^ LIBRARY ^ i>^i^ UNIVE.HWTY OF CA ■ ■ ■ " A — 6^ ^m tBnrte aiiii Jltm ^Mtinnn ^'^ ^/:r PUBLISHED BY GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND CO., 2, FARRINGDON STREET. THE ROVIIVG ENGLISHMAN'S AVORKS. Price OS., clotli, lettered, PICTURES FROM THE BATTLE FIELDS, (written in the Crimea.) This original work, by " The Roving Eng- lishman," contains Chapters on The Heights before Sebastopol. The Bashi-Bazouk, Russian Officers and Soldiers. The French Officer. The Zouave. Scutari and its Hospitals Miss Nightingale. Balaklava. The Commissariat again, A Snow Storm. A Camp Dinner. With Illustrations, from Sketches made on the Spot, of THE ZOUAVE. THE CAMP DINNER. BASHI-BAZOUK. A STKEET IN CONSTANTINOPLE. BUCHAREST. THE DESERTED VILLA. VARNA AND BALAKLAVA. Price 2s., boards, TURKEY, by the Roving Englishman, (the Sixth Thousand, with a portrait of the " Sultan ;") contains the following Sketches from Life : — The Sultan. Consular Freaks. A Turkish Bath. „ Pasha. A Son of the Desert. Manners of the Turks. J, Sea Captain. Army Interpreters. The Bin-Bashee. „ Greek Easter, Reform in Turkey. A Turkish Rayah, &c. And Hints to Travellers proceeding to Turkey. Price 1^., boards, THE ROVING ENGLISHMAN, or Sketches of Continental Life, (the Tenth Thousand.) This work contains the fol- lowing Sketches: — A Golden Wedding. The German Post. A Great Idea. Duelling. Yachting, Hints to Travellers. The Philosophy of Dining. Tiie Praise of Salad. On Horseback. A Walk Round my Stable. Vienna. Frankfort. Hamburgh. Right Place for the Right Man. Dresden. From the " Times," June 1. " We ought to know this Englishman, for we have met him before, and observed him making pictures of familiar things, in the spirit of Sir Frances Head. If the pensive public will take our suggestion, they will find that he is, for particular reasons, cspecjially worth listening to at the present conjunc- ture." J-A,' ■ \''^- NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS. Sixth Thousand. — In post 8vo. price 6g. cloth, lettered, TUKKEY, RUSSIA, BLACK SEA, and CIRCASSIA, by Cap. Spencer, containing many illustrations, including Views of Odessa, Sebastopol, Varna, Widdin, &c., and four portraits in colours of the Sultan, the Czar, Schamyl, and a Circassian Lady; a new Map, comprising the Cir- cassian Isthmus and the Sea of Azof; it also contains a description of Anapa and country round the river Kouban, Soukoum-Kalie and is the best work on the Circassian Coast. " This work is fiUl of information. Captain Spencer has travelled in and out, round, and through the Turkish empire. He speaks the language of the country, and enters with love into the feelings of the people. A safer guide it would be difficult to find." — Athemeum. In One Vol., -price 5s. cloth, lettered, FALL OF THE CRIMEA, by Captain Spencer, author of "Turkey, Russia, The Black Sea, and Circassia," with illustrations. " At this eventful moment, when everything relating to the Crimea is invested with a world-wide interest, when, perhaps, our gallant soldiers are fighting in it the battle of freedom and European civilization, we cannot but feel gratified that a work written with a view of depicting the heroic struggle of an unhappy people against the unprovoked aggi'ession of Russia, may now be read as a faithful account of the Fall of the Crimea, so little have we deviated fi'om the records left by history." — Preface. In post 8vo. price 4s. 6d. cloth extra, or 5s. gilt edges, GREAT BATTLES OF THE BRITISH ARMY; to which are now added the Battles of Axma, Balaklava, and LsKERMAN, with eight illustrations by Wm. Harvey. " At the present moment, when every one, from the highest to the lowest in the land, is intensely interested in all that relates to the army now engaged in the East, a work relating the struggles in which their fathers were engaged, cannot but be eagerly read. This new edition is rendered still more attractive by a graphic account of the Battles of the Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman." In One Vol., price Is. fancy boards, THE SOLDIERS' LETTERS ; or, Voices fkom the Ranks ; with a Plan showing the position of the Army, and an Illus- tration of the charge of the Light Cavalry at Balaklava. " In this volume will be found, narrated by the soldiers themselves, the best account of the momentous struggle in which we are now engaged. No one can read the particulars of these hard-fought battles without feeling an honest pride and a just admiration of the indomitable courage that now, as ever, distingcishes our ARsrr." Price Is. in boards, OUR HEROES OF THE CRIMEA: being the Lives of upwards of 48 of our principal Militai-y Officers, from the Commander-in-Chief to the Subaltern. Amongst the contents will be found Authentic Lives of Lord Raglan, Sir De Lacy Evans, Sir George Brown, Lord Cardigan, Sir Colin Campbell, Sir George Cathcart, Capt. Nolan, Duke of Cambridge, Sir R. Newman, &c., &c. '• Men whose lives every one of us should be acquainted with, for their names are inscribed on the imperishable rolls of fame, and can never be forgotten." THE WAR FEOM THE LANDING AT GALLIPOLI TO THE DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN. By W. H. RUSSELL, COBEESPOXDENI OF " THE TIMES." £Y PUBMISSION LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & CO., EAERINGDON STREET. NEW YOKK: 18, BEEKMAN STREET. 1855. v./ NOTICE TO THE READER. This volume contains the lettei's of The Times Correspondent from the seat of war in the East. Except a few omissions and some slight altei'ations, they appear here precisely as they appeared originally in The Times newspaper. The reader will consequently understand that he is not presented ■v\T.th a connected history of the war, but simply with a joui'nal recording the knowledge and opinions of the wi-iter. He himself being still engaged in the scenes which he has here portrayed, the work has not enjoyed the advantage of his own revision. Some inacciu-acies may therefore be found, which his more perfect knowledge woidd have cor- rected, and to which the indulgence of the reader will no doubt be extended. The Editor. CONTEXTS. PAGE MALTA 1 GALLIPOT.I 18 SCrTAKI . 01 TAENA 76 THE CEIMEA 158 THE ALMA 171 HEIGHTS BEEOEE SEBASTOPOL 201 THE ElEST BOMEAEDMENT 214 THE ACTION AT EALAKLAVA 222 rEor.Eiss OF the siege 234 THE BATTLE OF INKEEMANN 246 THE HUEEICANE 264 THE SECOND BOMBAEDMENT 403 THE KEETCH EXBEUITION 440 THE THIED BOMDAKDMEKT 474 ASSAULT ON THE MALAKOFF AND EEDAN . .... 487 DEATH OF LOED EAGLAN ... 498 THE WAR. MALTA. CHAPTEE I. Voyage to Malta — Farewell to Old England — The Guards at sea — Perplexing duties and unspeakable sufferings — Pipes and seagulls — The domtstic pudding of sea life — Jack Fii-elock and Jack Tar — "Three cheers for the jolly old whale!" — Arrival and disembarkation of the Coldstreams — Delight of the Maltese — Mismanagement commences — The commissariat and the contractors — Who's to blame? — Arrival of the "Himalaya" — Scarcity of beef and mutton — A seasonable relief — Accumulation of stores — Preparations for the campaign. Malta, March G. The ease, celerity, and comparative comfort with which the greater part of the brigade of Guards and the 28th Eegunent have been conveyed to Malta, in some measure justify the enormous praise which we have bestowed on ourselves as a great maritime State, witli vast steam locomotive power. The 28th Eegiment, in the "Niagara," made a remarkablj^ fine passage, and suiFered but little discomfort ; not any, indeed, beyond that which invai-iably attends on some 800 "men at sea," who are imprisoned for the time being, with the Jolinsonian alternative of being drowned ; and the 62nd, who made a run of sixteen days from Cork with the aid of canvas alone, had no reason to complain, even though they were not quite so rapidly conveyed as if they had been impelled by steam. In fact, but for the uncertainty respecting the "jManiUa," which has not yet arrived, the whole of the httle flotilla may be said to have been very fortunate, and the captain of the former, with her cargo of 300 men, will not be much dis- appointed, it is said, if he does not reach Malta before the six- teenth day after his departure from Southampton, seeing that his vessel is only of sixty -horse power (auxdiary screw), and has tc convey a large freight. Ever since the troops saUed from South- ampton, the wind, that great and indomitable friend or foe ot pi'ogress, according to the quarter from which he has set and to which you want to go, has offered nearly all the opposition in his power to their arrival at Malta. At one time he has toyed with B 3 MALTA. them over the beam or quarter, in the hope that unwary skippers ■would set sail, and next moment he has blown right in their teeth and flapped the figure-head in the face with all his wings. There is this, then, to be said, that had the Guards, who left South- ampton-water on Thursday morning, February 23, been stowed on board sailing vessels instead of steamers, they would have met a constant current of bafHing winds, -which were too light fre- quently for effective tacking, and were obstinate enough to defeat plain sailing ; that they would, with these same winds have taken fourteen days to get to Gibraltar alone, and that their farther voyage to Malta would have required about as many days more! The " Leander," a 50-gun fi-igate, has been thirty days going from Gibraltar to Malta ere this under similar circnmstanees. The only disadvantage attendant on steamers is the heat to which the men on the main deck, about the engine, are necessarily exposed, and the reduction of accommodation pro rata in consequence of the space required for the machinery; but this is more than coun- terbalanced by the certainty of getting tlirough the water in a shorter time. Never did a set of finer fellows leave Old England for the good and glory of their country than the brigade of Guards which has just arrived. It is not of the personnel of the men— great British Anakim as they are — that this is said, but of the spirit, cheerful- ness, and good humour they displa_ved on the passage. Imagine those comfortably fleshy and rather adipose giants, accustomed to the easy indolence of London taps, the unrestrained ease of Win- chester bars, and the social military elegancies of Windsor, vying •with the police itself in the intensity of their entente cordiale with the female servantry of London, living in large, airy, dry barracks, and provided with abundant well-cooked food, suddenly exposed to much discomfort and partial privation of lu.xuries, condemned to a, rupture of all friendly ties — to the abnegalion of pleasant Sunday dualities in bearskin cap and full-dress cane at Ilanip- stead-heath or Higligiite;— imagine them, too, penned, cribbed, and by no means " cabined," though certainly confined, between decks, so densely that they could scarcely turn when attacked by all the fantastic contortions of the mal de mcr, with uncertain and not always palatable meals, rendering tribute totheir unrecognised monarch Neptune, aiding in pulling at perplexing ropes, obliged to keep unintelligible watches over notliing but the stars and sea- water, mustered and " exercised" on unst eady planks, and debarred from any exerci.-fc, except scrambling for their daily bread ; and then know tli;it this flight of fancy was short of the trutli, and that these " Household troops" suffered anddidallthia, and more, and you will scarcely refuse the praise bestowed on them by all who witnessed tlieir beh.aviour and demeanour. The huge swarm of red-coats whicli settled on the decks of ss and cleanliness of appearance is not pui'chased at the cost of comfort. MILITARY COSTUIIE. 15 It is said that Sir George Brown and Brigadier-General Ben- tinck are so much opposed to any change in this respect that the officers and men under their command cannot hope to let their beards and moustaches grow. I am very certain that both those distinguished and excellent officers believe they are preserving a certain distinctive character to the British Army in this respect ; but if they find the disadvantages of the present practice are manifest in actual campaigning they will readily consent to a tem- porary alteration. In the same way, doubtless, the Highland regiments engaged in this campaign will be com^jelled by sanitary considerations, as well as regard for decency and comfort, to abandon the kilt, or, at all events, to follow the example of Zouaves and Albanians, and protect their legs from the sun and from brambles and thorns in a close country by wearing some covering on the leg. One word more. The ingenuity and good taste of the authori- ties should be exerted to devise a dress for the officers of the line regiments more comfortable and less unbecoming than the shell jacket, which has all the stringency of the stifi' regulation coatee ■without any of its advantages in point of appearance, and which exposes the wearer to ridicule wherever he appears for the first time. A major of eighteen stone, in all the unprotected boldness of his scarlet schoolboy's attire, is an object too serious for laughter and too dignified for pity, but at the same time he is extremely uncomfortable — buttoned in where he desires ease, and exposed where he requires covering, without pockets to put anything into, and conscious that he is rather wondered at than admired. A man in such a dress does not look hke a soldier, though he feels anything but peaceably disposed after a promenade through a gaping crowd, and even the most Antinous-hke of ensigns can scarcely aver that he considers the shell either useful or elegant. However, in tliis, as in many other things, necessity is the best teacher. With our men well clothed, well fed, well housed (whether in camp or town does not much matter), and well attended, there is little to fear. • They are all in the best possible spirits, and fit to go anywhere, and perhaps to do anything. But inaction brings listlessness and despondency, and in their train foUows disease. "\M:at we have most to fear in an encampment is an enemy that musket and bayonet cannot meet or repel. We have a fearful lesson in the records of the Eusso-Turkish campaign of 1828-9, in which 80.000 men perished by " plague, pestilence, and famine," and let any one who has the interests of this army at heart just turn to Moltke's history of that miserable invasion, and he will gi-udge no expense, and spare no precaution, to avoid, as far as human skill can do it, a repetition of such hoiTors. Let us have plenty of doctors. Let us have an overwhelming army of medical men to combat with disease. Let us have a staff— fuH and strong— of young and active and experienced men. Do not let our soldiers be killed by antiquated imbecility. Do not hand them over to the mercies of ignorant etiquette and effete seniority, but give the sick every chance which skill, energy, and abundance IG MALTA. of the best specifics may afford them. The heads of departments may rest assured the country will grudge no expense on this point, or on any other connected with the interest and eiEciency of the corps cV elite which England has sent from her shores. I believe, indeed, that the Home authorities are alive to the importance of this portion of military administration. There are ah-eady three first-class staff-surgeons at Constantinople — Messrs. Dumbreck, Linton, and Mitchell, and others are daily expected. At Malta we have several medical ofiicers of reputation — Dr. Burrell. at tlie head of the department ; Dr. Alexander, who served during the Caffre war ; Dr. Tice, late of the cavalry depot at Maidstone ; Mr. Smith ; and a great accession to their ranks is expected every day from England. The commissariat department is becoming more efiieient everyday, and, as far as lean judge, every possible effort is made to provide for the creature comforts of the troops. How- ever, this is a matter which will best be tested in the field. Tlie few complamts made as yet do not deserve much notice, and are likely to be obviated in future. On Tuesday last (28th) the " Montezuma," with 800 Chasseurs de Vincennes, some Zouaves, and about fifty horses, and the "Albatross," with more infantry and horses, arrived from France in the great harbour of Valetta. I visited m the course of the day, in company with a captain, our navy, and had an oijportunity of inspecting the quarters of the men, which was readily afforded to me by the courtesy of the captain and officers. The " Monte- zuma" is an ugly, stiff-built, paddle-wheel steam-frigate, with great breadth of beam and wall sides. On gaining her quarter- deck and looking forward, the deck seemed literally covered with men, packed closely together, and only broken by the rows of horse-boxes, by the funnel and deck cabooses. Descending on the spar deck, I found it was just possible to move through, and nearer inspection enabled me to see they were remarkably comi)act, mus- cular, and soldier-like looking fellows. The Zouave (who Mas an obje(;tof some curiosity to us all) wears a sort of red fez cap, Mith a roU of cloth at the base to protect the head ; a jacket of blue cloth, with red fiicings, decorated with some simple ornaments, and open in front so as to display the throat ; and a waistcoat, or under coat, of red comes dou n to the hips. Eound his waist a broad silk sash is folded several times, so as to keep up the ani])le pantaloons and to svipport the back. Tlie pantaloons, of scarlet cloth, fit close over the liips, and then expand to the most Dutch- man-like dimensions, till tliey ai'c gathered just below tlie knee in loose bagging i'olds ; so Ibat they look almost like a kilt. Prom the knee to the ankle the leg is protected by a kind of greaves, made of stout, yellow, embroidered Icatlier, laced (with black stripes) down the back and descending over the shoe. The whole costume is graceful, easy, and i)ic- turesque. The men (natives of France, and not Arabs, as many suppose) arc young smart fellows, about five feet six inclies in heiglit, l)urnt to a deep copper tint by the rays of an African sun, and wearing the most luxuriant beards, moustaches, and THE ZOUAVES. 17 whiskers; it is, however, hard to beheve those fierce-looking warriors are Europeans. Their amusements were simple enoufi;h. Every moment we had to stop till we could move around the card players who, squatted m groups on the deck, pipe in mouth, were earnestly engaged in the excitement of the contest to be determined by inscrutable-looking cards, of a dark mahogany colour. The stakes were almost nominal, and those who were not engaged in play, or in looking on, were busy aroimd the horses, all of which seemed full of spirits and briskness. These were placed in pairs in boxes about four and a half feet high, roughly made of wood, in two rows running fore and aft. and nailed and clouted to the deck. The horses had neither slings below nor cover of any kind above ; and if one slipped down in bad weather there seemed little chance of his ever getting np alive ; but, strange to say, they were all well, unliurt, and uninjured. The c^uarters of the men were not as good as our own by any means. A con- siderable nmnber of the men had to sleep on deck, as there was no room for them below, and in rain or sea-way they must have suffered from wet. Their kit seemed very light. As to the olBcers, they are apparently unprovided with many necessaries, and the average weight of their luggage does not come to more than 50lb. or 601b.. while we are grumbling at being I'estricted to 901b. They are all in the highest spirits, and look forward with great anxiety to their first brush with the Russians in company with the English. We subsequently visited the United States corvette " Levant," lying near, and were received with great kindness by the oflicers. She is a " box of guns." and would be a dangerous and crank ci'aft in bad weather, owing to the size of her masts and spars and the weight of her armament. ISTothing could exceed the exciuisite cleanliness of the ship in every part. Her crew were fine, stout, sailor-looking fellows, and the eye v,'as caught at once by the becoming dress of the marines — Prussiau blue, with bright yellow facings, and an old English shaped shako. Discipline seemed very smart on board. The Frenchmen sailed this evening, On the 29th the " Valetta" arrived with Sir George Brown on board, and eveiy one knew that there was but little chance of idling after that took place. The Eifle Brigade and two companies of Sappers and Miners, who had received orders to be in readiness, were embarked on board the fine screw steamer " Golden Fleece," belonging to the General Screw Steam Shipping Company, the following morning. Early on Thiu'sday. 30th, Su* John Burgoyne arrived from Constantino])le in the " Caradoc." No inspection of troops or public show of anj^ kind took place, and nothing remarkable occurred in Valetta. except the usual fraternization of French and English troops. The " Pluton" and another vessel arrived yesterday with Zouaves from Africa and the usual freight of horses, and the streets were full of men in scarlet and blue uniforms walking arm and arm together in un- communicative friendliness, their conversation being earned on by signs, pointing to their throats and stomachs, to express the primitive sensations of himger and thirst. In most cases the men. c 18 MALTA. saluted the foreign officers as if tliey were their own, and the greatest cordiality existed among them. They sailed the follow- ing day for Gallipoli. NotwithstaDding some statements which have appeared in the local journals, I must be permitted to say that the most entire good feeling seems to have pervaded the whole population of Malta towards the expeditionary army. Several of the higlier classes of the native inhabitants have made themselves remarkable for the empressement with which they have received the troops, and I have heard of cases whei-e the palaces and country mansions of the nobility and gentry were freely placed at the disposal of the officers by their owners. One gentleman at Sliema gave up the whole of his house, completely furnished, to the officers of the Scotch Fusileer Guards, and other instances of the same kind are not wanting ; but these generous oilers have been gratefully declined. April 12. Since the arrival in Malta of the declaration of war, the em- barkation of troops for Gallipoli has continued with unremitting assiduity, and the excitement produced in the island is almost indescribable. In either harbour crowds of people assembled, the crash of military music being almost drowned in the enthusiastic cheers of the soldiers ; the leave-taking by the officers and men of their wives and families forming a painful contrast to the joy which otherwise so generally prevailed. As the vessels moved slowly from their buoys, dense masses of people lined the batteries, and yet more dense crowds of soldiers the forts— those of St. Angelo and Eicasoh, in the great harbour, and those of Manoel and Tigne, in the quarantine, and St. Elmo, bet\^•een both— cheering their comrades as the vessels moved along, the cheers from one fort being taken up by the troops in the others, and as joyously responded to from on board. GALLIPOLI. CHAPTEE III. Departure of the " Golrlen Fleece" — A comet in the heavens — Monotoriy of life at SL'ii — l'"irst sij;ht ol'tlie I\I( iva — Desolate apiKMrauce of the ci):ist — Classical recoUectiuns supscsteil by a storm in the /Kpean — Vatica I'.ay — Ttie Isles of (ireece — Gulf of Athens — Mount Ida — The Darilanelles — Arrival at Galliijoli. GAM.iror.l, Afrril S. The "Golden Fleece," wliich entered the Dni'danellcs on tho evenii gof Wednesdny, th('5 h of April, and anchored ofl' Gallipoli, left Malta on Friday, the 31st of March, at 5 a.m., with the- A BLAZING COMET. 19 first portion of tlie British expeditionary army. Tlicre ^A■ero very few persons up to witness the departure of the noble ship with her living cargo. The morning was dark and overcast. A i'ew fisher- men, the boatmen ia the great harbour, and a solitary sentinel perched here and there along the long lines of white bastions, were, perliaps. all who saw the departvu'e of the advanced guard of the only British expedition that ha-; ever sailed to the land of the Moslem since the days of the Great Plantagenct. The blue Mediterranean assumed an indigo colour, stippled \\ ith patches of white foam, and was at times altogether lost to view to windward, as heavy squalls of wind and drenching rain flew over its surface. The showers were tropical in their vehemence and suddenness, so that, ere noon, the men on deck and the watch were thoroughly wet ; and. as they had no means of drying their clothes, or of washing their linen while on board, some of the Ilifles and Sappers were thus rendered rather uncomfortable for the day. Nothing was visible all day except a few wretched-looking gulls flapping in our wake hour after hour, in the hope of some unintentional contributions towards their livelihood fi'om the ship, and some dilapidated o.d coasters running as hard as they could scud for the dangerous shelter of the laud. Indeed, Jason himself and his crew, in a gale of wind, could scarcel.y have looked more uncom- fortable than the men did for some hours, though there was small resemblance indeed between the cruiser in which he took his passage and the " Golden Fleece," in which ovir troops were em- barked. The Eiflcs looked as sombre as fate, huddled up on deck to the lee of any available shelter, and " It all comes of sailing on a Friday," said a grumbling forecastle Jack. However, the anti- cipations of the tarry prophet were not as fully developed as he might have expected — there was no shipwreck or serious calamity. On the contrary, towards evening, the wind, rising gently, blew clouds and vapours away ; the sky cleared, the fine sharp edge of the great circle of waters of -nhich we were the black murky centre, revealed itself; and ere night closed in, the sun rushed out of his coat of cumuli, all bright and fervent, and sank to rest on a sea of fire. Even the gulls brightened up and began to look comfortable, and the sails of the flying craft, a^ay on the verge of the landscape, shone whitely in the distance. The soldiers dried their coats, and tried to forget sloppy decks and limited exercise ground, and night closed m on the ship with peace and comfort on her wings. As the moon rose, a wonder appeared in the Heavens — '" a blazing comet with a fiery tail," which covered five or six degrees of the horizon, and shone through the deep blue above. Here \Aas the old world-known omen of war and troubles. Many as they gazed on it felt the influence of the ancient tales creep over them, and associated tJiis ominous apparition with the errand of the British force to the East, and with the convulsion which impends over Europe, though Mr. Hind and Professor Airy and Sir J South may prove to demonstration that the comet aforesaid v as born or baptized in space, hundi'eds of years before Piince Menschikofi was ever thought of. c 2 20 GALLIPOLI. At last tlie comet got lost in the moon's liglit, and the gazers put out their cigars, forgot their i)hLlosophy and their fears, aban- doned vague astronomical surmise, and went to bed. The accom- modation on board the splendid ship was ample, the fare excellent, the servants attentive, and so the first day passed pleasantly, in spite of the rain. It is a pity almost that so much comfort and convenience should have anything to mar it, but the otlicers did complain a little that they were not allowed sheets to their beds, as the 4th regiment had been provided with them in their passage out in the same, to INIalta, and the wines and beer were only middling, though, in being so, they had much the advantage of the spirits, ^a hich were do\^nright execrable. Saturday (1st April), the next, passed as most days do at sea in smooth weather. The men ate and drank, and then walked on deck till they were able to eat and drink again, and so on tiU bed time._ No land was visible, but curious little brown owls, as if determined to keep up the traditions of the day, flew on board, and were cauglit in the rigging. They seemed to come right from the land of Minerva. In the course of the day many small birds fluttered on the yards, masts, and bulwarks, phimed their little jaded wings, and after a short rest, impelled by an inscrutable instinct, launched them- selves once more across the bosom of the deep. Some of them were common titlarks, others little grayish buntings, others yellow and black fellows whom I have not seen in Europe. They were agreeable visitors, and served to afford much entertainment to Jaclc and the soldiers. Three of the owls and a titlark were at once iuti'oduced to each other in a cage, and the ship's cat was thrown in by way of making an im2')rom2Jtii " happy family." The result rather increased my admiration for the itinerant zoologist of Trafalgar-square and Waterloo-bridge, inasniuch as pussy obstinately refused to hold any communication witli the owls — they seemed in turn to hate each other, and all evinced deter- mined animosity towards tlie unfortunate titlark, which speedily languished and died. Saturday and the following day mado amends for the wetness of its predecessor. There was. however, a head wind, whicli did not permit the ship to carry sail. There was no land in sight all day, and the only object worthy the attention bestowed on it was a French paddle-wheel steamer with troops on board and a trans])ort in to\\', ^^ liich was conjectured to be one of those tiiat liad left Malta some days previously. The men were paraded at half-past 10 o'clock, and between various duties and the indulgence of the keen appetites fostered by the sea air, mannged to get over the time very pleasantly. After dinner, when the band had done playing, the men of the Sappers assembled on the ([uarter-deck, and sang some glees excellently well, while the Killes in another part of the ship had a select band of vocal performers of their own, who sang comic and sentimental songs with very great ap])lause. Some of theni, apropos of the ex- pedition, and rather hard on the (iuards and their bearskins, dis- ])Uiycd considerable \\'\l and sense t>l' the ludicrous. At night tiio ircnchmau and his coiisort •were well do\\'n l)elow the horizon. BARREN ASPECT OP THE MORE A. 21 At dayliulit tlie land was visible N. byE.— a heavy cloud-like line resting on the grey water. It was the Morea, and the deck was speedily covered with officers rushing up to gaze on the old land of the jMessenians. If not greatly changed, it really is wonderfid what the Spartans could have wanted with it. Tyrta?us must have been sadly puzzled to have made anything attractive out of it. A more barren-looking coast one need not wish to see. It is like a section of the west coast of Sutherland in winter. The mountains — cold, rockj^ barren ridges of land — cidminate in snow-covered peaks, and the numerous villages of white cabins or houses dotting the declivity towards the sea did not succeed in depriving the place of a certain air of savage primitiveness which Uttle consorted with our ideas of its anti(juity and ancient fame. About 9 40 we passed Cape JMatapan, which seemed to have concentrated in itself all the rude charac- teristics of the sm-rounding coast. Although the old reputation of the Cape was not sustained by our amiihilation, still the sea showed every inclination to be troublesome, and the wind began to rise every moment. After breakfast the men were mustered, and the captain read prayers. At tliis time we were passing between the Morea and Cerigo. One could not help wondering what on earth could have possessed Venus to have selected such a wretched rock as Cj'therea now appears to be for her island home. Verily the poets have much to answer for. Had steamers existed in those days we had lost many fine bits of poesy. Not the boldest of them all — Horace, Ovid, or Anacreon — would have dared to fly into ecstasies about the terrestrial landing-place of Venus had he once beheld it. The fact is. the place is like Lambay, or Ireland's Eye. pulled out and expanded a little. When prayers were over, we had a proof that the Greeks were tolerably right about the weather. Even bolder boatmen than the ancients might fear the heavy" squaUs off" those snowy headlands, which gave us a very bad idea of sunny Greece in early spring. The ancients always attached a considerable amount of danger to the performance of a voyage round Capes Matapan and Malea ; and, indeed, if the best of triremes was caught in the breeze encountered by the " Golden Eleece" hereabouts, the crew would never have been troubled to hang up a votive tablet to their preserving deity. From 10 o'clock till 3 30 p.m. the ship ran along the diameter of the semi- cu'cle between the two Capes which mark the southern extremities of Greece. Cape Malea, or St. Angelo, is just such another bluff mountainous and desolate headland as Cape Matapan. and is not so civilized looking, for there are no villages visible near it. However, in a vei'.y rude hut on its south-east face resides a Greek hermit, who must have enormous opportunities for improving his mind, if Zimmerman is at all trustwoi-thy. He is not quite lost to the appetizing calls of natui-e, and has a great tenderness for ships* biscuit. Hence he generally hoists a little flag when a vessel passes near, and is often gratified by a supply of hard-bake. Had we been so minded as to administer to his luxuries, we could not have done so, for the wind when we came oft" this angle of the 22 GAtiLIPOLI. Cape rushed at us vith fuiy, and the instant we rounded it we saw the sea brolien into crests of foam making ric:ht at our bows. In fact, we had some reason again to find that the old mariners were not without warranty when they advised "* him w ho doubled Cape Malea to forget his home." We had got right into an Etesian wind— one of those violent Levanters which the learned am.ong us said ought to be the Euroclydon which drove St. Paul to Malta. Its violence was considerable, and sheltered as we were to eastward by clusters of little islands, the sea began to get up and roll in confused wedges towards the ship. She behaved nobly, and went over them buoyantly and with great ease, but with her small auxiliary steam power she could scarce hold her own against the breeze. As it increased we were driven away to leeward, and did not make much headway. The gusts came down furiously between all kinds of classical islands, which we could not make out, for our Maltese pilot ^ot frightened, and revealed the important secret that he did not know one of them from the other. The men bore up well against their Euroclydon, and emulated the conduct of the ship, and night came upon us, labouring in black jolting seas, dashing them into white spray, and running away into dangerous unknown parts without caring the least for the consequences. At daylight on ]\Ionday morning the sight was most unpromising; the clouds were black and low, the sea white and high, and the junction between them on the far horizon was of a very broken and promiscuous character, so that one could scarcely be known from the other. We had run thirty miles to lee- ward of our course, making not the smallest progress, but horribly buffeted about, the figure-head sluiced with spray and sea. Grey islets with foam flying over them lay around us indistinctly through the driving vajiovir which exhaled from the ^gean. To mis- trust of tlie pilot the fear of accident was added, and the helm ■was put up, and we wore ship at 6 30 a.m. in a heavy seaway. Ealconero was north, and ]\lilo south at daybreak, and the gale increased subsequently, till at 8 a.m. even sailors in their log con- sidered it deserved to be called " stormy, with heavy squalls." We saw a little screw-steamer beating away on our port quarter through the heavy sea. and at 9 30, just ere we bore away, we made her out to be the " Cape of Good Hope." As we ran back, she followed our example. The heavy sea setting in on our starboard quarter as we ran down towards Cape Malea the ship rolled very much — the deck v^as now and then inclined at so sharp an angle that the men could only hold on by tight grip of the stays and ropes, and the sons breaking over airorded tliem a very protracted material for merriment as they saw themselves and their officers well drenched by some great lumbering water lout who tossed liimself in over the bulwarks. By 3 '.lO p.m.. having run past St. Angelo once more, the sliip cast anchor in Vatika Bay, in the Morea. in twenty fathoms, the water being nearly smooth. Here lay a French steamer and brig- doubtless the same as those wo passed on Saturday — but they lay in close to shore, and we held no communication. We cheered them vigorously, but the men VATIK^\. BAT. 23 could not hear. Some time afterwards the " Cape of Good Hope" and a French screw-steamer also ran into the bay for shelter and aneliored near us. Tliis little flotilla evidently alarmed the in- habitants vei-y much, for the few who were fishing in boats fled to shore, and Me saw a great eflerveseence at a distant village of good stone houses. We had run forty-four miles from the point of return to the bay in three hours and a half and no doubt the apparition of such a force, flying the tricolor and the union jack, in the bay, so hastily assembled, frightened the people. They could be seen running to and fro along the sliore like ants when their nest is stu'red. At dusk our bands played the popular dance music of the day, and the mountains of the ]Morea for the first time since they rose from the sea to watch the birth of Venus echoed the strains of '" God save the Queen." The people lighted bonfii-es as if by way of signal on the hills, but the lights soon died out. At six o'clock on Tuesday morning the " Golden Fleece " left her snug anchorage in Vatika Bay, and ran past the old ground of South Morea and Cape St. Angelo, running by Poulo Bello at 10 45 a.m., with light wind and sea quite gone down. The Gi'eek coast, trending away to the left, showed in rugg.^d masses of mountains capped by snowy peaks, and occa- sionall.y the larger towns — -clusters of white specks on the dark purple of the hills — were visible ; but ei'e the evening the ship, having run safely through all the terrors of the ^Egean and its islands, dashed away right for the entrance to the Dardanelles. At 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning, however, it began to blow furiously again, the wind springing up as if " ^olus had just opened bag No. 2, and put on fresh hands at the bellows," to use the nautical simile. The breeze went down with the same rai)idity "with which it rose, and smooth seas accompanied the ship as she steamed past Mitylene. On the left lay the entrance to the Gulf of Athens — Euboea was on our left hand — Tenedos was before us — on our right rose the snowy heiglits of ]\Iount Ida — and the Troad (atrociously and unforgiveabl}" like " the Bog of Allen !") lay stretching its flat brown folds from the sea to the mountain side for miles away. Athos (said to be ninety miles distant) stood between us and the setting sun — a pyramid of purple cloud bathed in golden light ; and, as if to complete the utter confusion of ideas, and the dislocation of all association, the "Leander" frigate showed her number and went right away down from the very ■waters that lay between Sestos and Abydos, past the shadow of the giant mountain, stretching away on our port beam till lost to sight. At 9 30 the ship passed the Castles of the DardaneUes. She was not stopped nor flred at as of yore, but as she ran up higher the sentinels on the Eui'opean side screeched horribly and showed lights, and seemed to execute a convulsive pas of fright or valour on the rocks. Our only reply was the calm sounding of the tattoo on our bugles — the first time that ever the blast of English light infantry trumpets broke the silence of those antique shores. At\er midnight we arrived at Gallipoli, and anchored for the night. Mormng showed us a coUcction of red-roofed bams. 24 GALLIPOLI. with, tall white minarets rising up among th.em. These minarets are very like Irish round towers, renovated and whitewashed, with large extinguishers clapped on top by way of ornament. The breadth of the Dardanelles is about five miles opposite the toTiai, but the Asiatic and the European coasts run towards each other just ere they expand into the Sea of Marmora, so as to give the straits here the appearance of a bay. The country behind the town is hilly, and has not yet recovered the effect of the late very severe weather. Unless there is danger of the forces of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of All the Eussias getting by some means or other down on tlie very shores of the Dardanelles, the advantage of fixing our position at Gallipoli does not strike the unprofessional critic very forcibly. The place is a -nTctched collection of hovels, with 10,000 inhabitants, Turks, Jews, and Greeks, on the European side of the Dardanelles, at the north-western extremity of the strait, where it begins to expand mto the Sea of Marmora. It is exposed to much of the sun's rays ; but a range of hills running parallel to the coast-line affords considerable facilities for pitching a healthy encampment. As the crow flies it would appear to be about 120 miles from Constantinople across the Sea of Marmora. The geo- graphical accidents of Gallipoli would lead one to thiuk the array Ijlaced there is intended for occupation and defence. It would be within such a distance of Constantinople that, if the capital were in the smallest danger, the troops could be sent there in a few days, artillery, baggage, and all, whUe it efiectually commands the Dardanelles and the entrance to the Sea of Marmora, and makes it a mare clausum as it lists. But there arc other considerations not to be overlooked, and which become significant enough ^hen it is recollected that a small town, on a spit of land opposite the mouth of the Maritza, on the coast of Turkey to the north-east of Samothrace, was surveyed and examined for an encampment by Erench and English engineers. I mean the town of Enos. It is obvious that if some daring Muscovite general forcing a passage across the Danube beat the Turks and crossed the western ridges of the Balkan, he might advance southwards with very little hindrance to tlie very ^Egean ; and a dashing niarch to the south- east would bring his troops to the ^^estern shores of the Darda- nelles. An army at Gallipoli could check such a movement, if it ever entered into the head of any one but the person who is now writing of it. Gallipoli is in effect situate on almost the narrowest portion of tlie tongue of land or peninsida ■\\lnch, running be- tween the Gulf of Saros on the west and the Dardanelles on tho oast, forms the ^^■estern side of the strait. An army encamped here commands the yEgeaii and the Sea of Marmora, and can be marched norl h\\ ards to the Balkan, or sent across to Asia or up to Constanlino])le with ecpial facility. On Thursday morning early a boat came off from shore, with two commissariat ofhcers, ]\lessrs. Tm-ner and Bartlett, and an interpi'eter. Tliey informed us that the Consul had gone up the Dardanelles to look for us, but that he would retui'u iu the coui'se DISEMCAllKATION AT GALLIPOLI, li-) of the day, and added tlie unwelcome news tliat liorses were not to be had at any price, that provisions were not very cheap, and that the French, beino; the first comers, had got hold of the best part of the town, and of the best quarters as well. The French mail steamer for Marseilles jiist put in at the moment, and started so soon afterwards that we could scarcely get the Geuei'al's letters and despatches on board. After breaicfast, Lieutenant-General Brown, Colonel Sullivan. Captain Hallewell, aid-de-camp, and Captain Whitmore, aid-de-camp, started for the shore in the ship's boat, accompanied by the captain of the vessel and the commissary oiBcers. Sir George proceeded to visit the Pasha of Adrianople (Eustum Pasha), who had arrived here expressly by the orders of his Government to facilitate the arrangements and debarkation of the troops. He is an officer of high standing, and is said to be a man of great energ;\'' and ability. After their return, about half-past two o'clock, Lieutenant-General Canrobert, accompanied by one aid-de-camp, in full uniform, came on board, and was received by the Lieutenant-General. They had a long and animated conversation, and Sir George led him down the hold of the ship that he might have an opportunity of seeing how the troops were stowed, and their arms, &c., carried. The visit lasted an horn*, and was marked at its close with greater cordiality, if possible, than at the commencement. After making the neces- sary arrangements, the troops were disembarked to-day, and marched out to their camp, eight miles and a half north of Gallipoli. CHAPTEE IV. Receipt for creating a Turkish town — First come, best served — 'Want of pre- paration for the reception of the troops — Frencli activity and Englisli apathy — Inefficiency of the transport system — A hunt for quarters — Scarcity of pro>isions, and absence of medical comforts. Gailipoli, April 10. Take dilapidated outhouses of farmers' yards in England— remove ricketty old wooden tenements of HoljTvell-street, Wych-street, and the Borough — catch up, wherever you can, any seedy, cracked, shutterless structures of planks and tiles that have escaped the ravages of time in oiu" cathedral towns — carry off sheds and stalls from Billingsgate, and add to them the huts along the shores of the Thames between London-bridge and Greenwich — bring them all to the European side of the Straits of the Dardanelles, and having pitched on the most exposed portion of the coast, on a bare round hill, sloping away to the water's edge, with scarcely tree or shrub, tumble them " higgledy pig- gledy" on its declivity, in such M'ise that the streets may resemble, on a large scale, the devious traces of a bookworm tlu-ough some old tome — let the roadway be very narrow, of irregularly var5^ing breadth, according to the bidgings and projections of the houses, and filled with large round shppery stones, painful and hazardous 26 GALLIPOLI. to walk upon — Iiere and tliere borrow a dirty gutter from a back street in Boulogne — let the liouses in parts lean aeross to each other so that the tiles meet, or that a few planks thrown across from over the doorways unite and form u sort of " passacre" or arcade — steal some of our popular monuments, the shafts of various national testimonials, or Irish round towers — surround them with a light gallery about twelve feet from the top, put on a large extinguisher-shaped roof, paint them all white, and having thus made them into minarets, clap them down into the maze of buildings — then let fall big stones all over the place — plant little ■windmills with odd-looking sails on the crests of the hill over the town — transport the ruins of a feudal fortress from Northern Italy, and put it in the centre of the town, with a flanking tower extending to the water's edge — erect a few buildings of wood by the waterside to serve as cafe, custom-house, and government stores — and, when you have done this, you have to all appearance imitated the process by which the town of Gallipoli was created. The receipt, if tried, will be found to answer beyond belief To fill it up you must, however, catch a number of the biggest breeched, longest bearded, dirtiest, and stateliest old Turks (to be liad at any price in the Ottoman empire) ; provide them with pipes, and keep them smoking all day on little wooden stages or platforms about two feet from the ground, by the water's edge or up the main streets, as well as in the shops of the bazaar (one of the " passages" or arcades already described) ; see that they have no shippers on, nothing but stout woollen hose (their feet gear being left on the ground below), shawl turbans (one or two being green, for the real descendant of the Prophet), fur-luied flow- ing coats, and bright-hued sashes round the waist, in which are to be stuck silver-sheathed yataghans and ornamented Da- mascus pistols ; don't let them move more than tlieir eyes, or express any emotion at the sight of anything except an Eng- lish lady ; then gather a noisv, picturesque, and active crowd of fez-capped Greeks in baggy blue breeches, smart jackets, sashes, and rich vests — of soberly-dressed Armenians — of intellectual- looking Jews, with keen flashing eyes — Chasseurs de Vincennes, Zouaves, British Kiflemen, vivaiidieres, Sapi^ers and Miners, Nubian slaves, camel- drivers, commissaries, oflicers, and sailors, and direct them in streams through the streets round the little islets in Avhich the smoking Turks are harboured, and you will do much to populate the i)lace. It \^ ill he oljserved there are no women mentioned, but children are not by any means wanting — on the contrary, there is a ghit of tiunn, in the Greek quarter particularly, and now and then a bundle of clothes, in yellow leather boots, and covered at the top witli a piece of white linen, may be seen moving about, which you will do well to believe con- tains a woman ueitlier young nor pretty. Dogs, so large, savage, tailless, hairy, and curious!y-sh;ii)ed, that Wonibwell coidd make a fortune out of them if aided by any clever zoological nomen- clalor, ju'owling alonir the sliore and walking throujaii the shallow water, iu a\ hicii stands a herd of bullocks and buil'alocs wailing . DIFFICULTIES MULTIPLY. 27 till the araba, or cart, is ready for them — six French steamers, and three French transports, with the tricolor flying, and the paddlebox boats full of troops on their way to land — a solitary English steamer, with the red ensign, at anchor in the bay — and some Greek polaccas, with their beautiful white sails and trim rig, flying down the straits, \Ahicii are here about three and a half miles broad, so that the villages on the rich swelling hills of the Asia Minor side are plainly visible, — all these must be added, and then the picture is tolerably complete. In truth, it is a wretched place — picturesque to a degree, but, like all picturesque things or places, horribly uncomfortable. The French came first, and like all first-comers, they are the best served. When the " Golden. Fleece" came in on Thursday night there was no pilot to show her where to anchor, and it was nearly an hour ere she ran out her cable in nineteen fathoms water. No one came off to her, for it ■was after midnight, and there was something dej)ressing in this silent reception of the first British army that ever landed on the shores of these straits. As we entered tlie portals of the Dar- danelles, and rushed swiftly up between its dark banks, we tried to discern the outline of the villages on its shores. The sentinels on the forts and along the ridges challenged loudly — shouting to each other to be on the alert — the band of the Rifles all the while playing the latest fashionable polkas, or making the rocks ac- quainted with "Rule Britannia" and "God save the Queen." !duc all these things ceased at Gallipoli, and when morning came we only felt sorry that nature had made it a desirable place for us to land at. The tricolor was floating right and left, and the blue coats of the French were well marked on shore, the long lines of bullock carts stealing along the strand towards their camp making it evident that they were taking care of themselves. As it hap- pened, our active, intelligent, and able Consul had gone down to the towers of the Dardanelles to look for us, but we had escaped liim in the dark. The first thing that happened after the visit of the commissaries Mas characteristic. The General desired to send for the Consul, but the only way of doing so was by water, and the only vessel available for the purpose was a small Turkish Imperial steamer near us. The Consul's dragoman, a grand- looking Israelite, prepared to go on the expedition, but the engineer on board had just managed to break lus leg. He there- fore requested the loan of our engineer, as no one could be found to undertake the careof the steamer's engines, and, after a successful cruise, he returned in the evening with the Consul, Mr. Calvert, on board. Now, will it be credited, that no instructions whatever were sent to the Consul to prepare for the reception of this force at Gallipoli? The only steps taken by the authorities were to send two commissary officers, without interpreters or stafi", to the town a few days before tlie troops actually landed, to make provi- sion for them. These offi ;ers could not sj^eak the language, nor were they furnished witn any facilities for making themselves intelligible ; their proceedings, therefore, in all matters of pur- chase, hii-e, or contract, were necessarily very slow, and. 28 GALLIPOLI, considering the pressure of the French demands, it is very wonderful they were so successful. However, the Euglish Consul was, fortunately, a man of energy ; he came to Gallipoli, and found the French had literally got hold of tlie town from the Turkish Council. It is ailirmed here, indeed, that so vigorously did General Canrohert speak in making requisitions for his army, that tlie Pasha asked him whether the French were come as allies to assist, or to treat them as a conq\iercd i^rovince. The story fiirther goes that General Canrohert next day sent an aid-de- camp to the Pasha, to say that he was a soldier, and in command of an army, and had perhaps spoken too warmly ; and that the Pasha (Koostum) replied, that he too was a soldier, and had heen. in command of an arm.y, but that he never coidd have considered these circumstances justified the use of such language. This by way of parenthesis. Mr. Calvert went to the Turkish Covmcil, reminded them that there were British troops yet to come, and succeeded in having half of the quarters in the town reserved to him for their use. Nest day he visited and marked ofi" the houses ; but on his return the French authorities said they had made a mistake as to the portion of tlie town they had handed over to him, and he of course had to yield and give them up. They have the Turlcish part of the town, close to the water, with an honest and favourable population; the English have got the Greek quarter, furtiier up the hill, and perhaps the healthier, with dex- terous tradesmen, and a population which hates them bitterly, and regards them as foes quartered on them by force of arms. Mr. Calvert was aided considerably in his efforts by an oificer of E-oyal Engineei's, the Hon. Captain Wrottesley, wlio has been surveying this neighbourhood and the surface of the isthmus since the de]3artui-e of Sir J. IBurgoyne. I liave great hesitation in expressmg an opinion on a subject of such difficulty as the selection of a position for an army of occupation or defence, but in one or two important particulars the site (said to be fixed upon by Sir J. Burgoyne and Colonel Ardent) seems in my eyes unfavourable. It is obviously difficult to get supplies to the men defending it from the country — they must be brought by sea or across from Asia Minor. Next, it is not well provided with water ; and, thirdly, there is a want of wood as well as of shelter. The line of intrenchments which are to be thrown up across tlie neck of the isthnius will take three mcnths for our disposable force to make. Some alterations in the original plans arc said to have been i^roposed in General Vaillant's office in Paris ; but it is understood that at or near the line passing right across the front of the British camp from the Straits to the Gulf of Saros are to be erected a series of field works and intrenchments of consider- able magnitude. The camp I speak of is that occupied by the Eifles and Sappers and Miners, within three miles of the village of Bxdair (or Blejar). It is on a gentle slope of the ridge which runs along the isthmus, and commands a view of the Gulf of Saros, but the Sea of Marmora is not visible from it. Sanitary and cer- tain other considerations may have rendered it advisable not to THE CAMP AT BULAIPt. 29 select tliis village itself, or some point closer to it, as the position for the camp ; but as far as I can see, the isthmus is narrower at Bulair, could be more easily defended, would not require so much time or labour to put it into a good state of defence, and is better adapted for an army as regards shelter and water than the positioji chosen at present. Of course 1 say this with great deference to the opinion of the very high authorities who chose the ground, and I would not express it at all were I not embold- ened to do so by the fact that I heard it stated that Sir John Bur- goyne was not engaged more than ten minutes examining the spot. Bulair is ten and a half miles from Gallipoli, so the camp is about seven and a half from the port at which its supplies are landed, and where its reinforcements arrive. However, they are talking of building some works on the coast, so as to enable troops to disembark within a couple of miles from the camp ; and the engineers have also drawn out a plan for a new pier at Gallipoli, at which boats could come close up and laud men and horses with, greater facility than at present. Sir George Brown, commanding the First Division of the Bri- tish Expeditionary Army, Colonel Sullivan, Assistant- Adjutant- General, Dr. Alexander, first-class Staff-Surgeon, Captain Whit- more, Aid-de-Camp, &c., the Rifle Brigade, and two companies of Sappers and Miners, under Lieutenant-Colonel "Victor, arrived, as we have seen, on Wednesday night (Thursday morning), but it was mid-day on Saturday ere the troops were landed and sent to their quarters. Whj" was this ? Because nothing was ready for them ! The force consisted of only some thousand and odd men, and small as it was, it had to lie idle for two days and a half wat<"liing the seagulls, or with half-averted eye regarding the ceaseless activity of the French, the daily arrival of their steamers, the rapid transmission of their men by the paddle-box boats of their vessels to shore, and the admu-able completeness of all their aiTangements in every detail — hospitals for the sick, bi-ead and biscuit bakeries, waggon trains for caiTying stores and baggage — eveiy necessary and every comfort, indeed, at hand, the moment their ships came in. On our side not a British pendant was afloat in the harbour ! Our great naval State was represented by a single steamer belonging to a private company. Well might a Turkish boatman ask, " Oh, why is this? Oh, why is this, young man? By the beard of the Prophet, for the sake of your father's father, teU me, O Enghsh Lord, how is it? The French iulidels have got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven ships, with fierce little soldiers ; the English infidels, who say they can defile the graves of these French (may Heaven avert it!), and who are big as the giants of Asli, have only one big ship. Do they tell Hes?" (Such was the translation given to me of my interesting water- man's address). It is all very well to talk about the fine moral effect of developing the energies of the country and relying on the effects of private enterprise, but the thing is not understood abroad (perhaps not much at home either), and experience con- vinces me, as it has convinced every one who has seen the system 30 GALLIPOLI. at vrork, tliat it would be far better for tbo Govermnent, even at an increased expense of some thousands a year, to keep up an elBcieut steam transport navy in time of p?ace than to derange the operations and channels of commerce, and disturb the com- munications and workings of our great mercantile associa- tions, by seizing on their ships in time of war. Sokliers suffer by it--sailors complain of it — the officers of the sliips don't like it — and the companies grumble internally, and talk about the damage and loss they sustain in consequence oP their best vessels being engaged as transports. The soldiers suffer by the system, because they never are so mcII provided with sleeping and other acconmiodation on board the very best and largest of these vessels as they are on board the Government ships built on purpose to convey them. They are stowed away in these vessels in the spaces left unoccupied by cargo, provisions, coals, &c., instead of being placed between decks with plenty of hammock room ; and the comfort of the officers in fine saloons and ample berths is only gained at the cost of the men. In the same way, whenever the soldiers are obliged to land, they are subject to the delay, discomfort, and even danger, of ill-managed shore boats, instead of being carried drily and comfortably in paddle-box boats, or in men-of-war launches. Then the sailors complain of being penned up by the men, and of the great increase of labour in ^^ ashing and cleaning the vessel, as well as of many other things which the marine habit of fault-finding with " sojers" will suggest to the active fancy. A dandy new ship, all brass work and paint, with gold and maple and papier-mache drawing-rooms, is certain to sutler when employed as a transport for 1000 men, with ammunition and arms. If Government dockyard engineers could only b ;ild engines that would keep in order now and then, or if the Government woidd al\\avs employ men like Penn, Maudslay, or Napier, they might maintain a ficet of twelve good steamers to act as transports. There will be plenty to be done with them as long as wo have colonies and distant empires to manage. We have always troops at sea, troops coming hoTue or going out, and a powerfid maritime nation like ourselves should take shame to see other nations doing that ^^hichwe are unwillincf to effect. At this very moment there is a good deal of anxiety felt here concerning the officers and men of the Eiile Brigade, who sailed in the " Sir George Pollock " sailing vessel the other day from Malta. No one would be at all uneasy if it were known they lia.l end)arked in a nuvn-of'-war, even though it was the Simoom. The French, however they manage it, are able to send very much greater numbers of men, though they pack their ships too much and have small and insuilicienl vessels in use. On Thursday there was a ixeniu'al hunt for quarters through the town. Mr. Calvert, the consul, attended by dragoman and a train of lodging seekers, went from house to house ; but it was not till the eye had got accustomed to the general style of the buildings and fittings that any of them seemed willing to accept the places ofl'ered them. The General got a very fine ]jlace in a UNCOMFORTABLE QUARTERS. 31 heau quariier, wnth a view of an old Turk on a counter lookiiifr at liis toes in perpetual perspective. Colonel Sullivan and staff' ■nere equally successful. From one learn all : — The hall door, which is an antiquated concern — not affording any particular re- sistance to the air to speak of — opens on an apartment with clay walls of about ten feet high, and of the length and breadth of the ■phole house. It is garnished with the odds and ends of the domestic deity — with empty barrels, with casks of home-made wine, buckets, baskets, &c. At one side a rough staircase, creak- ing at every step, conducts one to a saloon on the first floor. This is of the plainest possible appearance. On the sides are stuck prints of the " Nicolaus ho basileus," and of the Virgin and Child (after the Greek school), with wonderful engravings from Jerusalem. There is no furniture. It may be observed that as the schism between the Greek Catholic and the Eoman Catholic Churches arose out of the discuss'on of an intricate question on the subtlest point of theology, they fight bittei'ly on matters of very fine dis- tinction yet. Thus the Greeks are iconoclasts, and hate images, but they adore pictures. A yellow Jonah in a crimson whale with fiery entrails, is a favourite subject for these artists, and doubtless bears some allegorical meaning. From this saloon open the tv\o or three rooms of the house— the kitchen, the divan, and the principal bedroom. The floors are covered with matting, but, with the exception of the cushions on the raised platform round the wall of the room (about eighteen inches from the floor), there is nothing else in the rooms offered for general competition to the public. Above are dark attics. T'oila tout! My apartment ■n ould form a study for Dr. Eeid or Mr. Gurney. If they want to understand the true principle of keeping up a current of fresh air everywhere, let them at once come out to Gallipoli, and become my successors in the possession of this remarkable chamber. True, the walls are of mud and straw, and the stair- case has been devised expressly for the purpose of entrapping the first heavy Turk viho may happen to stride up. It is the thinnest woodwork possible. "VYater is some way off, and the philosophers, if not provided with servants who can s^jeak the language, and an allowance of rations from her jNfajesty's stores, may be seen soon after their arrival stalking up the street with as much dij-'niiy as is compatible with the circumstance of their carrying a sheep's liver on a stick in one hand, some lard in the other, and a loal of black bread under their arms— at least, your cor- respondent the other day had to adopt that course or die of hunger. There is not such a thirg as a pound of butter in the Mhole ccuniry, meat is very scarce, fowls imj)ossible, but the country w ine is fair enough, and eggs are not so rare as mijiht be imagined from the want of poultry. Lieutenant-General Brown is in one of these houses; Colonel Sullivan and staff in another. Officers coming out here should know w hat they have to expect. Let them provide themselves with everything they are likely to yvant. for thev w ill find nolh'ng at Gallipoli. The nights and morn- ings are cold even yet, and the thermometer in the shade does not 32 GALLIPOLI. mark beyond 57°. Indeed, tlie spring is not nearly so far advanced as it is in England, and the trees and shrubs are only just begin- ning to bud. There is no chance of getting horses at present for love or money — indeed, comfort or necessary accommodation is out of the question. In every respect the French can teach us a lesson in these matters. AYhile oiu* sick men have not a mattress to lie down upon, and are literally without blankets, the French are well provided for. AVe have no medical comforts — none were forwarded from Malta — and so when a poor fellow was sinking the other day, the doctor had to go to the General's and get a bottle of wine for him. The hospital sergeant was sent oat with a sovereign to buy coffee, sugar, and other things of the kind for the sick, but he could not get them, as no change was to be had in the place. After this it is annoj'ing to visit the French hospital and see them so well prepared. Everything requisite is nicely made up in small packages, so that they can be carried on mules' backs, and marked with labels, so that one can lay his hand on what is wanted in a minute. The French arc very troublesome in getting what they ■SAant, and already some little difficulties have arisen from their desire to lay hold of everytliing. Dr. Alexander has managed to get beds for about 200 patients in different houses, and he goes down to-day with Mr. Calvert to the Dardanelles to look at the building which is destined for the prin- cipal medical establishment. At night the cold is severely felt. Lady Errol, mIio accompanies her husband, and lives imder canvas with him, was an object of creat curiosity and wonder to the Turks as she rode off from the beach. All the neighbouring hills are dotted with the tents of the French. As M. Sabatier has given it as his opinion that there is only water at Bulair and the lines for a brigade, General Canro- bert has proposed tliat the works should be carried on by three regiments from each army at a tune, the Ejiglish to be relieved by the French, and so on. CHAPTER V. rrivations and sickness in tlie eaniiis — Charges against flip commissariat — General confusion and bewilderment — Superiority of the French arrange- ments — Enslisli and French foragers — Sir George Urown's penchant for hard fighting, close shaving, tight stocking, and light marching. Gallipoli, .ijiril 13. The camps in the neighbourhood of this town extend and increase in numbers every day, and with the augnu'ntalion of the allied forces the privations towhicli tlu" men areex])osi'd become greater, the inelilciency of our arrangements more c^vident, and the excellence of the French commissariat administration more strikingly in contrast. There are two cases of smallpox in hospital, which came from the " Golden Fleece," and, as she had some cases of the same disease on board before she sailed from COMMISSARIAT DEFICIENCIES. 33 Malta, it is to be hoped the medical officers there will purify her before she returns here with more men. The soldiei's attacked are going on favourably, and the disease is not spreading. A prl- vate of the Rifle Brigade committed suicide in camp, and died on the 10th. No cause is assigned for the act. Amid the multitude of complaints which meet one's ear from every side, the most prominent are charges against the commissariat ; but I am satis- fied that the officers here are not to blame. The persons really culpable are those who sent them out without a proper staff, and without the smallest foresight or consideration. Early and late I meet them toiling amid a set of apathetic Turks and stupid araba di'ivers, trying in vain to make bargains and give orders in the language of signs, or aided by interpreters who imderstand neither the language of the contractor nor contractee. And then the officers of a newly arrived regiment rush on shore, demand bullock- carts for the luggage, guides, interpreters, rations, &c., till the unfortunate commissary is quite be'n Udered. There are only four commissary officers here, all deputj'-assistant-commissaries-general — Messrs. Turner, Bartlett, Thompson, and Smith, and they are obhged to get on as well as they can with the natives. It is said the authorities have sent to Constantinople for interpreters. Surely it was rather a late thought at this time of day ! The French have a perfect baggage train, and carry off all their stores and baggage to their camps the moment they land, while we are compelled to wait till a proper number of araba carts have been collected, instead of having an organized administration and train department to do what is required. From the Lieutenant-General downwards every one does his best. The Engineer officers are liarticularly active and indefatigable, and yet httle seems to be done. Some of the men of the regiments recently landed affinn that they have had no meat rations since they came on shore, and the soldiers of the 93rd are said to have fed on some bullocks which drew the waggons that brought their baggage to the camp. The men suffer exceedingly from cold. Some of them, officers as well as privates, have no beds to lie on. None of the soldiers have more than their single regulation blanket. They therefore reverse the order of things, and dress to go to bed, putting on all their spare clothes and warm clothing before they try to sleep. The worst thing I have to report is the continued want of comforts for the sick. Many of the men labouring under diseases con- tracted at Malta are obliged to stay in camp in the cold, vrith only one blanket under them, as there is no jjrovision for them at tlie temporary hospital. Mr. Alexander, the senior staff surgeon, with commendable activity, succeeded in getting hold of some hundreds of blankets by taking on himself the responsibility of giving a receipt for them, and taking them off the hands of the command- ing officer of one of the regiments from Malta on AVed.uesday last. This responsibility is a horrid bugbear, but no man is worth his salt who does not boldly incur it at such a time as this, whenever he thinks the service is to be benefited. It T^•0ldd be lucky if 34 GALLIPOLI. we had a greater supply of people of desirable recklessness, and things would go on much better. Independent of previous arrangements, there is no disgTiisin^ the fact that the French get on much better than we do. Why ? Because they bully the natives where we tiy to carry our point by soft sainder. Thus, General Canrobert treats them very much a la Kahyle, and is respected accordmgly. The French Com- mandant de Place has posted a tariff of all articles which the men are likely to want on the -nails of the town, and regulates the exchanges like a local Eotbschild. A Zouave wants a fowl ; lie sees one in the hand of an itinerant poultry merchant, and he at once seizes the bird, and, giving the proprietor a franc — the tariff price — walks off with the prize. The Enghshman, on the contrary, more considerate and less protected, is left to make hard bargains, and generally pays twenty or twenty-five per cent, more than his sMj. These Zouaves are first-rate foragers. You may see them in all directions, laden with eggs, meat, fish, vege- tables (onions), and other good things, while our fellows can get nothing. Sometimes our servant is sent out to cater for breakfast or dinner : he returns with the usual " Me and the colonel's servant has been all over the town, and can get nothing but eggs and onions. Sir ;" andlo! round the corner appears a red-breeched Zouave or Chasseur, a bottle of wine under his left arm, half a lamb under the other, and poultry, fish, and other luxuries dangling round him. " I'm sure I don't know how these French manages it. Sir," says the crestfallen Mercury, and retires to cook the eggs. But the French have established a restaurant for their officers, and at the "Auberge de I'Armee Expedition- naire," close to General Bosquet's quarters, one can get a dinner ■which, after the black bread and eggs of the domestic hearth, appears worthy of Philippe. To show the reckless way in which the French treat their allies I may mention, that within view of the miserable room in which I write there lies a burial-ground, ■with its white headstones shining brightly in the sun amid the greensward. Right through the centre of this a fatigue party from a French regiment is driving a road to their camp, while horror-stricken Greeks, J\Ioslenis, and Jews stand by with up- raised eyes and arms. There is no people on earth who pay such reverence to the departed as these Orientals ; and it is scarcely possible to imagine what their feelings are as they sec these stout, active little men, with pipe in mouth, shovelling away the bones and skulls of their ancestors to some favourite air of a popidar camp oi)era. I have visited the spot, and have seen the mass of shattered skeletons sticking up through the black earth thrown up by the side of the new road. Whether any official notice has been taken of this act or not I am unable to say, but I know that in our general orders the greatest stress is laid on treating the Turks with proper respect, and both officers and men are strictly enjoined to i)ay every deference to " the most ancient and faithful of our allies." The soldiers appear to act in strict conformity m ith the spii'it of these instructions. They buy MILITARY COSTUME. 35 everything tliey want, but if any one takes a walk into the country he will see the fields dotted hy stragglers from the French camp, tearing up hedgestakes, vines, and sticks for fuel, and looking out generally with eyes wide open for the pot a feu. The few wretched sheds here which are dignified with the names of " shops" are rendered all biit useless by the number of holy days kept by the Greek church, for, the bulk of the shopkeepers being members of that body, there are closed shutters in the bazaar at this season four days out of the seven. With the exception of the vivandieres, the French bring no women whatever with them. Will it be credited that the Malta authorities, acting, of course, on orders from home, have had the egregious folly to send out no less than ninety -seven women in the '" Georgiana"to this desolate and miserable place, where men are hard set to hve ? The General, however, does not seem incUned to let them land, and it is to be hoped this indiscretion will not be repeated. They are now on board the ship, which is at anchor ofi" the town. Two cliildren were born during the voyage. The Lieutenant-General com- manding the division is evidently actuated by a sincere desire to do all in his iDower for the comfort of the men, but he is also de- termined to secure theu* efficiency. If Sir George Brown had his way. however, I gi-eatly fear that Eowland, Oldridge, and the whole race of bears'-grease manufacturers and pomade merchants, would have scant grace and no pi'ofit. No one under his com- mand need dread the fate of Absalom. His hatred of hair is almost a mania. "Where there is much hair there is dirt, and where there is dirt there will be disease." That is an axiom on which is founded a vigorous war against all capdlary adornments, and in vain engineers, exposed to all weathers, and staff-officers exhibit sore and bleeding hps ; they must shave, no matter what tlie result is. The stocks, too, are to be kept up, stiff as ever. On the march of the Rifles to their camp at least one man fell out of the ranks senseless ; immediate recovery was effected by the si;:iple process of opening the stock. The General A\ill not allow the Uttle black pouches hitherto worn on the belt by officers. They are supposed to carry no pockets, and are not to open their shell jackets; and the question they veiy naturally ask is, "Does the General think we are to have no money?" By the new orders more stringent regulations are to be enforced about baggage, &c. Commandmg officers of regiments are ordered to return to store all tents beyond the number of 90 which may be in their possession ; the eff'ect of this is that there will be no tent for either the advance or rear guard, and it would appear, too, that the subalterns do not receive the accommodation to which they are entitled according to the regulations of the army. But the order which has given the gi-eatest dissatisfaction is that which provides that each officer must carry liis own tent. They are \\arned to provide mules for that purpose, and to carry their baggage, but mules ai'e not to be had at any price. The arriere pensee, in giving this order, may be to diminish as much as possible the weight of baggage, and, indeed, the General dispels any delusions D 2 36 GALLIPOLI. on tills head witli ffreat vigour and precision. For hard fighting, close sha^-ing, tight stocking, and light marching, commend me to Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown. A kinder man to the soldiers, or one who looks more to their rights, does not live, and I have no " but" to add to this praise. The works at Bulari (Plajar), which are now being proceeded with by the troops, were planned by the French and English engineer officers before and at the time of Sir John Burgoyne's visit, with modifications suggested by General le Vaillant. Their character may be easily ex))lained. The general outline of the Chersonese resembles the longitudinal section of a pear, the broad end being southwards, facing the Isle of Imbros and the ^gean Sea, the narrow end tapering away at Bulari till it swells into the continent north of Jasily, on the Sea of Marmora, and Kawak, on the Gulf of Saros. Along the centre of this peninsula a ridge of hills runs north and south as far as Bulari. where it terminates somewhat abruptly. The isthmus is here about two miles and three-quarters broad from the Dardanelles to the Gulf of Saros. Intrenchments and strong earthworks of a formidable nature wiU. be cast up across this neck of land, so as to secure the Dardanelles completely against any cok]] de main, or any assault, except the successful advance of a regular army, with trains of artillery, &c. In the centre of these lines, within a short distance from the village of Bulari, it is intended to erect a strong pentagonal forti- fication to crown the works, and cover the flanks towards the sea. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the Gulf of Saros, are all open to these w'orks, and a very small force could hold them against an invading army, which would run the risk of having its communications cut off in the rear, and could be hampered on every side by an enemy in command of the sea. Scutari Barracks, Constantinople, April 1 5. The " Himalaya" came into Gallipoli bay or harbour on Thurs- day last. Captain Kellock had his usual good fortune, and made a passage from Malta to this i^ort of sixty-two hours. Just hear what she carried. Of the 33rd llegunent, she had 839 men ; of the 41st Regiment, 79!) ; of Ihc crew, about 150 — in a word, she bore within her iron ribs — men, women, and officers — a burden of more than "ilOO souls. The land as far as it could be seen was glittering white. The wind was keen to a degree, and we liad but a sorry notion of the bidljul and the rose for living in such a climate. Nothing coidd be done in such A\cathcr, but the ti-oops were gladdened by the news that, instead of encamping atUnkiar Skelessi, they were to be fiuartcred in tlie splendid i)ile of buildings across the Bosphorus — the new barracks at Scutari. The troops were landed this morning. Brigadiei'-General Adams was received by the Pasha witli every mark of distinction, troops under arms and band playing. &c. ; and all the Tiu'kish soldiers were at once set to make pikffi for the new comers. ARRIVAL OF FRESH TROOPS. 37 CHAPTEE VI. Arrival of fresh transports and troops — Dear provisions, and cheating dealers — Picture of a Inizuar — Military aspect of the town — Frencli and English uniforms — Djeniil I'asha — A Turkish constitutional reformer — Perilous adventure of " Our Own Correspondent." Gallipoli, April 21. On Sunday last (IGtli April) the " Indus" and " Cambria" arrived ofi'the Seraglio Point, Groldon Horn, at ten, a.m., and after run- ning up and down across its mouth proceeded to Ilnkiar Skelcssi up the Bosphorus, alDout nine miles from Constantinople, not having received any orders from the authorities to laud their troops, and acting in obedience to the general instructions of Sir George Brown to disembark the men at that latter station. As soon as it was known they had gone up. Captain Adams, Aid-de- Camp to Brigadier-General Adams, started after them, and suc- ceeded late in the day in commimicating with the ships, and commanding their returnto Constantinople. The "Cambria" arrived the same evening at her moorings off the barracks at Scutari ; but the "Indus," being disabled, did not reach the mouth of the Bos- phorus till the following clay. The regiments these vessels have on board, namely, the 77th and the 49th, will take up their quarters at the Scutari barracks. The '' Niagara," with the 88th on board, reached Gallipoli on the morning of the 18th, and, on receipt of orders from the General, started for Constantinople also. The troops landed on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus are the 33rd, 41st, 49th, 77th, and 88th. We have at Gallipoli the 4th, 28th, 44th, 50th, 93rd, and Eifle Brigade, m all about 5000 men. The French have been pouring in their troops in swarms. At present they must have 22,000 men in the neighbourhood of this place, and the narrow streets are almost impassable from the crowds of soldiers going and coming with ceaseless tramp. The Zouaves, from their picturesque costume, cptite throw our men into the shade — all but their heads and shoulders, which rise in imniistakeable broadness above the fez caps of their Gallic allies. Even the Zouaves yield the prize of effectiveness to the Chasseurs Indigenes, or French Sepoys. These troops wear a -nhite turban, loose powder-blue jackets, faced and slashed with j'ellow, em- broidered vests with red sashes, and blue breeches, extremely wide and loose, so that they look hke kilts falling to the knees, where they are confined by a band ; the calf of the leg is encased in greaves of yellow leather with black stripes ; and white gaiters, falling from the ankle over the shoe, complete this very striking uniform. Provisions are dear, but in sufficient quantity, for the country begins to feel the pressure of the demand from without, and the pashas are indefatigable in providing for the wants of the army as far as possible. Every day long strings of camels laden with skins of coarse strong wine, raki, and corn may be seen stalking along 38 GALLirOLI. the dusty roads and filing through the dingy bazaar, and wild- looking countrymen with droves of little shaggy ponies troop in hour after hour to sell the produce they carry and the beasts that bear it. They are corrupted already, and have quite lost the sim- plicity of then- mercantile notions. Instead of piastres they begin to demand lire, shillings, pounds, and Napoleons, and they display ingenuity in the art of selling horses and doctoring them that would do honour to Yorkshirenien. The coarse brown bread of the country is to be had at the bakers' shops early in the morning by those who are not so fortunate as to have rations, and after a little preparatory disgust is not quite uneatable. Wine, which was formerly two or three piastres (4d. or 5d.) a bottle as an outside price, is now sold for Is. 6d. or 2s. Meat is bad and dear, the beef being very like coarse mahogany ; the mutton is rather better, but very lean. Eggs are becoming scarce and dear, in consequence of the razzias of the army on the producing powers. Milk is an article of the highest luxiiry, and only seen on the tables of the great; and the only attempt at butter is rancid lard packed in strong-smelling camel's-hair bags. It is really wonderful that no Englishman has had sufScient enterprise to come out here with a stock of creature comforts and camj) neces- saries. Orje man has set up a shop, at which bad foreign beer is sold as English ale at Is. 6d. a bottle ; a hard old Yankee ham fetches about SOs. ; brandy is very dear, scarce, and bad ; bacon is not to be had, except by great good fortune and large outlay ; and Dutch cheeses are selling at 8s. each. A stock of saddlery would be at once bought up at very remunerating rates to the importer ; and there is scarcely an article of common use in Eng- land which could not be disposed of here at very considerable profit. The bazaar, which is a narrow lane, twisting and twining through the town, presents a curious scene from an early hour in the morning till sunset. This lane is lined on each side by wretched wooden houses, with the " front parlours" open to the street ; overhead there is a covering of loose planks jind staves of wood about twelve feet above the ground, and through the chinks and holes in this roof the sunlight falls brightly in patches on the variegated crowd below. So numerous are the holy days of the Greek church, which rivals in this respect the liberal arrange- ments of its Latin competitor, that on an average three-fourths of these parlours arc closed every day, so that the number of shops open is comparatively few. Around those who are in a condition to carry on traffic there arc assembled in their picturesque cos- tumes motley groups of camp followers, Jews, Armenians, Greeks of the islands, Zouaves, Africans, riflemen, sappers, chasseurs, artillerymen, and soldiers' wives, engaged in varied purchases and intricate monetary arrangements. As change is very scarce, there is great dilRculty in obtaining articles of small value, and I have seen a sum of 19s. made up in piastres, half-piastres, gold pieces of 5, 10, 20, and 50 piastres each, francs, soldi, lire, half- pence, six])once8, and zwanzigcrs, collected at several shops up and down the street. Imagine Mr. John Ilobinson, Patrick CHEATING DEALERS. 