NARRATIVE OF PARLIAMENT AND POLITICS.

IN the HOUSE of LORDS, on Monday, January 29th,
Earl GREY moved a resolution to the effect that the
Administration of the Army ought to be concentrated
under the control of a single well–organised department.
The chief proposition was that of the appointment of a
board analogous to the Board of Admiralty, for the
purpose of administering all the business connected
with the military service in all its branches. He would
have the Commander–in–Chief a member of the board
ex officio, but without having the chief authority. To
this board he would entrust the patronage of the army.
—The Duke of NEWCASTLE explained the principles on
which, in his opinion, the consolidation of the war
departments should be effected. Referring to the
condition of the army in the Crimea, he attributed the
privations it ihad undergone principally to the want of
education both in officers and men, and especially as
regarded what were called camp services. He proceeded
to comment at some length upon the numerous deficiencies
in the military resources of the country, occasioned
by a long peace and a too strict economy. Three officers,
he stated, had been despatched to Paris to enquire into
the working of the French military system, and Lord
Raglan had been requested to make similar inquries in
the French camp. Great advantage was to be anticipated
from the result of these investigations. Reverting
to the immediate subject before their lordships, he
detailed the reasons which led him to believe that a board
would be a most cumbrous and inefficient machine for
the performance of the duties that fell upon the various
departments of the war administration, and was calculated
to result in serious embarrassments, and a dangerous
division of responsibilities.—The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH
objected to the motion as being ill–timed at
the present crisis. Earl Grey withdrew the motion.

On Thursday, February 1st, the Earl of ABERDEEN
announced the Resignation of the Government, in
consequence of the vote in another place, on Monday night.
Although he believed the vote to be unconstitutional it
was not his desire, nor that of his colleagues, to avoid
inquiry into their conduct. He believed that the Duke
of Newcastle had in particular suffered great injustice.
He (the Earl of Aberdeen) was not at all surprised at
the feeling throughout the country. It was natural
that the public, who, without reasoning acutely, no
doubt felt very strongly, should look somewhere for the
responsibility of conducting the war; and that, finding
the commanders at fault, they should turn their censure
upon the government. He thought the accounts from
the Crimea had been grossly exaggerated. At any rate
the condition of our troops was now improving. He
then referred to the great strength of the French army,
as appeared from the Emperor's address to the legislative
body of France. We had recently, too, concluded
a treaty with Sardinia, by which 15,000 Piedmontese
troops were placed at our disposal. There was also our
treaty with Austria, and our engagements with that
State had arrived at a most important point. Here, then
(said the noble earl), was the alternative of a peace
which would secure all the objects for which we are
contending, or ensure the assistance of that great
military power whose army is now raised to the amount
of 500,000 men. Under such circumstances, how was it
possible to entertain apprehensions from those casualties
to which all armies are liable? Having described our
military prospects Lord Aberdeen briefly adverted to our
domestic position, and to that general prosperity which
he ascribed to wise financial measures. He also referred
to the condition of the navy, against which, he said,
nothing had been or could be alleged. He trusted that,
whatever the future government might be, they would
carry on this war with vigour, with effect, and with a
view only to a speedy termination, and a safe and
honourable peace. He trusted they would not be
diverted by a wild and imaginary vigour, or animated
by merely vindictive feelings, but would listen to the
dictates of humanity and of true policy, and would
lose no time in realising the advantages of peace.—
The Duke of NEWCASTLE found it necessary to make
some explanations in consequence of statements in the
other house by Lord John Russell. The noble lord
had placed the justification of the course he had taken
almost exclusively upon his (the duke's) acceptance of
and subsequent continuance in the secretaryship of the
war department. Lord John had said, in a letter to
Lord Aberdeen, that when the two secretaryships of
state were divided, he yielded to his (the Duke of
Newcastle's) strong wish to occupy the war department,
thereby undoubtedly implying that he had been opposed
to that arrangement, and had been overruled. This
was not the case. At the cabinet council in which it
was decided that the two offices of secretary of state for
the colonies and secretary of state for war should be
divided, he had said, "So far as I am personally
concerned, I am perfectly ready to retain either or neither."
That was the "strong wish" which has been spoken of
by the noble lord. So far as regarded Lord Palmerston,
he never for a moment understood that it was the wish
of Lord J. Russell for him to occupy the war department.
He had heard something of Earl Grey being proposed
by the noble lord, but had never contemplated standing
in his way. Again he wished distinctly to deny having
expressed a "strong wish" to continue in the war
department. On the contrary, indeed, it was only when
he saw no other member of the cabinet stand forward to
take the seals of his office, that he determined on not
shrinking from a post of difficulty and danger. Many
of his private friends knew this, and those noble lords
opposite who generously cheered the assertion were
among them. He hoped, therefore, he had sufficiently
explained to their lordships the conduct which had been
characterised by some as arrogance, and by the noble
lord to whom he had referred, in the more patronising
phrase of "commendable ambition." The noble lord's
expressions of kindness, while endeavouring to remove
him from his position, were only so much of what the
Americans designate "soft sawder;" and he would
therefore refrain from dwelling on the letter of the
noble lord's to his noble friend late at the head of the
government, on the 18th of November, in which he said,
"It was my intention, in writing the letter, to avoid
throwing any blame upon the Duke of Newcastle;
indeed, I think he deserves very great credit for the
exertions he has made." While the noble lord was
quoting letters that had passed on the subject, it was
somewhat strange that he should have forgotten to
quote the letter of Lord Aberdeen on the 21st of
November, in answer to that which he had received.
The very beginning was in these words: "I have shown
your letter to the Duke of Newcastle, and also to Sidney