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Leader (1850-1860), 10th March 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 223, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      The Belgian ministry has resigned in consequence of the ; Chamber hating-votedj-onseveral occasions , " against the Minister of the Interior . # A letter received in Marseilles from Corsica confirms aprevious report that the French frigate Semillante , having on board" four hundred troops and military fltores for tne Crimea , had been totally lost on the rocks called the Islands of Lavezzi and Cavallo , during a storm on the 16 th ult . The lights in the lighthouse had been blown out , and the night was so dark that it was impossible to see anything ahead . The crew , it is said , -consisted of five hundred men , and all were lost . Report affirms that the vessel was not seaworthy , and-that the captain ' s remonstrances had been disregarded .

      From Denmark we receive intelligence that the King has been confined to his bed for a week by a severe cold and cough , accompanied by slight fever ; and that the Volksthing has-resolved to impeach the late Ministers of War , -Marine , and Finance . The shock of an earthquake has been felt at Constantinople . Broussa has been almost destroyed by an earthquake , and two thousand lives are said to have been lost . The Empress of Austria has been delivered of a Princess ; and a general amnesty for political offences is decreed in consequence .

      Mdlle . Doudet , a French governess , has been recently acquitted , at the Court of Assizes of the Seine , on a charge of causing the death of two English children , daughters of Dr . Marsden , by excessive ill-usage . One of the witnesses for the defence-said that \ Mdlle . Doudet had formerly been in the service of Queen Victoria ; and added the remarkable fact that her Majesty , since the commencement of the proceedings , had directed her Secretary to communicate with the French authorities , and « xpress her'high sense of the merits of 'the accused . All Paris on Tuesday last was full of the rumour-of barricades at St . 'Petersburg . The party of Constantine had attacked and beaten the party of Alexander , &c .

      A man was condemned the other day in one of the French provinces to fine and imprisonment , for sitting drinking beer with his hat on during the passage of the Host . There is no law to this effect : but the judge , in-• cited by the clergy , decided that " the presence of the religious procession temporarily changed the street into a church , and punished him as if he bad been guilty of profaning a place of public worship . " Such acts of violence and injustice-will certainly hasten on the terrible reaction that is preparing . The Church will repent this straining of its powers , and the Government is very imprudent that permits it . The veteran and universally respected republican , M . Duppnt ( de l'Euro ) , has recently died at "his estate at Rougeperrier . Piedmon

      A despatch from Turin announces that the - teee Government had published a species of manifesto , in reply to M . Nesselrode ' s circular declaring war . against Piedmont . Reported Death ok the Gband Duke Michael . — . News has been transmitted to Vienna from Varna that the Grand Duke Michael , brother of the new-Czar , has been killed before Sebastopol . Phench Foreign'Enlistment . —The Lausanne Gazette statesi "that" the" second Foreign-Legion ,- in : the service of France , had already its full complement of men , double the number required having presented themselves to enlist . Among the officers are several belonging to the most distinguished families . Lord John Russell reached Vienna on Sunday , -and has had an audience with the Emperor . He was present on Wednesday at the christening of the young princess .

      Untitled Article

      STATE OF THE KAFIR FRONTIER . ' . The latest arrivals from the Cape of Good Hope , speak of the alarmed state of the Kafir frontier . ! Early in December . a rumour flew along the-aettlements to the effect-that Anta , a noted Kafir chief . had entered the forbidden region of the Amatalos , and wer " that was inevitable . " The magistrates instantly gave the field-cornets notice to hold their men in readiness to take the field . It was harvest time . Ripo and heavy crops covered the ground ; nnd scores of frightened farmers left them behind , and

      hurried to tire "posts for shelter . Nevertheless , it turned out that the rumour vras nearly groundless . Minute Bearch made by the military brought to light not a trnce of a single -Kafir beyond the frontier , The British commissioner , Colonel Maclean , ¦ writing on the 20 th of December , reports that Anta Smd presented himself to him at Fort Murray , and denied having entered the Amatalos at all . The origin of-the rumour w »» a petty quarrel , on the extreme boundary , between a couple of settlers -and half a dozen Kafirs .

