The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-10 00:00:00

THANKS TO THE ARMY AND NAVY,

( From the Times of this day.)
The occasion on which Lords Panmure,and Palmerston
addressed the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday

night was suggestive of mixed-emotioas, in which we
readily admit those of a pleasurable nature predominated.
A vote of thanks to a great army is a rare event nowadays.
Vast expeditions and grand achievement are neither the oc-
currence nor daydream of the present age. Since the peace
of 1815 till the last two yews we have heard little of war,
save its distant mutterings from the banks of the Sutlej or
the river of Canton. At 4320 period, indeed, a small por-
tion—perhaps au interested portion—of our community
acknowledged an unusual fear of the dangers which me-
naced our huge empire in the East. But the slight alarm
was soon dispelled, and made way for the much more gene-
ral enthusiasm which greeted the triumph of the veterans
who, at short intervals of time, had routed the fierce tribes
of the Sikhs at Sobraon and Guzerat. And though the few
who knew the value of the prize that had been congested
there, and the valour which had conquered against such
desperate odds, recognised the justice of the panegyric pro-
flounced in either House of Parliament, it may be ques-
tioned whether the heart of the whole nation was deeply
touched by a prowess which, however great, was displayed
on a remote scene and for a distant object.
Now the case is changed. On no obscure or far-off
theatre—for no inconsiderable or indifferent object —in no
selfish or unworthy cause—against no contemptible or un-
warlike foe—have the armies and navies of England fought.,
triumphed, and won an honourable peace. True, our triumph
might have been more brilliant, our success more perfect, our
pride more satisfied, our glory more enhanced, the humi-
liation of the enemy more complete. True that every let-
ter from the Crimea tells us of opportunities overlooked
or foregone which would, if seized, have crowned the cam-
paign with greater lustre and higher renown ; true that in
the conduct of the war mistakes have been committed both
on our side and that of our allies, which have filched from
us and them some of those advantages which Englishmen

1171A1 ventured to anticipate as the ft-tilts of national enter-
prise and patriotic devotion ; true that there have been
mismanagement, bad organisation, and the sad results of
both. when *Lis measured and cast up, there
is a large balance .to the credit of the iichievements cud the
exploits of our forces, which speaks intelligibly-end forcibly
to all who appreciate the worth of national character and
the grandeur of national enterprise.
That army, 70,000 strong, grow out •of the nucleus of
10,000 men whom our rulers sent on " a military promen-
ade" in Bulgaria. It is the remnant and the successor of
that high-hearted force which in successive batta'.ions sailed
to the Crimea in the summer and autumn of 1854. Arriv-
ing on the scene of their service in a period far shorter than
would have sufficed to convey them half the distance thirty
years ago, our soldiers have concentrated into one cam-
paign of two years the trials, the labours, the losses, and
the results of ten years. Battle, pestilence, famine, death
in the field, and death in the hospital have been their lot.
And well have they done their duty and well have they
braved their lot in every crisis of the war. In the first
flash of the ardour that bore them, hitherto untried, against
the strong position of the Alma, they showed that the muscle
and the "pluck" which Talavera and Vittoria had seen
were still unweakened and undegonerated. It_ was then,

as in the days of the Peninsalx, "no sudden out:
burst of undisciplined enthusiasm," which would grow

