The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

TOLL REFORM.

In answer to Lord RAVENSWORTH,
Earl GRANVILLE said the present session was too
far advanced for the introduction of a bill on the subject.
Government would direct attention to it during the recess
with a view of ascertaining the best course to be pur-
sued. The Home Secretary was at present in communi-
cation with the Commissioners of Roads on the subject.
MEMORIAL TO THE LATE LORD RAGLAN.
Earl FORTESCUE asked whether it was the inten-
tion of the Government to erect a monument to the late
Lord Raglan ? Eighteen months had now elapsed since
the close of the late war. The honours and distinctions
of that war had been bestowed by the hand of the Sove-
reign on their fortunate possessors. (Hear, hear.) In
referring to the deserts of Lord Raglan, be would only
notice those points which were unquestionable, and
would refer as little as possible to the reerits of other par-
ties. The expedition to the Crime', though determined on
in April 1854, had been only carried out in Septem-
ber of that year ; and it required all the energy, skill,
and Influence of Lord Raglan, with our allies, to miry it
to a successful issue. The landing was effected without
the loss of a single bait or man ; and the heights of the
Alma were speedily won. It was now well known that,
immediately after that victory, Lord Raglan urged the
pursuit of the enemy ; and it was now admitted by the
Russians themselves that had that bold course been
taken, Sebastopol must have been ours in the course of a
few days. In the disasters which followed, the British
public and the British press had been unsparing in their
censure of those who neglected to make due provision for
the undertaking. It should be remembered how confi-
dently it was predicted that Sebastopol would fall in a
few weeks, and on more than one occasion a report was
circulated, and generally believed, that the fortress had
been taken. There was every reason to believe that the
object would have been gained had Lord Raglan's ad-
vice in the first instance been taken ; and it was probable
the public would not have approved of an amount of pre-
paration which no one supposed would be needed. After
the battle of Inkermann,!the same advice was given by
Lord Raglan as to the pursuit of the disordered Russian
army ; and the French general had since admitted that
he was mistaken in not following that advice. The ex-
pedition to Kertch was attended with a success which
left nothing to regret. The failure of the attack
on the Redan on the 18th of June had seriously affected
Lord Raglan. The distress and reaction of that failure
hastened his death, which occurred ten days afterwards.
(Hem) His personal qualifications were undoubted ;
his imperturbable gallantry had been testified to by Mar-
shal St. Arnaud—no mean judge—as worthy of the
heroes of ancient times. (Hear.) Lord Raglan pos-
sessed also the much rarer virtue of great fortitude un-
der circumstances of difficulty and distress ; and his
simple, frank courtesy won the hearts, as his greatjudg-
ment convinced the minds, of all with whom he came in
contact. (Hear.) Nor would the historiarf forget to
record his constant and unwearied exertions to promote
as far as he could the comfort and to alleviate the suffer-
ings of his men—exertions to which the best testimony
was the enthusiastic affection with which he was re-
ceived by his troops upon every occasion when he was
recognised by any portion of them in his frequent but
unostentatious visits, by day and by night, to their camps
and to their quartets. (Hear.) That Lord Raglan,
with his singular modesty, should not have valued him-
self upon the possession of qualities which he considered
were common to every soldier, or upon deeds which he
looked on as among the simplest duties of a commander,
no one who knew him would wonder at ; but it might
fairly be asked, when his strategical movements were
attacked and invidiously compared with what were sup-
posed to be the greater energy and rapidity exhibited
on the part of the French, it might fairly be asked why
he had never sought to justify himself ? Those who
had seen the private correspondence of laird Raglan
would bear him out when he said that the'noble lord
never suffered a line to go forth from his pen wbich
could convey the idea that any difference of opinion ex-
isted between himself and the Commander-in-Chief of
our allies ; because with the true spirit of a patriot and
a hero be preferred to suffer blame to be ca't upon
himself rather than put in hazard for one moment that
good understand between the two armies- which he fel:
to be a prime ingredient in the success of that great cause
which he had so much at heart. (Cheers.) These were
the grounds upon which he Ole noble earl) asked for
the late Lord Ragland the distinction which had been
conferred upon other commanders who bad died in the
service of their country. The noble lord concluded by
asking whether—if not now, at some future and more
favourable opportunity—the Government would be pre-
pared to take the course pointed out in the question he
had address to them ?

Lord PANMURE had listened with great satisfaction
to the tribute which his noble friend bad thought it but
right to pay to the memory of the late Lord Raglan.
The noble earl must not suppose that because the Go-
vernment had not proposed to the other House of Par-
liament a vote for a marble monument, they were in-
sensible to the services rendered by Lord Raglan, or that
they did not feel that those services had been attended
with beneficial results. He hoped, too, the noble earl
would not say that the public of this country had not
fully expressed their opinion upon the unhappy death of
the gallant lord whose merits their lordships were now
discussing. In point of fact, they bad expressed, by the
votes of both Houses of Parliament, the attachment they
felt to the memory of the noble and gallant lord. He
(Lord Panmure) looked upon those votes as a public
testimony to public services, and in that spirit they
had been proposed. With regard to public monu-
ments, the Government were compelled to be cautious
how they were bestowed. In the military history
of our country (with the exceptions his noble friend
had pointed out) every public monument that had been
placed upon the walls of the cathedral in the city or the
neighbouring abbey, had been decreed to commanders
who had fallen in the execution of their duty. But Lord
Raglan was not without his monument. A sum of
20,0001. had been set apart for the erection in the East
of a monument dedicated to the memory of the soldiers,
sailors, and marines who hail fallen in the service cltheir
country. The most conspicuous object which would
meet the gaze of all who approached Constantinople
would be this monument, which would shortly be erected
by this country to the memory of her sons ; and the first
name that would be inscribed upon it would be that of
Lord Raglan, in association with those of his gallant
comrades in arms who had perished with him in the
war. (Hear.) He (Lord Panniure) did not mean to
say that this country would not at some future time en-
tertain the proposition ; but he wonid remind their lord
ships that in erecting a public monument, whether to a
statesman or to a soldier, it must, in the first place, be
done with the full concurrence and approbation of the
people ; and next, in order to make these memorials
valued. it must be fur services of the highest character
which either a statesman or a soldier could render.
Lord BROUGHAM was understood to say that the
answer of the noble lord would have been most unfor-
tunate, even if psrsonal feelings only wore involved—
(cheers)—even if the only question bad been ono of the
private virtues of Lord Raglan, that gentle nature
which had ever been found in alliance with brilliant
courage—(hear)—even if they had only to regard his
groat and useful services in a long life devoted to
his country—(loud cheers)—in a most difficult office,
from his earliest years, when, to the astonishment of his
young contemporaries, he was singled out by the unerr .
ing sagacity of that great captain, who from time at.
tached him to his person, and continued to repose his
confidence in him till the last hour of his illustrious life ;
and who, had be fortunately been spared to them, would
on that day have been performing the duty which thei