Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-02-20
THE l:RIrISa N,y,srse avl gBp

Among our foreign extracts viii b, found SUI
fcien;ly full report Of the speech Of Lord John Rus
sell, in explanation of his resignation Of Office
The event itself startling bu the reason given
for it adds greatly to the force of the blow upon the
Cabinet Lord John Russell was the Cabinet lead
er in the House Of Commons and his position com
PEELED him to take the part of the responsible ad
vocate Of the administration in all matters IN which
it should lie called in question in that House, which
is the real Government Of Great Britain. Dir.
Roebuck Lad given notice OF motion for Com
mittee to INQUIRE into the condition of the army,
and into the conduct of the Departments entrusted
with its administration Lord John Russell could
net sanction this motion, because that weuld be an
admission Of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., and he could not
oppose it, because he could not defend the pro-
ceedipgs of the Government He therefore re-
signed.
By this act the Ministry has lost its strongest sup
port and as there viii be general sympathy, if
not with the act certainly with the Of the
retiring Minister, and as he was in moral and pot-
cal force the strongest man in the Cabinet his re-
tirement will rob it of its hold uron public respect
The circumstances are such as to give peculiar
| pognancy to Lord John Russells causes of com
plant In his speech in support of his motion, Mr.
| Roebuck said
| II think it is pretty well ascertained that we
| have sent from tine shores of this country 81, 900
! soldiers equipped as we have never equipped SOL
diers before who have done all they could to sup
port the honor and glory of this country. | want
| to know what has become Of these "a 900 soldiers
1t appears from the best information that there are
| now not more than ii, 600 men actually in arms
before Sebastopol, and of these IA, 900 less than
| 5000 are in state of health. l have now in my
hand letter dated January 8, from Constantine
pie, the writer Of which states that, according to
the best information the effective force of the Brit
ish at Sebastopo did not exceed $4,000 men, that
the artillery and engineers have diminished 10 a
similar ratio; and that the cavalry had ceased to
exist as force the horses having been taken up for
the transport of provisions. The writer also says
he is sure that the British army will within two
months be totally destroyed; and, speaking Of a
General who had been out there, and has now re-
turned he states that in accordance with his opin-
ion and the opinions of those most likely to be
we'll informed, be is firmly persuaded that great
disaster is about to befal the army now before Sc
bastopoL"
This paragraph presents the state of things un-
der which the strongest man in the British Cabinet
gus Office rather than face the necessary explain.
stions. 1t appears that Lord John Russell had
post of Head of the War Department and was told
in reply, that unless some garing fault could be
fixed on the Duke OF Newcastle, it would not dc
to remove him. In the meantime the army of the
Crimea was wasting away, for want Of provisions
clothes, tents, every thing. No blame was to BE-
attached to anybody, because the system Of admin.
istration was so complex, and confused, that it wa
nearly impossible to trace the error to its source
Everybody knew that shipoads of clothes and pro
| visions lay in the harbor of Ealaklava while thu
soldiers were shivering and perishng with cold ant
starvation, few miles of. There was nobody t.
give receipt for the delivery Of the articles, anC
therefore they were not delivered. One woulC
hardly have believed, that a people sneered at by
| Napoleon as nation Of shop-keepers would hsvt
exhibited the most lamentable of deficiencies in thu
commissary departmental the mere book keep
ing Of war So it seems, however. The British
army in the Crimea have showed none of the quail
tiles of shop-keepers more heroic set OF mel
were never gathered together. They have starved
and frozen, simply because the Government dix
not know how to keep its accounts did not know
how to regulate supply and demand in regard IL
| Jackets and bee(-did not know how, in short, K
provide for the subsistence of fifty thousand men
| As for Lord John Russell's remedy for this de-
plorabe state of things, we have no great conf
dence in it. There would be one great advantage
in the appointment Of Lord Palmerston to the hesd
of the War Department in that he would entel
upon the duties with greater amount Of public
confidence than any man that could be named
But it would be very difficult to make good the
grounds Of that confidence. Lord Palmerston is
an active hot booded man. bnt we have never
seen the proof Of his superior powers Of admins
tration. He has been far more remarkable for get
ting England into trouble than for getting anybody
out of it, and it is precisely this latter power fol
which there is now especial call. If there were
in England Just now, a William Pitt-bold, self.
denying, systematic, and bent victory, cost what
it might, there is place for him that sadly needs
an OCCUPANT But Lord Palmerston is seventy years
old-undoubtedly very bright old fellow; but
what has such man to do with renovating and
restoring the machinery of the British War De-
partment, in the very crisis of a mighty struggle
for the mastery of Europe?