Government to enquire into the
conduct of the officers in command in the Crimea; this is done without
any consultation with the Commander-in-Chief. They report to the
Government, inculpating several general officers and others in high
command; this report is not communicated to the military authorities,
nor to the persons affected by it, but is laid on the table of both
Houses of Parliament.[12] These officers then for the first time
find themselves accused under the authority of Government, and that
accusation communicated to the Legislature without ever having been
heard in answer or allowed an opportunity to defend themselves. It
is stated in both Houses by the Government that the officers may send
papers in reply if they choose! But who is to be the Judge on the
trial? The Press, of course, and the _Times_ at the head, have already
judged and condemned, and the House of Commons is now moving _in
default of another Judge_ to constitute its tribunal by a Committee of
Enquiry.

It is quite evident if matters are left so, and military officers of
the Queen's Army are to be judged as to the manner in which they have
discharged their military duties before an enemy by a Committee of the
House of Commons, the command of the Army is at once transferred from
the Crown to that Assembly.

This result is quite inevitable if the Government appear as accusers,
as they do by the report of their Commission, and then submit the
accusation for Parliament to deal with, without taking any steps of
their own!

The course suggested by Sir James Graham and alluded to by Lord
Palmerston, of following the precedent of the enquiry into the
Convention of Cintra,[13] appears therefore to the Queen to be the
only prudent one.

The Queen thinks it most unfair to the officers to publish their
statements beforehand, as these will not go before judges feeling
the weight of their responsibility, but before the newspapers who are
their sworn enemies and determined to effect their ruin, for which
they possess unlimited means.

The Queen wishes Lord Palmerston to read this letter to the Cabinet.

[Footnote 12: Sir John MacNeill and Colonel Tulloch had
been sent out to the Crimea early in 1855 to investigate the
breakdown of various military departments. They had issued a
preliminary report in the summer of 1855, and a final one in
January 1856, which was presented to Parliament. The officers
specially censured were Lord