that the judge who decides against their
friends decides against them, and that the witness
who gives evidence against their friends gives wit-
ness against the two great 'officers of State with
whom rests the prosperity of his own future career.
Still., with all necessary allowances and all un-
necessary drawbacks, this Chelsea inquiry must
prove of vast importance to the efficiency of our
army. The question of the culpability of the
officers accused must also remain of public in-
terest, for, if unjustly whitewashed, by the Court,
they will remain public servants, and that in
posts of high trust and responsibility. It is,
moreover, of the last importance, as far as the
British soldier is concerned, that if these officers
have by their neglect of duty, their want
of zeal, or their inefficiency, been accessory to
the destruction of -a considerable portion of
the expeditionary force,
they should meet with such
censure and" 'punishment
as they deserve. It is
within our knowledge that in the remotest districts
of the British Islands it was well understood
that the ,Crimean leaders were
country folk turned'deaf ears to in_
blandishments
that the
of the recruiting sergeants
to pat
and'ereeflaildements
themselves under such guidance. They cared
for the perils of thejessault or the battle-fieldstithiQvt
were indifferent to the fair hazards of a campaige,;
but they objected to unnecessary starvation and
diseftee.. Be it right, or be it wrong, such has
been the general opinion of this country for the list.
15 Months. The Military Judges at Chelsea have,
then, before them, a most serious task. We are
all well aware of the overpowering nature of the
influences which will be brought to bear upon
them from the Department of War, from the Horse
Guards, and elsewhere, but we still cling to the ex-
pectation that they will diecharge their duty. The
old nags of Blenheim are banging behind the Pre-
sident's chair, and the great flag from Kintourn in
front of Lim. We sincerely trust that Sir Alex.-
ander. Woodford and his eollesignes will remember
that the cause before them is substantially that of
the brave men by whom such, trophies havobeen
won.

ST. PANcRA3 woniumvsE.—DEPRIVATTON OF THE
POOR or TiLEIR PORTER.— At the weekly meeting of
the newly-elected boar of directors of the poor of St.
Pancras, held in the Vestry-hall,.Camden Town, Henry
Farrer, RI., churchwarden, in the chair, inemoriala
were presented, signed by
several hundred inmates of
the workhouse, praying the hoard to reconsider the step
they had taken at their first meeting, stopping the supply
of porter. Mr. Orr moved the appointment of a com-
mittee to investigate the subject. Mr. Spooner se-
conded the motion. Mr. Beard considered the dift'i-
bution of porter bad led to a great amount of intoxica-
tion.. After some observations, the resolution of the
previous board. to place the distribution of the porter
"tir'llY under the control of the medical oLlicers, was
IMOrtittmed.