      Untitled Article

      BiEJLGIAN POLITICS . ( JFYom a Correspondent . * ) Brussels , March 6 . Or / n 'Ministry h , as just resigned . Wo nro in the midst - 6 f a crisis , a sort of parody of the comedy 1 ately played in . England . ' The apparent motives of the retreat of the lato Cabinet are of secondary importance , but from the- crisis there may spring com

      plications which would throw us into serious difficulties . The two parties which dispute power , and which represent the two great sections of the country , the Liberals and the Catholics , diff er not only on questions of administrative interest , but on questions of principle , in which are involved ^ the most serious interests of . the country . The great question of the moment is , whether we shall abandon that neutrality which forms one of the principal bases of our political existence . The Catholic party is favourable to the Western Alliance . One of its most influential organs , the

      Emancipation , edited by a member of the Chamber of Representatives , has been for some time urging the country to declare itself against Russia , and suggests the promise of an extension of boundaries on the Prussian frontier in support of its policy . This journal is tinder the political and financial patronage of the Prince de Chimay , who plays just now the part of an ambassadeur marron , unaccredited to the Court of the Tuileries , but its articles find little response in the country . All the liberal journals have protested , and the Minister of Foreign Affairs himse has replied in the Chamber in -very energetic terms to the Catholic journal .

      The late Cabinet was by no means favourable to the alliance , and on that Bubject it was even , I believe , at issue with the Chief of the State . So long ago as the visit of the King to the French Emperor at Calais and Boulogne , rumours of alliance got abroad , and the Ministry made a Cabinet question of the King ' s journey . They all resigned , and only resumed office provisionally . It seems probable that only three of the late Min istry will definitively retire : MM . Liedts , Faider , and Tieriot . The position of the last-named was no longer tenable . Burgomaster of Liege-T-the most liberal town in Belgium—he had been forced to compromise his principles by proposing to the Chamber a convention , which admits

      the authority of the Catholic clergy in the national education . This concession , extorted by the clerical party , deprived him at once and entirely of the sympathy o the Chamber , exposed him to the reproaches o his oldest and best friends , and to difficulties-and obstacles even within his own administration . He is now driven into private life , where no regrets follow him . M . Faider , Minister o Justice , has not recovered from the law which , under the pressure of-the Government -of France * be had the weakness to propose two years since for restraining that liberty . of the press which Belgium holds so dear . Since then , all the most advanced members of the

      Right , MM . de Perceval and Verhaegen among others , have pursued him with reproaches . Perhaps he too retires in disgust . M . Liedts only entered the Cabinet as a provisional Minister , and has always sought an . opportunity to resign . These three Ministers will . go , the others remain . But as the Chamber has to vote measures for the national defence , it must be soon convoked , the Cabinet , excepting M . Tieriot , retaining its functions ad interim . These details are of little importance as yet , but it is right you should be accurately informedof them , ^ asthey may lead to eventualities of European consequence .

      On a recent occasion , . Lord Derby took the liberty in theHouse o Lords to indulge in jokes , as imprudent as they were false , upon the bravery of our army . Public opinion here has been very indignant at the insult , and a General Officer , M . Renard , has published a series of letters in reply to Lord Derby ' s attack . He proves from history . that England was mainly indebted to the Belgian army for the -victory . at Waterloo . These letters ,

      republishcd-in the form of a brochure , have been received with immense favour throughout the country . The Senate and the Chamber have voted thanks to the writer , and a sword is to be presented to him . Lord Derby was treated with great severity by our parliamentary speakers . Public opinion is incensed against England , because not a single speaker rose to protest against the imputations of Lord Derby . It is not thus that international friendships are established . F .

      Untitled Article

      THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE . The inquiry into the state of the British army before Sebastopol commenced on Monday moraing . at one o ' clock . The committee consisted of Mr , Roebuck , chairman ; Lord Seymour , Mr . J . Ball , Mr . Bramston , Mr . Drummond , Mr . Ellice , Mr . Layard , Colonel Lindsay , Sir John Pakington , Sir John Hanmer , and General Peel . Mr ., George Dundas , M . P . for Linlithgowshire , was the first witness . He said that in December last he went to the Crimea , and made a practice of constantly riding up to the oamp at Balaklava . The state of the horses in the cavalry camp was very bad . They were standing on their pickets , quite unprotected from the weather , and had very littjo to eat . Many of the horses had died recently , and when ho first visited the place their bodies were lying on the ground . Almost every other horse was on the ground . A considerable quantity of bran , in bag

