NOTES FROM THE CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 31, 8 February 1869, Page 3

NOTES FROM THE CIRCUMLOCUTION OFFICE.

The following sarcastically written narrative, illustrative of the wretched system ■of red taptism that so nearly destroyed our army at the time of the invasion of the Crimea, appeared in a late Pall Mall Gazette : — A 'Victoria Cross,' answering our 'question, ' Caa any single officer, or man in the British service tell us how, if Private Brown runs out of cartridges in ; •action, he can get any -more •?' writes as follows :— ' Nothing is so simple, and I 'can not only explain to you the process, but also give you a case in point. I happened to form one of the storming party ; at the capture of tbe Quarries (an advanced work of the Russians in front of the Redan), on Jnne 7, 1855. On this ' •occasion there was a slight mistake in the orders .given to our ' supports,' who, instead of ' supporting ' us as soon as we took the work, at 5.30 in the evening, •only arriving to 'relieve' us at 9.30 the next morning. Owiug to this little error, and to what I may call other natural •causes, Private Brown of my company, as well as most of his comrades, ran out of ammunition. I thereupon sent a sergeant and two men to the rear with orders to bring a supply as fast as possible. They •returned with a polite message from the -officer in charge of the magazine to the effect that I should have what I required -if I would send the proper ' requisition ' nn writing. In the meanwhile we had been driven out of the Quarries, and were on by tlie reverse of the work, •and just when my messengers returned we had to recapture the work at the point •of the bayonet; but I have no reason to suppose that the officer would not have fulfilled bis promise had I sent him a proper document, which you will observe •I was only prevented from doing because I happened to be otherwise occupied. You witl see from this that nothing is ■simpler than the process of supplying --ammunition to British troops in action. The only point I ara not quite clear about is the proper breadth of margin of the paper on which the necessary requisition should be written, but I have reason to believe that * half-margin foolscap ' is the proper form of the document, and I will state my reason for thinking so. After the fall of Sebastopol, I was one day on iguard in the Redan, and shortly before I was relieved I discovered that one of the ■uuexploded Russian magazines was on fire. I placed my guard and sentries in safety, warned the officer who relieved rae, and as soon as I returned to camp wrote a hurried report of the circumstance, which was returned to me because it was written upon 'quarter-margin' foolscap instead of ' half-margin." lam therefore of opinion that the proper form of a requisition fbr ammunition for British troops in action is ' half-margin foolscap.' "I have omitted to state that on the occasion referred to Private Brown was unfortunately killed when engaged for the third or fourth time, I forget which, in retaking the work at the point of the bayonet. As he was dying he requested me (verbally, not in writing) to send his Prayer-book to his mother at home, which I did." .

An amusing illustration of difference of I opinion is given in the remarks made by the London newspapers on Mr Disraeli's address to his constituents. The Standard pronounces the document to be a State paper in respect to the breadth and power with which it deals with past events; it is a manifesto of policy which eanuot fail to stir up the lukewarm, reassure the doubting, and dispel all those misgivings as to the future which the enemies of the Government have been so long and so assiduously working to create. The Star, on the other haud, affirms that, if the address be uot despised and scouted throughout the leDgth aod breadth of England as utterly beneath the notice of intelligent men, the Premiership of Mr Disraeli will cast a gloomier imputation on the good sense of the English people than the Star has ever supposed could fall upon it uuder any circumstances whatever.- — W. News.