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

TIIE MILITARY BOARD INQUIRY.

[A. part of the following appeared in onr impression
of Saturday :—]
The Board of general officers resumed their sittings this
morning at the usual hour, at the Royal Hospital,
Chelsea.

The examination of Col. Lowe by Col. Tulloch Wal
continued.—He considered it perfectly possible, seeing
that shelter would be required for the horses, that can-
vass, &c., might have been obtained a month earlier
than the period when the huts were erected,
and would have been a wise precaution. When
his men had tools and materials they showed
much ingenuity in providing shelter for the horses. The
number of available men for the work during December
varied from Ito 20. In the beginning of December it
had not been decided where the camp ;:hould be situated,
but ha was unable to say when it was decided on. The
horses were shifted every opportunity the ground admit-
ted of. The want of men and the transport of material re-
tarded the progress of the work more than the want of tools.
He was unable, to say that carpenters might have been
obtained from the shipping at Balaklava to supply the
want of men.to erect the stabling. His stabling was
completed about the end of Feb. or the beginning of
March. He was unable to say now how many horses
he had alive in November, but when his stables were
completed he had but 39 horses alive. He gave a re-
turn in the Crimea, and he should think the number
alive in November was from 130 to 150 ; his was the
last stabling completed from want of wood.
Colonel Tulloch then proceeded to put to the witness
a question similar to that which had been put to the pre-
vious witnesses he had called in reference to the para-
graph in the report relative to the want of promptitude
or ingenuity in providing shelter for the horses, the same
as that adopted by the, Sappers and Miners at Bala-
klava.

Lord Lucan objected to the question. It was not
only a leading question, but it was particularly calling
half a-dozen selected witnesses to over-ride the Court in
giving their opinion on the whole matter.
Ultimately the question was put.
Col. L-Ave said, in reply, that he had never seen the
horses of the Sappers and Miners at 134laklava, and he
declined expressing any opinion on it, not having con-
sidered it in relation to the paragraph quoted.
Col. Tulloch put the question to the witness again, on
which

Lord Lucan objected, saying the witness had answered
it twice.

The witness retired, Lord Lucan having declined to
cross examine him then.
By the Judge-Advocate-General—Did Lord Lucan
frequently visit your camp ?
Col. Lowe—Yes.
Judge-Advocate-General—What passed on those oc-
casions ?
Col. Lowe—He made inquiries relative to the state of
the officers, men, and horses, and he examined the work
that had been done.
Tne witness then retired.
General Beatson, Commander of the Bashi-Bazonks,
was next called and examined by Col. Tulloch. He said
that be landed in the Crimea about the Ist October, with
General Scarlett's heavy brigade, and remained there
till the end of November. The horses from the time
they landed to the time he left the Crimea were in a
very bad state. He did not think it was practicable
to place the horses under temporary shelter on the
plateau near Lord Raglan's quarters, from the uncer
tainty there was of their remaining there. Lord
Lucan and General Searlett wished to remove the
cavalry to a better spot about three hundred yards
in the rear, but it was not done. It was owing to
that uncertainty that the reason why the horses were
not earlier got under shelter was attributable. The best
description of shelter must depend on the nature of the
materials at hand. Digging trenches and throwing up
earth around the horses, he was unable to say whether
such were practicable in the Crimea. He saw none
whilst he was there. It was the practice of the
Bashi Barouke, when in a country where there was
wood, to construct temporary shelter with the branches
of trees, but, of course, could not construct any where
there were no triges. It was not desirable to expose
Eeglish horses for so long a time, and in such weather
as that referred to. He bad heard the description of
the state of the horses from wet, mud, and
frost, and he thought the same objection was
applicable to the cavalry not digging trenches,
from the uncertainty of their remaining where
they were, and the laborious nature of the work re•
quiring a good supply of tools. He certainly would not
have placed his own horses under canvass on the pla-
teau, because the first gale of wind might have blown the
canvass off, and the horses have been injured thereby
more than if they had stood in the open air.
By Lord Lucan—He left the camp shortly after the
storm of the 14th November. No officer to his know-
ledge placed his own horses under canvass on the plateau;
it would not have been judicious to have hutted the
horses on the plateau.
Lord Lucan—On the part of the heavy brigade
with which you most lived in the Crimea, was there any
want of promptitude shown in providing shelter for the
horses ?