cold as the battle waxed hotter—no ardour which would

pale as the contest and the danger thickened around thorn

bet the irresistible might of British courage, gathering
strength and impulse from the clash and collision of the
fray, that impelled our soldiers. And, again, when the
novelty of the war had ceased—when its illusions had
darkened into realities, and the bright sun and clear skies
bad been dimmed by the rains and snows of the Crimean
November—not less stern and stubborn was the compo-
sure which welded fragments of shattered regiments in
terrible resistance against overwhelming hosts at 'tikes-
man than the plains of Spain and Belgium had witnessed
in olden days. And, if :military service censured the fatal
charge of Balaklava, the survivors and the friends of the
fillen may find some, though inadequate, consolation in
the admiration which that daring death-ride won from
our allies and extorted from our foes. And if to these
gallant regiments, which so well supported the traditionary
honour of their time-worn colours—if to the brave officers
who fought round Cathcart, Strangways, Torrens, and
Yea—if to them were denied the crowning honours of the
supreme struggle, still the one failure should not deaden
the memories of Englishmen to all they have done and
suffered before. As Lord Palmerston well observed, the
praise of bravery we claim in common with other nations.
The English soldier is brave in the heat of battle—in the
bayonet or the sabre charge. Buts so are the soldiers of
other nations ; this, though an indispensable and an
eminent attribute, is not his highest quality. It is not,
for that alone that Parliament has thanked, that Eng-
land will thank, her soldiers when- they set foot again
on the shores which they left with such high hopes
and such exulting hearts two years ago. It is for the
courage with which they bore up against the combined
assaults of cold, famine, and disease ; for the discipline
which kept them to their duty so long as, and even After,
strength remained ; which resisted every privation, and
which did not desert those who were fated to die in the
trench or the camp. And how many of those who went
out in the confidence and vigour of youth, health, courage,
and strength—whose manly cheers echoed along the river's
crowded banks in answer to the loud hurrahs of farewell
—how many of those will return to receive the country's
thanks for the peace which their own and their comrades
blood has won The mortality of war has its statistics
no loss than that of peace. It is known that in the two
years of the siege 19,100 men and 276 officers have died.
Statisticians will tell us that this is not much—not more
than an outbreak of destructive cholera carried off simul-
taneously in two small colonies, one an Eastern and the
other a West Indian colony, during the summer of 1854.
But how. many a home has this loss saddened ! How large
a hecatomb of youth, valour, and spirit has been offered
to the exacting Genius of War ! When that brilliant
army, now reckoning 70,000 men, which by the bravery
of its equipments, the solidity of its discipline, and the
unequalled condition of its health, excites so much praise
and admiration, disembarks at Portsmouth, Gravesend,
and Southampton, how many an eye will turn from that
gorgeous array, dimmed with the recollection of those who
should be there, but who have not returned with the re-
turning peace ! How many a humble hearth will then
miss its best support ! how many a high and noble house
will recall, amid the pageantry of national joy, that form
which, with its 270 fellows, lies entombed ou Cathcart's-
hill or the cemetery of Scutari !
These and other reflections mingle with the restoration
of peace and the return of the army. They are the ainari
aliviid which embitters the flowing cup of a people's exul-
tation, But they are inseparable from the conditions both
of our glory and our joy. It is the sacrifice of the home
affections, the pcwer of subordinating the ties and the
sentiments of family to national exigencies and public
duties, that constitutes the strength and solidity of
national greatness. And when it is remembered that the
army which fought at Alma and Inkerman, or died in
the trenches, and that which will return under General
Codrington in a fe4 weeks, were each filled with volun-
teers ; that no conscription and no ballot have been em-
ployed to recruit it ; that, when its numbers were reduced
by the contingencies of war, the Militia, itself all volun-
teers, supplied voluntary recruits, and, in many instances,
performed the duties of foreign service, Englishmen may
feel proud of a force which carries the seeds of liberty in
its first organisation, and spontaneously responds to the
necessities of the empire.
If we say less of the Fleet than of the Army, it is not
because less is substantially due to the former than to the
latter. Without that Fleet the Army would have been of
no effect. It would have been a small contingent, hemmed
in by a large and increasing hostile force, to which in time
it must have helplessly surrendered. It is owing to the
services—un-brilliant though they were—of the Navy that
the Army could turn the siege of Sebastopol into the one
great act of the war. It was the arm which stretched out
from England to the Crimea, bringing stores, provisions,
subsidies. It made England and France nearer to the
allies than Moscow to the besieged Russians. It neutralised,
in fact, most of the advantages which the enemy derived
from his free communication with the interior. It brought
more than 400,000 men to the theatre of war, besides
driving the enemy's fleet to inaction and furnishing men
and batteries on shore. At Sebastopol its co operation
was most precious to the land forces ; while in the naval
services of the Black Sea and the Baltic Kinbourn, Bomar-
sund, and Sweaborg testify its power and influence on the
fortunes of the war. This gigantic armament, which now
numbers near GOO vessels, is the creation of the same
spontaneous energy -which has filled the ranks of the
army.
On this occasion we forbear to mix censure with eulogy
and admiration. But what Englishman, when he sees
these costly armaments reposing in peace, can be indifferent
to the management and supervision which may be required
to recall them into efficient activity, to organise them with
promptitude and skill, and save them unnecessary loss,
when the interests or honour of the country shall again
proclaim the deplorable necessity of war?

4,588
6,426
936

1,538
2,814

746
2,231
15,809
5,403
1,620
3,619
1,341
1,060
699
315

1,207

37,191

THE BAND IN TLIE PARK.

The following answer has been returned by Sir Benja-
min Hall to a memorial lately presented to him :
" Office of Works, May 9, 1856.

" Sir,—l am directed by Sir Benjamin Hall to
acknowledge the receipt of a memorial to which your
signature is attached, and in which a desire is expressed
that he should review the whole subject of a band being
permitted to play in the Parks on Sundays, and that he
will not authorise the renewal of such performances.
• "Sir B. Hall had already anticipated the desire of the
memorialists—the result of which has been to confirm
him in the conviction that temperate and innocent re-
creations during some part of each Sunday are most
desirable, and are calculated to counteract the rapid in-
crease of drunkneness, and the dreadful crimes conse-
quent upon that vice.
" Sir B. Hall begs to remind the memorialists that he
is actuated by the same desire as themselves to benefit
the real cause of sincere religion and morality ; and that
though the memorialists and himself may differ, he has
the same legitimate right to his own opinions as them-
selves, and that it is not impossible that his views of the
means to that end may be correct. He has purposely
selected such hours for the band to play as need not
prevent persons desirous of hearing it from attending
divine service twice, or even three times on Sunday.
None are obliged to hear it who do not desire to do so.
"The memorialists seem to consider that all who go
to hear the band on Sunday must be steeped in sin, and
delight only in iniquity. If such is the case, they must
indeed have a very bad opinion of their fellow-inhabitants
of this metropolis, when they are informed that no less
than 147,352 persons assembled last Sunday in Ken-
sington-gardens and the Regent's-park, and soberly,
peaceably, and happily enjoyed themselves. These
numbers formed one-tenth of the whole population north
of the Thames, and represented all classes of society,
from the highest peer of the realm to the hard-working
mechanic.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
servant,

A. D. BERRINGTON."