The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-14 00:00:00

TIIE MILITARY BOARD OF INQUIRY.

[A part of the following appeared in our impression
of Saturday :—]
Major-General Sir Richard Airey was the next witness
called, and examined by Col. Tulloch—l understand
that upon the Bth of November you issued orders to
Lord Lucan to provide shelter for his horses, and on the
12th you renewed those orders ?—I think it was about
those dates.

I presume that when an order is issued, emanating
from so high an authority, it is understood that the
officer to whom it is addressed has the means of obey-
ing
it 7—Certainly, to a great extent.
When you issued such an order I presume you knew
or had the means of knowing what number of men Lord
Lucan was likely to have available for the purpose of
providing shelter—what number were employed upon
the indispensable duties of the camp—and, in fact, whe-
ther it was practicable for his Lordship to carry the
order into execution —When Lord Raglan desired me
to convey those orders to Lord Lucan the cavalry
had just got on to their new ground, and as we had
written to Constantinople and were expecting to receive
materials for the shelter of the horses a letter was sent
to the of commandin the cavalry to make such
preparations as he could for their shelter meanwhile. To
my mind, it was quite evident that the only preparations
which the cavalry could make were in tracing the ground,
turning to account such labour and such intrenching
tools as they had at their disposal, excavating a little,
and getting the ground level, ■o as to be prepared for
the uprights and wood we expected every day from
Constantinople.
At that time bad the ultimate sited the cavalry camp
been fixed upon 7—No.
Then, of course, the men could neither have been
digging the ground nor preparieg uprights 7—When I
say the cavalry were not established upon their ultimate
ground the Board should understand that it was not at
all sure that it might not have been their ultimate Iv a-
tion. The fact is, lam placed here in rather a peculiar
position. I was in close conference with the Commander-
in-Chief, and knew everything that was going on between
him and the Commanders-in-Chief of the allied armies.
There were various transactions between those persona
which it would not be convenient to mention here. I
will only say that their conferences were continual. There
was a particular reason, which I won't now state, why
the cavalry were upon the ground to which Col. Tunnel)
is now alluding. It appears that Lord Lucan was written
to an 4 desired to make temporary shelter as well as be
could for his h4ses. Probably it might have been in-
tended only to suggest that the earth should be embanked
a little, and some temporary protection provided in this
way. At this time, I repeat, it was by no means certain
whether or not the cavalry would have to remain on
the plateau ; it depended on a variety of contingencies
connected with the reinforcements both of the French
and Turkish army.

But bow was Lord Lucan to make temporary shelter
before the wood arrived 1 What was he to do without
materials ?—He might perhaps have embanked the earth,
intrenched the ground, and have thrown up such tem-
porary shelter as he best could.

{Wag it not more especially your province to know
whether Lord Lucan's men had or had not a sufficient
quantity of intrenching tools to enable them to work ?
Certainly, it was my province to know, and certainly
I did know that they were very badly off for intrenching
tools of all descriptions. The reasons were very apparent.
We were at that time engaged in breaking ground for a
siege of enormous magnitude, fior which we were not
well prepared, and it was with the utmost difficulty that
we got the engineers to spare us the tools for the regi-
ments. The regulations, it should be known, afforl a
very limited allowance ; I think the allowance is five
pickaxes for a whole regiment, but I believe I have
Issued as many as 46 pickaxes to one battalion of
the army in the course of sor 6 weeks. The trenching
tools of the English army are notoriously bad. Then,
again, the English soldier does not pay for these tools,
unless be is found in the act of wantonly destroying
them, and the consequence is that he uses them prover-
bially ill. All the regiments in the army were, until a
very la`e period indeed, extremely badly off for intrench-
ing tools.

if Lord Lucan had no materials and no intrenching
tools, how could he provide shelter as you directed ?
You mistake when you suppose that the cavalry had no
intrenching tools. They were very badly off for them,
but I did not say they had none.
_ _ _

It having been stated to Sir John M`Neil and my-
self, in the evidence of Col. Gordon, that Lord Lucan
had been ordered to make temporary stables on the Bth
and 12th of Nov., had we not goo I reason to point
ont that there was "a want of prompitude or ingenuity"
when we found those stables were only completed in the
middle of Feb., or three months after the issue of the
order ?

Lord Lucan objected to the question. It was not
within the province of the witness to pronounce a gene-
ral opinion of that nature. This was the business of the
Board—not of the witnesses.
Col. Tulloch looked upon this question as a most im-
portant one, both for the Board, the commissioners, and
the country, and pressed for permission to put it.
The Judge-Advocate announced that no decision
would be given upon the point by the Board until their
next meeting.

The Court then, at 4 o'clock, adjourned until Monday

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—(This Day.)
_ „
LONDON, April 14. —Wind this day at noon, NE.;
strong breeze and cloudy.
PORTSMOUTH, April 13.—Arrived—H.M.S. Hydra, from
the Cape of Good Hope; H.M.S. Spas rowhawk, Chatham ;
H.M.Str. Europas, Sheerness; H.M.S.'s Rhadamanthus,
Porcupine, Lizard, the two latter with two mortar vessels
in tow, LI M. gun-boats Lively Erne, Delight, and Mac-
kerel, eastward ; British Lion, Calcutta, for Havre ; Tar-
tar (s. tug), Liverpdol, with two mortar-boats in tow ;
H.M.S. Megaera, Malta; H.M.Str. Prometheus, with two
mortar-beats in tow. Sailed—Great Tasmania, for Mo-
bile.

CARDIFF, April 12.—Wind N.N.W.—Sailed—Alexan-
drine and Charles Oak, for New York.
SWANSEA, April 13.—Wind W.N.W.—Arrived—Lady
Prica, from Cuha.
CLYDE, April H.—Wind N.W.—Arrived—Boadicea,
from Matanzas. Sailed—Alma, for Sydney.