39 Casey, or Saunders Macpherson, of her Majesty's 50th Eegimcnt, suddenlj'^ pkinged into such a mass of cheats and sharpers, \\ ho combine the avidity of the Jew with the subtlety of the Greek, and trying to purchase some httle article of necessity or luxury with his well-saved sovereign, and you may guess how he suffers. "I expect at last they'll give me a handful of wafers for a sove- reign," said a disconsolate sapper the other day, as he gazed on the dirty equivalent for a piece of English gold which he had received from an Israelite. The French by their tariff save the pockets of the men very considerably. We have no such arrange- ment, and suffer accordingly. Towards evening, when raki and wine have done their work, the crowds become more social and turbulent, and English and French maybe seen engaged in assist- ing each other to i>reserve the perpendicular, or toiling off to their camps laden with bags of coffee, sugar, and rice, and large bottles of wine. At sunset patrols clear the streets, and take up any intoxicated stragglers they may find there or in the cafes, and when the brief twilight has passed away the whole town is left in silence and in darkness, except when the barking and yelping of the innumerable dogs which infest it wake up the echoes, and now and then the challenge of a distant sentry, or the trumpet calls of the camp fall on the ear. The little bay is alive with French shipping and boats. At this moment there are five hne-of-battle ships and two steam frigates anchored in the roads, and more are expected to-moiTow. There seems to be a general impression among the French sol- diers that it will be some time ere they leave Galhpoli or the Chersonese. They are in military occupation of the place. The tricolour floats from the old tower of Gallipoli. The cafe has been turned into an othee — Direction du Port et Commissai'iat de la Marine. French soldiers patrol the town at night and keep the soldiery of both armies in order ; of course we send out a patrol also, but the regiUations of the place are directly organized at the French head-quarters, and even the miserable house which served as our Trois Freres or London Tavern, and where one could get a morsel of meat and a draught of country wine for dinner, is under their control. A notice on the walls of this Restaurant de I'Armee Auxiliai re informs the public that, ^«?' ordre de la 2>olice Fran^aise, no person will be admitted after seven o'clock in the evening. Officers ai'riving at a certain post on the quay are obliged to dismount by the sentries. Strict as their regulations are there is a good deal of drunkenness among the French sol- diery, though perhaps it is not in excess of our proportion, con- sidering the numbers of both armies. They have fourgons for the commissariat, and all through their quarter of the town you see the best houses occupied by their offices. On one door you read Magasin des Liquides, on another Magasin des Distrihutions. M. I'Aumonier de I'Armee Frangaise resides on one side of the street; I'lntendant-General, &c., on the other. Opposite the com- missariat stores the other morning I was rather amused to see a score or two of sturdy Turks working away at neat little handniills 40 GALLIPOLI. marked Mo7iU>} de Cafe — Subsistence Militaire. No. A., Compagnie B., &c., and roasting the beans in large rotatory ovens, — these Mus- sulmans thus, -n-itli their usual gravity, preparing this refreshing pre- paration for the infidel Franks ; and the place selected by the latter for the operation being a burial-ground, the turbaned tombstones of which seemed to frown severely on the degenerate posterity of the Osmanli. In fact, the French appear to act uniformly on the sentiment conveyed in the phrase of one of their officers, to whom I spoke about the veneration in which the Turks hold the remains of the dead — "Mais il faut rectifier tons ces prejuyes et bar- barismes!" Their engineers are working with great energy on the lines at our Chersonesian Torres Vedras at Bulari, and take the direction out of the hands of our officers to a greater extent than is quite agreeable to the latter. Indeed, I should not be surprised if we become tired of playing second fiddle here, and either make an effort to put in an extra string or two, or gracefully yield the field altogether to our gallant ally. The officers certainly would not dislike cither of these changes. The force of French, in and about Gallipoh amounts to 22,000 men. The greater number of these, such as the Chasseurs de Vincennes (1st and 3rd Kegi- ments), the Zouaves, the Tirailleurs Indigenes (native Zouaves), and the Marines, of whom there are about 2000, are armed with rifles a bal force. Some little annoyances about horses and quarters arise now and then, for the French say our officers spoil the market by giving too much money for the poor animals brought in for sale from the country. Their own way of dealing in these matters is rather peculiar. If they want a place for any purpose of the army, a building, enclosure, or house, they go to the Turkish commission, and demand that it shall be given over to them, leaving the commissioners to arrange with the proprietors as they please. Thus the cafe, which is now turned into an office for the management of the harbour, was surrendered to them at discretion — the owner was tvirned out. and only receives a com- pensation of 800f. a month. The difficulties regarding quarters have chiefly arisen in the case of hospital accommodation. I mentioned in a former letter timt Dr. xilexauder had succeeded (by the aid of the Consul, Mr. Calvert) in obtaining very eligible buildings for the medical department, close to the Chateau d'Asia, on the Dardanelles. He brought down a guard of a corporal and four privates to keep possession ; but it appears that the French authorities having a key ^\ hicli opened the back door of one of those buildings, tui-ned the sentry out, and held_ it on the plea that Sir George Brown consented to surrender it to them._ It remains yet to be seen who are the real owners of these premises. The French would have hoisted the tricolor but for the expostula- tion of the Consul. The greatest cordiality exists between the chiefs of the armies. Sir (xcorge Brown and some of his staff (Hue one day with General Canrobert; another day with General jVIartimprey ; another day the drowsy shores of the Dardanelles are awakened by the thunders oi' tlie Fren(;h cannon salutuig him as he goes on board Admiral Bruat's llagsliip to accept the hospi- ENGLISH AND FRENCH UNIFOKMS. 41 talities of the naval commander ; and then on alternate days the dull old alleys of Gallipoli are brightened up by an apparition of these ofBcers and their staffs in full uniform, clanking their spurs and jingling their sabres over the excruciating rocks which form the pavement as they proceed on their way to the humble quarters of " Sir Bro^ATi," to sit at return banquets. The natives very much prefer the French uniform to om-s. To then' eyes there can be no more effeminate object tlian a warrior in a shell jacket, with closely shaven chin and lij), and cropped whiskers. He looks, in fact, Hke one of their dancing troops, and cuts a sorry figure beside a great Gaul in his blazing red pantaloons and padded frock, epaulettes, beard cVJfrique, and well-twisted moustache. The Pashas think much of our men, but they are not struck with our ofBcers. The French make an impression quite the reverse. The Turks see nothing in the men, except that thej- think the Zouaves and Tirailleurs Indigenes dashing-lookmg fellows ; but they con- sider their officers superior to ours in all but exact discipline. It must be admitted one sometimes is astonished at the way in which the privates in the streets behave before their officers. The other day, as a man of the 4th was standing quietly before the door of the English Considate, with a horse belongmg to an officer of his regiment, some drunken French soldiers came reefing up the street before me ; one of them kicked the horse, and caused it to rear violently ; and, not content with doing so, struck it on the Lead as he passed. Several French officers were close beside me, and never oflfered to interfere ; but one of them, speaking to the soldier, exclamied, " Why did not you cut the brigand over the head with your whip when he struck the horse ?" The English- man was not a master of languages, and did not understand the question; but when it was explained to him, he said with the most sovereign contempt, "Loi'd forbid I'd touch sich a poor drunken little baste of a craytiu^e as that !" The Turkish commission have a troublesome time of it. AH kinds of impossible requisitions are made to them every moment. Osman Bey, Eman Bey, and Kabouli Effendi, are the martyred triumvu'ate, who are kept in a state of unnatural activity and ex- citement by the constant demands of the officers of the allied armies for all conceivable stores, luxuries, and necessaries for the troops, as well as for other things over which they have no con- trol. One man has a complaint against an unknown Frenchman for beating his servant^another wants them to get lodgings for him — a third wishes them to send a cavass with self and friends on a shooting excursion — in fact, veiy imreasonable and absurd requests are made to these poor gentlemen, who can scarcely get through their legitimate work, in spite of the aid of numberless pipes and cups of coftee. I was present the other day when one of the medical officers here went to make a requisition for hospital accommodation, and I must say they got through the business very well. When it was over, the President descended from the divan. In the height of your delusions respecting Oriental mag- nificence and splendour, led away by reminiscences of Tales of the 42 GALLIPOLI. Genii and ihe Arabi mi Nights, do not imacine that tliis divan ■was covered witli cloth of gold or glittering with precious stones. It was clad in a garb of honest Manchester i^rint, with those remarkable birds of prey or pleasure in green and yellow plumage depicted thereupon, which are familiar to us from our earliest days. The council chamber is a room of lath and plaster, with whitewashed walls ; its sole furniture a carpet in the centre, the raised platform or divan round its sides, and a few chairs for the Franks. The President advanced gravely to the great Hakina, and, through the interpreter, made him acquainted with parti- culars of a toothache, for which he desired a remedy. The doctor insinuated that his Highness must have had a cold in the head, from which the symptoms had arisen, and the diagnosis was thought so wonderful it was communicated to the other members of the Council, and produced a marked sensation. When he had ordered a simple prescription, he was consulted by the other mem- bers in turn ; one had a sore chin, the other had weak eyes, and the knowledge evinced by the doctor of these complaints excited great admiration and confidence, so that he departed, after giving some simple prescriptions, amid marks of much esteem andi-espect. Djemel Pasha, who commands the pashalic of the Dardanelles, and who is here at present on the business of the army, is a very enlightened Turk, and possesses a fund of information and a grasp of intellect not at all common among his countrymen, even in the most exalted stations. He is now busily engaged on a work on the constitution of Turkey, in which he proposes to remodel the existing state of things completely. He has been much struck by the notion of an hereditary aristocracy, which he considers very suitable for Turkey, and is qiiite fascinated by our armorial bear- ings and mottoes, as he thinks them calculated to make members of a family act in such a way as to sustain the reputation of their ancestors. Talking of the intended visit of the Sultan to Adria- nople, he said, the other day, that it was mere folly. If the Sultan went as his martial ancestors — surrounded by his generals — to take the command of his armies and share the privations of his soldiers, he granted it would be productive of good, and inflame the ardour of his soldiery ; but it would produce no beneficial result to visit Adrianople with a crowded Court, and would only lead to a vast outlay of money iu repairing the old palace for his reception, and in conveying his oiBcers of vState, his harem, and his horses and carriages to a city which had ceased to be fit for an imperial residence. He is very much of the opinion of General Canrobert, who, at the close of a splendid reception by the Pashas, at Constantinoi)le, in wliich pipes mounted with diamonds and begemmed cofl'ee-cvips were handed about by a numerous retinue, said, "I am mucli obliged by your attention, but you will forgive me for saying T should be much better pleased if all these dia- monds and gold were turned into money to pay your troops, and if you sent away all these servants of yovn-s, except two or three, to fight against your enemy !" DJemcl Pasha declares there is no good in tauzimats or in new laws, unless steps be taken to carry TURKISH PREJUDICES. 43 them out and administer them. The Pashas in distant provinces will nevei' give them effect until the\y are forced to do so, and therefore it will be necessary, in his opinion, to have the Ambas- sadors of the great Powers admitted as members of the Turkish Coimcil of State for some years, in order that these reforms may be productive of good. The Koran he considers as little suitable to be the basis and textbook of civil law now in Turkey, as the Old Testament would be in England. It will be long indeed ere the doctrines of this enlightened Turk prevail among his country- men, and when they do the Osmanlis will have ceased to be a nation. The prejudices of the true believers are but little shaken, notwithstanding recent events. The genuine old green -turbaned Turk views our intervention with suspicion, and attributes our polluting presence on his soil to interested motives, which aim at the overtlu'ow of the faith. You see it in their leaden eyes as they fall on you through the clouds of tobacco smoke from the Jcahns or cafes. You are still a giaour, whom Mahomet has forced into his service, but care must be taken that you do not gain any advantage at the hands of the faithful. One of the Beys here was greatly puzzled the other day with respect to a very simple matter. He was told that chaplains had arrived for the forces, and soon afterwards a reverend gentleman happened to pass by his window riding quietly down the street. It was ex- plained to him that tliis was the Protestant chaplam. Soon after- wards a gentleman in a wide hat, with a revolver in a broad black belt, and his legs cased in long patent leather riding-boots, moimted on a handsome charger, and attended by a cavass, pranced past, and the Pasha was informed this was the Pomaa Catholic chaplain. His astonishment was great, nor was it at all satisfactory to be forced to illustrate the difference between the creeds b.y a reference to the distinction existing in the Mahomedan faith between Sunnees and Sheahs. These things are inexplicable to the Turks, but they are so suspicious a people that it is better to attempt any kind of answer than to baffle or evade their ques- tions. If their professions are to be relied on, they prefer us very much to the French, which is natural; for the latter are far the most numerous, and therefore give the Turks more trouble than we do. They yield very readily, however, to the French authorities, and evince great alacrity in complying with their requests. The commission, indeed, appear to look on the manage- ment of our allies as very cognate to the established Turkish rule of the old time. If a native brings in a horse, the French remonte officers settle the price, and the owner is compelled by the com- mission to accept it. whatever it may be. In this way a horse for which an English officer was bargaining last week was taken away by our allies, and put into their stable, at a sum lower than that which the former had offered. These are necessary evils and very small ones, nor are they to be considered as in any great degree detracting from the value of the excellent understanding and per- fect military co-operation of the two armies. The life of an " Own. Correspondent" is not all couleur de rose 44 GALLIPOLI. liere. He is not always living in a fine cliamber, well ventilated through the floor and walls, with extended views of the country- through the holes in the sloping roof. He has not always a break- fast of nice brown bread and goat's milk, and of strong eggs, to be had after a little forage through the town, and a few struggles in languages with the merchants, nor does he feast sumptuously every day on ethereal beef and ration biscuit, washed down with raki. I will just relate, in the simjilest possible language, what happened last Palm Sunday to a special correspondent on the waters of Gallipoh. The " Golden Fleece" disembarked her cargo of troops on the previous Saturday, but the individual in question had not succeeded in routing an old Greek woman, five children, and an army of hens and very bellicose geese out of liis chambers in time to occupy them, and for that and other reasons, some of them connected with a regard to his personal comfort, he slept on board the vessel. It was a wise man who first propounded the axiom that you sliould never sleep on board a ship when you can b.y any possibilitj'' sleeiJ on shore. Especially true is it in these latitudes. After midnight a violent gale of wind arose from the north, and the " Golden Fleece" dragged her anchor, and ran down some miles from her moorings, till she brought up at a con- siderable distance below Gallipoli, on the Asiatic side of tlie Dar- danelles. Her captain, who had received orders from the General to return to Malta early in the morning, burned ^^^th aU the ardour of a marine commander to make a speedy voyage. At five o'clock, A.M., therefore, when our special cori-espondent, who had been promised a boat to shore, came on deck, he was informed that the orders were that he was to be left on board the nearest vessel, as it would take a long time to send a boat to Gallipoli in the violent headwind and high sea prevailing at the time. It w^as not an agreeable announcement — the morning was bitterly cold, a strong breeze from the north tore up the surface of the Darda- nelles in sheets of foam, and the heavy grey sky gave no promise of lull or sunshine. The wJiite minarets of Gallipoli stood out far a\Aay behind the steamer against a mass of dark clouds; the shores on each side of the straits presented a line of foam ; and in the roadstead were only a few small brigs and schooners, riding heavily, and plunging their bows into the waves till the spray rose in sheets over the deck. Close in shore and all snvig were the French men-of-war, but they were two or more miles a\\ay, under the shelter of Gallipoli. The nearest vessel happened to be a stout brig, painted a bluish grey with gilt streak, which lay within a couple of hundred yards of the "Golden Fleece." The boat of the steamer had some diiliculty in getting up to the ladder from under the counter, so strong were wind and sea; but at last her crew of lads got her up, and the correspondent and his baggage were embarked in her. A few minutes brought them alongside the brig — not a soid was to be seen. About six feet above the water, and as many from the top of her bulwarks, hung a crazy old ]:)oat over the side, and as sooia as they had managed to get under her the men hoisted the correspondent's baggage into tbia A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 45 boat ; lie contrived to get in after tliem by watcliing tlie ri?e of the sea, and the jollj'-hoat, or ■whatever she was, made way to retiu'n to the "Golden Fleece." As the brig's boat held a good deal of water, the correspondent busied himself in arranging his property on the thwarts, and then applied himself to the task of climbing up from the boat into the vessel. The instant he laid hold of the rope to do so, it came slack into his hand — it had been loosed on deck — and at the same moment a villanous face was thrust over the side of the brig, the hideous mouth of which said— " We Greek ! No Inglis ! You go way ! "We in quarantin !" The correspondent called out to the ofBccr in charge of the boat of the '■ Golden Fleece," which was struggling against the head- wind near the brig, and told him what the man said. He heard, and said he would tell the captain — his men gave way, and as he watched their progress the correspondent was the cynosiu-e of the neighbouring eyes of some half-dozen of the most ill-looking dogs that ever came from the Morea, who peered at him malignantly as he stood shivei'ing in the cold and spray, in the open boat, sus- pended 'twixt sky and water, over the ship's side, and pitching and tossing as she plunged to her anchors. He watched the boat most anxiously, and saw her pull under the stern of the " Golden Fleece" after a tough row ; then came a delay full of suspense to the correspondent, and, judge his feeUngs, when he saw the tackles lowered and the boat hoisted away up to the davits ! StLU lie could not think that any persons of ordinary feeling or humanity would leave a fellow creatui*e in such a predicament without an effort, and the correspondent expected every instant to see the gig lowered away and a good stout boat's crew come to take him off. The shifting of the vessel as she rolled in the seaway hid the " Golden Fleece" at times from his sight, and each time that she was lost to view he imagined her hands busied in pulhug a boat to aid him, but the next hu-cli showed her with her boats hanging from the davits, her men busied only in preparing for sea. "When the Greeks saw the boat hoisted up and the signals of the corre- spondent disregarded, they became verj' insulting, putting out their tongues, pointing to the sea, and making beheve they woidd tilt their boat into it, and at last, finding they were not minded in the smallest degree, they pulled in all the loose ropes and dis- appeared. This looked very ugly ; the cold was intense — the sea water drenching — and so the correspondent, albeit rather stout, shinned up the davit tackle and got on the bulwark. He was stopped there, however, by a sailor in fur cap and sheepskin jacket, who plainly intimated he would not let him on board. As the fellow evidently relied on the assistance of six or seven others who were crouching about the deck, having been roused up, most likely, when the boat came alongside, the correspondent saw that force would not avail — his pistols, indeed, were, as they generally are when wanted, in an obscure recess of his portmanteau. It would never do to stand swaying to and fro in the cold on the top of a narrow bidwark. If Demosthenes, speaking very bad Itahan, could have been ui-ged to extraordinary eloquence 46 GALLIPOLI. by suet circumstances, he might have emulated the ora- tions addressed to his countrymen on the present occasion by the luckless and shivering Briton. They were deaf to them all, however ; but one practical ruiBan at last asked " Keio-antey voltte darceT' and the tender of a Napoleon for the privilege of leaping on the deck made in reply was accepted, after a delay of some minutes, which seemed houi's to the sufferer. The money was given and the donor leaped down on deck ; but it was only to fiud himself in greater danger, or at least in a more threatening position, for the G-reeks thronged round him, and with the most murderous grins, intended for civil smiles, pressed lovinglj^ around Ms pockets and felt the contents as well as they could by furtive passes, inviting him at the same time to descend by a hole in the deck down into their agreeable salon under the forecastle. As there could be but little doubt of the interested nature of their hospitality, these offers were firmly rejected, and the unfortunate party proceeded to make a last appr^al to the "Golden Fleece," by chmbing up on the bowsprit as well as he could in his famished and half-frozen state, and waving his handkerchief to the crew. The signal could be, and no doubt was, distinctly seen; but no notice was taken of it. All the time the imfortuuate was dis- playing the little square of white cambric, the Greeks were clustered at the foremast watching whether a boat would be sent off or not. At length, a volume of spray flashed up from the stern of the " Golden Fleece " — it was the first turn of her sci'ew — another and another followed, and the steamer, gathering way, shot athwart the bows of the brig, and made right down the Dardanelles for the sea. The Greeks muttered to each other, and one fellow, with a very significant sneer, pointing to the vessel as she rapidly increased her distance, said : — " jMo mind, John — come down — we good men ! Bono! Bono!" As an illustration of the goodness of his men, the correspondent obsei'ved, however, that some of his compatriots were paying their addresses to a deal case which he had taken from the vessel full of things that could not be had at Gallipoli, and, as the top was frail, there could be no doubt of their success. Pillage looked badly, for no one can say where it ends, once begun ; and so the proprietor descended from his elevated position on the bowsprit, and redoubled his entreaties for a boat to the sliore. Tlie Greeks shook their heads, and grumbled and grunted angrily, getting closer around him, till at last one very ill-looking dog, coming close up alongside, laid hold of the black leather case of the racing glass, which hung by a strap over the shoulder of their unwelcome visitor, evidently thinking that it contained arms. The correspondent, excited by the conversation he was carrying on with another of the crew, and indignant at such an outrage, shoved off the fellow with a thrust of his elbow, and, as the vessel gave a little heel over at the same time, sent him reeling up against the bulwark. He thrust his hand into his sash, aiul catching hold of his knife, made a rush at the Englishman, swearing Jiorribly as he did so; but one of his companions caught him by the wrist. As there was an AN AWKWARD SITUATION. 47 evident disposition to take his part among the majority of the crew, and as the incident had produced a general and very dis- agreeable sensation among the seven or eight rniEans around him, our correspondent prepared for the worst. It suddenly occurred to him that it did not seem as if any man of a superior class who could command such a vessel ts as among the men, and he passed quickly through the crew, and walking aft with an eye well over his shouhler, made for the cabin. The crew followed, but as soon as he gained the companion, he dived below, and. was greeted by the sight of the captain fast asleep in his berth. As he tried to explain to him the object and reason of his unceremonious intrusion in his best Italian, the correspondent was interrupted by the captain saying, in very fair vernacular, but little marked by a foreign accent, " Speak English, I understand better." He flew into a violent rage on being told the cause of the intrusion — said he was going to sea in half an hour — that he had been driven from Constantinople without papers by the help of the EiigH^h and French, and might be seized as a pirate by any ship of ^\ ar— that the English had ruined him and his men, had helped the Turks to murder them and ^oppress them, and yet called themselves Christians ; that he would give no boat to the shore— had no boat to give, even if disposed to do so, and that the Englishman might get out of the ship his own way as he contrived to get into it, adding that if he (the captain) was an Englishman, he would sooner die a hundred deaths, or drown in the sea. than board a Greek vessel or ask aid from a Greek sailor. The prosjiect of being carried ovit to sea and knocked on the head e?i route to some classically barbarous hole, was now very painfully suggested. A few turns of the windlass, the gaskets cast off the foretopsail, and the brig would have flown down the boisterous Dardanelles like an arrow. T\Tio could prevent it? Who could even teU what had become of the hapless Briton whom the captain of the steamer had sent on board a vessel anchored in the Dardanelles at half-past five o'clock one spring morning, in half a gale of wind? There was no eye but one to behold any tragedy that might have been enacted on the deck of that lonely brig, and it might have been perpetrated with the greatest imiiimity, for no human hand was near to stay it. As the captain had positively refused to have anything to do with the Eughshman, and had gone so far in his rage as to spit on the deck and trample on it, when, in reply to questions, he said he had been in England, " Oh! too often ! too often !" there was evidently nothing for it but to " await the course of events." The crew held a consultation among themselves, and one of their number came aft to the captain, and had an angry discussion with him. A steamer visible through the haze, running do'n n from the Sea of Marmora towards Gallipoli, was frequently pointed to, and reference ai as also made again and agam to the ships closer into the town by both captain and sailor, while the crew seemed to watch the result with much interest. The Eughsh- man liad not lost sight of the fact that some bottles of his sherry had disappeared from the case, and had evidently been drunk by 48 GALLTPOLI, the crew, and there is no doubt but that he too evinced a good deal of anxiety as to the dialogue, iu which both the actors tossed about their arms, rolled their eyes, and stamped their feet like madmen. As he was craning his neck to listen, the captain roared out, " Go forward there. What for you listen to me, eh ?" This was too much, and so the correspondent, taking advantage of their evident dread of the steamers ahead, said, "Come, come, my good man, keep a civil tongue in your head ; remember, there are English ships at anchor near (there was not one), " and that there are English soldiers on shore, and if you insult me it will be the saddest day you ever knew." The steamer from the Bosphorus was all this time coming down closer, and may be supposed to have entered into the calculations of these worthies, who were evidently influenced besides by the threat implied in our friend's speech, and by the quiet way in which he took a seat on the deck under the lee of the bub^ark. The captain and the delegate walked forward to the men, and away went eyes, and feet, and arms again. At length the captain returned, and said that though he felt very much the affront of being boarded in that way without his consent by an Englishman, he had prevailed on his men to try and take me in the boat, which was small and bad for such a sea, to an Italian brigantine which lay anchored to leeward, and, though he would not touch a penny of money belonging to such a people, his men were poor and had no choice but to go. if they were well paid. The Englishman said he would give a Napoleon for the service (he would gladly have given ten if put to it at the time), and the Greek seemed to consider it liberal. After a fresh " row" with the men, some of whom absolutely refused to go with the boat, the captain succeeded in persuading four of them to go over the side ; the Englishman followed \^•ith a heart full of thank- fulness, though the boat was indeed small and bad, and the sea ran high, and after a hard struggle the crew piUled clear of the bows, and were battling with the full force of the short thick waves that broke on all sides. It was a fight for life, but anything was better than the brig and the prowling pirates on boa,rd her. Many times the men were about to give up and retiu-n to their ship, but the loss of the Napoleon and the fear of the shore deterred them, and after tumbling and plimging about for a much longer time than was pleasant the boat ran under the stern of the Italian brigantine. La Minerva, of Genoa. The captain, seeuig a boat put off from the Greek, manned by four very uni>repos- sessing-looking people (I don't know what the fifth, who sat in the stern of tlio wretched craft, drenched to the skin, cokl, and lumgry, looked like), l)ecamo reasonably frightened, and shrieked frantically over the tnllVail, " Chemandatcl Che volcfe, SiytiorlT' TIh^ principal signor was too much occu|)ied with the desire to get on board to reply ; a rope hung over the side, and, seizing liokl of it as the boat rose on a waxc, the corrcspondimt, regardless of barked shins, swung himself ofi' from lier. and witli desperate energy struggled up the side till he stood breathless and exhausted before the frightened master and his astonished erofl'. A few words A FRIEND IN NEED. 49 set all to riglits. Tlie good Italian received the stranger with open aruis, and saw that instant steps were taken to secure his luggage from the boat. His boat, he said, would not live in sucli a sea, and indeed he had given the Greeks over several times, though con- scious they were especially protected in a certain quarter, wlienlie saw them descend into the trough of the sea ; but though he was only waiting for the breeze to moderate a little in order to weigh anchor and sail for Genoa, he wovild remain there till the sea went down, and till a shore boat came off. He was very indignant, though not surprised, when he learned the way in which the Greeks liad acted, and, taking down his glass, he made out the name on her side, in gUt letters — blank something 'SiKoXavg. As he was look- ing the Greek loosed his topsails, and, gathering -nay like a bird. Hew hghtly down the Dardanelles and was out of sight, round a point of land, in a few minutes. Heaven help the stranger who may ever fall into their hands, out of range of eye or in blue T^"ater ! In the course of the morning the wind abated and tlie sea went down ; the boat was manned with six stout Genoese, and the Englishman and good Captain Ogde parted on the deck of the " Minerva" as only old friends sever, and it was with a thankful heart the correspondent scrambled up on tlie crazy planks of the beach of Galhpoli, and sought the shelter and hospitahty of the English commissariat. CHAPTEE VII. Movements of the Allied troops — Fire in a Turkish town — Postal irre- gularities — The scenery around GallipoH — Arrival of Lord IJaglan and Prince Jerome Napoleon — Entrenched camp at Bulari. Gallipoli, Ajjril 26. Since the despatch of my last letter we have had several visits from Generals of Brigade on their way to the quarters at Con- stantinople, an increase of the French forces, a fire, the actual employment of the troops in casting up earthworks at Bulari, and a few cases of corporal punishment among the soldiery. Beyond Gallipoh we know nothing ; and, so hiert are the people and so limited the means of intercourse between us and them, that it is only by accident one hears auj'thing at all, and one street is ignox'ant of what takes place in another. The " Niagara," with the 88th Eegiraent. passed up to Constanti- nople last week, after a fair passage. On Friday, the 21st, the 7th Fusileers arrived on board the "Orinoco," and proceeded onwards to Constantinople, after stopping a short time, to commmiicate with the General here. On the 22nd, Sir De Lacy Evans and staft'passed on, after a short delay, on their way up the Dardanelles, in the "City of London." On Sunday, the 23rd inst, the " Emperor Nicholas" went by Galhpoli early m the morning, with Sir E. England and staff on board, on their way to Constantinople. I-ater in the day the " Trent," Avith the 23rdE.egiment. the " Ton- niug," with Brigadiers EjTe, Su* C. Campbell, and Pennefather, E 50 GALLIPOLI. Captain Cimningliame and staff, and tlie " Medvray," -with tli& 95tli llegiment, arrived, and after a sliort delay went on to Con- stantinople. Brigadier Eyre, Lieutenant Graham, Brigade-Major Hope and staff remain here, to act under Sir George Brown. One most memorable social event, however, took place last Saturday morning. The previous Friday was the Good Friday of the Greeks, and they kept it as is their wont on a great festival, staying up late and feasting and revelling in much festivity. We were kept awake by their shouting for many an hour, for it was less musical and louder than the barking of the dogs. It was late, therefore — about 9 o'clock in the morning — when, in the middle of a comfortable sleep, ■we were awakened by Assistant-Surgeon Irwin, of the 28th, who slept in a den in the next room with Cap- tain Mansell, of the same regiment, rushing in and exclaiming — "Get up! get up ! Alexander's house is on fire!" The house in which the principal medical officer lived was on the other side of the street, ubovit three houses lower down. On I'unning to the window, Major Dickson, who shared the room of the lath and mud shed in which I lived, discovered that the alarm ■was only too true. Flames were issuing through the windows of Papa Zonani's resi- dence, and the Greek population out of the lanes and miserable hovels of the town were gazing idly on the scene, while those who lived on either side of the ■wooden mansion were removing their effects as rapidly as possible. A fire in a Turkish town is no joke. The houses are like lucifer matchboxes, and the only thing that saved half the place, despite the efforts of the French, was the calmness of the morning. The Major in his excitement dashed his hand through a pane of glass, and shouted out, " Get up and bundle out your things, or we're done for." It was time indeed, for the fire seemed fed with oil, and blazed away fearfully. The Turks stroked their beards, and considered that the will of God was directly concerned in the destruction of the premises, while the Greeks wrung their hands, and did nothing more. A jump out of bed and a rush at the few spare articles of clothing lying about followed, and then commenced a rapid flight down stairs into a garden of onions and garlic at the rear of the house, which seemed especially formed for a refuge for us. There were in the house Mr. Irwin, of the 28th, Captain ManscU, the 28th, Major Collingwood Dickson, R.A., two soldiers of the 28tli, servants of the oflicers, myself, an old woman, several childi'en, cocks, hens, &c., and immediately a secession oi' Uves and 2^eiiates to this land of refuge was begun by all of us ; beds, coats, trunks, portmanteaus, boxes, were hurled down the stairs, and fierce struggles took place for precedence iu the narrow passage, while the old Greek and the children howled dismally as they flew about with pipkins and spinning reels and inexplicable chattels. In the middle of all our confusion a heavy tramp was heard in the street— the door of our house was bui'st open, and in rushed a body of French infantry iu fatigue dress, shunting out, " Cassez tous, ras.scz tons; il faut rompre la malnonr' However, it was explained to them that this necessity was not absolute, aud that it would be much better for them to FIRK IN A TURKISH TOWN. 51 devote themselves to saving our property. They at once assented, and, rushing: on the various things in the room, transported them with incredible activity mto the garden. Their comrades outside were as energetic as demons. They mounted on the roofs of the houses next to the burning mansion, smashed in the tiles, des- troyed tlie walls, and left them a mass of ruins in as little time as it takes me to write these lines. The bravery, system, and agihty of these fine fellows were beyond aU praise. They saved the quarter of the town, for there was little water, and the few small hand-engines were of little service. The marines and sailors of the " Jean Bart" and " MontebeUo" were landed very speedily, and helped to extinguish the flames, and when our troops came into the town there was nothing left for them to do. The Doctor's house was burnt to the ground in less than half-an-hour, and two others, as well as the greater part of the hospital were destroyed. Several of the French soldiers M'ere hurt severely in their gallant efforts, but no lives were lost. The fire originated in the ai^art- ments of the Greek priest. There was no pillage, as the French guards prevented it. The only mischief, beyond the destruction of property in the houses, the loss of twenty pounds' worth of Dr. Alexander's effects, and the fright, was that our room was ren- dered less habitable than before, and we are now hving in a tent pitched on the onions, which would form a very agreeable residence for an enthusiastic entomologist, but is by no means agreeable, these cold and windy nights, to unscientific individuals. May 1. Since the arrival of Brigadier-General Eyre and staff, each of the regiments stationed here has been inspected on successive mornings. All of these inspections have been considered satis- factory, with the exception of that of the 28th Regiment, which was reviewed yesterday. Sir George Brown found fault with the regiment in several particulars, and ordered it to be paraded again for inspection at half-past 8 o'clock this morning. The " Vulcan," with the Coldstreams on board, arrived early yester- day morning, and proceeded up to Constantinople, after a veiy brief delay, to communicate with the authorities on shore. The Grenadiers and Fusileers have ah'eady gone on, as I stated in my last letter. Brigadier Eyre gives his men no rest. The 44th (to whom the General paid a compliment on their efficient condition), the 28th, and 4th are under arms daily at 5g a.m. The Brigacher is always at the camp soon after dawn, and they may think them- selves lucky if they get released after three hours' drUl and marching. The men are gettmg into fine working order, in spite of the weather. It would be well, however, if there was a little more attention paid to their comforts by the home authorities. AVhere is all the beer at 'M. a quart, and pale ale for officers at 4f/. a quart— where the preserved potatoes and- potted meats, of which we have heard so much, and have seen so little, and have tasted nothing ? The supplies of rum are very uncertain. Some- times the ration beef is quite uneatable ; it is so green and nasty the men have to throw it away, and then* rambles through the 52 GALLIPOLI. Prench camp, wliere tliey see plenty of coffee, sugar, rice, &c., make them discontented and grimibling. The post-ofBce depart- ment, too, is very unsatisfactory, and shovrs very ill when, com- pared with that of the French army, which is iDei'fection. Just take an example : — A number of letters to various regiments arrives at Malta, each letter has been sent on there with a sliilling postage paid or to be paid. At Malta a bag is up for the English camp aad put on board a French steamer. It is carried on here in bulk, and the French authorities refuse to open the bag or to dehver the letters tUl the entire postage, of (sav) 3^. or 4>l. is paid. The Adjutant-General, in his kindness and desire to obhge the troops, pays the sum, and when the bag is opened it is found to contain a few letters and newspa]iers, the average postage on each of which is upwards of 2s. more. Hecently a bag of this kiad was taken on to Constantinople, and the letters were sent thence to Gallipoli back again. Old newspapers and circidars were deli- vered to the officers on payment of Is. Id. each, and letters on the payment of 3s. 2cZ. I know oue gentleman who paid about lis. for a bundle of old newspapers. Surely this is an evil that ought to be redi-essed at home. ^olus must have taken up his abode somewhere in the neigh- bourhood of GaUipoli since he removed his Court from Lipari. The unseasonable rapidity with which he opens his bags, and the violence with which he sends forth the sharpest and most trucu- lent of all the winds to sweep over the hdls around this miserable spot, would satisfy Juno in her most indignant mood if the place was a Trojan colony. The extraordinary suddenness of these changes and the excessive variations of temperature are very trying to the men in camp, but it is gratifying to learn that the average of illness and disease is rather below that of most camps in ordinary circumstances. The svm rises, perchance, from behind the hills of Asia Minor without a cloud to mar his splendour ; the Sea of Marmora, bounded by the faint blue lines of the highlands of Asia and the distinctive sweep of the European coast, spreads out towards the north-west like a sheet of burnished silver ; the Dardanelles flows swiftly between the contracted channel as smoothly as the Thames in summer time by the pleasant meads of Chertsey. Tlierc is aricli sylvan look about the scenery, for at a distance the hUls around Lanipsaki, across the straits, appear to be dotted M'ith verdant lawns and plantations ; and the outline of the high grounds, rising tier after tier till they are caipped by the lofty range whicli stretches along the background trom Ida in the Troad, is sulidued and regular. The villages built in the recesses of the liills and in the little bays and creeks of the straits, with all the enchantment of distance, look clean and picturesque — the dark groves of cypress casting into briglit r<>lief the white- wash of the lioust's, and tlie tali shafts of minarets standing out gracefully from the confused mass of roofs, gabl(>s, masts, yards, and sails by the seaside. Further south th(> coasts close La abrnptly, and the straits look like a long Highland loch. The land arovmd GaUipoh on the Eurojjcau side of the straits is more SCENERY ROUND GALLIPOLI. CJ bleak and more level. Indeed, for miles around tlie toTvn (except towards the sonth, wlicie there is a very small table land ^^•ith. patches of trees), and all the way across to the Gulf of Saros. the country resembles very much the downs about Brighton. It is nearly as destitute of wood or plantations. The soil, which is light but deep and rather sandy, produces excellent crops, but bears no trees, except a few figs and olives. The vines, which are planted in rows, not trailed as in Italy, are abundant, and the grape yields a rich, full, and generous wine which is highly esteemed. Into tlie soil, which is just scratched up by ploughs rather inferior to those described by Virgil 1800 years ago, the dejected, wretched rayahs are busied throwing the corn and barley seed ; and as the slow steers or huge lumbering buflaloes pace along the furrows, they are followed by a statel.y army of storks, which march gi'avely at the very heels of beast and plough- man, and engage themselves . busily in destroying the gnibs and larva?. On all the heights around glisten the white tents of French or English, and here and there the eye I'ests on their ser- rated lines on the slope of some pleasant vaUey, or lights on the encampment of some detached partj- posted in a recess of the hills. Faint clouds of dust, through which may be seen the glis- tening of steel and dark masses of uniform, blur the landscape here and there, and betray the march of troops along the sandy roads, which are exactly like those worn by the tramp of men and horses thi'ough Chobham-common, and have neither fence, boun- dary, metal, nor drainage. In an incredibl.y short time the whole aspect of the scene is changed. A violent storm of wind rushes over the face of the sea and straits, lashing them into fury, and sending the Turkish boats flying with drooping peaks to the shelter of the shore — the coast is obscured by masses of black clouds, which burst into torrents of rain resembhng tropical water-spouts. The French men-of-war in the bay send down top-masts, and the merchantmen run out cable and let go another anchor; the rayahs plod across the fields, and crouch in holes and corners till the storm abates ; and the luckless troops on their march are covered with mud in a moment by the action of the rain on the dust which has fallen upon them, and then they have to trudge along thi-ough slush and filth till thej" gain theii' tents. In such times as these canvas is a sorry shelter — the pegs draw from the loose sod, and let in wind and rain. On Satiu-day last tents were blown down by such a storm as this in all directions. In the two Enghsli camps about twenty were doT\"n at the same time, and exposed the men to all the drenching storm. Lady Errol's tent was one of these, and her ladyship had to crawl from under the di'ipping canvas through the slush in most sorry pHght. May 2. Lord Eaglan, accompanied by Lord de Eos, Quartermaster- General, and staff, Mr. Burrell, P.M.O., Dr. Tice, &c., arrived at noon in the Bay of GaUipoli, on board the " Emeu." Although ex- pected for several days past, it so happened that no one was in 54: GALLIPOLl. waiting to receive liim. The General, Sir G. Brown, his Bri- gadier-General, Colonel Eyre, and staff, had gone out early in the morning to inspect the 28th and the other regiments of tlie East- ern camp. Colonel SulUvan, Deputy Adjutant-General, and Cap- tain Halliwell, Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General, had also ridden out of the town to look after variovis matters connected with the arrangement of the camps. When Lord Raglan landed, therefore, he had fidl time to look ahout him, and form a notion of the capabilities of Gallipoli. He proceeded to the General's quarters, and when Sir George returned they had a long inter- view. Lord Raglan visited Admiral Bruat on board his flagship, and was received with the usual salute, which was repeated on his departure. He sailed that night for the Bosphorus. On Saturday Prince Jerome Napoleon arrived. The town was shaken by the Imperial salute of 101 guns from each of the five French line-of- battle ships. He left the ship for the shore in a storm of wind, tinder a similar salute, which frightened the Greeks out of their lives. May 6. The works at the intrenched camp at Bulari are progressing with such speed that our portion of them will be finished by this day fortnight at farthest. The emulation between the French and English troops at the diggings is immense, and at the same time most good-humoured. As was stated in a former letter, these lines are about seven miles long, and about two and three-quarters or three miles are executed by our men. They are at present simple field works, running along the crest of a natural ridge, from the Gulf of Saros to the Sea of Marmora. They consist of a trench seven feet deep ; the bottom from scarp to counterscarp six feet broad; the top thirteen feet broad. There is then a berm of three feet wide, above ^hich is the parapet of earthvcork (which will.be revetted in due course) of five feet thick, a banquette three feet six inches broad, and a slope inside of one in two. Drunkenness continues to be the great evil of the allied army. In one company of the 93rd regiment upwards of twenty men were brought up on one morning at the camp to answer for this offence. A luige gaunt Highhuider, who luid been fraternizing ^dth some Zouaves, presented a ludicrous appearance on coming up before liis officers. He had, in the height of his convivial good fellowship, exclianged the greater portion of his dress with an African soldier, and v\ h(>n morning brouglit recollection he must have been rather horrified to find himself in a fez cap, a blue jacket embroidered with red worsted, a bright blue sash round his waist, and enormous Dutch-built scarlet pantaloons flapping about his legs. He liad forgotten the yellow leatluT greaves, and when he was ordered up lie displayed the plaid hose of his regiment beneath the gay nether garment of tlie French soldier. What became of tlie corresponding Zouave, who must have made rather a sensation among his conn-ades when he api)eared before tlaem in kilt and coatee, lias not yet been satisfactorily ascertained; but the wo-begone, sheepish, and utterly prostrate look of the High- REVIEW OF FRENCH TROOPS, 55 lander, as lie presented himself in his borrowed wardrobe, can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The " fraternizing" is so vigorous and cordial tliat it is really rather a nuisance to commanding officers of regiments. CHAPTER Vni. Arrival of the Duke of Cambridge and Marshal St. Amaud — Keview of the French troops — Review of the English forces — Physical iucouvoniences — Efficiency sacrificed to precision — Turkish Spahis, wild, picturesque fellows. Gallipoli, May 11. His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Cambridge arrived here in the " Caradoc" at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, the 9th. Marshal St. Arnaud arrived here on Sunday, the 7th inst., somewhat later in the day. Having chronicled these two facts, let us see what has been done since the date of my last letter. On May 6th, the Rifle Brigade and 93rd Regiment left this agreeable region, either for Scutari or the European side of the Bosphorus. Sir George Brown and staff also departed, leaving the force now encamped here under the command of Sir Richard England, with Brigadiers Sir J. Camp- bell and Eyre ; Major Colborue and Captain Halliwell, Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master-Generals ; Colonel Doyle, Assistant Adjutant-General ; Brigade-Major Hope ; Brigade-Major Wood, &c. The march of the troops in from the camp and their inspec- tion that morning, presented many topics of observation. On the previous Sunday, Prince Napoleon, with General Canrobert and the whole of the French etat -major, reviewed all the dis- posable French troops quartered in this district, and the English General and staff attended on the occasion. For two or three hours in the morning long black columns of men might be seen marching through the corn-fields, and filing along the narrow lanes that intersect them, or toiling up the hilly ridges of land in apparent confusion, or at least without much visible order. The spectator who selects a high point of land on the undulating country round Brighton, and looks across the valley beloM% can. form a tolerable idea of the terrain around GallipoH. Crossing the hills around in all directions, and piercing the ravines between them, he must imagine the dark masses of French infantry advancing from their numerous encampments, formed fc:' miles around on every sloping plateau. Presently the shrUl trumpets of the Zouaves are heard sounding a wild and eccentric march, and these fierce- looking soldiers of Africa, burnt brow n by con- stant exposure to the sun, with beards which easily distinguish them from the native Arabs, come rushing past, for their pace is so quick that it fully justifies the term. The open collars of their coats allow free play to the lungs ; the easy jacket, the loose trouser, and the well-supported ankle, constitute the bean ideal of a soldier's dress ; their firelocks and the brasses of their swords and 56 GALLirOLL bayonets are polished to a nicety. Eacli man is fully equipped for the field, with greatcoat strapped over his knapsack, canteen by his side, a bill-hook, hatchet, or cooking-tin fastened over all. In the rear, mounted on a packhorse, follows the vivandiere, in the uniform of the regiment, with natty little panniers and neatly- polished barrels of diminutive size dangling over the saddle ; and then comes a sumpter-mule, with two wooden boxes fastened to the pack, which contains small creature comforts for the ofBccrs. The woi'd is given to halt — stand at ease — pile arms. In a moment the whole regiment seems disorganized. The men scatter far and wide over the fields collecting sticks and brushwood, and it seems incredible that they have gathered all those piles of brambles and dried wood and leaves which they deposit in the rear of the lines in such quantity from the country that looked so bare. The officers gather in gi'oups, light cigars, chat and laugh, or sit on the ground while their coffee is being boiled. From the moment the halt takes place, ofl^ come the boxes from the mule — a little portable table is set up— knives, forks, glasses and cups are laid out — a capacious coffee tin is set upon three stones over a heap of bramble, and in three minutes (I timed the whole operation) each ofHcer could take a cup of this refreshing drink after his hot march, with a biscuit andmorsel of cheese, and a cJiasse of brandy afterwards. The men were equally alert in providing themselves with their favourite beverage. In a very short space of time two or three hundred little camp fires are lighted, and send up tiny columns of smoke, and coffee tins are boiling, and the busy brisk vivandiere, with a smile for every one, and a joke or box on the ear for a favourite vieux ■moustache, passes along through tlie haze, and fills out tiny cups of Cognac to the thir. stagnant water which ripples sdmosf; imi)ei'ceptibly on the shore there float all forms of nastiuess and corruption, which the prowling dogs, standing leg-deep as they wade about in search of offal, cannot destroy. The smell from this shore is noisome, but a ['(^w yards out from tlie frinj^e of buoyant cats, doga, birds, straw, sticks — in fact, of all sorts of abominable PICTURESQUE SCEXE3. 71 flotsam and jetsam, which bob about on the pebbles iinceasinp:ly — the -uater becomes exquisitely clear and pure. The slaufjhter- houses erected by the sea-side do not contribute, as may readily be imagined, to the cleanliness of this filthj' beach or the whole- someness of the atmosphere. On a slope rising up from the water's edge, close to 1 ord Eaglan's quarters, the camp of the brigade of Guards is pitched ; a kind of ravine, about a quarter of a mile across, divides it from the plateau and valley at the back of the barracks, in which are pitched the camps of the other regi- ments and of the Light Division. Clumps of tall shady trees are scattered here and there down towards the T\'ater's edge, under whicli a horde of sutlers have erected sheds of canvas and plank for the sale of provisions, spirits, and wines, combined with a more wholesome traffic m cakes, Turkish sweetmeats, lemonade, and sherbet. The proprietors are nearly all Smji-niotes or Greeks from Pera, and do not ])ear the highest character in the world. The regular canteens established within the Imes are kept by a better class of people, and are under the surveillance of the military authorities, but it is said that permission to erect some of these temporary canteens has been obtained through bribmg the lower classes of native interpreters. Sj'ces, or grooms, with horses for sale, ride about at full speed through the lanes and pathways leading to the camp, but the steeds they bestride are generally small bony animals with mouths hke a vice, stuffed out with grass and green food, and not worth a tithe of the ijrices asked for them. These gentry are kept at arm's length, and are not allowed to come withm the lines. All this scene, so full of picturesque animation — these files of snowy tents sweeping away in tier alter tier over hillock and meadow, tUl they are bounded by the solemn black outlines of the forest of L^ypress — these patches of men at drill here and there all over the plain — these steadier and larger columns at parade — tliis constant play and glitter of bayonet and accoutrement as the numerous sentries wheel on their beaten tracks— this confused crowd of araba cbivers, match sellers, fruit and cigar and tobacco vendors, of kamals or, porters, of horsedealers and gaily-dressed rogues and rapparees of all nations, will disappear as if by magic in a few hours, and leave no trace behind, except the barren circle which marks where the tent once stood, and the plain all seared .and scorched by the camp-fires. What is to become of the mushroom tribe which has started as it -nere from the ground to supply the wants of the soldiery, it is hard to say, and not very interesting to inquire; but it will not be long ere they will find their way to our outskirts again. Among the most amusing specimens of the race must be reckoned some Jew and Armenian money-changers— squalid, lean, and hungry-looking fellows — whose turbans and ragged gabar- dines are ostentatiously dirty and povertj^-stricken — who prowl about the camp with an eternal raven-croak of " I say, John, change de monnish— change de monnish," relieved occasionally by a sly tinkle of a leather purse well filled with dollars and snaall Turkish coin. They evade the vigilance of the sentries, and 72 SCUTARI. startle oiBcers as tliey lie half asleep in the heat of the sun, by the apparition of their skinny liands and yellow visages within the tent, and the cuckoo-cry, "I say, John, change de monnish." Their appearance here at aU is the greatest compliment that could be paid to the national character. The oldest Turk has never seen one of them near a native camp, and the tradition of ages affirms that where soldiers come the race disappears. Indeed, here they only show in the sun-time. They are a sort of day- ghost who vanish at the approach of darkness, and the croak and the jmgle are silent, and they spirit tliemselves gently away ere twi- light, and where they live no man kuoweth. Any one who has seen Vernet's picture at Versailles of the taking of Abd-el-Kader's Smala will at once recognise the type of these people in the won- derful figure of the Jew who is flying with his treasure from the grasp of tlie French swordsman. On Tuesday last, LordEaglan returned from Varna.but nothing was allowed to transpire respecting his visit to Shumla, or as to the plans which had been concerted by the councU of war. They sat two days with closed doors, and it will be seen that there was some show of reason on my side when I ventured to argue that Omar Pasha m ould insist on his favourite suggestion for the occu- pation of Varna by our armies. Immediately on Lord Haglan's return, the various generals of brigade visited him, and received instructions to prepare for active operations. Major Dickson was ordered to return to Varna in the " Cj^clops," and several transports were detached from the fleet to proceed up to the Black Sea with stores on the evening of the same day. The brigade orders for the Guards were distin- guished by a great novelty. They were ordered to appear the foUowmg day on parade without — Muskets? — No. Coatees? — No. Epaiilettes ?— No. Cartouch-boxes?— No. Boots?— No. In fact, j'ou would never guess it, good British reader, and least of all could you divine it who. belong to our glorious army. Her Majesty's Guards were actually commanded to parade "without STOCKS," and to march with unrestricted windpipes. This great boon of " no stocks" was granted to the Guards to celcljrate her Majesty's birthday, and I am certain that never since they were formed did the regiments give three more ringing, thundering cheers than issued from their throats yesterday, when the}' marched on the ground as erect and upright as ever, but not *' caught by the throat" as before, to be inspected by Lord Eaglan. While talking of orders, I inay observe that the eccentric wide- awake hats, shooting-coats, and trousers, in which officers delight to appear when enjoying the pleasures of mufti, have received a severe snubbing from Sir George Brown ; and he has expressed his dissatisfaction at the oificcrs of the Lig]it Division going across the water to Pera and Galata in dresses whicli, he conceives, would not be tolerated in England. There certainly have been some curious costumes, quite calculated to astonish tlie Browns of Stamboul and Pera, visible about the streets ; but if mufti is allowed at all (and our uniform is so mesquin in undress, and so HER MAJESTY'S EIKTHDAY, 73 lieavy and uncoutli in dress, that men fly from shell and coatee the moment they can), it will be found very hard to enact any satisfactory sumptuary laws respecting it ; for the English gentle- man, who is the very proper model adopted by Sir George Brown in all matters of attire, does certainly delight in sporting such varieties of cut and colour in hats and clothing for rowing, shoot- ing, cricketing, and out of town generally, that he maj^ be regarded by all kinds of Scutari delinquents as aflbrding some authority for their garmental excesses. The General is equally averse to the white linen cap-covers found so serviceable in India ; they are not becoming, but they certainly are very useful and pleasant this hot weather, and it is to be hoped that officers and men wiU be per- mitted to wear them. A few coups de soleil would be unwelcome arguments in their favour. One word more on this point, and I have done. I beheve that the experience we gained at Chobham was unfavourable to the white duck trousers of the Guards. They are most charming to look at, but the trouble of washing them, the evils of putting them on wet, and the difficulties of pipe- claying them, more than counterbalance the advantages of their clean and sho^vy appearance, even in England. It may easily be conjectured how all these difficulties will be increased in the Dobrudscha, or in the snipe grounds round the arms of the Danube, when the men are engaged in actual campaigning, and cannot defile to avoid a ditch or pick out the dry places, as they would on a review ground. Nevertheless, the white (soon to become whitey-brown, and then very brown) trousers are stiU re- tained. The new forage cap has as many enemies as friends, but the opinion of the better judges appears to be, that it is qmte un- suited to this country in warm -sAeather, as it is too close to the head, and does not defend the skull or face from the sim. Und^r other cu'cumstances it is useful enough — in aU, it is stupendously The Queen's birthday was kept yesterday with all honour, and was celebrated by a splendid military spectacle. At a quarter to eleven o'clock all the regiments in barrack and camp were paraded separately, and afterwards marched to the ridge which bounds one side of the shallow but broad ravine of which I have already spoken as separating the camp of the brigade of Guards from the camp of the other brigades. The total force on the ground con- sisted of about 15,000 men, and for weight, stature, and strength could not be matched probably by a Uke number of any troops in Europe. As they marched from camps and barracks in dense columns, converging on the ridge, the eye refused to believe that they could be condensed into so small a space as that they were ordered to occupy. The continued apathy of the Turks, which becomes absolutely disgusting to any more excitable race, was astonishing on this occasion. There were present some three or fom- gentlemen on horseback, -nith their pipe-bearers, and two or tkree native car- riages full of veiled women; but though Scutari, with its populat tion of 100,000 souls, was within a mile and a half, it did no- 74: SCUTARI. appear that lialf a dozen people had been added to the usual crowd of camp followers who attend on such occasions. The Greeks were more numerous, and Pera sent over a fair share of foreigners all ch-essed in the newest Paris fashions ; so that one might fancy hunself at a fashionable field-day in England, but for the cypress groves and the tail minarets glancing above in the distance. At twelve o'clock. Lord Raglan, attended by Sir George Brown, the Duke of Cambridge, Sir De Lacy Evans, the Earl of Lucan, the Generals of Brigade Bentinck. Sir C. Campbell, Pennefather, Airey, Adams, Buller, their Aids-de-camp and Majors of Brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel de Lagondie and Chef d'Escadron Vico, to the number of thirty or fort3^ appeared on. the ground m a perfect blaze of gold lace and scarlet and white plumes. They were received by the bands of aU the regiments striking up " God save the Queen," but not with that unanimity which woidd be desiiable in order to give a perfect eifect to the noble strains of our national anthem. Lord Raglan having ridden slowly along a portion of the Imes, wheeled round and took his post in front of the centre regiment. After a short pause, just as the guns of the "Niger" were heard thundering out a royal .salute from the Bosphorus. the bands struck up the national air again, and down at once fell the colours of every regiment droop- ing to the ground. The thing was well done, and the effect of these thirty -two masses of richly dyed silk encrusted with the names of great victories, falling so su^ddenly to the earth as if struck down by one blow, was strange and inexpressible. In another minute a shout of " God save the Queen" ran from the Hifles on the left to the Guards on the right, and three tremendous cheers, gathering force as they rolled on with the accumulated strength of a thousand throats from regiment after regiment, made the very air ring, the ears tingle, and the heart throb. Some of the regiments puUed oif their shakos, and waved them in the air in accompaniment to the shouts : others remained motionless, but made not less noise than their fellows. After the cheering had died away, leaving, however a strange sensation in many an English bosom, as we thought how soon their voice might be silenced for ever, the march past began in quick time. The Guards, who were in great good humour, possibly because their necks were free and all prisoners had been let out as an act of grace, marched magnificently. The Highlanders were scarcely a whit inferior, and their pipes and dress created a sensation among the Greeks, who are fond of calling them Scotch Albanians, and com- pare them to the Klephtic tribes, among whom pipes and kilts still ilourish. Some of the other regiments did well, others not so well, and on leaving tlie ground all marched off" to their respective camps, and the proceedings of the day were brought to a close, so far as the authorities were concerned. The Guards, however, had their games, — racing in sacks, leaping, running, &c., in the after- noon, and the regiments played cricket, and indulged in other manly sports, in spite of the heat of the day. In the evening, a A COUNTERMAKD. 75 handsome obelisk, erected in the centre of the Guards' cami), and crowned with laurel, was surroimded by fireworks. The body of poor Mr. Macnish, of the 93rd Highlanders, was found the same day, buried in mud in the ditch, close to the sea, and was brought up to the hospital with evei'y mark of feeling and respect. It ^^ ill be interred to-morrow. A deep contused wound on the forehead shows that the deceased must have been stunned by striking against a buttress as he was whii'led round in the flood. A com't-martial has been ordered on a Greek, who threw a stone at a man of the 88th, while bathing, and fractured liis skull. No reason beyond innate ferocity can be assigned for the act. The news of the loss of the "Tiger" has created a feehng here which it is hard to shake off, but I shall not trouble j'ou with the particulars, as no doubt you have heard them long since. May 28. When I wrote on Thursday last, all the preparations for em- barking the troops of the Light Division were proceeding with the utmost activitj^ News of some kind or other arrived on the same day, which had the effect of altering the minds of the chiefs, and all the despatch and huny of packing iip kits and arranging bag- gage for shipment were at once susi)ended. The horses of the whole of the staff of the Light Division, civil, mihtary, and medical, had been already put on board the "Emperor," when the orders to prepare for embarking were countermanded ; but at the same time commands were issued to keep these horses on board the steamer. All kinds of rumours are afloat respecting the reasons for this abrupt change. The " Hope" sci-ew steamer towed up a transport towards Varna yesterday, and several sailing vessels, laden with stores for the use of the troops, have since proceeded in the same direction. Thursday, the 79th Higldanders, who came in two days ago ia the " Simoom," disembarked, and marched into camp, amid loud cheering from their old comrades, the Kifles, who were quartered beside them for some time in North America. The Eifles pitched their tents for their Scotch friends, so that they had no trouble in marching at once into their new quarters. In addition to the " Simoom," her Majesty's steamers " Vesuvivis" and " Megsera" are lying off Scutari, the " Niger" having sailed to Malta for repairs. There are, however, several merchant steamers, such as the " Golden Fleece," the " Victoria," the " Trent," anchored hei'e, with the transports " Wild Wave, " Orient," and numbers "6," "18," "19," "20," "22," &c., so that there is ample means of conveyance for the troops whenever they are inclined to move. The " Alcides" has come in with a store of beer for the commis- sariat, and with some ale and porter on private ventm'e, which has gone off very well. There is great want of saddlery, pack-saddles, saddle-bags, and matters of that kind, and all the officers have found out that their fine London-made portmanteaus are utterly useless, and must be left behind. We hear that it has beea 7G VAUXA. decided tliat the men are to leave tlieir blankets and take tlieir greatcoats in case of a march. This decision may be right, but it is opposed, I believe, to the opinion of Sir Harry Smith and of other military authorities, vrho have laid it down as a rule, " Should it ever come to a choice between greatcoat and blanket, take the latter." For the raw liu^mid nights which may be ex- pected up the Danube there can be no doubt, one would think, that the blanket is better than a greatcoat. Would it not be easy enough to roll up the men's coats or blankets, whichever they may be, in the tent canvas, and have them caiTied by the commis- sariat ? If John Bull could only see the evil eflects of strangling the services in times of peace by iU-judged parsimony, he would not listen so readily to the counsellors who tell him that it is eco- nomy to tighten his i^urse-strings round the neck of army and navy. Who was the wise man ^^ho warned us in time of peace that we should pay dearly for shutting our eyes to the possibility of war, and who preached in vain to us about our want of baggage and pontoon trains, and our locomotive deficiencies ? No outlay, however prodigal, can atone for the effects of a griping penurious- ness, and all the gold in the Treasury cannot produce at command those great qualities in administrative and executive departments which are the fruits of experience alone. A soldier, an artillery- man, a commissariat officer, cannot be created suddenly, no matter how profuse may be your expenditure in the attempt. It would be a great national blessing if aU our political economists could be caught and enlisted in this army at Scutari for a month or so, or even if they could be provided with temporary commissions, till they have liad some practical knowledge of the results of their system. VARNA. CHAPTEE XL Embarlcation of tlie Light Division — TXhris of a camp — Slight delays and mishaps — Beautiful scenery of the Bosjiliorus — The Colden Horn — Constan-. tinople — Water-side palaces and kiosks — A fairy scene — Xight — Entrance into the Black Sea — Arrival and disembarkation at Varna — Resemblance of the town to Saudgate. Varna, June 1. On Sunday last, Sir George Brown left the barracks at Scutari, and proceeded to Varna in the "Banshee," and before his de- parture orders were issued tluit the men belonging to the Light Division under his command should embark early tlie following morning, — the baggage to be on board at six o'clock, the men at nine o'clock. Similar orders for tlieir embarkation on the 26th of May had been given, as I already informed you last week, but owing to some change of plans ou the part of the chiefs, they were ENCA3IPMEKT BROKEN UP. / i not carried out, and fears were entertained that the expedition might be delayed still longer at Scutari. However, the departure of Ihe General looked promising, and tliis time the hopes and im- patience of those who longed for action were to bo satisfied. At daylight the reveille woke up the camp of the Light Division, and the regiments were read.y for inspection at five o'clock. The Light Division, which is no doubt destined to play an important part in this campaign, and whose highest glory it will be to emidate the successes of the famous legion of the Peninsida whose name they bear, consists of the following regiments : — The 7th Fusileers, the 23rd Fusileers, the 19th Foot, the 33rd or Wellington's Eegiment, the 77th Foot, the SSthConnaughtEangers, and the Eifle Brigade, second battalion, attached. Each regiment was placed in order of niunbers by the side of its comrade, and the encampments of each were disposed in parallelograms one after the other, so that there ■n-as very little trouble or confusion in getting the division_ together. They formed in front of then- tents, and after a rapid inspection were ordered to strike tents. In a moment or two file after file of canvas cones collapsed and fell to the earth, the poles were un- spliced and packed up, the canvas rolled up and placed in layers on bullock carts, the various articles of regimental baggage col- lected into the same vehicles — ants in a swarm could not be more active and busthng than they were; they formed into masses, broke up again, moved in single files in little companies, in broken groups all over the ground, while the araba drivers looked stupidly on, exhibiting the most perfect indifference to the appropriation of their carts, and evidently regarding the Giaours as implcasant demons, by whose preternatui'al energies they were to be agitated and perturbed as punishment for their sins. It would seem, indeed, very difilcult to re-form this shifting, diffusive crowd of redcoats into the steady masses which were drawn up so rigidly a short time previously along the canvas walls, now fluttering in the dust or packed helplessly in bales. Their labours were, however, decisive, and in some half-hour or so they had transformed the scene completely, and had left nothing behind them but the bare cii'cles of baked earth, marking where tents had stood, the black- ened spot where once the camp-fires blazed, tethering sticks, and a curious debris of jam-pots, preserved meat cases, bottles, sweetmeat- boxes, sardine cases, broken delf, bones of fowl and ham, pomatum- pots, tobacco pipes, &c. A few words of command running through the toiling crowd, some blasts on the bugle, and the regi- ments get together once more as steady and soUd as ever, with long lines of bullock carts and buftalo arabas drawn up between them, and winding slowly along over the sandy slopes which lead to the sea. Here the fleet of transports, of which I have so often spoken, lay anchored with their attendant steamers m long lines, as close in shore as they coidd lie with safety. The "Vesuvius" steam sloop. Commander Powell, the " Simoon" and the " Megjera" troop ships (screw steamers), sent in their boats to aid those of the merchantmen and steamers in embarking the men and baggagei and Admiral Boxer, aided by Captain Christie, Commander Powell 78 VARNA. aud Lieutenant E,undle, H.N., superintended the arrangements for stowing away and getting on board tlie little army, whicli con- sisted of about 6,500 men. The morning was fine, but a little too hot. The men were in excellent spirits, and as they marched over the dusty plain, aud wound down the sandy paths over the com- mon, to the landing-places, they were greeted with repeated peals of cheering from the regiments of the other divisions. The order and regularity mth which they were got on board the boats, and the safety and celerity with which they were embarked — baggage, horses, women, and stores — were creditable to the authorities, and to the discipline and good order of the men themselves, both oiEcers and privates. The " Victoria" (four-masted screw steamer) embarked the 33rd Hegiment, 990 strong, and 12 horses ; the " Andes" emliai-ked the 23rd Eoyal Welsh Fusileers, 900 strong, and 12 horses ; the " Megsera" embai-ked the 7th Fusileers, 950 strong, and 12 horses; the " Cambria" embarked the 88th Connaught Rangei-s, 950 strong, and 12 horses ; the " Melbourne" embarked the 77th, 950 strong, and 12 horses ; the " Medway" embarked the 19th, 950 strong, and 12 horses ; the " Golden Fleece" embarked the Kifle battalion; the " Trent" embarked 300 pack horses , the " City of Loudon" and " Emperor" towed up transport No. 4, artillery, and transport No. 18, staff-horses, &c. ; the "Vesuvius," having lent her paddle- box boats to embark the men, moved off from her anchorage in the Golden Horn about twelve o'clock, when all the troops were on board, and proceeded up the stream of the Bosphorus to take in tow the " Sir George Pollock." with 60 horses belonging to the Bifle Brigade, &c., on board. The " Golden Fleece" was the first to start, and as she had no vessel in tow she made rapid way against the current, and was soon out of view in the bends of this salt-water river. Transports Nos. 41, 46, and 48 were laden with the men and horses of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, and lay out in the stream about two miles above Tophane. The " Victoria," which was to have towed No. 44, ran up alongside her, and made fast her hawsers to tow, but ere she could get her away the current caught her, threw her against a stubborn little Dutch galliot, which anchored dead in the way, and snap, snap, crash went bov.sprit, and yard, and topmast, one after auotlier, till the Hollander seemed as if he had just cut from Camperdown. Then the hawsers got round the screw of the steamer — they were cut or cast adrift in a twinkling, and the transport fetching stern way came right upon the shore, sorely discomposing a little body of Tui'kish philosophers ■who were smoking on a ])latform just where her counter came. The " Victoria" returned for aid to Scutari, aud after a time came up M'ith a Tug, and pulled off the transport. As she nassed on AA ith her prize, the men of tlie 33fd, who wci'c on boara, cheered the '■ Vesuvius" till the Bos])liorus i-ang with echoes. The captain of the " Sir Geoi'ge Pollock" being ou shore (for he had received no orders to be in readiness), a delay of three or four hours took place till tlie "Vesuvius" could get her to move. The artillery were embarked in transports Nos. 1, 2, 3, aud 4, aud were towed SCENERY OP THE BOSPHORUS. 79 by the "Medway," "Melbourne," "Cambria," and "City of London" respectively. The fleet was thus constituted of two steamers for staff officers and horses, seven for troops and 84 chai'gers, one for 300 pack horses, four transports for Horse Artillery, three transports for Hussars, two transports for Com- missariat horses. Notwithstanding some little delays and mishaps, such as those alluded to above, the whole of the flotilla moved off with great punctuality, and commenced its course upwards with admirable order and quickness. No voyager or artist has yet done justice to the beautiful scenery of the Bosphorus. It has much the character of a Norwegian fiord. Perhaps the rounded outhne of the hills, the light rich gi-een of the vegetation, the luxuriance of tree and flower and herb- age, resemble more closely the banks of Killarney or Windermere. For thirteen miles, the waters escaping from the Black Sea, now compressed by swelling hillocks to a breadth of little more than a mile, then expanding mto sheets of four times that breadth, gush along in a blue flood, hke the Rhone as it issues from the lake of Geneva, till they mingle with the Sea of Marmora, passing in their course by a succession of wood and dale, ravine and hill-side, covered \^■ith the profusest carpeting of leaf and blade, while kiosk and pleasure groimd, bastion and loopholed curtain, gay garden, villa, mosque, and noble mansion stud the banks in unbroken lines from the very foot of the forts which command the entrance up to the crowning glory of the scene, where the imperial city of Constantine, rising in many-coloured terraces from the verge of the Golden Horn, confuses the eye with its masses of fohage, of red roofs, divers-hued walls, gables, and fretwork, sunnounted by a frieze of snow-white minarets with golden summits, and by the symmetrical sweep of St. Sophia. The hills strike abruptly up- wards to a. height vaiying from 200 feet to 600 feet, and are bounded at the foot by a line of quays, which run along the Euro- pean side, almost without interruption, from Pera tc Bujukdere, about five miles from the Black Sea. These quays are very numerous on the Asiatic side also. The villages by the water- side are so close together, that Pera may be said to extend from Tophane to the forts beyond Bujukdere. The kiosks and resi- dences of the pashas, the imperial palaces of the sultan and the retreats of opulence, line these favoured shores ; and as the stranger passes on, in steamer or caique, he may catch a view of some suc- cessful plunderer of a province, some hoary pasha, or unscrupulous ex-governor, sitting cross-legged in his garden or verandah, smok- ing away, and each looking so Hke the other, that they might aU pass for brothers. The windows of one portion of these houses are mostly closely latticed and fastened, but here and there a bright flash of a yellow or red robe shows the harem is not unte- nanted. These dwellings succeed each other the whole length of the Bosphorus, quite as numerously as the houses on the road from Hyde Park Corner to Hammersmith ; and at places such as Thera- pia and Bujukdere, they are dense enough to form large villages, provided with hotels, shops, cafes, and lodging-houses. The Turks so VAKNA. deliglit in going up in tlieir caiques to some of these places, and sitting out on the platforms over the water, while the chibouque or narghile confers on them a zoophytic happuiess ; and the greatest object of Turkish ambition is to enjoy the pleasvu'cs of a kiosk on the Bosphorus. The waters abound in fish, and droves of por- poises and dolphins disport in myriads on its surface, plashing and playing about, as with easy roll they cleave their way against its rapid ilood, or gambolling about in the plenitude of their strength and security, till a sword-fish takes a dig at them, and sets them off curvetting and suortmg like sea-horses. Hawks, kites, buz- zards, and sea-eagles are numerous, and large flocks of a kind of gregarious petrel (I imagine), called by the French " cimes damnees." and which are said never to rest on land, keep con- stantly flying up and down close to the water. The flotnia began its voyage at eleven o'clock. Off Tophane, some five or six fine frigates, some of them double-banked, d's- played the red flag with the silver crescent moon and star of the Ottoman Porte. They were lying idly at rest there, and we thought they might be much better employed, if not at Kavarna Ba.y, certainly in cruising about the Greek Archipelago. In jus- tice to the Tm-ks, it must be said they maintained the dignified indifference of the savage to the last. As the men at Scutari landed so they dei^arted — in silence — and, so far as the people were concerned, in solitude. The caiquejees, or boatmen, scarcely turned their heads to look at the monster steamers, with their decks crowded with troops, that tossed their frail barks with the swell of then- paddle-wheels ; the smoking groups on shore never relaxed pviffing the pipe as the flotilla went by ; and the only animation they showed was once when the " Vesuvius," to astonish the natives, ran so close by the quaj^ that the swell washed over it, and tumbled over the bare toes of the Osmanli, who fled within, lest the steamer should i^ursue them bodily on shore. It was ^\\e o'clock ere the last steamer which had to wait for the transports got under weigh again, and night had set in before they reached the entrance of the Black Sea. As they passed the forts (which are pretty frequent towards the Euxine), the sentries yelled out strange challenges and burned blue lights, and blue lights answered from our vessels in return ; so that at times the whole of the scene put one in mind of a grand fairy spectacle ; and it did not require much imagination to believe that the trees were the work of Grieve — that Stanficld had daslied in the waters and ships — that the forts were of pasteboard, and tlie clouds of gauze lighted up by a property man — whUe those moustachioed soldiers, with red fez caps or tarbouches, eccentric blue coats and breeches, and white belts, might fairly pass for Surrey supernumeraries. Out go the blue lights !