Washington sentinel., 1855-02-13

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nets before Sebastopol. What had become Of
The 40,000s He believed that Ihe condition Of
the army had been brought about by the inca.
pacity, at home and abroad, Of those whose
duty It was to minister lC its wants
- simple otatement of facts, arayed in
forcible language BY Mr.. Drammond, Of the
House Of Commons, is still more powerful in
its denunciation Of the course of the Govern
ment The history of the world affords no such
example of gross ignorance, folly, and culpa-
BILE neglect Of an army engaged in the service
Of any country. The speech of Mr.. Drum
mond is in reply to an apology of Sidney Her.
bert, in his opposition to the motion of Mr..
Roebuck for committee of inquiry The de-
fense Of Mr.. Herbert rested mainly upon the
ground that the adoption of such resolution
would tend to paralyze the action Of Govern
ment at home and abroad He contended that
the committee would either gain no informa-
ton, or it would be obtained at the expense Of
the army. He said that the fault lay in the
army system itself; thai the English army was
a collection of regiments, whose field officers
had never seen brigade, and were unac-
quainted with the organization of large bodies.
He asked the House if it made up its mind to
take this course, to avow it at once by plain
and intelligible. decision. The Government
stood in precarious position; it had received
% hoo h1nuy hv thas oc ~c -
most important members, and he hoped the
House, considering well the course it ought to
take, and the perils which surrounded the
country, would decide the question at once and
in plain language.
To this defense, Mr.. Drummond replied in a
speech Of some length, from which we are only
able to make the following extracts
"The Right Hon. gentleman shall under
stand, at least from me, plainly and inteligibly,
that do impute it to the gross incompetence
of some man or men that an event has oc.
CURED without a parallel in history that an
| army, three times victorious, has been left to
perish, to be utterly destroyed, by the incom-
petence of those who ought to have supported
it. The whole country is in wrath with some
body, but no one seems to know who that some
body should be. Hear, hear. That is the
plain question we want to have answered. Is
this wrath confined to one party, or is there not
a burst of indignation from one end of the
kingdom to the other? Is it not re-eehoed from
Germany and from France? Is it not asked
in all their papers, what can the English gov
ernment be composed of? And was ever such
cruelty exhibited towards men as that with
which they have treated their army? should
have thought the Right Hon. gentlemen them
selves would be the very first to thank us for
coming forward, and asking for information.
| am not content to throw the blame on O gov
ernment. ! can understand that it is very de.
cent, and proper and right for all gentlemen
sitting there to put themselves forward, in
order to screen their subordinates; but it is not
satisfactory to us. Does any one mean to say
that it is the fault of the Right Hon. gentleman
that the army is starving? No but it Is the fault
Of the government. Does any one say that it is
the fault Of the noble lord? Mo- but it is that of
the government Why did the noble lord re-
tire? Because he has not yet been able salts
factorily to ascertain upon whom the fault
rests. My right honorable friend has com.
pletely evaded the question. | thought his
speech the other night most conclusive for his
own defense; the only fault / find with it is,
that ii too clever. 1t showed him to be a
very eloquent man. Eloquence is a fine art,
the sister of poetry and painting, and there is a
strong family likeness. The consequence was,
that when We got the speech in plain black and
white before US, many things appeared very
different to what they were before they had
been translated. There was no donbt as to the
proprety of sending troops to Varna, for the
assistance, as was said, of 'the Turks and civil
lization,' although how the two got together /
know not. A laugh. Varna lies on the road
from Russia to Constantinople, and it was very
natural to plant an army there; but, TO my in
finite astonishment, found, after the army had
arrived there, that one of the essentials of an
army-namely q wagon train-had been wholly
forgotten; and it now turns out that the Duke
of Newcastle, having sent the army there in
eptember-having always intended to send it
there-just discovered three weeks ago-that
a wagon train was necessary, and accordingly
telegraphed to Colonel Macmurdoc to come
over, who, believe, remained here for three
weeks.
Again, he says, in commenting on the want
Of supplies furnished by the government for
the army:
"Only this morning | received a letter from
an officer in the army, who says: There was
not one single l8-inch mortar for the first two
months Of the siege Then, again, why was
no provision made for hospital accommoda-
ton? There were neither hospitals at Bala-
klaya nor at Scutari. And here, again, / wish
to attribute no blame to my right honorable
friend. He has done admirably in sending ten
thousand beds, but do not believe they are
put up yet at Scutari. Part are at one place
and part at another-like the Mimic rifles, which
were sent to one place, while the ammunition
was sent to another. Why was there not su-
percargo on board the government vessels, who
had command Of the things on board, and who
knew what ought to be left at each place at
which the vessel stopped? There were provi.
sions without end at Balaklava, but the army
could not get them because no one had the
order to give them out Hear, bear.I The
commissariat has been, as they say, in the
hands Of the treasury. Lord Aberdeen was
the head Of the treasury, and was it possible
that the whole feeding Of the army was intrust-
ed to Lord Aberdeen and the clerks of the
treasury? No wonder, if so, that the troops
could not get anything to eat. Ihave received