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Leader (1850-1860), 15th March 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 245, Untitled Article

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      tions which . lie has this night scattered with so much recklessness about him . " Admiral Berkblet , in opposing the motion , imputed to Sir Charles Rapier mismanagement at Acre , the credit of the victory afc which place he said was due to Sir Kobert Stopford . Sir Charles was a man of ungovernable temper , and therefore unfit to govern others ; and his plea that he wanted proper charts , and other information with respect to the Baltic , was preposterous , as his successor had used the same charts , and the Baltic had been much more traversed and was less dangerous than the Black Sea , though

      the ^ commander there did not mate complaints of peril , which showed the difference between the strength of his nerves and those of Sir Charles . It had transpired , from the correspondence that had taken place , that the hon . and gallant Admiral had every disinclination to enter the Gulf of Finland , and that , when in , lie had every disposition to get out again as fast as possible . In fact , he was heard to say , with more force and truth than dignity or self-possession , "What ad old fool I was to come into this infernal hole ? If ever I get out you shall never catch me here again . " ( Great laughter . )

      Captain Sc obeli , Mr . Muntz , and Mr . Maliits , spoke in favour of Sir Charles Napier ; Mr . Behnal Osbouhe defended the Admiralty ; and Sir Charles 2 Tapiek , feeling satisfied that the country would see that he had been unfairly used , withdrew his motion . He defended Ms conducb at Acre , and , in replying to James Grahani , observed : — - " The light hon . baronet had said that if he ( Sir Charles ) had reconnoitered Sweaborg in May , all the appliances could have been sent out to him in time to attack Sweaborg that

      summer ; but how could he Iia , ve done this when he was not at Hango till the 2 nd of June ? Sir James Gxaham charged him with being unwilling to enter the Gulf , of Finland , but how could this be so when , although with twelve sail of-the line under his command , he only went in with seven ships in order to tempt the Russians out to fight him ? On the 30 fch of May , when , it was said thai ; he had shown unwillingness to attack Sweaborg , lie had never even seen the place , and all lie knew of it -was from a plan which he had obtained from a Swedish officeir of engineers . "

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      As the first result of the armistice , a line of neutral ground , limited by the Tchernaya , has been traced between the Allies and the Russian army . Typhus has burst forth among the latter , and Count Pahlen has oeen carried off ; but the English troops are singularly healthy . An order to suspend hostilities has been forwarded to Omar Pacha and Selim Paeha . Omar Pacba has arrived at Trebizond , on his way to Constantinople , to give an account of his conduct . The Allies are constructing wooden huts on both banks of the Bosphorus for their troops , and English engineers are laying- out a camp ou the Asiatic coast . Th e Presse 5 ' Orient publishes a letter from Tiflis of the 17 th nit ., announcing that seventeen Turkish Generals had been sent to Moscow . The English Government has resolved to reinforce by several ships of the line the blockading squadron at Kiel , limited at first to two frigates and four corvettes . These letters state that several liners ; which are to be placed under Commodore Watson ' s orders , are daily expected at Kiel .

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      - WAR MISCELLANEA . Gbherai . Codbingtok reviewed forty-six battalions on the 24 tlv ult , on Telegraph Hill overlooking the valley of the Tcher naya- Marshal PelisBier was present , and expressed himself in terms of great compliment on the appearance of the English troops , who looked in magnificent ordor . The day was extremel y cold . * * GENERAL : Williams is said to be convalescent . A Shot at the Press , —A general Order , dated February 25 th , says : — "The notice of the Commander of the Forces has been brought to the publication in a newspaper , by a . correspondent a , t Kevtob , pf minute details of Hues and works , strength of garrisons , and various military arrangements—all , however old and mcorreot they may be . published for our enemies , under

      steamers Samson , Pylades , Falcon , and Harrier , left Elsinore last Saturday r proceeded to the southward . Heai / fh of the Army . —The extraordinarily good health of the army is mentioned by Dr . Hall in his report , dated February 26 th , in which he records that " no death from disease has occurred during the week . I believe one or two deaths from accidents took place out of hospital ; but for an army of this strength on service in the field , to have lost no man by disease for a whole week , is a remarkable circumstance : and when it is taken into consideration that only fourteen men have died in three ¦ weeks , little need be said

      about the character of the diseases that have been prevalent in camp : and , as the ratio of sick to well is only four-and-a-quarter per cent ., the sanitary condition of the army may fairly , I think , be pronounced satisfactory . In the Third Division in camp , no man has died for twenty-eight days , out of a strength of 6 , 450 ; and in the Light Division no death has occurred for a fortnight , out of a strength of 6 , 460 . This favourable state of things does not , I am sorry to say , apply to the Land Transport , in which there is still a considerable amount of sickness amongst the young lads who have been sent out of late . "