— we are all left as blind as owls at noon- tide ; but our eyes recover — the stars at last begin to tivinkle — two lights shine, or rather blear, hazily on either bow — they mark the opening of the Bosphorus into the ]<]uxino. We shoot past them, and a farewell challenge and another blue halo show the sentries are wide-awake. "We are in the Black Sea, and, lo ! sea THE BLACK SEA. 81 and sky and laud are at once shut out from us ! A fog, a di-ifting, clammy, nasty mist, bluish-white, and cold and raw, falls down on us like a shroud, damps out the stars and all the lights of heaven, and steals with a slug-like pace down yard and mast and stays, sticks to the face and beard, renders the deck dark as a gi'aveyard. and forces us all down to a rubber and coffee. This is genuine Black Sea weather. All the club and taproom politicians Avho talk nonsense to distinguished circles, and regulate the mo- tions of fleets, and criticise the conduct of armies, should be sent out here to take the command of so many Thames wherries till they leai'n what the real difficulties of managing ships in such a sea are. I immediately repented me of tlie evil thoughts I had once entertaiued, and was angry at the rubbish I had listened to about apathy, inactivity, and indolence, when I had had that one night's and day's experience of the Euxine. The shore was not flxr oil' (presumed not to be) on our port quarter, but had it been within a quarter of a mile, it would have been equally invisible. Later in the night we passed through a fleet, which we took to be Turkish men-of-war, but it was impossible to make them out, and but for the blockade of their ports, these vessels might have been Hussians. In the morning the same haze continued drifting about and hugging the land ; but once it rose and chscovered a steamer close in shore, with a transport cast off" from her, and hovering about just as a hen watches a chicken. The " Vesuvius" fired a gun, and after some time the steamer tried to take the transport in tow agaiu, and proceeded to rejoin the squadron. We subse- quently found it was the '" Mega^ra." The line of laud was marked by a bank of white clouds, and the edge of the sea horizon was equally obscured. About half-past three o'clock the bay of Varna was visible, with the masts of some large vessels just peering up a-head, and the "Victoria," her Majesty's ship "Vesuvius," &c., ran m and an- chored before six o'clock. The " BeUerophon," 74, Lord G. Paulet, the " Henri Quatre" (French), 90, and an Ottoman schooner were lying in the roadstead, close to the town, and transports Nos. 1,2, IS, 27, 4(3, &c., busily engaged iu landing stores and men. (It may be as well here to say that the transports Iving ofi* Scutari m hen we left, were Nos. 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13. 14, 15,' 16.^21. 30.) The dis- embarkation was XH'Oceeding admirably. Large boats had been provided for the purpose, and the French and English men-of-war lent their launches and cutters to tow and carry, in addition to those furnished by the merchantmen. The Rifles had already landed, and had marched off" to their temporary camp ujider can- vas about a mUe away. The 8Sth Connaught Eangcrs were already forming on the jetty, preparatory to marching, and the bay was alive with boats fuU of redcoats. The various regunents cheered tremendously as vessel after vessel arrived, but they met no response from the Turkish troops. Lord G. Paulet entertained the Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown, and a numerous party, •on board the " Bellerophou" in the evening. The vessel is pro- 82 VARJfA. vided mth a band, and all nigLit the sliores eclioed to the melody of the choicest morceaux of our best composers, while the men who had not lauded crowded the decks of the ships to listen. June 2. This morning early the " Caton," French Government screw, arrived here, having on board General Caurobert and a small staff. He landed about mid-day, and after an extempore levee of the French officers on the beach, proceeded to call on Sir George Brown. Owmg to the exertions of Omar Pasha, and the activity of the commissariat, the quantity of open and covered arabas, or bullock and buffalo carts, which has been collected here, is nearly sioificient for all the wants of this division of the army. They are drawn up in hundi'eds along the walls of the principal magazine, and their services can be had at a few moments' notice. There is a small army of hairy, wild-looking drivers stalking about tlie place, and admiring tlie beauties of Varna, spear or buffalo goad in hand. The cavalry force sent by Omar Pasha, to a place within a few miles of our camp, has been of infinite service in sending in pro- visions, horses, and cattle. The latter are wretchedly small aud lean. A strong man could lift one of the beasts, and there is not so much meat on one of them as on a good Euglisli sheep. The horses are hardy, wild, mouthless brutes, but the owners are ask- ing too much for them. Omar Pasha has forbidden the export of grain from this port, and from all the ports of Eoumeha without exception. The British camp is pitched on a plain, covered with scrub and clumps of sweetbrier, about a mile from the town, and half a mile from the fresh-water lake. The water of the lake, however, is not good for drinking — it abounds in animalcula;, not to mention enormous leeches — and the men have to go to the fountains and wells near the town to fill their canteens and cooking tins. This, however, is only a temi^orary encampment, and it is expected that they will move on Saturday or Monday about eight miles further off, towards a village called Devno. Fresh meat was issued to the men to-day, biit a good many complaints were made by the soldiers, most of them, however, having reference to want of salt or pepper. To the hardy stoics at home, who laugh at such petty privations over their well-filled cruet-stand, it may be observed, that ration beef is not of that exquisite flavour and richness that a little disguise and condiment are not desirable at times. There is also a grumble at the non-appearance of the promised ale and porter, which is said to be stowed under the barracks at Scutari. I doubt that it is good drink for this country — rum, I am sure, would be much better. However, the men Imve not got either one or the other. The bread is brown and a little sourish. The medical stores and comforts have all arrived. Sir George Brown is anxious to reduce them to as small a compass as is compatible with efficiency, and I believe there is not complete identity of opinion between him aud the medical authorities as to the amount MARCH OF THE LIGHT DIVISION. 83 of baggage acconunodation 'svhicli will be necessary for tbeir transport. All the force— men, artillery, horses, and all of the Light Divi- sion, were landed this morning, and in the course of the day. The weather is very hot, muggy, and foggy. Tlie French force is very small, but they have got hold of some of the best quarters, and tlie tricolor floats over the town from a very high flag-staff. Varna is something like Sandgate, with a white wall round it. Great eflorts are being made to strengthen it, and along the sea face are mounted new guns, with earthwork and fascine parapets and embrasures. The beach is covered with heaps of rusty old shot and shell. The hills at the back completely command the place, and make it a poor military position. Food is good enough, and plentiful : a fowl can be had for seven piastres — Is. 2d. ; bread and meat are about the same price as in London ; a turkey can be had for half-a-erown ; wine is dear, and not good; spirits, I am sorry to say, as cheap as they are bad. CHAPTER Xn. The Light Division march to Devna — Encamptnent at Aladyn — Arrival of the First Division at Varna — Altered appearance of the town — Gallic nomen- clature of Turkish streets — A rida from the town to the camp — Scenery and incidents ere route — The Bulgarian peasant — English love for field sports — " What have you hit, Jack ?" — Beautiful situation of the camp — Life in the camp. Camp at Ai.adtn, niar Varna, June 9. On Monday morning, at three o'clock, the Light Division of the British army, commanded by Sir George Brown, and consisting of the 7th, 19th, 23rd, 33rd, 77th, and 88th Eegiments, with part of the 8th Hussars, the 17th Lancers, and a portion of a batteiy of artillery consisting of four guns attached, commenced its march from this by striking tents and getting baggage in readiness, and after breakfast proceeded on their way to their new encampment between Kojuk and Devna (called in some of the maps Dewnos). The infantry halted on a plain about nine miles and a half from the town of Varna, close to a fresh-water lake, but the cavalry and artillery continued their march, and pitched tents at the viUage of Devna, which is about eighteen miles from Varna, the route being through a rich and fertile country, perfectly deserted and lifeiess — not a house, not a human creature to be seen along the whole hue of march. A thick scrub, said to abound in game of various kinds, covers the country towards Devna, and the district is rich in varied scenery of a sober agricultural character. The vicinity of the lake insures a supply of water, which can be rendered avail- able, b.y boiling and other processes, for daily household or tent use, and the labours of the military anglers have been already rewarded by sundry fine dishes of perch. Altogether the statiou g2 81: CAMP AT ALADYJ7. seems excellent, and as tlie commissariat is not deficient in sup- plies of all the essentials of bread and beef, there is no cause for complaint, though many of the Sybarites walk into town and back again, when they can get time, to procure salt, iDcpiier, tobacco, and vegetables. I much fear there wdl be a scarcity of the last, and that the health of the men will suffer in consequence. The fleet, which is close to us (in Baltschik bay), has felt the evil effects of such scarcity already, and the "Britannia" and several other ships have been visited with scurvy. On Saturday last the *' Spitfire" paid a visit to Bourgas, which is a town of some importance south of Varna in the Black Sea, and brought up bet-n'een twenty and thirty tons of onions for the use of the fleet, and fifty head of country cattle ; but as some com- plaints have been made of these little interferences of the sea service with the commissariat of the land forces, Omar Pasha has issued strict injunctions, all along theEm'opean coast of the Black Sea, that no ships be provided in future with such stores or pro- visions under any i^retence short of absolute want. Our commis- sariat has a hard task to play here. It is so tied down with orders, and so cramped by siu'vedlauce, that its energies are greatly dimi- nished. It treats and contracts, where the French commissariat demands and takes ; and in no department has the eflect of our ill-judged economy been so painfully manifested as in the opcra- sions of that which is above aU others essential to the progress of an army. Mr. Commissary-General Filder has, I understand, succeeded in entermg into contracts with certain Armenians, for a supply of 2800 head of cattle a month. These xirmenians have given satisfactory securities, but as their race is essentially Bus- sian in feeUngs and s.ympathies, they will require to be weU looked after in every way, for as this coiintry is situated just now, it would be difficult to feed us should the contractors fad in their imdertaking. A great benefit has been gained by this advance from the neigh- bourhood of the town of Varna. The slough of the camp, the extra weights, &c., are cast off, and, above all. the supplies of dinnk are cut off. Drunkenness at Gallipoli and at Scutari has been the bane of our men, French and Euglish. With us, flog- ging seems the only cure, and even that is not a good or certain one. Sir De L. Evans is particularly o])poscd to the practice of the lash, but something must be done if the mischief continues. A " hell" has been established near Scutari barracks by certain enterprising persons from the neighbourlioodof St. James's-sti'eet, but hitherto the worthies have been very unlucky, and have met little custom, and none of it lucrative. vVn Italian has erected a very comfortable casino, an eating and smoking room., in the same place. Our commissariat has got forty days' bread in advance for the army ; the Frcncli liave not got twenty. The 7 Ith Eegiment of the line (French) has arrived at Bourgas, to lay out camps and break ground for the Frencli cohunns which ai-e now marching up there. In a week they expect to have 25,000 men in the place, ARRIVAL OP THE FIRST DIVISION. 85 but, except in grain, the siipy^lies are deficient. There has been a serious seuffliug fight at Galiipoli between the 1st Eoyals and the '30th Reginaeut, in which all the men on both sides were engaged. Only broken heads were the result, and the combatants are now as good friends as ever. Captain Wallace, of the 7th Fusileers, has been killed by a fall from his horse. His death has cast a great gloom over his regi- ment. It took place last Saturday-, and the deceased was bui-ied with all military honours on Sundaj- last. Admirals Dundas and Haraelin have come down to assist at the conferences between the French and English officers. A new Pasha has arrived here, who is supposed to be better fitted to the exigencies of the times than his predecessor. He was received with all honours by the Turkish garrison yesterday, but he landed without any ostentation beyond that displaj'ed in his numerous and rather dilapidated following of swordsmen and pipebearers. June 12. The Light Division received orders to march at five o'clock last Saturday morning. It rained all the previous night, and early iu the morning Captain Pearson, aid-de-camp to Sir George Brown, rode out to countermand the march. There is now no sign of a move. The division parades every morning early, and marches out with baggage, mules, artillery, &c., for a couple of miles and returns. The camp is healthj. June 14. The First Division arrived at Varna yesterday, and the Duke of Cambridge, his staff, and the Brigade of Guards landed to-day. Lord Raglan has not been able to come up here, in consequence of an indisposition which confines him to his quarters at Scutari. The division, consisting of the Brigade of Guards and the High- land Brigade (42nd, 79th, and 93rd regiments), was conveyed with the greatest comfort and celerity from Scutari. The "Himalaya," mth the 5th Dragoon Guards on board, arrived in the bay on jMonday evening, having left Cork on the 28th of May. She carried 320 horses and 323 men of the regiment, and she reached Malta in seven days and twent3'-two hours (aU well). It need scarcely be stated that she has made the quickest passage ever known. From point to point she was only eleven days and nineteen hours under steam between Cork and Varna. The commanding officer. Major Le Marchant, and the officers of the regiment, presented Captain Kellock, the able and indefatigable commander, with a highly flattermg and very comphmeutary ad- dress, in which they exin-essed their deep sense of the attention paid to their comforts, and of the kindness and consideration with, which they were treated on board his noble ship ; and Mr. Lane, the purser, received a letter to the same effect, and was compli- mented on the excellent forage provided for the horses. The disembarkation of the Guards was effected this morning in 86 CAMP AT ALADYN. excellent order, and with a rapidity and comfort which, confer g:reat credit on the officers engaged in superintending it. The Prench assisted with the most hearty goodwill. Of their own accord the men of the Artillery and the Chasseurs came down to the beach, helped to load buffalo carts, and set to work at once to thump the drivers, to push the natives out of the way, to show the road, and, in fact, to make themselves generally usefid. The men, though not quite so stout asweare accustomed to see them inLondon, were nevertheless in capital case, and good humoured and high spirited, notwithstanding a heavy storm of rain that broke over them on the march to their camp, about a mile outside the town. The tents of some of the Egyptians are pitched on the road-side, and as the first company of the Grenadiers marched past a mur- mur went througli the place, and the swarthy little warriors came swarming out like bees, and drew themselves up with staring eyes and open mouths to gaze on the Anakim. At first they appeared to be affected by mute wonder only, but as man after man strode by, and the fact grew upon them that there was a whole regiment composed of such tall fellows, they burst into a grin, and at last expanded into laughter and chattering delight. The two troops of the 8th Hussars lying outside the town gave the men a hearty cheer as they came in sight. Most of the men wore no stocks. It appears that soon after Sir George Brown came up to Varna an order was issued to the Duke's division making the wearing of the stock optional. Most of the men at once flung off the leathern encumbrance, but, with the usual taste of soldiers for civil attire, they began to wear gay-coloured handkerchiefs and neckcloths, so that the authorities were obliged to order them to wear either the stock or nothing. The Dragoons wore white caHco covers to their helmets, but Sir George will not allow it if he can help it. He dislikes these covers exceedingly, as being uusoldierlike ; and his own division is for- bidden to wear thom on any account. They certainly do not improve the appearance, but as surely they contribute greatly to the comfort of the men. Por the present the division will occupy the site of the camp of the Liglit Division before it moved to Aladyn. I rode into Varna from the camp this morning, but so changed was the appearance of the principal streets by the restless activity and energy of the French that I could not recognise them. Old blind side walls had been broken down, and shops opened, in which not only necessaries, but even luxuries could oe purchased ; the streets, once so dull and silent, re-echoed the laughter and rattle of dominoes in the newly-established cafe.f. Wine merchants and sutlers from Algiers, Oran, Constantine, Marseilles, Toulon, had set up booths and shops, at which liqueurs, spirits, and French and country wines could l)e purchased at i)rices not intolerably high. The natives had followed the example. Strings of German sausages, of dried tongues, oCwiry hams, of bottles of pickles, hung from the rafters of an old 'J'urkisli khan, wiiich but a few days before was the abode of nothing but unseemly insects ; and an RIDE FROM VARNA TO THE CAMP. 87 empty storehouse was turned into a nicely whitevraslied and gaily painted " Restaurant de I'Armee d'Orient pour Messieurs les Ofliciers et Sous-ofRciers." The names of the streets, according to a Gallic nomenclature, printed in black on neat deal slips, were fixed to the walls, so that one could find his way from place to place without going through the erratic wanderings which generally mark the stranger's progress through a Turkish town. One lane is named the Eue Ibrahim, another E.ue de THopital, a third Hue Yusuf ; the principal lane is termed the Corso, the next is Rue des Postes Fran^aises ; and, as all these names are very convenient, and have a meaning attached to them, no sneering ought to deter one from confessing that the French manage these things better than we do. AVhere is the English post-office ? No one knows. Where does the English General Uve? No one knows. Where is the hospital to carry a sick soldier to ? No one knows. Does any one want to find General Canrobert? Ask the first Frenchman you meet, and he will tell yovi to go vip the Corso, turn to the right, by the end of the Rue de THopital, and then you will see the name of the General painted in large letters over the door of his quarters. The French post-office and the French hospital are indicated sufficiently by the names of the streets. Our sappers and miners have done useful works by the sea-side, have built piers, trenched up the shore, and deepened the httle harbour. The French have done the same ; they have built piers and banked np the shore, and erected a sea-wall to land at. Lord George Paulet has been inexhaustible in his hospitalities on board the *' Bellerophon," and has done much to amalgamate the higher officers of both armies byliis friendly m//n'o«s, so that they become better friends every day. There is no jealousy between the men, or any rivalry, except in the path of honour. Sir George Brown stdl continues with his stafi" at Varna. General Tylden is camped with his stafi" by the side of the bay, near the cavaliy camp, and Captains Gordon and Hassard, Mr. Martin, of the Royal Engineers, and a few sappers and miners, remain in the town, close by the wall, in order to be ready for any work in tlieir way. As to the camp at Aladyn there is not much to say. Never were tents pitched in a more lovely spot. When the morning sun has risen it is scarce possible for one to feel he is far from England. At the other side of the lake which waters the meadows beneath the hUl on which the camp is placed, there is a range of high ground, so finely wooded, with such verdant sheets of short crisp grass between the clumps of forest timber, that every one who sees it at once says, " Surely there must be a fine mansion somewhere among those trees !" When once the traveUer leaves the sandy plain and flat meadow lands which sweep westward for two or three miles from Varna, he passes through a succession of fine land- scapes, with a waving outUne of hills, which he can see on all sides above the thick mass of scrub or cover, pierced by the road or rather the track made by horsemen and araba drivers. The open country is finely diversified, and abundance of ■wood 88 CAMP AT ALADYN. and T^'ater lies all around, within easy distance of the route. Lont? lines of storks fly overhead or hold solemn reviews among th? frogs in the meadows. As for the latter they are innumerable, and their concerts by day and night would dehght the classical scholar who remembers his Aristophanes, and who can test the accuracy of the chorus. Eagles soar overhead, looking out for dead horses ; and vultures, kites, and huge buzzards scour the plains in quest of vermin, hares, or pai'tridges. Beautiful orioles, a blaze of green and yellow, gaudy woodpeckers, jays, and gros-beaks, shriek and chatter among the bushes, while the nightingale pours forth afiood of plaintive melody, aided by a lovely little warbler in a black cap and red waistcoat with bluish facings,who darts about after the flies, and who, when he has caught and eaten one. lights on a twig and expresses his satisfaction in a gush of exquisite music. Blackbirda and thrushes join in the chorus, and birds of all sorts, many of them unknown to me, flit around in multitudes. The commonest Inrd of aU is the dove, and I regret to say that he is found so good to eat that his cooing is often abruptly terminated by a dose of jS'o. (3. This morning as I was coming into town a large snake, about eight feet long and as thick as mj^ arm, wriggled across the path ; my horse plunged violently when he saw him, but the snake went leisurely and with great difliculty across the sandy road ; when he gained the grass, however, he turned his head round, and darted out a little spiteful-looking tongue with great quickness. A Turk who rode behind me drew a long barrelled pistol, and was adjusting his aim, when with the quickness of lightning the snake, or whatever he was. darted into the thicket, and though four of us rode oiu' horses through the place we could not find him. He was of a dark green, mottled with Mhite, had a large head of a lighter hue, and protuberant bright eyes. Jackals are said to abound, bufe I saw none of them, and it is not unlikely that the wild dogs are mistaken for them. A small kind of deer has been seen close to us in herds of fifty or sixty, and the sportsmen have found out the tracks of wild boars through the neighbouring hills. Huge carp abound in the lake ; and very fine perch, enormous bream, and pike can be had for tlie taking, but tackle, rods, and lines are very scarce in the camp. There are no trout in these waters, but perch and j)ike take large flies very freely, whenever the angler can get through the weeds and marshy borders to take a cast for them. As the traveller proceeds onwards he encounters a team of ox: or buffalo carts en route to or from the camp. Let us stop and look at this scarecrow who is driving them. He is a stout, well- made, and liandsome man, with finely-shaped features and large dark eyes ; but for all tliat tli(>re is a dull dejected look about him which rivets the attention. Tliere is no speculation in the orbs which gaze on you half in dread, half in wonder; and if there should be a cavass or armed Turk with you, the poor wretch dnro not take his look away for a moment, lest he should meet the ready lash, or provoke some arbitrary act of violence. His head is covered with a caji of blnck shei-pskin, with tlie wool on, beneath which falls a mass of tangled hair, which unites with beard, and THE BULGARIAN PEASANT. SS)- ■wliislcer, and moustaclie in forming a rugged mat about the lo\\er part of the face. A jacket made of coarse brown cloth Jiangs looselj' from the shoulders, lea^'iug visible the breast, burnt almost black by exposure to the sun. Underneath the jacket is a kind of vest, v.hich is confined round the %Aaist by several folds of a shawl or sash, in which are stuck a yataghan or knife, and a reed pipe- stick. The breeches are made of very rudelj^ manufactured cloth, wide above and gathered in at the knee ; and the lower part of the leg is protected by rags, tied round with bits of old string, which put one in mind of the Italian bandit, a la Wallack, in a state of cxti-eme dilapidation and poverty. If you could speak with this poor Bulgarian, you would find his mind as waste as the land aroimd j'ou. He is a Christian, after a fashion, but he puts far more faith in charms, in amulets, and in an uncleanly priest and a certain saint of his village, than m prayer or works. He beheves the Turks are his natural masters ; that he must endure meekly what they please to inflict ; and that between him and Heaven there is only one power and one man strong enough to save him from the most cruel outrages, or to withstand the sovereign sway of the Osmanli, and that power is Eussia, and that man is the Czar. His whole fortune is that wretched cart, which he regards as a triumph of construction ; and he has driven those lean, fierce- eyed buffaloes many a mde, from some distant village, in the hope of being employed by the commissariat, who oiTer him what seems to him to be the most munificent remuneration of '3s. M. a-day for the services of liimself, his beasts, and araba. His food is coarse brown bread, or a mess of rice and grease, flavoiu'ed with garhc, the odour of which has penetrated his very bones, and spreads ia vapour around him. His drink is water, and now and then an. intoxicating draught of bad raki or sour coimtry wine. In that abject figure you look in vain for the dash of Thracian blood, or seek the descendant of the Eoman legionarj". From whatever race he springs, the Bulgarian peasant hereabouts is the veriest slave that ever tjTanny created, aud as he walks slowly away with down- cast eyes and stooping head, by the side of his cart, the hardest heart must be touched with pity at his mute dejection, aud hate the people and the rule that have ground him to the dust. Going forwards towards the camp, and encountering many a team such as the last, or groups of Bashi-Bazouks, or regular (but very irrcgidar) cavalry, on their march, aud now and then English travellers going to pester Omar Pasha at Shumla, or returning proudly from, having done so, we at last draw towards the camp. The report of a gim rings through the woods and covers, and an honest English shout of '"What have you hit. Jack ?" or. "By Jove, he's off"!" from among the bushes, shows that Ensign Brown or Captain Johnson is busy in the pvirsuit of the sports of the field. Private Smith, of the Eifle Brigade, with a goose in each hand, is stalking homewards from the hamlet by the lake-side. Mr. Flynn, of the Connaught Eaugers, a httle the worse for raki, is carrjong a lamb on his shoulders, which he is soothing with sentimentalities ; and Sergeant Macgregor, of the 7th, and Ser- 90 CAMP AT ALADYN. geant Aprice, of the 23rd Welsli Fusileers, are gravely discussing a difficult point of theology ou a knoll in front of j'ou. Men in fatigue frocks, laden with bundles of sticks or corn or swathes of fresh grass, are met at every step ; and by the stream-side, half- hidden by the bushes, there is a rural laundry, whence come snatches of song, mingled with the famUiar sounds of washing and lines of fiutteruig linen, attesting the energies of the British laun- dress under the most unfavourable circumstances. In a short time the stranger arrives at a mass of araba carts drawn up along the road, thi'ough ^hich he threads his way with difTiculty, and just as he tops the last hill, the tents of the Light Division, stretching their snowy canvas in regular hnes up the slope of the opposite side, come into view. The '^amp is pitched on a dry, sandy tableland. On the right- hand side the artillery (Captain Levinge's troop), the small arm and ammunition train (Captain Anderson), and the rocket car- riages, caissons, artillery horses, &c., have fixed their quarters. The valley between them and the tableland on which the camp is situate is unoccupied. On the left-hand side, on a beautiful spot overlooking the lake, at a considerable elevation, is the little camp of the commissariat, surrounded by carts and araba drivers, flocks of sheep and goats, and cattle, and vast piles of bread aud corn. Here are pitched the tents of Mr. Darling (the commis- sariat officer of the whole division), of Mr. Thompson, and of Mr. Barlee. Mr. Clarke and another gentleman of this department are stationed ^lith the artillery. The E-ifle camp is placed at the distance of 300 yards from the commissariat's camp, on the slope of the tableland, and commands a beautiful view of the lakes and of the surrounding country; and the 7th, 19th, 23rd, 77th, 88th, and 33rd Regiments are encamped close together, so that the lines of canvas are almost unbroken, from one extremity to the other. Brigadier-Greneral Airey and staff, and Drs. Alexander, Eice, and Jameson, have pitched their tents in a meadow close by some trees, at the upper end of the encampment. The engineei's under Captain Gordon, the Eev. Mr. Egan, and Captain Halliwell, have formed a little encampment of their own in a valley a little further on, which is formed by two spurs of land, covered with the thickest foliage and brushwood — hazels, clematis, wild vines, birch, and creeper. The cavahy are stationed about nine mUes fui'ther on, close to the village of Devna. In front of the Eifle camp is a rural burial-ground, now long abandoned, probably because there are not many people left to die in the district. It is of the rudest kind. No sculptured stone, not even a scratch of a (;hisel distinguishes one resting-place from another, but a block of unhewn granite is placed at each grave, and the Sappers and Miners, who are a most utilitarian corps, have selected some of the largest and best of them to serve in the construction of their bridge over one of the narrow channels which join lake to lake. By the bye, these sanv Sappers have had hard work of it in builcting this bridge, 'iue 10th coinpanj', who laboured at it, worked entirely naked and up to their breasts in QUIET CAMP LIFE. 91 water for one wliole day. It is no wonder that a few of them have suffered from shght fever in consequence. The camp hfe is quiet, and soon told. Between six and half-past six o'clock, the seven regiments parade, each in front of their own encampment; but nearly two hours before that time the stranger, unaccustomed to the sounds of the camp, if he has been able to sleep through, the challenges of the sentries along the lines, and the monotonous cry running from man to man, "Number One — All's well!" "iS'umber Two — All's well!" &c., will be awakened by the bugles and trumpets sounding the reveille, the noise of conversation around his tent, and the chopping of wood for the camp-fires. Parade over, there is a general rush for breakfast, M'hich takes place at eight o'clock. Sorry am I to say that the men are dis- satisfied because the store of sugar is run out; and fellows who never were accustomed before they enhsted to anything better than a drink of buttermilk and a potato, declare they cannot take their tea or coffee without sugar. The meat (beef) served out for rations is good, though very lean, and the supply of preserved potatoes is most acceptable. Sir G. Brown wiU not allow the porter which has been sent up to Varna for the use of the troops to be forwarded to the camp ; but if the men had rations of weak spirits and water, it would be better for them than malt drink. As it is, they get neither, and gi-umble accordinglJ^ The heat in the day is great, but perhaps it does not much exceed the average temperature of a fine sunny day in England about the same time of year. The nights are colder, and heavy dews are frequent. "When recall is sounded, and all the bands have ceased playing, the silence which reigns over the canvas would be profound, but that the vigorous breathings of the sleepers frequently attain the dimensions of snoring, and that the challenges of the sentry to the stragglers for half an hour or so are frequent. Ere dusk outlying picquets are appointed, and reliefs are sent out about half-past two o'clock in the morning. These picquets are posted around the camp at the distance of two or three miles. It is with much regret that I have to record several instances of outrage on the part of our men towards the inhabitants of the little village of AUahdeen (or Aladyn), which is about half-a-mile from the camp on the borders of the lake. Stragglers from the camp have on severaloccasions broken into the houses, and ill-used the people inside. A guard of twenty men was placed to protect the inhabitants, but for some reason or other it was withdrawn, and the complaints of outrage have been renewed. A divisional order was issued accordingly on Monday last, to the effect that no officer or man should leave the camp without the permission of the senior ofiicer in command. Brigadier-General Airey, who is using every effort to check these disgraceful proceedings, is most anxious to gain the confidence of the peasantry, and to induce them to come into the camp with produce, and I have reason to hope his labours Mill be attended with success. There is much difficulty, however, in persuading the people to treat, as they look ou us as aUies of their natural enemies, the Tui'ks. The araba 93 CAMP AT ALAnYIT. drivers, when they get a few clays' pay, run off, cart and all, anij must be guarded, or the commissariat woidd be sorely liinderecl In fact, as many of them are kept against their -uill, they may be regarded as prisoners. It would be much better if we had proper liglit wagons and carts of our own, as the French have, though of course they are partially dependent on the arabas also. Where are the field hospitals ? At present, if a serious case of iUness occurs in camp, the only conve.yance for tlie sufferer is a bullock cart, and, in that miserable, springless vehicle he has to perform a tedious journey of ten miles to Varna — enough to destroy all chance of recovery. We hear these hospital carts are in Londou, and have been exiiibited to admiring multitudes. It woidd be much better if we had them out here for the sick at camp ; and it is to be hoped, -nhen they are sent out, that they will be xtsed, and that they will not be considered useless encumbrances merely because they were not used during the Peninsida. On Tuesday last we liad a great day at the camp. General Airey wished to do something to break the monotony of the men's existence, and suggested that the officers should get up some sports. The result was most successful. A whip of a dollar a head went round, and at two o'clock leave was given to all the men who liked it to go to the races. With the innate love of sport which pos- sesses our countrymen wherever they are placed, about two thousand of them assembled in a fine meadow at the extremity of the camp, a course was cleared, hurdles erected, and leaps thrown up, and the races commenced soon after half-past two o'clock. The Briga- dier was on the groimd, which was crowded mth officers, and great good humour prevailed thi-oughout the day. CHAPTEE XIII. Commi-ssariat disabilities and diiricultics — Shyness of the Bulgarian peasantr}' — Deficient supplies and incroiiscd sickness — Tlie luxury of porter — Aglirapse at Scutari — Tlie entente conUale cemented by sliglit squabbles — Stocks and moustaches — The generals "tied by the leg" — Inspection of the troops — Concentration of the allied forces round Varna. Cajip at Aladvn, June 20. Sir GrEORGE Brown sent out orders from Varna yesterday, that the Light Division, with its artillery, &c., should hold itself in readiness to march at an early hour on AVednesday morning. It is said that the commissariat olliccrs have strongly represented the inadequacy of the means at their disjjosal for the conveyance of stores, but Sir George Brown is not the man to be d(>terred by ordinary difficulties, and there is a chance of a good deal of bag- gage and impedimenla being left behind us, or detained till in- creased facilities for carriage can be rendered. The people of Englaiul, \\\\o have looked with complacency on the reduction of expenditure in all branches of our warlike estab- ENORMOUS EEOUIKEIIEXTS. 93 lisliments, must not be surprised if tlicy find the movemeuts of our army hampored by the results of an injudicious economy. A commissariat oificer is not made in a day, nor can the most lavish expenditure cfiect the work of years, or atone for the want of expe- rience. The hardest working Treasury clerk (and I must say they all evince the greatest zeal and most untiring diligence in the discliarge of their duties) has necessarily much to leai-n ere he can become an efficient commissariat officer in a coimtry which our old campaigners declare to be the most difficult they ever were in for procuring supplies. Let those \\ ho have any recollections of Chobham, just imagine that famous encampment to be placed about ten miles from the sea, in the midst of a country utterly deserted by the inhabitants, the railways from London stopped up, the supphes by the cart or wagon cut off, corn scarcely procurable, carriages impossible, and the only commimication between the camp and port cari-ied on by means of bufialo and bullock arabas travelling about one mile and a half an hour, and they will be able to form some faint idea of the difficulties of getting the requi- site necessaries out here. Besides, here we are absolutely at war — obliged to cany enormous masses of ammimition as well as tents and tent equipage, provisions for the men, medical stores, all the various articles and means for cooking, &c., through a country which to all intents and purposes is held by enemies. To give a notion of the requirements of such a body as this army of 25,000 men in the field, I ma.y observe that it was stated to me on good authority the other day, that not less than 13.000 horses and mules would be requii'cd for the convej'ancc of baggage and stores. About twelve o'clock to-day, just as all the officers were making preparations for their start to-morrow morning, orders were re- ceived countermaudiug those which had been issued for the march of the division, and it may be inferred that the difficulties of which I was just writing when the aid-de-camp arrived, have been found to be insuperable, and that the commissariat has not been able to provide the means of convej^ance for the stores, either of Sir George Brown's or of the Duke of Cambridge's division. To continue my remarks on the nature of these difficulties. I may observe that not only is it a work of time, laboiu", and money to find the horses, mules, and buffaloes, bullock and araba carts required for our march, but that when we get them we cannot keep them. Buffalo and bullock carts and their drivers vanish into thin air in the space of a night. A Bulgarian is a human being after all. A Pasha's cavass may tear him away from '" his young barbarians all at play," but when he has been paid a few three and eightpences a day, off he starts the moment the eye of the guard is removed, and, taking unknown paths and moimtain • roadways, seeks again the miserable home from which he has been taken. A curious case of this kind occun-ed the other day, even in the town of Varna, filled as it is with Turkish, French, and English soldiery. Mr. Assistant-Commissary-General Eamsay sent a sergeant with an araba cart and driver to a store for certain things requii'ed by his regiment. The sergeant went into the di CAMP AT ALADTN. store, leaving the araba driver and liis cart outside. After a short stay he came out to load the cart. Both araba and driver had disappeared. They have not been seen since. How such clumsy bodies move so quickly is miraculous. In our service they are as slow as snails. Major Dickson. E.A., has been hard at work for three weeks, buying horses for Government, in Varna, and though it is a closed market, and no officer, French or English, can come in to bu.y, he has only succeeded in purchasing 560 horses. These animals run from M. 10s. to 51. each, and the latter sum is the maximum Government price ; but it may readUy be imagined that officers giving higher prices sometimes are able to snatch up a horse or two from the Government officers, in spite of orders. However, we have gone far to exhaust the resoui'ces of the place, and horses and mules cannot be had without much difficulty. Officers from cavalry and line regiments have been sent from Scutari, and Varna, and Devua, all over the country, to buy up baggage animals for the use of Government — some to Bourgas, some to the Asiatic towns on the south-eastern coast of the Black Sea, some to the towns on the Danube, and even to the villages at the foot of the Balkan. Captain Gambler, K. A., came up from Scutari in the " Sovereign," from Varna, on Saturday, to purchase 1450 horses, 145 buffaloes, 450 oxen (buUocks), which are abso- lutely indispensable ere the ammunition and stores of the army can be carried. Where he is to get them it is not so easy to say. He left the camp on his way to Shumla, on Wednesday morning. One may, without being considered a downright grumbler, fairly ask, " Why was not all this thought of before?" The people are so shy, it is impossible to establish friendly relations with them. The inhabitants of the Bulgarian vUlage of AJadyn, close to us below the camp at the borders of the lake, have abandoned their houses altogether. Not one living creature remains out of the 350 or 400 people who were there on our arrival. Their houses are left wide open, and such of their house- hold goods as they could not remove, and a few cocks and hens that could not be caught, are all that are left behind. The cause generally assigned for this exodus is the violence of a few ruffians on two or three occasions, coupled with groundless apprehension of further violence — others say it is because we established our slaugliter-houses there. Certainly the smell was abominable, and I trust it alone was the cause of the departure of those stupid but harndess people. The authorities are sending us out a Provost Marshal. A sergeant of the 33rd Regiment has been appointed to administer justice in our division. He was provided with a horse to ride roiuid the camp ; but when I left Varna he was stUl 'there looking for a saddle. The report in the camp is, that the commissariat declared themselves unable to comply with the requisitions for moving (be division ; and that therefore we do not move to-morrow, or probably the next day. I regret very much to have to state that ibr several days last week there was neither rice, nor sugar, nor j)rescrved ])otatoes, nor tea, nor any substitute for these articles issued to the men ; they had, there- THE LUXURY OF PORTER. 95 fore, to make their breakfast simply on ration brown bread and water. After breakfast they were paraded and exercised for an hour or two in the hot sun (on one occasion for more than four hours), and the result has been that illness increased rapidly. The dinners of the men, as long as the want of rice continued, consisted of lean ration beef boiled in water, and eaten with brown bread, without any seasoning to flavour it. The suijplies ran out, and it was no fault of the commissariat that thej^ did so, — \^"ho was to blame, I don't pretend to say. On Monday, the Eifles had upwards of sixty mefi ili from diarrhoea, and the 19th upwards of forty men ill from the same cause. It is probable the sickness in the other regiments was nearly in the same proportion. Much of this increase of disease must be attributed to the use of the red wme of the country, sold at the canteens of the camp ; but as the men can get nothing else, they think it is better to drink than the T\ater of the place. There are loud complaints from ofBcers and men on this score, and especially on account of the porter and ale they were promised not being dealt out to them ; and the blame is laid, as a matter of course, on the shoulders of Sir George Brown. I believe the fact to be, that there is not much more than thirty or forty hogsheads of porter left at Varna. While the men of this division lay outside Varna they were, I am told, furnished with porter; now that they have moved further off they are deprived of it, and the reasons given for the depriva- tion are various, but the result is manifest. The men hear that the soldiers of the other divisions near Varna get their piut of porter a day, and if they are dissatisfied at this distinction it is not surprising. It is within my own knowledge that several officers have made formal vsritten applications to the pi-oper quarter, stating that if the commissariat at Varna be instructed to issue the porter they will find the means of carrying it out to the camp at their own expense. To these applications the authoritiea have not given anj' specific repHes. Till the araba drivers ran away, there would not have been an>" considerable difficidty in sending out porter by the commissariat carts. The colonels of regiments who are willing to bear the expense of bringing out this liquor, if they can get it, may be supposed to be somewhat annoyed at the difference between the treatment of one division and of another. The subject is so difficult that I shall not offer any observations on it, but merely content myself by saying that I am certain Sir George Brown is a man who would not deprive the soldiers of the division which he commands so ably, and views with such just pride, of a comfort provided for them by Government, at the expense of the people of England, without some sound and all-powerful reasons best known to himself. The real efficiencj' of this division must be the object nearest to his heart ; night and day he strives to secure it by every means in his power, and there can be no possible motive for his subjecting them to inconvenience and physical suffering, amid all the evils of bad living, poor meat, poor water, poor wine, and no vegetables. A draught of good porter, with the thermometer at 93° or 95° in 96 CAMP AT ALADYN. tlie sliade, vroulcl be a luxury -R'liicli a tbirsty soul in London can. never luiderstand. There must be some wholesome drink provided for tbe men, or tbey will fall before the attacks of sickness in. sucli a climate, and witk such feeding as they liave at present; and having exj^ressed an opinion, which is shared by the most experienced medical men out here. I shall close the subject, and leave the consideration of it to those most concerned at home. Within these last three or four days, a little rice has again been sei'vcd out, and small quantities of tea. Many of the officers ride into Varna, buy salt, tobacco, tea, and spirit*, and bring it out in saddle bags, either to distribute gratuitously or at cost price to their men. Tliis is an immense boon, particularly as the men are not allowed to go into Varna, unless servants on leave. The Ijreserved potatoes were too good to last, but we hear more are coming out. On Friday, IGth, Lord Uaglan returned to Constantinople (Scutari), in the Caradoc. T^o Turkish two-deckers have come into the bay to assist in disembarking the troops. The " Belle- rophon " and " Arethusa " stdl lie in the same place, and have been joined by the " Vengeance," " Sidon," and '* Spitfu'e." The " Henri IV." (French) lias been joined by the " Mogador " and a two-decker, all ready with their boats to land horses, men, and stores, or to take them away, if required. There has been as great a change made in the town as in Gallipoli ; but it is still the ■R'ork of the French, and we have no evidence of British enterprise among the numerous sutlers established in the i)lace. Mr. Grace, of Constantinople, has sent up some supplies of hams, tongues, brandy, wme, &c. ; and the little "Army and Navy" screw- steamer is busy cruising about \^"ith stores from port to port, but our soldiers have still to deal in unknown languages with French, Italians, and Greeks, and mmiberless are the "ro^^s" whicli spring up in consequence. No pen, no painting, could give the faintest idea of the state of the streets towards evening, Allien the picciuets begin their march to clear the men off to their camps. The fraternity established between the French and English troops becomes every daj^ more affectionate, and individual friendships are springing up, all the closer, perhaps, for a squabble }iow and then, which ends in the old redbiteij ratio amoris. A huge High- lander, last Monday, Avalked through a crowclof drunken Chassevirs, knocking them down like ninepins, because one of them had slapped his cheek, and M^as only just stopped in time to prevent the all'air becoming serious by an officer who happened to be E resent. Later in the day, a gigantic Irishman, Avitli his coatee off, is eyes staring out of liis head, and an oak paling in his hand, went dancing through the ])rincii)al market-jjlacc, and for some imaginary oilence, commenced an attack on Turks, French, and Greeks, indiscriminately, A\hom he routed with signal discomfiture, first breaking a sword bayonet which a soldier drew to stop liis vagaries; he then walked into a mje, where he broke up the covenrsdzioiic of the place very rudely, and finished by running a muck through a whole mob of" assailants, aud getting off thi'ough THE STOCK AND MOUSTACHE. 97 the gate into tlie fields. In a squabble last week, a Frencliman ran a Tui-k through the body and killed him on the spot. He has not been discovered. While talking of these matters, I may mention that General Espinasse. to the great regret of us all, had a sad misfortune the other day. The General, who is a remarkably fine-looking young man, of thirty-six or thirty-seven years of age, had a favourite Arab charger, which was considered very tame and gentle. On approaching it a few mornings ago with a lump of sugar in his mouth, as he had often done before, the General was seized by the horse, and caught by the lip and cliin, and shockingly mutilated. Owmg to the great care and skill of the surgeons in attendance on him he is, however, rapidly recovering ; but he will bear the mark of the wound for life. A man of the 19th has died, after a short attack of English cholera, (four hours.) A private of the 33rd, named Elmes, from Manchester, of whom his officers speak in the highest terms, was unfortunately drowned whUe swimmmg in the stream between the two lakes close to our camp. He was buried with all honours by the men and officers of the regiment yesterday in a little valley by the side of the tents, and the chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Egan, performed the service with much solemnity. Two artillerymen have also been dl■o^^^led while bathing in the lake near Varna. The Light Division has had a great boon extended to it. Stocks are not to be used on the line of march. I hear one Brigadier objects to this innovation. He is a very gallant and excellent officer, but he actually has an affection for a " common soldier's ■ stock," and never wears anything else ; ergo, because he, riding at his ease, on a fine soft-going charger,, without anything on his shomders, and being spare withal, feels no annoyance from this singular anti-pneumonic apparatus. Private Peter Brown, No. 1 companj^ with 56 lb. on his back, 50 rounds of Miuie cartridge, a close coatee, a water canteen, a shako, &c., must positively like to wear a similar article in a little march over a Bulgarian sand common, with the thermometer at 110°. In the Duke of Cam- bridge's division stocks are not worn at all, and the men march and momit guard with open throats and turned-down collars. The white cap-covers are not much liked by Sir George Brown, but the colonels of regiments generally avail themselves of the permission of Lord Kaglan to use it, and the men are all provided with it. It is not considered, however, quite suitable for the B,ifles. The cavalry wear it on shako and hehuet, and it must be admitted that it is iutensel.y ugly, but verj^ useful. It would be delightful if the shako was abandoned altogether for the present, and only kept for state occasions, such as marching into Odessa or Sebastopol. There is no alteration in the use of the razor in this division. Some of the officers of the Guards appear to be feeling their way m the Duke's division bj' letting faint bristles peer about them on chin and lip. By the bye, his ]\oyal Highness has issued an order that no officer shall go into Varna unless in undress uniform, and if any officer visits the French quarters he must wear his sword. 98 THE CAMP AT ALADYN. The Frencli are moving up on the parallel of this line rapidly. The 2nd Division (General Bosquet's) left Gallipoli for Adrianox^le on the 5th. The General reached Adrianople on the 7th, and his division was expected in a few days. There is now at Bulari only the 2nd brigade of infantry of General Forey's division (39th and 74th), Cassaguole's cavalry, 6th Dragoons, and two batteries of artillery. The people of England, who are impatiently waiting to hear of Silistria relieved, of the Danube released, of the Dobrudscha cleared of Russians, must wait a little longer. The Generals are all " tied by the leg," for the commissariat can get no carts — at least, they cannot succeed in procuring a tithe of what is required. Had the nature of the country been but a little better inquired into before the army was sent here, all these delays and vexatious disappointments would not have taken place. The commissariat ought to have been out here weeks before the troops lauded. They (two only of them) came to Varna but a few days before the arrival of the Light Division. If I am not misinformed, the authorities were told some time ago of the difficulties likely to arise if they did not send out commissariat carts and wagons, and I firmly beheve much money and all this delay would have been saved and spared, had a proper baggage train been sent out from England. Imagine the feelings of Sb George Brown and of the other generals at finding themselves absolutely paralyzed and •unable to stu* an inch. The troops, who are most impatient for action, and who bear all their little privations -ndth the most ex- emplary good humour, are tu-ed of these repeated marching orders and countermands, and almost begin to laugh at the well-known command "to be in readiness to strike tents and march at half- past three to-morrow morning." It is currently believed that we shall not be able to move for the next three weeks. It appears that for thirty miles of the road towards Shumla and Silistria there is not a di'op of water, and three days' water must be carried in carts for cavahy and uifantry. These carts are not as yet to be had, nor are there any proper water-casks to put into them. On Monday the commissariat magazines here ran short of bread, as has happened several times before, and the men had to feed on biscuit from the reserve. In the same way the barley ran short, and forage had to be issued from the reserve. This was not the fault of the contractors in either instance. They had and have forty days' bread at Varna for the troops, but the commissariat could get no carts or arabas in whicli to carry the rations out. They also have the proptn- quantity of barley and corn, but the means of conveyance out lieve could not be had, and so the reserve is being rapidly eaten xip. Tlie rations required for this division are of bread and meat 10,018 daily, of corn for hoi'ses 879 daily. There was an inspection of all the troops out here yesterday. Sir George Brown and staff were on the ground early in the day, and the Duke of Cambridge and General Canrobert were also pre- sent, having ridden out together from A^arna. The inspection INSPECTION OF THE TROOPS. 99 merely consisted in a ride down the lines, and in a march past, and as the day was fine, and the men in excellent spirits, it passed off admirablj-. The Duke, who seems in capital case, and was very simplj- dressed, was very well received by the troops, who were much pleased at his plain white cap cover ; but the French General got the honours of the day, for as he rode along the fronts of the regiments, the men spontaneously cheered him in nearly every instance. The 77th and 88th gave three diabohcal yells, which rent the very skies, as he passed, at which General Can- robert was good enough to smile and stroke his moustache and say, "Conime cest chartnant ce 'cheer anylais!" and he is said to have been highly complimentary to Sir George Brown and his Brigadiers Airey and BuUer respecting the air and ai)pearance of the troops. After the inspection. Sir George Brown, who has all the vigom' and personal activity of a man of five-and-twenty, rode ofi" to Devno, to look out for a site for the new camp of this divi- sion, which, howevei', as has been seen, it is not likely we shall want for some time longer; and as he retui'ned, I beheve, to Varna the same evening, he must have ridden forty miles ere he left the saddle, though the day was excessively hot and suffocating when the Avind went down. The French are not much better off than ourselves, and are as little able to move. They are in great want of shoes. Our men are all v^eU provided in that respect, and their clothing is excel- lent. Theu" winter clothing has been ordered out. Where are our ambulances ? The Zouaves have made a great impression on the Turks, ■«"ho are quite fascinated by their green tm-bans and loose breeches. The French officers, availing themselves of this impression, have ordered the Zouaves alwaj's to wear the green shawl round the fez. On the other hand, the Turks will have it that the soldiers' wives at our camps belong to the harems of our Generals, and affirm we are going to retain possession of the coimtrj', as our households have come along with us. Our washer- women, who may be found in every shady nook and aUey of the valleys round the camp, with extempore boilers fixed into the green banks, are always the foci of a cii-cle of araba drivers, who seem to think them witches engaged in some unholy mystery. Jane 21. ISTo move to-day, nor likelihood of any, except that the Eifles win strike tents and remove next to the 7th on the right of the camp, this evening. A portion of the 5th Dragoon Guards and part of Captain Jen- nings' and another troop of the 13th Light Dragoons passed by to-day on their way to the cavalry camp at Devno, nine miles further. Some of the men seemed much done up, as the day was extremely hot. Several of them were marching on foot, and some rode with then- naked feet in the stirrups, imable to bear the pressure of the boot. There were horse and foot races and games on Tuesday evening H 2 100 THE CAMP AT ALADYN. for the amusement of the division, and the.y went off nearly as well as the first, though marred by an unfortunate accident. A sergeant of the 33rd broke his leg while taking a leap. We learn to-day that all the troops from Scutari and GaUipoli have arrived in ^''arna, and that the British army, minus some cavahy, is at last in Bulgaria. June 24. The country rovind Varna is one vast camp. About 34,000 French troops, 15,000 English, and 8500 Turks and Egyptians have i)itched their tents there. Lord Baglan, the Duke of Cam- bridge. Sir George Brown, Sir De L. Evans, and most of the other English Generals are in quarters in and about the town, and the French have sent about tv\o-thirds of their troops to this point, while other divisions are pusliing up here from Bourgas and Adi'ianople. Upwards of 300 vessels are at anchor in the bay, and are in readiness to sail at a moment's notice. The Light Division is still in advance here. The men are exercised almost daily, and those who have not practised with the Minie are forthwith to be instructed in it. Au order, dated June 1st, has just been j)romulgated, ordering the men to throw off their stocks on the march, but to stow them in their knapsacks. The heat is very great. CHAPTEK XIV. The siege of Silistria raised — Prince Napoleon assumes the command of his division — Keview of Egj'ptian troops — Physical and military character of the men — Clean arms and dirty soldiers — " Little ski'immages." Camp at Aladyn, June 26. On Saturday a Tatar with an escort rode past the camp by the Shumla road, at full speed for Varna, and, on arriving there, at once repaired to the quarters of Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan, with despatches from Omar Pasha. The two commanders- in-chief held a conference, at which several of the French and English generals -vAcre present, and on the same evening two steamers left the ])ort of Varna with despatches, one for Constan- tinople, and the other for the Admirals at Baltschik. On Wed- nesday, Thursday, and Friday the noise of a distant cannonade had been heard at intervals liy the ollicers and men of the outlying X)icquets from tlie direction of Silistria, and hypothesis and conjec- ture were busy hatcliing c(iii(irdt>, which ilew about tlie tents in ever-varying plumage and form. But on Satui-day the great fact was known in A^arna, audit soon travelled out here, that the siege of Silistria was raised, and that the Bussians were in full retreat from the scene of their (lisconiilture. It m ould seem that the gar- rison at Silistria liad scarcely any cavalry, and that the llussians had retired so precipitately after their last defeat that their route could not be accurately ascertained. Parties of the 5th Dragoon PRINCE NAPOLEON ARRIVES. 101 Guards, 17tli Lancers, and 13tli Liglit Dracjoons were immediately advanced, and are now extending their files by Yeni Bazaar and to the eastward of the plains of Shumla, towards Hadschi Oghlu. It may readily be believed that this news has made a profoimd sensation here. The prominent feeling among the men is one of disappointment, that they may lose the chance, " after coming so far, of having one brush with the Eussians." Sir De L. Evans is said to have addressed his division in order to soothe their spirits on this point. Beyond this pardonable military enthusiasm there is a great desire to escape from the strenuous inaction of camp life, its toilsome parades, and the relaxing efiects of the climate. On Saturday last Prince Napoleon arrived to take the command of his division, and was received with the usual heavy salute of 101 guns from each French man-of-war in harbour. Our vessels paid him the more modest compliment of one royal salute, and hoLsted the French imperial ensign. On the same day a part of the 50th Regiment, and detachments of the rest of the Gallipoli division, under Sir H. England, arrived in Varna, and some of the baggage of Adams's brigade, as well as detachments of the 41st Regiment, 55th Regiment, and 95th Regiment. Portions of several French regiments also landed. During the week the Turkish steamers carried up four battahons of Egyptian infantry, two parks of field artillery, and some Turco-Egj'ptian lancers. The whole of the i)lain round "\'arna, for the distance of two or three miles, is covered with tents. Grass, herbage, and shrubs have disappeared, and the fields are turned into an expanse of sand, ploughed up b.v araba wheels, and the feet of oxen and horses, and covered with towns of canvas. There cannot be less than 40,000 men encamped aroimd the i)lace, including French, English, Egyptians, and Turks, and the town itself is choked in every street with soldierj\ Upwards of 500 carts have come in from the Turkish army to carry stores and provisions towards Shumla and the Danube, but the hope entertained that there would be a portion of them reserved for the French and Enghsh armies has not as j'et been reaUzed. A kind of commission of in- quiry, over which Sir George Brown presided, with several Turkish and French officers to assist him, has sat for some days to inquire into the whole sj^stem of transport and internal com- munication, Major Dickson acting as interpreter between the Generals and the Pashas and Turkish oflicers, civil and military, and the result has been that a good deal of useful information respecting the merits and defects of the native modes of con- veyance has been collected. The carts are not suited for horses, even if the roads were adapted for them ; oxen are rather scarce, and are very slow, and buffaloes are useless. Commissary-General Filder arrived at Varna yesterday from Constantinople. A salute was fired yesterday morning, which was said to be for the close of the Eamazan, but. as English and French men of war joined in it, it is scarcely probable the real cause of the firing was ascertained by those on shore, who attri- buted it to Christian sympathies with a Mussulman obseiTance. 102 THE CAMP AT ALADYN. On Saturday a review of about 8000 Tui'co-Egyptian troops took place in the plain behind Varna. The men, who were dressed in clean white trousers, blue frocks, and green jackets, looked well, in spite of their ill-shod feet and ragged jerkins ; but their manceuATes were carelessly performed and done in a listless maimer, for which the himger of the poor fellows might be a very good excuse. Physically the soldiers were square-built, bow- legged men, of fair average height, with fierce, eager eyes, and handsome features. A number of negroes, of savage aspect, were among the Egyptian contingent, and some of their best regiments did not disdain the command of Nubian eunuchs. Some of these Egyptians were mutilated in the hands, and had deprived them- selves of their thumbs or fore-fingers— a useless attempt to escape conscription altogether. The French and EngHsh officers did not form a very high opinion of anything but the raw material of which the troops were composed, a raw material which, like every- thing else in Turkey, has been spoilt as much as possible by the genius of maladministration. It is the old story. Behind stone walls, intrenchments, or ramparts, defending a breach, or in the dash of a sortie, the Osmanli, with his wild courage, savage fana- ticism, and disregard of death, which he considers indeed as his passport to Heaven, may repel the organized attack of Em'opean troops, or carry temporary destruction among their ranks ; but no one who sees the slow, cautious, and confused evolutions of the Turks, their straggling advance and march, their shaky squares and wavering colmims, can l^elieve they could long stand against a regular army in the open field. On this occasion their file-firing was anything but good, and a sputtering of musketry was kept up from rank to rank long after the general discharge had ceased. The men have all polished musket barrels, in imitation of the French, and their arms ap- peared to be kept in a most creditable order. The Egyptian field-pieces, sis and nine-pounder gxms of brass, were beautifully clean and neat, and the carriages, though rather heavy, are, per- haps, well suited to the country. The gunners seemed to under- stand their business thoroughly, and the carriages and guns shone with scrubbing, varnish, and fresh paint ; the men alone were dirty. They retired to their tents very little fatigued, and partook of very excellent rations, beef and mutton made into pilafi", and lard or grease in lieu of butter. Their tents are just as com- modious and as good as our own, but they put more men into each than we do. The sickness and diarrhoea in the camp here are greatly on the decline, but sore lips among men and officers are common, principally from exposure- to tlie sun. The Duke's division seem to be growmg beards ^^ ith impunity. His Jloyal Highness, \>ho lives out close to his division under canvas, Jiaving abandoned his quarters in Vania within a icw days after lie got into them, has his men's parades and field-days before nine o'clock. The Briga- diers here ])rcfer the hours between nine and noon, under the impression that the sun is not so powerful then, on account of the FLIGHT OF THE ABABA DBIVEKS. 103 forenoon breezes, as it is earlier in the morning. We have a thunderstomi almost every day, and verj- grateful it is, for the temperature is always lowered ten or twelve degrees by the rain and electrical discharges. The commissariat are doing theii- duty manfully. The quahty of the meat is really very good, though the doctors think a poimd a-day is not enough for each man in such a climate, especially as the meat is rather deficient in gela- tine and in nutritious quality. Two French soldiers have been shot at Varna for insubordina- tion. Another is to be shot to-morrow for stabbing a Voltigeur. He is a Zouave, and in an altercation with his coimtryman he .drew his bayonet and thrust it through the body of his opponent, at the same time exclaiming that he desired to be shot, a wish which a colonel who rode up assured him should be speedily grati- fiied. We have not been without our share of offences. Several men have been flogged for breaking into the village of Kojuk, close at hand, for theft, and other crimes against law and order. Some Turkish troops marched xjast yesterday on their road to Shumla. They had no baggage of any kiud. The flight of the araba-di'ivers continues. They hate the service, and ■will escape from it at any risk. One of the Bidgarians drew his knife on the soldier who was taking him ofi" with his cart for the use of the surgeon of the Eifles last Friday, and, when he was disarmed, he broke up his cart and burnt it, out of spite and mortification. We have little " skrimmages" of tliis kind every day. A soldier and a Turk the other day had a dispute near the commissariat stores. The Turk drew his pistol from his belt, but the soldier rushed on him, wrested it from him, and fired it off. The ball went near Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, who happened to be riding through the bush to visit the camp, and the soldier was arrested for discharging a weapon so carelessly. Sutlers are beginning to appear, and hams at 3s. 6d. a pound, and preserved meats at large prices are to be had now and then. Bad brandy is 3s. 6d. a bottle. The first suppUes came up to-day. CHAPTEE XY. March of the light division to Devno — The abominable shako — Occupation of the camping ground — The deserted camp at Aladyn — A Turkish hakim smokes an acquaintance with the writer, and is astonished by a Colt's revolver — The first division encamped at AladjTi — Road to Devno — Arrival of Omar Pasha— Review of the troops— Portrait of the Turkish commander. Camp near Devno, July 1. The bulk of the British army has made a march in advance of its original position at Varna. On Friday morning (June 30), the Light Division, under Sir George Brown, loft their quarters on the plateau near AladjTi. and marched to Devno, about eight and a half or nine miles ofi", where they are now en- 104 THE CAMP NEAK DEVNO. camped ; and on Saturday morning the first division, under liis Hoj'al Higlmess the Duke of Cambridge, marched from their encampment outside Varna, and pitched their tents on the plateau of Aladyn, with their left flank resting on the ground, ^^hich had just been abandoned by the Eifle Brigade, and their right extend- ing to the plains lately used by the Light Division as parading and drill ground. It is expected that Sir De Lacy Evans's divi- vision and Sir R. England's division will foUow the route towards Aladyn in a few days. The detachments of light cavalry under Lord Cardigan are feeling their way towards the Danube, at the angle of the Dobrudscha, and are understood to be near Karasu, sixty or seventy miles in advance of the Light Division at Devno. Several horses have been sent in lame here, and five troop horses were returned to the cavalry camp before the squadrons had inarched thirty miles. The country is described as a scene of complete abandonment and desolation. Cossacks and Bashi- Bazooks have made it a desert, and Lord Cardigan is said to be at times very hard set to find food for his men. Aboiit half a mile in front of the Light Division are pitched the tents of the artillery and cavalry, two troops of the lloyal Horse Artillery, one battery, and the ammunition brigade. The cavalry force consists of por- tions of the 8th (Eoyal Irish) Hussars, of the 11th (Prince Albert's) Hussars, of the 13th Light Dragoons, of the 1st Dragoon Guards, and of the 5th Dragoon Guards. Their camps are scattered over the neck of a valley formed by the range of hiUs between Aladyn and Devno on the one side, and by the rising grounds on which the Light Division is encamped on the other. A deep stream of water runs through the meadows close by, and turns the wheels of a Bulgarian mill, which has been kept busily at work grinding flour for some time past. The village of Devno is about a mile and a half distant. It is a collection of huts thrown on the plain at random, and j)uts one strongly in mind of a hamlet in Kerry or Connemara — the houses being built of mud or loose stones, and covered -with a rude black thatch of straw or rushes. Many of the inhabitants remain in their houses, and the country people begin to bring in milk, eggs, and poultry, in limited quantities. The coimtry around Devno is a kind of circular basin, of the diameter of two miles, or thereabouts, formed by a sweep of hills of moderate and irregular elevation, and consists of a light sandy soil, with a few patches of bai-ley here and there, amid a waste of brightly-coloured weeds and scrub, acacia, and brushwood. On Friday morning tents were struck at half-past three o'clock, and the men were paraded and in readiness to march at half-past four o'clock. At five o'clock they commenced their march. The morning sun was excessively hot, the roads were covered with fine dust and sand, ^^hi^•h flew in clouds into the faces of the troops, and the abominable sliako, which is at once hot and heavy, caused so much annoyance that many of the men carried them on the points of their bayonets and marched on, either with un- covered heads or with handkerchiefs over them. Every one — officers and men — complains of them. Even the white covers fail THE ABOMINABLE SHAKO. 105 to make them more bearable, and the heavy bob of wood {pompon), covered with cotton phish, and its long brass shank, serve as a kind of lever to weigh the shako down on tlie head of the wearer. The bob certainly adds to the height and appearance of the men ; but in war everything shoidd be sacrificed to utility. A stout forage cap, with the peak of the shako put on, and a roll of hnen round it, turban fashion, would be far more suitable to this climate. Notwithstanding the heat, few men fell out on the march, but every regiment had some. About nine o'clock the advanced guard (two companies of the Rifle Brigade) reached the camping-ground, and the regiments of the division crept slowly up the hill after them. They were an hour and a half covering and taking points ere they pitched their tents. The tents are drawn up in double rows to the number of twenty-eight (fifty-six rows in all), and in each row are eight tents for the men and two for the officers. Altogether the camp is prettily situated, and from the tents one gets a fine view of the surrounding country, and of the cavalry and artillery camp, as well as that of some Turkish horse and of three battalions of foot, not far from them. During the march, Sir George Brown rode out from Varna, and overtook the baggage guard, whom he " stirred up" very vigorously. The bag- gage was, indeed, in a good deal of confusion, and some was left behind on the march ; infer alia. Dr. Tice's cart. All the sick men were sent into Varna the day before, in accordance with orders, as the Generals do not wish the divisions to be encumbered by them. On my way from Varna I met some araba carts toiling slowly into the town, and I coidd not but regret extremely that the ambulances had not arrived, when I saw the miserable occu- pants jolted along under a broiling sim, against which the cover of the carts was but a poor protection. A journey of ten miles under such circumstances must add greatly to the chances against an invalid's recovery. In fact, the mere circumstance of being smothered up in a rude, springless cart, and trailed and jolted slowly along for five hours through clouds of dust over an uneven road, would be quite enough to make a healthy man sick. ^Vhere are the ambulances ? July 3. On Sunday, the men of the different regiments attended divine service. As my baggage-horses were laid up — one having staked him- self, and the other being lamed by a nail in shoeing — I had to remain on the ground after the troops left last Friday. Nothing can exceed the desolate appearance of a deserted camping ground. In the place which once resounded with the hum of men, the neighing of horses, the trumpet call, the bugle, and the drum, silence reigns, iminterrupted save by the cry of the vulture as he soars overhead in search of carrion, or by the buzz of innumerable flies of every variety of shape and colour. The little arbours and shady bowers constructed by the men for the officers and women, aU blanched and faded, add to the blighted look of the plain, seared and scorched as it is by the camp fires, and marked with 106 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. arid circles where the tents once stood. A debris of old cooking this, sardine-cases, bottles, pickle-jars, old ropes, broken pack- saddles, saddle-perches, -nater-jars, bits of accoutrement, old shoes, and the etceteras which a "moviug off" always deposits, littters the ground, and bits of letters and newspai^ers nutter about the bushes. By and by tortoises of retiring habits, who had taken to the bush in a fright, and lay there till the men went, creep out and waddle about inquiringly among the tent pegs ; snakes and lively little lizards, of different shades of green, stray about among the miimmified corpses of their tribe which mark the energetic life-destroying habits of the departed soldiery ; an eagle comes slowly along, allui-ed by the scent of a deceased mule, and perches on a stump hard by, eyeing the tempting delicacy with a steady stare, only diverted by a quick glance at the stranger in the distance. Then comes a ragged Bulgarian, as shy, as wild, as cautious as any of these, and prowls about the site of the camp, pondering over claret bottle capsides, pickmg up corks and bottles, and grovelling over battered tin cases and lids of cooking utensils, but too lazy or too ignorant to collect the rarest and most valuable specimens of heaps which would be a fortune to all the chiffoniers of Paris. As I sat at the door of my tent a fine-looking old Turk, who carried liis ragged garments with the dignity of a prince, after two or three circles of investigation round me, closed in and squatted himself down beside me, in order to commence a conversation, in which I listened with all my ears, but understood nothing, for my knowledge of Turkish is as yet very rudimentary. However, a pipe of tobacco established a good imderstanding between us, and after a little while Mr. Turrell, Sir George Brown's iuterpretei', came up, on his way to Devno, and we found our old Turk a most entertainmg companion. As we were not quite sure of the nature of liis foraging expedition, I fu-ed three balls one after another out of my Colt, and his astonislunent when he saw them all three imbedded in the -nood of a tree some thirty- five paces distant ^Aas immense. He asked what it cost, and was told it was worth about 1000 piastres. " That is a sum I do not make in two years," said he. " What are you, a farmer?" " No ; I am," he replied, "the doctor (hakiin) of the district; but when they have enough to eat the people are healthy. They are poor, too, and their fees are small." He then went on, to my infinite regret, to confirm the stories I had heard of some ruffians among the soldiery having committed such acts of violence in the village below that all the inhabitants had fled. They had broken into his house, had beaten him l)ecause he bad no wine to give them, and had smashed open his strong box and robbed him of all his wealth — forty piastres, or 6.s-. 'Sd. Eiiglish. " Had my sons, who are fighting for God and the Propjiet, been with me, they had not done it so easily," added iic. He said he had gone to oui* " Pashas" to complain, but he could not make them understand. We were glad to be able to inform him tliat several of these rascals had been severely flogged, and that in future such excesses could not occur. Indeed the Brigadiers have addressed their men in sti'oug terms A WANDERING DRAGOON. 107 on the subject, and the provost-sergeant' and his guard are now hovering up and do-mi around this camp to punish acts of outrage on the spot. The old Turk seemed greatly gratified to find we sympathized with the sufferings of his people, and said he would tell them to come back to the village ; and he took liis depaiture, highly delighted with the interview, and with a backsheesh of some tobacco and a few piastres. During the evening some tired artillerymen came in from Varna, and halted to bivouac for the night by the four pontoons left on the hillside opposite the camp. The only other persons near the camp for mUes were some Sappers and Miners of the 10th company, encamped over the lake, and a corporal and private mounting guard over some casks of salt meat and stores left on the late cami)ing grotmd of the commissariat. In the course of the day Mr. Strickland. Assistant-Commissary- General to the Duke of Cambridge's division, effected a material improvement in the mode of conveying provisions and stores from Varna to Aladj'n. He availed himself of the facdities afix)rded by the lake which stretches up from the beach at Varna to the vdlage of Aladyu, and. having obtained the boats of the " Simoom," he loaded them with stores, and despatched them to AJadjTi, thus substituting an easy route of nine or ten miles by water for a heavy and tedious land journey over bad roads of the same dis- tance. The boats arrived at Aladyn (or Kojuk) about 6 o'clock this (Monday) evening. The Sappers and Miners are busy erect- iag a pier and landing stage, and the Lake of Devno promises to become the scene of an active and usefid commei'ce for the fii'st time since the flood. It was ciu'ious to watch the white sads of the boats gliding up the lovely lake, whose waters had never been ploughed by English keel before. With a little outlay and trifling engineering skill water communication might be opened between Vai'na and Devno, a distance of little, if at all, less than twenty mUes, and the advantages of it would be enormous to the army. Just before nightfall on Friday, an officer of Dragoons rode up to my tent to ask where the Light Division were. He seemed somewhat perplexed when he learnt they were all gone. It was, he told me, 2 o'clock in the day ere he received orders to march his men from Varna to Devno. Of course it took him some time to get his troop in readiness, and night surprised him at Alad5Ti, without a guide to point out the track to Devno, and without a clue to show where he could get water for his horses and men. Such information as I coidd give was at his service, and, leading down his men by a narrow path close to the lake, the gallant officer bivouacked for the night, and in the early morning his watch-fii'es were still smoking long after he had resumed his march to Devno. On Saturday morning, at 7 o'clock, a stafF-oflBcer spurred past the old encampment, and proceeded to examine the ground to the right of it, as if to take up quarters for a fresh division, and Ca.p- tain Butler (brother of the gallant fellow the defender of Silistria, •whose loss has touched every heart) made his appearance soon afterwards, and rode through the deserted lines. The Duke of 108 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. Cambridge, in advance of his Generals of Division, and attended by only one officer of his staff, followed, and at once proceeded to explore the site of his camp. His Royal Highness looked every inch a soldier, and it was odd enough to see the face so well known to Londoners, not a little touched and burnt by the sun, peering above acacia bushes in the wilds of Thrace, as the Duke rode up and down inspecting the place with all the provident care of a good captain. Presently little columns of dust rose above the crests of the hills towards Varna. Mr. Strickland, a long way in advance of his division, came up to see what provision could be made for the 8000 or 9000 hungry mouths which were puffing up the hills. Two officers of his stajflf, Mr. Eolleston and Mr. Black- wood, followed, and in about another hour the advanced guard of the division, two companies of the 42nd (under Captain Campbell, I believe), marched up the head of the valley, looking hot and jaded enough. They were succeeded by the old Black Watch, their band playing a lively march, and wonderful it was to see that at the head of the column marched eight or nine stout lassies, in all sorts of fantastic head-gear, many of them bearing heavy bundles, with which they moved along as lightly as though they were just running down a brae side. I own I was rather disappointed at the wearied look of the men ; they trode the ground heavily, nor did the white cap-cases which they wore under their bonnets seem much protection against the sun. The 93rd followed, and then the 79th. Some of the men flung off their packs into the old arbours on the camping-ground ; some lay down quite exliausted; others were carried in on baggage wagons. I heard, however, that the night before they left Varna the men had indulged rather freely in wine and spirits, which might account for much of their fatigue, and some two or three of them were drowned while bathing in the lake the previous evening. In their train came several hundred baggage horses and bullock carts, some women, and " beaten" men and stragglers. The columns of the Guards crossed the hill at a higher point, and appeared to be nearly as done up as the Highlanders. They had aU, however, marched the distance at the rate of three miles an hour, which is very good for such heavy men so heavily laden. Theu* tents were pitched by half-past 11 o'clock, though the Guards got a little too far in advance. As one of the incidents which may occur in a march, I may mention that when Mr. liolleston came up to the commis- sariat with orders to get cattle ready to be killed for the use of the men who were advancing, ho could not find the contractor or any of his men. Cattle were to be seen grazing peacefully on the other side of the stream, l)ut even if the connnissary officer could have got at them the licrds \\ ould not liave understood him. The greater portion of the division were fed, very likely, on salt-meat in consequence. I left aoout midday for Devno, and for more than a mile in front of the camp the woods were filU'd with soldiers looking for water, wliile some of them were cooling their lieated frames in the stream between the lakes, and others were toiling back heavily laden OMAR pasha's visit. 