fending acts and
appointments upon which he had not been consulted.

[Sidenote: LORD LANSDOWNE AS PEACEMAKER]

[Sidenote: A FRANK STATEMENT]

Lord Lansdowne succeeded for the moment in patching up an unsatisfactory
peace, but it was becoming every day more and more obvious that the
Aberdeen Government was doomed. The memorandum which Lord John drew up,
at the suggestion of Lord Lansdowne, describes in pithy and direct terms
the privations of the soldiers, and the mortality amongst men and
horses, which was directly due to hunger and neglect. He shows that
between the end of September and the middle of November there was at
least six weeks when all kinds of supplies might have been landed at
Balaclava, and he points out that the stores only needed to be carried
seven or eight miles to reach the most distant division of the Army. He
protested that there had been great mismanagement, and added: 'Soldiers
cannot fight unless they are well fed.' He stated that he understood
Lord Raglan had written home at the beginning of October to say that, if
the Army was to remain on the heights during the winter, huts would be
required, since the barren position which they held did not furnish wood
to make them. Nearly three months had, however, passed, and winter in
its most terrible form had settled on the Crimea, and yet the huts still
appeared not to have reached the troops, though the French had done
their best to make good the discreditable breakdown of our commissariat.
'There appears,' concludes Lord John, 'a want of concert among the
different departments. When the Navy forward supplies, there is no
military authority to receive them; when the military wish to unload a
ship, they find that the naval authority has already ordered it away.
Lord Raglan and Sir Edmund Lyons should be asked to concert between them
the mode of remedying this defect. Neither can see with his own eyes to
the performance of all the subordinate duties, but they can choose the
best men to do it, and arm them with sufficient authority. For on the
due performance of these subordinate duties hangs the welfare of the
Army. Lord Raglan should also be informed exactly of the amount of
reinforcements ordered to the Crimea, and at what time he may expect
them. Having furnished him with all the force in men and material which
the Government can send him, the Government is entitled to expect from
him in return his opinion as to what can be done by the allied