The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-17 00:00:00

THE LAND TRANSPORT CORPS.

DEPUTATION TO TilE LORD MAYOR.

Yesterday morning► a deputation from the members of
the Land Transport Corps waited upon the Lord Mayor,
by special appointment, at the Mansion•houss.
Mr. JAMES REDSHAW, who headed the deputation,
read the following address

" To THU RIGHT HoN. THE LORD MAYOR.
" We, the artificers of the L ind Transport Corps, lately
returned from Malta and the Crimea, humbly bag to lay
before your lordship our grievances and wrongs, and ask
you to come forward to aid and assist us in obtaining our
just rights from the Government, according to our engage-
ment. We beg to explain to your lordship what. the en-
gagement was. We were to have 6s. a-day with clothes
and rations free. Now, the Government have nut fulfilled
that engagement in auy one instance ; for they have not
paid 6s. a-day ' • we have had to pay a groat portion of our
rations ; and they have taken from several of us our
clothes, which were a free gift to us ; and, worse than all,
wo have been sent home with an illegal discharge, so that
we are unable to obtain employment. Trusting in your
lordship's kindness, we humbly pray that you will con•
vene a public meeting, so that we may be able to lay before
the citizens of London our claims, knowinc, as we do that
they already sympathise with us, and that they will do all
they can to rescue us from the deplorable condition in
which we are placed by the refusal of the Government to
fulfil their engagements in the way they have done with
other corps whose conditions of service were the same as
ours."

-
The LORD MAYOR inquired whether the men were in
the position of soldiers, placed under martial law, and
how long they bad been at home
Mr. REDSHAR said they were in the position of sol-
diers duly enlisted, and had been home three or four
months.

The LORD MAYOR presumed these men had made some
representation of their grievances to their superior offi-
cers—to the commander of the corps, fcr instance
Mr. REDSIIANY said they had fully represented their
case to Colonel M`Murdo, the commander of the corps,
but without avail.

The LORD MAYOR asked whether the men had been
discharged ?
Mr. REDS AR said they did not consider themselves
discharged. They had a paper given to them which was
not a legal discharge. Many of them had applied for
employment in different quarters, but were rejected on
account of the insufficiency of their discharge paper.
The LORD MAYOR (after inspecting the document,

which was a common printed paper, covered with era-
sures and interlineations) remarked that it certainly was
a very curious affair, and said the men had, of course,
been paid.
Several men at once exclaimed that they had not been
paid tince the 9th of June, and that although they had
memorialised Lord Paumure on the subject, his lordship
had not condescended to favour them with any reply.
Their great grievance was that if they were called upon
to enter the service to-morrow, they would be compelled
to comply, and yet their position was not recognised nor
their claims discharged.
The LORD MAYOZ said it appeared to him that there
must be some way of obtaining redress for the men. If
they were not disbanded, they were clearly still in the
service of the Government. If their statement was cor•
rect that they had represented their case to Lord Pan-
inure, and he had not attended to it, he would advise
them to appeal to Lord Palmerston, who was always
anxious to assist those who had served their country.
He could not accede to the request that had been made
to him to call a public meeting ; but if the men liked to
entrust their memorial to him, he would forward it, with
his own recommendation, to the Prime Minister. In
the memorial which had been read, allusion was made
to what had been done for another corps. What did
that mean ?
Mr. WrtmeroN said that each member of the Turkish
Contingent had 181. on enlisting, and on being discharged
had 21, on condition of not too frequently wearing their
regimental clothe., which it was arranged should le
given up to the Government.

The LORD MAYOR thought that, with propor perse-
verance, the men must succeed. Their claims appeared
to be strong.
Mr. 11,liDSHAIV said they bad frequently been to the
War-office. The autiorities there referred them to Col.
M`Nrurelo, lint they could obtain no redress from him.
The LORD MAYOR expresscd his reoTet that the men
should be compelled to sue as paupers:
Mr. WHARTON repu lilted the designation of paupers
as applied to them. All they wanted was that they
should be protected, as they went forth for the protec-
tion of their country at the call of duty.
The LORD MAYOR said he did not use the term in an
offensive sense. It, was very hard that men who were
callel upon when the country required their services,
.
sti(Juld be thrown on one side when their services were
no longer requir, d. lie had no doubt they had a fair
claim upon the Government, but the only difficulty was
as to the way of asserting it. He wished to repeat that
if they canted a friend be should be happy to intercede
with Lord Palmerston on their behalf. At the same time,
be thought they would do well to wake another appeal
to Col. M`Murdo and the authorities at the War-office.
It was difficult to bring Governments to book ; but, in
this case, be was str, ugly of opinion that the claims of
the Land Transport Corps should be recognised.
Tile deputation, after thanking his lordship for his
courtesy to theca—a compliment which was certainly
- very well deserved—then retired.