109 with watei' canteens. Tlie road to Devno is a sandj- bullock-track, winding over hills covered with shrubs at the side of the lake, but as one approaches Devno, the country assumes a more barren aspect. Train after train of wagons, arabas, and carts, laden with bread and stores for Devno, or returning empty, passed by literally in hundreds, amid thick columns of dust, and escorts of Turkish cavalr\', so that the heat and " smother" of the ride were oppressive to the last degree to man and horse ; and the sand ^^as so deep it was impossible to push on at any speed. With regard to the porter question, of which we have heard so much, it is proper to say that Sii' George Bro-«'n, in an order dated Saturday last, offers some explanations, ui order "to set himself richt" with the Light Division. He informs the men that his instructions to colonels of regiments have always been, fii'st, to provide for the conveyance of rations and forage ; next, for the carnage of groceries ; and, thirdly, for that of porter, whenever it was prac- ticable to do so. This order has been read to the men as a matter of course, but the fact is, that thirsty men wdl not listen to reason. Sir George Brown set out on Saturday to reconnoitre the country beyond Kosladschy, towards Sary iMahmoud, and he is expected back this evening. This is trying work in such a climate, and shows the indomitable energy of the man. He has set out almost alone, for, with the kindness towards his staff which cha- racterizes him, he would not take any of his aids-de-eamp with him. If he returns to-daj", as anticipated, he will have done sixty miles ill less than twelve hoiu-s. We have just had a very exciting review. The men, who had had a four-hours' drill between half-past four and half-past eight o'clock this morning (Monday), had finished dinner, when news arrived that Omar Pasha was coming on his way from SUistria to Varna, and that he might be expected in an hour. Presently the brigade majors rode up from the brigadiers with orders to the colonels to hold their regiments in readiness to turn out, and ia about half an hour more the bugles sounded the assembly. The Turkish infantry down on the plains below were observed to fall in, and draw up in solid columns in front of their tents. About two o'clock a fiiiut streak of dust rose over the white lines of the road winding far in the distance over the hills which lie towards Shumla, and through the glass could be discerned two travelling carriages, with a small escort of horse, moving rapidly towards the village of Devno. Arrived there, they halted, and the whole of the staff present with the division hastened to pay their respects to Omar Pasha, who mounted his horse, and attended by Colonel Dieu, by an English oflfieer attached to the British Embassy at Constantinople, and several of his suite and followers, rode up the hill towards the camp, in the front of m hich the whole division was drawn up in line in a very short space of time. The English staff rode after him, and at his side were the two Bi-i^adiers. The coup cVml was magnificent. The blue outlines ot the distant hills, over which played the heavy shadows of rapidly-gathering thunder clouds— the gi-een sweep of the valley below dotted with 110 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. tents, and marked here and there with, dark black masses of Turkish infantry — the arid banks of sand, and grey chffs, display- ing every variety of light and shadow — and then the crest of the hill, along which for a mile shone the bayonets of the British Infantry, tox)ped by the canvas w^alls behind them — formed a spectacle worth coming far to see. Omar Pasha was dressed with neatness and simplicity — no order ghttered on his breast, and his close-fitting blue frock-coat displayed no ornament beyond a plain gold shoulder-strap and gilt buttons. He wore the fez cap, which showed to advantage the clear, well-marked hues of his cahn and resolute face, embrowned by exposure to wind and weather for many a year of a soldier's life, and the hue of which was weU contrasted with his snow-white whiskers. In the rude and rather sensual mouth, ynth. compressed thick lips, was traceable, if phy- siognomy have truth, enormous firmness and resolution. The chin, full and square, evinced the same quahties, which might also be discerned in the general form of the head. Those -who remember the statue of Hadetzky, at the Great Exhibition, will understand what I mean. AU the rougher features, the coarse nose, and the slight prominence of the cheek-bones, are more than redeemed by the quick, penetrating, and expressive eye, fuU of quiet courage and genius, and by the calm though rather stubborn brow, marked by lines of thought, rising above the thick shaggy eyebrow. In i^erson he appeared to be rather below than above the ordinary height ; but his horse, a well-trained grey, was not as tall as the English chargers beside liim, and he may really be more than five feet seven or eight. His figure is hght, spare, and active, and his seat on horseback, though too Turkish for our notions of equestrian propriety, was firm and easy. He wore ■white gloves and neat boots, and altogether would have passed muster very well in the ring at Hj^de-park as a wcU-appointed quiet gentleman. His stafi" a\ ere by no means so well turned out, but the few hussars of the escort were stout soldierhkc-looking fellows. One of them led a strong chesnut Arab, which was the Pasha's battle charger. As he rode by, the troops presented arms, and when he had reached the end of the line, they broke into column, advanced and l)erformed some simple field-day mancKuvres, to the great delight of the Pasha. As the men moved oft" after exercising for about three-quartc>rs of an ho\ir, the cavalry came up at full trot, and at once riveted the attention of the Pasha. Tlici'e were one and a half squadron of 17th Lancers, a troop of the Sth, and a troop of the 11th Hussars. The artilUuy horses and cbagoon horses were out at water. About six o'clock, after reviewing the Turks in the plain, he drove on to Varna. Sir George Brown returned this evening from a forty mile ride through the rain, and rode over to see the brigadier. He was much disappointed at not being in time to see Omar Pasha. DISPOSITION OF THE ARMY. Ill CHAJTEE XVI. Positions of the British camps — Second visit of Omar Pasha — Plis admiration of a charge of English cavalry — The Bashi-Bazouks move off, to the great delight of their neighbours — Active foragers — Guardsmen, geese, and turkeys — "Bono Johnny!" July 8. The Britisli army is slowly advancing. The Light Division remains at Devno, and the First Di\asiou is still at Aladyn, but Sir De Lacy Evans has pushed up his (the second) division to a position half way between the Guards' and Sir G-eorge Brown's camp, and Sh E-ichard England has advanced his (the third) division to a site half way between Aladyn and Varna. The line of the lakes, which stretch from Varna up to Devno, for a distance of nearly twenty miles, is occupied by the four divisions of the British army, at distances of about four miles apart, with their left resting on the crest of the hdls, which run at right angles to the lake, and their fronts extending along the ridges and plateaux of those lulls, with the face towards Shumla. In my last letter, which I sent from this on the 4th of July to Varna, I mentioned the arrival of Omar Pasha at our camp on that day, and the review of the Light Division and of the cavalry which took place m his presence. It was expected that he would have returned from Varna on the foUoTviug day (Wednesday), but he was so busily engaged m transacting business and consult- ing with the French and Eughsh generals, that he did not pass by till last Thursday. As the heavy cavalry, under Brigadier-General Scarlett, and the horse artdleiy and artillery battery, had not been inspected by him on the 4th, orders were given that they should parade on the extensive plains near the camp by eleven o'clock in the forenoon. Omar Pasha left Varna early, and on arriving at Aladyn he foimd the Duke of Cambridge's division ready to receive him. He expressed in the most hvely way his admu'ation at the magnificent appearance of the Guards and High- landers, and after the review he retired with his Boyal Highness the Duke to his tent, where he remained for some time, and par- took of some refreshment. About two o'clock Omar Pasha's travelling carriages, escorted by Turkish cavalry, appeared in sight. The Pasha, mounting one of his led chargers, and followed by a small suite of aids, pipe-bearers, &c., rode up towards the review-gi'ound, and was received by Lord Eaglan, Sir George Brown, Brigadier-General Scarlett, the Brigadiers of Di%nsion, &c. He was dressed simply, as on the fii'st day he visited us, except that he wore a star on his left breast, and he seemed viva- cious and pleased as he entered into conversation with the English Generals. After a time the Dragoons went past in splendid order, and then the two troops of Eoyal Horse Aj-tiller.y and the battery came by at a trot, which was gradually quickened into a dashing gallop, so that the six-pound and nine-pound gims, and carriages, and tumbrils went hopping and boimcling over the sward. The 112 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. evolutions were simple, but effective and imposing. A charge in line, which shook the very earth as men and horses flew past like a -nhirlwind, wreathed in clouds of dust, particidarly excited the Pasha's admiration, and he is reported to have said, "With one such regiment as that I would ride over and grind into the earth four Eussian regiments at least." He was particularly struck by the stature of the men and the size and fine condition of the horses, both dragoon and artillery, but these things did not lead him away from examining into the more important question of their efficiency, and he looked closely at accoutrements, weapons, and carriages. At his request Sir George Brown called a dragoon, and made him take off his helmet. The Pasha examined it minutely, had the white cover taken off, and requested that the man should be asked whether it was comfortable or not. The soldier replied that it was, and it is to be hoped that the Turkish cavalry may get something better than the wretched fez to ijut on their heads now that the Pasha sees that brass and leather can be fashioned so as to protect the skull without inconvenience to the owner. The usual field-day manoeuvres were performed by the artillery. They did just what they are wont to do when his Eoyal Highness Saxe-some-place-or-other visits Woolwich, moving like one man, wheeling as if men, horses, and guns formed part of one machine, sweeping the plain with the force and almost the speed of steam engines, unlimberiug guns, taking them to pieces, putting them together, and vanishing in columns of dust. The inspection was over at half-past tkree o'clock, to the great dehght of the men : and Omar Pasha, who repeatedly expressed his gratification and delight at the spectacle, retired with the Generals to Sir George Brown's quarters, and in the course of the evening renewed his journey to Shumla. For some days back 3000 Bashi-Bazouks and Militia have been encamped close to our cavalry camp, and every day performed irregular evolutions in the plains below iis, and made the night hideous with their yells and challenges. On Wednesday, to the great relief of all their neighbours, our friends moved off to Varna, with great flourishing of lances, swords, and trumpets, headed by ragged red banners, and we Mere glad to hear that they are going uj) there to be placed imder the mild ride of General Yusuf, the famous Algcrine commander, wlio has tamed so many of the wild tribes of the desert to the Freiich yoke. He wiU " lick them into shape" with the bastinado, and as they are well guarded and can- not kick against tlu^ pricks, there is some chance that a Bashi- Bazouk may at last become a soldier. In all the villages about here we hear laics of the violence of these ruffians — they are true types of the Mussulnuui "soldiery" as they are yet to be found in Asia, and as they would be. perlinps, even here, if the eye of Evirope was not on tlicni. A common practice among them during tlieir march througli lliis very district was lo take away tlie sons and young cliildrcn ol' tlw miscraltle Bulgarians, and demand ransom for them ; and an diliccr oC the 77th was told the other day by a poor widow, tliat not long ago they carried off" her ENGLISH BASHI-BAZOUKS. 113 only son, and had put a price on his head which she could never pay. She told the chief of the pai-ty so, and offered all she had to give to the scoundrel, but he would not accept the sum ; and she has never seen her son since. Yusuf is the very man to get these gentry into order ; indeed, Omar Pasha has done sreat good by a little wholesome severit^^ He has seized on -n hole hordes of them, taken their horses and accoutrements, and sent tliem off to be enlisted by compulsory levy into the armies of the faithful as foot soldiers. General Beatson passed up on Monday, and pitched his tents about two miles beyond our outposts, on the road to Shumla. He is going on to that place to undertake the organization into cavalry of 4000 Bashi-Bazouks, and he is accompanied by Captain G-reen, so well known in India from his success in organising the Scinde Irregulars, and Mr. C. Fox acts as Aid-de-Camp, under the name of Yusuf Bey. What the Turkish titles of the General and Captain Green are I am unable to say. Dr. Sandwith, gorgeously attired, has also gone up towards Shumla, to take charge of the mecUcine. He rejoices in the name and title of Achmet Eft'endi. On the occasion of Omar Pasha's visit. Sir George Brown issued an order that the commissariat ofBcers should serve out to each man a ration of spii'its, and it was found very acceptable. The porter has not come yet, but Sir George has issued an order that a pint per day shaU be fm-nished to all fatigue parties. We had a case of cholera in the Kifles the other day, but there is no choleraic ex^idemy, and the troops continue to enjoy exceUeut health. Their parade and field day hours have been altered, and they now generally turn out at half-past five in the morning, and are exercised till eight o'clock. The commissariat serves out rations of good tough beef, and if the bread carts do not arrive from Varna in time, the troops get good energetic biscuit. To- day one ration of it at least was rather mouldy, but people are not to be fastidious enfaisant la guerre. Eggs and fowl can be pur- chased by good foragers among the natives, and the officers are indefatigable in scouring the country in search of them. ShaU I be considered a Sybarite if I record the fact, that I have even seen a crock of butter ? An order has been issued that no officer shall go beyond the i)recincts of the camp imless in uniform and with his sword. Several little parties have come up to Shimila, but as a general rule they have not received permission to go to SiUstria, or to advance rsx front towards the Danube. It is no unusual thing to meet a gallant guardsman riding along the road with a lamb at his saddle-bow, and a brace of geese or turkeys dangling over his holsters. The Light Di^nsion might sometimes be taken for Highland caterans, from the flocks they " drive" into camp. Sir George Brown has j)leasantly termed the officers "his Bashi-Bazouks," though it must be admitted there is this material difference between them and the latter, that all the transactions of the former gallant corps are conducted on the principle of cash on dehvery. As there have been some " little irregularities" com- mitted on the road between tliis and Varna, officei's are beginning I 114 THE CAMP NEAK DEVNO. to i:)ay more attention to tlieir revolvers. A canteen man was robbed the other night of 1500 piastres, and there is a report to- day that a sergeant of one of the regiments, who was sent into town for sui^plies, is missing. As far as my experience goes, the natives are most harmless, and are rather unwilling to come across us. Just before the review on Thursday, several famihes, return- ing with their waggons and household goods to Basardshick, crossed the plain where the troops wei'e drawn up, but I am in- formed that ere they did so they sent in one of their number to ask if the Bashi-Bazouks had gone. They had left Basardshick for fear of the Cossacks, but they did not hesitate to say that they were almost as much afraid of their own irregular warriors. There is one phrase which serves as the universal exponent of peace, good will, praise, and satisfaction between the natives and the soldiery. I have been unable to determine its origin exactly, but I rather think it arose from the habit of om* men at Malta in addressing every native as " Johnny." At GaUipoli the soldiers persisted in applj'ing the same word to Tm-k and Greek, and at length Turk and Greek began to apply it to om'selves, so that stately generals and pompous colonels, as they stalked down the bazaar, heard themselves addressed by the proprietors as "Johnny;" and to this appeUatiou "bono" was added, to signify the excellence of the wares offered for public comxjetition. It is now the estabhshed cry of the army. The natives walk tlirough the camp caUing oiit "Bono, Johnny! Sood, sood" (milk)! "Bono, Johnny! Yoomoortler" (eggs)! or, "Bono, Johnny! Easier" (geese)! as the case may be; and the dislike of the con- tracting i^arties to the terms offered on either side is expressed by the simple phrase of "No bono, Johnny. As you ride along the road friendly natives grin at you, and think, no matter what your rank,that they have set themselves right with you, and paid a graceful comi^liment by a shout of "Bono, Johnny." Even the dignified reserve of Eoyal Dukes and Generals of Division has had to undergo the ordeal of this salutation from Pashas and other dignitaries. If a benighted Turk, riding homewards, is encoun- tered by a picquet of the light division, he answers the challenge of " Who goes there?" with a " Bono, Johnnj'," and is immediately invited to "advance, friend, and all's well!" and the native servants sometimes use the same phrase to disarm the anger of their masters. It is really a most Avonderful form of speech, and judiciously api)lied, it might, now " work" a man from one end of Turkey in Europ.e to the other. The most singular use of it was made the other day, when Omar Pasha first visited the camii. After the infantry had been dismissed to then- tents, they crowded to the front of their lines in fatigue jackets and frocks to see the Pasha go by, and as he approaclied them, a shout of " Bono ! bono! Johimy!" rent the air, to the great astonishment of Omar, while a flight of " foragers" into the air gave him some notion of a British welcome. He smiled and l)0Med several times in acknow- ledgment, but it is said that as the whoops, hun-ahs, and yells of the Counaught Kangers rang in his ears, he turned to one of the officers near him and said, " These are noble-looking fellows, but LORD CAEDIGAX'S EECONKAISSANCE. 115 it must be very hard to keep them in order !" He could not com- prehend how such freedom could be made consistent with strict discipline in the ranks. A portion of the French troops have advanced to the hills over Cholmeter. Sir De Lacy Evaus' division is iu advance of Kojuk, the Duke's division is at Aladyn, and Sir E. England's betvieen the place last-named and Inshekoj, so that there are very few Englisli troops left at Varna. The bulk of the French ai-my still hes around the town, and there are about 7000 Turkish and Egyptian troops in the vicinity. To-day, 150 sailors under Pidnce Leiuingen and Mr. Glyn, and a company of Sappers, passed through the camp on horseback, on their way from Varna to Eustehuk. They are to be employed at the last-named place iu building a bridge across the Danube, and the Tiu'ks are, it is said, already crossing the river into Great WaUachia and Moldavia. CHAPTEE XVn. Lord Cardigan's reconnaissance — The beard and moustache question decided — Hard work killing time — The impopular Memorandum — Scarcity of books — How a Yohmie goes through a regiment — Cricket and dog-hunts — A grand battue — A wild boar within the lines — Death of the intruder — A Kurdish chieftainess — Mr. Walpole and his Indian Mahomedan followers. Camp near Devxo, Juhj IS. Since the despatch of my last letter Lord Cardigan has returned to camp with the detachments of Light Cavalrs', -with which he effected an e-s±en(\.ed.reconnaissance along the banks of the Danube, towards Eustehuk and Silistria. It is reported that at one poiat of the river they saw the Eussians in force under General Liiders, and that the General asked a Turkish officer who went over with a flag of truce, on some business the nature of which has not transpu'ed, whether the cavaliy at the other side were French or English. He was informed they were English, and he then took a long look at them, but he did not make any observation, nor did he direct any fire to be made upon them. The noble lord and his men were withoiit tents, and bivouacked for seventeen nights. On the 11th, Tuesday, the disti'essiug inteUigence of the affair at Giurgevo on Friday last reached us, and caused the livehest sensation. Some short time since. Captain Bent and JVIr. Burke, of the Eoyal Engineers, went up to Sihstria on particular service con- nected with the defences of the place, and with the object of sur- veying and reporting on the forts along the Danube. It so hap- pened that while they were in Eustehuk the Tiu-ks resolved to force the river and attack the Eussians who were on the other side of the river. Among the British officers on the spot at the time "were Mr. Burke, Eoyal Engineers, Mr. MejTiell. 75th Eegiment, and Mr. Ai-uokl. of the Indian army, and they all engaged in the expedition, which was not the first of the kind in which Mr. Bui'ke had taken part within a short time previously. The result is I 2 116 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. melanclioly. In a fierce attack on the Russian intrenched camp on Friday last the Turks were received with such a heavy mitraille that they wavered and fell back. Mr. Burke, Mr. Meynell, and Mr. Arnold rushed forward to rally and cheer them on, and, ren- dered only too cons])icuous by their gallantry and daring, they fell dead before a deadly fire from the Eussian riflemen. Mr. Burke was a universal favourite, an excellent ofiicer, and courageous to a fault. He is much regretted throughout the Light Division, and great sjTnpathy is felt for his brother, a captain in the Connaught [Rangers, who was deeply attached to him. The camps continue healthy, the illness in the field not being more than four and a half per cent. Several acts of violence have been committed by the natives on the road to Varna. A gentle- man mIio is correspondent for one of the London journals, has, we hear, been fired at, and the person who shot at him has been arrested and flogged. A canteen man has been murdered. Some of our mail-bags have gone astray, and letters for the 88th Eegiment have been found scattered by the hedges all along to Varna. On Sunday last. Major-General Bentinck addressed his officers, after chui'ch parade, on the subject of shaving, and informed them that they must use their razors. The Duke of Cambridge re- ferred the matter to Lord Baglan, and it is understood that his lordship has decided that moustaches may be -worn, but not beards. It is said that iipwards of seventy horses of Lord Cardigan's detachment have been laid up in consequence of sore backs during the recent reconnaisance. The French still remain around Varna ; their engineers are surveying the passes of the Balkan, and a number of Pontoniers went up past this to Shumla and Sihstria on Tuesday. July 19. It is astonishing that in the sayings and doings of some 25,000 men there shoidd be so little worth recording — at least, if anything there be, it is confined to the temple of the official Eleusis, under snap locks, fastened up with red tape, or pigeonholed in the ample recesses of our chieftains' portfolios. Surely our march ought to be sure and ought to be lengthy, if there be truth in the Itahan proverb, " Chi va piano va sano, e chi va sano va lontano ;" and, if success depends on secrecy, our army ouglit to be crowned with profusest laurels, however late in their coming. Well matured, indeed, the plans .of our leaders must be ; but Mariana, in the floated Gratujc, was never more weary of these long delays than most of the young officers out here, while time is ripening for the mystic couj>. It is actually a delightful relief for them to plunge into the exciting details of the great beard and moustache ques- tion — that weighty matter, as to whicli discussion never ends, and illustration never tires, and which agitates alike the Commander- in-Chief and the meanest (is there such a thing as a "mean?") soldier. Truth to tell, the orders issued by Generals of Divisions and Commauders-in-Chief have had far more to do ^ith dress and 1 UNBECOMING STYLE OF DRESS. 117 undress, ■with " neck and crop," and with the capillary licentious- ness of the soldiery, than with aught else ; and their souls must burn within them at the undutifiU conduct of Bashi-Bazouk sub- alterns, who will persist ia gettmg out of uniform whenever they can, and getting into the wildest i)laids, the most daring checks, and the most vivid shirting that Design, assisted by Colour, can invent. Wliy do these Bashi-Bazouks vex their chieftains so? Simply because their uniforms are uncomfortable and mean, and mufti is loose and easy. What stout man of taste would wear a red shell jacket, with dingy green or yellow collar and cuffs, even though no eye but that of a rude Bulgarian peasant or wooden- faced peasantess gazed on his fair proportions, if he could wander forth in a frock or other garment more suited to the development of his figiire ? Woidd any man take out his sword to give it an airing in a rui'al walk if he could leave it behind and take a stick ? and who, with the thermometer indicating 110 degrees, would wear a neckerchief and stand-up collar if he could go without them ? It is no use to institute standards of comparison. An Englishman likes his uniform when on duty only, and often not even then ; a Frenchman feels sorry he can't sleep in it. It was but the other day that I saw a number of Bulgarian larks and doves in a state of great agitation, hovering over a cornfield with that kind of frightened curiosity ^hich such small creatures display at the appearance of owls or hawks in their neighbourhood. On in- vestigating the cause of their perturbation, I discovered a very gorgeously attired and fine-looking French officer up to the middle in the gi'ass of a meadow, through which he was moving as rapidly as his spurs would aUow him ia pursuit of " gihier ;" and, on a nearer approach, I foimd his teniie faultless — wide red trousers strapped tight over the boot, tight blue frock coat and shoidder straps, sword and slings, and gay red forage cap. A light game bag held a variety of the passerine and alaudine tribes, and how he managed to get along with sword and fowling-piece and spurs, was little short of the miraculous. "Would not an Englishman have lain down and hid himself in the grass like a field-mouse sooner than be caught in such irreproachable miiform on such an occasion. On the other hand, if a stranger apx^roached our camps he would meet figures which it would puzzle him much to make out, and to define whether they were gi-ooms or gentlemen, so strange their attire, so battered and contused their "wide- awakes," so curious their jackets and trouserings and leggings. Against this neghgence and hizarrete of costume, Lord Eaglan has directed the following sumptuary decree : — " MEMOEANDUM. " Varna, July 15. " The Commander-in-Chief has noticed witli great regret the verj' unbecoming manner in which the officers of the army dress themselves. He does not now refer to their mode of dressing out of uniform, because that has been entirely forbidden, and he has no reason to suppose that his orders in that respect are disobeyed ; but he now desires to draw attention to the style of dressing when in uniform. The sword may be worn, the jacket may be the regimental jacket. 118 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. and the cap may be the uniform forasre cap, but such want of care is shown in wearing the uniform in a becoming manner, that it is difficult to recognise the officers in some cases as officers at all. The shell jacket is- allowed to fly open, showing underneath a red flannel shirt, with nothing round the neck, not even, a white shirt collar. Often a turban is worn over tlie forage cap, the chin unshaven, and there is such an absence of w,hat is befitting the appearance of an officer in the whole person, that no one could be otherwise than struck with the general disregard of what is proper. " Under these circumstances, the Commander of the Forces calls upon the officers of the army themselves to correct this evil. He does not desire to insist that their jackets should always be buttoned from the bottom to the top, but he does hope that, having as much regard for good appearance in uniform as they would have out of uniform, they will bear in mind that the uniform directed to be worn ought to be put on mth care and attention, no matter in what country the army may be serving, nor what the service may be in wliich the army happens to be engaged. " The Commander of the Forces requests general officers to make knoivn these observations to the officers of their divisions and brigades, and he expects from the officers themselves an answer to his remarks in the change which will te made by them in the style of dressing. " By order, J. B. B. Estcotjrt, D. A. G." There is one passage in it wkicli lias given great satisfaction, and on which a most hberal, if rather unwarrantable, construction has been placed by the anti-tonsorists of the camp — an imshaven chin is held up to reprobation, but not a word is said of unshaven hps, and therefore, say they, it is evident that Lord Raglan does not object to the latter. With the Guards it is said the great change has already taken place — they are to be allowed to grow moustaches, but not beards. After the memorable parade in which Major-General Bentinck rebuked the disobedience of his hirsute subalterns, an appeal was made, it is said, to the Duke of Cambridge, which must have had great weight from the illustrious example to which the moustache movement coiUd pomt. The Duke consulted Lord Eaglan, and it is imderstood that his lord- ship signified his decision to be, that if moustaches were worn he wotild take no notice of it, but that chins must be kept clean. The British constitution is a compromise, and this decision is certainly in its best spirit, having for its parallel perhaps only the famous case of the bishop's ukase as to altar candles — namely, that they might be placed on the altar, but were by no means to be lighted. Under the circumstances, I doubt if the numbers availing themselves of tliis tacit permission will be considerable ; the razor must stiU be kept, with an edge to it too, and while a man is at work he may as well go over lip as chin. Besides, habit and custom ha^a^ many votaries, their temple is erected beside that of Mars, and tlicy live in the heart of an army. The otlier day a man of the Light Division was sent into hospital for pains in his neck and down liis back and arras. He was asked how he thought these pains had arisen. After a moment's reflec- tion he said — ^" Well, sir, I don't 'zackly kiiow, but I think as how it was all along of my goin' out to parade t'other mornin' without my stock!" If it coidd be known, I am certain there were AZURE DIABOLIC ALS. 119 veterans long ago who got swelled legs because of the abolition of thirty-button gaiters, and ophthalmia from the amputation of their pig-tails. We have now men in high i^osition who would go to the stake for their faith in Bro\^^l Bess sooner than embrace the Minie heresy ; and there are ofBeers of the Household troops — one there is at least — who beheve the Guards lost their ancient prestige ever since they were deprived of the valuable privilege of marching off with one leg foremost instead of the other ! Very, ver.y hard set indeed are we to kill time while waiting for the harvest of laurels to bud. For the last week there has been a delightful change in tlie weather— it rains, thunders, liglitens, and blows for a great portion of each day — anything is better than being baked alive. The rain falls down from the heavens in splash- ing streams, the thunder is ear-splitting, and rattles for hours through the mountains, the hghtning is forked, fierce, and vivid, and the wuid is strong enough to shake tent iioles to their foun- dation, and sometimes to overturn the saturated canvas on its unhappy occupant. It is in such times as these that oinui comes on a man like a demon, aided very often by diarrhoea, or a gentle dysen- tery. It is then that azure diabolicals flutter down iu shoals upon him, and make him think of horrible things, which he announces to his dismal friends, such as " sending in my papers, and cutting the whole deuced thing altogether;" and then it is that colonels are consigned to distant and unpleasant places, and generals are denounced as " confounded old humbugs." In such moments as these a memorandum of the imfeebng character of that you have just pei'used is regarded as a persecuting ukase, and the lugubrious lieutenant or irritable ensign, gazing on his Jim Crow, his splendid shawl sash, meant to protect his abdomen from a coup de soleil (it can be for nothing else), or his neat green and white " Oriental," with leather pockets, rushes madly out on his pony, and catching sight of Sir George coming romid a corner of a lane, dashes more madly back again, under the beUef that the authorities have entered into a conspiracy against his especial ease and comfort, and that Sir George especially does nothing but lie in wait for him Kke a kind of military "Chevy Slime," always round the corner. Books there are few indeed ; I know of one copy of the Trois Mousquetaires, and Yingt Ans Apres. wliich is at this present writing going through a regiment in detachments, the main body being boimd up in an elastic band, and the bits being distributed in order, a few pages at a time, to the various readers. A cargo of cheap novels woidd make a famous investment. Not many games can be played, for there are few implements, but there have been some matches at cricket, at which the sun stumped a good many men, and nearly realized the fearfid iDictm-e of the " Bat in bUsters," drawn hj Mr. Alfred Jingle. Dog-hunting was popular, but it paUed after a time, and, besides, it was not ux favour with the authorities. ]Mounted parties of fifteen to twenty would ride about the neighbourhood of some village, and it would not be long ere a fierce, wild-looking, and shaggy cur was roused from his lair, and started across the plains at a ratthng pace which 120 THE CAMP NEAR DEVKO. would do no discredit to a Leicestersliire or Galway Reynard. He generally made for the hills, and got off after a good run, but sometimes he was fairly run down, — killed if he was savage, spared if properly submissive. There are, however, occasional meets still made for this exciting sport. There was a grand battue through the woods the other day by the men and oiScers of Sir De L. Evans's division, about four miles from this. About three hundred men beat throvigh the woods, Imt the sport was meagi-e, consisting of a few roe deer, wood pigeons, doves, &c. Frequently hares run through the camp, and \\'henever the alarm of such an event is given, men I'un like mad through thistle, brier, and prickly bush, till poor puss, headed on all sides, and turned by hundreds, takes refuge in some clump of thorn, and is made an easy capture. Last week a wHd boar was led by his aspirings after the unknown to take a savinter one mooulight night within the lines. He was seen by a sentry ; the men turned out, and Porkus fell, transfixed by many a bayonet, in a plucky but unlucky charge to break the line of his enemy. As yet. the only trophy of which Me can boast is a magnificent young eagle, belonging to the 33rd Eegiment. I rather think he is a ''falco c/iri/sdetos." If not, the fault rests with the Fenny CydopwMa. His appetite and his courage are alike great, ancl his ferocity is akin to both. We have had races, both at the Guards' camp, at Sir De L. Evans's camp, and at this, and some of them went off well ; but even these are as flat as the course, and have now lost the charm of novelty. Yesterday, an old woman, said to be Fatuna Hanoum, the Karakizla (Black Virgin) Kurdish chieftainess, passed tlirough Devno on her way from Varna, attended by a rabble rout of thirty or forty Bashi-Bazouks. She stopped at the rude khan or cafe, and enjoyed her pipe for a time, so that one had an opportunity of seeing tliis Turkish Semiramis. She is a lean, withered, angvdar old woman, of some seventy years of age, with a face seamed and marked in everj^ part of its dark mahogany-coloiu'cd surface with rigid wrinkles. Her nose is hooked and skinnj' — her mouth tooth- less and puckered — her eyes piercing black, restless, ancl sinister, with blearj^ lids, and overhung by tufty grey brows. Her neck, far too liberally exhibited, resembles nothing so much as the stem of an ill-conditioned, gnarly young olive tree. With most wanton and imjustifiablc (lisrcgarcl of the teachings of Mahomet and of the prejudices of Mussulmans, she shows all her face, and wears no yashmak. Her attire consisted of a green turban, dirty and wrinkled as her face; an antifiuated red jacket, Mitli remnants of embroidery, open in front, and showing, as far as mortal sight could gaze upon it, the lady's bosom ; a handsome shawl waist scarf, filled with weapons, sucli as knives, i)istols, and yataghans; and wide blue brceclu^s. Hanoum is a si)inster, and her followers believe she is a prophetess. The followers were Bashi-Bazouks 'pur .sang, very wild and very ragged, and stuck all over ^ith weapons, like porcupines with spines. Their horses wei'e lean and scraggy, and altogether it was a comfort to see this interesting Virgin Queen of the Kia-ds on her way to Shunda, if, indeed, it MOVEMENTS AT HEAD-QUARTERS. 121 was the Fatima Hanoum or some humble imitator. The lady- refused to visit oui- camp, and seemed to hold the Giaour in pro- found contempt. To-day there was a much more interesting ari'ival. Some five- and-twenty horsemen rode into the village, attired in the most pictm-esque excesses of the Osmauli ; fine, handsome, well -kempt men, with robes and turbans a blaze of gay colours, and with arms neat and shining from the care bestowed on them. They said they came from Pesha^ur and other remote portions of the north- western provinces of the Indian Peninsula, and while the officer who was conversing \vith them was wondering if their tale could be true, the officer in charge of the party came forward and announced himself as an Englishman. It turned out to be Mr. Walpole, formerly an officer in our Navy, whose charming book on the East is so well known, and it appeared that the men under his command were Indian Mahomedans, who had come up on their pilgrimage to Mecca, and who, hearing of the Turkish ciii- sade against the Infidels, had rushed to join the standard of the Sultan. They are to be attached to Colonel Beatson's corps of Bashi-Bazouks, and to form a kind of body-guard to the colonel, whose name is so well known in India. Mr. Walpole seems quite dehghted with his command, and, as he has the power of life and death, he seems to think there will be no difficulty in repressing the irregularities of his men. CHAPTEE, XVIII. Movements at head quarters — Appearance of the cholera at Varna — Immense stores required — Mode of purchasing horses for the army — English and French systems of payment — Organization of the Bashi-Bazouks — Atrocious conduct of Turkish robbers. Camp near Devno, July 21. There was a council of war on Tuesday at Varna, at which Marshal St. Arnaud, Lord Eaglan, Admiral Hamelin, and Admiral Dundas, &c., were present, and it seems to have been resolved that the time is come for an active exercise of the power of the allied forces by sea and land. On AVednesday, orders were sent out by Lord Eaglan to Sir George Brown, at Devno, to proceed to head-quarters at Varna immediately. Sir George Brown lost no time in obeying the summons. He sent a portion of his bag- gage on at once, and went on to Varna attended by his aid-de- camp. Captain Pearson. Lord Eaglan and his second in command had a long conversation, and on Thursday morning Sir George Brown, attended by Captain Pearson, Colonel Lake, of the Eoyal Artillery, Captain Lovell, of the Eoyal Engineers, &c.. went on board the "Emeu," Captain Smart, and immediately proceeded to the fleets at Baltschik. At the same time General Canrobert took ship for the same destination. The generals went on board the flag ships of the respective admirals, and on Thursday evening the whole fleet stood out to sea, steering towards the Crimea. Of 122 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. course, tlie object of tliis expedition is a dead secret. On Friday (this) morning tlie first division of the French army, under the command of General Canrobert, struck their tents, and broke up their camp outside Varna. They have taken the road which leads towards the Dobrudscha. To-day at noon Sh' Eichard England's division, also encamped close outside Varna, received orders to march at five o'clock to- morrow morning, but they will only shift their quarters a short mile or so, in order to get better water and change the air of the camp. The cholera has appeared among the trooi^s at Varna, biit the English forces are as yet tolerably free from it. Sixteen French soldiers have died from this terrible scoui-ge out of twenty-five who were attacked by it. A good deal of sickness prevails among the Turkish and Egyptian troops. There has been some mortahty among the cavahy at Devno also, and the chaplain performed six funeral services among the two cavah'y brigades this week. Several ofiicers are invahded, and will be sent home by the first opportunity — among them, Messrs. Balfour and Alexander, of the Rifle Brigade. Lord Duj^plin, who has been seriously ill, is now much better, b\it it is said that he also will be obliged to go to England. Dr. Macdouald, who has been sent into the general hospital, is also somewhat better. Three oflBcers of the Guards are unwell, but not seriously so. Diarrhoea is only too prevalent. Nearly every one has it in his turn. The quantity of apricots ("Kill Johns") and hard cnule fruit which are devoured by the men, may in some degree account for the x)revalence of this debilitating malady. The commissariat bread is not so good as it used to be, and speedily tiirns sour ; but the officers are taking steps to remedy the evil by the erection of ovens in which the bread will have more room to swell. As a general rule, the French bread is lighter and better than our own. It is not to be supposed that the average sickness of the army is considerable. On the whole, it is below the average of garrison returns ; but it is to be remembered that one source of illness in towns is almost entirely cut off in this country-. The general hospital at Varna is, however, packed as full as it can hold, and regimental surgeons are enjoined to treat as many cases as possible in the field. Whenever it is ijracticable, the divisional surgeons engage houses in the villages for sick officers, and some four or five verj'- tolerable rooms have been taken in the village of Devno for the reception of invalids. Some cases of low fever have appeared, but as yet they have given way readily to tlu; usual trcjilnu-nt. "^Plie meat furnished by the com- missariat is excellent. Some of tlie surgeons think the ration is not large enough, as the meat is lean and deficient in nutritive quality when compared M'ith English beef and mutton ; but it should be stated, that in order to compensate for that deficiency, the weight of the ration has been increased from the home allow- ance of tliree-quarters of a i)onnd to one pound per man ])er diem. No one unac(iuainted with tiie actual reciuirements of an army can form the smallest notion of the various duties which devolve ENORMOUS ISSUE OF RATIONS. 123 upon a commissariat, or of tlie enormous quantity of stores required for the daily use of man and liorse. At this very moment tlie quantity of food supplied for horses daUy by the commissariat seems to a civilian almost fabulous, and, as it is all drawn from store at Varna, because the harvest is not yet thrashed in the country, the exertions of the officers charged with the supply are taxed to the uttermost to keep pace with the demand, so as to have a proper reserve. What do you suppose the daily issue of rations for horses amounts to ? To no less than 110,000 pounds weight of corn, chopped straw, &c. 110,000 pounds ! and this quantity will be increased day after day as horses come in from tlie country. Add to this about 27,0001b. rations of meat, 27,000lb. rations of bread, the same quantity of rice, tea, coffee, sugar, &c., and it wdl be seen that the commissariat has enough on its hands. But the issue and supply of rations is but a small portion of their duty. They have to x^rovide horses, carts, saddles, x)acksaddles. tents, carriages for Dragoons, Light Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery, Sappers and Miners, and iaterpreters, and to provide for the innumerable legitimate wants of an army in the field. The supply of pack- saddles is not equal to the demand, and, notwithstanding all their exertions, the commissariat have not yet been able to comply with the orders given to them to furnish saddles for the interpreters and various persons attached to the forces. Large as our com- missariat staff may appear, I can answer for it that they are worked to the very uttermost. Commissary-G-eneral Filder's office in Varna is like a bank in the City in the height of business, and the various officers at their desks are to be seen writiug away as if their lives depended on it. The officers at the other branch departments are equally busy, and in this hot weather it is not unusual for some of them to ride to Varna and back to Devno, a distance of more than forty miles, between sunrise and sunset. The officers of the various regiments who have been sent all over the country to purchase horses have now all been ordered in, and most of them have returned. The way in which this department is managed is this : — The officer on duty, accompanied by an uiter- preter, and provided with proper credentials to the authorities, proceeds to the place indicated, and, with the aid of the Pasha or head man, estabUshes a fair, at which the average price is about 4Z. 10s. a-head. When he has purchased thirty or forty horses, he sends them into Varna, under the escort of a Turkish officer, and of zapties (county poUce), and consigns them to the care of Colonel Dickson, E-.A., who is at the head of this department. The officer receives a gratuity, ranging with the distance, and the men in charge ah. get a fixed sum and rations for their services till their return, and Colonel Dickson gives a receipt for the horses, and hands them over to the commissariat officer, Mr. Smith. jMost of the animals sent in are provided with packsaddles and equipments complete. It often happens that some die on the road, and that others run away and are lost. When the officer who makes the purchases has concluded his mission, he comes up to Varna, and checks his accoimts with Colonel Dickson ; and, on the production 124 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. of a receipt from the latter, he is paid by the commissariat what- ever expenses he may have incurred. The pay for his services while on this duty is 1/. a-day ; and that sum has been found barely sufficient for the expenses of the Uving, &c., in the Turkish towns, and sometimes is quite inadequate to the outlay. I believe there are about 16,000 horses now on rations, and the baggagers are cut down in their allowances as far as possible. There is a difficulty in getting " grooms," though the Government gives 300 piastres, or 21. 15.s\ a month, and rations, to each. The system of payment adopted by the French is not at all approved in distant parts of the country ; and, as may be readily imagined, when you hear what it is, they do not find an open market so readily as we do. We pay in ready money, and a com- missariat chest, under the care of Mr. Cowan, is established at Shumla, to keep our officers supplied with gold and silver. The French, on the contrary, do not pay in money. For work and labour done, or for purchases, they give checks on their commis- sariat chest at Varna, which are only payable on presentation there. It may be imagined that a peasant at the other side of the Balkans, or an ignorant Bulgarian up the country, regards this printed paper with huge disdain, and it is certainly rather hard to have to journey from Roumelia into Bulgaria in order to get 10s. or 12s. for the hire of an araba cart. Even with ourselves the araba drivers are suspicious, and grow sulky and discontented if they are not paid the instant they present their certificates. The flight of the drivers still continues whenever it is practicable. AU the carts going out to the camps and returning are under the guard of Turkish soldiers, and the commissariat have not suc- ceeded in prevailing on the General to grant an escort of English soldiers. The residt is, frequent delaj's on the road, much squab- bling, and not a little brutality and violence to the ch'ivers. It is suspected that there has been some misappropriation of stores, and that tea issued to the soldiery at Is. a-poimd, has found its way back to Varna, and has been purchased for the use of the men in hospital at 4,s. a-pound. The French are buying up supplies in the wildest way in all the markets of the world ; and it is said they have ordered cargoes of corn to ports wliich cannot free their granaries of the enormous accumulation of grain. They have got large stores outside Varna, but they are not in a better condition to march into the interior than we are. When a French regiment arrives at any place, its internal organization is so good, that the men find no difficulty in making themselves comfortable at once, provided the authorities have made arrangements for their recep- tion. But in every movement of llieir army in masses, they are obliged, under the new system, to send on tlie general stafl'of the administration some sixteen days or a fortnight before they move, in order to get up reserves, stores, &c. for the troops. If that be done, tlie French march in and at once set to work to bake, to eat and drink, and be happy. We, on the contrary, carry our stoi'es with us, and are at this moment, as I have said, better able to march eii masse than they are ; but wc are deficient in regimental THE BASHI-BAZOUKS. 125 organization, and when we arrive at tlie end of our march, that deficiency is felt in various ways, and the men at once exercise their constitutional i)rivilege of grumbling. We have been some time at Devno, and yet it is only now that we are erecting ovens for baking bread. The advantage of om* system of storeage and reserve was exemplified the other day. The Bashi-Bazouks under General Yusuf ran short of supplies, and Commissary-General Filder had to issue about 12,000 rations to keep them from hunger. These gentry are getting literally " licked into shape" at last. Their cami), just outside the town, is worth a journey to see. Their tents are aU pitched regularly, instead of being thrown down higgledy-piggledy all over the ground, and their horses (nearly aU staiUions — such neighing and kicking, and biting and fighting as goes on among them all day !) are neatly tethered in Hnes, like those of regular cavalry. There are about 3000 of these wild cavaliers here, and it Moidd be difficult to find more pic- turesque-looking scoimdi-els, if the world -nas picked for them from Scinde to Mexico. Many of them are splendid-looking fel- lows, with fine sinewy legs, beautifully proportioned, muscular arms, and noble, well-set heads, of the true Caucasian mould; others are hideous negroes from Nubia, or lean, mahgnant-looking Arabs, with sinister eyes and himgry aspect ; and some are dirty Marabouts, fanatics from Mecca, inflamed by the influence of their Hadj, or pilgrimage. They are divided into five regiments, and each man is paid a franc a-day by the French authorities. Por this reason many of our Bashis " bolt" from Colonel Beatson and the English officers, and join the French. Colonel Beatson has no money to pay them, and, indeed, it is not very clear that he has the sanction, or at all events the approbation, of Lord Eaglan, whatever countenance he may receive from the home authorities. General Yusuf has found the organization of the irregular Arab cavalry perfectly suited to the Bashi-Bazouks. The latter, how- ever, feel great contempt, or affect to feel it, for the noble-looking Spahis who are encamped near them, inasmuch as they have been subjugated by infidels, whereas they, the Bashis, thmk they could ride over Eui'ope, if their valuable services were required. Our people have at last taken up the notion of the French in simplifying the geography of Varna, and have attempted, lumd 2>assihus a-quis, a street nomenclature — "Engineer-street," "Sta- tionery-street," &c. The French have much the best of it in the signification and utility of their names, and any person can find out their principal officers' quarters with ease. They even mark down the residence of theu* Interprete Civil in large letters, and over the door of one of the best houses of the town they have put a board inscribed, " llission en CJicipelle Catholique Romaine a Varna." This is carrying on the war against the enemy with vigour, the church militant aiding the physical arm. _ It is delightful to have to praise any branch of our administra- tion, and it must be said the home Post-office has conferred a great benefit on the service by organizing the British army post- office, and sending out two such intelligent, active, and able officers 126 THE CAMP NEAR DEVNO. as Mr. Smith aud Mr. Angell to superintend it. TLe former is at Coustantinoplo, the latter at Varna. Our letters now are dehvered regularly, and convej^ed with safety and economy, and the men are dehghted with the boon of cheap and speedy postage. The " Vulcan," with draughts for the Guards, EifTes, &c., arrived the day before yesterday. To-day the " Kangaroo" arrived also from England with Lord P. Paulet, &c., on board. To show the state this country is in, I will, ere I close this letter, just state a circumstance which occurred on Sunday last. On the previous day, Sir De Lacy Evans was riding through a Bulgarian village close to his camp, when he noticed a family in great distress in one of the houses. On making inquii'ies, he ascertained that a band of six or eight Turks, armed to the teeth, had ridden to the village that very morning, and had taken away the child of one of the villagers, for which they demanded a ransom of 80Z. There were ten Turkish soldiers stationed in the place to protect it, but the.y never offered to interfere. The following morning, while the men were at church, Sir De Lacy Evans received information that the Turks with their prey were in a wood close to the village. He immediately detached three companies of the 49th Eegiment, and rode off with his staff and some moiinted officers to the plaoe indicated. They found the wood was of great extent and very dense. Extending their files so as to enclose as much of the cover as possible, the men proceeded to beat for their game, but, though they found plenty of traces to show it had been there, they could not discover it. 'No doiibt the fellows had seen the troops coming, and had made off through a pass to the mountains. The troops continued their search through a heavy thunderstorm for six or seven hours, and retmmed thoroughly di-enched to then* camii. July 29. Illness is on the increase, and on riding into Varna to-day I learn that there were thirty-three cases of cholera in our hospital last night, and a much larger number of men from the same cause in the French hosi)ital. 'ihe Duke of Cambridge has been suffer- ing from diarrliaa ; indeed, a large percentage of officers of the difi'crent divisions have been attacked by this complaint, but great precautions arc taken by the medical officers to in-event neglect in the early stages, and to check the premonitory symi^toms, which are too often disregarded iintil it is too late. USELESS TBENCHING TOOLS. 12.7 CHAPTEE XIX. Preparations for a siege — Colonel Gordon's i-ecomut Usance of the Dobrudscha — Turkish outrages — Outbreak of tlie cholera in the Light Division — Spread of the disease — It exhibits itself at Varna — TIic town of Suliua burnt — Sir George Brown in the " Fury" runs into the harbour of Sebastopol. Varna, July 20. This morning Captain Gordon, H.E., returned in tke " Yauban" from the Circassian coast. It is reported that the Eussians are employed night and day in strengthening the defences of Anapa, and in fortifying some small redoubts south of it. Their vessels often take a peep out of Sebastopol and rim in again. Su' George Brown has not yet returned. When last seen the English fleet was standing off the mouth of the Danube, with the Xieutenant-General on board, and it is believed General Canrobert ■was also with them, but the French vessels are still at anchor at Baltschik. Two batteries of artillery moved out from Varna on Friday, one to De-STio, the other to Aladj-n. There is a most magnificent preparation going on just now. The Sappers and Miners, and fatigue parties from the 1st and 3rd divisions, are working away as hard as they can, making fascines. To-day they will be set to work on gabions, and orders have been issued for an immediate supply of sand-bags. By news from Eustchuk. to the morning of the 17th, we hear that Omar Pasha, with 30.000 men, was lying on the left bank of the Danube, opposite Eustchuk, in an inti'enched camp. His line of videttes were not more than 800 jards from the Eussian videttes, and the main body of the latter (45,000 strong) lay facing the Tm'ks, with their left resting on the marshes of the Daniibe, and their right resting on strong works, which have been called Little Shumla, from then* resemblance to that place, and stretch- ing along the line of road to Bucharest. Our gabions, fascines, and sandbags look like prei^arations for a siege. I observe that some comments have been made respecting the condition of our mditarj^ tools, to which I called attention some time ago, but unless the authorities take immediate steps to remedy the mischief which may arise from the deficiencies of these invaluable articles, we may have grievous reason to remember it. The other day I saw a heap of old iron implements piled up before the commissariat's tent at Devno. They were like the things one sees dug out of bogs, and "embalmed in the cabiuets of the curious." What were theyP Mditary tools, biU-hooks, adzes, hatchets, spades, &c., which had been returned from the various regiments as " useless and unfit for service." Very pleasant things these woidd have been to work with in face of an enemy. Unless our siege and trenching tools are somewhat better, it will certainly take us time to reduce any place to which regular approaches must be made. 128 VARNA. On Friday last, Colonel Gordon returned from Baltschik. He made & reconnaissance of the Dobrudscha up to the very banks of the Danube, and found the whole country desolate — a waste of burnt villages and desolated corn-fields. At the other side of the Danube the Eussians were visible in force. This reconnaissance was effected by twelve artillerymen mounted on packsaddles and baggagers. They all returned safe and sound. Had they been regular cavalry, they would not perhaps have done as well. Lord Cardigan has taken fare\^ ell of his regiment, the 11th, in very handsome terms, and takes occasion to refer in a very laudatory manner to the efliciency of the brigade he commands. We hear many accounts of outrage inflicted on the people of the villages by the Turks. They are pufted up by the pride of victory, and believe they can now do as they please. As I passed a cafe on Saturday I heard the report of a pistol, and in a moment afterwards some Tau"ks ran out, bearing a man in the agonies of death in their arms. He had been shot through the heart. His murderer, who seemed like a zaptie or cavass, was di'agged off to the Pasha. The latter ■nnll put him in prison, and in some months the feUow will be let out, when room is required for a fresh culprit. The cause of this occurrence I could not ascertain, and the by- standers seemed very little disturbed by it. There is small trouble taken to arrest the course of such crimes, and until the Turks are disarmed these things must happen. Where are our British merchants and our Enghsh enterprise? We have lately paid 3s. dd. a pound for ham, 2s. a pound for bacon, IZ. sterling for a flannel shirt, poisonous brandy for 5s. a bottle ; bad wine for the same price ; preserved meats double the London prices; a water bottle, 10a-.; a white felt cap, 15.s\; German sad- dles, 51. (worth 25s.) ; bridles, 21. (not worth 12s.) ; and so on. However, money is plenty — neither officers nor men know what to do with it. The Brevet has given a great deal of satisfaction, and has of course caused some grumbling. The new regulations are not well understood, but so far as they are, they are well spoken of. Forage for horses is sometimes scarce. Captain Nolan lias returned with three hundred splendid Arabs from the desert. Lieutenant King has also come in with fine horses from Timis. July 2G. The cholera has crept from the camps into the town, and, as is usual on its outbreak, has exhibited great malignancy. On Mon- day, July 24th, it broke out in the camp of the Light Division. Upwards of twenty men died in twenty-four hoiu's. A sergeant of the 88th was taken ill at seven o'clock, and was dead at twelve o'clock. Tlie 23rd liegimeiit suffered especially, and it may readily be imagined that great dismay prevailed at such sudden and fatal illness. On Monday evening Brigadier Airey gave orders that the division should ])arade the following morning with baggage packed, &c. Several fresh cases of cholera occurred d\iring the night, and on Tuesday the division, to our great joy, struck tents SPREAD OF THE CHOLERA. 129 and marched off from Devno to Monastir, a village about eight miles further on, where they pitched their camp on a fine piece of land, amid scnib and brushwood. The first division has suffered from both cholera and typhus. The indisposition of the Duke of Cambridge, to which I referred in my last letter, was, I am glad to say, of a very trifling character, and he is now quite well. Eight men of this division have died of fever already. The exact number of deaths from cholera I do not know, but I hear the division has lost fourteen men up to this date from that disease. The second division has been as yet almost free from that malady, but there have beeu a few cases, and there are unmistakeable evidences that it is epidemic there also. The third division, which lies a couple of miles outside Varna, has been attacked with severity. The 44th Regiment, which is encamped on a high groiuid at the other side of the bay, opposite Varna, has escaped, but fatigue parties belonging to it, at work near the town, have afforded sevei'al cases. The Dragoons (1st and 6th), encamped near the beach below, have also lost men from this disease. Fatigue parties are busily engaged in the melancholy duties of burying the dead. There were nine funerals from the general hospital at Varna last night, in addition to several in the morning. The French are losing many men by the disease, but not in proportion to their nixmbers. However, their officers have taken perhaps the best plan of checking the progress of the pestilence. The// have given the men something to do. They have embarked the greater portion of the Zouaves, and sent them to sea. On Sunday and Monday about 2500 men were sent on board one of the French steamers and some of the small sailmg vessels, and were despatched with great celerity towards the north-western coast. It is said they will land at or near Kostendje, to join the first division, which marched on last week. On Saturday the " Spitfire." Captain Spratt, came in from the fleet. It appears that on the 16th the " Vesuvius," Captain Powell, and the " Spitfire" were cruising off the Sulina mouth of the Danube, when it was resolved by the two captains that the3'' would feel their way up to the scene of poor Captain Parker's death. On the morning of the 17th, Mr. MaunseU, of the " Spit- fire," went up towards the bar in one of the boats, and ascertained from the captain of an Austrian vessel coming down that there was one small buoy left to mark the channel over the bar. He ran up accordingly, found the buoy, and discovered that there was eleven feet water on the bar, instead of six or seven feet, as is generally reported. The channel was foimd to be about a cable's length across, and when Mr. MaunseU had buoyed it down he returned to the ships, which were ready with their paddle-box boats, their launches, gigs, and cutters. The little flotilla pro- ceeded up the river, destroying the stockades as it passed, without a show of resistance, and at last came to the small town of Sulina, on which the boats opened fire. Only three musket shots were fired in return, and at three o'clock p.m. the place was a heap of ruins, nothmg being spared but the church and lighthouse. The 130 VARNA. "Vesuvius" still remained off tlie mouth of the river. It appears that it blew so hard for the last few days that the English fleet had to put into Baltschik, with Sir George Brown, on board one of the ships, so that his mission is not yet accomphshed. A vast number of English transports are lying at Beicos Bay. Varna Bay is full of small craft and little French transport brigs and schooners. A number of porters have been sent up here from Constantinople for the carriage of stores from the boats to the beach. The whole of the shore looks like a wharf at a Liverpool dock, covered with bales, boxes, and bags. The pohce and pen- sioners from England have been found of the greatest service in our internal administration. The " Inflexible" passed down to- wards the Bosphorus on Tuesday, with six small prizes in tow. The Egyptian fleet, one thi'ee-decker, and five two-deckers, and one frigate, remained anchored near Bujukdere, in the Bos- phorus. July 30. Yesterday evening, the fleet of transports which has been lying for some time past quietly at anchor opposite Therapia, in the famed Baj^ of Beicos, received orders to prepare in all haste for sea. The " Victoria," the " Hydaspes," and the other steamers attached to the transport service, got steam up, and tugged a num- ber of them up to the entrance to the Black Sea, where they cast them off to make the best of then* way, by beating against a stiff breeze, to Varna Bay. Early yesterday morning, the Turkish fleet — one thi-ee-decker, five two-deckers, and one frigate — left Bujukdere for Varna. They carried with them twelve pontoons and large siege guns. Sir George Brown and staff returned on Thursday last, after a reconnoissance in the " Fury," in-^hich they were enabled to count the very guns of Sebastopol. The " Fury" stood off the port quietly at night, and about two o'clock ran in softly, and stopped withm 2000 yards of the batteries. There she remained till six o'clock in the morning. As the General was counting the guns, an officer observed a suspicious movement in the muzzle of one, and in a moment afterwards a shot roared through the rigging. This was a signal to quit, and the " Fury" steamed out of the harbour as fast as she covdd ; but the shot came after her still faster. A shell burst close to her, and one shot went through her hull ■ for- tunately, no one was hurt. The cholera has assumed a milder form, and the per-ecntage of deaths has decreased. The loss now is estimated at sixteen a day. RUSSIAN FORCES IN THE CRIMEA. 131 CHAPTEE XX. Preparations for embarkation — Conjectures as to the destination of the troops — Continuance of cholera at Yarna and in the camps — Want of medical attendance — Frightful losses of the French — The fatal hospital at Varna — Painful scenes — Miserable accommodation for the surgical staff — Unplea- sant peculiarities of our Turkish allies — Gallantry of the late Capt. Burke. \AR'SA,Aiigmt 1. The gi-eat preparations whicli are being made at Varna for the embarkation of the English forces are hailed with satisfaction by officers and men, tired of the monotony of life in this wretched coimtry, and depressed by the prospect of illness and laborious idleness. It is not known where they are going to; but, in the absence of any exact knowledge respecting the destination of the troops, conjectm'e pomts with imsteady finger to Odessa, Anapa, Suehima-Kaleh, or Sebastopol. The force of the Russians in the Crimea is supposed to be up- wards of 55,000 men, but considerable reinforcements may have been sent there, of which we know nothing. The Russians are well served by theu* spies, and are acquainted with every move- ment of om's ; but it is impossible to say whether ]\I. St. ^Irnaud and Lord Raglan have equal means of intelhgence. We could not, between French and Enghsh, manage to send a greater army than 42,000 or 43,000 men to the Crimea at present ; and, speaking merely in reference to strategic considerations, there woiUd be some rashness in attempting the reduction of such a fortress as Sebastopol with an army inferior in force to that of the enemy inside and outside the walls — an army Hable to be attacked by all the masses which Russia could direct, in her last extremity, to defend the " very navel of her power" — unless the fleet is able to neutraHze the preponderance of the hostile army, and place our troops on equal terms. An assault on Sebastopol, an attempt to carry it by storm or by coup de main, at first sight, is of course out of the question. It is not impregnable, either from the quahty of the works or natural position, and it must, like all such fortresses, fall before the regular iminteiTupted continuance and progress of sap and mine and blockade. Its array of bastion, casemate, and curtain, piled tier over tier, has, no doubt, excited the desire of aU true soldiers to become the conciuerors of such a stronghold ; but the aspect of these long lines of embrasure, filled with gims of the heaviest metal, and manned by the flower of a great military empu-e, has imquestionably suggested the necessity of caution to the most intrepid and dashing of our leaders. On Monday, Marshal St. Arnaud went do\^Ti to Therapia, on the Bosphorus, in the " BerthoUet," and Colonel Lloj'd, the Com- missioner to Circassia, had a passage in the same vessel. The Marshal is expected back on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning next, at Varna. k2 133 VAKNA. The " Orinoco" arrived on Sunday vrith the 1st battalion of the Rifle Brigade. The " Simla" arrived, after an astonishing passage of nine days from England, and on Tuesday passed Therapia, with the 4th Light Dragoons on board. The French steamer " Le Caire" also passed. The cholera is, I grieve to say, still prevalent at Varna and in. the camps, but its attacks are not so fatal as before. The change of encampments has done some good ; but the disease has not been diminished by the removal of the men to new and healthier sites. It is my i)ainful duty to commimicate the loss of Colonel Maule, who died this week of the prevailing epidemic. The gallant oiRcer threw up the post of Sun^eyor-General of the Ordnance to come out here ; and during the performance of his duties as Assistant Adjutant-General, he had gained the goodwill and esteem of all around him. Poor Major Levinge, too, is gone. He died of an overdose of opium, administered by himself, when suffering from diarrhoea. He was a universal favourite, gay, light-hearted, and amiable, an excellent officer, a thorough soldier, and a kind, open- hearted man ; his loss will be felt by all t\ ho knew him. Mr. Newberry, the i)a\Tnaster of the Kifie Brigade, 2nd battalion, an old officer who had seen much service, is also dead ; and to this Hst must be added a young man cut off in early manhood, Mr. Gregg, of the 55th Kcgiment. Mrs. ISolton, mother of Mr. Bolton, of the Artillery, who accompanied her son here, is also no more. The mortality among the troops is considerable, and sometimes the victims succumb with fearful rapidity. Ihe hospital is quite fuU, and, numerous as our medical stall' is, and unremitting as are our medical officers in doing all that skill and humanity can suggest for the sufferers, there are i)ainful cases, of not rare occurrence, in which the men cannot have the attention they require paid to them till it is too late. Many of the poor fellows, too, who desire the attendance of a clergyman or priest at their dying hour are denied that last consolation, for the chaplains are few, or at least are not numerous enough for the sad exigencies of the season. August 4. Sir George Brown went down from this to Bujukdere, near Therapia, on board the " Agamemnon," on Tiu^sday, and arrived there on Wednesday. He lias not yet returned. He was accom- panied by Ca]itain Pearson, aid-de-camj). Yesterday, August 3, M. St. Arnaiul returned here from Therapia on board the " Berthollet." In the course of tbe day tlie Turkish fleet — one three-decker and five two-deckers — stood in to A^arna Bay, and are now lying at anchor at its entrance. We have here the '■ Bellerophon" and the " Sanspareil ;" the French have the " Henri IV." and the "Bayard" stationed here, as well as soine steamers, and the bay is crowded witli their small transports. Yesterday morning, at seven o'clock, the aliied fleets were still lying quietly at aiu'lior to the nund)cr of twenty-six, of all sizes (nineteen sail of the line), in Baltschik Bay, nine miles to the north of this. POSTAL IRREGULARITIES. 133 The cholera continues. The 50th Regiment, who arc hardly worked, as thej^ fui'nish fatigue ])artics for the town, lost nine men last night. I was told by one of the officers that his ukmi were working from five till eight o'clock in the morning, and that up to the time he s])oke they had rc>ceived no rations ! This is almost incredible. It is useless to alann friends and relations at home by tallfing of the number of sick or by giving their names, but it is evident we are in a very unsatisfactory state as regards health. The beach stinks abominably, and more of the natives of the town die 2'>>'i> I'dfA than of the troops. It is reported that General Can- robert's division, up beyond Bazardshik, has lost more than 20(1 men. They passed through a marsh where the llussiaus had left dead men and horses, and that very night the cholera broke out. We are getting up large flat-bottomed boats here from Malta and Constantinople. It is a pity — if it can be helped — to send out the whole disposable British army here to linger for months in inactivity — to push them on for a few miles from camp to camp — and then to let them remain " eating their hearts" for week after week of idleness — till they sicken and die. Therefore we rejoice to hear of flat-bottomed boats, of screw steamers, of transports, of anji:hing to take us off to sea out of this. There is always something ^^•rong about our letters. At present the French post-office here is the receptacle of several hundred letters addressed to generals, staff-officers, and officers of every regiment iu the service, which the ]iostmaster refuses to give up till some chivalrous person pays 12/. (300 francs) for the whole bundle, and is content to take the chance of being repaid by the various persons scattered all over Bulgaria, to whom they are addressed. These letters are all unpaid, and there is a horrid suspicion that many of them are from " duns." If " duns" wish to have their communications noticed in the proper ciuarters, they will prepay their letters. The officers of our post-office — Mr. Smith, at Constantinople, and Mr. Angell, atA'^arna— havealreadj^ paid large sums out of their pockets to the French post-office for letters directed to the English army which have found their way uni^aid into the French letter-bags. The French give up the paid letters willingly. The imijaid letters they collect en masse, and they demand a postage en masse for them. Who will pay it? Our English post-office authorities here are not willing to repeat an experiment ^hich has as yet been found rather disast^'ous, and which is certainly unprofitable. The Duke of Cambridge has had an attack of gout, and is yet suffering from it, but every one is glad to hear he is better. Lord de Ros is recovering from his fever. August 9. The cholera stiU continues its ravages, but I rejoice to say that the virulence of the cases is on the decline. Up to the present date the British army has lost about 260 men from this fatal disease. Of these deaths, about 100 were in the Light Division. Since the movement of our camp out to Monastir the division has become healtliier. The French losses from cholera are frightful. 134 VARNA. The disease is not mucli on tlie wane among tliem, and there are divisions in which they die at the rate of 70 and 80 a-day. In the French general hospital, since the 14th of July, 720 men have died of cholera, and only 78 men have been sent out cui'ed. Convinced that there is something radically wrong in the air of the place, the French are clearing out of the hospital altogether to-day, and ■nill henceforth treat their cases in the field. The hospital was formerly used as a Turkish barrack. It is a huge quadrangular building, like the barracks at Scutari, with a courtyard in the centre. The sides of the square are about 150 feet long, and each of them con- tains three floors, consisting of spacious corridors, with numerous rooms off them of fair height and good proportions. About one- thii'd of the building is reserved for our use ; the remainder was occupied b.y the French. Although not very old, the building is far from being in thorough reijaii-. The windows are broken, the walls in parts are cracked and shaky, and the floors are mouldering and rotten. Since the sickness broke out it has been perceived that there is something or other radically unwholesome about this budding. Like all places which have been inhabited by Turkish soldiers for anj' time, the smell of the buildings is abominable. Men sent in there \^ith fevers and other disorders were frequently attacked with the cholera in its worst form, and died with unusual rapidity, in spite of all that could be done to save them. The French have become so i)ersiiaded of this that thej^ are, as I have said, taking to the field in preference to this pest-house. I rode up tliere at twelve o'clock the other night for medicine for an officer, a friend of mine, who was taken suddenly ill in the evening. Along two sides of the hospital was drawn up a long train of araba carts, and by the moonlight I coidd see that some of them were filled -nith sick soldiers. I coimted thirt3'-five carts, with three or four men in each. These ^ere sick French soldiers sent in from the camps, and waiting till room could be found for them in the hos])ital. A nmnber of soldiers were sitting down by the roadside, and here and there the moonbeams flashed brightly off" their piled arms. The men were silent ; not a song, not a laugh ! A gloom, which never had I seen before among French troops, reigned amid these groups of grey-coated men, and the quiet that prevailed was only broken now and then by the moans and cries of pain of the poor sufferers in the carts. Observing that about fifteen arabas were drawn up without any occupants. I asked a A'aim- ufficicr for ^\ hat purpose they were required. His answer, sullen and sliort, Mas, — " JPout' Ics morts — pour les Ji'raiK^ais decedes, Monsieur." The white walls of tlie fatal hospital looked clean and neat as they towered above the lengthened cortrfic of the dead which lay in ^(!ep shadow at its base, but the nmrmru'ings of sickness and the groans of the dying stole out on the night air tlirough the long lines of latticed windows. As I turned away and spurred under tlie gateway which leads to the l^^nglisli ([uarler. I encountered a burial party escorting the l)odi(>s of six of our own i)oor fellows to their last resting-place, outside the walls by the sea beach of OVER-WORK AND CONFUSION. 135 Varna. And here, as a proof of the strong feeling on the part of the Greeks. I may observe, by the way, that the head of tlieir Church in Varna sent to one of our chaplains the other day to state that there would be no objection on the part of the Greek clergy to allo^^" the bodies of those who died in the profession of the Protestant faith to be inteiTed in the consecrated ground of the Greek chapels, but that such permission could not be granted in the case of those who had professed the Homanist heresy. In the hospital itself I observed a great deal of confusion and want of method, or. at least, an appearance of over-work, on the part of ofEeers and men, which made them seem surly and indifterent. Indeed. I heard one of the hospital orderhes say he had not been in bed for fifty-six hours, and had had no sleep for twenty-four hours. One of the medical gentlemen in attendance, who was just going to his quarters for the night, was kind enough to come with me to see my sick friend, and I had an opportimity of seeing the miserable way in which the surgical staiF were lodged. They are penned uj), two or three together, in small unfurnished rooms, open to every wind that IdIows thi'ough wall, floor, ceding, and window. Some of these gentlemen have no rooms at all, and one I know sleeps in a passage. If he escaped the vermin which swarm in the apartments he would be fortunate in the depriva- tion, but the whole building is " impregnated" with the Ottoman essence of animal abominations, and teems with hateful life on the approach of Christian flesh and blood. It is a great pity that it is not permitted to us to hate the Turks and Turkey ; certainly it is done to a vast extent without permission by the British army. The bravery of the Turks we admire and respect, their indomi- table courage in defence of their countrj-, or rather in defence of the boimdaries of their empire, we applaud and wonder at ; but their manners and customs, their physical pecuharities and their tastes, we can neither appreciate nor endure. When our " en- thusiasts" can hear the "experiences" of those British officers who are now on their way home, they may lose a little of their present " virulence" in favour of the Osmanli, and be disenchanted of the delusion in which ignorance and distance unite in plimging them. We had an example of the peculiarities of our allies that very night. As Assistant- Surgeon Adrien and myself were re- turning to my lodgings at the invahd colonel's, we found the road blocked up with a number of French soldiers, who were imder arms, and drawn up opposite a coffeehouse, which they eyed ^vith great eagerness. The coffeehouse, a ddajjidated buUding. was closely shut, and not a light was visible inside. It is close to the hospital, and in the most frequented lane in Varna. With the inveterate habit of asking questions which distinguishes " corre- spondents," and makes them so generally obnoxious to '' quiet gentlemanly authorities," I begged to know the reason of such an imusual demonstration, and the officer in command of the party at once obligingly gave me the whole fuU and true account of the affair. Toici. Some French soldiers had gone into this cafe to refresh themselves, and while they were sitting there one 130 VARNA. of them, wlio understood Turkish, heard a group of cavasses, Zapties, and Bashi-Bazouks, who were sitting near, indulge in the most insulting remarks on the " Giaour Jesevenk" alhes of their Imperial master. He remonstrated, and was knocked over the head for his trouble, whereupon his brethren in arms, with their usual activity and strenuous feeling in such cases, rushed on the Turks, and very soon kicked and beat them out of the room. That done, they sat down and finished then- wine. They left the house soon after, but no sooner had they come out into the moon- light than " a withering voUey" was poured on them from the windows of the upper rooms. Two Frenchmen fell (it is said) mortally wounded, and three others were struck by pistol balls ; an Enghshman, who was sitting taking a cup of coflee under a tree before the door, narrowly escaped, as a bullet traversed the space occupied an iastant before by his placid countenance, and lodged in the tree behind. The doors of the cafe were shut as soon as the Frenchmen left, but they had no desire to break them open ; on the contrary, they acted with the most perfect temper and discretion. Some of the soldiers ran to the rear, so as to pre- vent the assassins getting over the wall of the court at the back and escaping. Others took the wounded men off to the hospital, where they also procured a guard, while others sent to the French Corps de Garde to relate what had happened. A force was sent up, imder an officer, and there they were quietly waiting tiU the pasha and his cavasses came up, in order that they might get "authority" to open the doors in proper form. As I had to re- turn to the hospital with the surgeon for the medicine needed by my friend, I rode round by the cafe, and arrived just in time to see the cavasses surrounding twenty-tlu-ee ruffianly-looking Bashi- Bazouks, and marching them off" to prison, and the French troops surrounding the cavasses to see they did their duty. The assas- sins have not yet been tried, but no doubt the French wiU take good care they do not escape. Now for a precis of news, such as it is. Much cannot be ex- pected as long as we remain what the wretched wags of the camp call an " army of no occupation." It must be observed that the most startling intelligence of our movements invariably reaches us from home, and the army hears Avith astonishment that it has marched to distant parts and visited battle-fields, of which march- ings and visits in its waking moments it has never known a word. We therefore conclude, either that the intelligence is false, or that the army has a comatose and somnambulic existence, during Avhich it atones for its inactivity in its state of vigil. The first fact is, that there has been no mov(>ment w hatevcr of the English troops towards the enemy since I last wrote. By-thc-bye, I may state here that Captain Burke, of the 88th E^jgiment, has been pained and annoyed by the publication, in one of your contemporaries, of a letter i)urporting to have been written by his late gallant and lamented brother. Mr. Burke's body was found after the action in which lie lost his life with no less than thirty-three wounds upon it. The Itussians had taken his sword- DEATH OP CAPTAIN BURKE. 