ich he had witnessed in the
Hospitals at Scutari and Sebastopol, while he gave due praise to the
conduct of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge toward the men
under his command, and related the cheering effect produced by your
Majesty's kind letter, when read by him to the invalids in Hospital.
He was followed by Mr Bernal Osborne,[12] who found fault with all
the military arrangements at home, and with the system under which
Commissions in the Army are bought and sold, but who declared that he
should vote against the Motion.
Mr Henley then supported the Motion, directing his attack chiefly
against the management of the Transport Service.
Admiral Berkeley,[13] in reply, defended the conduct of the Admiralty.
Major Beresford supported the Motion, but defended Lord Raglan against
the attacks of the newspapers. Mr. Rice, Member for Dover, opposed the
Motion. Mr Miles[14] found fault with the Commissariat, and supported
the Motion, saying that the proposed enquiry would apply a remedy to
the evils acknowledged to exist in the Army in the Crimea; and Sir
Francis Baring, after ably pointing out the inconveniences of the
proposed Committee, said he should vote against it, as tending to
prevent those evils from being remedied. Mr Rich criticised the
composition of the Ministry, and the conduct of the war, and supported
the Motion as a means of satisfying public opinion. Sir Edward Lytton
Bulwer supported the Motion in a speech of considerable ability, and
was replied to by Mr Gladstone in a masterly speech, which exhausted
the subject, and would have convinced hearers who had not made up
their minds beforehand.
He was followed by Mr Disraeli, who in the course of his speech made
use of some expressions in regard to Lord John Russell, which drew
from Lord John some short explanations as to the course which he
had pursued. Viscount Palmerston then made some observations on
the Motion, and, after a few words from Mr Muntz,[15] Mr Thomas
Duncombe[16] asked Mr Roebuck whether, if he carried his Motion,
he really meant to name and appoint the Committee and prosecute the
enquiry, saying that he hoped and trusted that such was Mr Roebuck's
intention. Mr Roebuck declared that he fully meant to do so, and after
a short speech from Mr Roebuck, who lost the thread of his argument in
one part of what he said, the House proceeded to a division.
The Conservative Party abstained, by order from their Chiefs, from
giving the cheer
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