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

country were treated. It was tbna that we were get
into disgrace, not only at borne, but abroad. Only two
1
or three days ago, ill Paris, he heard some remarks ma t
lupon the fact that General Airey, whose conduct was im
pugned, was amongst the perFoni selected for' honours and
rewards. He (Mr. Layartl) did not mean to say that Gen.
Airey was not innocent, for he would not now prejudge
him ; hut ho might not to have been recommended to the
place which be now bold under such circumstances. The
Hors. Guards had jollied issue with Parliament and the
country upon this wetter, by promoting these men and
despising public opinion. He believed the .00nistry was
ready to accept the issue, and if the Horse Gniirds were de-
feated there could be but one result. The people would no
Longer endure such a system as that by which dur best inte-
rests were sacrifieed. He %wild now go no farther with the
subject. He had state.( his ~t.jecti,,ns to this Commission.
He did think that, when the time bhoeld come for the hone,
to take up the inquiry, and pronounce its verdietou the offi-
cars concerned, the bons, would act up to its duty and dojus-
tice by those ache hal fa!leu, not by the tam( of the
enemy, but by the incompetence or negligence •of those
I whom the country had sent forth to take care of thetia..
Col. NORTH observed that the hoe. member for Ayles-
bury had wade a sort of crusade against the Officers of the
army, el., and young; and it was owing to hiin that gallant
veterans had been spoken of, and written of, in a manner
very painful to their feelings. '!'he GoYernmint ought to
have come forward to defend them, and to have vindicated
Lord Raglan in his lifetime. It was quite understood,
from the answer given by the noble lord at the head of the
Government to a question which was asked of him last
session, that the report of the commissioners would not be
laid on the table of the house at all, but used merely for
the information of Government. With regard to his gal-
bar' t fri.rl, Sir R. Airey, he (Col. North) felt confident that
he would be satisfactorily cleared of the charges against
bite, It Wag extraordinary that the report had not been
communicated to Lord Hardiuge, even if it were only as a
mere matter of courtesy. .. •
General Sir DE LACY EVANS—I should have been
very glad, air, to have remained silent on this occasion, but
after what has taken place it is impossible for me to re•
frain from troubling the house with a few observations.
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entirely concur with the hon. and
,gallant gentleman who
spoke last in the eulogies he has passed on my brother offi-
cers; but the remark which he made, to the effect that 99
out of every 100 persons in the country will refuse tcieredit
any report which the proposed Government Commission
might draw up, could hardy have been agreeable to this
(the Ministerial) side of the house. . For myself, I regret
that, owing to the blenders and inconsistencies of the
Government, such a result as the hon. and gallant gentle-
man anticipates is not at all unlikely to be realised. I
am also exceedingly sorry that the Under-Secretary for
War did not act upon the ,-uggesiion offered by the right
hon. baronet opposite (Sir J. Pakiugtou), who said he re-
garded this discussion as entirely premature, and promised
to bring forward a substartive motion on the. same sub.
ject hereafter, if the question were for the present'post-
poned. The hon. gentleman (Mr. Peel), however, having
evidently gut out his speech by heart, could not be pre-
veiled upon to reserve himself for the future and more
legitimate opportunity thus proffered to him by. the right
hon. b tronet, but must launch 'stably at all hazards forth
on tie pre, ant occasion, and level his pent-np accusations
right :Aid lett on every band., And, first, he must need's
fall foul of the generals of division. It is perfectly. tru. i
that Colonel Gordon alleged as an excuse for the knapsaeaa
not being delivered tower to the regiments that all the
generals of division declined to receive them=all, at least,
save the Duke of Cambridge. And here I must say that 1
could Lot but admire the judicious amicourtier-like excep-
tion in favour of the Royal dtue thus made by Colonel
Gordon. (Laughter.) But I putsig-tutlaa house whether it
is probable that his Royal Highness, who. never saw an
enemy before, would know best of all what was needful to
be done, while the four older generals of greater exPerience
were entirely and stupidly igooraut on the matter. ("Hear,
hear," and a laugh.) Ot course, my bare assertion is not
more valuable than that of Colonel Gordon or the Under-
Secretary for War. I don't arrogate to myself a monopoly
of the truth ; I only ask the house to look to what aro the
probabilities of the case ; and I challenge the hon. gentle-
man (Mr. Peel) to adduce any proof that the four senior
general officers really did refuse to receive the knapsacks.
(Hear, hoar.) But, after what Colonel Gordon has stated,
we must, of course, assume that the Duke of Oatublidge's
division actually got their knapsacks. Now, it so hap-
pened that at the very time when Colonel Gordon was giv-
ing this evidence iu the, Crimea the Duke of Cambridge
was also giving his evideace eonutiy. Well, does
his Royal Highness corroborate theetitement ou this point
era m the boo. gentleman (Ma. Peel) haimpet gratuitously
and imprudently ventured to make here to-night? And
let 1120 ask (exelaimed the gallant general with. ;owe
warm h)—let me ask. what, right has the it gentle Man,
to inibilv in these rash and inculpatory assertions? Is it..
b .cruse tie happens to be the Under;Seaketary of State far
‘‘,"*.ir th tt he presumes in this utanuer to level hie unpro-
voked accusations against tits four older generals of divi-
sion? (Hear.) What did his Royal Highness state when
tam:lined betore the Sebastopol Committee in the month
cf March, 1855 :
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