The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-01 00:00:00

THE s- LON DON) SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 1. lt,t6.

to give it his support. He feared that the words .of the
motion were atleulated to prejwige the question, which
was still open, and with regard to which the cooduct of
the otlicers mentiono.i was about to be made the subject. of
investigation. The words either bare that construction, or
else they censured the military"department for what the
hon. and learue 1 member calla misconduct, and which
wont], be no inislonduot at all in the case of a complete
acquittal. Under these circumstances, he (Sir J. Peking-
toe) could not support the hen. and learned member's
motion, and Viereforo the course be was about to pursue
w,mld he to abstain altogether from taking part in the

present divi,ion, reeerviiig to himself the right to bring
forwent his own views when, io his opinion, the fitting
opportunity had arrived. At the same time ho felt bound
to state that, in his opinion, the conduct of the Govern-
ment with regard to these transactions had been open to
the gravest ceusure, and whenever he brought the subject
before the house, he should certainly ethyl's to the extra-
ordinary omission, on this part of the Uovernmeut, to
communicate the report of the cominissiouors to the Com-
mander-in Chief. He believed that that house had never
felt greater astouishma,nt than when, on a former evening,
the Secretary for War mule the.faltering statement, that
the first intimation Lord H irdinge received coucernieg
these repot ts was when he received a copy in his capacity
of peer of Parliament. When the proper time arrived ho
(Sir J.Pakington) meant to draw attention to the inference
which ho could not fail to deduce from this fact, namely,
that there was not that harmony subsisting between the
Commander-in-Chiefs department and that of tho Secre-
tary of State which the exttencies of the country's service
required, and further to the great injustice which had been
inflicted on the officers whose conduct was impugned. As
an illustratiod of this iujastice, he should allude to the
C 330 of Mr. Commissary-General Filder. He begged to
say that he had no acquaintance with that gentleman, nor
was he his advocate ; but as he stood in a somewhat
less elevated position than the other officers accused,
there was all the greater necessity that he should have an
ample measure of justice at the hands of Government. Ho
had, on the previous day, iu con=equeucce of a letter he re-
ceived from Mr. Filder, requested the Government to lay
on the table the letter which that gentleman had addressed
to Lord Paninure, and while snaking that application he
stated, on the authority of Mr. Filder, the extraordipary
fact that, although ho was the officer most deeply incul-
pated in the rep art, its contents had never been communi-
cated to him, so that the first intimation he had of the
charges against him was the appearance of the report in
the pu die pipers. In his (Sir J. Pakingtou's) opinion
that was au injustice which neither the country nor the
army ought to tolerate. The house would recollect that
when the Under-Secretary for War answered the qUeA.
tien respecting Mr. Fil her, he went out of his way to a. -
vert to a sui.ject of which the house knew nothing, stat-
ing tea , at the proper time he should be prepared to yin-
isicete the re.e.ii of elr. Filder. Perhaps the house mould
be nurpruse to hear that be (Sir J. Pakington) ha l that
teeming received auo,eier letier hone sir. Filder, iu which
he stated that until he saw the report of the question and
answer in the newspapers he had not, been aware that he
was recalled at ail. (Hear.) lie should not trouble the
house by reading the letter, he merely mentioned it as an
illustration of the manner in which the public business was
conducted. (Hear.) Mr. Fader stated that he left the
Crimea on the let of August, under the direction of a
medical board, end naiads the raced crossed him on the
voyage he had no notion that any recal had beau issued.
He should not, however, permit himself to be drawn fur-
ther into the discussi us, reserving himself fur a future day
and a fitter opportunity ; but there was one portion of the
subject to which he attached so much interest that he
trusted the house would allow him to make one or two oh-
servetious respecting it. What he wished toßeyin themoet
emphatic manner was, that in giving his notice he had not
the slightest inteution of prejudging the case, or of doing
the slightest, injustice to the officers whose conduct was im-

puenei. He could not minim) anything more unfair than
(lA, at the moment when their conduct was about to
unde-go a searchiug investigation, he should open in that
house a preliminary discussion concerning thetr conduct.
They were undoubtedly entitled to the greatest forbearance
from the Government, but be thought that if the words of
his dnendwent were referred to it would be seen that it
was the conduct of the Government, n)t of the officers,
wh:ch was impugned. On that point his opinion remained
the 113.1110, and be wished explicitly to mark the distinction
be drew between the conduct of the Government in sanc-
tioning the promotion of these officers and the conduct of
the officers themselves, as about to be investigated by the
comiuis,ion. The cominivion was instructed, first, to in-
quire into the c dises which had led to the delay to the issue
of clothing. New, as that delay must have origiueted in the
giuteterinaster-Ueneral's depaituient, the house would feel
that G.wernu3ent were not justified in taking action respect-
ing that officer until the cowinissien had made its report ;
• d 'le also th eight the Government had been guilty of
intiis a teen end a want of due care in promoting to ap-
p me ,t.. f trust t hoineotherodicers against whose con-
duct inquiry was els. direc,ed. He did not mean to say
w..:*l as r .eae•teil the conduct of those officers, who, he
hoped, w add establish their innocencs iu a triumplAnt,
r bef .re tee co ninission, i t which Case his com-
plaint Against the Gov..rninent weuld remain precisely the
~."me. What he complained of, and the country would
co "plain of it, was, that pending the inquiry the Govern•
me it pr ;judged the case by proinoiin., these officers, al-
thoaei. h thought that these officers had suffered great
atic . in being compelled to bubinit to a new inquiry.
truste t, however, that they would not suffer from the
conduct of the Government. Ho believed that the errors
h of been exegi,erated, although they had lad to the gravest
consequenc s. It must be recollected that they were com-
mitted under circumstances of extraordinary difficulty ;
aid wha-ever m ght have been their errors, eery
one would admit that they were men of undoubted

