ceedings. Instead of being a reluctant or a merely investigation,-
wit- ness, he became an assistant in the pursuit of the aiding the members of the Committee, pointing out where they might search, correcting them when they went wrong, and in short aiding the inquiry as if he had been one of the members. This candid readiness was only tempered by an apprehension that in his desire to bring out the truth he might forget official reserves due to others. The evidence gives us a valuable insight into the actual state of the War departments and their reciprocal rela- tions. Their disjointed condition perfectly explains how it is that the results should be so disastrous, while the individuals impli- cated appear in general to have been actuated by praiseworthy and honest motives. The knowledge of the evil is now patent to the public : the statesman who is to provide a remedy has not yet appeared.
The results of the examination throw upon us the problem, how to reconstruct a military government ? Lord Palmerston has an- nounced in the House of Commons that a plan of reconstruction is "under consideration" : we shall be glad when it is in sight. One result of the published reports of the evidence, and of the direct accounts from the Crimea-certain " sun pictures" by re- porters for the journals, who try to paint everything with a dra- matic force-is unfortunate : it is discouragement to the would-be soldiers; for the recruiting is powerfully checked. In Scotland it has never been going on very favourably, from various causes, and partly because emigration had drawn off some of the bravest spirits in the classes that supplied recruits. A heartier feeling had been awakened ; but then come these so-called disclosures, and the old feeling of cold deadness returns. A similar sentiment has extended to the English counties, where the militiamen mus- ter scantily, and do not show a very good spirit when they do muster. Recruiting-officers know this well, and facts that prove the truth of general statements come within our own knowledge. The Sebastopol Committee is bound to give us a very valuable blue- book, if only to compensate for this result of unlimited publicity.
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