137 belt, but bis sword was found bidden in some long grass close to tbe corpse. The ring finger of botli bands was cut off. He was seen by tbe sajipcr who went with bini figliiing desperately to tbe last, tbougb surrounded by a borde of Hussians. Wlien be first leaped ou sbore from tbe boat six soldiers cbarged bim. Two lie sbot with bis revolver, one be cut down witb bis sword — tbe rest turned and fled. Wbile be was encouraging tbe Turks, wbo were in tbe stream, to row quietly to tbe land, and forming tbem in line as tbey landed, conspicuous as be was in fidl uniform and by bis wliite cap cover, a number of riflemen advanced from bebind a ditcb. and took deliberate aim at bim. Poor Burke cbarged tbem witb beadlong gallantry. As be got near be was struck by a ball, wbicb broke bis jaw-bone, but be rusbed on, sbot tbree men dead at close quarters witb bis revolver, and cleft two men tbrougb helmet and all into tbe brain with bis sword. He was then sur- rounded, and wbile engaged in cutting bis way with heroic courage tbrougb tbe ranks of tbe enemy, a sabre-cut from bebind, given by a dragoon as be went by, nearly severed bis bead from bis body; and be fell dead, covered with bayonet wounds, sabre gashes, and marked with lance thrusts and buUet boles. The sapper wbo was with bim stood by Mr. Burke till the last, but could not save him. He is now only recovering from liis wound and tbe efiect of bis exertions. A part of the French siege-train has arrived, and our siege-train — at least thirty guns of it — is in Varna Bay. Lieutenant-Colonel Plude, who commanded it, has gone home dl. and has been suc- ceeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gambler. Mr. Percival, R.A., has also been sent back on sick leave. Tbe Duke of Cambridge has quite recovered bis attack of the gout, and is as well as ever be was. There are now about 1200 arabas and country carts employed in tbe service of our army, but that is not enough, Tbe first 500 carts we bad from Omar Pasha have all melted away. Tbe French have just received some very complete carts attached to their commissariat, and marked equipages militaires. The bread om* men receive is still bad, and complaints are rife on that score from tbe medical men. Tbe Heavy Dragoons (4th and 6tb), encamped on a lovely spot- — tbe plateau on the top of a promontory by the sea-side, tbe healthiest-looking site that could have been chosen by a medical board — have lost twenty-six men up to this date from cholera — a large number out of such skeleton regiments. Tbe 50tb have suiFered rather heavily, and by letters from GraUipob we bear tbe 4th bad just lost forty men up to the 2nd of August. They are not to be relieved by the 63rd Regiment, as was originally intended. The healthiest division in all tbe army is the 3rd, Sir R. England's, but it is not to be supposed it has escaped altogether. Fever is beginning to make its appearance, not intermittent but continued, and it attacks men vi bo are encamped in places which one would have thought least likely to be subject to it. The ration has now been increased to l^lb. of meat instead of 138 VARNA. lib. A ration of spirit (rum) is also issued daily. Pitytlie advice given in a letter in this journal, now somewhat stale, vsas not taken earlier on that matter. Moustachios are allowed to be worn by men and officers. The great question has at last been settled. The order appeared last Saturdaj^ General Canrobert's expedition was most unfortunate. He went up to Kostendje on the 1st of August, but sickness soon broke out among his men, and the division has left nearly 2000 men behind it. They saw some Cossacks, exchanged some shots, and have brought back twenty-two prisoners ; but as to the ex- pedition itself, it was as useless as Lord Cardigan's recomiaissance. The army is now relieved from all trouble about drilling. No more morning parades or heavy di-ills in marcliing order. There are 360 sail of vessels in Varna at present, and about a dozen large flat-bottomed boats are drawn up by the beach. The artillery have, how ever, only six boats fit to land heavy guns in. Many of the inhabitants have fled from the town, and encamped near the neighbouring viUages. Turks and Greeks suffer alike, and perish "like fhes," to use their own image. CHAPTER XXI. Conflagration at Varna — Cholera breaks out in the fleets — Capricious character of the disease — Recklessness of the soldiers — The Zouave and the Grenadier — Signs of a move — The transport fleet — Abatement of the cholera — Distribution of the army — " The Valley of Death" — Enfeebled state of the Guards — Scenes of horror. Varna, Aiigmt 11. On the night of Thursday (Aug. 10), while I was absent at Con- stantinople, a great fire broke out at Varna, which has utterly destroyed more than a quarter of the town. It is said to have been the work of incendiary Greeks, some of whom, who were found with matches on their persons, have been arrested. It is asserted tliat others of these incendiaries were shot on the spot by the French soldiers. The sailors of the sliips. and the French and English soldiery stationed near the town, worked for the ten hours during whicli the fire lasted with the greatest energy ; but as a brisk wind prevailed, which fanned the flames as they leapt along the wooden streets, their efforts were not as successful as tliey deserved. The fire broke out near the Frencli commissariat stores. A great portion of them is destroyed. The officers in charge broached many casks of spirits, and as the liquid ran down the streets, a Greek was seen to set fire to it. He was cut down to the chin by a French officer, and fell into the fiery torrent. The howling of the inliabitants, the yells of the Turks, the clamour of women, children, dogs, and horses, are described by those present to liave l)een appalling. The most painful news, which is but too true, is that the cholera DEPRESSION OF THE TROOPS. 139 lias broken out in the fleets here and at Baltschik. It has visited some of the Fi-ench ships with extraordhiaiy virulence. The " Friedland" and '* Montebello" have suffered in particular — in the latter, upwards of 100 died in twenty-four hours. The onl3' thing to do. if the malady continues, is to put to sea. The depres- sion of the army is increased by this event, and it is doubtful if they would exhibit the same " pluck" now that they were so full of a month ago. However, I am certain steps ought to be taken to stimulate the spirits of the men. They " su]p full of horrors," and listen greedUy to tales of death which serve but to weaken and terrify them. The sound of the cannon and the sight of the Russians would do more to rouse them fi'om this gloomy mood than all the "' doctor's stuff," as the men term medicine, or change of air in the world. There is a decrease in the number of cases, stUl more in the number of deaths, in the army : and this very daj' the chaplain of the Light Division, the Eev. Mr. Egan, had the gratifying news to communicate, that he had no funeral service to perform — the first time since the disease broke out that he could have said so much. Allien the visitation passes away, it will be time enough to state the numbers of those who have perished. M. Horace Yernet, who was up with General Canrobert's division in the Dobrudscha, cbaws a i^ictui'e of the dreadful sufferings of the men there, which would exceed the greatest efforts of his pencil to realize. On his authority, it would appear that their losses were far gi'eater than the French at Varna stated them to be. He declares that out of 120(3 Zouaves who started for Kostendje, only 480 returned ; and that out of 10,000 troops of the line, 4000 were left in the marshes of this death swamp. Prince Napoleon continues at his place on the Bosphorus ; his soldiers are not ]^ased at his absence, though it really proceeds from Hi-health. He caught a fever in the Dobrudscha, when com- manding a portion of his division, and the Marshal sent him and his physician. Dr. Fauvel, down to Madame de St. Arnaud's cha- teau at Therapia, as soon as his illness was developed. August 12. "Were it not for immistakeable signs that the army is about to be actively employed in some c^uarter or other, we should all be nearly as discontented as the French; for. indeed, officers and men are weary of this deadly inaction. The numbers of the dead diminish every day ; the admissions into the general hospital (Enghsh) have fallen to about five a day, and the deaths to four a day : and taking the average i^roportion of deaths through the whole division, I do not think we are losing more than fifteen or sixteen men a day. A large niuuber of people may say, ".But there is no place at home or abroad where an anny of 26,000 men would not present a sad list of mortality. In Chobham or on Ascot-heath nearly as many would die m the same force, imder ordinary conditions, if the troops were attacked with fever or influenza, and aU experience forbids us to hope that soldiers can be massed together in modern dajs without incuiTuig almost the 140 VARNA. certainty of an epidemic, even if tliey are in the most healtliy climates in tlie world." Some people say we pitch our camps too closely ; but Sir George Bi*own's division covered nearly twice the space ^hich would have been occvipied by the encampment of a iloman legion consisting of very much the same number of men, and yet there is no account m history of any of these camp epidemics in Gaul, or Thrace, or Panuonia, or in any of the standing camps of the Romans, and we m\ist believe that the cholera and its cognate pests arise out of some combination of atmospherical and physical conditions wliich did not occur in former times. At present the cholera has assumed a phase which baffles ovir best efforts, and throws all our past data to the winds. It sometimes is quite painless, there is often little or no purging, but the sufferer is seized with violent spasms in the stomach, which increase in intensity till collapse is established, and death then rapidly follows, attended with but little exhibition of agony. As an instance of the capricious action of the disease, I may mention what was told me by one of our principal surgeons here. He had been to visit the camp of the 5th Dragoon Guards and of the Enuis- killens, Mdiich was pitched in a very healthy luohing site. There, however, sickness found them, and in a few days these skeleton regiments (for all our cavalry regiments are mere skeletons of regiments and nothing more, as few colonels could bring 250 sabres into the field in the healthiest state of their troops) were reduced considerably — in fact, they lost about twenty-six men. During the doctor's inspection there was a heavy thunderstorm, and as he sheltered in one of the tents he expressed his satisfaction at an occurrence which, in accordance with vidgar notions, and even with philosophical investigation, is supposed to in'oduce that beneficial operation called " clearing the air ;" but after the thunderstorm the disease became worse, and when the surgeon went down to his own quarters he found that in the very height of the electrical discharges five men of the ambulance corps — a body of men heretofore singidarly free from illness — had been seized with cholera ; and of those five men, four were dead in less than six hours. The conduct of many of the men, French and English, seems characterized by a recklessness which verges on insanity. You find them lying drunk in the kennels, or in the ditches by the road-sides, under the blazing rays of the sun, covered with swarms of flies. You see them in stupid sobriety gravely pai'ing the rind ofl' cucumbers of portentous dimensions, and eating Ihc deadly cylinders one after another, to the number of six or eigjit, till tliere is no room for more — all the while sitting in groups in the fields or on the flags by the shoi)s in the open street, and looking as if they thouglit they were adopting highly sanitary measures for their health's sake ; or frequently three or four of them will make a hai)i)y bargain with a Greek for a large basketful of apricots, "killjoliiis," scarlet pumpkins, water melons, Mooden pears, and green " gages " and ))lunis, and then they retire beneath the shades of a tree, where tli'\v divide and cat the luscious food till nought remains but a heap of peel, rind, and stones. They RECKLESSNESS OF THE SOLDIERS. 141 dilute the mass of fniit witli raki, or peach brandy, and then straggle home or go to sleep as best they can. One day I saw a Zouave and huge Grenadier staggering up the street arm in arm, each being literally laden with enormous pumi^kins and euciunbers, and in the intervals of song — for one was shouting out, " Cheer, boys, cheer," in irregular spasms, and the other was chanting some love ditty of a very lachrymose character— they were feeding each other with a cucumber. One took a bite and handed it to his friend, who did the same, and thus they were continuing their amphibian banquet tUl the Englishman slipped on a stone and went down into the mud, bringing his friend after him — pumpkins, cucumbers, and all. The Frenchman disengaged himself briskly; but the Grenadier at once composed himself to sleep, notwith- standing the entreaties of his companion. After dragging at him, head, legs, arms, and shoulders, the Zouave found he could make no impression on the inert mass of his friend, and regarding him in the most tragic manner possible, he clasped his hands, and ex- claimed, " Tu, es la, done, mon ami, mon cJter Jeeon ! Eh Men, je me couclierai avec toi ;" and calmly fixing a couple of cucumbers for a pillow, he lay down, and was soon snoring in the gutter in unison with his allj-. I was glad to see them taken off to the Corps de Garde in about five minutes afterwards, as a lucky patrol happened to come its round through the street. The Turkish soldiers are equally careless of their diet and living. I am looking at about twenty of them, belonging to a battery, imder the window of the room in which I am writing, busily engaged in the consumption of small buUetty-looking melons. They are at it all daj', except when they are smoking, or (listen to this !) saying theu- prayers, for the poor fellows are for the most part very regular in their devotions, and when they have finished them they glare and scowl at Christians in a fashion fearful to behold for ten minutes afterwards. There can be no reason for the illness of our men so far as the commissariat supplies are concerned ; at least, they have at present a very fidl and ample ration ; in fact, there never yet was an army in the field ever so well fed ; hadeed, I doubt if any army ever received from its countr}^ half so good an allowance regularly as our men in Turkey do. There are unmistakeable signs that the army is about to move. I do not speak of the secret conferences of Generals, of the hasty despatches flying betweeji Eustchuk and Varna, and between Varna and Constantinople, of the uneasy movements of Lord Stratford de Eedclifi^e from Theraina to Stamboul and back again, or of the activity of aids-de-camp, and the fussiness of the staff's ; but day after day French and English war steamers and trans- ports amve here with large horse boats in to^^', fit for landing men and horses and guns. A number of a peculiar but useful kind of vessel has been constructed at Constantinople and else- where for our use, and sent up to Varna. Each vessel consists of two of the large Turkish boats of the Bosphorus, which are about fifty feet long, and about eight feet broad, fastened together, and planked over at top, so that there is a light kind of raft formed, not 143 VARNA. clraM'iBg more tlian a foot of water, and capable of landing two heavy guns and their men, or of carrying 150 or 200 men with the greatest ease. The quantity of stores coming out is enormous; and aU the large steam transports are ordered to supply them- selves with six weeks' i)rovisions for the number of men M'hich each is calculated to carry. The manufacture of fascines and gabions continues with the utmost activity among all the divi- sions, and fatigue parties are working at them with increased energy. The men of several divisions are being trained in throw- ing up field works, and in the use of the fascine and gabion when made. At the office of Admiral Boxer, at Constantinople, the programme of operations for a large fleet of transports has been drawn up. They are divided into ships for the Light Division, division No. 1 ; for the First Division, division No, 2 ; for the Second Division, division No. 3 ; and for the Third Division, division No. 4 — each with its distinctive flag, so as to prevent confusion, and each under the command of a naval officer. Thus, each division of the army will have a division of transports for its special service and carriage, and each division of transi)orts will be convoyed by a squadron of ships of war. This grand fleet con- sists of steamers of a magnitude, burden, and speed hitherto un- known in any operation of ^ar, and of sailing vessels which would constitute a formidable navy of themselves alone. Oiu' men-of- war steamers could probably land 20,000 men in their boats in two hours ! The artillery which we have out here at present, imder General Cator, consists of the siege train (30 guns out), com- manded by Captain Gambier {vice Flude, gone home sick) ; the Eoyal Horse Artillery, Colonel Strang-nays ; the Artillery of the Light Division, Colonel Dacres ; of the First Division, Colonel Lake ; of the Second Division, Colonel Dupuis ; and of the Third Division, Colonel Fitzmayer. Each division has twelve field guns attached to it, so that there are forty-eight field guns in all. There are, besides, twelve guns of the Eoyal Horse Artillery — the latter are six and nine pounder guns. The French siege train has not all arrived at Constantinople, but it is stated some of it is Ijdng in the Bosphorus. August 14. The " Pomone," "Lavoisier," " Eumenide," " Coligny," " Mouette," " Ulloa," " Megere," French steam men-of-war, sailed up the Bosphorus yesterday for Varna, laden with Turkish soldiers, and the " Mogador" followed them this evening. There are now nearly 600 vessels in and about Varna Bay. August 19. Ere I continue the narrative of events from the date of my last letter up to this time, I nnist ap])ease the anxiety of the public by the happy assurance that tlie cholera is abating in the army, and that its worst seems to have passed over tlie fleet. The news from the latter has been melancholy. Towards tlie close of last week tlie dioh'ra assumed such an alarming character that both Admirals (French and English) resolved to leave their anchorage THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 143 at Baltschik, and stand out to sea for a cruise. It is almost a pity tliat the ships were left there so long. On Wednesday morn- ing the '■ Caradoc," Lieutenant Derryman, which left Constan- tinople with the mails for the fleet and army the previous evening, came up with the English fleet, under Admiral Dundas. The "Caradoc" was boarded by a boat from the " Britannia," and the officer who came on board communicated the appalling inteUigence that the flag-ship had lost 70 men since she left Baltschik, and that she had buried 10 men that morning. Upwards of 100 men were on the sick list at that time. Some of the other ships had lost several men, but not in the same proportion Since the great fire on the night of the 10th, the cholera seems to have diminislied in the town itself, and the reports from the various camps are much more favourable than heretofore. The chaplain of the Light Division on one day last week had not to per- form any funeral service. Since then there have been several days on which the deaths in the division have not exceeded one or two. It has been found, indeed, that the plan of wide open encamp- ments has answered in checking disease. The British army is now scattered broad-cast all over the country, from Monastir to Varna, a distance of 26 or 27 miles. The Duke of Cambridge's division has marched in from Aladyn, and is now encamped towards the south-western side of the bay. It appears that uotwithstanchng the exquisite beauty of the country aroimd Aladyn, it is a hot-bed of fever and dysentery. The same is true of Devno, which is called by the Tui-ks "the Valley of Death;" and had we con- sulted the natives ere we pitched om* camps, we assuredly should never have gone either to Aladyn or Devno, notwithstanding the charms of their position and the temptations offered by tlie abun- dant supply of water and by the adjacent woods. No blame, perhaps, is to be attached to any one for neglecting to ascertain whether these great uatui-al advantages were counterbalanced by any peculiar sanitary evils. Whoever gazed on these rich mea- dows, stretching for long miles away, and bordered by heights on which the dense forests struggled all but in vain to pierce the masses of wild vine, clematis, dwarf acacia, and many coloured brushwoods — on the vex'dant hill-sides, and on the dancing waters of lake and stream below, lighted up by the golden rays of a Bul- garian summer's sun — might weU think that no English glade or hill-top could well be healthier or better suited for the residence of man. But these meadows nurture the fever, the ague, dysen- tery, and pestilence in their bosom- -the lake and the stream exhale death, and at night fat unctuous vapours rise up fold after fold from the valleys, and creep up in the dark and steal into the tent of the sleeper and wrap him in their deadly embrace. So completely exhausted, on last Thursday', was the Brigade of Guards, these 3000 of the flower of England, that they had to make two marches in order to get over the distance from Alad.yn to Varna, which is not more than (not so much, many people say, as) ten miles. But that is not all. Their packs were carried for them. Just thinlc of tliis, good people of England, who are sitting anxi- 144 VARNA. ously in your homes, day after day, expecting every morning to gladden your eyes with the sight of the announcement, in large type, of " Fall of Sebastopol," your Guards, your corps dJ elite, the pride of yom- hearts, the delight of your eyes, these Anakim, whose stature, strength, and massive bulk you exhibit to kingly visitors as no inapt symbols of your nation, have been so reduced by sickness, disease, and a depressing climate, that it was judged inexpedient to allow them to carry their own packs, or to permit them to march more than five miles a day, even though these packs were carried for them ! Think of this, and then judge whe- ther these men are fit in their present state to go to Sebastopol, or to attempt any great operation of war. The Highland brigade is in better condition, but even the three noble regiments which compose it are far from being in good health or in the spirits in which they set out for Varna. The Duke's division has lost 160 men, of these nearly 100 belonged to the Guards. In the Brigade of Guards there were before the march to Varna upwards of G(X) men sick. The Light Division has lost 110 or 112 men. Sir De Lacy Evans has lost 100 men, or thereabouts. The little cavalry force has been sadly reduced by death, and the Third (Sir R. England's) Division, which has been encamped to the north-M^est of Varna, close outside the town, has lost upwards of 100 men also, the 50tli Eegiment, who were much worked, being parti- culai'ly cut up. The ambulance corps has been comijletely crippled by the death of the drivers and men belonging to it, and the medical officers have been called upon to make a si^ecial report on the mortality among them. I believe the fact to be, there was rather an unhappy selection of men, and that many of them were old soldiers, rather addicted to free living and spirits ; and in Bulgaria drunkenness is death. Sir R. England's division has been moved round the bay, and is now loosely encamped near Lord Lucan's cavalry on the heights extending from the Fountain to Galata Bournon, and looking across the bay towards Varna. We have still some few men of our army encamped on the north- east side of the town on the plains outside the walls. The French have their " Cholera Camp" between Chatel Tcpch and Medjidji- talii, about two miles from the town. It is only too extensive and too well filled. Horrors occur here every day which are shocking to think of. Walking bj- the beach one sees some straw stickuig up through tlie sand, and scraping it away witli his slick, lie is horrified at bringing to liglit the face of a corpse, wliich has been dcposit(>d there, willi a ^\ is]) of straw around it, a prey to dogs and vultures. Dead l)oc;. " Wednesday night. " The Light Division to be actually under way at one a.m. to-morrow morning. " The Fourth Di^nsion to sail at two a.m. " The First Division to sail at three a.m. " The Third Division and the Fifth Division to sail at four ajn. " Steer S.S.E. for eight miles. Rendezvous in lat. 45 degrees. Do not go nearer to shore than eight fathoms." The place thus selected for our landing is a low strip of beach and shingle, cast up by the violence of the surf, and forming a sort of causeway between the sea and a stagnant salt-water lake, one of those remarkable deposits of brackish water so frequent along this shore of the Crimea, and which abound close to our present quarters. The lake is about one mde long and half a mile broad, and when we first arrived its borders and surface were frequented by vast flocks of wild fowl. There is another sheet to the south of us, and there is another to the north, between oui' camp and Eupatoria. The causeway is not moi-e than two hundred yards broad, and it leads, at the right or southern extremity of the lake, by a gentle ascent, to an iiTegular table land or plateau of trifluig elevation, dotted with tumuli or barrows, such as are seen in several parts of England, and extending to the base of the very remark- able chain called, from their shape, the Tent Moimtains. Towards the sea this plateau presents a precipitous face of red clay and sandstone, varying in height from a hundred to a himdred and fifty feet, and it terminates by a descent almost to the sea-level, at the distance of nearly two miles from the shores of the lake. Thence towards the south there is a low sandy beach, with a fringe IGO THE CRIMEA. of sliingle raised by tlie action of the waves above the level of the land, and saving it from inundation. This low coast runs as far as the eye can reach, till it is lost beneath the base of the moun- tain ranges over Sebastopol. The country inland, visible from the decks of our ships, is covered with cattle, with grain in stack, with farm-houses, and seems capable of producing enormous quan- tities of live stock and fodder. The stubble fields are now covered ■with wild lavender, southernwood, and other fragrant shrubs, which the troops are busily collecting for fuel, and which fill the air with an aromatic x)erfume. As we cruised do\\'n towards Eupa- toria, we could see the people driving their carts and busy in their ordinary occupations. Now and then some Cossacks were visible, scouring along the roads to the city of Simpheropol, the capital, and down south towards the menaced stronghold of the Czar ; bvit they were not numerous, and at times it was doubtful whether the people we saw were those freebooters of the Don and Bug, or merely Crim Tartar herdsmen, armed with cattle-spears. The post carriage from Sebastopol to Odessa also was seen rolling leisurely along, and conveying, probably, news of the great armament with wliicli the coast is menaced. We were further disappointed to find the natives in dress and aspect were very like our friends of Bulgaria. They were better kempt, and seemed better clad ; but the " style" of the men was the same as that of the people with whom we had been so long and so unpleasantly familiar. The daybreak of Thursday (September 14) gave promise of a lovely morning, but the pledge was not fully fulfilled. The sun rose from a cloudless sky. Towards noon the heat of his midday beams was tempered by a gentle breeze, and by some floating fleecy vapours, wliich turned speedily into showers of rain, and the afternoon was dark and gloomy. The vast armada, which had moved on during the night in perfect order, studdmg the horizon with a second heaven of stars, and covering the face of the sea with innumerable lights, advanced parallel "with the coast till it gradually closed in towards the shore near Lake Saki at the place I have attempted to describe. At seven a.m. most of the fleet were in shore near their pre- scribed positions, but it was found necessary to send the "Fire- brand" and some other steamers to sea, in order to tow up the slower transports and men-of-war. The " l^lmperor," which was our guiding star, did not kec]) exactly in her position, or the places taken by the leading steanu'rs of the rest of the fleet were wrong, and some doubt and a little confusion arose in consequence, but the absence of an enemy rendered any slight deviations from order of comparatively trilling im])ortance. 1"he greatest offender against the prescribed order of disembarkation was the Admiral liimself, who, instead of filling (he place assigned to liim in the centre of his fleet, anchored (our miles from the shore. As the ships of our expedidon drew uj) in lines parallel to the beach, as nearly as possible as set forth in the general directions, I PLANTING THE TRICOLOR. 161 sent you some da.ys ago, the Fi'encli fleet passed us under steajn, and extended itself on our right, and ran in close to shore below the cliffs of the plateau. Their small war steamers went much nearer than ours were allowed to go, and a little after seven o'clock the first French Ijoat put off from one of the men-of-war ; not more than fifteen or sixteen men were on board her. She was beached quietly on shore at the southern extremity of the red cliff I have mentioned. The crew leaped out ; they formed into a knot on the strand, and seemed busily engaged for a few moments over one spot of ground, as though they were digging a gi-ave. Presently a flag-stafi" was visible above theii* heads, and in a moment more the tricolor was run up to the top, and fluttered out gaily in the wind, M'hUe the men took off their hats, and no doubt did their " Vive VEmpereur !" in good style. The French were thus the first to take possession and seisin of the Crimea. There was no enemy in sight. The most scrutinizing gaze at this moment could not have detected a hostile uniform along the coast. The French Admiral fired a gun shortly after eight o'clock, and the disembarkation of their troops conmienced. In twenty-two minutes, they say, they got 6000 men on shore. This was very smart work, but it must be remembered that nearly aU the French, army were on board line-of-battle ships, and were at once carried from their decks to the land by the men-of-war's boats. The " MontebeUo" carried upwazxls of 1400 men, in addition to her crew. The " Vabny" had in all 3000. The " ViUe de Paris" and " Henri Quatre" were laden with men in proportion ; and all the line-of-battle ships and steamers had full cargoes of troops. In fact, it was found that their small brigs and schooners were neither safe nor comfortable, and that they were better suited for carrying stores and horses than men. The fleet of French men-of-war carried more than 20,000 men. Their -n hole force to be landed consisted of 23,600 men. Our army amoviuted to 27,000 men, who were embarked in a vast number of transports, covering a great extent of water. But they were carried in comfort and safetj' ; and, though there was still much sickness on board, it was as nothing compared to the mortality among the closely-packed French. Perhaps no army ever T^as conveyed with such liLxuiy and security from shore to shore as ours in the ■^^•hole history of war. The instant the French had landed a regiment, a company was pushed on to reconnoitre — skii'mishers or picquets were sent on in front. As each regiment followed in column, its predecessors deployed, extended front, and advanced in fight marching order en tiraiUetir, spreading out like a fan over the plains. It was most curious and interesting to observe their progress, and to note the rapid manner in which they were appropriating the soil. In about an hour after their first detachment had landed, nearly 9000 troops were on shore, and their advanced posts M'ere faintly discernible between three and four miles from the beach, like fittle black specks moving over the corn-fields, and darkening the high-nays and meadow paths. In oiu- fleet the whole labour and responsibifity of the disem- M. 162 THE CKIMEA. barkation rested with Sir E. Lyons. Tlie Admiral remained, as I have said, aloof, and took no share in the proceedings of the day. About nine o'clock one black ball was run up to the fore of the " Agamemnon," and a gun was fired to enforce attention to the signal. This meant, " Divisions of boats to assemble round ships for which they are told off, to disembark infantry and artillery." There was, as I have said, no enemy in sight, but long before the French had landed their first boat's cargo the figure of a mounted ofHcer. followed by three Cossacks, had fallen within the scope of many a glass. The Russian was ■within about 110() yards of us, and through a good telescope we could watch his every action. He rode slowly along by the edge of the cliff, apparently noting the number and disposition of the fleet, and taking notes with great calmness in a memorandum book. He wore a dark green fi-ock coat, with a little silver lace, a cap of the same colour, a sash round his waist, and long leather boots. His horse, a fine bay- charger, was a strange contrast to the shaggy rough Uttle steeds of his followers. There they were, " the Cossacks," at last ! — stout, compact-looking fellows, with sheep-skin caps, uncouth clothing of indiscriminate cut, higli saddles, and little fierj' ponies, which carried them with wonderful ease and strength. Each of these Cossacks carried a thick lance of some fifteen feet in length, and a heavy-looking sabre. At times they took rapid turns by the edge of the chff in front of us — now to the left, now to the rear, of their officer, and occasionally they dipped out of sight, over the liiE, altogether. Then they came back, flourishing their lances, and pointed to the accmnulating masses of the French on their right, not more tlian half a mile from them, on the shore, or scampered over the hill to report progress as to the lines of Eng- lish boats advancing to the beach. Theu' officer behaved very well. He remained for an hour within range of a Minie rifle, and when the " Highflyer" stood in close to shore, while he was cooUy making a sketch in his portfolio of our api)earance, we all expected they were going to drop a shell over himself and his little party. We were glad our expectations were not realized, if it were only on the chance of the sketch being tolerably good, so that the Czar might really see wliat our armada was like. Meantime, the English boats were nearing the shore, not in the order of the ]-)rogramme, but in irregular groups ; a company of a regiment of the Tjitrlit Division, the 7th Fusilcers, under Lieutenant-Colonel Yea. I think, landed first on the beach to the left of the cliffs ; then came a company of the 2nd Battalion of the ]\ifle Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence ; a small boat from the " Britannia," commanded by Lieutenant Vesey, had, however, preceded theFusileers. and discMubarked some men on the beach, who M^ent down into the hollow at the foot of the cliffs. The Eussian continued his sketching. Suddenly a Cossack crouclied down and pointed willi his lance (o the ascent of the cliff. Tlic officer turned and lonkcd in the direction. We looked too, and, lo! a cocked hat rose above the horizon. Another SIR GEORGE BROWN's ESCAPE. 163 figure, ■with a similar lieacl-dress, came also in view. Tlie first was Sir Geortre Brown, on foot ; the second we made out to be Quartermaster-General Airey. The scene was exciting. It was evident the Eussian and the Cossack saw Sir George, but that he did not see them. A picquet of Fusileers and Eiflemen followed the general at a considerable interval. The Russian got on his horse, the Cossacks followed his example, and one of them can- tered to the left to see that the French were not cutting off their retreat, while the others stooped down over their saddle bows and rode stealthily, with lowered lances, towards the Englishmen. Sir George was in danger, but he did not know it. Neither did the llussians see the picquet advancing towards the brow of the hill. Sir George was busy scanning the country, and pointing out various spots to the Q,uartermaster-General. Suddenly they turn, and slowly descend the hill — the gold sash disappears — the cocked hat is echpsed — Cossacks and officers dismount, and steal along by the side of their horses. They, too, are hid from sight in a short time, and on the brow of the cliff appears a string of native carts. In about five minutes two or three tiny puffs of smoke rise over the cliff, and presently the faint cracks of a rifle are audible to the men in the nearest ships. In a few minutes more the Cossacks are visible, fl3'ing like the -wind on the road towards Sebastopol, and crossing close to the left of the French hues of skirmishers. "VNTien we landed, we heard that Sir George Brown had a near escape of being taken prisoner. He was the first to land, and pushed on -n ithout sending videttes or men in front, though he took the precaution, very fortunately, to bring up a few soldiers with him. The Cossacks, who had been dodging him, made a dash when they were within less than a hundred yards. The General had to run, and was only saved from captui-e by the fire of the Fusileers. The Cossacks bolted. The first blood spilt iu this campaign was that of a poor boy, an arabjee, who was wounded in the foot by the volley which dislodged them. Meantime, swarms of boats were puttmg off from the various ships to carry the Eng- hsh troops to land. The Light Division got on shore veiy speedily, and were aU landed, with the exception of a few comxianies, in an hour. The First Division landed simultaneously -with a portion of their friends of the leadmg division ; the Dnke of Cambridge and his staff being early on the beach with their men, and the Brigadiers Su- C. Camp- bell and Major-General Bentinck preceding theu" respective bri- gades. As each regiment landed, the brigade was formed in con- tiguous columns at quarter distance. The Light Division was on the left, the First Division the next, and so on m order towards the right. The Second Division was under way ere the whole of the Light or of the First Division had lauded. Su* De Lacy Evans got on shore with his staff about half-past ten. By eleven, the Rifles and Fusileers had been inspected, and were marching from the left of the hne, along the front of the other regiments, towards the right. They ascended the slope of the hill over the cliffs, pass- si 2 164 THE CRIMEA. ing by the pickets and sentries who had been placed on outpost' duty by Sir George Brown, and marching straight on over the plain I have described inland. It may be as well here to describe our force. The Light Division, Sir George Brown — 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, 7th Fusileers, 19th Eegiment, 23rd Fusileers, 33rd Regi- ment, 77th Eegiment, 88th Eegiment, Brigadier Major-General Codrington, and Brigadier-General Buller. The First Division, under the Duke of Cambridge, includes the Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots i'usileer Guards, under Major- General Bentinck. and the 42nd, 79th, and 93rd Highlanders, under I>rigadier Sir C. Campbell. The Second Division, under Sir De Lacy Evans, consists of the 30th. 55th. and 95th, under Brigadier-General Pennefather, and the 41st, 47th, and 49th, under Brigadier-General Adams. The Third Division, under Sir E. England, is composed of the 1st Eo^ als, 28th, 38th. 44th, 50th, and 68th Eegiments— Briga- diers Sir John Campbell and Ej-re. (4th Eegiment only six companies.) The Fourth Division, under Sir George Cathcart — the 20th Eegi- ment, 21st Eegiment, Eitle Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 63rd Eegiment. (46th Eegiment en route ; 57th Eegiment en route.) The Cavalry Division (Lord Lucan) is made up of the 4th Light Dragoons. 8th Hussars, 11th Hussars, 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, forming a Light Cavalry Brigade, under Lord Cardigan ; the Scots Greys (not yet arrived here), 4th Dragoon Guards, 5tb Dragoon Guards, 6tli Dragoons, making the Heavy Cavalry Bri- gade, under Brigadier-General Scarlett. Sir John Burgo3'ne may be presumed to control the Ordnance and Engineers ; but it is stated that he will not in any way inter- fere with Brigadier-General Tylden. To return to our disembarkation. By twelve o'clock in the day, that barren and desolate beach, inhabited but a short time before only by the seagull and wildfowl, was swarming with life. From one extremity to the other, bayonets glistened, and red coats and brass-mounted shakos gleamed in solid masses. 'J'he air Mas tilled with our English speech, and the hum of voices mingled with lovid notes of connnand, cries of comrades to each other, the familiar addi'ess of "Bill" to "Tom," or of "Pat" to "Sandy," and an occasional shout of laughter. Very amusing was it to watch the loading and unloading of the boats. A gig or cutter, piilled by eight or twelve sailors, \\'\i\\ a paddle-b(»x boat, flat, or Turkish pinnace in tow (the latter purchased for the service), would come up alongside a steamer or transport in which troops were ready for disembarkation. The olllcers of eacli com])any hrst descended^ each man in fidl dress. Over liis shoulder Mas slung his havre- sack. containing what liad been, ere it imderwent the process of cooking, 44 lbs. of salt meat, and a bulky mass of biscuit of the same weight. This was his ration for three days. Besides this, each oflicer carried his greatcoat, rolled up and fastened in a hoop round his body, a wooden canteen to hold m ater, a small ration of BLUE JACKETS AND ' SOJERS.' 165 spirits, wliatever c-liancre of under-clotHng lie could nianaire to stow away, Lis foracre-cap, and, in most instances, a revolvei*. Eacli private carried his blanket and greatcoat strapped up into a kind of knapsack, inside which was a pair of boots, a paii* of socks, a shirt, and, at the request of the men themselves, a forage-cap ; he also can-ied his water canteen, and the same rations as the officer, a portion of the mess cooking apparatus, firelock and bayonet of course, cartouch box and fifty rounds of ball-cartridge for Minie, sixty rounds for smooth-bore arms. As each man came creeping down the ladder. Jack helped him along tenderlj' from rung to rung till he was safe in the boat, took his firelock and stowed it away, removed his knapsack and packed it snugly under the seat, patted him on the back, and told him " not to be afeerd on the water ;" treated " the sojer," in fact, in a very kind and tender way, as though he v,-ere a large but not very sagacious " pet," who was not to be frightened or lost sight of on any account, and did it all so quickly, that the large paddle-box boats, containing 100 men, were fiJled in five minutes. Then the latter took the paddle-box in tow, leaving her, however, in charge of a careful coxwain, and the same attention was paid to getting the ■' sojer" on shore that was evinced in getting him into the boat, the sailors (half or wholly naked in the surf) standing by at the bows, and handing each man and his accoutrement down the plank to the slungle. for fear '" he'd fall off and hurt himself." Never did men work better than our blue-jackets ; especially valuable were they with horses and artillery, and their delight at having a horse to hold and to i^at all to themselves was excessive. ^\lieu the gun-carriages stuck fast in the shingle, half a dozen herculean seamen rushed at the wheels, and, with a " Give way, my lads — all together," soon spoked it out with a run, and landed it ou the hard sand. No praise can do justice to the willing labour of these fine fellows. They never relaxed their efforts as long as man or horse of the expecUtion remained to be landed, and many of them, officers as well as men, were twenty-fom- houi's in their boats. At one o'clock most of the regiments of the Light Division had moved off the beach over the hill, and across the country towards a village, near which the advance of the French left had already approached. The Second Battalion of the Eifle Brigade led the way, covering the advance with a cloud of skirmishers, and the other regiments followed in order of their seniority, the artUlery, under Captain Anderson, brmging up the rear. Bj^ this time the rain began to fall pretty heavily, and the wind rose so as to send a little surf on tlie beach. The Duke of Cambridge, followed hy Major Macdonald. led off his division next in order, and many of the staff officers, who ought to have been mounted, marched on foot, as their horses were not yet landed. Generals might be seen sitting on powder barrels on the beach, awaiting the arrival of " divisional staff horses," or retning gloonuly within the folds of their macintosh. Disconsolate doctors, too, were there, groaning after hospital panniers — but too sorely needed, for more than one 166 THE CRIMEA. man died on tlie beacli ; and nearly every one you met asked you after a particular horse, of a colour and description you were certain not to have seen. The beach was partitioned off hj^ flag- staffs, with colours corresponding to that of each division, in com- partments for the landing of each class of man and beast ; but it was, of course, almost bej'ond the limits of possibility to observe the difference in conducting an operation which must have extended over many square miles of water. Shortly before two o'clock, Brigadier-General E-ose, the Commissioner for the British Army, with Marshal St. Ai-naud, rode over from the French quarters to inform Lord Eaglan that " the whole of the French troops had landed." This was by no means the fact. Our disembarkation of infantry had very nearly ended at the same time, but our cavalry and artillery had not come on shore, and the French, even without cavalry and with smaller numbers, were not more advanced than ourselves. The disembarkation was carried on long after sunset, and apart of the Third Division and of the Foiu'th Division remained on the beach and on the hill near it for the night. The Brigade of Guards, I was glad to see, had impi'oved much in health during their sojourn on board ship. They were much stronger than they have been for some time past. All the regi- ments, in fact, were the better for the sea voyage, notwithstanding the great amount of sickness which stiU imfortunately exists. The 20th and 21st Regiments and 1st Battalion of the Eifle Brigade looked remarkably fresh and clean, but that was accounted for, without disparagement to their companions in arms, by the cir- cimistance of their having so receutlj" come out, and that the polish had not been taken off them by a Bvilgarian summer. The country people are decidedly weU inclined to iis. Of coiu*se they were rather scared at first, but before the day was over they had begun to approach the beach, and to bring cattle, sheep, and vegetables for sale. Their carts, or rather arabas, were detained, but liberally paid for ; and so well satisfied were the owners, that they went home promising increased supplies to-morrow. The men — for we have seen no women yet — are apparently of i)ure Tartar race, with small eyes very wide apart, the nose very much sunk, and a scjuarc substantial figure. They wear generally turbans of lamb's wool and jackets of sheepskin with the wool inwards. They speak indifferent Turkish, and are most ready with information resjM^cting their llussian masters, by whom they have been most carefully disarmed. A (k'i)utation of them waited on Lord llaglan to-dny to beg for muskets and gunpowder. I shall never forget the air with which one drew a pinch of gunpowder from a mysterious pocket . and aslccHl if ours was " like that." They told us that the ground around 8cbastoi)ol has been mined for miles, but such rumours are always current about a fortress to be defended, and if the Russian min(>s are not better constructed than those at Silistria we have nothing to fear. TJiey say, too, that the cholera, of wliich we hav<^ bad such dreadful experience, has been most fatal at Scbastopol, that 2(),01K) of the troops and seamen SHELLING A RUSSIAN CAMP. 167 are dead, and that the latter have been landed to man the ^vall3. They estimate the whole force between us and Sebastopol at about 15,000 men, and the garrison at 40,000 more. They say, however, that there is an army south of Sebastopol, which had been sent to meet an expected attack on Kaffa. On the whole, the information we have hitherto obtained is most encouraging, and the favoui-able disposition of the people, and their willingness to furnish supplies, are advantages which had not been expected, but which cannot be overrated. WhUe the troops were disembarking, one of the reconnoitring steamers returned with news of a Russian camp situate near the beach, about eight miles south of the place where we were landing. The "■ Sampson," the "' Fury," and the " Vesuvius," in company with three French steamers, at once proceeded to the spot indi- cated. They found a camp of about 6000 men formed at a mile's distance from the sea. The steamers opened tire with shell at 3000 3'^ards. The French shells burst in tlie air, or fell short. The "Fury" and "Vesuvius" were httle more successful; but the " Sampson" pitched shell after shell right in among the tents, knocking them over right and left, and driving the soldiery in swarms out of the camp, which was destroyed after less than an hour's firing. The squadron returned to the fleet, having effected this service, and will proceed to-morrow to cruise off Sebastopol. CHAPTER XXV. A miserable night — The tentless army — Landing the cavalry — Appalling scene — Excesses of the French soldiery — Friendly disposition of the Cimmerians — Important services of Sir E. Lyons. The Crimea, Sept. 15. Few of us will ever forget last night. Seldom were 27,000 Englishmen more miserable. The beach was almost cleared, the troops had marched off to their several quarters, the Light Division about six miles in advance, the 1st Division two miles nearer the shore, the 2nd Division on the cliffs and hills, and a part of the 3rd Division on the slope of the liill. No tents were sent on shore, partly becavise there had been no time to land them, partly because there was no certainty of our being able to find carriage for them. Towards night the sky looked very black and lowei'ing ; the wind rose, and the rain fell. The showers increased in violence about midnight, and early in the morning the water fell in drenching sheets, which pierced through the blankets and great-coats of the houseless and tentless soldiers. It was their first bivouac — a hard trial enough, in all conscience, worse than all their experiences of Bulgaria or Gallipoli, for there they had their tents, and now they learned to value their canvas coverings at their true worth. Imagine all these old generals and young lords and gentlemen exposed hour after hour to the violence of pitiless storms, with no bed but the reeking puddle under the satiu-ated blankets or bits of 1G8 THE CRIMEA. useless waterproof wi-appers. and tlie twenty odd thousand of poor feEows who could not get " dry bits" of ground, and had to sleep, or try to sleep, in little lochs and watercourses — no fire to cheer them, no hot grog, and the prospect of no breakfast ; — imagine this, and add to it that the nice " change of linen" had become a wet abomination, which ^^eighed the poor men's kits down, and you will admit that this " seasoning" was of rather a violent cha- racter — particularly as it came after all the luxuries of dry ship stowage. Sir George Brown slept under a cart tilted over. The Duke had some similar contrivance. Sir De Lacy Evans was the only general whose staiF had been careful enough to provide him with a tent. In one respect the rain was of service : it gave them a temporary supply of water, but then it i)ut a fire out of the ques- tion, even if the men could have scraped up wood to make it. The coimtry is, however, quite destitute of timber. During the night it blew freshly from the west, a heavy sea tumbled into the bay, and sent a high surf on the beach, which much interfered with the process of landing cavalry and artillery to-day. Early in the day signal was made to the steamers to get up steam for Eupatoria, and it was no doubt intended to land the cavalry and artillery there, in consequence of the facility afforded by a pier and harbom- there ; but towards noon the wind went down and the swell somewhat abated. In an attempt to land some staff horses several valuable animals were drowned. Lord Raglan lost one charger, and another swam off seaward, and was only recovered two miles from the shore. Several boats were staved and rendered useless, and several others were injured by the roll of the surf on the beach ; nor did the horse boats and flats escape uninjured. Operations went on slowl3% and the smooth days we had wasted at sea were bitterly lamented. The work was, how- ever, to be done, and orders were given to land cavalry. For this purpose it was desirable to approach the beach as close as possible, and signal was made to the cavalry steamers to do so. The " Himalaya" in a few minutes ran in so far that she lay inside every ship in our fleet with the exception of the little " Spitfire," and immediately commenced discharging her enormons cargo of 390 horses and nearly 700 men. The attendance of cutters, launches, paddlebox boats, and horse-floats from the navy was prompt, and the disembarkation commenced soon after noon. The " Simla," the "Trent," and the " Jason" also set to work with energy and activity to discharge their living cargoes, and the seamen of the Eoyal and mercantile marine rivalled each otlicr in their efforts. Never did m(>n work so hard, so dieerfully, or so well. The horses, too, are now so acclimated to ship life — they are so accustomed to an existence of unstable eciuilibrium in slings, and to rapid ascents and descents from the tight ropes, that they arc comparatively docile. Besides this, tliey are very tired from standing for fourteen days in one narrow box, are rather thin and sickly, and must be glad of cliange of air and position. The horses from the " lliiiialnya" canu; out marvellously well, and many of the officers and men have been restored to health by LANDING CAVALRY. 169 tlie influence of the sea vo.yage and good living. In a former letter the details of the arrangements for landing the horses were fidly explained, according to the official statement. Thepaddlebox boats and flats are pulled by launches and cutters, under the command of naval officers, up to the ship to be discharged. A certain number of the men get upon these horse-rafts, and their horses are lowered in order, one after the other, to the number of twelve or fourteen to each large flat, and of six or eight to each paddlebox boat (the latter being provided with temporary floorings for the reception of the horses) . The troopers not required to hold the horses are stowed away in the row-boats, and the little flotilla sets ofl" on its voyage to land. It generally happens that some smart, active, little tug, commanded by a naval officer, rushes down on them ere they have gone far — "makes fast" — adds them to a string of some six or eight other boats, and flutters off" to the beach, where she leaves them to make the best of their way from the edge of the siu'f to terra firma. Arrived in the surf, Jack leaps into the water, and by hauling, shoving, thumping, and kicking, manages to " start" the horses down the inchned plane of planks half rest- ing on the beach, half floatiag on the breakers, and to do the work of half-a-dozen soldiei's in his own wild quaint style. If the greatest care is not taken the floats wdl tilt over when they touch the ground, and no skill can prevent such a catastrophe at times. It was thus that some horses were lost, and the wonder is, ■nhen one stands on the sand and sees the violence of the bdlows, that many more accidents of the kind are not occurring momentarily. Lord Cardigan and his staff' landed from the " Hunalaya" at six o'clock on Friday evening. Lord Lucan also disembarked the same evening. The whole of the English cavalry out here — with a Lieu- tenant-General to command it, and a Major-General second in command — with a large staff", divisional and of brigades, with quartermasters-general and adjutants-general, with staff' surgeons, ■\vith aids-de-camp, majors of brigade, and commissariat officers attached, does not muster more than 1000 sabres. Before the disembarkation had concluded for the day, signal was made for all ships " to land tents." It need not be said that this order was most gratefidly received. The miseries of the night before were indeed too great to be hghtly incurred. Our French allies, close at hand, deficient as thej" had been in means of accom- modation and stowage and transport, had yet managed to land their httle scraps of tents the day they disembarked. Whilst our poor fellows were soaked through and through, their blankets and great-coats saturated with wet, and without any change of raiment, the French close at hand, and the Turks, whose tents are much more bidky than our own, were lying snuglj' imder cover. The most serious result of the wetting was. however, a great increase in illness among the troops to-day. Several cases of cholera occm-red. and one officer of the 23rd died, after a few hours' illness. It has been decided to garrison Eupatoria, and Captain Brock and 500 Marines have been sent away for the purpose. The Cap- tain is to be Governor of Eupatoria. 170 THE CRIMEA. Sept. 16. A most extraordinary occurrence, which deserves severe censure, took place yesterday. Signal was made from the " Emperor" for all ships to send their sick on board the " Kangaroo." In the course of the day the last-named ship was surrounded by hundreds of boats laden with sick men, and the vessel was speedily crowded to suffocation. Before evening she had about 1500 invalids in all stages of suflering on board. The scene is described as appalling — in fact, too frightful for the details to be dwelt upon. A¥hen the time for sailing arrived, the " Kangaroo" hoisted the signal in reply to orders to proceed — " It is a dangerous experiment." The "Emperor" then signalled — "What do you mean?" The reply was — " The ship is unmanageable." AU the day she was lying with the signal up — " Send boats to assistance ;" and at last orders were given to transfer some of her melancholy freight to other vessels also proceeding to Constantinople. Many deaths occurred on board — many miserable scenes took place, but there is, alas ! no use in describing them. It is clear, however, that neither afloat nor on shore is the medical staff" nearlj" sufficient. I myself saw men dying on the beach, on the line of march, and in bivouac, without any medical assistance ; and this within hail of a fleet of 500 sail, and within sight of head-quarters ! We want more sur- geons, both in the fleet and in the army. Often — too often — medical aid cannot be had at all; and it frequently comes too late. Provisions are becoming plentiful. Sixty arabas, laden with flour for Sebastopol, were seized yesterday. More have come in for sale or hire to-day ; horses also are being brought in, and men come and offer themselves as servants. A market has been estab- lished for meat and vegetables, and the confidence of the country people in their new cvistomers is confirmed by prompt i)ayment and good treatment. I wish I could say as much for our allies. The village I have mentioned as near the head-quarters of the Light Division, and which had been respected by them, was last night sacked by some French marauders, with every excess of brutal cruelty and ferocity. I need not repeat the details ; indeed, they are too shocking to humanity. This evening, too, a lengthened dark line was seen appi'oaching along the sea coast. As it came nearer it was resolved by the telescope into a train of Spahis, Tinder the command of some cavalry officers, driving in innnense flocks of sheep and cattle for the iisc of their tro()i)S in the camp situate on the extreme right of our lines. First came a drove of some hundreds of sheep, captiired natives, drivers and all, guarded in the rear by some Spahis, flourishing their long lances in high deliglit. Then came a mighty herd of cattle, tossing their horns and Itellowing, as the remorse- less Spaliis goaded them on over the hard shiiigl(>. and circled like drovers' dogs aroimd them. Next came tlie French officers in command of tlie i)arty. Tliey were followed by a siring of country carta driven by sad-looking Cinnncrians, who seemed very anxious to be out of the hands of tlieir Arab captors. Lastly followed, SCARCITY OF WATER. 171 with all the frravlty of their race, a few camels, which the Spahis had laden heavily with grain. Such razzias cause an amount of evil quite disproportionate to any paltry gains made by plunder- ing these poor j)eople. They frighten them from our markets. and, though for the moment successful, will soon deprive us of the vast supplies to be obtahied from the goodwill of the natives. It is necessary already to explain that, though engaged in the same cause, we are not of the same nation, and that, if the French plunder, it is we who pay. The much-abused Tiu"ks remain quietlj' in their well-ordered camp, and live contentedly on the slender rations supplied from their fleet. Their appearance here is very acceptable to the large Mussulman popidatiou, and they are very proud of serving on equal tei'ms with their French and Enghsh allies. As prices are at present, eggs are twenty-five for 6d. ; a good fowl costs 5d. or 6d. ; a turkey can be had for ISd. ; a sheep is readily exchanged for a Tui'kish piece of six piastres, or Is. Such is the account brought to us from the officers of a foraging party, who ventured a few miles into the interior, to one of the native villages. The inhabitants part with supplies readily. What wiU their feelings towards us be, if we emulate the conduct of the French, and rob and plimder them of their property ! Sept. IS. The " Himalaya" was sent to Constantinople last night to bring up the Scots Greys, and other steamers, Enghsh and French, to bring additional cavalry from A^arna. There is no movement in advance as j'et, nor will there be for, perhaps, a day or two more, although the want of water is very great, and both men and animals suffer severely. None can be had within four miles, and even then it is iasuffieient in quantity, and such as no one would willingly drink. By the time it has reached the camp, however, it is most dearly ]3rized, and to-day and yesterday ■nine was more plentiful than water. The fleet is tolerably healthy, though cholera still lingers in some ships. Officers and men are ardently longing for an oppor- tunity of distinction. In the arm.y every confidence is felt in their chiefs, and the fleet is enthusiastic in its praise of SirE.Lj'ons. He has every quaUty which wins their admiration and respect. To him, and him alone, is this expedition due : but for him the mightiest armament of our own or any time might have rotted in the camps and bogs of Baltschik and Varna — or, when at last roused to action, have wasted itself in an ignoble attack upon Anapa, or Kaffa, or Soujak. To him alone must all the success which has hitherto attended the expedition be ascribed ; it was he who prepared the means of landing such a force, who organized, who superintended it ; and that so closely that in his eagerness he left but six inches between the keel of his noble ship and the ground below it. If he were really, as he is virtually, in com- mand of the fleet, it would be felt that nothing was impossible. As it is, no one can tell when the Admii-al may not reassert his 172 THE ALMA. dormant authority, and put a clofc on that Nelsouic zeal and energy which rise sui^erior to all difficulties and " impossibilities," and which, if they have only the enemy to deal with, will soon wrest from Russia the command of the Euxine. The Russians are said to liave 15,000 men i)osted in an intrenclied camp on the Alma river, about twelve miles distant, on the road to Sebastopol. The \^ant of water is so great that tliere will probably be an advance to-morrow. The siege train still remains on board ship, and will only be landed at the mouth of the Belbek river, within five miles of Sebastopol. THE ALMA. CHAPTER XXVI. Order to advance — Strike tents — JIarch of the allied armies to tlie Alma — The halt — Enthusiasm of tlie troops — The deserted house — First sight of the enemy — Sharp skirmisli with the Cossacks — Tliebivouac. Banks of the Alma, Si'pt. in. Last nig'ht, orders were given by Lord Raglan that the troops should strike tents at daybreak, and that all tents shoidd be sent on board the ships of the fleet. Our advance had been determined upon, and it was understood that the Russian light cavalry had been sweeping the country of all supplies up to a short distance of our lines and outlying pickets. At three o'clock in the morning the camp was roused by the reveil, and all the 30,000 sleepers woke into active life. The boats from the ships lined the beach to receive the tents. The commis- sariat officers struggled in vain with the very deflcient means at their disposal to meet the enormous requirements of an army of 26,000 men, for the transport of baggage, ammunition, and food ; and a scene, which to an unpractised eye would seem one of utter confusion, began and continued for several hours, relieved only by the steadiness and order of the regiments as they paraded previous to marching. The French, in advance on our right, were up betimes, and the camp flres of the allied armies, extending for miles along the horizon and mingling Avith the lights of the ships, almost antici- pated morning. Seven thousand Turkish infantry, under Suleiman Pasha, moved along by the sea-si(b; next to them came the divisions of Generals Bos(|uet, Canrobert, Forey, and Prince ]Mai)oleon. Our order of mareli was about four miles to the right of their left wing, and as many behind tliem. The right of the allied forces was covered by the fleet, which moved along witli it in magnificent order, darkening the air with innumerable columns of smoke, ready to shell the enemy should ADVANCE OP THE ARMIES. 173" they threaten to attack our right, and commanding the laud for nearly two miles from the shore. It was nine o'clock iu the morning (Sept. 19) ere the whole of our army was prepared for marching. The daj^ was warm, and our advance was delayed by the wretched transport furnished for the baggage, an evil which Aviil, I fear, be more severely felt in any protracted operations. Everything not absolutely indispen- sable was sent on board ship. The naval officers and the sailors worked indefatigably, and cleared the beach as fast as the men de- posited their baggage and tents there. At last the men fell in, and the march of the campaign began. The coxmtry beyond the salt lake, near which we were encamped, is perfectly destitute of tree or shrub, and consists of wide plains, marked at intervals of two or three miles M'ith hillocks and long irregular ridges of hills running down towards the sea at right angles to the beach. It is but little cultivated, except in the patches of land around the unfrequent villages built in the higher recesses of the valleys. Hares were started in abundance, and aftbrded great sport to the men whenever they halted, and several were fairlj^ hunted down among the lines of men. All oxen, horses, or cattle, had been driven oft' by the Cossacks. The soil is- hard and elastic, and was in excellent order for artillery. After a march of an hour a halt took place for fifty minutes, during which Lord Kaglan, accompanied by a very large staft". Marshal St. Arnaud, Generals Bosquet, Forey, and a number of French officers, rode along the front of the columns. The men spontaneously got up from the ground, rushed forward, and column after column rent the air with three thundering English cheers. Itwosagood omen. As the Marshal passed the 55th Kegiment, he exclaimed, "English, I hope you will tight well to-day!" "Hope!" exclaimed a voice from the ranks, "sure you know we will !" The troops presented a splendid appearnce. The etiect of these grand masses of soldierj- descending the i-idges of the hills rank after rank, with the sun playing over forests of glittering steel, can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Onward the torrent of war swept ; wave after wave, huge stately billows of armed men, while the rumble of the artillery and tramp of cavalry accompanied their progress. At last, the smoke of burning villages and farm-houses announced that the enemy in front were ■kware of our march. It was a sad sight to see the white walls of the houses blackened with smoke — the tlames ascending through the roofs of ])eaceful homesteads — and tlie ruined outlines of de- serted hamlets. Many sick men fell out, and were carried to the rear. It was a painful sight — a sad contrast to the magnilicent appearance of the army in front, to behold litter after litter borne past to the carts, with the poor sufferers who had drojiped from illness and fatigue. Presently, from the top of a hill, a wide plain was visible, be- yond which rose a ridge darkened here and there by masses which the practised eye recognised as cavalry. It was our tirst sight of the enemy. On the left of the plain, up in a recess formed by the inward sweep of the two ridges, lay a large village iu ftames, right before iis was a neat white house unburut, though the outhouses 174 THE ALMA. and farm -yard were burning. This -^as the Imperial Post-house of Bouljanak, just twenty miles from Sebastopol. A small stream ran past us, which was an object of delight to our thirsty soldiers, who had now marched more than eight miles from their camp. The house was deserted and gutted. Only a picture of a saint, bunches of herbs in the kitchen, and a few household utensils were left ; and a solitary peahen stalked sadly about the threshold, which soon fell a victim to a revolver. After a short halt for men and horses by the stream, the army pushed on again. The cavalry (about 500 men of the 8th Hussars, the 11th Hussars, and 13th Light Dragoons) pushed on in front, and on arriving about a mile beyond the post-house we clearly made out the Cossack lancers on the hills in front. Lord Cardigan threw out skirmishers in line, who covered the front at intervals of ten or twelve yards from each other. The Cossacks advanced to meet us in like order, man for man, the steel of their long lances glitter- ing in the sun. They were rough- looking fellows, mounted on sturdy little horses, but the regularity of their order and the cele- rity of their movements showed they were regulars, and by no means despicable foes. As our skirmishers advanced, the Cossacks halted at the foot of the hill. Their reserves were not well in sight, but from time to time a clump of lances rose over the sum- mit of the hill and disappeared. Lord Cardigan was eager to try their strength, and permission was given to him to advance some- what nearer ; but as he did so, dark columns of cavalry came into view in the recesses of the hills, and it became evident that if our men charged up such a steep ascent/ their horses would be blown, and that they would run a risk of being surrounded and cut to pieces by a force of three times their number. Lord Lucan therefore ordered the cavalry to halt, gather in their skirmishers, and retire slowly. None of the infantry or artillery were in sight of us, as they had not yet topped the brow of the hill. When our skirmishers halted, the Cossacks commenced a tire from their line of videttes, which was quite harmless. Few of the balls came near enough to let the whiz be heard. Two or three officers who were riding. between the cavalry and the skirmishers, Lieut. -Colonel Dickson, R.A., Captain Fellowes, r2th Lancers, Dr. Elliott, 11. A., were looking out anxiously for the arrival of Captain Maude's Horse Artillery, when suddenly the Kussians, emboldened by our halt, came over the brow of the hill, and slowly descended the slope in three solid squares. We had ottered them battle, and they had lost their chance, for our cavalry now turned round and rode quietly towards the troops. Our skirmishers, who had replied smartly to the lire of the Cossacks, but witbiout ett'ect, retired and joined their squadrons. At every fifty i)aces our cavalry faced about to receive the Cossacks if they pre])ared to charge. Suddenly one of the Russian cavalry scfuares opened — a spirt of white smoke rose out of the gap, and a round shot, whicli i)itciied close to my horse, tore over the column of our cavalry behind, and I'oUed away between the ranks of the riilemen in tlu; rear, just as they came in view of the cavalry. Jn another instant a second gun bowled right through the 11th Hussars, and knocked over a horse, taking off' his rider's leg above tiie ankle. Another and another followed, FIRST BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY. 175 tearino; through our ranks, so that it was quite wonderful so many cavahy escaped. Meantime Captain Maude's artillery galloped over the hillock, but were halted by Lord llaglan's order at the base, in rear of the cavalry on the left tiank. This was done pro- bably to entice the Russians further down the hill. Meantime our cavalry were drawn up as targets for the enemy's guns, and had they been of iron they could not have been more solid and im- movable. The Russian gunners tired admirably ; they were rather slow, but their balls came bounding along, quite visible as they passed, in right lines from the centre of the cavalry columns. After some thirty rounds from the enemy, our artillery opened lire. Their round shot ploughed iip the columns of the cavalry, who speedily dispersed into broken lines, wheeling round and round with great adroitness to escape the six and nine pound balls. Our shells were not so successful, but one, better directed than the rest, burst right in the centre of a column of Light Infantry, whom the Russians had advanced to support their cavalry. Our lire was so hot, the service of the guns so quick, that the enemy retired in about fifteen minutes after we opened on them. While this affair was going on, the French had crept up on the right, and siu'prised a body of Russian cavalry with a round from a battery of nine- pounders, which scattered them in all directions. We could count six dead horses on the field near the line of tire. It is not possible to form an accurate notion of the effect of our hre, but it must have caused the Russians a greater loss than they inflicted on us. We lost six horses, and four men were wounded. Two men lost their legs. The others, up to yesterday, though injured severely, were not in danger. One of the wounded men, a sergeant in the 11th Hussars, rode cooUy to the roar with his foot dangling by a piece of skin to the bone, and told the doctor he had just come to have his leg dressed. Another wounded trooper behaved with equal fortitude, and refused the use of a litter to carry him to the rear, though his leg was broken into splinters. It was strange, in visit- ing the scene where the horses lay dead, that the flrst feeUng pro- duced on the spectator, when the horror of seeing the poor animals ripped open by shells from chest to loin, as though it were done by a surgeon's knife, had subsided, was that Sir E. Landseer, in his pic- ture of " War," must have seen one of the animals before us — the glaring eye-ball, the distended nostril, the gnashed teeth, are all true to life. When the Russians had retired beyond the heights, orders were given to halt and bivouac for the night, and our tired men set to work to gather the weeds for fuel. As soon as the rations of rum and meat were served out, the casks were broken tip, and the staves served to make tires for cooking, aided by nettles and long grass. At night the watch-tires of the Russians were visible on our left. Great numbers of stragglers came up during the night, most of them belonging to the 4th Division. It was a cold night, aud if I could intrude the recital of the sorrows of a tentless, baggageless man wandering about in the dark from regiment to regiment in hope of tinding his missing baggage, I might tell a tale amusing enough to read, but the incidents in which were very distressing to the individual concerned. The night was cold and damp, the watch-fires were mere flashes, which gave little heat, 176 THE ALMA. and barely sufficed to warm the rations ; but the camp of British soldiers is ever animated by the very soul of hospitality ; and the wanderer was lucky enousjh to get a lodging on the ground beside a kindly colonel, who was fortunate enough to have a little field- tent with him, and a bit of bread and biscuit to spare after a march of ten miles and a fast of ten hours. All night arabas were arriving, and soldiers who had fallen out or got astray came up to the sen- tries to find their regiments. Sir George Brown, Sir De L. Evans, the Brigadier-Generals and stafi' officers went about among their divi- sions and brigades ere the men lay down, giving directions for the following day, and soon after dusk the regiments were on the ground, wrapped up in great coats and blankets to find the best repose they could after the day's exertions. It was much regretted that our cavalry force was so miserably deficient, for if we had been even two to three we could readily have disposed of the vapouring lancers on the hill, who had irritated the men very much by their derisive cries when our skirmishers retired. It was admitted that as a military spectacle, the advance of our troops and the little affair of artillery, as well as the management of the cavalry, formed one of the most pictiiresque and beautiful that could be imagined. ISTo pencil could do it justice, for the painter's skill fails to impart an idea of motion, and the writer has not yet been born who can describe with vividness and force, so as to bring the details before the reader, the events of even the slightest skirmish. CHAPTER XXVII. Strategic operations — The river Alma — Position and force of the Russians — Earthwork batteries to defend the lieights — The French charge — Advance of tlie Britisli line — Gallantry of Lord Kaglan — Passage of the river, and brilliant charge up the heights — Sanguinary struggle — The Russian bat- tery taken, and retreat of the enemy. Heights of the Alma, Sept. 21. The order in which our army advanced was in columns of brigades in deploying distance, our left protected by a line of skirmishers, of cavalry, and of horse artillery. The advantage of the formation was, that our army, in case of a strong attack from cavalry and infantry on the left or rear, could assume the form of a hollow square, with the baggage in the centre. Our great object was to gain the right of the position, so that our attacking parties could be slieltered by the vertical fire of the fleets. A\'c had, in fact, altered our base of operations. As wc marched forward to Barljanak, we allowed the enemy to deprive us of our old basis of operations, in order that we miglit get a new one. For this purpose the baggage was brought up and covered by the 4th Division, and the Cossacks were allowed to swee]) the countrj* in our rear far behind us. Our new principle, in fact, Avas to open communication with our fieets, and as far as possible obtain their material and moral aid. In advancing towards the sea obliquely, on the morning of the 19th, we were met by seventeen squadrons STRATEGIC OPERATIONS. 177 of cavali'y, deployed to meet our handful of •horse, and it was ne- cessary to make a demonstration of artillery and infantry to extri- cate our men from the difficulty into which they had been plunged by advancing- too far in front of their supports. However, the enemy were driven back by our guns, which made beautiful practice, and the cavalry maintained their ground, having retired in splendid order before a force which refused to meet them when they might have done so, by a charge down from the elevated position they occupied, with a fair chance of an encounter ere our artillery could come up. Our line of march on the 20th, as I have said, was towards the right of our former base, and brought us in contact with the French left, under Prince Napoleon, it being understood that Sir De Lacy Evans's divi- sion on the extreme right shoidd act in concert with that of his lloyal Highness the Prince, which was of course furthest from the sea. As soon as we had ascertained the position of om' allies accurately, the whole line, extending itself across the champaign country for some five or sLx miles, advanced. At the distance of two miles we halted to obtain a little time to gather up om- rear, and then the troops steadily advanced in grand lines like the waves of the ocean, with our left frittered away as it were into a foam of skirmishers under Colonel Lawrence and Major IS'orcott, of the Rilie Brigade, 2nd bat- talion, covered by squadrons of the 11th and 81h Hussars, and portions of the 4:th, 13th Light Dragoons, and 17th Lancers. This was a sight of inexpressible grandeur, and for the first time one was struck ■ndth the splendid appearance of our Infantry in line in the distance, lied is the colour, after all, and the white slashings of the breast of the coat and the cross belts, though rendering a man conspicuous enough, give him an appearance of size which other uniforms do not produce. The dark French columns on our right looked very small compared to our battalions, though we knew they were quite as strong ; but the marching of our aUies, laden as they were with all their packs, &c., was wonderful — the pace at which they went was reaUy " killing." It was observable, too, that our staff was more conspicuous and more numerous than the stafi' of our brave friends. Xotliing strikes the eje at such a distance as a cocked hat and bunch of white cock's feathers, and several of our best officers very wisely doffed the latter adornment, thinking that they were quite conspicuous enough by their ad- vanced position on horseback, and by the number of their staff around them. The scheme of operations concerted between the generals, and ' chiefly suggested to Lord Raglan, it was said, by MM. Marshal St. Arnaud aud General Canrobert, was, that the French and Tui'ks on our right were to force the passage of the river, a ri\Tilet of the Alma, and establish themselves on the heights over the stream at the opposite side, so that they could eutilade the position to their right and opposite to our left and centre. The Alma is a tortuous little stream, which has worked its way down through a red clay soil, deepening its course as it proceeds seawards, and which drains the steppe-like lands on its right bank, making at times pools and eddies too deep to be forded, though it can generally be crossed by waders who do not fear to wet theii- knees. It need not be said that the high banks formed by the action of the stream in cutting through 178 THE ALMA. the soil are sometimes at one side, sometimes at another, according to the sweep of the stream. At the place where the bulk of the British army crossed, the banks are generally at the right side, and vary from two and three to six or eight feet in depth to the water ; where the French attacked the banks are generallj' formed by the unvaried curve of the river on the left-hand side. Along the right or the north bank of the Alma are a number of Tartar houses, at times numerous and close enough to form a cluster of habitations deserving the name of a hamlet, at times scattered wide apart amid little vineyards, surrounded by walls of mud and stone of three feet in height. The bridge over which the post road passes from Bouljinanak to Sebastopol runs close to one of these hamlets — a village, in fact, of some hfty houses. This village is approached from the north by a road winding throxigh a plain nearly level till it comes near to the village, where the ground dips, so that at the distance of three hundred yards a man on horseback can hardly see the tops of the nearer and more elevated houses, and can only ascertain the position of the stream by the willows and verdure along its banks. At the left or south side of the Alma the ground assumes a very different character — smooth where the bank is deep, and greatly elevated where the shelve of the bank occurs, it recedes for a few yards at a moderate height above the stream, pierced here and there by the course of the win- ter's torrents, so as to form small ravines, commanded, however, by the heights above. It was on these upper heights that the strength of the llussian position consisted. A remarkalile ridge of mountain, varying in height from 500 to 700 feet, runs along the course of the Alma on the left or south side with the course of the stream, and assuming the form of cliflfs when close to the sea. This ridge is marked all along its course by deep gullies, which run towards the river at various angles, and serve no doubt to carry off the floods produced by the rains, and the melting of the winter snows on the hills and tablelands above. If the reader will place himself on the top of Kichmond-hill, dwarf the Thames in imagination to the size of a Hampshire rivulet, and imagine the lovely hill itself to be de- prived of all vegetation and protracted for about four miles along the stream, he may form some notion of the position occupied by the llussians, while the plains on the north or left bank of the Thames will bear no inapt similitude to the land over which the British and French armi(>s advanced, barring only the A'erdurc and freshness. At the top of the ridges, between the gullies, the llussians had erected earthwork batteries, mounted with 32 lb. and 24 lb. brass guns, supported by numerous field pieces and howitzers. These guns enfiladed the tops of the ravines parallel to them, or swept them to the base, while the whole of the sides up which an enemy, unable to stand the direct fire of the batteries, wovdd be forced to ascend, were hlled with masses of skirmishers armed with an ex- cellent two-groove rifle, throwing a large solid conical ball with force at 700 or 800 yards, as the French learnt to their cost. The principal battery consisted of an earthwork of the form of two sides of a triangle, with the apex pointed towards the bridge, and the sides covering both sides of the stream, corresponding with the bend in the river below it, at the distance of 1000 yards, while, with a PLAN OF ATTACK. 