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Leader (1850-1860), 28th April 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 2, IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT . THE'VIENNA CONFERE...

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      "J7 Very Thing Converges To A Political ...

      ferent course on this occasion , or o _ ne more friendly to Russia . Respecting the actual position of Austria , therefore , -we must await further information , treating the somewhat desponding spirit which appeals to link under the admonitions of our own official journals . feo » be ^ perhapsr asprmzeh overstrained as their previous confidence in oar ally . This is rendered the meare probable by a new tone said to have come ? over the Austraan Ministers , even sins » : this lasfccKsplay of Etesian arrogance and duplicity .

      The French : Empeeok , who was careful to date an ordinance , addressed to his own subj-ects , and signed " Napomson , " from '' Windsor Ga ' stle , " isequally careful to publish int the Mohiieur the a « bdresses which he received from London , Manchester , Southampton , & c . There is every sign that , officially , the union with France and England is considered to be aa close as it could be rendered by the strongest pledges and the utmost cordiality . This also is a fact whichihas a more interesting signification than for the moment

      appears . There seems to be no question whether the Emperor intends to proceed to the Crimea . Some day soon after the 1 st of next month is now fixed for his departure . He goes to take the field . against Russia * and war therefore continues ; and from the state of aflaira it must continue on an enlarged scale , with greater bloodshed , more * exertion , and further sacrifices ; for the Empebobi wills it . The alliance between the Tnileries and Downing-street is complete , and we must follow the march of the " brave et beau Dunois . "

      It is under these circumstances that we proceed with the War Budget . It is made a boast on behalf of the Chanckixob of the Exchequer , that he 1 has amply provided for the year , and has secured , evenli surplus upon the actual expenditure . The military outlay , we are told , will be 43 , 000 , 000 ? ., while he has taken more than 4 , OQO , 0 OOZ . for contingencies , with power to issue 3 , 000 , OOOZ . of Exchequer Bills—apparently to meet any defalcation iri the Loan , though that is not probable . Thei Exchequer Bills are not to be issued pending the

      receipt of instalments for the Loan , so that they will either not be issued at all , or only be used in the interval between the 18 th of December and the subsequent meeting of Parliament . But How "' i 3 ~ a 5 y ' ' ri > 6 rtal '" " man : t 6 ioiowthat the expenditure for the financial year 1855-6 will be limited to the amount set down beforehand by Sir CoRNEWAMi Lewis ? The expenditure of 40 or 5 O , 000 , 000 Z . for war alone out of a Budget

      realising 63 , 00 O , OOOZ . aa revenue , leaves us , in fact , a real deficit . The whole extent of the Loan is a deficit . Yet that is an expenditure calculate only for the war in , the Crimea and the Baltic ; but who knows that we shall stop there ? Who knows that the Sardinian loan will be our only advance to allies ? Who knows , in short , upon what fields the contest may be waged during the current year , or the part which , this country may have to take in .. following the Empkror ?

      While the finance is in this condition of probable development , our administration seems to be threatened with a break-down . The Sebastopol Committee has pushed its trenches right into the War Ministry , and has , with the assistance of the Duke of Newcastle , who was examined at full longth for several days this woelc , thoroughly inquired into the disorganised state of that Ministry , which divides its authority amongst the

      Secretary of State and his subordinates , the Treasury , the Horse Guards , the Ordnnnce , and even the Admiralty , with all kinds of subdivision amongst thoir subordinates . Even Lord Raglan , Commandor-in-Chief in the Crimea , did not fully carry out tho instructions sent to him ; but unable to fulfil tho inquiries which ho was ordered to make before the Crimea expedition ,. he set out unassisted by those inquiries . Lord IIakdingb appointed Lord Lucan and othor Generals

      without consulting thaWar Minister—Lord Lucan being one ofithe active-causes of disagreement . The Board of Admiralty and the Board of Ordnance had debates between themselves as to their liabilities aniiLjjprisdiction in matters of transport and the ^ l Ufe : Ike spirit . a £ \ insubordination * seems to havetbeen exhibited % all' departments and all ranfcsj . evert-Up to the © bmmander-in-Chiefi : Lord Pamberstob * has statesiLin tha House of Coaumons this Twefflfc-tfiat a tkeaaaogh-EKferm of thesWar

      Department is under consideration ; and it has been announced , not for the first time , that Lord Panmuke has resigned , his broken-health rendering it absolutely impossible for him to continue at the head of the War Ministry . Until we have Lord Pa : lmerston ' s promised new administration , we may be said , to a great extent , to be without a military administration . The war is carried on by the Cabinet , and the departments fulfil so much of the instructions received from the Cabinet as they

      think fit ; so that the ultimate result is a matter of chance . Even the small scandals of the army belong to the news that colour the week . We have two cases before us . At Canterbury is stationed a depot of the Enniskillen Dragoons , and in that depot is a Cornet Battmgarten , who has been subjected to treatment of the Perryan order . Though he has none of the incompatibilities o £ a Perry , he is warranted by an old College friend

      afe Oxford to be an accomplished sportsman and a pleasant companion . His sword broken , the plume of his helmet broken , buckets of water thrown in his bed , his linen-chest deluged , his window and looking-glass smashed , his charger tailed and cropped , with other indignities that gentlemen cannot even mention . Driven at last to some desperate measures , afraid , perhaps , to " peach , " he challenges his tormentors , and then appears worthy Sergeant Brodie with a strong protest against " murder !" The ^ treatment of this sergeant introduces a new

      incident quite unexpected enough for romance . Adjutant Webster comes up with a file of men and seizes , not the duellists , but the sergeant , who is ordered to be knocked down by the men with the butt-ends of the carbines if he resists . The breach of discipline in this last incident is so complicated that we know no parallel to- it except the poaition _ of _ Whiskerandos and the Nieces . It will be curious to see how Sergeant Brodib is treated by the sophists who rule our military discipline .