      English Tbadeks with Russia .--We read in the Prussian correspondence of the Times : —^ A letter I have lately received from Hamburg informs me that , some few weeks back , our representative there , Colonel Hodges , was led to make various representations to the Senate of the quantities of ammunition that left that neutral port for Russia * . In the course of the examination that these reclamations gave rise to , I am informed it turned out that these supplies had in most , instances been shipped thither from . England for that purpose . For instance , two houses in England lad shipped to Hamburg two cargoes of lead , three of saltpetre , and eleven of sulphur . The parties implicated in the affair are described to me as standing very high in England , and among them a Member of Parliament . "

      the supposition that such thiuga are nocessary for the interest or amusement of the people of England . The people uf England have more oommon sense . They do not want to « eo tho interests of the army betrayed by tho thoughtlosa nativity of a correspondent , or by the wish of any ono else to boo himself in print . Tho Commander of tho Forces has referred General Vivian to tho details published from the district lie commands , H « authorises him to arrest tho individual nnd send him away At oxioe , unless he has reason to believe that such folly will not be repeated . " The Ba . wio . —Tho news that RueWa ships of war had issued forth from Sweaborg ia formally contradicted by an interchange of electric despatches between Berlin and St . Petersburg . Tho EngliaU

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      THE PEACE . The reported admission of Prussia to the Conferences— -a report which Lord Palmerston , " in his place , " will neither admit nor deny ^—is almost'the only fact connected with the Peace Parliament that has reached us this week . It is supposed to betoken the near approach of peace ; for Prussia , it is thought , would surely not be allowed to discuss , but only to sign . Prince Gortschakoff is going to St . Petersburg to take part in the deliberations relative to the diplomatic attitude to "be taken by Russia after the conclusion of peace . M . de Titoff , Russian Ambassador at Stuttgart ; , is summoned to St . Petersburg for the same purpose .

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      DINNER AT THEE MANSION" HOUSE TO THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR . The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress , being desirousto pay a mark of respect to Mr . Buchanan previous to his departure for his native country , entertained him afc the Mansion House on Tuesday . Several members of Parliament and persons of high standing were present , After & complimentary speech from the Lord Mayor , Mr . Buchanan said : — "My Loi'd Mayor , ladies and gentlemen ,- ^—I receive with profound and grateful feelings this testimonial from the present company of the regard in which they hold my country , for I do not attrib ute it to myself . I can say , however , in all truth and sincerity , that I shall ever pi'eserve a

      grateful memory of the kindness which I have invariably received in England . I have yet to meet the English gentleman who has not treated me as if I had been a countryman of his own . ( Cheers . ) I say nothing of the ladies , because I ought not to speak of them , although they are the fairest part of the creation . I shall carry home with me every sort of grateful feeling towards the people of this country , among whom I have never felt myself a sti * anger . Speaking the same language , having read the same books , having had intercourse with a kindred free people , I have always spoken my sentiments freely aud respectfully in eveiy society in which I have boon ; I have invariably found that an English gentleman treated me kindly , and if we differed in opinion

      e ither , it ought to be considered ablessing to mankind that , they should have the opportunity of extending their freedom and liberal institutions over all the unsettled parts of the earth . ( Cheers . ) I am sorry to say that , with all these feelings and sentiments from the first separation of the two countries , there has unfertunaty always been a group of unsettled questions . There is a cloud now impending over their relations ; but I trust in God , and I believe , that that cloud will be speedily dissipated , and that the sunshine of

      peace and friendship will become more and more bright between the two countries until all the dissensions which ever existed between them shall have passed away , and shall only live in history as a record of the folly of two peoples who could for a moment suppose it possible to engage in a fratricidal -war . ( Loud cheers . ) I thank you again for tie cordial manner in which you have responded to the proposal my health , and I beg to assure you that I shall ever regard my residence in England as one of the bright periods of my life . " ( Cheers ?)

