would be fed ashore, and the hospital authorities
supposed they had been fed on board. He had fed the
poor fellows sometimes himself; he had once carried a
man up to the hospital; he had assisted to take off
their filthy clothing, covered with vermin as thick as
the letters in a page of small print. The sick could not
be landed without Admiral Boxer's permission, as the
hospital had no boats. Sometimes the communication
was interrupted for three days. The medical authorities
applied for a steamer: at first it was refused by Admiral
Boxer, a seaman of the old school; but afterwards one
was put on. Mr. Stafford spoke very favourably of the
medical men; who, he said, were overworked. Speaking
of the hospital at Balaklava, Mr. Stafford said—
"The doctors there were of opinion, that while the
diet of the army remained as it was, no medical skill
could avail them. That was a constant remark; and,
indeed, they appeared to be acting under a kind of
fatalism. One doctor, pointing to a poor soldier, said,
'There is what is called, a case of cholera; but it is in
fact the result of a vicious habit of body, feeding entirely
on salt meat, without the benefit of any succulent
vegetables.'"  As to the green coffee, he said, "If you
wished to excite the most phlegmatic soldier, or to
irritate the most patient sufferer, you had only to name
green coffee. It was a perfect byword: the men said,
'You might as well give us pebbles.'"  Mr. Stafford
thought it was a great mistake to place the hospitals
under Lord Stratford: the unlimited power to provide
supplies should have been vested in the superior medical
officer at Constantinople.

Dr. Andrew Smith, inspector-general of the medical
department, was examined at great length on Tuesday
and Thursday the 20th and 22nd. His evidence
consisted partly in a narrative of the various supplies of
medical stores sent out to the East from the commencement
of the war, and partly of replies to questions
arising out of his statement. Dr. Smith bore strong
testimony to the conflict of departments. His
immediate superiors were the commander-in-chief, the
secretary at war, the minister for war, the board of
ordnance, and he did not know how many more. The
perpetual reference of representations and matters from
one authority to another interfered most seriously with
the efficient performance of the duties of his department.
He specified the dates at which medical stores
had been sent out. At the outset of the war, the
surgeon of every regiment sent to Malta reported to him
that his medicine chest was complete and his
instruments in order. Mr. Wreford, the purveyor at
Constantinople, was authorised by him to get whatever was
necessary, and Lord Stratford had authority to spend
whatever money might be wanted for that purpose.
When he told Mr. Macdonald that the relief fund
would not be needed, all the reports he had received
justified him in saying so; for ample supplies had been
sent out, and at that time he knew the medical authorities
were expecting the entire equipment, for a large
hospital left at Varna would have been carried to
Constantinople. But, notwithstanding repeated
remonstrances from the medical officers to the transport
service, passage for it was not obtained, and it did not
arrive until the 10th November. Dr. Smith read
reports from medical officers, showing that there was no
want of lint after the battles of the Alma and Inkermann,
and that no application was made to the French
for lint; that up to the middle of November there had
been no want at Scutari of medicines and surgical
appliances; and that the statements in the newspapers on
that head were false. The officer who was responsible
for any deficiency of stores, and for the cleaning of the
hospitals, was Mr. Wreford the purveyor. The supply
of medical comforts comes under the authority of the
medical officer, and the purveyor is bound to purchase
what the medical officer requires. Mr. Wreford is
sixty or sixty-five years old—he served in the Peninsular
war: he frequently complained that he was
unequal to supplying the demands of the hospitals.
There were constant disputes as to authority between
purveyors and medical men. Since the months of
September and October he had to supply all the medical
comforts of the army; and from that time he could tell
when they went, where they went, and when they were
delivered; previously to that time he could not tell.
He thought that the control of all the stores for
hospitals should be with his department; but this is not
the case at present. The total number of medical
officers sent out to the East was 559; of whom 29 had
died, 58 had been invalided, and on the 7th of March
there remained in Turkey and the Crimea 469 army
medical officers, a number which would give about 30
sick to each medical man. With respect to clothing for
the army suitable to the East, he had acted on a report
from Dr. Dumbreck in Bulgaria, received early in 1854.
The first steps were taken in the matter early in May.
With difficulty large supplies were collected and sent
out in August; and unless there was some unaccountable
delay it must have arrived before November. It
was different from the ordinary winter clothing of the
troops, and was not the supply sent out in the Prince.

The Rev. Sidney Godolphin Osborne was examined
on Friday, the 23rd. He had gone to Scutari to render
what assistance he could in the hospitals there. The
general drift of his testimony strongly confirmed the
evidence of Mr. Stafford and Mr. Macdonald. The
condition of the men's linen was as dirty as was
conceivable. He had seen men take off their shirts and
hide them about their beds, so ashamed were they of
them; and he had given them the shirt off his back.
The dead-house was so situated that the dead were
obliged to be carried along one part of the hospital
amid lines of beds on which the living were laid. He
had not the least doubt that the great amount of deaths
in the wards arose from the irregularity with which
the poor creatures were fed. He had known some of
them not get food until five or six o'clock in the day.
He had also seen some of the sick lying on the beach
for six hours before beds were found for them in the
hospital. He met Lord Stratford at the hospital a few
days after he arrived. He had some conversation with
him as to the state of the hospital; during which he
turned round to Dr. Macgregor, who was present, and
said—"Did not I say to you, that for whatever was
wanted in the hospital you had to apply to me?"  Dr.
Macgregor intimated assent. Mr. Osborne believed no
man worked harder than Lord Stratford did in his
capacity of ambassador. One day, for instance, when
witness called upon him, he took up a large bundle of
papers and said, "Look here; this is a plan for putting
down extortions in the Turkish dominions, and I have
to look over and consider the whole of it to-day." Mr.
Osborne thought it was altogether wrong to have put
an ambassador in the position of Lord Stratford in
reference to the hospitals. He should not have been
put in a position resembling that of a commandant, as
it were, of an army hospital.

On Monday, March 26th, Dr. Andrew Smith, and the
Rev. G. S. Osborne made several additions to their
previous evidence.

The witnesses on Tuesday, March 27, were Mr.
Flower, assistant-surgeon to the 63rd Reg'ment, and
Dr. Menzies, inspector-general of hospitals. Mr. Flower
described the dreadful mortality which almost destroyed
the regiment to which he belonged, and explained its
causes. Dr. Menzies was examined at great length as
to the proceedings of the department under his charge.

The following is the list of the New Ministry:—
THE CABINET—Lord Palmerston, First Lord of the
Treasury. Lord Cranworth, Lord Chancellor: Lord
Clarendon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: Lord
Panmure, Secretary of State for the War Department:
Sir G. Grey, Secretary of State for the Home Department:
Lord J. Russell, Secretary of State for the
Colonies: Sir G. C. Lewis, Chancellor of the Exchequer:
Sir C. Wood, First Lord of the Admiralty: Sir W.
Molesworth, Chief Commissioner of Woods and Works:
Lord Granville, President of the Council: Lord Canning,
Postmaster-General: Duke of Argyll, Lord Privy Seal:
Mr. Vernon Smith, President of the Board of Control:
Lord Stanley, of Alderley, President of the Board of
Trade: Marquis of Lansdowne, without office. NOT IN
THE CABINET: Earl of Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland; Mr. Horsman, Chief Secretary for Ireland: Mr.