The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-22 00:00:00

THE WAR DEPARrMENTS.

The Earl of DERBY, in rising (ac3ording to notice)

to put a question and move for a paper upon this sub-
ject, said the important conversation 'which had just oc-
curred had afforded a strong reason for the question
which he rose to put to the Government, and was neither
in point of time inapprorriate nor unimportant in relation

to the interests of the service and to recent changes in dif-
ferent departments. For the due administration of the pub-
lic service, where there were two departments connected
in the slightest degree, there were two things absolutely
essential, without which it must sustain serious injury.
The first was, that the duties of those two departments
should be so distinctly defined, their r esponsibilities so
ascertained, and the limits of their authority and juris-
diction so clearly set forth, as that there should be no
possibility of conflict of authority between the two
departments on matters relating to them both. And
the next thing necessary was, that in carrying on the
business of the departments there should be on the part of
their respective heads a mutual desire to facilitate the
public duties by each carefully avoiding encroachment
upon the authority of the other, while prepared to afford
each other cordial assistance in performing their public
duties. The necessity for these conditions became the
greater in proportion as the two departments were
brought into habitual arid daily contact, and in propor-
tion as their business was intertwined so as to bring
them into continual communication with each other,
which ought to be of the most unreserved and confiden-
tial character. Within the course of the last year—after
the appointment of a Secretary for the War Depart-
ment —in the transactions which took place with
regard to the constitution 'of, the militia, there was
considerable inconvenience and complaint arising out
of the contradictory orders—especially as to the ques-
tions of furlough—proceeding from the Secretary of
War aid the Secretary for the Home Department.
This ha-I arisen from the circumstance that the
Int& a, though generally under the Home Depart-
ment, was then in course of embodiment, and conse-
quently became a quasi military force, under the
authority of the War Department. Teat, however, was
an instance in which inconvenience had arisen from
the authorities of two departments not being clearly de-
fined. And it was impossible not to remember that
much of the disaster and distress which had arisen in the
Crimea might have been avoided if there had been is
certain departments greater readiness to take upon them
selves a degree of responsibility beyond• the strict limit
of their duty upon the occurrence of any emergency. At•
the came time (continue] the noble earl) difficulties ari-o
and inconveniences result from the existence of doubts
as to in whose department certain services lie, which are
essential for carrying on the operations of the army. I
mention these things only as an illustration of the ge-
neral principles which I have enunciated, and the
importance of a thorough understanding of the respec-
tive duties and responsibilities of departments which
have to act to ;ether ; and I am sure my noble friend
at the head of the War Department will agree with
me that if there be two departments whose joint
action and co-operation are more important than any
two others, because of the more frequent communications
which take place between them' they are the one pre-
sided over by the noble lord (Lord Panmure), and that
of which my noble frigid the Commander-in-Chief is th e
head. The office of Secretary for the War Department.,
as your lordships are aware, is one of recent in trolue-
tion, and when it was proposed to separate the duties
of that department from those of the C donial Depart-
ment, I endeavoured to ascertain from the nobbe. earl
(Aberdeen) then at the head of the Gus ernment what
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nega-
tive answers. The Secretary for the War Dept tment
was not to interfere with the patronage ; he was not to
interfere with the discipline ; he was not to inter-
fere with promotion in the army ; he was not to
interfere with the militia; ho was not to have any-
thing to do with the ordnance ; in short, the
answers I received were a succession of negations as to
the duties to be performed by the head of the new de-
partment. I had myself for some tine the honour of
filling the office of Colonial Secretary, never at a time
of war, except that which could hardly be textile I war,
viz., when this country sent out an expedition against
China. At that time I received most valuable assistance
from my noble friend above me (the Earl of Elleuborough)
who was then about to set out to assume the go veroment
of India, from which part of the world the forces were to
be sent out in aid, and from which the operations were
in a great measure to be conducted. But, with regard to
the ordinary duties of a colonial secretary—and in that
matter I am sure I shall be borne out by the exper'ence
of all those who have filled the office—all I can say is,
that they were of the most trivial and insignificant kind.
They consisted, in the first place, in signing warrants
for commissions for any. officers who might happen
to be in the colonies ; next, in taking the Queen's plea-
sure in regard to the decorations of the Order of the
Batb, when it was proposed to confer it upon any officer
in the service, which was always done on the recommen-
dation of the head of the department to which the officer
might belong—the Commander-in-Chief, with regard to
the army; the First Lord of the Admiralty, with respect
to the navy; and the President of the Board of Control,
with relation to the Company's service. The only real
business, and I must say the portion which was the least
satisfactory, I ever had to de with was the correspondence,
which was generally of rather a protracted and dilatory
character, which took place between the governors of co-
lonies, the Beard of Ordaance, the Treasury, and the Co-
lonial Secretary, whenever it happened that any arrange-
ments had to be made with regard to barracks and other
buildings in the colonies. That was all the business which
the Secretary for the Colonial Department had to perform,
and that, as I have said before, was conducted most un-
satisfactorily. I do not mean to say that in time of war
the duties of a colonial secretary werean odfhaonwuenveimr
unceas.portant
or trivial character. On the contrary, they are of such im-
portance and magnitude asatwbitniellielnbieghintufsetovbeer,wwhietlhmany
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ga however o
attention.we v e rg r e a tFho irs
the time
refe-
rence to military operations abroad, supreme. He must
be responsible to the Crown and the country for the due
conduct and operations of the war. Re is responsible
also, no doubt, in common with the Cabinet of which
he is a member, for the selection of the officers, especi-
ally of the commander-in-chief, and I presume also,
to a considerable extent, for the selection of the offi-
cers upon whom are to devolve important commands ;
he must have the entire control over the operations
of the war, of the commander of the forces, of the
forces of the Admiralty, although presided over by
another Cabinet Minister ; of the commissariat, of the
transport board, and even of the Treasury itself. All
must be to a certain degree superintended and adminis-
tered by him, and it is his duty to combine and concert
together the various powers and authorities of all those
departments in such a manner as to conduce to the re-
sult—namely, the proper carrying on of the belligerent
operations of the country. Therefore I say that the
duties of the Secretary of State for the War Department
in time of war are of such an exceptional character that
he may also be considered, for that time, a dictator, even
over his colleagues. There was no amount of powee,
and, at the same time, no amount of responsibility, which
ought not to be thrown upon him with regard to the
conduct of the war. But the que Lion to which. I atu
about to call your lordships' attention has no reference
whatever to this exceptional case which I have been '