The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-25 00:00:00

THE SURRENDER OF KARS.

The Earl of MALMESBURY said that on a previous
occasion he gave notice of his intention to bring before
their lordships the subject of the capitulation of Kars,
but, owing to the absence of the noble lord the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, he had reluctantly been
compelled to postpone it.. But seeing the noble earl
now in his place, he begged to give notice that on Fri-
day next he should move the following resolution :
" That while this house feels called upon to express its
great admiration of the gallantry of the Turkish garrison
at Kars, and at the self-relying courage of Mailr-General
Williams, and the other British officers who accompanied
it, it was equally their duty to declare their convictioe that
the surrender of the garrison had a disastrous effsct
upon the safety of Asiatic Turkey and on negotiations
for peace—and that such surrrendcr was in a great mea
sure owing to the want of energy and foresight of her
Majesty's Government."

THE NAVAL REVIEW.
Lord RAVENSWORTH sail that as he saw in their
places the noble lord the President of the Council, and
many other noble lords who had suffered with himself
from the inconveniences and delays which bad arisen in
the conveyance of their lordships to and from the naval
review on the previous day, he might perhaps be per.
initted to call attention to the defects in the arrange.
inents which had led to those unpleasant circumstances
and to ask some explanation from the Government. IC_
was intended that her Majesty should, during her pro
gress through the magnificent line of ships, be attended
by her faithaal subjects, the Lords spiritual and ten-
poral, and the Commons. Nothing could be better in
theory than this idea of the Government. The misfortune
was that it entirely failed of realisation. Although he did
not wish to attack any noble lord who might be consi-
dered responsible for the failures of the day, he thought
they had been mainly if not entirely caused by the want
of proper discrimination on the part of the Lords of
the Admiralty, whose duty it was to select a proper vessel
for the conveyance of their lordships. The first thing that
occurred after starting at 7 o'clock in the morning was a
delay of at least two hours occasioned by the breaking down
of two engines. For this he attributed no blame to her
Majesty's Government. (A laugh.) After great delay and
inconvenience their lordships arrived at Southampton,
where there was but one large tender, the Harlequin, for
the conveyance of the members of both houses of Par-
liament. In consequence of this it was at least au hour
before they all got on board the tender, and then the
crowded state of that vessel occasioned further loss of
time in embarking them on the two steamers Transit
and Perseverance. At length, between 12 and one
o'clock, and after they bad been informed by some
noble lords who had gone down on the previous
night that the most imposing part of the display was
over, the salute on the arrival of her Majesty having
been fired an hour and a half before, the Transit, which
had been appropriated to the conveyance of their
lordships, got under way. She had not, however, pro-
ceeded far before she was passed by the Perseverance,
having on board the members of the House of Commons,
and the second estate of the realm became the third, in
which position it continued during the remainder of the
day. (A. laugh) In the course of time the Transit, not-
withstanding the defective engines with which she was
supplied, reached the pivot ships at the easternaost point
of the line, from which position they witnessed that
grand and magnificent motion, the advance and wheeling
of the line of ships, the only spectacle which they had to
repay them fur the fatigue which they had undergone.
This ship, the Transit, had b?en supplied with engines
which were originally made fur our late enemy the Em-
peror of Russia, and which were sodefective iu construc-
tion that on her last voyage to the Mediterranean the
whole of her machinery gave way, and had notsincs been
put into proper condition. The result was that in a short
time this immense ship of 2,400 tons burden, became
almost like a log upon the water. By orders from
high authorities it was forbidden to make any smoke ;
without snaking smoke a fire could not be made
sufficient to get up the steam of the Transit, and the
result was, that on the return she hardly made any way.
Little as was the way she made, it was, untortuneteiy,
enough for her to run down a gun-boat, by which col-
lisiou both vessels were seriously damaged, and a ma-
rls • received injuries so severe that he (Lord 'Ravens-
worth) did not know whether they might not be fatal.
Although she did this, however, she did not make way
enough to enable their lordships to reach the laerbour of