      we have had a fair argument , and wo have always parted in peace and friendship . With regard to tho two countries , what a dreadful misfortune it would be to tho whole human race if they should over again bo involved in war ! ( Hear , hear . ) How it would injure and throw back the cause of civilisation and of human liberty ! ( Hear , Jiear . ) How it would delight the despots of the earth to find these two nations destroyiixg theuaBolveu , and in that way destroying every ttoped-fo » progress to mankind I ( OlwcrsA I hold that thoro can bo no political slavery whoro the English language is tho language of tho country . ( Itenewecl c ? ieer « J It is impossible ; and ao far from there being any jealousy , bo far from its being proper that thoro should bo any jealousy in cither country as to the lionest and fair extension of tho frontiers of

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      THE LITERARY FUND . The annual general meeting of the Corporation of the Literary Fund was held on Wednesday , at the house of the Society , Great Russell-street , Bloomsbury , Mr . Benjamin Bond Cabbell , M . P ., in the chair . A large number of literary men attended . Mr . C . W . Dilke moved— " That , whereas during the eleven , years , from 1844 to 1854 , both inclusivej the-cost off assisting 47 * 7 applicants to the Literary Fund amounted to £ 5 , 60113 s . 7 d . ( exclusive of collector ' s poundage , advertisements , and expenses attending the anniversary dinner ) ; and whereas the cosi ? of assisting 624 applicants io the -Artists' General Benevolent Fund , within the same eleven years , amounted to £ 994 : 4 s . lOd . ( also exclusive of collector ' s poundage , advertisements , and expenses attending the anniversary dinnei ) ; this

      meeting is of opinion that the expenses of managing the Literary Fund are unreasonable , and that a great change must be made in the administration of its affairs . " Mr . Dilke enlarged on these facts , and . quoted some others of a similar tendency , coupling his statements with the expression of a hope that ihe members of the general committee , whose conduct was called in question , would exercise a little delicacy and refrain from voting on this occasion- Ahsurdas the charter was in many respects by which the Society was incorporated , it never could have been meant that the managing committee should meet for the purpose of approving their own conduct . —The motion was seconded by Mr . Bryan Waller Proctor ( the well-known " Barry Cornwall" ) , and was opposed by Mr . Robert Bell , who said that Mr . Dilke ' s proposal to exclude the members of the Committee was more

      novel than just . He contended that there was an essential difference between the Artists' Fund and the Literary Fund , inasmuch as artists are better known than literary men , and consequently their claims do not require to be investigated with that careful precision which is necessary in the case of authors . Moreover , the assisting 477 applicants to the Literary Fund , from 1844 to 1854 inclusive , did not represent the amount of business which had been transacted by the executive committee in that interval , for they had , in point of fact , in those eleven years investigated and decided < 588 applications . The amount of business devolving on the Literary Fund , Mr . Bell

      contended , was ten times larger than that transacted by the Artists' Fund . Mr . Dickens said he gathered from Mr . Bell ' s address that the committee found themselves in the painful condition of not expending enough in the o 4-muaistration of this fund , and would speedily apply themselves to the task of expending more , ( fro , noj ) In regard to the house , it was a matter bey ond all doubt that the fund subscribed with reference to a house was to be applied to a use to which the house in which the corporation was now located had never to

      yet been applied . ( Hear , hear . ) With roopedt Mr . Bell ' s endeavour to remove the Artists' Fund from the ground of analogy which it unquestionably occupied in reference to this fund by reason of their continually relieving the eame person , he begged to say that Mr . Boll knew perfectly well , as he , ( Mr . Diokena ) know perfeotly well , that it was tho business of this fund ,, over and ov « r again , to relievo the same person . ( Hear , 7 iear . ) He had in hit ) hand the repor t for 1855 , and ho found that , out of forty-eight cases , thirty were coses whioh had been relieved from time to time over and over again .

      [ Mr . Bell : " In every ease of a second relief the case is a second time investigated . " ] He ( Mr . Dickens ) could only oppose to that assertion hia own experience when ho was a member of tho committee . He had again and again known persons relieved on their re nowed applications , without further inquiry . ( Hear , hnwr . ) Ho would separate the question from its do tailfj . It seemed to bo regarded , by tho committee ai rather a model sort of thing than otherwise that the } uliould expend £ i 0 of other people ' s money in givinj away £ 100 . In case thoro should bo ony ill-condl tioned spirits present who might bo diupoeed to aa ] what the principle waa that could necessitate- tha

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      March 15 , 1856 Q THE LEADER . 245

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      THE WAR .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1856, page 245, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2132/page/5/