Gen. Beatson—l think every officer was anxious to
take all possible care of the horses. ,
Lord Lucan—To what do you attribute the bad con-
dition of the horses on landing in the Crimea
General Beatson----I attribute it to the want of proper
arrangement being made for the foraging of the cavalry
before they left Varna.
Colonel Griffiths was recalled—On the 3,1 December,
when at Kadikoi, his horses were, generally speaking,
in pretty good order. There were some very weak.
The horses stood at their picquets till about the
3.1 of Jan. before any of them were under cover. No
orders were given to shelter them till the 16th Dec., and
the delay that occurred after that was from want of men
and tools. The number of available raen employed in
providing shelter depended on the amount of commis-
eariat duty required of them. On an average they
were from 70 to 75 men. He thought sail cloth
covering and spars, if both had been there,
could have been put up for shelter in four days.
In December he lost 28 horses, and in January 51 hones,
and at the end of January he had only about one-third
of the horses that left England alive. He suggested to
General Scarlett that application should be made for
carpenters on board the fleet in Balak'a ia harbour.
All he could say was, that he didn't get them.
He thought that, under the circumstances, the cavalry
did their best in providing temporary shelter for their
horses ; but should they be called on for another cam-
paign, no doubt they would improve on their past expe-
rience. When he was at Bilaklava he saw a canvas-
covered stable, but he took no notice of it. He never
went into it, nor made any inquiries about it, and it was
only when he saw the Commissioners' report that he was
aware the stables belonged to the Sappers and Miners.
The Sappers and Miners situated at Balaklava had

greater facilities (and the men were much less worked

than the cavalry) for erecting temporary shelter than
the cavalry had at Kadikoi.
Major Thompson wa9" recalled and examined by the
Judge-Advocate-General relative to his former statement

of digging a drain for his horses, and he W 39 asked to
explain how it was the mortality amongst his horses
after that was greater than in other regiments. The
witness said he could only account for it from the .sth
Dragoons having a larger number of horses and fewer

men to look after them than /toy other regiment in the
Crimea. Having explained some other points,
Mr. Robert Rawlingson—Was engineering member
of the commission, and was so employed from April to
July. He was wounded in June. He had made him
self acquainted with the geological formation of the
Crimea, and, speaking as a civilian, if he bad had
fifty mei at his command with appropriate tools he
should have found no difficulty in providing temporary
-helter for the hOrses in any part of the Crimea. No
one could conceive, without experience, the effect the
weather had on the ground, transforming it into
a thick mud in a very short space of time.
That part of the country near-Malton, in Yorkshire,
and down to the- sea,_ very much resembled Kadikoi ;
other parts partook of the oolitaformation,. and required
tools to work it. In. other places the earth could be
thrown up to make earthworks for the protection of the
cattle. Shelter, under the direction of a railway con-
tractor, 'and proper materials, could have been provided
at the rate of two men per horse, in two days.
There were many places in the plateau, near Lord Rag-
lan's, where sites might have been selected where the
regiments might have been well sheltered. He had
seen, for weeks together, wretched-looking ani-
ma's knee deep in mud, with no nose bag, and the
forage thrown on theonud,nine-tenths of which wa-, trod-
dc-n into the mud before they could eat it. If there had
been an abundance of sail cloth, and other materials, 100

horses, allowing two men to a horse, might have been
sheltered in a week. Our army did not appear to have
paid that attention to the sheltering of the horses
aq the French did, and the Sardinians, the first moment
they arrived in the country. He cpuld only speak
as a civilian, and not as a military man before the
enemy, but he considered that no railway con-
tractor with tiaterialp_O hand would have lint op.

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