      was lying on the shore o Balaklava , arid a barge quantity of hay was floating about the harbour , or washed upon the beach ; but this might have coxae from the wreck of the 14 th , andmight ndt be chargeable to the authorities .- The men'were in a state < bf dirt , rags , and misery . He had seen men bind sandbags round their legs to protect themselves om the mud and cold .- He had heard from several officers that the rations were very indifferent . On the 3 rd of December they had no provisions at all , on account of the inefficient state of the road . Half rations were

      very common , and the arrears were never made up . If the men had half a meal to-day and had full rations to-morrow , the arrears were not made up on the morrow . He also understood from officers , that the quality or nature of the rations given were not such as to keep the soldiers in heart . The men were very badly shod , the soles of their shoes were frequently parted from the upper leathers ; and it was impossible it should be otherwise , for the men Were out at night in the trenches in the wet , aud they had no facility for changing or drying their shoes . As to their housing , they were in tents . All the fuel they could get was grubbed-up roots from a species of underwood in the neighbourhood of the camp , while

      there was great labour to get at it . Tfwas damp , and made very bad fuel . There was no regular supply of fuel . There was a little supply of charcoal , and in small quantities . There was abundance of fuel near the harbour . He had never seen any fodder piled up for the artillery or aavalry . Was not aware that there was a depot at Constantinople . A large quantity of grain was shipped in this country in the month of May ; and it was only by strong representations as late as December that the captain could get it removed from his ship to Balaklava . The roads were very bad—in some places up to the knees in mud . Balaklava was full of water , and dirty . The English burying-ground was full t ) f graves ,

      which immediately filled with water . He remembered seeing a cart carrying ten bodies from the hospital ; they were probably all put into one hole The graves could not have bee n more than three fe et deep . The Turkish burying-ground was above the town on the slope of _ the hill ; and its effects in hot weather will be very deleterious . No attempts were made to construct a landing-place ; no order was given for a pier . The hospital at Balaklava was in good condition . There was a great want of medicine in the camp ; and there were no beds or stretchers there . The officers , being men of f ortune , were more comfortably off than the privates .. He tinderstood

      that the difficulty in obtaining forage-was the procuring the signed receipts . The French horse 3 generally were in better condition than ours . He had heard that the process of cooking the food wa 3 impeded by the want of fuel . He was told on good authority that the deaths in the camp were about 100 a day ; but perhaps that was rather over the mark . He remembered seeing on one day 600 sick brought down from the lines in French ambulances . He frequently saw that the men were reduced to eating their rations raw , in consequence of the want of fuel . The coffee was . distributed ^ green , and the men had no means either to roast or grind it .

      General Sir De Lacy Evans was next examined by the chairman . Inanswer to a question as to the preparations at Varna for the reception of the soldiers , he said there was wherewithal to eat , and he saw no pressing necessity . There was a great deal of difficulty in providing good sites for the encampment of troops in the neighbourhood of places where there was an ill supply of water . About a month before the army started for the Crimea the cholera which consisted of

      broke out ; but o his division , six thousand men , only sixty died . The sickness perhaps arose from depression at having been kept so long inactive . He arrived at Eupatoria on the l ? th or 13 th of September . After the second day of disembarkation he found the French had disembarked with small tents , and it was found desirable to have the tents brought on shore , and they received them . They were then authorised to send down two miles and a half to the bench for the tents : but it

      was then found that the means of transport did not exist , and an order was given to send them back to Eupatoria , and the tents were returned on the morning of the march to Alma . They were put to great inconvenience the first night from the rain . The battle of the Alma took place on the- 20 th . TUey moved on the morning of the 17 th or 18 tb , and between the 13 th and 20 th they were without tent * Ar ^ X ^^ Mti £ ^ i ^^ zTuXf ^ B

      believed all the men who could bo eparea were em-«? oved in the trenches . The aoldicrs suffered much who were under his command . They at first-were Jill whTlo the weather wns dry ; but after the ramy weather set in ho was « orry to nay they Buffered aeverely . Was not aware that anv firewood was nerved to the troops ; they heard of charcoal ; they

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1855, page 223, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2081/page/7/