179 fair elevation, the 32-pouiiders threw, as we saw very often, beyond the houses of the village to the distance of 1400 and 1500 yards. This was constructed on the brow of a hill about 600 feet above the river, but the hill rose behind it for another 50 feet before it dipped away towards the road. The ascent of this hill was enfiladed by the fire of three batteries of earthwork on the right, and by another on the left, and these batteries were equally capable of covering the village, the stream, and the slopes which led up the hill to their position. In the tii-st battery were thirteen 32-pounder brass guns of exquisite workmanship, which only told too well. In the other batteries were some twenty-five guns in all. It was said the llussians had 100 guns on the hiUs, and 40,000 men (40 battalions of infantry, 1000 strong each, of the 16th, 31st, 32nd, and o2nd re- giments). We were opposed principally to the 16th and 32nd re- giments, judging by the number of dead in front of us. Large masses of cavalry, principally Lancers and heavy Dragoons, ma- noeuvred on the hills on the right of the Ilussians, and at last de- scended the hiUs, crossed the stream, and threatened our left and rear. As we came near the river our left wing was thrown back, in order to support our small force of cavalry, and a portion of our artillery was pushed forward in the same direction. Our danger in. this respect was detected by the quick eye of Sir George Brown, and I heard him give the order for the movement of the artillery almost as soon as he caught sight of the enemy's cavalry, and just as we were coming to the village. As I have abeady said, our plan of operations was that the French should establish themselves under the fire of the guns on the heights on the extreme of the enemy's left. When that attack was sufficiently developed, and had met with success, the British army was to force the right and part of the centre of the Russian position, and the day was gained. When, we were about three miles from the village, the French steamers ran in as close as they could to the blufl' of the shore at the south side of the Alma, and presently we saw them shelling the heights in splendid style, the shells bursting over the enemy's squares and batteries, and finally driving them from their position on the right, within 3000 yards of the sea. The French practice commenced about half-past twelve o'clock on the 20th, and lasted for about an hour and a half. We could see the shells falling over the batteries of the enemy, and bursting right into them ; and then the black masses inside the works broke into little specks, which flew about in all directions, and when the smoke cleared away there were some to be seen strewed over the ground. The Bussians answered the ships from the heights, but without eft'ect. A powder tumbril was blown up by a French shell ; another shell fell by accident into an ambuscade which the Russians had prepared for the advancing French, and at last they drew off from the sea-side, and confined their efibrts to the defence of the gullies and heights beyond the fire of the heavy guns of the steamers. At one o'clock we saw the French columns struggling up the hills, covered by a cloud of skirmishers, whose fire seemed most deadly. Once, at sight of a threatening mass of Russian infantry, in a commanding position above them, who fired rapid volleys among them, the French paused, but it was only to collect n2 180 THE ALMA. their skirmisliers, for as soon as they had formed, they ran up the hill at the pas de charge, and broke up the Russians at once, who fled in disorder with loss, up the hill. We could see men dropping on both sides, and the wounded rolling down the steep. At 1 50, oiir line of skirmishers got within range of the battery on the hill, and immediately the Russians opened fire at 1200 yards with effect, the shot ploughing through the open lines of the riflemen, and falling into the advancing columns behind. Shortly ere this time, dense volumes of smoke rose from the river, and drifted along to the eastward, rather interfering with the view of the enemy^ on the left of our position. The Russians had set the village on fire. It was a fair exercise of military skill — was well executed — took place at the right time, and succeeded in occasioning a good deal of annoyance. Our troops halted when they ueared this village, their left extending beyond it by the verge of the stream ; our right behind the bm-ning cottages, and within range of the batteries. It is said the Russians had taken the range of all the principal points in their front, and placed twigs and sticks to mark them. In this they were assisted by the post signboards on the road. The Russians opened a furious fire on the whole of our line, but the French had not yet made progress enough to justify us in advancing. The round shot whizzed in every direction, dashing up the dirt and sand into the faces of the staff" of Lord Raglan, who were also shelled severely, and attracted much of the enemy's fire. Still Lord Raglan waited patiently for the development of the French attack. At length an aid-de-eanip came to him and reported the French had crossed the Alma, but they had not established them- selves sufficiently to justify us in an attack. The infantry were, therefore, ordered to lie down, and the army for a short time was quite passive, only that our artillery poured forth an unceasing fii-e of shell, rockets, and round shot, which ploughed through the Russians, and caused them great loss. They did not waver, how- ever, and replied to our artillery man full}", their shot falling among our men as they lay, and carrying oft' legs and arms at every round. Lord Raglan at last became weary of this inactivity — his spirit was up — he looked around, and saw men on whom he knew he might stake the honour and fate of Great Britain by his side, and anticipating a little in a military point of view the crisis of action, he gave orders for our whole lino to advance. Up rose these serried masses, and passing through a fearful shower of round, case shot, and shell, they dashed into the Alma, and floundered through its waters, whicli were literally torn into foam by the deadly hail. At the other side of the river were a number of vineyards, and to our surprise tliey were occupied by Russian riflemen. Three of the staft' were here shot down, but led by liOrd Raglan in person, they advanced cheering on the men. And now came the turning point of the battle, in which Lord Raglan, by his sagacity and military skill, probably secured tlie. victory at a smaller sacri- fice than would have been otherwise tlu! case. He dashed over the bridge, followed by his stafl". From the road over it, under the Russian guns, he saw the state of action. The British line, which he had ordered to advance, was struggling through the river and up the heights in masses, firm indeed, but mowed down by the STORMING THE HEIGHTS. 181 murderous fire of the batteries, and by grape, round shot, shell, canister, case shot, and musketry, from some of the guns of the central battery, and from an immense and compact mass of Russian infantry. Then commenced one of the most bloody and determined struggles in the annals of war. The 2nd Division, led by Sir De L. Evans in the most dashing manner, crossed the stream on the right. The 7th Fusileers, led by Colonel Yea, were swept do^v^l by fifties. The 55th, 30th, and 95th, led by Brigadier Pennefather, who was in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his men, again and again were checked indeed, but never drew back in their onward progress, which was marked by a fierce roll of Minie musketry, and Brigadier Adams, with the 41st, 47th, and 49th, bravely charged up the hill, and aided them in the battle. Sir George Brown, conspicuous on a grey horse, rode in front of his Light Division, urging them with voice and gesture. Gallant fellows ! they were worthy of such a gallant chief. The 7th, diminished by one- half, fell back to re-form their columns lost for the time ; the 23rd, with eight officers dead and four wounded, were still rushing to the front, aided by the 15th, 33rd, 77th, and 88th. Down went Sir George in a cloud of dust in front of the battery. He was soon up, and shouted, " 23rd, I'm all right. Be sure I'll remember this day," and led them on again, but in the shock produced by the fall of their chief, the gallant regiment sufiered terribly, while paralyzed for a moment. Meantime the Guards on the right of the Light Division, and the brigade of High- landers, were storming the heights on the left. Their line was almost as regular as though they were in Hyde-park. Suddenly a tornado of round and grape rushed through from the terrible battery, and a roar of musketry from behind thinned their front ranks by dozens. It was evident that we were just able to contend against the Russians, favoured as they were by a great position. At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry were seen moving down towards the battery. Thej^ halted. It was the crisis of the day. Sharp, angular, and solid, they looked as if they were cut out of the solid rock. It was beyond all doubt that if our infantry, harassed and thinned as they were, got into the battery, they would have to encounter again a formidable fire, which they were but iU calculated to bear. Lord Raglan saw the ditficulties of the situation. He asked if it would be possible to get a couple of guns to bear on these masses. The reply was "Yes," and an artillery ofiicer, whose name I do not now know, brought up two guns to tire on the Russian squares. The first shot missed, but the next, and the next, and the next cut through the ranks so cleanly, and so keenly, that a clear lane could be seen for a moment through the square. After a few rounds the columns of the square became broken, wavered to and fro, broke, and fied over the brow of the hill, leaving behind them six or seven distinct lines of dead, lying as close as possible to each other, marking the passage of the fatal messengers. This act relieved our infantry of a deadly incubus, and they continued their magnificent and fearful progress up the hill. The Duke encouraged his men by voice and example, and proved himself worthy of his proud command and of the Royal race from which he comes. " Highlanders," said Sir C. Campbell, 182 THE ALMA. ere they came to the charge, " I am going to ask a favour of you ; it is, that you will act so as to justify me in asking permission of the Q,ueen for you to wear a bonnet! Don't pull a trigger till you're within a yard of the Ptussians !" They charged, and well they obeyed their chieftain's wish ; Sir Colin had his horse shot under him, but his men took the battery at a bound. The Russians rushed out, and left multitudes of dead behind them. The Guards had stormed the right of the battery ere the High- landers got into the left, and it is said the Scots Fusileer Guards were the lirst to enter. The Second and Light Division crowned the heights. The French turned the guns on the hill against the flying masses, which the cavalry in vain tried to cover. A few faint struggles from the scattered" infantry, a few rounds of cannon and musketry, and the enemy fled to the south-east, leaving three generals, drums, three guns, 700 prisoners, and 4000 wounded behind them. The battle of the Alma was won. It is won with a loss of nearly 3000 killed and wounded on our side. The Russians' retreat was covered by their cavalry, but if we had had an adequate force, we could have captured many guns and multitudes of prisoners. CHAPTER XXYIIl. The day after the battle — Miraculous escapes — Russian arms — Melancholy labours — Further details of the battle — Spoils of the enemy — Want of am- bulances — Removal of the wounded to the fleet — Inefficient assistance ren- dered by the Admiral. Heights of the Axma, Sept. 22. Many wounded men were necessarily left on the hills last night in spite of all our exertions. To-day the army renewed its painful labours. I forgot to mention that during the onward march of our army the bandsmen, with litters, were employed in going oA/^r the fields in their rear collecting the wounded and bringing them to the surgeons, so that many men had immediate aid. Our oflicers were all in full uniform, and were only too conspicuous marks for the enemy. When the Light Division advanced across the stream of the Alma they were in some confusion — they were not formed or dressed up, and the 7th, 23id, and 33rd went up pell-mell, so that it was almost hopeless for them to attempt to force the entrenched works. They and the brigade of the 2nd Division, consisting of the 30th, 55th, and 'JSth Regiments were literally pressed down by the weight of the enemy's tire. The individual escapes of oflicers and men arc miraculous — chin straps were shot oft', buttons carried away, belts torn, coats ripped up — all without further injury to the wearer. Most of the officers of the Guards have to recount stories of this kind. No doubt tlie despatches will give a better idea of the action — one being read by the light of the other — than any account of an unofficial character. Almost as soon as the men got up on the hills after action, they spread over it, opening the knap- sacks which were lying in tliousands all over the field, many of the enemy having lightened themselves in order to run the better. "While the soldiers were still excited, they commenced breaking all the THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE. 183 enemies' firelocks and rifies which lay on the ground. As many of them were loaded, the concussion set several of them off, and the result was that halls were singing through the air in all directions on the night of the 20th, all yesterday and to-day ; in fact, di'opping shot have never ceased for the last forty hours. The men are also busy cleaning out the firelocks which got choked or would not go oft' during the fight, and kept up a constant discharge all over the country. The llussian musket is a good weapon to look at, but it must be rather a bad one to use. The barrel, which is longer than oiu's and is kept polished, is of iron, and is secured to the stock by brass straps like the French. The lock is, however, tolerably good. The stock is of the old narrow Oriental pattern, and the wood of which it is made — white-grained and something like sycamore — breaks easily. From the form of the heel of the stock, the "kick" of the musket must be sharp with a good charge. The cartridges are beautifully made and finished, the balls being strongly gummed in at the end, but the powder is coarse and unglazed, and looks like miUet-seed ; it is, however, clean in the hand, and burns very smartly. The rifles we found were a better description of arm ; they were two- grooved, and projected a large conical ball with two raised grooves in it. The ball is flat at the base, and has neither hollow cup nor pin ; its weight must exceed that of our Minie ball. The bayonets were soft, and bent easily. Some wooden baj'onets were left on the ground, and one oflicer is in possession of a wooden pistol, found on the road subsequently. Some good swords belonging to oflicers were picked up, and very eftective weapons, probably belonging to drummers or bandsmen, exactly like the old Ptoman sword, very sharp and heavy, were also left on the field. Some six or seven drums were left behind, but nearly all of them were broken — several by the shot which kUled their owners. No ensign, eagle, standard, or colour of any kind was displayed by the enemy or found on the field. Our regiments marched with their colours, as a matter of course, and the enemy made the latter a special mark for the rifles. Thus it was so many ensigns, lieutenants, and sergeants fell. The 33rd Regiment lost no less than twenty sergeants, killed and wounded, nearly aU of them round the colours. The Queen's colour was struck in fourteen, the regimental colour in eleven places. The sad duty of burying the dead was completed to-day. The wounded not carried in yesterday were collected and sent on board ship in arabas and litters, and the surgeons with humane barbarity were employed night and day in saving life. Upwards of 1000 cases occurred in the Light Division alone. Drs. Prendergast, Smith (16th), and Brown (94th), accompanied the staft" during the day. Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the regiment which captured the gun, but it is now generally admitted, 1 believe, that the Grenadier Guards took it. The Scots Fusileers say they were the first within the battery, but it is said the words "Grenadier Guards" were chalked on the gun at the very first rush of the brigade. When the Light Division was overwhelmed, the regi- ments came pouring through the Coldstreams, goin^ on the rear to re-form, and hence may have been the slight confusion in which 184 THE ALMA. that regiment were for a moment placed on receiving the fire of the battery. The small loss of the Highland Brigade is attributed by Sir C. "Campbell to their rapidity, but in truth their advance was greatly sheltered from fire by the rise of the hill up which they charged. Kor was the artillery of the enemy so well served there as in other points so far as the direction went, though a storm of shot flew over the brigade and went far to their rear. When the " ad- vance" was sounded, the Light Division was lying down on the extreme right of the line. Behind them were the Second Division. On the left of the Light Division were the Guards, and next them the Highland Brigade. Behind the First Division was the Third Division. The Light Division deployed in the following order : — On the left were the 77th, next the 88th ; in advance of the 88th a little, and on their right, were the 19th. These regiments formed Buller's Brigade, and seemed to have been somewhat mismanaged. The 88th were actually in square under fire, were stopped as they were in motion by Sir C. Campbell, who had nothing to do with the Division, and were ordered by him to form line. Neither they nor the 77th suftered any loss. At one time the bugles of a portion of the Light Division sounded a retreat, it is said, and an order was given them " to cease firing," on the cry arising that they were tiring into the French, a body of Russian Infantry in front having from some cause or other been mistaken for our Allies. In line with the 19th were the 33rd, next the 7th. These formed Codring- ton's Brigade, and on them fell the brunt of the terrible fire of the enemy on advancing up the hill. On the right of the 7th was the 95th, with its front inclining at an angle to the line of Codrington's Brigade. On the left of the 95th were originally the 30th and 55th Regiments ; Peunefather's Brigade in line on the right of the Light Division, but their advance was stopped by the flames of the village, and tliej' were obliged to make a detour across the bridge enfiladed by the redoubt, ere they could join the advance up the hill. In the advance of the Gruards, the 79th were on the left of the Brigade, the 93rd in the centre, and the 42nd on the right. Next to the 42nd were the Coldstream Guards, on their right were the Scots Fusileers, and on their right again were the Grenadier Guards. Our artillery could do but little, on account of the smoke, though admirably worked and served, but the services of Captain Turner's guns have been already alluded to in a former letter. Our rocket practice seemed a failure. Captain Maude's battery, R.H.A.^ was most useful towards the close of the day, and Captain Brandling, in command of Captain Thomas's battery, assisted by Captain Strange, who volunteered as second in command, as well as Captain Anderson, were remarkable for the energy and precision with whicli they directed tlie iire of their guns. The cavalry had nothing to do, but they hehl in clieck a vastly superior force of the enemy's horse. The hitter acted in the most spiritless and inefiective manner, though they might have occasioned us great annoyance. The stories of individual jirowess on the part of our troops and ofticers would fill a volume. Boor Captain Monck, of the 7th, had run one man through with his sword, and had struck down another (who was in the act of firing at him) with a blow of his clenched RUSSIAN SPOILS. 185 fist, when he was shot dead by the rear-rank man. A private of the same regiment, ere they were driven back, rushed to the front and bayonetted in quick succession two men of the foremost column of the enemy — in fact, the anecdotes of this kind are innumerable, and seem to have occurred all over the held ; however, they must form the subject of a supplementary letter on some future day. Every one of the enemy had a loaf of black bread, and the linen roll containing coarse broken biscuit or hard bread. This seemed their only food. Though the troops had probably been at the Alma for a couple of days no meat bones were found about the ground, and the only sign of preparation of food was two or three small ovens built in the hill side. The ground about the position was in a most horrible and filthy state. The llussian dead were all buried together in pits, and were carried down as they lay. Our parties, on the 21st, and to-day, buried 1200 men. The British soldiers who fell were buried in pits in the same way. Their lirelocks, and the useful portions of their military eqxiipment, were alone preserved. It was a sad sight to see the litters borne in from all quarters hour after hour — to watch the working parties as they wandered about the plain turning down the blankets which had been stretched over the wounded to behold if thej^ were yet alive, or were food for the worms, and then adding many a habitant to the yawning pits which lay with insa- tiable mouths gaping on the hill side — or covering up the poor sufferers destined to pass another night of indescribable agony. The thirst of the wounded seemed intolerable, and our men — all honour to the noble fellows! — went about relieving the wants of the miserable creatures as far as they could. The quantity of firelocks, of great coats, of bearskin caps, of shakos, of Russian helmets and foragers, of knapsacks (English and llussian), of cross and sling belts, bayonets, cai'touch-boxes, cartridges, swords, lying all over the hills, exceeded all computa- tion, and roimd shot, fragments of shell smeared with blood and hair, grape-shot, Minie baUs, and bullets were under the foot and eye at every step. There was more than an acre of llussian wounded when they were brought in and disposed on the ground. Many wounded were brought in to-day by parties of our men, and stragglers came up and rendered themselves prisoners. They were all infantry. We did not see one cavalry man. The prisoners told us they belong to the army of Moldavia, and had only arrived in the Crimea within the last twelve or fourteen days. Tf that be so, it is to be regretted our Expedition did not arrive here three weeks earUer, for no one can tell what results might have been achieved by our arms at very little cost. All the Russian firelocks, knapsacks, bayonets, cartridge-boxes, &c., have been collected together, near Lord Raglan's tent, and form heaps about twenty yards long by ten yards broad. The gun has been sent on board ship. "When I was looking at the wounded men going off to-day, I could not see an English ambulance. Our men were sent to the sea, three miles distant, on jolting arabas or tedious litters. The French — I am tired of this disgraceful antithesis — had well-ap- pointed covered hospital vans, to hold ten or twelve men, drawn by fijie mules, and their wounded were sent in much greater com- 186 THE ALMA, fort than our poor fellows, so far as I saw. _ The beach, when I got down there, was lined with boats carrying off the wounded. Commander Powell, of the " Vesuvius," acting as the beachmaster, ■was indefatigable in his exertions, and the order and regularity which prevailed under such painful circumstances were admirable. The number of men with amputated legs and arms was very con- siderable. Some poor fellows died on their way to the sea. Not only the wounded but the sick were sent on board the fleet. As a sanatorium alone, the value of the floating batteries of our dear friends the sailors is beyond all price. The Russian ofiicers who "were wounded, and all prisoners of rank, were likewise sent on board. We have sent 1000 sick on board, in addition to our wounded. I understand, on good authority, that the French return of 1400 killed and wounded includes those who have died of cholera. We might have expected — or rather if we had not known too well how unreasonable it would have been to expect much from such a source — we might have relied on more efficient assistance in our duty of burying the dead, and collecting and carrying the wounded on board, from the Admiral in command of the fleet. Had a couple of thousand seamen and marines been landed, they could have done all that was required, have released us from two days' fearful duty, enabled us to follow the footsteps of our flying enemy, and to have completed his signal discomflture, and have in all probability contributed materially to the issue of the campaign. As it is, in all probability the Russians will think, or at all events will say, we are not in a flt condition to pursue them, and will attribute to any cause but the right one the delay which has alone been dictated lay humanity and pity. Mr. Worthington, of the 33rd regiment, died of his wounds to-day. Major Wellesley died on board ship of cholera. Exposure to the night air, which is now very cold, has increased the number of sick very much. Firewood is scarce, and the watch-tires barely warm the poor fellows who lie around them in great coat and blanket. The colours of the Scots Fusileer Guards have sixteen balls through them, and the staff' is broken. The conduct of Lieutenant Lindsay and Lieutenant Thistlethwayte, who bore them, is highly spoken of. Eleven officers of this regiment were more or less injured by the enemy's tire. Lord Chewton is severely wounded. The 57th Regiment arrived to-day off" the mouth of the Alma. CHAPTER XXIX. Move from the Alma — The morning march — Wounded Russians left on the t'u'h] — lic'uutirul valley (if Katclia — 'V'ineyard.s and gardens — A physician's villa — Scene of ruin and desolation — I'anic and (light of the Kussians — March to Belbeck — Character of the country. Maucii on the Katcha, Sept. 23. BuieADlEE-GENEliAL Tyldkn died in his tent early this morning of cholera. He was buried in the valley under the heights of A MORNING MARCH. 187 Alma. He is succeeded in his command by Lieut. -Colonel Alex- ander, E,.E., the next senior officer, but who has not been promoted to the rank of Brigadier. Many men died of cholera last night. My sleep was disturbed by the groans of the dying, and on getting up in the morning I found that the corpse of a Russian lay close to the tent in which I had been permitted to rest. He was not there when we retired to rest, so that the wretched creature, who had pro- bably been wandering about without food upon the hills ever since the battle, must have crawled down towards our iires and there expired in the attempt to reach them ; several men had died close to our tent during the night. Late last night, orders were sent round the divisions to be prepared for marching after daybreak, and early this morning we left the blood-stained heights of the Alma — a name that will be ever memorable in our history. Soon after dawn the French assembled all their drums and trumpets on the top of the highest of the hills they carried, and a wild flourish and roll, repeated again and again, and broken by peals of sound from the horns of the Infantry, celebrated their meeting ere they departed. It was spirited, stirring, and thrilling music, and its effect, as it swelled through the darkness of early morning down over the valley, can never be forgotten. Our watch-tires were still burning languidly, as the sleepers roused themselves, all wet with dew, and prepared to leave the scene of their triumphs. The fogs of the night crept slowly up the hill sides, and hung in uncertain folds around theu' summits, revealing here and there the gathering columns of oui' regiments in dark patches on the declivities, or shoeing the deep black-looking squares of the French battalions, already in motion towards the south. Dimly seen in the distance, the fleet was moving along slowly by the line of the coast, the long lines of smoke trailing back on their wake. But what is that grey mass on the plain, which seems settled down upon it almost ■without lite or motion? Now and then, indeed, an arm may be seen waved aloft, or a man raises himself for a moment, looks around, and then lies down again. Alas ! that plain is covered with the wounded Russians still. Nearly sixty long hours have they passed in agony on the ground, and now, with but little hope of help or succour more, we must leave them as they lie. All this nameless incon- ceivable misery — this cureless pain — to be caused by the caprice of one man. Seven hundred and tifty wounded men are still upon the ground, and we can do nothing for them. Their wounds have been bound and dressed — we have done all Ave can do for them — and now, unable as we are to take them along with us, or to send them away, we must depart. Ere our troops marched, however, General Estcourt, by order of Lord Raglan, sent into the Tartar village up the valley, into which the inhabitants were just re- turning, and having procured the attendance of the head men, he proceeded to explain to them that the wounded Russians would be conhded to their charge, and that they were to feed and maintain them, and when they were well they were to be let go their ways. In order to look after their wounds, an English surgeon was left behind with these 750 men. This most painful and desolate duty devolved on Dr. Thomson, of the 44th regiment. He was told his mission would be his protection in case the Cossacks came, and 188 THE ALMA. that he was to hoist a flag of truce should the enemy appear in sight, and then, provided with some rum, biscuit, and salt meat, he was left alone with his charge. Ere the army went, however, one of the Russian officers addressed the wounded, and explained the position in which they were placed, and they promised to obey Dr. Thomson's orders, to protect him as far as they could, and to acquaint any Russian force which might arrive with the peculiar circumstances under which he was among them. It was nearly eight o'clock ere the tents of head-quarters were struck, and the march began. We had heard from the fleet that the enemy had not only left the Ivatcha, but that they had even re- tired across the Belbek. Our course was directed upon the former stream, almost in continuation of our march of the 20th ere the battle. As we moved along, the unfinished stone building, in- tended by the Russians for a telegraph station, came into view. The French had cut upon the entablature the simple inscription — Zia Bataille d'Alma, 20 Septemhre, 1854. A similar building was visible further on towards Sebastopol ; and on reaching the top of one of the hills on our way, we could see the white light-house of Sebastopol at the end of the promontory which juts out into the sea. The country through which we marched was hilly and barren. Amidst steep hillocks covered with thistles, and separated from each other at times by small patches of steppe, or by more undu- lating and less hillocky ground, winds the road to Sebastopol — a mere beaten track, marked with cart-wheels, hoofs, and the nails of gun-carriage wheels. AVe advanced uninterruptedly at an average rate of two and a quarter miles an hour, halting occasion- ally to rest the troops, and allow the baggage waggons to come iip. At three o'clock the beautiful valley of the Katcha came in sight, its opposite side formed by a ridge of hills clad with verdure and with small forests of shrubs, through which here and there shone the white walls of villas and snug cottages. The country over which we were marching slid down as it were gradually to the level of the river, mIiosc course was marked all along the base of the hills to the stream by lines of trees, and by the must luxuriant vegetation, forming a strong contrast to the barren and bleak- looking tract on which cur troops advanced. Lord Raglan and his staft' rode on considerably in advance of the troops, to the great astonishment and indignation of a Prussian officer, who loudly declared ■a\\(A\ conduct was ([uite opposed to the rules of war. Fluellin himself could not have been more angry at such disregard of martial etiquette tlian the gallant gentleman in question, and certainly we did show marked contempt for the enemy, and the most superb disdain of his famed Cossacks. The fact was, that 200 cavalry of the smallest enterprise might have cut oft' my Lord Raglan, his aids, his generals of artillery and engineers and their staft', his quartermaster-general and his staft', his adjutant-general and his staft', Sir John Jiurgoyne and his stall', aiid all the staff" doctors, at any time for hours during the day, and they all actually came within a few hundred yards of tlie shrubberies and planta- tions at tlie river, a mile in advance of even the cavalry, and were pushing on in the same form, till Captain Chetwode and his troop of the 8th Hussars pushed on in the front to reconnoitre. However, BEAUTIFUL BANKS OF THE KATCHA, 189 there was not a trace of the enemy, except that which we found soon afterwards in the houses. The Katcha is a small and rapid rivulet, with banks like those of the Alma. "We found its whole course was marked by neat white cottages, and that it watered the most delicious vineyards and gardens, amid which their habitations were placed, but there were no inhabitants visible. Wheeling over the bridge, we turned eastward towards the little callage of Eskel, on the left bank. The first building on the road was the Imperial Post-house, with its sign-post of the double-headed eagle, and an illegible inscription. The usual wooden direction-post, with a bluish riband painted round it diagonally on a white ground, in- formed us we were on our way to Sebastopol, distant about ten mUes. The place was abandoned, and the house destitute of the smallest particle of furniture. The road now assumed the cha- racter of an English by-way in Devonshire or Hampshire. Low walls at either side were surmounted by fruit trees laden with apples, pears, peaches, and apricots, all ripe and tit for use, and at their foot clustered grapes of the most delicate flavour. The iirst villa we came to was the residence of a physician or country sm-geon. It had been ruthlessly destroyed by the Cossacks. A verandah, laden with clematis, roses, and honeysuckle in front, was tilled with broken music stools, work tables, and lounging chairs. All the glasses of the windows were smashed. Every- thing around betokened the hasty flight of the inmates. Two or three side-saddles were lying on the grass outside the hall-door, a parasol lay near them, close to a Tartar saddle and a huge whip. The wine casks were broken and the contents spilt, the barley and corn of the granary were thrown about all over the ground — broken china and glass of fine manufacture were scat- tered over the pavement outside the kitchen, and amid all the desolation and ruin of the place a cat sat blandly at the threshold, winking her eyes in the sunshine at the new comers. Xo pen can describe the scene within. Mirrors in fragments were lying on the floor, the beds had been ripped open, and the feathers littered the rooms a foot deep, chairs, sofas, fauteuils, bedsteads, bookcases, picture-frames, images of saints, women's needlework, chests of orawers, shoes, boots, books, bottles, physic jars all smashed or torn in pieces, lay in heaps in every room. Even the walls and doors were hacked with swords. The very genius of destruction had been at work, and had revelled in mischief. The physician's account-book lay open on a broken table ; he had been stopped in the very act of debiting a dose to some neighbour, and his entry remained unfinished. Beside his account-book lay a volume of " Madame de Sevigne's Letters" in French, and a " Pharmacopo3ia" in Itussian. A little bottle of prussic acid lay so invitingly near a box of bonbons, that I knew it would be irresistible to the first himgry private who had a taste for almonds, and I accordingly poured out the contents to prevent the possible catastrophe. Our men and horses were soon revelling in grapes and corn, and we pushed on to Eskel, and established ourselves in a house which had belonged to a Russian oflicer of rank — at least many traces of the presence of one was visible. Every house and villa in the place was a similar scene to that which I have in vain tried to describe. 190 THE ALMA. The better the class of the residence, the more complete and pitiable the destruction. Grand pianos, and handsome pieces of furniture covered with silk and damasked velvet, rent to pieces with brutal violence, were found in more than one house, but one of the instru- ments retained enough of its vital organs to breathe out " God save the Queen" from its lacerated brass ribs, and it was made to do so accordingly — ay, under the very eye of a rigid portrait of his Imperial Majesty the Czar which hung on the wall above ! These portraits of the autocrat were not uncommon in the houses — nearly as common as pictures of saints with gilt and silver glories around their heads. The houses, large and small, consist of one story only, and magnitude is gained by lateral extension. Each house stands apart, with a large patch of vineyard around it, and a garden of fruit trees, and is fenced in from the road by a stone wall, and a line of poplars or elms. A porch, covered with vines, protects the entrance. The rooms are clean and scrupulously whitewashed. Large out-houses, with wine-presses, stables, &c., complete the farmer's establishment. On our march a deserter came in, and was taken before Lord P^aglan. He was, however, only a Tartar, but he gave such information respecting the feelings of the inhabitants towards us, that steps were at once taken to inform those who were hiding, that if they returned to their homes, their lives and property would be protected. Some hour or so after we had arrived at Eskel, a number of bullet-headed personages, with sheepskin caps, and loose long coats and trousers, made their appearance, stealthily creeping into the houses, and eyeing the new occupants with shy curiosity. From the people who thus returned, we heard that the Ptussians had arrived at the Katcha in rather a fatigued and dispirited condition the night of the battle of Alma, and had taken up their position in the villages and in the neighbouring houses. At tAvelve o'clock the same night there was an alarm, however, that the English and French were coming. Up got the whole army of the Kussians pellmell, and snatching up whatever thcj^ could, they rushed off in disorder across the country. A part of the army went towards Bakschiserai. They were said to consist of about 20,000, and to be under the command of Menschikoff in person. The rest proceeded direct to tSebastopol, and entered it in much disorder. The evidences of this Hight were found along the road, linstocks, cartridges, shakos, and caps lined it all the way. In the house which we occupied, were abundant traces of the recent visit of a military man of rank ; books on strategy in llussian lay on the floor, and a pair of epaulettes, which seemed to have belonged to a colonel, were found in the passage, looking as if they had been torn from the slioulders. Lord llagian occupied a handsome villa for the night, but all the furniture had been destroyed by the Cossacks. Orders were given to prevent the soldiers destroying the vineyards or eating the fruit, but of course it Avas quite impossible to guard so exteiisiAe and tempting a region as the valley of the Katcha Irom thirsty and hungry men. There our soldiers i'ared on the richest of grapes and the choicest pears and ap]ylcs, but they did not waste and spoil as the French did at Marnaschei, lower down the river. A guard was set over the Greek Church of the village, and nothing was plundered; nothing VALLEY OF THE BELBEK. 191 was taken except hay, barley, fowls, and thing's absolutely necessary for the men and horses. JSad the owners been there, they would have been paid full value. Village of Belbek, Sept. 24. The head-quarters did not move to-day till nearly noon. The day was very hot, and the troops were fatigued standing under arms, or lying- down in regiments under the sun. Lord Raglan had, however, many things to arrange ere we started. Several hundred sick were collected from the various regiments, and sent down to the sea, to be taken on board ship. Our tleet lay off the mouth of the Katcha undisturbed by the enemy all night, nor did our advanced posts or videttes even get a glimpse of the redoubtable Cossacks. The Scots Greys were landed from the " Himalaya." The o7th Regiment was also sent on shore, and the French received reinforcements to the extent of not less than 8000 or 9000 men. Some of them were landed last night ; the rest came to land this morning. The few tents at head-quarters were struck at seven o'clock, but as I have said, there was delay in marching. The country towards the Belbek is hilly and barren for a couple of miles alter leaving the Katcha river. Then it becomes somewhat fresher and more level, and at length the river is approached by a gentle descent of meadow and greensward from the hills. The distance between the Katcha and the Belbek is about six miles. The valley of the Belbek is commanded by high hills on the left bank, but instead of being bare, like the summits of the hills over the Katcha and the Alma, they are covered Avith trees and brushwood. As the Russians were in position on the right, and it would answer no good to expose our men to tire to which they could not reply, the army made a turn to the left, up towards the village of Belbek, and did not advance straight upon the stream. By this flank movement we turned the Russian batteries — the men were obliged to retreat, and to withdraw their guns. Our army occupied the village and the high ground on the left bank. Lord Raglan and staif were quartered in houses at the foot of the hills, and it is only wonderful the enemy did not run xvp a few guns to annoy us. The French are still on the right, and are posted on the hills in advance. Our army was stationed in divisions along the crests of the hills, on elevated plateaux, lying north-east from Sebastopol (distant about four miles), and retiring from the sea. We are supposed to be within long range of the heavy guns of the fort on the north side. CHAPTER XXX. The march on Balaklava — First view of Sebastopol — An unexpected ren- contre — Flight of a body of Eussians, and capture of an enormous quantity of baggage — Halt at Mackenzie's farm — Balaklava Bay — Surrender of the old fort — Lord Raglan enters the town — Sebastopol viewed from the ridges on the S.W. of the fortress. Mackenzie's Farm, Sept. 25. DinaxG the night the enemy gave us an " alert" on the hills. The French outposts saw some Cossacks in front, and gave them a 192 THE ALMA. Yolley, followed by a shot from a 6-pounder, which at once dis- persed them. It is not pleasant, however, to be roused up out of one's sleep by such violent noises at one o'clock in the morning, and it makes one uneasy for the rest of the time, even though it gives vantage ground to perform the minor operations of the toilette, and to anticipate the hasty preparations of the morning. We heard that the enemy sent one shot over Lord Raglan's house. And now commenced a march which deserves to be classed among the boldest movements ever made by any military commander in the face of an enemy. As it had been ascertained by reconnaissance that the enemy had posted strong batteries along the north-west of the harbour of Sebastopol, in conjunction with the Star Fort and Tort Constantino, which would cause us loss and delay in an attempt to invest the town on that face, it occurred to our commanders, that by a flank movement performed with energy and decision on Bala- kiava, we would turn and neutralize the effect of the three batte- ries, secure a new base of operations, (of which we were in want, having abandoned that of the Katcha,) and completely distract the enemy, who would find the weakest part of Sebastopol exposed to the fire of our batteries, and our attacks directed against a point where they had least reason to expect, and which they might have imagined free from all assault. The whole army accordingly marched towardsthe south-east, on the Blacklliver, and as they were obliged to pass through a thickly-wooded country, intersected by narrow lanes winding up and down the liills, the troops were necessarily in some disorder, and had the enemy possessed the smallest enterprise they might have infiicted on us severe loss and caused great annoyance by a spirited attack on our fiank, whilst we were rounding the head of the harbour. At times, from the top of the hills, we could see the town quite plainly, its white houses shining in the sun. All the afternoon the steamers effected a diversion by shelling the Star Fort and Fort Constantino, but at such a long range they could do but little execution ; however, the fire had the effect of engaging the attention of the lliissians. They made not the smallest attempt to interrupt our progress. In the course of our march the baggage was sent far to the left, and became involved in the line of the French and Turkish troops, who were marching on oui' fianks, and appeared to be crossing our front at times towards our left wing. Lord llaglan and his staff rode on (as is their wont) well in ad- vance, and reconnoitred Sebastopol. They were close to the north- east Fort, but though the soldiers must have made them out to be the staff, no shot was fired on them, notwithstanding that they were well within range. The French seemed bent on taking ground to the left all during the day. The Turks, of whom I reckoned seven batta- lions, were inclined "to follow their example. By the bye, I must correct an error which 1 made when 1 gave to the Turks the credit of being the first to get up the heights at the Alma. The fact is, they were not in front at all. The mistake arose from the habit the French have of calling their African troo]>s "Turcos," and it was the Zouaves who first gained the summit. Our march was con- tinuous, but by difl'crent routes, the artillery proceeding by a dif- ficult road, which allowed only one horseman to ride by the side of each gun. The Duke of Cambridge's baggage was actually within AN* UNEXPECTED REXCONTRE. 193 gunshot of Sebastopol for a quarter of an hour. As Lord Piaglan -was riding on in front of his stalf he found himself, on emerging from a 'svooded road on tlie open space in front, in the imme- diate presence of a body of Kussian infantry ; which turned out to he the baggage guard of a large detachment of the Rixssian army inarching from Sebastopol to Eakschiserai. They were not more than a few hundred yards distant. Lord liiiglan simply turned his horse, and accelerating his pace, he and his staiF quietly cantered back to the rear of the tirst division of Artillery. The cavalry, consisting of a portion of the 11th and Sth Hussars, were quickly got in front — the guns were un limbered and opened on the retreat- ing mass of Russians ; the 2nd battalion of RiHes in skirmishing order threw in a volley of Minie balls, the cavalry executed a charge, and the result was, that after a few rounds the Russians broke and iled along the road in great haste without an attempt at resistance, leaving behind them an enormous quantity of baggage of every description for two miles strewed over the ground iu the direction of their- flight. This was fair and legitimate plunder, and the troops were halted and allowed to take what they liked, and ■what they could carry. They broke open all the carts and tumbled out the contents on the road, but the pillage was conducted with regularity, and the officers presided over it to see that there was no squabbling, and that no man took more than his share. Immense quantities of wearing apparel, of boots, shirts, coats, dressing-cases, valuable ornaments, and some jewellery were found in the baggage carts, as well as a military cliest containing some money (there are people who say it held 3000/.). The carriage of Prince Menschikoff fell into our hands ; in it were found his grand orders as a Great Prince of the Prussian Empire, and tliey are now in the hands of Captain Peel. A Russian artillery ofhcer, who was found in one of the carriages, was in a very jovial mood, and had evidently been making rather free with the bottle. Plenty of Champagne was dis- covered among the baggage, and served to cheer the captors during their cold bivouac that night. A great number of very handsome hussar jackets, richly laced with silver, and made of fine light blue cloth, which had never yet been worn, were also taken, and sold by the soldiers for sums varying from 205. to 30s. a-piece. Fine large winter cloaks of cloth, lined with rich furs, were found in abun- dance. _ The enemy were pursued two or three miles on the road to Bakschiserai, but they fled so precipitately the cavalry could not come up with them. This plunder put the soldiers in great good humour, and they inarched on the whole day, in excellent spirits, leaving Sebastopol on their right, till they arrived at the little hamlet of Traktir, on the Black River, just before sunset, and halted for the night. As the baggage was separated from the bulk of the army by the dis- tance of some miles. Lord Raglan was fain to put up iu a miserable little lodge for the night, while the bulk of his stafl' slept on the ground in a ditch outside it. The baggage had to march all during the night, and it was literally a forced march for them, and for the baggage guard, as well as for a portion of the 4th Division. Not the smallest attempt was made by the enemy to interrupt or annoy us during this very remarkable march, which could at any time 194 EALAKLAVA. have been greatly harassed by the smallest activity on the part of tlie Russians ; but the fact is, we have learned to despise them thoroughly so far, and all I hope is, our contempt may not lead us into danger by inducing us to neglect ordinary precautions. Our march was through woods, along bad and often precipitous roads, and a few trees felled at intervals would have sufficed to stop the army for hours. We had, however, taken the enemy by surprise, and they showed themselves quite destitute of resources. Near our halting-place for the night is a place called Mackenzie's Farm. It derives its name from a llussian admiral, of Scotch origin, who made a plantation of trees for the Imperial navy here, and there is a long guard-house for the soldiers to watch it. "We were greatly disappointed when it was discovered that there were neither eggs, butter, nor cheese produced by the farm, and that its only stores were of deal and iir planks. However, it was burned by the French ere we left. Balaklava, Sept. 26. He was a bold mariner who first ventured in here, and keen- eyed too. I never was more astonished in my life than when I halted on the top of one of the numerous hills of which this portion of the Crimea is composed, and looking down saw under my feet a little pond, closely compressed by the sides of high rocky moun- tains ; on it floated some six or seven English ships, for which exit seemed quite hopeless. The bay is like a highland tarn, and it is long ere the eye admits that it is some half mile in length from the sea, and varies from 250 to 120 yards in breadth. The shores are so steep and precipitous that they shut out as it were the expanse of the harbour, and make it appear much smaller than it really is. Towards the sea the cliffs close up and completely overlap the narrow channel which leads to the haven, so that it is quite in- visible. On the south-east of the poor village, which struggles for existence between the base of the rocky hills and the margin of the sea, there are the extensive ruins of a Genoese fort, built some 200 feet above the level of the sea. It must liave once been a large and important position, and its curtains, bastions, towers, and walls, all destroyed and crumbling in decay though they are, evince the spirit and enterprise of the hardy seamen who penetrated these classic recesses so long ago. There may be doubts whether the (jcnoese built it, but there can be none that it is very old, and su- perior in workmanship to the edifices of tlie Turks or Tartars. The town of ]5alaklava is approached in this direction through a narrow defile, leading from the more open country about Traktir. It is a formidable pass, and a lew resolute men posted here might occasion grreat trouble even to a great army, but we were permitted to go through without let or liiiulrance of any kind. The staft" advanced first on the town, and were proceeding to enter it, when, to their surprise, from the old forts above came four spii-ts of smoke in rapid succession, and, thew, thew, thew, thew, do\\n came four shells into the ground close to tliem. We then saw that on a small piece of level ground, outside one of the towers of the ruin, the Russians had got a small body of men, who seemed resolved on a hoi eles3 defence. The dose of slicll was repeated, but by this time the ■"Agamemnon," outside the rocks, was heard busily sending her MILITARY ETIQUETTE, 195' sliot ag'ainst the fort. The Kiiies also advanced, and some of tlio JAi^ht Division, and opened lire within 700 yards with their rides, closing up as they crept alona:, and the fort, after a few harmless rounds more, was summoned, hung' out a tlao: of truce, and surren- dered. The Colonel or Commandant had only sixty men under him, and they were all made prisoners. On being asked why he fired from a i)osition which he must have known to be untenable, he replied that he did so in order that he might be summoned, and that he felt bound to fire till required to surrender. The guns which projected the shells were small brass mortars : the men belonged to the militia of Balaklava. Lord Raglan entered about twelve o'clock in the day. x\s he came towards the principal street the inhabitants came out to meet him, bearing trays laden with fruit and flowers. Some of them bore loaves of bread cut up in pieces and placed on dishes covered with salt, in token of good will and submission. He assured them of his protection, and rode down to the beach, and soon after an English steamer came in and anchored. The fleet and army were thus once more united, and Lord Kaglan had secured his base of operations. The prisoners were sent on board ship, and conveyed to Constantinople. Our head- quarters were stationed in the town in the principal houses. The fleet is outside. Towards evening, to the great alarm of Admiral Dundas, and to the joy and delight of us all on shore, the huge bulk of the " Agamemnon" glided in between the rocks of the entrance, and soon afterwards made her appearance in the narrow harbour, and anchored opposite the house of the General, whom Sir E. Lyons speedily visited. On our march to-day the cavalry took a Mr. Upton, an English- man by birth, and son of the English engineer who constructed so many useful works at Sebastopol. He was captured on his farm, and was taken before Lord liaglan, but he refused in the most de- cisive way to give any information respecting the Russians, as he said he could not reconcile it to his notions of honour to injure a Government in whose military service he had been. The town is a poor fishing village, inhabited by a Greek colony. There are, however, one or two good houses of the usual character in the neighbourhood, and we found very seasonable stores of hay in the farm-yards. All the hills around us are barren rock; towards the land they became more fertile, and for a mile towards Sebastopol and Simpheropol they are studded with pleasant-looking white villas and farm-houses, principally inhabited by Russian oificials from Sebastopol. September 27. The "Australian," " Sidney," and " Gertrude," with the heavy artillery and siege-train, are coming in, and Avill at once proceed to disembark their 50 heavy guns, 32-pound, 64-pound, and Lan- caster guns throwing a 90-pound solid shot, at a pier which has been repaired by the 3rd company of the Sappers. The 4th and 2nd Divisions have been pushed on towards the south-west side of Sebastopol, and are encamped on ridges about two miles from the city, separated from each other by a ravine, which commences near Balaklava and runs nearly to the head of the creek of Sebas- o 2 196 BALAKLAVA. topol. The city is quite visible below i;s. Across the north of the harbour, near the most easterly of the creeks, there is placed a two- decker, painted so as to look like a three-decker, with spring's oa her cable, and her broadside turned towards our position. On the northern side is visible a large circular work, with three tiers of guns — Fort Constantine, and more inland there is another large fortification, called the Star Fort. A round tower of white stone, on an eminence, over the extremity of the harbour, promises to prove very troublesome. Underneath it are two forts, and large barracks, but we could see no soldiers in them. On the side near lis there is a very large fortification, with curtains, running inland, a semicircular bastion, and some rudimentary earthworks — all out- side the town. The people are working very hard at these defences, and their progress was quite visible to-day. Lord llaglan and staff rode out and made a reconnaissance. A frigate anchored inside the two-decker, near the end of the creek, amused herself by firing round shot and shell at the staif, and at our men, but did no damage. Provisions are very scarce with us, and for two days the Fourth Division at least had no meat whatever. Septemhcr 30. The cholera, which has never left us, is making many victims. Many of those whom Alma spared have fallen before this inscru- table pest. We are said to be badly furnished with medicines to meet it. The fifty heavy guns of the siege train are all landed, and have been dragged to a park about a mile outside the town. The French are landing their guns at Arrow Bay and two creeks to the east of it. They have worked round to our left as we face Sebas- topol, and have again got the sea on their flank. During the march they were on our riglit, and of course had the sea on their right then also. The 4th and 6th Dragoons have arrived from Varna in the "Trent" and "Jason." The reinforcement is seasonable, for men and horses of the small cavalry force here are greatly " done up." CHAPTER XXXI. Kavages of the cholera — Marshal St. Arnaud leaves for France — The defences of Sebastopol — Batteries thrown up — Interchange of compliments — Gaiety of the Sebastopolitans — Inilispoaition of Lord Cardigan — Lines and parallels fcr the trenches marked. BALAKLAVA, OctohcrZ. The cholera continues its ravages. Col. Beckwitli (1st battalion Bifles), C'a])tain Cox (Grenadier Guards), Col. Iloej'' (30th llegi- ment),Dr. .Mackay, Lieutenant Grant (7'Jth), thellev. Mr. Modeler, and others whose names 1 cannot collect, have died since my last was written. On the 30th, all our heavy guns were parked. On the 1st there was a general rest throughout tlie army. The enemy the whole of that day amused themselves firing sliot and sliell over the heads of our artillery, and General Catlicart was obliged to move liis quarters, as the llussians found out his range and made beautiful MARSHAL ST. ARNAUD RETURNS TO FRANCE. 197 practice at them. However, he left his flagstaff, which seemed of much attraction to them, in the same place, and they continue to hammer away at it as usual. The Second Division moved up on the left of our position to-day, and the Lig-ht Division took ground on the extreme right. The tents have been landed from the " Orinoco," but they have not as yet been sent up to the troops, who have to bivouac as best they may. It is very cold at niglits. Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson has got the command of Captain Patten's battery of artillery, vacated by the decease of the latter- named ofheer by cholera. The light-liouse of Cape Clierson has fallen into our hands, and is lighted up by English sailors. The Russians had left it in dark- ness, but a party of blue-jackets dashed at it on the 26th, and compelled the llussian lighthouse-keeper to illuminate it. They have kept fast hold of it ever since, for the Russians cannot get at it without coming under the fire of our ships. Jack is in great delight at this little feat. The " Firebrand" and " Sanspareil" landed 1000 sailors from the fleet on the 1st. They are under canvas at the head of the Bay of Balaklava. One thousand marines garrison the heights above the town, and the First Division, liberated by their presence, has moved on in advance, and is now supporting the Fourth Division. The Turks are encamped at the Tear and to the right of our Third Division. On Friday, Marshal St. Arnaud left Balaklava for France, and fears are entertained he will never live to see it. The day after the Alma, he was so unwell he was obliged to resign his command to General Canrobert, and the trust could not be placed in more soldierly hands. There was a reconnaissance of the enemy's position yesterday, October 2nd, by Lord Raglan and staff. Sir John Burgoyne also made an engineering reconnaissance. The enemy fired on them, but without efttct. A large body of Russians left Sebastopol this morning, and marched towards the north-east. General Airey and Major Woodford came upon a body of about 5000 Russian troops marching along our light flank this morning, and later in the day a French officer rode across to the camp with intelligence that a large body of Russian infantry was being concentrated on our Tight. Our sailors are busy dragging ships' guns up the hilly roads to-day. They did good service in the same way yesterday. The " Firebrand," which brought in nearly 700 sailors from the fleet yesterday, left again as soon as they were landed, and returned to-day with howitzers for the heights around tiie town of Balaklava. It will be understood from what has been written that Sebastopol is by no means "invested." It is only threatened on the south and south-east side by the army, while the fleet attacks it on the east side. There is an enormous boom across tlie entrance, and many ships have been sunk also close to the battcrijs. We have already found by experience that heavy as our ships' guns are, the Russians, by giving their heavy metal great elevation, are able to throw further from their batteries than we can from our decks. Their shot went over us the other day when ours were falling 500 yards short. At present our army is disposed in two Unes of divi- 198 BALAKLAVA. sion between Balaklava and Sebastopol. In advance on the left, about two miles from the town, is the Second Division. On their ri.tiht is a deep ravine running' towards Sebastopol. At the opposite side of this ravine is the Fourth Division. The Third and Light Divisions are to the right and rear of these columns, and the First Division almost rests on the town, which is garrisoned by marines. The cavalry are on our right Hank, about two miles, and four miles from Balaklava. We are in possession of all the heights, and an enemy would attack us at great disadvantage. Since we landed in the Crimea as many have died of cholera as perished on the Alma. We lost 380 men killed in the action out of the 2000 Jiors de comhat. The dead from cholera now amount to nearly as many. We hear strange things from the deserters. They say that thirty Russian ladies went out of Sebastopol to see the battle of the Alma, as though they were going to a play or a pic- nic. They were quite assured of the success of the Russian troops, and great was their alarm and dismay when they found themselves obliged to leave the telegraph house on the hill, and to fly for their lives in their carriages. Had the cavalry done anything at all, we might have tested the truth of this strange story. There is no doubt but that our enemies were perfectly conhdent of victory — their dejection now is as great as their exultation was before. It appears that fifty- four out of our sixty guns were engaged in the action of the Alma, and that we have tired 900 rounds of am- munition from all the guns since we landed, including the aflair at Bouljanak. The Russians tried to throw some troops into the town to-day, but were obliged to retire by the French. Finally they got in at the north side. The Light Division was kept on the alert all day by the shot and shell of the enemy. They now throw shell 4500 yards, right into our camp, and the division has been constantly moving to-day. To the great astonishment of some Cossacks, a rilleman of the 2nd battalion, named Hubert, dropped one of their number at 900 yards to-day. The state of the Artillery is very healthy, and the fact of their having tents is supposed to account for their exemption from cholera. Our Line regiments have not yet received their tents, but a few have been sent up for present use. Octohrr 4. Forty pieces of heavy artillery were sent up to-day to the i)ark, and twt'lvu tons of gunpowder were safely deposited in the mill on the road towards Sebastopol. As the French had very little ground left on which to operate on our left, the 2nd Division moved to-day from its ])usition, crossed the ravine on its right, and took up ground near the 4th l)ivisi(ni. The French immediately after- wards sent up a portion of tlieir troops to occupy the vacant ground. The Russians have been indefatigable all day in throwing up l)atteries, and have shelled our advanced posts incessantly. Fi'om the range of the guns it is supposed that they have actually got the heavy pieces which were on board the "Tiger." One shell which fell in the camp of tbn 4tb Division was marked with GAIETY IN SEBASTOPOL. 199 the English broad arrow, and had the English brass-covered fusee ; it did not burst. Another, tired with more fatal efi'ect, fell right into a tent in which were several men of the 63rd ILeginieut, exploded, and killed a sergeant and two men. This was at a distance of upwards of 4000 yards. As yet we have not a gun up to answer them, and it is understood that Lord Ilaglan is opposed to any desultory lire, and wishes to have all our batteries opened at once. The French will have sixty heavy guns — our siege guns will number fifty, and the ships will furnish sixty more. Including mortars, Lancaster guns, and howitzers, we shall have about 200 pieces of artillery in position, and available for the fire on the forts. The round fort on tlie right has been nearly hid from view by deep earth works, all made last night and to-day by the Piussians. A spy was captured by Sir John Burgoyne's orders last night. It was a clover notion of the Russians to send out a woman of unquestionable character into our quarters ; but as it was clear she came from Sebastopol, the trick was a stale one to an old campaigner, and the woman was not permitted to return. We hear that the Sebastopolitans are very gay ; that parties and balls take place every night in the forts and on board the ships. Furnaces for heating shots were sent up from the beach to the park to-day, and Sir John Burgoyne ordered Captain D'Aguilar to place his guns on the open ground, and fire with red-hot shot on the two-decker anchored across the harbour. The distance exceeds 3000 yards, and is rather too far for red-hot shot to travel with effect. However, the furnaces are not yet available. Dr. Thomson, of the 44th, who was left with the Russian wounded at the Alma, has returned. Many of them died, others were sent to Odessa and delivered to the Russians. It is said Dr. Thomson had a narrow escape before he got off from a party of Cossacks. He and his servant buried sixty men in one day. The " City of London," Captain Cargill, arrived to-day from Varna with staff horses. She brings very bad news indeed. It appears that seventy-eight horses of the Enniskillen Dragoons, and upwards of one hundred horses of the Royal Dragoons, were shipped some days ago on board the " War Cloud " and the " Wilson Kennedy" at Varna, for transport to this place. On the passage a violent gale of wind arose, and lasted for nearly two days. The sea ran high, the ships laboured and strained excessively ; all the fittings and horse-boxes gave way, and the horses got loose upon the deck. In this terrible condition t'.ie captains of the ships seem to have been unable to do anything to save the valuable animals entrusted to their charge. Seventy out of the sevent3'-eight horses on board the " War Cloud," and one hundred horses on board the " Wilson Kennedy," perished. The " Firebrand " landed guns and howitzers from the fleet, and returned this morning. The cholera continues. We lose about twenty-five men a day out of our greatly diminished force. 1 have to report the loss, from this fatal pest, of one of tliC most promising young officers in the British army. Captain Hylton Jolliffe, of the Coldstream Guards, expired last night, and was interred this morning. 200 BALAKLAVA. October 5. We hear with shame and astonishment to-day that the French Admiral has absolutely sent in a proposition to the Admiral in command of the English fleet, that he — Admiral Hamelin— should send in some French men-of-war to batter the seaward forts of Sebastopol, and that, in order to ascertain the best points for placing his ships, he should be accommodated with the loan of the " Samson," as being one of our most serviceable steamers. Admiral Dundas is said to have disapproved of the suggestion. Such is the rumour which is in everybody's mouth, and, coupled as it is with most painful remarks on the inactivity of our lleet — every oilicer and man of which is burning with a desire to vindicate the reputa- tion of our flag— it has not failed to produce very irritating results. The sailors are busy in dragging up guns with their wonted alacrity. Great quantities of ammunition have been sent up to the artillery park to-day. Dr. Thomson, of the 44th, and Mr. Reade, Assistant Surgeon- Staft', died to-day of cholera. There are 170 men sick in the Light Division alone. The town is in a filthy, revolting state. Lord Eaglan has ordered it to be cleansed, but there is no one to obey the order, and no one attends to it. Lord Cardigan is indisposed, and it is understood he will be obliged to go on board ship. The cavalry have had fatiguing, but not very important duties. They certainly have not done as much as was expected of them, and at the Alma they were quite inactive. The misfortunes we have met at sea tend to multiply to a great extent the value of our reinforcements. The loss of 170 horses out of two small regiments is a serious evil, and worse than that, it is quite irreparable at present. No trenches have been cast up as yet. Gabions and fascines are scarce, and it is difficult to get earth to fill them. The Sappers commenced tracing lines and drawing the parallels this morning, and were not molested by the enemy. The French, on our left, have got five guns in position, but have not yet opened fii-e. The news of a large force of Russians concentrating in our rear and flank, at or near Simpheropol, is repeated in various forms to- day. Our Sappers, when tracing lines to-day, were within half a mile of the Russians, but the latter did not interrupt their labours. Some sutlers, to our infinite mischief, established themselves here to-day. The result is that, for the first time, we have drunkea men in the streets, and work for the Provost Marshal will sooa follow. 201 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. CHAPTER XXXII. Lord Raglan moves his head-quarters — Activity of the Russians — The expe- dition to Yalta — A surprise — Progress of the works — Cheering influence of music — Picqut duty — Intense cold at night — Increased sickness in the canip. Before Sebastopol, October 6. Lord Eaglan' and Staff moved yesterday from the town of Bala- klava, and established head-quarters near the farm of Dzeuzde-otar, about four and a half miles from Balaklava, From the rising ground in front of this position, about a mile and a half distant from head-quarters, the town of Sebastopol is plainly visible. The outworks on the south side are not more than three miles from us, and every day since our army made the masterly march on Bala- klava, the Russians have been throwing up works and fortifying the exposed portions of the to^vn with the greatest energy. We hear that terror and disaffection prevail within the walls ; but assuredly there is no outward sign of them. There are some mili- tary critics who imagine that if we had marched immediately after the battle of the Alma on the track of the defeated army, we might, by a forced march to Balaklava, have entered the town on the south side, and have carried the works by storm. The forts on the north side, Fort Constantine and the Star Fort, command the town, and could inflict great injury on an army in occupation, should such an attempt be crowned with success. Whether the Commandants would hold out after the fall of the town, depends on the nature and disposition of the men ; but, as a general rule, outlying works fall with the principal fortification on which they depend. I am now sitting on the wall of a ruined farmhouse, which serves as a picquet-post for the Third Division, and from which I can look down on the town of Sebastopol. It shines, white and clear, in the tine October sun, and, on a iirst view, it seems open and defenceless on the south and south-east side. The Russians are plainly visible through the glass, working like bees ; women and children are carrying up earth in baskets, and already the white tower on the Tight of our lines is blocked up with a double line of earthworks pierced for guns. The fort is no longer the white fort— it has been painted of a buff colour, probably not to look so conspicuous at night. Fort Constantine and the Star Fort are silent — not a soul is visible around them. A large camp has been formed opposite to the extreme left of our lines, defended by earthworks, but not many men are visible inside. Large masses of men are, however, at drill or parade on a piece of land inside the camp, and probably belong 202 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. to it. There are a few Cossacks prowling about in front, perched on the high grounds and watching our motions. The spires and domes of the various public buildings would be line marks for our guns if we were inclined to fire upon them. There is nothing doing in our front, but in the rear the sailors are busy dragging up guns and carriages. They are splendid fellows at this work, which is a pleasure and not a toil to them, and their merry songs as they drag and strain at the ropes cheer the ear of the passer-by. They have a camp full of quaint names — " Albion's Pets," " Tiger's Re- venge," " Rule Britannia," such terms being marked on the tents, which are pitched on the side of a pleasant hill near the town. The naval officers are very active. Captain Peel has landed the heaviest guns of the "Diamond" proprio motu; and Captain MeCleverty has contributed some fine specimens of heavy metal, sixty-eights, from the " Terrible." The expedition from the Yalta returned to-day. It did nothing. It was not French exclusively, for the English contributed the " Sanspareil," "Tribune," " Fii'ebro,nd ;" the "Jason" and " Golden Fleece" were also sent to carry off the expected stores. The " Napo- leon" and three war steamers represented the French nation. They found a beautiful little Brighton on the shore, and in the valley of the Yalta, still inhabited by Russian "nobility and gentry ;" but they found nothing else. The people were informed that they and their property would be protected, and that all the allies wanted was an open market. The natives rewarded them by demanding prices which would be considered exorbitant iu London, and the result was that the expedition returned as it went, plus four hogsheads of sour wine and a great deal of indignation. The " Golden Fleece," " Hydaspes," and " Jason" sailed this evening for Bourgas to embark the Chasseiu-s d'Afrique and French infantry. The reinforcements landed by the French to day increase their strength by 11,000 strong. The "Rip A''an Winkle" has come in with tlie loss of fifty horses of the Roj^al Dragoons ; the " Wilson Kennedy." has lost still more. This, coupled with the loss of some horses on board the " Simla," and seventy on board tlie " War Cloud," has deprived us of nearly 150 horses. The " Iliraalaya" arrived here to-day with 330 horses. She was only four days from the time she left the fieet till lier return here. Lord Raglan made a reconnaissance to-day. The Russians fire at long ranges every quarter of an hour, and drop the shot close to our advanced camp. October 7. This morning at six o'clock, the sound of field-guns on our right and rear roused every one up at head-quarters. After some fifteen or twenty rounds the firing ceased, and our minds were at rest. The cause of the alarm was soon known. A patrol of the 4th Dragoons, on duty in the right of our r(>ar, were surprised by a large force of regular cavalry in the gray of the morning, and the three hindmost men were lanced and either killed or taken prisoners. The rest of the patrol fell back and prevented the vedettes being surprised in the early dawn. The cavalry turned out, but the enemy appeared in force, and displayed not less than 3500 or 4000 cavalry, sup- ported by several battalions of infantry. Captain Maude, however. POSITION OP THE FRENCH FORCES. 203 soon brought up his active battery of Horse Artillery, and opened on them with such eft'ect that the enemy speedily retreated, leaving two or three dead on the tield and several horses. At ten o'clock three battalions of French infantry and one battalion of Tirailleurs Indigenes marched across from Arrow Bay, through oui- head- quarters, and joined their corps on the rear of our army, near Balaklava. Their line now stretches from Arrow Bay, the ad- vanced posts being Avithin one and a half mile of Sebastopol in that direction, as far as the main road from Inkermann to Sebastopol, and consequently projects beyond oui' rear, and is at right angles nearly to the columns of our divisions, which are formed towards Sebas- topol. The Third, or Bosquet's Division, lies on our left, close to the sea, and has pushed its advanced posts into some farmhouses and stores overlooking Sebastopol on the south-west ; next to it lies the Second Division, nearly in a line with our head-quarters. Behind our head-quarters, or more to the south-east, is the First Division. The Light Division and head-quarters are on the rear of our right, and are busily engaged in throwing up intrenchments which command the valley leading to Balaklava. Another Polish deserter was brought in to-day. He is a com- mon soldier, and his statements may not be entitled to much weight, but he asserts positively that there are 90,000 men within the walls of Sebastopol. Menschikolf is still Commander-in-Chief, Gortschakoft' second in command, and Chomutoff has the direction of the artillery. The Russians have great contidence in the latter, who is said to have greatly distinguished himself on that apocry- phal field of glory, the Caucasus. When he came in, the day before yesterday, the garrison received him with tremendous cheer- ing. General Liiders is next in command to GortschakoiF. To-night the investment of the place on the south side will be com- pleted. Our lines will be pushed on the right and closed in towards the north, so as to prevent supplies or reinforcements passing out or in on this side of the Black River. This measure is absolutely neces- sary to enable our engineers to draw the lines or measiu'c the ground. It is said we shall have a parallel, one only, at the dis- tance of 2000 yards. To render the fire of our heavy gims reaUy effective against the stone-works of the forts, we must run them within 800 or 600 yards. We cannot invest Sebastopol completely — we cannot close it on the north side ; and there is this great peculiarity about our operations, that there is no breach to be made. The place is nearly open on the south side, and all the works are of an offensive character, such as forts and batteries. Lord Raglan rode out at seven this morning, attended by the Q,uartermaster-General Airey and staft', and reconnoitred the ground towards our right. Tliis evening he held a cotincil of war. October s. Orders were issued last night to complete the southern invest- ment, but owing to some cause or other those orders were not carried out, and the investment is still incomplete. During the night, however, our men ran up a battery for a Lancaster gun at about 3000 yards from the Russian right. The gun is not yet mounted, and the works have been discontinued, lest the enemy 204 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. should notice us. They have opened fire from verj^ heavy Runs on the French right and English left ; these guns are in the advanced earthworks. We are still silent as the grave. Illness in the camp diminishes, the weather is very fine ; never- theless, we have to deplore the loss of Major Banner, of the 93rd Highlanders, Lieutenant Freeman, of the iScotch Greys, Lieutenant Walmsley, 77th, and several men since I last wrote. October 9. The whole of this day was spent in getting up guns and ammu- nition to the camp. The ambulance corps, under Captain Grant, were disembarked from the Himalaya. Where were they on the night of the Alma, and on the two terrible days which followed ? It seems the strangest thing in the world that the very men whose serAaces were especially destined for such an occasion, were left behind at Varna. The Russians have been busy working at the White Fort, and have cast up strong earthworks in front of it, and also on the ex- treme left, facing the French. They have fired shell and shot during all the day at intervals of ten minutes, and somtimes pitch them into the camps of the Second and Light Divisions. Sir George Brown has had to move his quarters more to the rear. The Rus- sians sometimes hit an araba — a cow or a horse — some animal, in fact, that has not wit to get out of the way. They have obliged the Third and Fourth Divisions with a few rounds at intervals to-day, and have thrown their shot right over the tents of the commissariat officers of the latter division, though they are well in the rear. There are no casualties of consequence to report. Our men, to-day, under good cover, got down to work in advance of our picquets, and threw up earthworks for a battery of four guns, at a distance of 2500 yards from the Russian lines. This is in- tended f )r Lancaster and 10-inch guns. The Russians seemed to take little notice of them at first, but at last opened from an earth- work to the left of the White Tower. Their shot and shell fell far behind, and plumped into the hill behind them. The Russians making bad practice with shell, they try very long fusees in order to make up for bad calculation, and a shell often lies on the ground for several seconds ere it explodes. The silence and gloom of our camp, as compared with the ac- tivity and bustle of that of the French, arc very striking. No drum, no bugle-call, no music of any kind, is ever heard within our precincts, while our neighbours close by keep up incessant rolls, fanfaronnades, and fiourishes, relieved every evening by the fine performances of their military bands. The fact is, many of our instruments have been placed in store, and the regimental hands are broken up and disorganized, the men being devoted to the performance of the duties for which the ambulance corps was formed. I think, judging I'rom one's own feelings, and from the expressions of those around, that the want of music in camp is productive of graver consL'(iu(;nc('s tlian appear likely to occur at first blush from such a cause. Every military man knows how regiments, when fatigued on the raarcli, cheer up at the strains of their band, and dress up, keep step, and walk on witli animation and vigour when it is playing. At camp, I have always observed INTENSELY COLD NIGHTS. 