After long delays, the Board appointed by the War Ministry
to inquire into the allegations against the report of the Crimean Commissioners, Sir John M'Neill and Colonel Tulloch, have begun their sittings at Chelsea Hospital, and have continued to examine witnesses for several days of the week. It was not to be expected that an inquiry instituted upon grounds so imper- fect as those brought forward, before a tribunal with very limited powers, and not free from suspicion in its object, would be satisfactory to any of the parties concerned. So it has proved, even at the commencement. The President who was originally named declined to serve ; one of the impugned Crimean Commissioners has not thought it worth while to come forward ; the first of the accusers of the Commissiontrs began by making difficulties, in the method of procedure, and complaining of the position in whieh he was placed. The course of the inquiry thus far tended but little to remove the original grounds of distrust. One conclusion, hdwever, has been already enforced : it has ap- peared to the public, from the daily proceedings as witnessed and reported, too evident that Lord Luean should not have been selected to fill an office of great responsibility, requiring much discretion and strong powers of self-command ; for he has been signally unable to command himself. Even on this occasion, when self-command was so much his own interest--when he was in the presence not of individual accusers but of the public itself —he has been unable to exercise the virtue.
Previous page
