Washington sentinel., 1855-02-13

believe that Mr.. Wesley Richards went to an
enormous expense, and incurred great deal
Of trouble, to perfect it. After wearisome
delay one OF the specimens was selected, and
what did the government do? They sent il to
Liege to be manufactured, and there they also
manufacture Mimic rifles for 49, Alnp peror Of
Russia. Upon inquiry, find that Mr.. Filder
is still at the head OF the commissariat at Sc
bastopo, who was the man that Sir Thomas
Picton wanted to hang. Laughter. When
the wooden huts were first talked about the
Duke OF Newcastle was asked how they we're
to be got up from Balaklaya to the camp? "Oh,"
says he, "the men can draw them up They
are already overworkcd by other duty, and it
has been calculated that it would take the labor
of $500 men for three weeks to draw them to
the camp. BY the last accounts it was stated
that some of them had arrived, and that they
were being carried up by two planks at time
upon mules, the planks being burnt up for fire.
wood as they arrived, from the unlikelihood Of
the rest ever following them. The want Of
shoes and other clothing has been disgraceful,
and these details we can only get at by COM
mittee, of this house, which therefore think
ought to be granted. Hear, hear. The
original fault, from the beginning, take
to be not so much single fault as an aggre-
cation Of faults, arising from your having
despised our enemy too much.
And he concludes with the following strong
terms of reprobation of the management of the
Commissariat Department by Lord Aberdeen: :
"My right honorable friend (Mr. s. Herbert)
may rest assured that he is the last man to be
found fault with. But if am asked who is the
true culprit, should accuse, first, the total ig-
norance of what the army undertook in going
to the Crimea and in beseging Sebastopol;
and, secondly, the total incompetency of Lord
Aberdeen to rule commissariat composed of
treasury clerks. / hardly know the Duke of
Newcastle when see him, but have known
Lord Aberdeen long, and must say that am
friendly to him for his amiable and peaceful,
but not for his belligerent, qualities" Cheers.)
Mr.. Drummond and the opposition found an
other able supporter in the person Of Mr. La
yard. We regret that the space which we have
already devoted to this subject prevents us from
making more than the following extract from
his speech:
"The right honorable gentleman, the Secretary
OF War, had adverted to the large number Of
transports which had been employed by the
government, but it appeared that those trans
ports had only been engaged in conveying
goods to Balaklava and back again without
ever landing anything. An honorable friend
opposite had given them an account of the state
of affairs at Balaklava, and had particularly
instanced the want of vegetables. This was
strictly true, for he Mr.. Layard) had himself
been witness to it, and had seen the unfortu-
nate soldiers brought down to carry upon their
backs enormous sacks of potatoes and onions,
which they were unable to remove. The pro.
visions might certainly have been there, but
had they been consumed by the troops? Hear,
hear.) The House must not be misled by re-
ports OF the abundance Of provisions at hand
There might be an abundance of clothing and
vegetables, but unless the vegetables had been
consumed and the clothing worn, what was the
use of sending them there? (Hear) The
House has been completely mystifed by the
accounts which had been given OF the Prince.
They were told that that unfortunate vessel had
all the clothing on board, and that the fact that
such clothing was there showed the government
had not exhibited the negligence of which they
had been accused. Now, in point of fact, the
Prince had not on board what was strictly
called winter clothing, but she had on board
such clothing as the troops might have put
on aay dny In the year. There was no
special clothing whatever to enable them to
stand the severity of a Crimean winter. Hear,
hear.) There was not single rag of that des-
cription, all that was on board being certain
number of shirts, stockings and other articles
which would have been given out to the SOL
diers in England or any other place. Hear
hear.) And now he would for a moment cali
the attention of the House TO the case Of the
siege artillery. They were told that so far back
a q ha rf la~
templated a descent upon the Crimea. For the
sake of the government themselves, he could
not believe this to be the case. It appeared to
him to be impossible, considering the nature of
the siege train sent out. (Hear, hear.) They
had already heard that there were no mortars
in the train calculated for siege Of such mag
nitude as that of Sebastopol The mortars
available were of very small calibre, and there
were no siege guns of any size, those at hand be-
ing merely calculated for acampaignin in Bulgaria,
in beseging such small places as the Russians
might have taken. Hear.) But even in Bul.
garia, they would have been unfit for service,
as no horses had been sent out with the siege
tram, and in conveying the guns to the heights
before Sebastopol, they had been compelled
to use the horses of the horse artillery;
and then there were only so many rounds
OF ammunition sent out as, at the common
rate of firing, would be exhausted in day.
The right honorable gentleman, the Secretary
OF War, said every endeavor would be'made 10
FL up the hospitals but why had not this been
done before2 Hear, hear.) Did the govern.
ment think they could 60 to the Crimea, and
fight battles there without having any killed
and wounded? The French evidently did not
think so, for they had already established their
hospitals, dc. No outcry had been heard
against their proceedings in that respect On
the contrary, their hospitals were admirably
arranged, and not one man had been suffered
to die from the want of proper accommodation
for the sick and wounded.
But the English Parliament is not the only
source from which emanates structures upon the
English management Of the war. Their French
ally, who begins to suspect that he is in the
position of the dwarf in Goldsmith's fable, who
does all the work, while England gains the glory,
begins TO complain Of the insufficiency of the
British arms. From the Paris correspondent