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Leader (1850-1860), 10th March 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 7

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      The Times Paris Correspondent Says That ...

      Tfie Belgian ? Ministry has resigned m consequence of tfce CttmabeT lucvmg voted ^ aw several occasions * against are HBnrate * of « te Interier . , . A fetjer received in Marseilles from Corsica- confirms A prevfcw ** mpert that the Frenen frigate Semillante , Having onbea * d < four honored troops and military stores ifbr the Crimea , Had been totalfy lost on the rocks called the Islands of Lavezzi and Cavallo , during a storm on the 16 th tilt . The lights in the lighthouse had been -blown out , and the night was sa dark that it was impossible to see anything afcead . 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 Yolksthing has resolved to impeach the late Ministers of Wax , 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 I > r 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 express her high sense of the merits of the accused . All Paris on Tuesday last was full of the rumour of barricadesrat St . Petersburg . The party of Gonstantine had attacked and beaten the party of Alexander , & c .

      A man was condemned the other day in one of the Erench 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 , incited by the clergy , decided that " the presence of the religious procession temporarily changed the street into a church , and punished him as if he had 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 atraining of its powers , and the Government is very imprudent thaffpermits iET The veteran and universally respected republican , M . Pupont ( de TEure ) , has recently died at his estate at Bougeperrier .

      A despatch-from * Turin , announces that the Piedmoritese Government had published a species of manifesto , in reply to M . Nesselrode ' s circular declaring , war against Piedmont . Reported Death of the Grand 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 . Frexcii Foreign Enlistment . —The Lausanne Gazette states that the second Foreign Legion , in the service of France , had already its full complement of men , doublethenumber 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 .

      Iftttotclft. 195-5.] Fle-Llablb.. 23s

      iftttOTClft . 195-5 . ] flE-LlABlB .. 23 S

      State Of The Kafir Frontier. The Latest ...

      STATE OF THE KAFIR FRONTIER . The latest arrivals from the Gapes of Good Hope apeak of the alarmed state of the Kafir frontier . Early in December a rumour flew along the settlements 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 : Ripe and heavy crops covered the ground ; nnd scores of frightened farmers left them behind , and

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

      Belgian Politics. (From A Correspondent....

      BELGIAN POLITICS . ( From a Correspondent . ') Brussels , March 6 . Ocm Ministry has just resigned . We are in the midst . of a crisis * a sort of parody of the pomedy lately played 1 in England . The apparent motives of the retreat of the late Cabinet are of secondary importance , but from , the crisis there may spring

      complications -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 , differ 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 under the political and financial patronage of the Prince de Chimay , who plays just now the part of an a mbassadeur marron , unaccredited to the Court of the Tuileries , but its articles find little response in the country . AH the liberal journals have protested , and the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself 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 subject 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 Ministry will definitively retire : MM . Liedts , Faider , and Tieriot . The position of the last-named was no longer tenable . Burgomaster of Liege—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 of the Chamber , exposed him to the reproaches of 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 r Minister of -Justice , has not recovered from the law which , under the pressure of the Government of France , he 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 au 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 informed of them , as they may lead to eventualities of European consequence .

      "Oh a' recent occasion , Lord"Derby took the liberty in the House of 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 , lias 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 , republished 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 arc established . F .

      The Sebastopol Committee. Tjhb Inquiry I...

      THE SEBASTOPOL COMMITTEE . Tjhb inquiry into the state of the British army before Sebastopol commenced on Monday morning at one o ' clock . The committee consisted of Mr . Hocbuck , chairman ; Lord Seymour , Mr . J . Bull , Mr . Bramston , Mr . Drunimond , 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 Crimoa , and made a practice of constantly riding 1 up to .. the camp at Balaklnva . 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 vory little to eat . Many of the horses had died recently , and when ho first vi 9 ited 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 of Balaklava , and' a large quantity of hay was floating about the Harbour , or washed upon the beach ; but this might have come from the wreck of the 14 th , and might not ? be chargeable to the authorities . The men were in a state of dirt , rags , and misery . He had seen men bind sandbags round their legs ' to protect themselves frprn tfie 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 , and they had no facility for changing or drying their shoes . As to their housing , they were in tents . AU 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 . It . was 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 cavalry . 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 t ! ie knees in mud . Balaklava was full of water , aad dirty . The English burying-ground was full of grave ? ,

      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 been more than three feet 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 irr ~ good condition . There was a great wantrof medicine in the camp ; and there were no beds or stretchers there . The officers , being men of fortune , were more comfortably off than the privates . He understood

      that the difficulty in obtaining forage was the procuring the signed receipts . The French horses generally were in better condition than oars . He had heard that the process of cooking the food was 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 nVark . He remembered seeing on one day GOO 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 mean 3 either to roast or grind it .

      -General-Sir -De Lacy-Evans -was- -next , examined by the chairman . In answer 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 choler . i broke out ; but of his division ,, which consisted of six thousand men , only sixty died . The sickness perhaps arose fr om depression at having been kept so long inactive . Ho arrived at Eupatoria on the 12 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 beach for the tents ; but it was then found that the means of transport did not exist , and nn 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 togrent inconvenience the first ni tf ht from the rain . Iho battle of the Alma took place on the 20 th . Iliey moved on the morning of the 17 th or 18 th , and between the 18 th and 20 th they were without tents , 30 th

      and they remained so till the following 29 th or of the month . The road from the harbour ofBitit-Uluva was dreadfully wet . Ho thought that if 1000 men had been employed upon it for ton days they would have rendered it practicable ; and ho did . not know why they should not bo so employed ; but he believed all the men who could be spared won * employed in the trenches . The soldiers sufteredI much who wcro under his command . They nt first wore well while the weather was dry ; but after the rainy weather set in ho was sorry to sny they Buffered severely . Was not aware thab any firewood was served to the troopsj they heard of charcoal ; they

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1855, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10031855/page/7/