The conduct of the commander-in-chief and the
general officers has been severely critised, on the grounds
of their alleged inattention to the condition and wants
of the army? As a specimen of these remarks we quote
the following, by the correspondent of the Morning
Herald:—

"Every regimental officer," he says, "repeats almost
the same remarks; and first and foremost among the
generals thus spoken of is the commander-in-chief, Lord
Raglan. The complaint is that he is never seen—never
quits his house—never makes his presence known to the
troops, except by occasionally issuing a general order.
He does not know what the troops suffer, for he takes
care not to witness it. They are hungry, cold, and
miserable—yet not once has he ever been among them
to show himself or to utter a few cheering words, the
recollection of which would for many a day lighten the
men's hearts, by showing that they were not totally
forgotten by their leaders, whose names they have made
illustrious. If there is one officer out here more ignorant
than any other of the feelings, the real wants and
sufferings of the army, that one is Lord Raglan: and
this ignorance can be his only excuse for the cold, the
almost studied neglect, with which all ranks, except
those on his immediate staff, are treated. At the
smallest possible discomfort to himself, Lord Raglan
might have become one of the most popular commanders
that ever lived. Everything was in his favour, and at
first he was liked in spite of himself; but now the
opportunity has passed; and I will venture to say, that
of all the recollections of bitter hardships which will
survive this campaign, none will be more bitter or more
enduring than the memory of the utter coldness and
neglect with which Lord Raglan has treated the
troops."

These representations are at variance with other
statements. The Morning Post correspondent, on
December 5th writes:—

"Lord Raglan and the members of his staff rode through
the whole of the British camp yesterday. After the
drenching rain of the previous night, he saw the state
of the troops in its true colours. His lordship halted
frequently, and asked many questions even of private
soldiers whom he saw puddling about."

The Moniteur de I' Armée publishes an extract from
a letter dated the 19th December:—

"Lord Raglan came this morning to our headquarters.
He is a good rider and does not appear to feel
the want of the arm which he left at Waterloo. He looks
well, has a good colour, with a beard a little grey. He
came without any ceremony, wearing a cap covered with
oilskin. The English are the most free and easy men
we know."

The Maidstone Journal publishes the following
extract of a letter from a private soldier:—

"Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, Lord
Raglan has been out of doors daily, at different parts of
the camp, so much so that some of his aides-de-camp
have remonstrated with him, saying he had better allow
them to do the work for him. He has been known
frequently to give a hard-working private his own bread,
and even to let some poor soldier have a good suck at his
brandy bottle. The men venerate him, but rail against
the government for not giving him proper means to
enable him to make them more comfortable."

In the Dublin Evening Mail is a letter from a
correspondent in Dundalk, who says:—

"A relative of mine, belonging to a distinguished
cavalry regiment serving in the Crimea, has returned
home on medical certificate within the last few days,
and he assures me that he has constantly seen Lord
Raglan both riding and walking through the lines,
sometimes almost at break of day, and that when he
left the camp there were no complaints in the army on
that head."

A general court-martial was held on the 18th of
December, when Francis Hagerty, a private in the 4th
Regiment, was tried for having struck an officer and a
sergeant while in the execution of their duty. The
prisoner was drunk. He was found guilty, and sentenced
to fifty lashes and twelve months' imprisonment
with hard labour, which Lord Raglan confirmed; but
remarks: "The offences of which the prisoner has
been very properly found guilty are of so serious a
character as to justify the infliction of the whole
punishment awarded by the court; but, in consideration of
the youth and inexperience of the prisoner, and the
circumstances under which the crimes were committed,
and in the hope that his expressions of sorrow and
contrition are sincere, the Commander of the Forces is
induced to remit all punishment, and to award his
pardon; thus affording him an immediate opportunity
of showing by his conduct that he is not unworthy of
the lenity that is now extended to him."

A letter dated December 28th. gives a fearful account
of the privations and hardships to which the troops are
exposed. The writer says:—"Owing to the gross
mismanagement of the commissariat, some of the
divisions of the army have been on several occasions
and for several days together without animal food of
any kind. Half a ration of biscuit and the smallest
quantity of rum, without coffee or sugar, is all they have
had to subsist upon. They spend night after night in
the trenches, exposed to pouring rain, wet to the skin
and engaged with the enemy, who makes constant
sorties. The men are dying from starvation and
overwork. The loss from sickness has lately been at the
rate of from 200 to 300 a-day." The writer, in conclusion,
expresses anxiety about an expected package,
wishing to learn by which ship it is likely to come,
"as there is dreadful mismanagement in every
department."

On the 1st of January the correspondent of the
Morning Post describes the state of things at
Balaklava. "I visited Balaklava this morning. Nothing
can equal the confusion; the mass of consignments ol
warm clothing, blankets, hutting materials, stoves,
charcoal, forage, barrels of beef and' pork—all jumbled
into one heterogeneous mass. A barrel of pork stands
beside a bale of blankets here, and a stove beside hutting
materials there, and so on. So rapid have been the
arrivals, and so eager for disembarking, that the wharf
and all around is like one vast storehouse, without form,
fashion, or order. From the huts which have arrived
the Quartermaster-General has determined to erect a
few at Kadakoi as a receiving store, to ease the stores at
Balaklava. The harbour is very small, and hence the
confusion. The town does not afford a sufficiency of
stowage for the immense mass of clothing, and the
hutting materials which arrive daily. As regards the
former, as usual, the roofing is on board one ship, the
body of the hut on board another; one vessel is here,
the other God knows where. Boards and timber are
being issued to regiments. To-day each regiment has
been authorised to draw 5000 feet of sheeting, 100 pieces
of scantling, and 100 pieces of rafters. This is for the
purpose of the hospitals in camp. Officers and men are
allowed roofing, &c, for walls of huts which they may
have built; but the question arises, how are they to get
it up? Only by carrying it up on their backs. Some
baggage-horses have been landed lately, but still these
are not sufficient. The general opinion is that we shall
neither have huts nor anything else before the cold
weather sets in, and that cannot be long. If we had
conveyances up to the camp all would be well, and we
should relieve the harbour very much."

On the subject of provisions the same writer says:
"A great cry is now made for want of fresh meat for the
troops. Scurvy has made its appearance, and only about
once or twice a month do the troops obtain fresh food.
Sir Edmund Lyons said the other day that nothing was
more easy than to procure cattle from the different ports
along the Asiatic and European coasts of the Black Sea.
Upon a question being put by Sir Edmund Lyons to
Lord Raglan the other day, as to whether he was
prepared to give sixpence or even a shilling per pound for
meat, his lordship answered, 'Yes; even eighteen
pence, sooner than the men should want fresh meat.'
He added 'that the country did not mind what they
paid, providing they could give good and wholesome
food to the troops.' According to the system of our
commissariat, with the view to purchase cattle, it is
necessary to send an officer of that department to elect,
at a certain port, as many head of cattle as he possibly
can, and then ship them to the Crimea. The French
are quite different; they send an officer, who proceeds