way ha convenient that, I should explain. The hon. gen-
Canaan has entirely misanderstol.l the objectof my ;notion,
is to blame the iniscondua of tuose by whose ne-
glect or incoupetancy various departments of thearmy have
aeon placed under the command of offisors whose conduct
has been inculpated by the report of the catniniesion ap-
pointed by the Government.
Mr. PEEL remarked that the hon. And learned member
had altered his motion so often that it was semewkat di M.
cult to understand ex tctly what be di.l mean. When he
was told that the inquiry was to sit with closed doors, the
hon. and learned gentleman still the object ofthe Govern-
ment was to shelter incompetslice • that they desired to
screen the officers against whose conduct imputations
been cast lathe report, but the moment he was informed
that the board of general officare was to ho an open trikm-
nal, then the hon. and learned member turned round and
said the objectof the Government W 43 not to shelter the
officers who were to appear before it, but to hide th.dr own
misconduct.

Mr. ROEBUCK—Hear, hoar. (Cheers.)
Mr. PEEL would undertake to say that the impression
of the commissioners themselves was that they were not to
inquire into the conduct of any particular officers ; and
this the hon. and learned member would see, if he turned
to those parts of the report containing the copy of the
letter addreeeel by them to L wit Raglan any' of their
cominnuications to the Quartermaster-General's depart-
ment. Again, it, seemed to bo the impression that
the commissioners who went out to the Crimea carried
on their itiqatiry in an open manner. But that was
not the case. It was esseuti ally a closed co art. No other
person was present before thane when they were taking
evidence than the witness actually under examination,
and ne one witness knew anything of what was said by
any other; but surely had the commissioners gone out to
inquire into the misconduct of the otficers in the Quarter.
master-General's and Ceinmisseria.t departments, they
would have had those officers before them from time to
time, and have taken evidence as to their conduct. (Hear.)
The concluding proposition of the resolution, that the
commission was appointed to inquire into the conduct of
certain officers, was not then correct. Then the hon. and
learned member said that the Government, having recei red
the report of the commission, issued another commission
to report upon that report. As he understood the hoe.
and learned member, he contended that the Government
ought to have appointed a cone-mu-tint, and summoned
the office s nculpated by the report to appear before thew,
and the reasqp he gave was, that the board of general
officers was composed entirely of military men. He said
that, "in the trhunal over which I presided last year, I
toil{ care to into mingle civilians with military men."
Mr. ROEBUCK—I said nothiug of the kind. (Order.)
Mr. F. PEEL—The hon, anti learned gentleman cer-
tainly said, " I object to this board of general officers, be-
cause it is composed of military Oen."
Mr. ROEBUCK—Military of one opinion.; (Hear.)
Mr. PEEL—Just so ; and the hon. and learned member
added that it was -composed of men advanced in years.
But had the hon. and Warned gentleman made inquiry he
would have found that he was in error in supposing that
these officers were s a advonaitt its years as he intimated.
But the priecipai objection of the hou. and learned member
was, that the board was to sit in England to review the
proceedings of a commission that made their inquiry upon
the spot. The objection that the inquiry was to be con-
duetted in England did not weigh with the hon, and learned,
member when he appointed his own committee, an t re-
fused to adopt the suggestion of -his noble friend (Lord
ealinerston) that a cotniniasien should proceed to the ed.
mea to inquire jute the conduct of those who were respon-
sible there for supplying the troops with stores and pro-
visions, while the committee sat here to inquire into the
management of the authorities at home. The speech of
the bouourable and learned member would lead to the sup-
position that he had faded to make himself acquain'el
with the coati-nts of the repo. t. Ho (Mr. Peel)
had made himself &cc:tenanted with the contents of, that
document, and could not deny that the officers against
whom charges were therein imputed had a right to demised
further inquiry and investig Aim' into the matter. The
first point to inquire into was whether the report was in
all respects founded upon evidence. It was plain that thole
were passages in the report inculpatingcert tin officers wh
served in the Crimea, but he refused to give his adhesieu
to these statements, unless be found that, they had nothing
to advance in their defence. One of the gravest charges
against Col. Gordon was that he had neglected to issue
greatcoats and blankets at the proper time, and the troops
suffered severely in conseqeence. That was a serious charge
against the quartermaster-general's department, seeing th it
they had the articles in store. Acci,riting ,to the commis-
sioner; one of the reasons :Alleged by Cel.f.irordoe why h d.:i
not issue the coats was that there was a regulation in he
army under which great c.nats could only be servo I out to the
wets once in three years. It was hardly possible to accept
statement so improbable without examining the evidence.
But when they turned to the evi lone, they looks i in vain

for any passage iu which Culonel Gordon assigned that as a
reason. The commissioners then said that the Government