205 with pleasure the attentive auditory who gathered every evening at the first taps of the drum to listen to the music. At Aladyn and Devno the men used to wander oft' to the lines of the 77th, because it had the best band in the division ; and when the bands were silenced because of the prevalence of cholera, out of a humane re- gard for the feelings of the sick, the soldiers were wont to get up singing parties in their tents in lieu of their ordinary entertain- ment. It seems to be an error to deprive them of a cheering and wholesome influence at the very time they need it most. The mili- tary band is not meant alone for the delectation of garrison towns, or for the pleasure of the officers in quarters, and the men are fairly entitled to its inspiration during the long and weary march in the enemy's country, and in the monotony of a standing camp ere the beginning of a siege. Our neighbours have made the head-quarter camp quite lively by their vicinitj' and their excellent music at night. October 10. Soon after daybreak this morning the Russian batteries opened a heavy fire on the right of our position, but the distance was too great for accuracy of range or precision of flight. The French have achieved a great success. Towards sunset, four battalions, numbering 2,400 men, marched to the front on our left, and at nine o'clock thej' commenced work. Before daybreak they had finished a ditch, parapet, and banquette, 1200 metres long, at a distance of 900 metres from the enemy's line ; and so little did the llussians suspect the operation, that they never fired a gun to distiu'b them. Each man worked and kept guard as one of the covering parties in turn till daybreak, and by that time every man had finished his half metre of work, .so that the 1200 metres were completed. From this position a considerable portion of the enemy's defences on their right is quite under control, and the French can command the heaviest fort on that side. From the top of the ditch seventy- six guns can be counted in the embrasures of this fort. The French have got forty-six guns lying behind the work, ready to mount when the embrasures are made and faced with gabions and fascines, and the platforms are ready. Their present line will be from 200 to 300 yards nearer to the enemy's lines than ours ; but the superior weight of our siege guns will more than compensate for the difference of distance. Our men vnR commence the left attack to-morrow morning, or rather this evening. They go out soon after sunset, and return at daybreak, so as to get into camp ere the enemy can see them. A colonel of a regiment takes charge of the picquets eaeli night in rotation. This picquet n'ork is most trying for officers and men. The cold for the last two nights has been intense, the wind being bitterly sharp and high, and blowing freshly from the north. It has brought with it colds, fevers, ague ; it pierces one's bones even in the warmest tents, and it has produced an increase to our large list of sick. I should be afraid to mention the number of effective men we have at present. It would hardly be credited if I did, and the statement would produce no possible benefit to any one. Deaths from cholera have decreased from twenty- six to about ten per diem. Towards evening to-day the Russians opened a most furious 206 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. tire of enormous shot and shell on our new battery, in which were stationed Captain Colville and his company of the Rifle Brigade, 2nd battalion. It is almost miraculous how they escaped. For about two hours the pounding was incessant. It is plain the Russians see we are setting to work in earnest, and that they think to deter us by round shot and shell. Our cavalry rides about a good deal, but does nothing. Wo don't hear any more stories of Cossacks. I rode round all the lines to-day ; Lieut. Stopford, R.E., who was on duty, accompanied me, and we had some good opportunities of witnessing the effect of the Russian tire from various points in front. Shot and shell ploughed up the heights at either side and behind us, but the cover was excellent ; and, not- withstanding the awkward look and the noise of these angry mis- siles, there was little damage. At the camp of the 30th I saw two enormous shot (84lb. I think), which had ffrst fallen short of their lines, and a 56lb. ball fell into the camp of the Connaught Rangers, and lodged before the very tent-door of an officer just before we arrived there. The tire was so hot towards half-past four o'clock, that an officer of the 30th had to withdraw a working party. CHAPTER XXXIII. The British trenches commenced — Tremendous fire from the enemy — A night sortie — Position of the allied armies — The defences of Sebastopol — Miser- able condition of the Turkish troops — Difficulties and dangers of the siege — Delay unavoidable — Jack Tars working up a gun to the camp — Neglect of the sick. Before Sebastopol, Oct. 11. Last night, after dark, the British troops broke ground before Sebastopol on the extreme right and centre of our position. As an earthwork for a battery had been thrown up the previous day within tire of the enemy's guns, their attention was particularly directed to our movements, and throughout the day they kept up a most tremendous lire on the high grounds in front of the Light and Second Divisions. Shells, 32, 56, and 68-pound shot, and even some of 84 pounds, were thrown every quarter of a minute from the Russian batteries, and ploughed up the ground in every direc- tion. The bursting of the shells all along the hills resembh-d the fire of a park of artillery, and the roaring and whizzing of the large shot tilled up the intervals between the noise of the exjdosions of the cannon. It is almost incredible that no one was hurt all day yesterday ; but our divisions were all screened by the heights from the direct range of the guns. The shot and shell flew over the earthwork in which were Captain Colville and his company of Rifles, and bounding and bursting on the hills behind, rarely reached the summit. Wlien tlie slmt did top the heights, they merely rolled down, and stopped harmlessly among the tents. The Russians, who have usually ceased tiring at sunset, were on the alert last night, and continued their tire against the whole line of our approaches almost uninterruptedly, livery instant the dark- COMMENCEMENT OF THE BRITISH TRENCHES. 207 ness was broken by a flash which had all the efiect of summer lig-htning — then came darkness again, and in a few seconds a fainter flash denoted the bursting of a shell. Our amusement was to sit with stop watches, and count till the report came bursting upon us, followed by the roaring sound of the shot, the peculiar noise which the Scotch would call the " soughing " of the shell, and the explosion of the bomb, and then to estimate the distance of the gun and the range of the ball. The silence in the English camp afibrded a strange contrast to the constant roar of the Russian batteries, to the music and trumpet calls and lively noises of the encampment of our allies. After nightfall the batteries on the Russian centre opened so fiercely that it was expected they were covering a sortie, and the camp was on the alert in consequence. Lord Raglan, accompanied by oui' active Quartermaster-General, Colonel /\irey, and several officers of his staff, started at ten o'clock, and rode along the lines, minutely inspecting the state and position of the regiments and works. They returned at half-past one o'clock in the morning. The only casualties we had during this heavy fire on the night of the 10th were — one man, 68th, died of wounds, legs taken ofi"; one man, 57th, killed by cannon shot; another man, 57th, arm shot off; Lieutenant Rotlierham, 20th, slightly wounded by a stone in the leg, which had been "started" by a cannon shot. Soon after dark, 800 men were marched out_ silently on our left front, and commenced making the first British trenches before Sebastopol. They were under the charge and direction of Captain Chapman, R.E., who has the construction of the works and engi- neering department of the left attack under his control. About 1200 yards of trench were made, though the greatest ditfieulty was experienced in working, owing to the rocky nature of the ground. These trenches will be immediately turned into batteries as soon as the platforms are laid. The cover was tolerably good. The Russians never ceased firing, but attempted nothing more, and those who were hoping for a sortie were disappointed. The "Simla" arrived to-day with 320 Chasseurs d'Afrique. There was an amusing incident to-day, which I ■ndsh I had more time to describe. Towards noon a large ship, under Austrian colours, was seen standing in towards SLbastopol. Fort Constantine opened fire on her at 2500 yards, but the ship never paid the least attention to the shot and shell which fiew over her. The other batteries followed suit, still the Austrian cared not ; " not a sheet did she slack, nor a brace, nor a tack," while the Russian shot hulled her, and roared through her rigging. She came right in front of the batteries, and passed them unscathed, nearing the shore as she came. The " Firebrand" went ofi' to her assistance, and received several shot in her hull while doing so, but Captain Stuart persevered, and, aided by a screw gunboat, brought her off. She was found to be deserted by her crew, who had gone on board the "Britannia" when the wind failed and it was found she was getting near Sebastopol. She was laden with 600 tons of hay for the English army ; her escai^e is almost mii-aculous, but it is a satisfactory proof of the bad gunnery of the Russians. 208 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. Colonel Waddy, Captain Gray, and Lieutenant Mangles, 50th, were wounded by a shell this evening-. Oct. 12. Contrary to their usual custom, the Russian batteries were silent last night. This was so ominous that we expected a sortie from the fort, and it was also rumoured that the llussians said to be in our rear would attack Bahiklava, while the Greeks were to aid them by setting tire to the town. The information on this point was so positive that the authorities resorted totlie extreme measure of ordering the Greeks, men, women, and children, to leave the town, and the order was rigidly carried into efl'ect before evening. An exception was made in favour of the Tartar families, who were all permitted to remain. The Greeks were consoled in their flight by the thought that they carried oif with them a good deal of plunder in tiie shape of clothes which had been left with them to wash, and that they were allowed to take all their property with them. Lieut.-Colonel Daveney is Commandant of the town. Capt. Gordon, lI.E., commenced the formation of our right attack soon after dark. Tour hundred men were furnished from the Second and Light Divisions on the works, and strong covering parties were sent out in front and in rear to protect them. The working party was divided into four companies of 100 men each, and they worked on during the night with such good will that before morning No. 1 party had completed 160 yards ; No. 2, 78 yards ; No. 3, 95 yards ; No. 4, 30 yards — in all 363 yards of trench ready for conversion into batteries. These trenches are covered very perfectly. It was intended that a party of similar strength should be employed on the left and centre, but, owing to one of those accidents which unavoidably occur in night work, the sappers and miners missed ' their way, and got in advance towards the lines of the enemy. They were perceived by an advanced post, which seems to have been the van of a sortie. The Russians opened tire on them at short distance with rifles, and, wonderful to relate, missed them all. The flashes, however, showed our men that strong battalions of Russian infantry were moving silently on towards our works, and the alarm was given to the division in the rear. At twenty- five minutes past one a furious cannonade was opened by the enemy on our lines, as they had thcu ascertained that we had discovered their approach. The Second and Light Divisions turned out, and our field guns attached to them opened fire on the enemy, who were advancing under the ilre of their batteries. Owing to some mis- understanding, the covering parties received orders to retire, and fell back on their lines— all but one company of riflemen, who maintained the ground with tenacity, and lired into the columns of the enemy with efl'ect. The Russians puslud on field-pieces to support their assault. The batteries behind them were livid witli incessant flashes, and the roar of shot and sliell filled the air, mingled with the constant "pingpinging " of rille and musket- balls. All the camps went up. Tlie Frencli on our left got under arms, and the rattle of drums and tlie slnill blast of trumpets were heard amid the roar of cannon aiul smnll arms. For nearly half an hour tliis din lasted, till all of a sudden a ringing cheer was audible on our right, rising through all the turmoil. It was the THE KT.'SSIAX AND ENGLISH WORKS. 209 clieer of the SStla, as they were ordered to charge down the hill on their unseen enemy. It had its effect, for the liussians, already pounded bj' our guns and shaken by the lire of our infantry, as M^ell as by the aspect of the whole hill side lined ■with our bat- talions, turned and Hed under the shelter of their guns. Their loss is not known ; ours was very trifling. The sortie was com- pletely foiled, and not an inch of our lines was injured, while the four gun battery (the main object of their attack) was never closely approached at aU. The alarm over, every one returned quietly to tent or bivouac. It is difficult to describe a military position without reference to a map ; but supposing that each of your readers has a good plan of f?ebastopol before him, I may generally indicate our lines in this waj'. At the distance of about TOO sagines (a sagine is seven feet), from the south extremity of the Careening Bay, is placed a round tower, around which the Russians have thrown up extensive intrenchments, armed with heavy guns. There is a standing camp of cavahy and infantry on a rising ground, on the summit of which this tower is placed, and probably 10,000 or 12,000 men are encamped there. This round tower is provided with guns, which, equally with those in the earthworks below, throw shot and shell right over our advanced posts and working parties, and sometimes pitch them over the hills in our front into the camps below. At the tUstance of 1200 yards from this round tower, in a direction nearly due south south-east, oui* first batteries will be formed, and tlie earthworks have been already thrown up there, inclining with the .slope of the hill towards the end of the Dock3-ard Creek, from which they are distant 930 yards. The guns of this M'ork will command the Dockyard Creek, the ships placed in it, and the part of the town and its defences on the west and south of the creek, while its fire will speedily silence the guns which the llussians have placed on the slope of the hills south of the dockyard buildings. All their shot and shell at present fly over these works, and faU on the hill-side behind them. ' Our left attack extends up towards the slope of the ravine which divides the French from the British attacks, and which runs south- east from the end of the Dockyard Creek up to our head-quarteis at Khutor. Dominating both of these intrenchments, tor most of their course is a heavy battery of eiuht Lancaster and ten inch naval guns, placed at a distance of 2.500 yards from the enemy's lines. The extreme of the French right is about two and half miles from the extreme of the British left attack, f^^outh of the Cemetery, and inclining up towards Quarantine Bay and the fresh- "water wells, are the French lines, which are beautifully made and covered. The fire of the Bussian batteries thrown up from the circular position at the end of the western wall towards the barracks near the end of the Dockyard Harbour, is incessantly directed on them, and shells sometimes burst in the lines, but as a general rule they strike the hill in front, bound over, and burst in the rear. As to heavy round shot, no Cne now cares about them at that distance, for they can be readily seen coming, and may be avoided by ordi- nary care and agility. Our left attack creeps round towards Inker- mann, and commands the place from the influx of the Tchernaya P 210 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, into the head of the bay or harbour of Sebastopol, to the hills near the round tower already threatened by our right attack. The French command the place tVom the sea to the ravine at the end of the Dockyard Harbour, and when their guns are mounted, all the forts, intreuchments, buildinas, earthworks, barracks, batteries, and shipping must be destroyed, unless, as is very unlikely, the Russians silence their fire or dismount their guns. The front of both armies united, and the line of offensive operations to be covered by them, extends from the sea to the Tchernaya for seven and a half or eight miles. From our extreme riaht front to Balaklava our lines extend for about the same distance, and the position of the army has been made so strong on the eastern, south-eastern, flank and "rear, as to set aU the efforts of the Russians to drive us from it utterly at defiance. In the first place, the road from Kadikoi to Kamara, and the western passes of the mountains, have been scarped in three places so effectually that it would be difficult for infantry, and therefore impossible for artillery, to get along it to attack us. A heavy gun has, however, been placed in position on the heights to command this road, and to sweep the three scarps effectually. On the heights over the east side of Balaklava, are_ pitched the tents of about 1000 marines from the various ships of the fleet, and several 24 pound and 32 pound howitzers have been dragged up into position on the same elevation. At Kadikoi, towards the north-west, is situate a sailors' camp of about 800 men, ■with heavy guns in support, and with a temporary park for artillery and ship-guns below them. From Kadikoi towards Traktir the ground is mountainous, or rather it is exceedingly hilly, the heights having a tumular appearance, and the ridges being intersected by ■wide valleys, through a series of which pass on one side Prince Woronzotf's road, the road to Inkermann, and thence to Sebastopol, by a long detour over the Bakshiserai road, and that to Traktir. On five of these tumular ridges overlooking the road to Balaklava, a party of 2000 Turks are busy casting up earthworks for redoubts, under the direction of Captain Wagman, a Prussian engineer officer, who is under the orders of Sir John Burgoyne. In each of these forts will be placed two heavy guns and 250 Turks. These poor fellows work most willingly and indefatigably, though they have been exposed to the greatest privations. For some mysterious reason or othi'r the Turkish government, instead of sending us the veterans who have fought under Omar Pasha, have been contented ■with conveying to our aid a body of men who are, if I am rightly informed, young soldiers, though many of them are certainly elderly men. They are mostly soldiers of only two years' service, the latest levies of the Porte, and belong to the non-belligerent class of barbers, tailors, aud small shopkeepers. Still they are patient, hardy, and strong — how patient 1 am ashamed to say. It IS asserted, on the best authority, to me, that these 8000 men were landed without the smallest care for their sustenance, except that some Marseilles biscuits were sent on sliore for their use. These ■were soon exhausted — the men had nothing else. Since the Alma up to the 10th of October, the whole I'orce have had only two biscuits each ! The rest of their food th(;y had to get by the road- side as best they might, and in this inhospitable and desolated STRENGTHENING OP THE RUSSIAN DEFENCES. 211 country they could not get their only solace, tobacco ; still they marched and worked day after day, picking' v.-p their subsistence ty the way as best they misht, and these proud Osmanli have been actually seen walking about our camps, looking for fragments of rejected biscuit. But their sorrows are now turned to joy, for the British people feed them, and such diet they never had since Mahomet enrolled his first array of the faithful. They delight in their coffee, suaar, rice, and bis^cuits, but many of the True Believers are much perturbed in spirit by the aspect of our salt beef, which, they believe maybe pork in disguise, and they subject it to strange tests ere it is incorporated with Ottoman flesh and blood. They are pressing in their demands for butter and grease, but these unctuous ingredients of the pilaff are not forthcoming in our commissariat. When I visited them the day before yesterday they were working heartily, and those who were not on guard or engaged in the trenches, had made much snugger places for themselves, by scooping out the earth and fencing the hole with boughs, than the English soldiers would have thought of doing. On the heights above and behind these batteries, the French are constructing two lines of earthworks completely controlling the gorge by which alone a considerable force could march to the attack of the rear of the right of our position. These trenches will be at once mounted with guns, and will of themselves constitute a formidable work. The French camps extend thence aU along our rear to their trenches beyond Arrow Bay. October 13. It is now eighteen days since our army by a brilliant and daring forced march on Balaklava obtained its magnificent position on the heights which envelope Sebastopol on the south side from the sea to the Tchernaya ; sixteen days have elapsed since our troops occu- pied these heights, and in conjunction with the French proceeded to invest the town as closely as its extent would allow them to perform that operation. The public must not be indignant when they are told that up to this moment not a British or French gun has replied to the fire of the enemy, and that the Russians have employed the interval in throwing up earthworks, trenches, and batteries, to cover the south side of the town, which have made it almost, if not altogether, as formidable as the opposite side of the creek on which the town is situated, which have gone far to neu- tralize the advantages we had gained by our masterly flank move- ment from the Belbck to Balaklava, and which promise to increase very considerably the difficulties and dangers of the siege. The delay has been, 1 honestly believe, quite unavoidable. Any officer who has been present at great operations of this nature will under- stand what it is for an army to land in narrow and widely-se- parated creeks all its munitions of war — its shells, its cannon shot, its heavy guns, mortars, its powder, its gun carriages, its plat- forms, its fascines, gabions, sand-bags, its trenching tools, and all the various materiel requisite for the siege of extensive and formi- dable lines of fortifications and batteries. Bi;t few ships can come in at a time to Balaklava or Arrow Bay ; in the former there is only one small ordnance wharf, and yet it is there that every British cannon must be landed. The natm-e of our descent on the Crimea P2 212 HEIGHTS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. rendered it quite impossible for us to carry our siege_ train along with lis, as is the wont of armies invading- a neig-hbourin^ country only separated from their own by some imaginary line. We had to send all our materiel round by sea, and then land it asbest wo could. But when once it was landed the difficulties of getting it up to where it was required seemed really to commence. All these enormous masses of metal were to be dragged by men, aided by such inadequate horse-power as is at our disposal, over a steep and iilly country, on wretched broken roads, to a distance of eight miles, and one must have witnessed the toil and labour of hauling up a Lancaster or ten-inch gun under such circumstances to form a notion of the length of time requisite to bring it to its station. It will, however, serve to give some idea of the severity of this work to state one fact — that on the 10th no less than thirty-three ammu- nition horses were found dead, or in such a condition as to render it necessary to kill them, after the duty of the day before. It follows from all these considerations that a great siege operation cannot be commenced in a few days when an army is compelled to bring up its guns as we have done. Again, the nature of tlie ground around Sebastopol offers great impediments to the performance of the neces- sary work of trenching, throwing up parapets, and forming earth- works. The surface of the soil is stony and hard, and after it has been removed the labourer comes to strata of rock and petrous masses of volcanic formation, which defy the best tools to make any impression on them. The result is that the earth for gabions and for sand-bags has to be carried from a distance in baskets, and in some instances enough of it cannot be scraped together for the most trifling parapets. This impediment is experienced to a greater extent by the British than by the French. The latter have had better ground to work upon, and they have found fine beds of clay beneath the first coating of stones and earth, which have been of essential service to them in forming their works. Having gone thus far in the way of apology, or rather having pointed out to persons who may not be thoroughly acquainted with such under- takings_ the causes of the delay which has taken place since our partial investment of Sebastopol in opening fire upon its defences, it is gratifying to be able to state that on Sunday, or at furthest on Monday morning next, upwards of 130 pieces of heavy artillery will be in position, and that our guns will be able to reply to the fire of the Russians. We have opened about 1500 yards of trench, much of which is in a fit state for the reception of heavy guns. The Trench have completed somewhat more, say 1600 metres, and are rather more forward than we are, but they have not yet landed all their heavy guns. An immense amount of gunpowder, sliot, and shell has been carried up from Balaklava to the Hues, and is placed in ]jark and reserve ready for use ; but there are many guns landed for which we have no present use, and large numbers of heavy pieces and quantities of ammunition and ball remain in the town magazines or in tlie field magazines along the road. Jack has beea of essential service in this hard work. The only thing against him is that he is too strong. He pulls strong carts to pieces as if they were toys. He piles up shot-cases in the ammunition wagons till the horses fall under the weight, for he cannot understand I JACK TARS WORKING UP A GUX. 213 'the ship starting till the hold is full." He takes long pulls and strong pulls at tow ropes till they give like sewing silk, and ho is indefatigable in " rousing" crazy old vehicles up hill, and running full speed with them down hill till they fall to pieces. Many a heap of shot or shell by the roadside marks the scenes of such disas- ters; but Jack's good humour during this "spree on shore" is in- exhaustible, and he comes back for the massive cargo from the camp with the greatest willingness when he is told it must be got up ere nightfall. It is most cheering to meet a set of these jolly fellows "working up a gun to the camp." From a distance you hear some rough hearty English chorus borne on the breeze over the hill side. As you approach the strains of an unmistakeable Gosport fiddle, mingled with the squeaks of a marine life, lise up through the unaccustomed vales of the Crimea. A cloud of dust on the ascent marks their coming and tugging up the monster gun in its cradle with "a stamp and go," strange cries, and oaths sworn by some thirty tars, all Hushed with honest exercise, while the officer in charge tries to moderate their excessive energies, and to induce the two or three hairy Hercules who are sitting astride on the gun or on the few horses in front, with vine-leaves in theii* hats or flowers in their hair, to dismount and leave off the music. The astonishment of the stupid fur-capped Crim Tartars, as they stare at this wondrous apparition on its way, is ludicrous to a degree ; but Turk, Crim, Russian, or Greek are all the same to Jack, and he is certain to salute every foreigner who goes by, while in this state, with the universal shibboleth of " Bono ! Bowno ! Johnny !" The sailors' camp is now formed near the artillery park of the left attack, near the lines of the Third Division. There are about 2000 men on shore. The officers who command the ^aval Brigade, are — Capt. S. Lushington, Capt. "William Peel, and Commander Eandulph. The Marine Battalions, numbering about 1200 men, are encamped on the heights over Balaklava. They are to have charge of the batteries of howitzers which wiU be placed on those heights, and are intrusted with the charge of the road to the town from the eastern heights. Our siege-train is divided into two "attacks" — the "right" and the "left" attack. The officers commanding the batteries on the right attack, are— Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, Captain D'Aguilar, and Captain Strange. The officers commanding the batteries of the left attack, are— Major Young, Major Freese, and Major Irving. The whole of the siege-train is commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Gambler. _ The medical officers of the British division have unhappily laid themselves open to very severe animadversion, in an order which was issued by the Commander-in-Chief, on the 11th inst., for their neglect of the sick sent down from the Camp to Balaklava, but for whose reception no preparation had been made ; the consequence •was, that many of them remained in the streets for several hoiu's exposed to very inclement weather. 214 THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Allies open fire on the Russian defences — Furious cannonade on both sides — Explosions in the French batteries — Attack on tlie sea-side — False alarms — Advance of the French works — Serious diminution of the English army — Our fire slackens. Before Sebastopol, October 17. On the night of the 16th it was determined that our fire should be Opened on the Russian lines the following morning, as it was evi- dent the enemy was intrenching himself with much activiiy, and greatly strengthening his position. In spite of the efforts of our engineers, our works were not quite completed, and most of the mortars could not be mounted in the batteries. Firing commenced, however, from the French and English batteries by signal at 6 30 a.m. on the 17th, but for thirty minutes previous the Russians fired furiously on all the batteries. The cannonade on both sides was most violent for nearly two hours. Our left attack consisted of four batteries and 36 guns ; our right attack, of 20 guns, in battery. There were also two Lancaster batteries and a four-gun battery of 68-pounders on our right. The French had about 46 guns. In all we were supposed to have 117 guns to subdue about 130 guns of the Russians. At eight o'clock it was apparent that the French batteries in their extreme right attack, overpowered by the fire and enfiladed by the guns of the Russians, were very much weakened ; their fire slackened minute after minute. At 8 30 the fire slackened on both sides for a few mintites, but recommenced with immense energy, the whole town and the line of •works enveloped in smoke. At 8 40 the French magazine in the extreme right battery of twelve guns blew up with a tremendous explosion, killing and wounding 100 men. The Russians cheered, fired with renewed Tigour, and crushed the French fire completely, so that they were not able to fire more than a gun now and then at intervals, and at ten o'clock tliey were nearly silenced on that side. At 10 30 the iire plaekeued on both sides, but the Allies and Russians re-opened vigorously at 10 45. Our practice was splendid, but our works were cut up by fire from the Redan and from tiie Avorks round a circular martello tower on our extreme right. At 12 45 the French line-of-battle ships ran tip in most magni- ficent style and engaged the batteries on the sea side. The scene was indescribable, the Russians replying vigorously to the attacks by sea and land, though suftering greatly. At 1 25 another magazine in the French batteries blew up. The FURIOUS CANKONADE, 215 cannonade was tremendous. Our p:uns demolished the Round Tower, but could not silence the works around it. At 1 40 a great explosion took place iu the centre of Sebastopol amid much cheering from our men, but tiie iire was not abated. The Lancaster guns made bad practice, and one burst. At '2 .55 a terrific explosion of a powder magazine took place in the Russian Redan Fort. The Russians, however, returned to their guns, and still fired from the re-entering angle of their works. The can- nonade was continuous from the ships and from our batteries, but the smoke did not permit us to see if the British fieet was engaged. At 3 30 a loose powder store inside our naval battery was blown up by a Russian shell, but did no damage. The enemy's earth- works were much injured by our fire, the Redan nearly silenced, and the fire of the Round Tower entrenchments diminished, though the inner works are still vigorous. At 3 35 the magazine inside the works of the Round Fort was blown up bj' our shot. At four the ships outside were ripping up the forts and stone- works and town by tremendous broadsides. Only the French flag was visible, the English fleet being on the opposite side of the harboiu". Orders were given to spare the town and buildings as much as possible. From four to 5 30 the cannonade from oiu* batteries was very warm, the Russians replying, though our fire had evidently esta- blished its superiority over theirs, the ships pouring iu broadside after broadside on Forts Kicholas and Constantine at close ranges. Tow'ards dusk the fire slackened greatly, and at night it ceased altogetlier, the Russians for the first time being silent. The French have lost about 200 men, principally by the explo- sions ; our loss is very small — under 100 killed and wounded since the siege began. October IS. The fire was resumed this morning soon after daybreak. The French were stiU unable to support us. Their extreme left is still silenced. They will not be ready till the 19th or 20th, so damaged are they by the Russian fire. Duiiug the night the Russians remounted their guns and brought up fresh ones, and established a great superiority of fire and weight of metal. At 10 a.m. the alarm was given that the Russians were march- ing to attack our rear on the Balaklava road. Lord Raglan and staff', with large bodies of French troops, at once moved there, and found the Russian cavalry and two battalions of infantry, with one gun, endeavouring to creep up in a fog to the outposts. The Turks opened a fire from the redoubts, and the Prussians retired. At this moment (3 p.m.) the Russians are pressing us very hard, returning three shots for our two. Colonel Hood, of the Guards, was killed iu the trenches to-day. Some deserters came in from the enemy. Admiral Kornileff is, they state, dead ; he was wounded in the thigh so severely while superintending the fire in the Round Tower battery that he had to undergo an amputation, fiom the effects of which he died. The 216 THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT. Russians have suffered a severe loss in the death of this officer, whose name may be familiar to some readers in connexion with the Sinopc expedition. October 19. The enemy scarcely fired a shot during the night of the 18th. Our batteries were equally silent. The French on their side opened a few guns on their right attack, which they had been working to get into position all night ; but they did not succeed in tiring many rounds before the great preponderance of the enemy's metal tiuido itself felt, and their works were damaged seriously ; iu fuL't, their lines, though nearer to the enemy's batteries than our ovi'n iu some instances, were not sufliciently close for the light brass guns with which they were armed. At daybreak the firins: continued as usual from both sides. The ilussians, having spent the night in repairing the batteries, were nearly iu the same posi- tion as ourselves, and, unaided or at least unassisted to the full extent we had reason to expect by the French, we were just able to hold our own during the day. Some smart afiairs of skirmishers and sharp-shootei's took place in front. Our rificmen annoy the llussiau gunners greatly, and prevent the tirailleurs from showing near our batteries. On one occasion the Russian rificmen and our own men came close upon each other in a quarry before the town. Our men had exhausted all their ammunition ; but as soon as they saw the Russians they seized the blocks of stone which were lying about, and opened a vigorous volley on the enemy. The latter either had empty pouches, or were so much surprised that they forgot to load, for they resorted to the same missiles. A short fight ensued, which ended iu our favour, and the Russians retreated, pelted vigorously as long as the men could pursue them. The coolness of a young artillery officer, named JIaxwell, who took some ammunition to the batteries through a tremendous fire along- a road so exposed to the enemy's fire that it has been called " The Valley of Death," is highly spoken of on all sides. The blue jackets are delighted with Captain Peel, who animates the men by the exhibition of the best qualities of an officer, though his courage is sometimes marked by an excess that borders on rashness. When the Union Jack in the sailors' battery was shot awaj', he seized the broken stafl', and leaping up on the earthworks waved the old bit of bunting again and again in a storm of shot, which fortunately left him untouched. Our ammunition is running short, but sui)plies arc expected every moment. Either from a want of cartridges or from the dif- ficulty of gi'tting powder down to the works, our 12-gun batteiy was silent for sonu; time. TJic Admiral (Sir E. Lyons), on his little grey i)oncy, is to be seen hovtiring about our lines iudefatigably. To-day he rode out with Lcn-d Raglan and Ins staff', and spent some tiTue iu examining the progress of our fire from a quarry in a hill overlooking the right attack. Two more 68-pounders were brought up to Captain (Gordon's attack, and two more were ordered to be added to Cajitaiu Chapuuin's attack last night, but they could not be got into pt)sition in time for tlie o])euing of the fire. We have to dei)lorc the loss of Lieut. -Colonel Alexander, R.E., a most ener- getic and indefatigable oificer. By his decease, Captain Gordon, RUSSIAN EARTHWORKS. 217 E.E., succeeds to the command of the Eoyal Engineers, and his place in command of the left attack Avillbe taken by Major Tylden, late Brigade-Major of Royal Engineers. The smoke was so thick at intervals to-day that but little could be seen but its continual folds. The French fire slackened very much towards one o'clock, the enemy pitching shells right into theii- lines and enfilading part of their new works. Hour after hour one continuous boom of cannon was alone audible, and the smoke screened all else from view. At a quarter past three there was an explosion of powder in the tower opposite to our right attack. The Flagstaff Fort seemed much knocked about by the French. The lledan and Kound Tower earthworks tire nearly as well as ever. As it was very desirable to destroy the ships an- chored in the harbour below us, and to lire the dockyai'd buildings, our rockets were brought into play, and, though rather erratic ia their flight, they did some mischief, though not so much as was expected. Wherever they fell the people could be seen flying up the streets when the smoke cleared. At three o'clock p.m. the town was on tire, but after the smoke had excited our hopes for some time, it thinned away and went out altogether. They kept smartly at work from three guns in the Hound Tower works, and from some four or five in the iledan, on our batteries. The Lan- casters came out in force to-day. The men begin to understand them, and the true value of the arm is becoming apparent. October 20. Two 68-pounders were mounted last night in our batteries, and the firing, which nearly ceased after dark, was renewed by day- break. AVe are all getting tired of this continual " pound-pound- ing," which makes a great deal of noise, wastes much powder, and does very little damage. It is very hard to batter down earth- works. Most people aboiit London have seen the Artillery butt at Woolwich. How long has it lasted our " heavy fire" of artillery ? Then, again, the Russians have plenty of labourers. They easily repair at night what we destroy and damage during the da j-. It is difficult for us to do the same. Our men are worn out with fatigue; the daily service exhausts them, and the artillerymen cannot have more than five hours' rest in the twenty-four. They are relieved every eight hours, but it takes them three hours to get down to their work and return from it to the camp. Om* amateurs are quite disappointed and tired out. I fear so are people in England, but they must have patience. Rome was not built in a day, nor will Sebastopol be taken in a week. In fact, we have run away with the notion that it was a kind of pasteboard city, which would tumble down at the sound of our cannon as the walls of .lerieho fell at the blast of Joshua's trumpet. The news that Sebastopol had fallen, which we received via England, has excited great in- dignation and ludicrous astonishment here. The whole army is enraged about it, as they feel the verity, whatever it may be and whenever it may be realized, must fall short of the eft'ect of that splendid figment. They think, too, that the laurels of the Alma will be withered in the blaze of popular delight at the imaginary capture. In fact, people at home must know very little about us or oxir position. 1 was much amused at seeing in a recently- 218 THE FIRST B0MBARD3IEKT. arrived journal a letter fi'om an " Old Indian" on the manufacture of campaign bread more Tndico, in which he advises us out here to use salt ! milk ! and butter ! in the preparation of what must be most delicious food. Salt is a luxury which is rarely to be had except in conjunction with porky fibre ; and as to milk and buttei% the very taste of them is forgotten. Lord Haglan was very glad to get a Uttie cold pig and ration rum and water one night on our march here. However, the hardest lot of aU is reserved for our poor horses. All hay rations for baggagers are rigidly refused; they only receive a few pounds of indifferent barley. There is not a blade of grass to be had — the whole of these plateaux and hills are covered m ith thistles only, and Avhere the other covering of the earth goes I know not. The hay ration for a charger is restricted to 6 lb. daily. Under these circumstances horse-flesh is cheap, and friendly presents ai'e being continually offered by one man to an- other of " a deuced good pony," which are seldom accepted. "When day broke this morning we saw the Russians actively en- gaged in throwing up new works at the rear of the Redan, to pro- tect the ordnance stores and buildings. October 21. The pounding of Sebastopol has now been going on for five days, and amid the thunder of artillery in the front I snatch a few moments to write to you. Our position here is the same, and we are in constant expectation of having something warm upon our hands. On the 18th, early in the morning, a vedette was seen " circling left" most energetically ; — and here, in a parenthesis, I must explain that when a vedette " circles left," the proceeding signifies that the enemy's infantry are approaching, while to ,' circle right" is indicative of the approach of cavalry. On this signal was immediately heard the roll-call to "boot and saddle ;" the Scots Greys and a troop of Horse Artillery assembled with the remaining cavalry on the plain ; the 93rd got under arms, and the batteries on the heights were immediately manned. The distant picquets were seen to advance, and a dragoon dashed over the plain with the intelligence that the enemy was advancing quickly. Then cavalry and infantry moved upon the plain, remaining in rear of the eminences from which the movements of the vedettes had been observed. This position of things continued for an hour, when, from the hills, about 3000 yaids in front, the Turks opened fire from their advanced intrenchments on their summits from 24- pounder howitzers, firing several rounds from two batteries. At this moment Ave were informed that the enemy " meant advancing," and that they numbered several thousands, and that we should have a hard day. We were thoroughly prepared for them, and remained in statu quo. The Moskows, however, halted in flieir onward course, and in the evening lighted their watch-fires about 2000 yards in front of our vedeUes, the blaze showing bright and high in the darkness. The Russians had made a reconnaisance three weeks ago in this direction, when there were no works here, so had not bargained for a iiist reception at this point. Of course, we were on the alert all night, and before the day broke were par- ticularly attentive to our front. Iftlid Russians had intended to atlack us at that time, tliey could not have had a more favourable morning, a low dense white fog covering the whole of the plain. CONTINUAIi ALARMS. 21 tf The stin rose, and the mists disappeared, when it was found the Kussinns had vanished also. The next day we naturally expected would be a quiet one, and that we should not be annoyed by re- maininff at our arms for our final work. Not a bit of it ; we had just laden ourselves with havresacks to forage among the merchant shipping in the harbour, when a vedette was seen to " circle right" most industriously. " Boot and saddle" again resounded through the cavalry camps, and Sir Colin Campbell again ordered all to be under arms, and another day was passed like its predecessor, the enemy iinally once more retiring, this time without advancing near enough for a shot from the Turks. The next day I had a foraging expedition, and returned with a goose, butter, preserved milk, &c. — a very successful foray, and a full havresack. We were just be- ginning our meal of commissariat beef and pork, tempered with, the contents of the aforesaid havresack, when away went the vedette again, first circling right and then reversing as suddenly to the left. Again sounded trumpet, bugle, and drum through the plain, and masses again moved into position upon it. So we remained till dark, a night attack on the Turkish position in our front being anticipated, and the batteries received orders to fire upon any troops perceived in certain eventualities, and so we again, stand all ready for some hoirrs, during which the only amusement is in the hands of the Turks, who lire a round or two ; darkness finds us similarly occupied. About nine o'clock a smart fire of musketry is heard from the Turkish heights, and its light sparkles over the hills ; we now feel that our i-is-d-vis means something; then again all is unaccountably quiet, until some batteries open a pealing fire, and then the bursting slaells illuminate the sides of the hills. We strain our eyes in the darkness, and wonder what the deuce it means ; afterwards all is still, and the men lie down in their great coats to rest, though ready for momentary action. No camp fires were allowed to burn during the night ; the men were dismissed at eight o'clock for two or three hours, and the vedettes have at present allowed us tranquillity. Noon. — We learn that the Turkish musketry was directed upon some Cossacks, and that the batteries had mistaken the preparations for chibouque lighting of a strong Turkish advanced picquet for flashes of musketry, and blazed away — fortunately, in the thick darkness of the night, haAing given their guns sufficient elevation for the shell to pass harmlessly over the heads of our astonished allies, and burst far beyond. The " Agamemnon " led in (she was within 500 yards of Fort Constantine, and had only two feet water under her bottom), and the " Albion " made signal, " Y^here you go, I will foUow." The Garden Battery is very troublesome to us and the French. The latter are pushing up zig-zags and parallels close to the enemy's Unes, and expect to be able to get their batteries to within 400 metres of the place. They are exposed to very heavy fire, and the Russians ply them with shell admirably. At 2 50 p.m. a fire broke out behind the Ikdan, caused by our Tockets, shell, and red-hot shot. At 3 15 p.m. a fire of less magni- tude was visible to the left of the Redan, further in towards the centre of the town. 220 THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT. I regret that H.R.H. Prince Edward of Saxc "Weimar, who is a universal favourite, and has behaved with the greatest gallantry throughout the campaign, was wounded to-day in the treuchus. His wound is, however, not at all serious. Our loss yesterday was three killed and thirty-two or thirty-three wounded. 1 have just heard that the fires we saw to-day were most disastrous. We have unfortunately burnt the hospital, which, the deserters say, was full of wounded men from the Alma and from the batteries. We have also destroyed a small war steamer. The " Earl of Shaftesbury" has come into Balaklava, with siege train and ordnance stores—just in time. The llussians slacken fire. There are only three guns from the Iledan to-day, worked vigorously. The Hound Tower and Garden liattery are as strong as ever. The enemy have got up a large gun to Inkermann, with which they pitch shot and shell into the camp of the Second Division merely to annoy them. October 22. Last night a battery was finished before Inkermann, and two 18 -pounders were mounted in it, in order to silence the heavy ship gun which annoyed the Second Division yesterday. The steamer "Vladimir" came up to the head of the harbour, and opened fire on the right attack of our men. She threw her shells with beautiful accuracy, and killed two men and wounded twenty others before we could reply effectually. A large traverse was erected to resist her fire, and she has hauled off. Twenty-two guns have been placed in a condition to open in this attack by the exertions of the men under Major Tylden, who directs it. They have all begun this morning. There were nearly a dozen silent last night. On the left attack, under Captain Chapman, traverses and plat- forms were repaired, and a new battery was commenced. Our men also commenced a new battery, to be armed with 3'2-pounders, to fire on the shipping below. The site of this is on the left and in front of the left attack, and it will not be further than 550 yards from the place. Lord Dunkellin, Captain Coldstream Guards, and eldest son of the Marquis of Clanricarde, was taken prisoner this morning. He was out with a working party of his regiment, which had got a little out of their way, when a number of men were observed through the dawning light in front of them. " There are the Kussians," exclaimed one of the men. " Nonsense, they're our fellows," said his lordship, and off ho went towards them, asking in a high tone as he got near, " Who is in command of this party ?" His men saw him no more. As tliey were unarmed, they retreated rapidly, but there is no fear of his lordship's safety, _ for the Eussians fired no shot, and merely closed round and seized him ere he could get away. The llussians opened a very heavy cannonade on us this morning ; they have always done so on Sundays. Divine service was per- formed with a continued bass of cannon rolling through the responses and liturgy. The French are terribly cut up by the Garden Battery, more so, however, by their misfortune of last night. The llussians made a stealthy sortie towards morning, and A STEALTHY SORTIE, 221 advanced close to the French picqnets. "When challenged, they replied, " Inglis, Inglis," which passed muster with our allies as hand fide English, they say; and before they knew where they were, the llussians had charged them, got into their batteries and spiked hvc mortars. They were speedily repulsed ; but this mis- adventure has mortified our brave allies exceedingly. The night before they fired on a party of men who used the same passe par- tout, and they turned out to be Russians. They were too confiding the second time. No incident of consequence occurred to-day. It was all filled up with volleys of artillery. A Pole and some Russians deserted last 'Jiight. They tell us that the enemy have lost 3000 killed and wounded, that the town is in a frightful state — the shops closed, the merchants fled, the goods placed underneath in the cellars, and that the " pointed" balls and shells (Lancasters) do frightful mis- chief. There are no longer volunteers to work the guns, as there were at first. The men have now to be forced to the batteries. Many poor women and children have lost their lives in this terrible cannonade. It seems incredible that the Russian authorities should have let them stay in the town when they could have easily sent them across by the bridge of boats to the north side. Provisions still continue plenty, and water is abundant in the town. Sir E. Lyons went out to-day in front as usual. There was brisk skirmishing to-day between our sharpshooters ; we killed and "wounded thirty men, and took several prisoners, among them a young oflicer shot thi'ough the jaws, who cannot speak. The loss of our men was very small. Our artillerymen are very much exhausted ; our fusees are bad, and the platforms are much com- plained of. October 24. The return of killed and wounded for the 22nd of the month, during the greater part of which a heavy tire was directed on our trenches, and battery attacks right and left, shows the excellent cover of our works and their great solidity. We only lost one man killed in the Light Division, and two men in the Siege Train ; of wounded we had one in the First Division, two in the Second Division, two in the Third Division, six in the Fourth Division, five in the Light Division, and ten in the Siege Train. A request made to us by the French that we would direct our fire on the Barrack Battery, which annoyed them excessively, was so well attended to that ere evening we had knocked it to pieces and silenced it. The Garden Battery is little better. About 500 men came to-day, as fit for service, from Scutari. They were landed at Balaklava, and proceeded to march out to their camps, but I regret to say that before they had marched many miles — indeed, there are not many to march — more of the poor fellows than it was pleasant to count fell out exhausted, proving that they had not quite recovered from their illness. The diminution of our numbers every day is enough to cause serious anxiety. Out of 35,600 men borne on the strength of the army there are not more now than 16,500 rank and rile fit for ser- vice. Since the 10th of this month upwards of 700 men have been sent as invalids to Balaklava. There is a steady drain of some 222 THE FIRST BOMBARBMENT, forty or fifty men a-day going: out from us, whicli is not dried up by the numbers of the returned invalids. Even the twenty or thirty a-day wounded and disabled, when multiplied by the num- ber of the days we have been here, becomes a serious item in the aggregate. We are badly off for spare gun carriages and wheels, for ammunition and forage. On (lit that the llussian Governor sent in yesterday to Lord P^aglan to ask for a day's truce to bury the dead on both sides. The same authority has it that Lord Raglan replied, " He had no dead to bury." The Russians, in revenge for this, are_ leaving their dead where they fall outside the lines, and also bring them out from the town, and place them in the valley frequented by our picquets and skirmishers, who are much annoyed by the stench. This is a new engine of warfare. An ambulance corps under Cap- tain Grant is doing good service now that it has arrived. The weather continues to be beautifully mild. The " Tonning" brought in Colonel Hood, of the Guards, Lord James Miu-ray, Captain Ellison, &c. Several officers of the Irish constabulary, and of the commissariat departments, also arrived in her. The I'rench send out 400 men of each battalion every night to their works, and all the ground in front of them is excoriated with trenches, parallels, zig-zags, and approaches. Our mortar fire has nearly ceased. The complaints against our fusees are louder every day. The Russians opened a new battery last night. They now have 230 guns upon us and the Trench, and our fire has been reduced considerably. THE ACTION AT BALAKLAVA. CHAPTER XXXV. Position of the armies on the 25th of October — The Russians deboucli through the gorge of the Tcheniaya into the valley of BalaklavM — The Turks abandon their redoubts — Tremendous charge of the Russian cavalry— Bravo Highlanders! — Glo --ous charge of the Scots Greys and Enniskillen — Rout of the enemy — The rash onslaught of the Light Cavalry — Terrible slaughter — Barbarous ferocity of the enemy — Retreat of the Russians. Before Sebastopol, October 2.5. If the exhibition of the most brilliant valour, of the excess of courage, and of a daring wliicih would have refiected lustre on the best days of chivalry can ait'ord full consolation fur the disaster of to-day, we can have no reason to regret the melancholy loss which we sustained in a contest with a savage and barbarian enemy. I shall proceed to describe, to the best of my power, what oc- curred under my own eyes, and to state tlie facts which 1 have heard from men whose veracity is unimpeachable, reserving to myself the exercise of the right of private judgment in making ASPERSIONS ON THE CAVALRY. 223 public and in suppressing the details of what occurred on this memorable day. Before I proceed to my narrative, I must pre- mise that a certain feeling' existed in some quarters that our cavalry had not been properly handled since they landed in the Crimea, and that they had lost g-olden opportunities from the indecision and excessive caution of their leaders. It was said that our cavalry ought to have been manceuvred at Boul- janak in one way or in another, aocording: to the fancy of the critic. It was affirmed, too, that t>ie Light Cavali-y were utterly useless in the performance of one of their most important duties — the collection of supplies for the army — that they were " above their business, and too line gentlemen for their work ;" that our horse should have pushed on after the flying enemy after the battle of the Alma, to their utter confusion, and with the certainty of taking many guns and prisoners ; and, above all, that at Mackenzie's farm flrst, and at the gorge near Inker- mann subsequently, they had been improperly restrained from charging, and had failed in gaining great successes, which would have entitled them to a full share of the laiirels of the cam- paign, solely owing to the timidity of the officer in command. The existence of this feeling was known to many of our cavalry, and they were indignant and exasperated that the faintest shade of suspicion should rest on any of their corps. With the justice of these aspersions they seemed to think they had nothing to do, and perhaps the prominent thought in their minds was that they would give such an example of courage to the world, if the chance offered itself, as would shame their detractors for ever. In my last I mentioned that several battalions of Russian in- fantry had crossed the Tchernaya, and that they threatened the rear of our position and our communication with Balaklava. Their bands could be heard playing at night by the travellers along the Balaklava road to the camp, but they" showed" but little during the day, and kept up among the gorges and mountain passes through which the roads to Inkermann, Simpheropol, and the south-east of the Crimea wind towards the interior. The position we occupied in reference to Balaklava was supposed by most people to be very strong — even impregnable. Our lines were formed by natural mountain slopes in the rear, along which the Trench had made very formidable entrenchments. Below those entrenchments, and very nearly in a right line across the valley beneath, ai-e four conical hillocks, one rising above the other as they recede from oiu' lines ; the furthest, which joins the chain of moun- tains opposite to our ridges being named Canrobert's Hill, from the meeting there of that general with Lord Kaglan after the march to Balaklava. On the top of each of these hills the Turks had thrown up earthen redoubts, defended by 250 men each, and armed with two or three gims — some heavy ship guns — lent by us to them, with one artillerjoiian in each redoubt to look after them. These hills cross the valley of Balaklava at the distance of about two and a half miles from the town. Supposing the spectator, then, to take his stand on one of the heights forming the rear of our camp before Sebastopol, he would see the town of Balaklava, with its scanty shipping, its narrow strip of water, and its old forts on his 224 THE ACTION AT BALAKLAVA. right hand ; immediately below he would behold the valley and plain of coarse meadow land, occupied by our cavalry tents, and stretching from the base of the ridge on which he stood to the foot of the formidable heights at the other side ; he would see the French trenches lined with Zouaves a few feet beneath, and distant from him, on the slope of the hill ; a Turkish redoubt lower down, then another in the valley, then, in a line with it, some angular earthworks, then, in succession, the other two redoubts up to Can- robert's Hill. At the distance of two or two and a half miles across the valley there is an abrupt rocky mountain range of most irre- gular and picturesque formation, covered with scanty brushwood here and there, or rising into barren pinnacles and plateaux of rock. In outline and appearance this portion of the landscape is wonderfully like the Trosachs. A patch of blue sea is caught in between the overhanging clifis of Balaklava as they close in the entrance to the harbour on the right. The camp of the Marines, pitched on the hill sides more than 1000 feet above the level of the sea, is opposite to you as your back is turned to Sebastopol and your right side towards Balaklava. On the road leading up the valley, close to the entrance of the town and beneath these hiUs, is the encampment of the 93rd Highlanders. The cavah'y lines are nearer to you below, and are some way in advance of the Highlanders, but nearer to the town than the Turkish redoubts. The valley is crossed here and there by small waves of land. On j^our left the hiUs and rocky mountain ranges gradually close in towards the course of the Tchernaya, till, at three or four miles' distance from Balaklava, the valley is swallowed up in a mountain gorge and deep ravines, above which rise tiers after tiers of desolate whitish rock, garnished now and then by bits of scanty herbage, and spreading away towards the east and south, where they attain the Alpine dimensions of the Tschatir Dagh. It is very easy for an enemy at the Belbek, or in command of the road of Mackenzie's farm, Inkermann, Simpheropol, or Bakshiserai, to debouch through these gorges at any time upon this plain from the neck of the valley, or to march from Sel)astopol by the Tchernaya, and to advance along it towards Balaklava, till checked by the Turkish redoubts on the southern side, or by the fire from the French works on the northern side — i.e., the side which, in relation to the valley to Balaklava, forms the rear of our position. It was evident enough that Mensehikoff and Gortschakoft" had been feeling their way along this route for several days iiast, and very ])robably at night the Cossacks had crei)t up close to our jiicquets, which are not always as watchful as miglit be dcsind, and had observed the weakness of a position far too extended for our army to defend, and occupied by their despised enemy, the Turks. At lialf-past seven o'clock this morning, an orderly came gallop- ing in to the head-quarters cam]) from Balaklava, with the news, that at dawn a strong corjjs of Kussian hoi'se, supi)orted by guns and battalions of infantry, had marched into the valley, and had already nearly disixissessed the Turks of the redoubt No. 1 (that on Caurobert's Hill, which is farthest from our lint's), and that they were opening lire on the reduuljls JN'os. 2, 3, and 4, Avhieh would KEHAEKABLE ACILITV OF THE TURKS, 225 speedily be in their hands unless the Turks offered a stouter reaist- ance than thej- had done already. Orders were despatched to Sir George Cathcart, and to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, to put their respective divisions, the Fourth and the First, in motion for the scene of action ; and intelligence of the advance of the Kussians was also furnished to General Canro- bert. Immediately on receipt of the news, the General commanded General Bosquet to get the Third Division under arms, and sent a strong body of artillery and some 200 Chasseiu-s d'Afrique to assist us in holding the valley. Sir Colin Campbell, who was in command of Balaklava, had drawn up the 93rd Highlanders a little in front of the road to the town, at the first news of the advance of the enemJ^ The marines on the heights got under arms ; the seamen's batteries and marines' batteries, on the heights close to the town, were manned, and the French artillerymen and the Zouaves pre- pared for action along their lines. Lord Lucan's little camp was the scene of great excitement. The men had not had time to water their horses ; they had not broken their fast from the evening of the day before, and had barely saddled at the first blast of the trumpet, when they were drawn up on the slope behind the redoubts in front of their camp, to operate on the enemy's squadrons. It was soon evident that no reliance Avas to be placed on the Turkish infantry or artillerymen. All the stories we had heard about their bravery behind stone walls and earthworlcs proved how differently the same or similar people tight under different circumstances. When the Russians advanced, the Turks tired a few rounds at them, got frightened at the distance of their supports in the rear, looked round, received a few shots and shell, and then "bolted," and fled with an agility quite at variance with common-place notions of Oriental deportment on the battle-iield. But Turks on the Danube are very different beings from Turks in the Crimea, as it appears that the Russians of Sebastopol are not at all like the Russians of Silistria. Soon after eight o'clock. Lord Raglan and his staff turned out and cantered towards the rear of our position. The booming of artillery, the spattering roll of musketry, were heard rising from the valley, drowning the roar of the siege guns in front before Sebastopol. As I rode in the direction of the flring, over the thistles and large stones which cover the undulating plain that stretches away towards Balaklava. on a level with the summit of the ridges above it, I observed a French light infantry regiment (the 27th, I think) advancing with admirable care and celerity from our right towards the ridge near the telegraph-house, which was already lined by companies of French infantry, while mounted ofncers scampered along its broken outline in every direction. General Bosquet, a stout soldierlike-looking man, who reminds one of the old genre of French generals as depicted at Versailles, followed, with his staff and a small escort of Hussars, at a gallop. Faint white clouds rose here and there above the hill from the cannonade below. Never did the painter's eye rest on a more beautiful scene than I beheld from the ridge. The fleecy vapours still hung around the mountain tops, and mingled with the ascend- Q 226 ACTION AT BALAKLAVA. ing volumes of smoke ; the patch of sea sparkled freshly in the rays of the morning sun, hut its light was eclipsed by the flashes which gleamed from the masses of armed men below. Looking to the left towards the gorge, we beheld six compact masses of Russian infantiy, which had just debouched from the mountain passes near the Tchernaya, and were slowly advancing with solemn stateliness up the valley. Immediately in their front •was a regular line of artillery, of at least twenty pieces strong. Two batteries of light guns were already a mile in advance of them, and were playing with energy on the redoubts, from which feeble puffs of smoke came at long intervals. Behind these guns, in front of the infantry, were enormous bodies of cavalry. They were in six compact squares, three on each flank, moving down en echelon towards us, and the valley was lit up with the blaze of their sabres, and lance points, and gay accoutrements. In their front, and ex- tending along the intervals between each battery of guns, were clouds of mounted skirmishers, wheeling and whirling in the front of their march like autumn leaves tossed by the wind. The Zouaves close to us were lying like tigers at the spring, with ready rifles in hand, hidden chin deep by the earthworks which run along the line of these ridges on our rear, but the quick-eyed Russians were manoeuvring on the other side of the valley, and did not expose their columns to attack. Below the Zouaves we could see the Turkish gunners in the redoubts, all in confusion as the shells burst over them. Just as I came up, the Russians had carried No. 1 redoubt, the farthest and most elevated of all, and their horsemen were chasing the Turks across the interval which lay between it and redoubt No. 2. At that moment the cavalry, under Lord Lucan, were formed in glittering masses — the Light Brigade, under Lord Cardigan, in advance ; tlie Heavy Brigade, under Brigadier- General Scarlett, in reserve. They were dra^vn up just in front of their encampment, and were concealed from the view of the enemy by a slight "wave" in the plain. Considerably to the rear of their right, the 93rd Highlanders were drawn up in line, in front of the approach to Balaklava. Above and behind them, on the heights, the marines were visible through the glass, drawn up under arras, and the gunners could be seen ready in the earthworks, in which •were placed the heavy ships' guns. The 93rd had originally been advanced somewhat more into the plain, but the instant the Russians got possession of the flrst redoubt they opened fire on them from our own guns, which inflicted some injury, and Sir Colin Campbell "retired" his men to a better position. Meantime the enemy advanced his cavah'y ra])idly. To our inexpressible disgust we saw the Turks in redoubt No. '2 fly at their approach. They ran in scattered grou])s across towards ri'doubt No. 3, and towards Balaklava, but tlie horse-hoof of the Cossack was too quick for thcra, and sword and lance were busily plied among the retreating herd. The yells of the pursuers and pursued were plainly audible. As the Lancers and Light Cavalry of the Russians advanced they gathered up their skirmishers with great sjjeed and in excellent ordei" — the shitting trails of men, which played all over the valley like moonlight on the water, contracted, gatliered up, and the little peloton in a few moments became a solid column. Then up came BRAVO, HIGHLANDERS ! WELL BONE 1" 227 "their guns, in rushed their gunners to the abandoned redoubt, and the guns of No. 2 redoubt soon played with deadly eti'eet upon the dis- pirited defenders of No. 3 redoubt. Two or three shots in return from the earthworks, and all is silent. The Tiu'ks swarm over the earth- works, and run in confusion towards the town, tiring their muskets at the enemy as they run. Again the solid column of cavalry opens like a fan, and resolves itself into a "long spray" of skirmishers. It laps the flying Turks, steel flashes in the air, and down go the poor iloslem quivering on the plain, split through fez and musket- guard to the chin and breast-belt. There is no support for them. It is evident the Russians have been too quick for us. The Turks have been too quick also, for they have not held their redoubts long enough to enable us to bring them help. In vain the naval guns on the heights fli'e on the Russian cavalry ; the distance is too great for shot or shell to reach. In vain the Turkish gunners in the earthen batteries which are placed along the French entrenchments strive to protect their flying countrymen ; their shot fly wide and short of the swarming masses. The Turks betake themselves towards the HighLanders, where they check their flight and form into companies on the flanks of the Highlanders. As the Russian, cavalry on the left of their line crown the hill across the valley, they perceive the Highlanders drawn up at the distance of some half mile, calmly waiting their approach. They halt, and squadron offer squadron iiies up from the rear, till they have a body of some 1500 men along the ridge — Lancers, and Dragoons, and Hussars. Then they move e>i echelon in two bodies, with another in reserve. The cavalry who have been pursuing the Turks on the right are coming up to the ridge beneath us, which conceals our cavalry from view. The heavy brigade in advance is drawn up in two lines. The first line consists of the Scots Greys, and of their old com- panions in glory, the Enniskillens ; the second of the 4th Royal Irish, of the 5th Dragoon Guards, and of the 1st Royal Dragoons. The Light Cavalry Brigade is on theu- left, in two lines also. The silence is oppressive ; between the cannon bursts one can hear the champing of bits and the clink of sabres in the valley below. The Russians on their left drew breath for a moment, and then in one grand line dashed at the Highlanders. The ground ilies beneath their horses' feet ; gathering speed at every stride, they dash on towards that thin red streak topped with a line of steel. The Turks fire a volley at eight hundred yards, and run. As the Russians come within six hundred j^ards, down goes that line of steel in front, and out rings a rolling volley of Minie mus- ketry. The distance is too great ; the Russians are not checked, but still sweep onwards through the smoke, with the whole force of horse and man, here and there knocked over by the shot of our batteries above. With breathless suspense every one awaits the bursting of the wave upon the line of Gaelic rock ; but ere they come within a hundred and fifty yards, another deadly volley flashes from the levelled rifie, and carries death and terror into the Russians. They wheel about, open files right and left, and fly back faster than they came. "Bravo, Highlanders! well done!" shout the excited spectators ; but events thicken. The Highlanders and their splendid front are soon forgotten, mea scarcely have a Q2 228 ACTION AT BALAIOiAVA. moment to tliink of this fact, that the 93rcl never altered their formation to receive that tide of horsemen. "No," said Sir Colin Campbell, " I did not think it worth while to form them even four deep !" The ordinary British line, two deep, was quite sufficient to repel the attack of these Muscovite cavaliers. Our eyes were, however, turned in a moment on our own cavalry. We saw Bri- gadier-General Scarlett ride aLm,"- in front of his massive squadrons. The Ilussians — evidently corps (ViJUtc — their light blue jackets embroidered with silver lace, were advancing on their left, at an easy gallop, towards the brow of the hill. A forest of lances glis- tened in their rear, and several squadrons of grey-coated dragoons moved up quickly to support them as they reached the summit. The instant they came in sight the trumpets of oiu- cavalry gave out the warning blast which told us all that in another moment we should see the shock of battle beneath our very eyes. Lord llaglan, all his staff and escort, and groups of officers, the Zouaves, French, generals and officers, and bodies of French infantry on the height, were spectators of the scene as though they were looking on the stage from the boxes of a theatre. Nearly every one dismounted and sat down, and not a word was said. The Ilussians advanced down the hill at a slow canter, Mhich they changed to a trot, and at last nearly halted. Their first line was at least double the length of ours — it was three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, eqtially strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignificant looking enemy, but their time was come. The trumpets rang out again through the valley, and the Greys and Enniskilleners went light at the centre of the Russian cavalry. The space between them was only a few hundred yards ; it was scarce enough to let the horses "gather way," nor had the men quite space sufficient for the full play of their sword arms. The Russian line brings forward each wing as our cavalry advance, and threatens to annihilate them as they pass on. Turning a little to their left, so as to meet the Russian right, the Greys rush on with a cheer that thrills to every lieart — the wild shout of the Ennis- killeners rises through the air at the same instant. As lightning flashes through a cloud, the Greys and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark masses of Russians. The shock was but for a moment. There was a clash of steel and a light play of sword- blades in the air, and then the Greys and the redcoats disappear in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another moment we see them emerging and dasliing on witli diminished numbers, and in broken order, against the sreond line, wliich is advancing against tlieni as last as it can to retrieve tlie fortune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. " God help them ! tliey arc lost!" was the exclamation of more than one man, and tlic thought of many. AVith unabated tire the noble hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a liglit of lieroes. The lirst line of Russians, "which had been smashed utterly by our charge, and had tied otf at one ilank and towards tlie centre, were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer steel and sheer courage Enniskil- lener and Scot Avcre winning their desperate way riglit through the enemy's sijuadrons, and already grey horses and red coats had appeared right at the rear of the second mass, when, with irre- THE SCOTS GREYS AND ENXISKILLENEES. 229 Bistible force, like one bolt from a bow, the 1st Eoyals, the 4th Dragoon Guards, and the oth Dragoon Guai-ds rushed at the rem- nants of the first line of the enemy, went throug-h it as thoug-li it were made of pasteboard, and, dashing on the second body of llus- sians as they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys and their companions, put them to utter rout. This llussian Horse in less than hve minutes after it met our dragoons was flying with all its speed before a force certainly not half its strength. A cheer burst from every lip — in the enthusiasm, officers and men took off their caps and shouted vi-ith delight, and thus keeping up the scenic character of their position, they clapped their hands again and again. Lord Raglan at once despatched Lieutenant Curzon, Aide-de-Camp, to convey his congratulations to Brigadier- General Scarlett, and to say " "Well done." The gallant old officer's face beamed with pleasure when he received the message. " I beg to thank his Lordship very sincerely," was his reply. The cavalry did not long pursue their enemy. Their loss was very slight, about thirty-five killed and wounded in both affairs. There were not more than four or five men killed outright, and our most material loss was from the cannon playing on our heavy dragoons afterwards, Tvhen covering the retreat of our light cavalry. In the Royal Horse Artillerj' we had a severe, but I am glad to say a temporary/ loss. Captain ^Maude, who directed the service of Ms guns with his usual devotedness and dauntless courage, was struck in the arm by a shell which burst at his saddle bow and killed his horse. To the joy of all the army, it is ascertained that he is doing well on board ship. After the charge. Captain the Hon. Arthur Hardinge came galloping up to Lord Raglan with the news of what the cavalry had done. At ten o'clock the Guards and Highlanders of the First Division were seen mo-\dng towards the plains from their camp. The Duke of Cambridge came up to Lord Raglan for orders, and his Lordship, ready to give the honour of the day to Sir Colin Campbell, who commands at Balaklava, told his Royal Highness to place himself under the direction of the Brigadier. At forty minutes after ten, the Fourth Division also took up their position in advance of Balaklava. The cavalry were tlien on the left front of oiu- position, facing tlie enemy ; the Light Cavalry Brigade was on the left Hank forward ; the Heavy Cavalry Brigade en echelon in reserve, with guns ou the right ; the 4th Dragoons and 5th Dragoons and Greys on the left of the bri- gade, the Euniskillens and 3rd Dragoons on the right. The Fourth Di\'ision took up ground in the centre; the Guards and High- landers filed off towards the extreme right, and faced tlie redoulsts, from which the Russians opened on them with such guns as had not been spiked. At fifty minutes after ten. General Canrobert, attended by his staff, and Brigadier-General Rose, rode up to Lord Raglan, and the staffs of the two Generals and theii* escorts mingled together in praise of the magnificent charge of our cavalry, while the chiefs apart conversed over the operations of the day, which promised to be one of battle. The Russian cavalry, followed by our shot, had retired in confusion, leaving the ground covered with horses and men. In carrying an order eaiiy in the day, Mr. Blunt, Lord Lucan's interpreter, and 230 ACTION AT BALAKLAVA. SOU of our Consul in Thessaly, had a narrow escape. His horse wag killed ; he seized a Russian charger as it galloped past riderless, but the horse carried him almost into the llussian cavalry, and he only saved himself by leaping into a redoubt among a number of frightened Turks who were praying to Allah on their bellies. I should mention here that the Turks who had been collected on the flanks of the 93rd fled at the approach of the Russians without firing a shot! At fifty-five minutes after ten, a body of cavalry, the Chasseurs d'Afrique, passed down to the plain, and were loudly cheered by oiu' men. They took up ground in advance of the ridges on our left. And now occurred the melancholy catastrophe which fills us all with sorrow. It appears that the (iuarterraaster-General, Brigadier Airey, thinking that the Light Cavalry had not gone far enough in front when the enemy's horse had fled, gave an order in Avriting to Captain Nolan, 1.5th Hussars, to take to Lord Lucan, directing his Lordship " to advance" his cavalry nearer to the enemy. A braver soldier than Captain Nolan the army did not possess. He was knoAvn to all his arm of the service for his entire devotion to his profession, and his name must be familiar to all who take interest in our cavalry for his excellent work, published a year ago, on our drill and system of remount and breaking horses. I had the plea- sure of his acquaintance, and I know he entertained the most exalted opinions respecting the capabilities of the English horse soldier. Properly led, the British Hussar and Dragoon could in his mind break square, take batteries, ride over columns of infantry, and pierce any other cavalry in the world as if they were made of straw. He thought they had not had the opportunity of doing all that was in their power, and that they had missed even such chances as they had oflered to them, — that, in fact, they were in some " measure disgraced. A matchless horseman and a first-rate swords- man, he held in contempt, I am afraid, even grape and canister. He rode ofl' with his orders to Lord Ijucan. He is now dead and gone. God forbid I should cast a shade on the brightness of his honour, but I am bound to state what I am told occurred when he reached his Lordship. I should premise that as the Russian cavalry retired, their iuiantry fell back towards the head of the valley, leaving men in tliree of the redoubts they had taken, and abandon- ing the fourth. Tliey had also placed some guns on the heights over tlieir position on the left of the gorge. Their cavalry joined the reserves, and drew up in six solid divisions, in an oblique line, across the cutiunce to the gorge. Six battalions of infantry were placed behind them, and about thirty guns were drawn up along their line, while masses of infantry were also collected on the hills behind the redoubts on our riglit. Our cavalry had moved iip to the ridge across the valley, on our left, as the ground was broken in front, and had halted in tlie orcler I have already mentioned. When Lord Lucan received tlu> order from Captain Nolan, and had read it, he asked, we arc told, " Where are we to advance to ?" Captain Nolan pointed with his finger to the line of the Russians, and said, " There are the enemy, and there are the guns, sir, before them ; it is your duty to take them," or words to thateflect, accord- ing to the Btatomcnts made siuce his death. Lord Lucan, with RASH LIGHT CAVALRY CHARGE. 231 reluctance, p:ave the order to Lord Cardigan to advance upon the puns, conceiving' that his orders compelled him to do so. The noble Earl, though he did not shrink, also saw the fearful odds against him. Don Quixote in his tilt against the windmill was not near so rash and reckless as the gallant fellows who prepared without a thought to rush on almost certain death. It is a maxim of war, that " cavalry never act without a support," that " infantry should be close at hand when cavalry carry guns, as the effect is only instantaaeous," and that it is necessary to have on the tlank of a line of cavalry some squadrons in column, the attack on the flank being most dangerous. The only support our light cavalry had was the reserve of heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry and guns being far in the rear. There were no squadrons in column at all, and there was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's guns were reached, of a mile and a half in length. At ten minutes past eleven, our Light Cavalry brigade advanced. The whole brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies ; and yet it was more than we could spare. As they rushed towards the front, the Russians opened on them from the guns in the redoubt on the right, with volleys of musketry and rifles. They swept proudlv past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. We could scarcely believe the evidence of our senses ! Surely that handful of men are not going to charge an army in position r Alas ! it was but too true — their desperate valom- knew no bounds, and far in- deed was it removed from its so-called better part — discretion. They advanced in two lines, quickening their pace as they closed towards the enemy. A more fearful spectacle was never witnessed than by those who, without the power to aid, beheld their heroic countrymen rushing to the arms of death. At the distance of 1200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched ibrth, from thirty ii-on mouths, a flood oH smoke and tiame, through which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or rider- less across the plain. The tirst line is broken, it is joined by the second, they never halt or check their speed an instant; with, diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries, biit ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies and with the carcasses of horses. They were exposed to an. oblique tire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to a direct tire of musketry. Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode up to the guns and dashed between them, cutting down the gunners as they stood. A^ e saw them riding through the guns, as I have said ; to our delight we saw them returning, after breaking through a column of Russian, infantry, and scattering them like chafl", ^\•flen the flank tire of the battery on the hill swept them down, scattered and broken as they were. Wounded men and dismounted troopers flying towards us told the sad tale — demi-gods could not have done what we had failed to do. At the very moment when they were about to retreat. 