      This case was preceded by another , in the Thirtieth Regiment , where they seem to have brought the practical joking to high perfection . Ensign Falkner was subjected to threats that he should be thrown out of window ; attempts were made to . throw him out ; his mouth was smeared with tallow ; he was kicked out of the room , and otherwise maltreated by " officers and gentlemen . " The Commander-in-Chief resolutely set his face against these practices : one officer who apologised is let off with a reprimand ; v another who repeated the offensive conduct is threatened with expulsion , and subjected to surveillance with periodical reports .

      So far , well . But while money is made the test of admission to tho army ; while the hands of officers are prevented from defending their own personal inviolability by puritanical rules against duelling ; and while tho post of officer is a close place , tho property of tho purchaser—there must continue a rottenness in our army calculated to render it inefficient before tho enemy .

      386 The Leadeb,, . ' , [Saturdat^

      386 THE LEADEB ,, . ' , [ Saturdat ^

      Soitmw Pnoi»Ui..8ion.—A Committee Lias B...

      Soitmw Pnoi » ui .. 8 iON . —A committee lias boon formed for presenting some . testimonial to Mr . Francis l ' ottit Smith , tho inventor , or at any rate tho groat improver , of tho screw-propeller . Wo understand that Mr . Smith hns received no public acknowledgment or pecuniary roward of hia sorvicos . The committee ; we trust , will moot with the succoas it deserves .

      Imperial Parliament . The'vienna Confere...

      IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT . THE'VIENNA CONFERENCES . Lv reply tona question from Mr . Bright , on Monday touching ; the termination of tlje Vienna Conferences ' Lord FAiiXEBjaafoir said : — " The question ) which the hon . member has put is oi snch goeafcHnportance that I cannot shrink from giving the House , aad the country some explanation . What naagr Be the . tfiae at which her Majesty ' s government may think fit tb give a mow detailed explanation , I am not at present iar a condition' to state . But it is well known to the House that the English and French Governments , in concert -with the Government of Austria

      had . determined that the proper development of the Third Point , which regarded the treaties of 1840 and 1841 in respect to the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorns , required , amongst other things , that the jjrepon derance of Russia in the Black Sea should henceforth cease . That principle was laid down by England aad France , and was agreed to by Austria , and it was a principle which , in the abstract , was accepted by the Russian plenipotentiary . On Thursday last , the plenipotentiaries of England , France / Austria , Turkey , and Russia , met to consider this point . The pleni potentiaries of England * France , Austria , and Turkey proposed , as the mode of carrying out this principle , -which had been admitted and accepted by Russia , either that the amount of the Russian naval force in the Black Sea should

      henceforth be limited by-treaty , or that the Black Sea should be declared neutral ground entirely , -whereby all ships of war would be excluded from that sea , so that it would bo a sea for commerce only in future . The Russian plenipotentiary required forty-eight hours to take that proposition into consideration . These fortyeight hours having elapsed on Saturday , another conference was held on that day , and there the Russian plenipotentiary absolutely refused to accept either of those alternatives thus pressed unanimously by the representatives of the other four powers . Thereupon the conference was adjourned sine die , and my noble friend and M . DrOuyn de Lhuys , the ministers of England and France , were to take their departure from Vienna in the course of the present day . "

      Sir H . Wujlqughby — " Was any counter-proposition made by Russia ?" Lord Palmerston— " Bussia made no counterproposition whatever . " In the House of Lords , on Tuesday , the Earl of Mai / mesbuby asked certain questions with regard to the debates in the Congress , and the attitude assumed by Russia . He likewise desired to know whether it is now intended that Prussia shall be one

      of tlieprotectihgpowers' over the principalities ; and also what the Government consider to bo the objects of the war , and a fitting equivalent for the expenditure of so much blood and treasure . Lord Malmesbury expressed his opinion that , if Russia had acceded to the proposal for limiting her ships in the Black Sea , she would not have held to the treaty any more than she has held to that for opening the mouths of the Danube . The Earl of Ci * ARiiNi > ON replied : —

      " My noble friend is right in his assumption that to the First and Second Points Russia acceded , and that they were finally determined . When tho Third Point came under discussion , the representatives of the allied Powers , in order to prove that they had no with to humiliate Russia , but , on tho contrary , desired to consult her dignity , proposed to the Russian representatives themselves to take the initiative as to the means by which they would give effect to tho principle of that proposition . Tho Russian plenipotentiaries nelmowlegcd the courtesy of tho proceeding , but asked for time to refer to their Government . That time was given ; but in the

      meanwhile , and for obvious reasons , wo declined to go on with tho discussion of the Fourth Point . The answer from St . Petersburg arrived , and it was that tho Russian Government had no proposition to make . . . J' <» rd John Russell left Vienna on Monday . With respect to tho position which Prussia has occupied in tho course of thoao negotiations , I can only any that the position which

      she has occupied , and which she continues to occupy , e ntirely excluded her from tho Conference , anil therefore from all tho arrangements that might have been mndc . Regarding tho consequences that might bo oxnectc-d from tho limitation of tho n-Mver of Russia in tho Iil «« k Sun , and tho manner in which Russia would be bound ly Btipulations , I think that at this moment it would not W convenient to refer to them till your lordships aw fully

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1855, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041855/page/2/