MR. ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 285, 25 July 1855, Page 3

MR. ROEBUCK'S COMMITTEE.

As the Sebastopol Committee advances—the inquiry still persevering in one track, the administration of the medical department, —the exposure becomes more complete, the evidence more damaging to " the system ": and the urgent nee ssity of reforms, which do not appear to be even attempted, grows more palpable. It is not that many more witnesses have been examined —we have lit lie addition to the list oi'last week ; though Dr. David D.'.mbreck is a new witness, and gives very intelligent answers, Dr. Menzies is still the great public benefactor, by explaining the wonderful deeds which he accomplished in not doing his duties, under the cloud of a terrible desire to perform them amid obstacles that reduced him to despair. It would seem that he is a really-conscientious man ; and We may suppose that some others upon whom his evidence appears to fasten sevjous charges are also conscientious men. Even the purveyors and contractors, wlm are negligent or contumacious, and have forfeited their character could perhaps tell a story not. less painful than that of Dr. Menzies. *The sum and substance of his evidence is, that being sent to inspect, he had a field too wide even to lie hastily surveyed ; that, being responsible for the proper treatment of the sick,*\hey came to him starving ; he had no food, kitchens! or servants sufficient for supplying properly ; they died under treatment or under operation, and he could not save them. He called subordinates to account, and was disobeyed ; he ■ reported faults, and was slighted : and the simple task of writing the correspondence on these subjects was more than his health could bear. Last week, Dr. Andrew Smith avowed that he had for forty years been trained to peiuuiousiiess

and that he could not suddenly—and, we may add, in his old age—learn the new duty of liberal expenditure ; a statement suggestive of the iron rule of routine in destroying the officers while it leaves the work undone. Dr. Menzies has been auatomatized in detail; but there is too much reason to believe that, if the contractor, the purveyor, the Transport officer, the Commissariat officer, the Quartermaster, the Colonel, the Adjutant, were taken in turn, we should find the same disposition to do the duty if possible, and the same total incapacity from want of training and from-'want.of connection with other parts of the organization. The evidence of the Committee, so far as it goes, presents before us these alternatives—either the system must be thoroughly broken up and reconstructed forthwith ; or we must confess that our energies and abilities have turned toother lines of activity, and that we retain no capacity whatever for the conduct of military business. The fighting propensity —the first and last which the human animal is endowed with—is as good as ever ; but unless the nation and the Government perceive the necessity for a thorough re-construction, we must infer that the adaptability to the military art is extinct in our countrymen, and that individually they are sinking into that devotion to selfish pursuits, and to luxury, which is the real decay of uations and the decline of empires. Possibly, we have arrived at that point where we must acknowledge that our military renown is a matter of the past, and that henceforward we ure fit only for the factory. If so it be, we must stomach the humiliation, retract our vain boastings, and make peace "with fiussia upon her own terms. Then, the sooner we do it the better. The concession may encourage Russia to be again overbearing; it may renew her encroachments ; may render them" more insulting and aggressive. But it cannot, be helped. Incapable of military business, condemning ourselves not to attempt any military position on the continent, we must avoid collision with every state that seeks the arbitration ofarms ; behave peaceably as we may to all, feeble or strong; rely upon our inoneymaking ; and purchase for our commerce by humble suit and costly largess the right of way that we cannot compel.