The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-01-30

THE DAILY DISPATCH /,
TUESDAY, MOANING, JANUARY 50 1855.
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RxruRS or TIE BRIrIsa BRAvKs.--We |
yesterday pubIished an arsicle from the Lon
don Times, In regard to the arrival imports |
mouth, England. Of . ship load Of wounded !
soldiers from the Crimea. and the cold and |
heartiess neglect with which they were treat.
ed BY the authorities When these men left |
England, in the prime Of youthful strength
aud vigor. they were escorted to the ships by
applaading multitudes, who crowded SO
thickly around them that 1t was difficult for
them to move The windows and balconies
were filled with ladies presents and tokens
of regard were heaped upon them in profu-
sion by the spectators, and bands played the
most inspiring music. No doubt thousands
who looked on envied them their position,
and cursed their own humdrum, unhonored,
civil life They themselves must have been
proud and happy, for they were going in pur
suit Of glory, and being mostly men in the
humble walks in life, their patriotism was as
disinterested as their courage was unim-
peachable.
It seems as II the many were destined in this
world to be the hewers of wood and drawers
OF water for the few.-to bear all the bur
thens, to endure double share of the sor
rows, to be cheated snd oppressed in peace
growing inevitably poorer as the rich grow
richer,-and in war to perform all the active
labor and fighting, with poor pay. Indifferent
food, horrid lodgings, and neither glory nor
gratitude fromtheir country. These brave fel.
lows, when on their way to thewar, were fol-
lowed to the docks by admitting and applaud
ing multitudes,- come home from the war,
and there is not soul to welcome them from
their ships,--none of the military or naval
authorities of Portsmouth, none of the peo-
ple of that town extend a kind hand to the
returning heroes.
They came back sick, wounded, mutilatedi
- the Times says, "armless, eyeless, footless'
rent with shot or she'll, pierced by bayonets
and bsrbed by sabres, they staggered on, sup
porting one another in their melancholy
march," But. save custom house officers
there was no one to meet them. And they
were left to crouch and shiver on the dock
in bleak January afternoon. till the custom
house officers concluded their protracted
search. At last, after long and cruel de-
lay, omnibuses and stretcheIs were sent to
conduct them to their allotted homes. Such
was the welcome which England's heroes
met on their arrival from the war in the
principal seaport and arsenal of their country!
These were the men who marched up that ter
'rible bill at Alma, and when a hundred Russian
cannon were pouring death and destruction
upon every step, stood firm as men of iron,
and never paused in their heroic march till
the enemy was driven pell nell from his po-
sition. Straightway the world rssounded with
the fame of England's stubborn valor-how
nobly and how gloriously it had been main
tanned and vindicated in that most bloody
field! Cannon Numbered in England, bells
pealed forth the notes of victory. and the
solemn TIE Deum shook the vaulted roofs
of stately cathedrals. Then again at mixer
mann-these men fought that wonderful
fight, almost unparalleled in ancient or mod
ern times, which saved the army of the Cri-
mea from the determination to which it
had been exposed by the blunders of its
military leaders, and rescued England from
depth of shame which would have redden-
ed every cheek and agonized every heart
within her borders. These were the men
who did it-not the officers; for from Lord
Raglan down, with few exceptions, the Off
Gers of the British army in the Crimea, have
proved themselves the most stupid and inef-
fcient of military men, constantly by their
their blunders imperilling the whole exped-
tion, and paralyzing the arms of their emerge
tic French allies; but it was these men,t pri-
vate soldiers, who, by their native valor and
stamina gained the battle of the Crimea in
spite of the blunders and folly of their of.
fcers. Yet, when they come home to Eng
land, there are 'none SO poor as to do them
reverence" while the swinish multitude run
in mad crowds after the Queen, who happens
to visit Portsmouth, and throw up their
greasy caps and bawl their sweet voices
hoarse with cheers for Victoria!
Well, this is a great world, with great
deal of humbug in it, but the worst humbug-
ged of all its inhabitants are poor men who
enlist in armies and leave their native land
to fight for country and for honor! 1t never
once seems to enter into their simple brains
that the only earthly value which they DOS.
sess. in the eyes of their "betters," is as food
for gunpowder. A ruddy young peasant,
who leaves the fond arms of his mother or
his wife, discards his ploughboy suit, and puts
on gay military dress, thinks himself some
pumpkins but in the eye of his commander
he is regarded with precisely the kind of in.
terest that an angler feels in the worm which
he puts upon his hook. n.
Poor Hodge is simply the bait with which
bis Grace or his Lordship goes fishing for
glory If he perishes, why his commander
feels the loss as sensibly as he would that of
any other worm, and there are plenty more
worms in the dirt to supply his place. An
Iishman writing home to his mother from