"too small." He expressed a high opinion of Admiral
Boxer and Captain Christie. Mr. Roebuck put this
question—"I want to know whether, if sufficient
precaution had been taken, you could not have had a
sufficient supply of coals? Was there not a want of
providence in this matter? "The witness quickly answered,
"No; it was Providence that prevented the wind from
blowing in the direction to enable the vessels to bring
up the coals . . . . . Not twenty steam–tugs would have
sufficed." In reply to another question, from Sir John
Hanmer, "Did the ships sunk by the Russians at the
entrance of Sebastopol materially strengthen it against
the sea attack?" he replied, "No, not at all; the fleet
could never have entered the harbour of Sebastopol,
unless the army had got there before it." In parts of
his evidence, as that relating to the blockade, and the
propriety of the expedition to the Crimea, he was
stopped, because it involved statements respecting the
French.

Lord Hardinge was examined on Friday, the 10th.
After speaking of some details connected with the
administration of the Ordnance, and the supply of artillery
to the Crimea, he said: The state of our artillery is
as near perfection as possible, and had created the
admiration of the French. The army in the Crimea are
armed with the Minié rifle—in general one-half with
the rifle of the pattern of 1851, and the other half with
Mr. Prince's rifle of 1853. They were at the present
time receiving 4000 a month, and in a very short time
the entire army would be in possession of the Minié
rifle of 1853. These rifles were obtained from Liege,
the United States, and Birmingham. The Guards were
at first sent out with the common musket, but at
Balaklava they were changed for the Minié rifle. The
country was far better prepared now for hostilities than
ever it was—both in a military and naval point of view.
During the peace large additions had been made both in
the naval and military departments of the country. The
pattern adopted for the Minié rifle in 1853 was far better
than that of 1851, because it fired more accurately, and
gave a more distinct sound, and it could be heard
whether a soldier was firing or being fired at with a
Minié rifle or a musket. Mr. Prince was the inventor
of the pattern of 1853. The supply, however, was not
so rapid as it would have been, owing to the Russians
being the first in the Belgian and American markets,
and buying them up. On the duties of the military
departments he stated as follows:—The board of
ordnance was one of great difficulty and great responsibility,
and he did not think the department could go on well
in the absence of the master-general. The secretary–
at–war had unlimited power and control over the Horse
Guards; if the secretary–at–war had nominated any
person to fill up any office or command, if the party was
not inefficient, he should feel it his duty to adopt the
recommendation. The commander–in–chief is responsible
for the organisation of the army—in sending out,
the equipment, and transport of all departments of the
army, including the artillery; but the commander–in–
chief was not responsible for the land transport corps
service. That was a department quite new to this
country, and that duty, in his opinion, devolved on the
commissary–general. As to the amount of force sent
out Lord Hardinge said: In the first instance there
were 10,000, but subsequently he made arrangements
for sending out 25,000 men, which was the number
understood to be sent out. There were also seven battalions,
amounting to 6,000 men, under General Cathcart's
division, sent out, and instead of their remaining in
reserve, they joined the main army; and it was his
opinion that it was always better to have a large number
of men at a given point in attacking an enemy, than
holding them in reserve. The Duke of Wellington
found out that mistake at Assaye, when he detached
Colonel Stephenson with 6500 from his army, and left
himself to resist the enemy with half his force. He
never committed that mistake again. Lord Hardinge
thought that the Duke of Newcastle had acted quite
right in the orders he had given with regard to the
drawing of troops from the colonies, and also in directing
that the reserve troops should join the main army.
After the battle of Inkermann eleven battalions,
consisting of 6500 men, were sent, and he found that in
December we had a force of 25,508 men; and,
notwithstanding the deaths from sickness and other
circumstances at Varna and Balaklava, it was found at the end
of the year there were a few hundreds of men more
than originally intended. In answer to questions from
Lord Seymour, as to the bad state of the road from
Balaklava to the camp, Lord Hardinge stated that the
quartermaster–general, on whom devolved the duty of
putting it into a state of repair, was for a considerable
time confined to bed from blindness and dysentery; and
though another officer was appointed to discharge his
functions whilst he was ill, it had been found impossible,
at that time, for a variety of cogent reasons, to repair
the road.

On Monday, the 14th, Sir James Graham was
examined at great length. His examination went over a
great many matters connected with his department,—
such as his duties as First Lord; his relation to the
board; the state of the transport service; the appointments
of Captain Christie and Admiral Boxer; and the
state of Balaklava and the Bosphorus; the blockade in
the Black Sea; and the steps taken to obtain information
with regard to the numbers of the Russians in the
Crimea. The First Lord, he said, has no power to over-
rule the decision of the board; but Sir James never
found that it interfered with his large discretionary
powers. So far from being a "screen," the board is a
council, without the aid of which no layman could
advantageously administer the affairs of the navy. Sir
James considered himself responsible for all things done
in the naval department. When the war broke out, we
had only three iron war–steamers, capable of carrying
2000 men, available as transports. Government were
strongly of opinion that steamers should be employed as
largely as possible; but the supply was so limited, and
the demand rose so rapidly, that it was impossible to
employ steamers alone. In reply to further questions,
Sir James said, "Some persons seem to imagine that
steamers could be obtained as easily as a cab could be
called from a stand; but he had experienced difficulties
in that respect of which the committee could have no
conception. In the course of the year we had moved
about 60,000 British soldiers to a distance of 3000 miles,
6000 horses and between 25,000 and 30,000 French
troops from Marseilles to the Crimea; and simultaneously
with the difficulties of supplying those transports
for the Black Sea, we moved, principally by steam,
12,000 French soldiers to the Baltic. Altogether, in
the course of the year, we had moved, chiefly by
steamers, about 150,000 men; the greater number of
whom we conveyed to a point 3000 miles distant, in
addition to the 45,000 Turks brought from Bulgaria to
Eupatoria; and, in addition to that, the Admiralty had
fed not only the navy but the army, and during a portion
of the year also some of our allies." He had seen
a calculation which showed that a million of money
was lost to the country by the transport service; but
that calculation rested upon two erroneous assumptions,
—that transports could be fitted up in four days,
whereas they require ten or fourteen days; and that
the transports could return as soon as they had landed
their cargo. On military grounds, it is inexpedient to
weaken a large army by cutting off its base of
operations. When the Duke of Wellington occupied the
lines of Torres Vedras, in a friendly country, with
Lisbon and the Tagus in his rear, he kept there the
means of embarkation for every man. Admiral Boxer
was first made known to Sir James by Sir Thomas
Hardy in 1830; and in 1854 Sir James selected him as
"an officer who was better acquainted with the
embarkation and disembarkation of troops than any officer
he knew." He read letters showing that Admiral
Boxer had applied, on the 8th of September, for a store–
keeper, coal–depots, and receiving–ships at Constantinople
for invalids. Sir James now regretted that he
had not complied with the last request. Captain
Christie was recommended by Captain Milne. Sir
James thought well of his conduct, except in two particulars,
—allowing the Prince to remain close in–shore
off Balaklava at a single anchor, and sending to Varna
for Turkish troops to come to Balaklava, instead of
Eupatoria. For those mistakes the Board of Admiralty
have ordered him to be tried by court–martial; "and