Southampton until 10 o'clock. At that time the return
was effected by means of a very active but very stand
steamer called the Monkey, owing to the disproportion
between which and the Transit, and the consequent
crowding of the former, there was a great deal of in-
convenience and not a little danger. The latter was
considerably increased by the fact that, as she neared
the pier, the tiller ropes of the Monkey broke, owiag
to which there was much difficulty and, delay in wharf-
ing that vessel. As soon as she was wharfed there was
a rush to the railway station. Ladies and gentlemen,
noble lords and right rev, prelates, all made for the sta-
tion as fast as possible. First-class carriages were soon
all occupied, second-class ones were in requisition, and
one right rev, prelate and a privy councillor tool: refuge
in a third-class carriage. (A laugh.) At last the train
reached London, and their lordships were deposited at
the railway station at three o'clock in the morning.
Thus the termination of this day's pleasure was, that
noble lords arid ladies were running about the platform,
without a carriage or cab to take them home. How
many of the ladies reached their residences he could not
say. Fortunately he had himself none under his own
care.
.The blame of all these delays and inconveniences
rested, in his opinion, with those by whose inanatrement
an improper vessel of enormous size and without sufficient
means of propulsion was appropriated to their lordships.
To this fact he attributed all the misadventures of the
day, and he thought he bad a right to ask from the
Government some explanation of the reasons which led
to the appropriation of so large and so improper a vessel
) to this service. Further than this he would at present
express rioopinion upon the subject except to say, " Sic
transit gloria mundi." (A. laugh.)
Lord GRANVILLE.—I am afraid I am not the best
person in the world to answer the very serious charges
which have been brought forward by my noble friend,
having myself been one of his fellow-sufferers, and hav-
ing experienced souse disappointment at missing a consi-
derable portion of the magnificent spectacle of yester-
day. At the same time lam bound to say that I think
my noble friend has exaggerated the blame which can be
attached to the Government. He certainly made a very
lair exception at the beginning of his speech, when he
exonerated the Government from all blame for the loco-
motives of the South-Western Railway Company having
broken down ; but I think he has been misinformed as
to the character of the ship which was appropriated to
the conveyance of your lordships. It is a very large
and a very fine ship, and I am sure that all the noble
lords who were on board it will bear testimony to the
great care which had been taken to provide for the com-
forts of your lordships both as to accommodation and re-
freshments. No doubt it would have been very much
better had there been two small tenders to take your
lordships on board, instead of the one large one. When
we did stop it was not Irons any defect in the engine,
but because the fires had been let out. As no Lord of
the Admiralty had yet returned to town, I have not yet
been able to make any inquiries as to who was really to
blame ; but, whatever mismanagement there may have
been it is clear that the general Government cannot be
made responsible unless it should neglect, after inquiry,
to punish the persons who are to blame. Several noble
some
lords on board were kind enough to try to fix the whole
responsibility of the affair on me, which, asyour lordships
may imagine,
adrtidnloatsly desired at all increase
by rease my
to go down and
enjoyment of the
day. I was
poke the fire, but, with an unusual degree of modesty, I
declined to take the command of even a small fraction
of the Channel fleet. There is ono consolation, however
—that the day furnished another proof of the enormous
mental and bodily strength of my noble friend the
Lord Chief Justice, because, thong's my noble friend
was away from his house for 2'l hours, ie was able
to attend in his place in the Court of Queen's Bench this
morning, and he has to-night taken part in a dissension
relative to the Scotch marriage law. I can only say that
First I will take care, when the Lord of the• Admiralty
returns to town, that all proper inquiries shall be made
on the subject, and that if there has been any negligence
the persons to blame shall be punished.
The Earl of MALMESBURY—I should not advise
my noble friend behind me to mo
a vote of censure es
her Majesty's Government this time, though it certainly
was a practical joke of the most unpardonable characterto have been promised so much pleasure, and to hay
been kept 22 hours in attempting to attain an object
which we really only reached half-way at last. What I
rose to olserve upon wattthe esteems9o494o-41ot