232 ACTION AT BALAKLAVA. an enormous mass of Lancers was hurled on their flank. Colonel Shewell, of the 8th Hussars, saw the dau^-er, and rode his few men straight at them, cutting his Avay through with fearful loss. The other regiments turned and engaged in a desperate encounter. With courage too great almost for credence, they were breaking their way through the columns which enveloped them, when there took place an act of atrocity without parallel in the modern warfare of civilized nations. The Russian gunners, when the storm of cavalry passed, returned to their guns. They saw their own cavalry mingled with the troopers who had just ridden over them, and, to the eternal disgrace of the Russian name, the miscreants poured a murderous volley of grape and canister on the mass of struggling men and horses, mingling friend and foe in one common ruin. It was as much as our Heavy Cavalry brigade could do to cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of that band of heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted in all the pride of life. At thirty-live minutes past eleven not a British soldier, ex- cept the dead and dying, was left in front of these bloody Muscovite guns. Captain Nolan was killed by the first shot fired, as he rode in advance of the Hussars, cheering them on. Lord Lucan was slightly wounded. Lord Cardigan received a lance thrust through his clothes. Major Halkett, of the 4th Light Dragoons, was killed. Lord Fitzgibbon, of the 8th Hussars, was desperately wounded, and lias since, I fear, died. While our affair was going on, the French cavalry made a most brilliant charge at the battery on our left, which was firing on our men, and cut down the gunners; but they could not get off the guns without support, and had to retreat with the loss of two cap- tains and fifty men killed and wounded out of their little force of 200 Chasseurs. The Heavy Cavalry, in columns of squadrons, moved slowly backwards, covering the retreat ot', the broken men. The ground was lelt covered with our men and with hundreds of Russians, and we could see the Cossacks busy searching' the dead. Our infantry made a forward movement towards the redoubts after the cavalry came in, and the Russian infantry in advance slowly retired towards the gorge ; at the same time the French cavalry pushed forward on their right, and held them in check, pushing out a line of skirmishers, and forcing them to withdraw their guns. The Russians from the redoubt still harassed us very much by shell and shot, and our infantry (First Division) were ordered to lie down in two lines to escape their efieet. Tlie Fourth Division, covered by tlie rising ground, and two regiments of French infantry, which had arrived in the valley lollowed by a strong artillery, moved on- wards to operate on the Russian riglit, already threatened by the French cavalry. The Russians threw out skirmishers to meet the French skirmishers, and, as it Avould be nuidness to attack them as our light horse had done, the French contented themselves Avith keeping their position. At eleven a.m., tlie Russians, feeling alarmed at our steady advance and at the sym))loms of our inten- tion to turn or cut off their light, retired from^'o. 1 redoubt, wliich was taken possession of bv tlie allies. At litteen minutes past eleven, they abandoned redoubt 2no. 2, blowing up the magazine ; THE RUSSIANS RETIUE. 233 and, as wc still continued to advance, they blow up and abandoned No. 3 at forty-live minutes past eleven, but, to our great regret, we were not in time nor in force to prevent their taking off seven out of nine guns in these earthworks. At forty-eight minutes past eleven the llussian line of infantry all began to retire slowly, and a strong portion of it crept up the hills behind the 1st redoubt, which still belongs to them, in the hope that we would attack them. in that position ; but it was not our desire to risk a battle, and wo bad already found out that our position was too large to be readily defended. AVe made up our minds, therefore, to let the Russians have the redoubts Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and even 4 if they liked, and to content ourselves mth keeping Ealaklava and the communication with it open by the westerly and southerly heights behind our camp. The artillery on right of First Division iired shot and rockets at the 1st redoubt, but could not do much good, nor could the heavy guns of the batteries near the town carry so far as to annoy the Russians. At twelve o'clock the greater portion of the French and English moved on more rapidly, and an accession to the strength of our artillery was made by two French batteries, who pushed on towards the front of our left in support of their cavalry. The First Division remained still in line along the route to Ealaklava. From twelve to hfteen minutes past, not a shot was iired on either side, but the R,ussians gathered up their forces towards the heights over the gorge, and, still keeping their cavalry on the plain, manQ3Uvred in front on our right. At twenty-eight minutes after twelve, the whole of the allies agaiu got into motion towards the enemy, with the exception of the First Division, which moved en echelon towards the opposite hills, keeping their right wing well before Ealaklava. At forty minutes after twelve, Captain Calthorpe was sent by Lord Raglan with orders to the troops, which seemed to have the effect of altering the disposition of our front, for the French, at one p.m., showed still further up on our left. When we got to the ridges, they took pos- session of redoubts Nos. 1, 2, and 3. But the Russians evidently intended to keep No. 4, and to draw us after them, if possible, into the gorge, where they had retired their guns. As our object was solely to keep Ealaklava, this was not our game ; and as the Rus- sians would not advance, but kept their cavalry in front of the approach to the mountain passes, it became evident there would be no further engagement to-day. The cannonade, which began again at a quarter past twelve, and was continued with little effect, ceased altogether at a quarter-past one, and the two armies retained their respective positions. Oiu* men and horses were alike tii-ed and hungrj-, and the French were no better. Lord Raglan continued on the hill-side all day, watching the enemy. It was dark ere he returned to his quarters. With the last gleam of day we could see the sheen of the enemy's lances in their old position in the vallej' ; and their infantry gradually crowned the heights on their left, and occujned the road to the village which is beyond Ealaklava to the southward. Oiu" Guards were moving back, as I passed them, and the tu'ed troops, French and English, were being replaced by a strong French division, which was marched down to tlie valley at ffve o'clock. Ail our 234 PROGRESS OP THE SIEGE. operations in the trenches were lost sight of in the interest of this melancholy day, in which our Light Brigade was annihilated by their own rashness, and by the brutality of a ferocious enemy. Four o'clock p.m. In our cavalry fight to-day we had 13 officers killed or missing, 156 men killed or missing; total, 169; 21 officers wounded, 197 men wounded ; total, 218. Total killed, wounded, and missing, 387. Horses, killed or missing, 394 ; horses wounded, 126 ; total, 520. PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. CHAPTER XXXVI. Sortie of the garrison — Progress of the siege — Turkish reinforcements — The Russians throw up new works — " Whisthng Dick'' — A " deceitful beggar"— Lord Raglan's despatches — Slistakes in the writer's account of the battle of the Alma corrected. Before Sebastopol, Oct. 26. Last night, when our guns were taken into Sebastopol, there was great joy throughout the city, and it was announced that the Rus- sians had gained a great victoi'y. A salvo of artillery was fired, and at nine o'clock, p.m., a tremendous cannonade was opened against all our lines by the enemy. It did no injury. At one p.m. to-day, about 4000 men made an attack on our right flank, but were repulsed by Sir I)e Lacy Evans's Division, with the loss of 500 men killed and wounded. Captain Couolly, in command of a picquet, behaved in the most gallant way ; he was severely wounded. We have taken about 100 prisoners, among them two officers, one of whom is the officer to whom Lord Dunkellin surrendered. "We have had seventy men killed and wounded ; four officers wounded, none killed, and nine men killed and lifty-eight men wounded. The Russians were utterly routed, and fled in confusion, harassed by our artillery and one Lancaster, which mowed them down by twenty at every discharge. Our lines were pushed up much nearer. The French magazine again blew up to-day inside their right attack. It was hred by a Russian shell. They Are 13-inch shells into oui' batteries ; and yesterday they silenced nine guns in our 21-gun battery by this means alone. We cannot touch the ship wliiuh tires these mortars. The Russians very nearly surprised us. The Fourth, Third, Second, and First Divisions were turned out, but Sir De Lacy Evans had the honour of driving them back with his Division. 1000 French cavalry land(Kl to-day. The work in the trenches goes on much as usual. We make very little way, and it is evident this cannot last. The men arc worn out. Oct. 27. Nothing was done to-day. Admiral Lj'^ons, Sir George Brown, and General Cathcart visited Lord Raglan in the course of the day. The lire on both sides is very feeble. It is decided that we keep APPARITION OP RIDERLESS HORSES ^35 Balaklava, and the "Sanspareil" has come into the harbour, and is moored with her broadside towards the road to the valley. The Russians are still in force in the gorge, and their vedettes are not far distant from ours. This force seems to have its head- quarters at the village of Kamiskoi, and keeps its communication ■with Sebastopol open by the other side of the Tchernaya. The body of the troops which attacked us on the 26th came out of Sebastopol. A very formidable battery has been erected by the sailors on the heights in front of the French. Our guns are becoming very shaky from repeated tiring. We must have more men, and that speedily. The weather is lovely, the days being as warm as oui's in best July time. October 28. Last night the Russians gave us their usual salvo. They showed in some force in front of the French, but were reptdsed by mus- ketry from the covering parties. To pay them off' for their auda- city, the allies have sent strong parties of sharpshooters to-day, and between the lull of the eternal cannonade, which keeps up mo- notonously, morning, noon, and night, till the ear is frenzied and worn out, one can now hear the pop ! pop ! pop ! of the riiies at the embrasures. Late last night there was an " alert" in our rear. Our vedettes fell back. The French opened with guns and rifles, and our Jacks were quite delighted to w'ake up the echoes with a few rounds of their big guns. Just as we were roused into wakefulness the noise ceased, but we heard a cheer which is yet unaccounted for. Towards morning there was some musketry heard from the French lines, and, to our wonderment, an inexplicable apparition of riderless horses took place in our camp. They turned out to be fully equipped and accouti-ed — saddled, bridled, and all, and were recognised as belonging to Russian dragoons. How they tiu-ned up no one knows, it is supposed that their owners got into a panic, and "bolted" ere they could get into the saddle. Already 193 have been caught. The firing at this moment on our front lines has nearly slackened altogether. To-day our cavalry abandoned their old camp. They have taken up ground on tht. hills on the road to Balaklava, close to the rear ot the French centre. We have thus abandoned the lower road to the enemy. To-day 1600 Turks have ai-rived. They are to be used in assisting us and the French in the trenches. Our cavalry, I am glad to say, have not been cut iip as much as was supposed, for many of them have turned up since the 25th. The way in which the stamped© among the Ptussian horses, on the night of the 27th, is accounted for is, that a rocket was tired by us into their cavalry camp, and that all the Russian horses broke away. Many of them, accustomed to the station of the monastery of St. George, galloped over in the direction of om- lines, and were captured. A well-written and graceful despatch, received from the Duke of Newcastle, has given great satisfaction to the officers and men of our army. It does full justice to their noble courage at the Alma, singles out Sir George Brown and Admiral Lyons for special praise. 236 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. and pays a courtly and honest compliment to Lord Raglan. Our cavalry are now close to the camp of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, and the men fraternize as much as they possibly can, through the moderate medium of water and wood — our two great luxuries and necessaries out here just at present. Lord Fitzgibhon's death is now quite certain. The poor young fellow had been seen by his men, as they retreated, pursued by the Russians, sitting up, though very severely wounded, and it was hoped he might be still alive. A dead body, supposed to be his, had been brought in, but it was subsequently ascertained that it was a mistake. The Russians stripped our dead. Their Lancers were seen killing the wounded as they lay on the held. This^ is credibly affirmed by many witnesses of the horrible deed. The Russian cavalry had three rations of spirits served out to each man ere they made the attempt at a charge which met with such signal chastisement at the hands of the Heavy Brigade. They ■were also blessed by a priest. Our swords, however, were not blunted, nor our speed stayed in the charge, by the holy man. Lord Dunkellin has been sent to Moscow on his way to St. Pe- tersbiu'g. Oui' losses to-day are very trilling. October 29. To-day the fire on our lines was very slack, but it is observed that the Russians are working hard at fresh lines nearer to the town. At present we are all waiting for the French. I am not sure but that the French think they are waiting for us to " ecrascr " some of the obnoxious batteries which plajr upon their works from ugly enfilading positions. They certainly are exposed, in their advance towards their portion of the town, to very heavy fire. It is opposite to them that the assaidt must be made, and the first lodgment efl'ected. The Quarantine Fort is opposed to them on their extreme left. Then comes a long, high, loopholed wall or curtain extending in front of the town from the back of the Uuarantine Fort to the Flagstaff Battery. The Russians have thrown up a very deep and broad ditcli in front of this wall, and the French artillery have as yet made no impression on the stone- work at the back. The Flagstuft' Battery, however, and all the houses near it are in ruins ; but the earthworks in front of it, armed with at least twenty-six heavy guns, arc untouched, and keep up a harassing fire on the Freiicli working parties, particularly at certain periods of the day, and at the interval between nine and eleven o'clock at niglit, wlien they think the meu arc being relieved in the trenches. Inside the Road Battery we can see the Russians throwing up a new work, armed with six heavy sliips' guns. They have also erected new batteries behind the Redan and behind the Ptound Tower. The latter is now a mass of crumbled stone, but two guns keep obstinately blazing away at our 21 -gun battery from the angle of tlie earth-work around it, and the Redan has not yet been silenced, though the embrazures and angles of the work are much damaged. The heavy frigate which has been " dodging " our batteries so cleverly gave us a taste of her ([uality in the right attack again to-day. She escaped from the position in which she lay before, where we had laid two 21-pounders for lier, and came out again to-day in a great passion, firing regular broadsides at LORD RAGLAn's DESPATCHES. 237 our battery and s^vecpin? the hill up to it completely. Occasionally she varied this amusement with a round or two from 13-incii mortars. These shells have done our works and £runs nuich damap-e ; biit the sailors, who arc principallj" treated to these agreeable missiles, have pot quite accustomed to them. " Bill," cries one fellow to another, "look out, here comes 'Wliistlinsj Dick!'" The 13-inch sliell has been thus baptized by them in conseqxience of the loudness and shrillness of the noise it makes in the air. They all look up, and their keen, quick eyes discern the ?lobe of iron as it describes its curve aloft. Lonj^ ere " Whistling: Dick " has reached the ground, the blue jackets are snugf in their various hiding-places ; but all the power of man cannot keep them from peeping out now and then to see if the fusee is still burning;. One of them the other day approached a shell which ho thought had " gone out ;" it bm'st just as he got close to it, and the concus- sion dashed him to the ground. He got up, and in his rage, shak- ing his list at the spot where the shell had been, he exclaimed, "You deceitful beggar, there's a trick to play me!" Our losses continue to be remarkably slight. Five p.m. — I have just heard that Major Powell, of the 49th, a most active and intelligent officer, has been killed in the trenches. Captain Maxwell, 50th Ifegiment. M.P., had a miraculous escape lately. He was in a trench behind an embrasure, and happened to stoop for a moment. As he did so a 32 lb. shot came in through the embrasure, knocked off his cap, and carried away a piece of skin from the top of his head about the size of a croMTipiece. The arrival of "The Times," with the copy of Lord Eaglan'a despatches relating to the Battle of the Alma, has produced more emotion and excitement here than can be imagined bj" those who do not understand that a soldier's very existence is the praise of his commander. It is admitted on all hands that the simple and nervous language of his lordship has done full justice to the bravery of our men and to the undaunted resolution with which they over- came those difficulties of position he so well describes ; but it is not to be expected that even the despatches of the Commander-in-Chief can escape the j ealous eye of men Avho are morbidly sensitive lest they should suiter the loss of the smallest particle of the honours they have so hardly won. Not even the general M'ho directs the operations can describe a battle. It is proverbially impossible to do so. Who can hope to satisfy every officer engaged, when each colonel in the smoke and tumult and excitement of the conflict sees only what is done by his own men, and scarcely knows even where the next regiment is r He beholds but the enemy before him and that small portion of his regiment which may be close to him at the time. On looking at my own account of the battle of the Alma, which was written literally on the held — part of it while exposed to a broiling sun, the morning alter the action, on the grass, in the opeu air (for tents were rare coverings then, and all that were on the heights were crowded) — part while exposed to an incessant tire of small-talk in a tent full of excited and garrulous officers, I tind I have made mistakes which I confess without a blush, and which, I trust, are excusable under the circumstances in which I was placed. 238 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. especially when it is considered that the undertaking, under the most favourable conditions, is not an easy one. For instance. Lord Eaglan and staif did not cross the stream by the bridge. It had been destroyed by the enemy, and was impassable till repaired by the exertions of Captain Montagu and his Sappers. Nor did the Highlanders "take" the battery which dealt such destruction upon us. As I saw their advance, their bonnets mingled with the bearskins of the Russians, they appeared to have got into the Guards' battery, but the fact is, their line was considerably to the left of the line of the Guards, and the left of the Guards extended beyond the front of the battery, so as to turn its right flank. The march of the Highlanders took place up the other slope of the hill, and it was their Arm appearance, together with the tremendous volleys the three regiments poured into the ilussian infantry on their flank, which produced such an eftect on the Russians. The Highlanders, as will be seen by the returns, were exposed to very little fire ; scarcely any of the enemy's guns bore upon them, and their advance was too rapid to allow the Russians " to take their measure" for practice. There is no doubt the Light Division, the 7th, 23rd, 33rd, and 19th first carried the battery opposed to them. A man of the 7th rushed in and bayoneted two men inside the earthworks, when the regiment was obliged to re-form. Colonel Yea made him a sergeant on the spot. A man of the 33rd chalked the number of his regiment on one of the guns which was subsequently taken by the Grenadier Guards, and I understand the gun has been given up to the former regiment. Men of the 7th, 33rd, 23rd, and 5oth were all inside the battery at one time or other ere the Russians were finally broken. Major-General Codriugton, who led his brigade of the Light Division in a manner beyond all praise, was twice within the earthwork of the battery. Ergo, he must at one time have been driven back along with his men. Indeed, I saw the Russians coming out of the battery and actually charging the Light Division, which was broken up into clumps of men firing independently on the enemy, and huddled together round their officers ; but they never crossed bayonets, except in one or two instances, when some of them closed with the 5oth, and they all dearly repented their temerity. At one time an order was actually given to halt or to fall back and re-form. I am assured Colonel Yea declared he would not go back an inch, and tliat he remained ■with a portion of his regiment (the 7th) firing away till the supports came up. It Avas not the Scots Fusileers — it was the Grenadier Guards who first got into the battery or redoubt ; the Scots Eusileers were broken and disordered by the tremendous fire to which they were exposed, and by the men of the Light Division, ■who were retiring to re-form, ami who passed through the files of the regiment. It was while tliey were in this state so many of their officers were marked out and wounded by the enemy. Lieu- tenant Nixon and three men of the Rifle Brigade went skirmishing up tlie liill in front of tlie Coldstream Guards. Tlic Riflemen were all dispersed in little groups, uiul advanced, led by their officers, along the front of all our line, so 1luit they were often exjjosed to two fires. The 30th, 65th, and 05th did their duty equally well ; ACCIDENT TO SIK DE LACY EVAKS. 239 jio oflScers or men ever behaved better, and it was perhaps erroneous to have said that the 19th, that Brigadier-General Codrington's brigade of the Light Divibion, or that Brigadier-General Penne- father's brigade of the Second Division ever " retired," as it is asserted that there were some men of the regiments forming these brigades who never receded a step. They certainly necer turned their backs on the enemy — not one of them faced about. If they •were driven by an overwhelming lire to draw back to re-form, they drew back with their front to the foe, and never ceased their fire. I have said so much on this point because I find some most excel- lent soldiers and estimable men have rather taken it to heart that I should have stated their regiments were driven back ; nor are they even contented with Lord Eaglan's statement that the first brigade of the Light Division, having carried a redoubt, was " obliged partially to relinquish its hold." The French this morning nearly completed their new work, which is opposite the Flagstaff battery, whence it runs towards the centre of tlie town at the distance of 400 metres. The cold is very severe to-night. Diarrhoea is prevalent among the men. It is calcu- lated that about 100 men every day are invalided and sent to hospital. CHAPTER XXXVII. Accident to Sir De Lacy Evans — " Ko bono Johnnies" — The besiegers besieged — An " alert" without consequence — The French batteries open fire — ■Writing under difficulties — Severity of the weather — Escape of a Russian spy — Formidable aspect of the batteries around Sebastopol — Tlie Turkish works — Strong Russian position. Before Sebastopol, Octoler 30. SrR De Lacey Evaxs met with an accident yesterday which will compel him to resign the command he has so ably held to Brigadier- General Pennefather for a few days. His horse fell with him as he was going at a sharp trot ; and, as the General had been suffering from diarrhoea for some days before, the shock so weakened him. that he has been obliged to go down to Balaklava and get on board the " Simoom." The whole army hope that his illness will be of short duration, and that he will soon be with them once more. The Turks, or, as they are now universally called, the " Bono Johnnies," except by the sailors, who call them " No bono Johnnies," have been employed for the last few nights in working in the trenches, and have done good service. The first night they set to work in Captain Chapman's attack, they worked on manfully till ten o'clock at night, when a Ptussian shell came over them. They at once shouted out, "We shall be killed!" and ran oft' as fast as they could, carrying off a portion of our working and cover- ing parties with them. However, they were at last re-formed and brought back, and then they worked on till eleven o'clock, when they declared that it was " the will of Heaven they should labour no more that night," and, as they had really exerted themselves, it was considered ad^dsable to let them go. They remained quietly in the trenches, and ever since they have been labouring regularly, repairing damages and casting up earthworks, -which they do 240 pr.OGRESs OF thk siege. exceeding'ly well. The poor creatures are decimated by dysentery, fevers — the typhus particularly — and by diarrhoea, and die in swarms. They have no medical ofHeers, and our siu'geons are not sufficient in numbers for the wants of our army. IVothing can exceed their kindness to their own sick. It is common to see strings of them on the road to Balaklava carrying sick and dying men on their backs down to the miserable shed which serves them as a hospital, or rather as a " dead-house." The French were to have opened their new batteries to-day, but the nature of the ground has delayed them, coupled with the de- termined fire of the llussians all over the approaches to their ranks. A deserter from the Ilussian cavalry at Balaklava- valley came in to-day. He says he was two days hiding among the brushwood of the hills ere he could make his escape. The llussians are with- out tents or cover; their fare is scanty and miserable, and their sufferings are very great. We learn that it is Prince Gortschakoff who commands in tlie valley. The siege went on to-day as it has gone on for the last two or three days. The llussians in our rear are fortifying their position. Thus it appears that we are rapidly becoming " invested" by the llussians. In fact, they are besieging us just as much as we are besieging them. They have the north and the north-east side of Sebastopol open to them, as we the sea from Balaklava and Cherson open to us. They have put heavy guns on the redoubts and on the hills over their cavalry lines ; we in turn are making a number of " troiis-de-loup" and pitfalls all along the approaches to Balaklava, so as to prevent any rapid dash of their cavalry. Troits-de-loup are merely deep holes, in which men can lie and scramble in and out, but wliich are too broad and deep for a mounted man to cross. Captain Powell, of the " Yesu- vius," and his bluejackets and Marines are busy throwing up a redoubt on the right-hand side of the road. They are all under canvas. As to our progress before Sebastopol itself, it is evident that our shell practice is not as good as it is at Woolwich ; and a rocket is certainly one of the most eccentric missiles ever invented. Even if we landed every shell and rocket in the exact spot aimed at, I doubt if we would have much on which to congratulate ourselves, because the town seems asbestos-like, and utterly incombustible. With our glasses we can see that the doors and window-frames of most of the houses have been removed ; and it is not improbable that the wooden floors, and other parts of the buildings which could have been set on fire, have been taken away also. They sung To Dcinn on the night of the 2.')th for " their victory," and the troops were so excited that they demanded to be led against us the follow- ing morning. The 2nd Division soon satisfied them in full. Forty non-commissioned ofUcers and privates were busy on the 27th and 28th burying the Ilussian dead. They burii-d nu)re than 1.30 bodies — more than that number lay within the ilussian lines. We made nearly 100 prisoners. The commissariat officers have issued several rewards of 5/. to private soldiers for " distinguislied bravery in the field." One was T>aid yesterday to Patrick Maegrath, of the 3;5rd Ilegiment, who, Avhen captured by two llussians, as mentioned in a former letter of f THE FRENCH BATTERIES OPEN FIRE. 241 mine, seized a firelock from one, shot him, and with the butt dashed out the brains of the other, and thus made his escape. Before Sebastopol, October 31. There was an " alert" last night, which roused our head-quarters and the French troops all along; the rear of our line over the valley ofBalaklava. About twelve o'clock, a heavy firin^? of musketry and reports of cannon in the direction of the lines were heard in the camp. The rolling of drums and the quick blast of the French bugles followed. In spite of the cold and of the piercing wind the servants were turned out of their tents to saddle the horses, and most of the staff officers were speedily galloping to the heights over Balaklava. It was known that General Bosquet had planned a surprise for the Russians, and it was supposed to be coming off; but when we reached the lines it was found that the liussians in the valley were having a little diversion all to themselves. There was a fine cold moon shining, lighting up the ridges of the hills, and playing on the bayonets of the French columns, whicli were drawn up rigidly on the heights — Zouaves and Chasseurs de Vin- cenues. All in the valley beneath was as black as pitch, save that a continuous sparkling light blazed fitfully along the front of three masses of llussian infantry. The faces of the men were even visible now and then. The eflcct resembled that of a gas illumination almost extinguished by the wind playing along the lines of the piping. The liussians were firing resolutely at an imaginary enemy in front, and the " pinging" of their balls below showed the direc- tion of their fire. After blazing away for an hour or so they got tired, and all was silent, and the officers returned home to bead- quarters in wonderment at the cause of such a waste of ammuni- tion. No one knows it yet, and some say the liussians fired into each other. "We make very little way to-day. It is understood orders have been issued to our gunners to reply only to the fire from the Russian batteries. Kovemhcr 1. The French batteries opened this morning at last. For an hour they fired with great vivacity and with considerable effect ; but after that period the gunners were so satisfied with their progress that they did not work so energetically as wlien they began. One battery of the Russians, which enfiladed them on the right, was plied with much energj", but the remainder of their works, with the exception of the battery near the Flagstaft' Fort, were silent. The R.ussians have about 240 guns in their new works, reckoning those which are still available in those which have been subject to our fira. The French have sixty-four guns in position, most of them light brass twenty-fours ; they have also thirty-twos and forty-eights, and some heavy ships' guns of eighty-four pounds, but these last have not yet been mounted. The Round Tower Work is nearly silent to-day. To look at the French from the advanced posts one would imagine their sharpshooters were actually in the town ; they may be seen like patches of moss on the rocks, and the eye co\dd. scarcely detect them but for the incessant pufts of smoke. A constant "pop! pop !" goes on all along our front K 242 PKOGBESS OF THE SIEGE. from morning to niglit between the intervals of the heavier fire of cannon. The weather last night was most severe — bitter cold, and a high wind, which cut one to the very bones. Does any one at home know the misery of trying to write in a windy tent, with the ther- mometer at 36°, and a tallow candle, with the dust flying in clouds and the canvas flapping about like the sails of a ship, no fire, and no chance of one ? If so, he at least will excuse a little gloominess in the tone of one's correspondence under such circumstances. The Russians opened a most tremendous fire to-night, for a very short time, from every gun they could fire, and then ceased altogether. Only for the howling of the wind and the lively music of the French we should be gloomy indeed ; but anything is better in a camp than utter silence. Our men are quite delighted with the French bands. November 2. At four this morning we were awakened by a cannonade, which shook the very earth on which we lay. The Russians have re- ceived some information respecting the change and relief of the various covering and working parties, and the result is, that they try their utmost, by flights of cannon shot and shell, to cut up the men and wagons as they go to and fro between the camp and trenches. We did not reply, and the French contented themselves with a few rounds. We near the " distressing intelligence" that 3000 workmen are building huts at Constantinople for the army to winter in, and that they are also fabricating sheds for horses. A *' winter' ' here is a truly dismal prospect. All that has been written about the beauty of this district and of its fertility is utter rubbish. There are magnificent mountain ranges over Balaklava, but the country between that town and Sebastopol is a waste, covered with thistles and stones, and intersected by rocky ravines, once full of stumpy brushwood, now full of stumps only. The weather has been so severe that, for nearly two days, the French could not communicate Avith their ships. What would it be with us, who are fed from hand to mouth from Balaklava, if it were taken from us? The "Emeu," which came in yesterday, landed 700 French infantry, of the 3rd Regiment of Foot, to-day, from Constantinople. There is a great demand for winter clothing just now. The sales of the deceased oflicers' eftects are scenes of warm competition for old rugs, greatcoats, cloaks, and horse clothing. A tattered rug fetches 45s. or 50.s., a pot of meat 15s., an india-rubber tub 5/., a sponge 1/. 5s., a half-worn-out old curry- comb and brush may be seen handed over, alter a warm contest, for 20s. Oflicers perhaps do not know what to do with theii" money. November 3. Yesterday the Russians before Balaklava fired their heavy guns at the Highlanders' camp, but their shot fell GOO yards short. There was a slight skirmish of outposts on the preceding evening. To-day the French opened their heavy guns, and tliey certainly are at this moment making tremi'udous havoc with the buildings of the Slaco. We are lauding a little juitcnt fuel, coal, and blankets to- ay. Our guns are getting very mucli shaken. bickness clings to us, and the French and Turks suffer also. The A STRANGE INCIDENT. 245 miserable Bono Johnnies are lying in the streets of Balaklava, and staggerino: about along the lanes, holding on by the sides of the houses. Dr. Tice, in medical charge here, applied this morning to Captain Dacres, R.N., for a ship for the sick ordered down from the camp this morning, but Captain Dacres refused to send one in. I must say that the " aiithorities" generally treat the medical officers with cool disrespect and indifference. A strange incident is said to have taken place to-day in our lines, which, if true, shows the astuteness of the enemy, and the want of presence of mind on the part of some of our officers. A man in. the uniform of a French officer sauntered coolly through our lines to-day, was civil and polite to all he met, entered into conversation with those who wen"? walking about, smoked, and chatted, and laughed, and at last got into a sort of discussion respecting the strength and weakness" of our position in the rear towards Bala- klava. Nothing doubting, our officers expressed their opinions freely, pointing out our weak points, and spoke plainly of the diffi- culties of our position. At length an officer of the 79th, who had a more practised ear than his comrades, was struck by the strange accent and curious idiom of the soi-disantFrenchman, which in any one but a Frenchman would have excited no suspicion ; but still he was afraid of making a mistake, and had no device ready at hand to test the truth. However, he sent oft" to Sir Colin Camp- bell to say he suspected there was a Russian spy among them. The supposed Frenchman was not to be caught so easily. His quick eye detected the despatch of the messenger, and so he gradually drew oft' fi'om our lines towards the valley, but in a manner so natural as to perplex those to whom the officer had communicated his mis- givings, and when he had gained a good offing he quickened his Eace into a run, and got right away into the Russian lines, leaving is late comrades gazing open-mouthed after him ! .It argued no common coolness and audacity to undertake such a mission, for had the gentleman in question been captured, he wordd assuredly have been hanged as a spy. The French executed speedy justice the other day on a spy, whom they found disguised as a Tartar arabjee within their lines, and shot him as soon as they had found out all they could from him. But these Russians are very ruses. The sentinel before the house of the Provost-Marshal in Balaklava was astonished to see a horse, with a sack of corn on its back, deli- berately walking past him in the moonlight the other night. He went over to seize the animal, when the sack of corn suddenly be- came changed into a full-grown Cossack, who drove the spurs into his steed, and had vanished ere the sentry had recovered his speech. The earthworks around the town now assume a formidable aspect. The ditches and parapets run across the plains in every direction accessible to the enemy, and join the hills and mounds to each other, so as to aftbrd lines of defence and cover. On the right of the approach are the Highlanders, in three camps, placed close to the town, with a sailors' battery of two heavy guns above them. Higher up, on a very elevated hill-side, the Marines and Riflemen are encamped. There are four batteries bearing on this approach. The battery on the extreme right, on the road leading oyer the k2 244 PROGRESS OP THE SIEGE. hills from Yalta, contains two 32-pounder howitzers ; the second battery on the right, facing: the valley, contains six guns, 12, 24, and 32-pounders ; the third, facing the valley also, contains five guns ; and the foui'th battery, nearest Balaklava, contains eight brass howitzers, four 12, two 32, and two 24-pounders. The left approach is commanded by the heights held by the French infantry over the valley, and by the Turkish works in front. There is also a formidable redoubt, under the command of Captain Powell, R.N., overlooking this approach, containing two heavy ship's guns and a large brass howitzer, and it is hoped that we shall be able to get up two 68 -pound guns on a ridge above it. The Turks have cut up the ground in all ways, so that it almost resembles a chess-board when viewed from one of the hills. They have constructed ditches over valleys which lead nowhere, and have fortified passes conducting to abstruse little culs-de-sac in the hill sides, but no doubt if they are attacked they will defend themselves more vigorously than they did in the redoubts on the plain. It is only an act of justice to those soldiers who deserted their post on the 25th to say, that they •were left unsupported in isolated redoubts while exposed to the attack of an enemy in force, which as it advanced displayed column after column of cavalry and infantry to the eyes of the Osmanli. They were commanded by a fat and nervous officer, whose appear- ance was utterly inconsistent with the speed and agility he dis- jplayed in retreat, and they really did offer some resistance to the Ilussians at the first redoubt. Afterwards they felt it was "Kismet," and that they ought to perform their duty in accordance with the decree which had fated them to exercise their legs in getting over the ground as rapidly as possible. There are, however, some inci- dents connected with their retreat which cannot be j ustified, even according to the most liberal construction of their doctrine of pre- destination. The line of their flight lay in the direction of our cavalry camp, and while our dragoons checked the advance of their pursuers some of the Turks went into the tents and pillaged them. This disgraceful act has excited much indignation. They also fled ■when supported by the Highlanders, though the cavalry were not ■within 800 yards of them at the time. As I returned from Balaldava this evening I could see the Russians busily engaged in "hutting" themselves for the winter on one of tlic redoubts. Their advanced posts were just lighting bivouac fires for the night. A solitary horseman, with the last rays of sunset glittering on his brass helmet, was perched on the only redoubt in our possession, watching the motions of the enemy. Two Cossacks on similar duty were leaning on their lances, while their horses browsed the scanty herbage on the second redoubt, at the distance of about 500 yards from our dragoon sentry. Two hundred yards in their rear were two Cossack pic(iuets of twenty or thirty men each. A stronger body was stationed in loose order some four or fivehundred yards further back. Hixpelotons of cavalry came next, with field batteries in tlie intervals. Behind each pcloton ■were six strong columns of cavalry in reserve, and beliind the in- tervals six battalions of grey-coated Jiussian infantry lay on their arms. They maintain this attitude day and night, it is said, and occasionally they give us an alert by pushing up the valley. On THE RUSSIAN" EARTHWORKS. 245 looking more closely into their position throug'h the g'lass, it could be seen that they had fortified the hi.Q:h table-land on their right with an earthwork of quadrilateral form, in which I counted sixteen guns. It was the cross-fibre from the held-guns which had been brought up into this very position wliich did us such damage in the disastrous affair of the 25th of October. In their rear is the gorge of the lilack Kiver, closed up by towering rocks and barren moun- tain precipices. On their left there is a succession of rising ground, consisting of the slabs (so to speak) of table-land, each higher than the other, and at length attaining an elevation of 1200 feet. The little village of Kamara, perched on the side of one of these slabs, commands a view of our position, and is no doubt the head-quarters of the Ilussian army in the valley. The liussian troops are sta- tioned all along these heights, and they have even pushed their lines to the sea on the very high-peaked mountain chain to the south of our marine camp. As their army in the valley is con- nected with their army in Sebastopol by the valley and by the Inkerraann road, it may be considered that they have drawn a cordon militaire around our position on the land side, and that we are besieged in our camp, having, however, our excellent friend, the sea, open on the west. Kov. 4. There was not much done to-day in the trenches. The Russians fired about sixty guns per hour, and we replied as usual. The French burrowed and turned up the earth most vigorously. Their third parallel is within 250 metres of the place. Our casualties were very few last night, and to-day we have not had one man of the siege train disabled. Our ammunition has come to hand, but we have none to throw away. A number of 10-inch round shot were landed yesterday, but, unfortunately, we have no 10-inch, guns for them, except the Lancasters, for which they are scarcely suitable. Two guns have been added to the batteries of the right attack. They now contain twenty-three pieces of artillery. "WTien- ever I lock at the enemy's earthworks, however, I think of the Woolwich butt. What good have we done by all this powder? Very little. A few guns judiciously placed when we first came here might have saved us incredible toil and labour, because they would have rendered it all but impossible for the Russians to cast up such intrenchments and M"orks as they have done before the open and perfectly unprotected entrance to Sebastopol. Here has been our great and our irremediable error. -•46 THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Stealthy advance of the Russians through the fog — Insecurity of our position Neglect of the necessary defences — The enemy attacks our undefended right flank — An alarm in the camps — The unseen enemy — Courage of the British troops — Obstinate and deadly struggle — Hand to hand conflicts — Destructive cannonade of the enemy — Sir George Cathcart killed — Sir George Brown wounded — Gallantry of the Guards — The French advance, and turn the enemy's flank — General Strangvvays killed — The last terrific charge of the Russians up the heights — Superiority of the Miiii6 rifle — The enemy beaten back with prodigious slaughter. BEroRE Sebastopol, I^^v. 5. It had rained almost incessantly the night before, and the early morning' gave no promise of any cessation of the heavy showers ■which had fallen for the previous four-and-twenty hours. The fog and vapours of drifting rain were so thick as morning broke, that one could scarcely see two yards before him. At four o'clock the bells of the churches in Sebastopol were heard ringing drearily through the cold night air, but the occurrence has been so usual, that it excited no particular attention. During the night, how- ever, a sharp-eared sergeant on an outlying picket of the Light Division heard the sound of wheels in the valley below, as though they were approaching the position up the hill. He reported the circumstance to Major Bunbury, but it was supposed that the sound arose from ammunition carts or arabas going into Sebastopol by the Inkermann road. No one suspected for a moment that enormous masses of llussians were creeping up the rugged sides of the heights over the Valley of Inkermann, on the undefended flank of the Second Division. There all was security and repose. Little did the slumbering troops in camp imagine that a subtle and indefa- tigable enemy were bringing into position an overwhelming artil- lery, ready to play upon their tents at the first glimpse of daylight. It must be observed that Sir De Lacy Evans had long been aware of the insecurity of this portion of our position, and had repeatedly pointed it out to those whose duty it was to guard against the dangers which threatened us. It was the only ground where we were exposed to surprise, for a number of ravines and unequal curves in the slope of the hill towards the valley lead up to the crest and summit, against the adverse side of which our right flank was resting, without guns, intrencluucnts, abattis, or out- lying defence of any kind. Every one admitted the truth of the Tcpresentations addressed to tlie authorities on this subject; but indolence, or a sense of false security, and an overweening confi- dence, led to indiff;Tence and procrastination. A battery was thrown up of sandbags and gabions and fascines, on the slope of the hill over Inkermann, on the east, hut no guns were mounted there, for Sir De Lacy Evans thought that two gims in such a po- INSECURITY OF THE ENGLISH POSITION. 247 sition, without any works to support them, would only invite attack and capture. In the action of the 26th of October, the enemy tried their strength almost on the very spot selected by them this morning'; but it may now be considered that they merely made a reconnaissance en force on that occasion, and that they were waiting for reinforcements to assault the position where it was most vulnerable, and where they might speculate with some cer- tainty on the effects of a surprise of a sleeping camp on a winter's morning. Although the aiTangements of Sir De Lacy Evans on re- pulsing the sortie were, as Lord Raglan declared, " so perfect that they could not fail to insure success," it was evident that a larger force than the Russians employed would have forced him to retire from his ground, or to fight a battle in defence of it with the aid of the other divisions of the army; and yet nothing was done. No effort was made to intrench the lines, to cast up a single shovel of earth, to cut down the brushwood, or form an abattis. It was thought " not to be necessary." A heavy responsibility rests on. those whose neglect enabled the enemy to attack iis where we were least prepared for it, and whose inditference led them to despise precautions which taken in time might have saved us many valu- able lives, and have trebled the loss of the enemy, had they been hold enough to have assaulted us behind intrenchments. We have nothing to rejoice over, and almost everything to deplore, in the battle of Inkermann. We have defeated the enemy indeed, but have not advanced one step nearer towards the citadel of Se- bastopol. We have abashed, humiliated, and utterly routed an enemy strong in numbers, in fanaticism, and in dogged resolute courage, and animated by the presence of a son of him whom they believe to be God's Vice-gerent on earth ; but we have suffered a fearful loss, and we are not in a position to part with one man. England must give us men. She must be prodigal of her sons as she is of her B^oney and of her ships, and as they have been of their lives in her service. It was a little after five o'clock this morning when Brigadier- General Codrington, in accordance with his usual habit, visited the outlying pickets of his own brigade of the Light Division. It was reported to him that " aU was well," and the General entered into some conversation with Captain Pretyman, of the 33rd Regi- ment, who was on duty on the ground, in the course of which it was remarked that it would not be at all surprising if the Russians availed themselves of the gloom of the morning to make an attack on our position, calculating on the effects of the rain in dis- arming our vigilance and spoiling our weapons. The Brigadier, who has proved a most excellent, cool, and brave officer, turned his pony round at last, and retraced his steps through the brushwood towards his lines. He had only proceeded a few paces when a sharp rattle of musketry was heard down the hill and on the left of the picquets of the Light Division. It was here that the picquets of the Second Division were stationed. General Codrington at once turned his horse's head in the direction of the firing, and in a few moments galloped back to turn out his division. The Russians were advancing in force upon us ! Their grey greatcoats rendered them almost invisible even when close at hand. The picquets of 248 THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. the Second Division had scarcely made out the advancing lines of infantry, who were clambering up the steep sides of the hill through a drizzling shower of rain, when they were forced to retreat by a close sharp Yolley of musketry, and were_ driven up towards the brow of the hill, contesting every step of it, and firing as long as they had a round of ammunition on the Russian advance. The picquets of the Light Division were assailed soon afterwards, and were also obliged to retreat and fall back on their main body, and it was evident that a very strong sortie had been made upon the right of the position of the allied armies, with the object of forcing them to raise the siege, and, if possible, of driving them into the sea. About the same time that the advance of the Russians on our right Hank took place, a demonstration was made by the cavalry, artillery, and a few infantry in the valley against Bala- klava, to divert the attention of the French on the heights above, and to occupy the Highland Brigade and Marines, but only an in- terchange of a few harmless rounds of cannon and musketry took place, and the enemy contented themselves with drawing up their cavalry in order of battle, supported by field artillery, at the neck of the valley, in readiness to sweep over the heights and cut our retreating troops to pieces should the assault on our right be suc- cessful. A Semayjhore post had been erected on the heights over Inkermann in communication with another on the hill over their position, from which the intelligence of our defeat was to be con- veyed to the Cavah-y General, and the news would have been made known in Sebastopol by similar means, in order to encourage the garrison to a general sortie along their front. A steamer with very heavy sliell guns and mortars was sent up by night to the head of the creek at Inkermann, and caused much injury throughout the day by the enormous shells she pitched right over the hill upon our men. Everything that could be done to bind victory to their eagles — if they have any — was done by the Russiap Generals. The presence of their Grand Duke Michael Nieholavitc-h, who told them that the Czar had issued orders that every Frenchman and Eng- lishman was to be driven into the sea ere the year closed, cheered the common soldiers, who regard the son of the Empei'or as an emanation of the Divine presence. They had abundance of a coarser and more material stimulant, which was found in their canteens and liasks ; and, above all, tlie priests of the Greek Catholic Church " blessed " them ere they went forth upon tlieir mission, and assured them of the aid and protection of the Most High. A mass was said for the army, and the joj's of Heaven were freely offered for those who might fall in the holy fight, and the favours of the I'hnperor were largely promised to those who might survive the biillets of a heretical enemy. The men in our camps liad just begun a struggle with the rain in endeavouring to light their fires for lireak fast when the alarm was given that the Russians wen; advancing in force. Brigadier- General Pcnnefather, to whom the illness of Sir Do Lacy Evans had given for the time the command of the Second Division, at once got the troops under arms. One brigade, under Brigadier- General Adams, consisting of tlic 41st, 47th, and 49th Regiments, was pushed on to the brow of tlie hill to check the advance of the THE BRITISH SOLDIER AND THE BAYONET. 249 enemy by the road throug-li the brushwood from the valley. The other brij^ade (Brigadier-General Pennefathcr's own), consisting of the 30th, ooth, and 95th Regiments, was led to operate on their flank. They were at once met with a tremendous tire of shell and round shot from guns which the enemy had posted on the high yvounds in advance of our right, and it was soon found that the Eussians had brought up at least forty pieces of heavy artillery to bear upon us. Meantime the alarm had spread through the camps. Sir George Cathcart with the greatest promptitude turned out as many of his Division as were not employed in the trenches, and led the portions of the 20th, 21st, 46th, 57th, 63rd, and 68th Regi- ments which were available against the enemy, directing them to the left of the ground occupied by the columns of the_ Second Division. It was intended that one brigade, under Brigadier- General Torrens, should move in support of the brigade under Brigadier- General Goldie ; but it was soon found that the enemy were in such strength that the whole force of the Division, which consisted of only 2200 men, must be vigorously used to repel them. Sir George Brown had rushed up to the front with his brave fellows of the Light Division— the remnants of the 7th Fusileers, of the 19th Regiment, of the 23rd Regiment, of the 33rd Regiment, and the 77thrand the SSth Regiments, under Brigadiers Codrington and Buller. As they began to move across the ground of the Second Division, they vrere at once brought under tire by an unseen enemy. The gloomy character of the morning was unchanged. Showers of rain fell through the fogs, and turned the ground into a clammy soil, like a freshly-ploughed held, and the R,ussians, who had, no doubt, taken the bearings of the ground ere they placed their guns, tired at random indeed, but with too much effect en our advancing columns. While all the army was thus in motion, the Duke of Cambridge was not behindhand in bringing up the Guards under Brigadier Bentinck — all of his Division now left with him, as the Highlanders are under Sir Colin Campbell at Balaklava. These splendid troops with the greatest rapidity and ardour rushed to the front on the right of the Second Division, and gained the summit of the hills, towards which two columns of the Russians were struggling in the closest order of which the nature of the ground would. admit. The Third Division, under Sir R.^ England, was also got under arms as a reserve, and one portion of it, comprising the 50th, part of the 28th and of the 4th Regiments, were engaged with the enemy ere the tight was over. _ And now commenced the bloodiest struggle ever witnessed sinc3 war cursed the earth. It has been doubted by military historians if any enemy have ever stood a charge with the bayonet, but here the bayonet was often the only weapon employed in contiicts of the most obstinate and deadly character. We have been prone to believe that no foe could ever withstand the British soldier wield- ing his favourite weapon, and that at Maida alone did the enemy ever cross bayonets with him, but at the battle of Inkermann not only did we charge in vain — not only were desperate encounters between masses of men maintained with the bayonet alone— but we were obliged to resist bayonet to bayonet the Russian infantry again and again, as they charged us wilh incredible fury and deter- 250 THE BATTLE OP INKERMANN. mination. The battle of Inkermann admits of no description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, of sanguinary hand-to-hand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults — in glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells, hidden from all human eyes, and from which the conquerors, Rus- sian or British, issued only to engage fresh foes, till our old su- premacy, so rudely assailed, was triumphantly asserted, and the battalions of the Czar gave way before our steady courage and the chivalrous fire of France. No one, however placed, could have witnessed even a small portion of the doings of this eventful day, for the vapours, fog, and drizzling mist obscured the ground where the struggle took place to such an extent as to render it impossible to see what was going on at the distance of a few yards. Besides this, the irregular nature of the ground, the rapid fall of the hill towards Inkermann, where the deadliest fight took place, would have prevented one under the most favourable circumstances see- ing more than a very insignificant and detailed piece of the terrible work below. It was six o'clock when all the Head-Q,uarter camp ■was roused by roll after roll of musketry on the right and by the sharp report of field guns. Lord llaglan was soon informed that the enemy were advancing in force, and soon after seven o'clock he rode towards the scene of action, followed by his staff, and accom- panied by Sir John Burgoyne, Brigadier- General Strangways, B.A., and several aids-de-camp. As they approached the volume of sound, the steady, unceasing thunder of gun, and rifle, and musket told that the engagement was at its height. The shells of the llussians, thrown with great precision, burst so thickly among the troops that the noise resembled continuous discharges of cannon, and the massive fragments inflicted death on every side. One of the first things the llussians did, when a. break in the fog enabled them to see the camp of the Second Division, was to open fire on the tents with round shot and large shell, and terlt after tent was l)lown down, torn to pieces, or sent into the air, while the men en- gaged in camp duties and the unhappy horses tethered up in the lines were killed or mutilated. Colonel Gambler was at once ■ordered to get up two heavy giins (18-pounders) on the rising ground, and to reply to a fire which our light guns were utterly in- adequate to meet. As he was engaged in this duty, and was exert- ing himself with Captain D'Aguilar to m-ge them forward. Colonel Gambler was severely but not dangerously wounded, and was obliged to retire. His jflace was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, and the conduct of that ofiicer in directing the fire of those two pieces, which had the most marked cflect in deciding the fate of the day, was such as to elicit the admiration of the army, and as to deserve the thanks of every man engaged in that bloody fray. But long ere these guns had been brought up there had been a great slaughter of the enemy, and heavy loss of our own men. Our Generals could not see where to go. They could not tell where the enemy were — Irom what side they were coming, nor where they were coming to. Li darkness, gloom, and rain they had to lead our lines through thick scrubby bushes and thorny brakes, which broke our ranks and irritated the men, while every pace was marked by a corpse or man wounded by an enemy whose FALL OP SIR GEORGE CATHCART. 251 position was only indicated by the rattle of musketry and the rush of ball and shell. Sir George Cathcart, seeing' his men disordered by the fire of a large column of Prussian infantry which was outflanking them, while portions of the various regiments composing his division were maintaining an unequal struggle with an overwhelming force, rode down into the ravine in which they were engaged to rally them. He perceived at the same time that the Russians had actually gained possession of a portion of the hill in rear of one flank of his division, but still his stout heart never failed him for a moment. He rode at their head encouraging them, and when a cry arose that the ammunition was failing, he said, coolly, " Have you not got your bayonets r" As he led on his men, it was observed that another body of men had gained the top of the hill behind them on the right, but it was impossible to tell whether they were friends or foes. A deadly volley was poured into our scattered regiments. Sir George cheered them and led them back up the hill, but a flight of bullets passed where he rode, and he fell from his horse close to the Russian columns. The men had to fight their way through a host of enemies, and lost fearfully. They were surrounded and bayonetted on aU sides, and won their desperate way up the hill with diminished ranks and the loss of near 500 men. Sir George Cathcart's body was afterwards recovered, with a bullet wound in the head and three bayonet wounds in the body. In this struggle, where the Russians fought with the greatest ferocity, and bayonetted the wounded as they fell, Colonel Swyny, of the 63rd, a most gallant officer, Lieutenant Dowling, 20th, Major Wynne, 6Sth, and other officers, whose names wiU be found in the " Gazette," met_ their death, and Brigadier Goldie (of the 57th Regiment) received the wounds of which he has since died. The conflict on the right was equally uncertain and equally bloody. In the Light Division, the 88th got so far into the front that they were surrounded and put into utter confusion, when four companies of the 77th, Tinder Major Straton, charged the Russians, broke them, and relieved their comrades. The fight had not long commenced before it was evident that the Russians had received orders to fire at all mounted officers. Sir George Brown was hit by a shot, which went through his arm and struck his side. I saw with regret his pale and sternly composed face, as his body was borne by me on a litter early in the day, his white hair flickering in the breeze, for I knew we had lost the services of a good soldier that day. Further to the right a contest the like of which, perhaps, never took place before, was going on between the Guards and dense columns of Russian infantry of five times their number. The Guards had charged them and driven them back, when they perceived that the Russians had outflanked them. They were out of ammunition too. They were uncertain whether there were friends or foes in the rear. They had no support, no reserve, and they were fighting with the bayonet against an enemy who stoutly contested every inch of ground, when the corps of another Russian column appeared on their right far in their rfear. Then a fearful initraille was poured into them, and volleys of rifle and musketry. The Guards were 252 THE BATTLE OF IN'KERMANN. broken ; they had lost fourteen officers, who fell in the field; they had left one-half of their number on the ground, and they retired along the lower road of the valley. They were soon reinforced, however, and speedily avenged their loss. The French advanced about ten o'clock, and turned the flank of the enemy. The Second Division, in the centre of the line, were hardly pressed. The -list regiment, in particular, were exposed to a ter- rible fire, and the 95th were in the middle of such disorganizing volleys that they only mustered sixty-four men when paraded at two o'clock. In fact, the whole of the division numbered ouly 300 men when assembled by Major Eman, in rear of their camp after the fight was over. The regiments did not take their colours into the battle, but the officers, nevertheless, were picked off" wherever they went, and it did not require the colour- statt" to indicate their presence. Our ambulances were soon filled, and ere nine o'clock they were busily engaged in carrying loads of men, all covered with blood, and groaning, to the rear of the line. About half-past nine o'clock. Lord Raglan and his staff were assembled on a knoll, in the vain hope of getting a glimpse of the battle whicli was raging below them. Here General Strang- ways was mortally wounded, and I am told that he met his death in the following way : — A shell came right among the staff — it exploded in Captain Somerset's horse, ripping him open ; a por- tion of the shell tore ofi' the leather overalls of Captain Somerset's trousers ; it then struck down Captain Gordon's horse and killed him at once, and then blew away General Strangways' leg, so that it hung by a shred of flesh and bit of cloth from the skin. The poor old General never moved a muscle of his face. He said merely, in a gentle voice, " Will any one be kind enough to lift me oft" my horse ?" He was taken down and laid on the ground, while his life-blood ebbed fast, and at last he was carrried to the rear. But the gallant old man had not sufficient strength to undergo an operation, and in two hours he had sunk to rest, leaving behind him a memory which will ever be held dear by every officer and man of the army. The figlit about the battery to which I have alluded in a former part of my letter was most sanguinary. It was found that there was no banquette to stand upon, and that the men inside could not fire upon the enemy. The llussiaus advanced mass after mass of infantry. As fast as one column was broken and repulsed, another took its place. For tliree long hours about 8500 Britisli infantry contended against at least four times their number. No wonder that at times they were compelled to retire. But they came to the charge again. The admirable devotion of the officers, who knew they were special objects of attack, can never be too highly praised. Nor can the courage and steadiness of the few men who were left to follow them in this sanguinary assault on the enemy be suffi- cientlj^ admired. At one time tlio llussians succeeded in getting up dose to the guns of ('aptaiii Wodchouse's and of Captain Tur- ner's batteries in the gloom of the morning. Uncertain whether they were friends or foes, our artillerymen- hesitated to fire. The llussians charged them suddenly bare all resistance down before THE FRENCH TROOPS ADVANCE. 253 them, drove away or bayonetted the gunners, and succeeded in. spiking some of the guns. Their columns gained the hill, and for a few moments the fate of the day trembled in the balance ; but Adams's Brigade, Pennefather's Brigade, and the Light Division made another desperate charge, while Dickson's guns swept their columns, and the Guards, with undiminished valour and steadiness, though with a sadly decreased front, ]nished on again to meet their bitter enemies. The rolling of miisketry, the crash of steel, the pounding of the guns were deafening, and the Russians as they charged up the heights yelled like demons. They advanced, halted, advanced again, received and returned a close and deadly tire ; but the Minie is the king of weapons — Inkermann proved it. The egiments of the Fourth Division and the Marines, armed with the old and much-belauded Brown Bess, could do nothing with their thin line of lire against the massive multitudes of the Mus- covite infantry, but the volleys of the Minie cleft them like the hand of the Destroying Angel, and they fell like leaves in autnmn before them. About ten o'clock a body of French infantry ap- peared on our right, a joyful sight to our struggling regiments. The Zouaves came on at the 2^as dc charge. The French artillery had already begun to play with deadly effect on the right wing of the Russians. Three battalions of the Chasseurs d'Orleans (I believe they had jS'o. 6 on their buttons) rushed by, the light of battle on their faces. They were accompanied by a battalion of Chasseurs Indigenes — the Arab Sepoys of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of battle, and when we watched their eager advance right on the flank of the enemy we knew the day was won. As- sailed in front by our men — broken in several places by the impe- tuosity of our charge, renewed again and again — attacked by the French infantry on the right, and by artillery all along the line, the Russians began to retire, and at twelve o'clock they were driven pell-mell down the hill towards the valley, where pursuit would have been madness, as the roads were all co\ered by their artillery. They left mounds of dead behind them. Long ere they fled the Chasseurs d'Afrique charged them most brilliantly over the groimd, difficult and broken as it was, and inflicted great loss on them, while the efiect of this rapid attack, aided by the advance of our troops, secured our guns, which were only spiked with wood, and were soon rendered flt for service. Our own cavalrj', the remnant CI the Light Brigade, were moved into a position where it was hoped they might be of service, but they were too few to attempt anything, and while they were drawn up they lost several horses and some men. One ofhcer. Cornet Clevland, was struck by a piece of shell in the side, and has since expired. There are now only two officers left with the fi-agment of the 17th Lancers — Captain Godfrey Morgan and Cornet George Wombwell. At twelve o'clock the battle of Inkermann seemed to have been won, but the day, which had cleared up for an hour previously so as to enable us to see the enemy and meet him, again became obscured. Rain and fog set in, and as we could not pursue the Russians, who were retiring under the shelter of their artillery, we had formed in front of our lines and were holding the battle-tield so stoutly contested, 254 THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. when the enemy, taking advantage of cur quietude, again advanced, ■while their guns pushed forward and opened a tremendous tire upon us. General Canrohert, who never quitted Lord Raglan for much of the early part of the day, at once directed the French to advance and outflank the enemy. In his efforts he was most ahly seconded by General Bosquet, whose devotion was noble. Nearly all his mounted escort were down beside and behind him. General Canrobert was slightly wounded. His immediate attendants suf- fered severely. The renewed assault was so admirably repulsed that the Russians sullenly retired, still protected by their crushing artillery. The Russians, about ten, made a sortie on the French lines, and traversed two parallels before they could be resisted. They were driven back at last with great loss, and as they retired they blew up some mines inside the Flagstaft' Fort, evidently afraid that the French would enter pell-mell after them. At one o'clock the Russians were again retiring. At forty minutes past one Dickson's two guns smashed their artillery, and they limbered up, leaving iive tumbrels and one gun-carriage on the field. Nov. 6. Two hundred Russian prisoners were brought in last night to head-quarters camp. They were badly wounded many of them, and several died during the night. Nov. 7. A council of war was held to-day, at the close of which the Duke of Cambridge left for Balaklava and went on board the " Caradoc." The 46th Regiment have arrived here, also 1700 Turks from Volo, and 2800 French. The Russians fired on our burying parties. CHAPTER XXXIX. Picture of the battle-field — Heart-sickening scenes — Ferocity of the Russians — Burying the dead — The Russians fire upon tlie burying parties — Further particulars of the battle — Danger of the Duke of Cambridge — Gallant exploit of Surgeon Wilson. BEFOKE SEBASTOPOIi, Nov. 7. I WENT carefully over the position to-day, and the more I examined it, the more I was amazed at the noble tenacity of our men when assailed by such vast masses of infantry ; though I must give great credit to the Russians for the obstinacy with which they sought to drive us back, and the laborious determination with which they clambered up the hill-side to attack us. The tents of the Second Division are pitched on the verge of the plateau which we occupy, and from the right flank of the; camp the ground rises gently for two or thrc(! hundred yards to a ridge covered with scrubby brush- wood, so thick that it is souuitiines difiicult to force a horse through it. These bushes grow in tufts, and are about four feet high. On gaining the ridge you see below you the valley of the Tchernaya, a green tranquil slip of meadow, with a few white houses dotting THE FIELD — AFTER THE BATTLE. 255 it at intervals, some farm enclosures, and tufts of green trees. From the ridge the hill-side descends rapidly in a slope of at least 600 feet high. The brushwood is very thick upon it, and at times it is almost impervious. At the base of this slope the road winds to Inkermann, and thence to Sebastopol. The sluggish stream steals quietly through it towards the head of the harbour, which is shut out from A'iew by the projections of the ridge towards the north. At the distance of a quarter of a mile across the valley, the sides of the mountains opposite to the ridge of the plateau on ■which our camp stands rise abruptly in sheer walls of rock, slab after slab, to the height of 1200 or loOO feet. A road Avinds among those massive precipices up to the ruins of Inkermann — a city of the dead and gone and unknown — where houses, and pillared mansions, and temples, have been hewn out of the face of the solid rock by a generation whose very name the most daring antiquaries have not guessed at. This road passes along the heights, and dips into the valley of Inkermann, at the neck of the harbour. The Russians planted guns along it the other day, to cover the retreat of their troops, and at night the lights of "their fires are seen glimmering through the window and door places from the chambers carved out from the sides of the precipice. Looking down from the ridge, these ruins are, of course, to one's left hand. To the right the eye follows the sweep of the valley till it is closed in from view by the walls of the ridge, and by the mountains which hem in the valley of Balaklava, and one can just catch, on the side of the ridge, the corner of the nearest French earthwork, thrown, up to defend our rear, and cover the position towards Balaklava. Below, towards the right of the ridge, at the distance of 200 feet from the top towards the valley, is the Sandbag, or two-gun battery, intended for two guns, which had not been placed there on the 5th, because Sir De Lacy Evans conceived that they would only invite attack, and would certainly be taken, unconnected as they would have been with any line of defence. On the left hand, over- looking this battery, there is a road from Balaklava right across our camp through the Second Division's tents on their front, which runs over the ridge and joins the upper road to Inkermann. Some of the Eussian columns had climbed up by the ground along this road ; others had ascended on the left, in front and to the right of the Sandbag Battery. In every bush — on every yard of blood- stained ground — lay a dead or dying Russian. The well-known bearskins of our Guards, the red coats of our Infantry, and the bright blue of the French Chasseurs, revealing each a silent horror in the glades, and marking the spot where stark and stiff a corpse lay contorted on the grass, pointed out the scenes of the bloodiest contests. The dead were happy — the dull, cold eye, the tranquil brow,- the gently opening lips, which had given escape to the parting spirit as it fled from its bleeding shell, showed how peace- fully a man may die in battle, pierced by the rifle ball. The British and the French, many of whom had been murdered by the Russians as they lay wounded, wore terrible frowns on their faces, with wliich the agonies of death had clad them. Some in their last throes had torn up the earth in their hands, and held the grass between their lingers up towai-ds heaven. All the men who exhi- 256 THE BATTLE OP INKERMAmS". ■bited such signs of pain had been bayonetted ; the dead men who lay with an eternal smile on their lips had been shot. But the wounded — for two days they had lain where the hand and the ball liad felled them. There were very few, it is true, but all our eearchins; had not discovered the secrets of that blood-stained hill- viide, and it was towards noon to-day ere the last of our soldiers had been found in his lair and carried to the hospital. But the KuSsians, groaning and palpitating as they lay around, were far more nmnerous. Some of these were placed to,2:ether in heaps, that they miglit he the more readily removed. Others glared on you from the bushes with the ferocity of M-ild beasts, as they hugged their wounds. Some implored, in an unknown tongue, but in accents not to be mistaken, water, or succour ; holding out their mutilated and shattered limbs, or pointing to the track of the lace- rating ball. The sullen, angry scowl of some of these men was fearful. Fanaticism and immortal hate spake through their angry eyeballs, and he who gazed on them with pity and compassion could at last (unwillingly) understand how these men would in their savage passion kill the wounded, and fire on the conqueror who, in his generous humanity, had aided them as he passed. It was a relief to see that their arms were broken — that their cartridges were lying opened in heaps on the ground. Litter-bearers, French and English, dotted the hillside, now toiling painfully up with a heavy burden for the grave, or with some subject for the doctor's care ; now hunting through the bushes for the dead or dying. Our men have acquired a shocking facility in their diagnosis. A body is before you ; there is a shout, " Come here, boys, 1 see a Russian !" (or "a Frenchman," or "one of our fellows !") One of the party comes forward, raises the eyelid if it be closed, peers into the eye, shrugs his shoulders, says quietly, "He's dead, he'll wait," and moves back to the litter ; others pull the feet, and arrive at equally correct conclusions by that process. The dead are generally stripped of all but their coats. The camp followers and blackguards from Balaklava, and seamen from the ships anxious for trophies, carry off all they can take from the field. At particular spots you see a party of men busy at Avork Groups of them are digging away all along the hillside, at the distance of forty or fifty yards apart. Go over, and you find them around a yawning trench, thirty feet in length by twenty feet in breadth, and si.v feet in depth, at the bottom of which, in every conceivable attitude, lie packed together "with exceeding art some thirty or forty corpses. Tlie gravediggers stand chatting on the mounds by the sides, waiting for the arrival of some bearers to complete the number of the dead. Tlic}'^ specu- late on the aiipearauce of the body which is being borne towards them. " It's Corporal - — -, of tlie — th, I think," says one. " No ! it's my rear rank man, I can see his red hair plain enough," and so on. They discuss the merits or demerits of dead sergeants or comrades. " Well, he was a hard man : many's the time I was balled through him, but it's all over now!" or "Poor Mick! he had fifteen years' service— a better fellow never stepped." This scene is going on all about the liiliside. Fren(;hmen, with litters, are also busy looking out for their dead and wounded, and ia sharing the sad labours of the day. At last the number in the BURYING THE DEAD. ^57 trench is completed. The bodies lie as closely as they can he packed. Some of them have upraised arms, in the attitude of taking aim ; their legs stick up through the moidd as it is thrown upon them ; others are bent and twisted into shapes like fantoccini. Inch after inch the earth rises upon them, and they are left "alone in their glory." Xo. not alone; for the hopes, and fears, and affections of hundreds of human hearts lie buried with them ! For about one mile and a half in length by half a mile in depth, the hillside offers such sights as these. Upwards of 2000 Kussians have been buried by these men ; few remain above ground now. As I was standing in the Sandbag Battery a short time ago, talk- ing to some officers of the Guards, who were describing their terrible losses, Colonel Cunynghame and Lieutenant-Colonel AVilbraham, of the quartermaster- general's staff, rode up towards the spot to superintend the operations. The instant their cocked hats were seen above the ridge, a burst of smoke arose out of the valley from the head of the harbour, and bizz ! whish ! bizz ! came a shell right over us, and crashed into the hillside, where oiir men were actually engaged in burying the Prussian dead ! Such atrocity needs no comment, and officers and men were alike indignant at it. Colonel Cunynghame told me he understood that Lord llaglan had actually sent in a Hag of truce that very morning to the Kus- sian generals to inform them that the parties on the hillside were burying the dead. As he was speaking, a second shell was directed at us, and fell again to the right ; but it was quite evident that the society of two officers in cocked hats and on horseback was not the safest in the world at that particular moment, and we all three retired. One thing is quite clear — that if such acts as these are approved by the llussian authorities, it will be impossible to treat their men as civilized beings, and the contest will assume the worst characteristics of barbarian warfare. The remainder of the 46th llegiment landed yesterdaj*, and marched in good spirits to the camp, with their band playing. Kov. 8. In my despatch forwarded to-day from Balaklava, I attempted to connect the interval which had elapsed since the last post day, Nov. 3, with the present date ; but the great battle and victory of Inkermann rose up grimly in the middle of my notes, and engrossed all my time, and would have consumed far more if I had had it to spare, for I could have devoted many hours more to the description of the tight, and to the incidents which marked that memorable oth of November. The battle was at its height about eight o'clock, and by that time the Russians had partially established themselves on the heights on our right. The French were drawn up in three bodies of about 2000 men each on the ridge of the hills over Ealaklava, watching the move- ments of the Russian cavalrj' in the plain below. As I came up the enemy were visible, drawn out in six divisions, with the artil- lery and infantry ready to act, and horses saddled and bridled. It was evident they were waiting for the signal to dash up the hills in our rear, and sabre our tlying regiments. They had a long time S ^pS' THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. to wait ! The Frencli lines below us were lined by Zouaves ; the gunners in the redoubts, with matches lighted, were prepared to send their iron messens^ers through the ranks of the horse the moment they came within range. Behind the French 5000 '* Bono Johnnies" were drawn up in columns as a reserve, and several Turkish regiments were also stationed under the heights on the right, in a position to act in svipport, should their services be re- quired. Already the French were on their march from the sea to our assistance, and the black lines of their regiments streaked the grey plain as they marched double-quick towards the scene of action. The Chasseurs d'Afrique on their grey Arabs swept about the slopes of the hill to watch an opportunity for a dash. Our own cavalry were drawn up by their encampments, the Heavy Brigade on the left, the Light Brigade in the centre of our position. The latter were out of tire for some time, but an advance to the right exposed them to shot and shell. Mr. Clevlaud received a mortal wound, and several men and horses were injured later in the day. The Heavy Cavalry were employed in protecting our left and rear. At nine, the French streamed over the brow of the hill on our right — Chasseiu's d'Orleans, Tirailleurs, Indigenes, Zouaves, Infantry of the Line, and Artillery — and at once rushed over the brow and fell on the flank of the Russian column. On visiting the spot it was curious to observe how men of all arms — English, French, and Russians —lay together, showing that the same ground must have been occupied several times by difl'erent bodies of troops. The French were speedily engaged, for the Russians had plenty of men for all comers. Their reserves in the vaUey and along the road to Sebastopol received the shattered columns which were driven down the hill, allowed them to re-form and attack again, or furnished fresh regiments to assault the allies again and again. This reserve seems to have consisted of three large bodies — probably of 5000 men each. The attacking force could not have been less than 20,000 men, and 1 make a very low estimate indeed of the strength of the Russians to-day when I place it at from 45,000 to 50,000 men of all arms. Some say there were from 55,000 to 60,000 men engaged on the side of the enemy ; but I think that number excessive, and there certainly was not ground enough for them to show front upon. Captain Burnett states that he saw fresh bodies of Russians marching up to the attack on three successive occasions, and that tlicir artillery was relieved no less than four times. The Minie ritlc did our work, and Lord Hardinge is entitled to tlie best thanks of the country for his perseverance in arming this expedition as far as lie could witlx every riHe that could be got, notwithstanding the dislike with which the weapon Avas received by many experienced soldiers. The column of attack on the Russian right, which came upon our position at th(! nearest point to Sebastopol, was mainly resisted by the Fourth Division and ]\Iarincs. flie Russian centre was princi- pally nsisted by the Second Division and the Light Division; and souk; of the Third Division and the IJrigade of Guards were opposed to the third or left attacking column of the Russians, which forced its way up the hill towards the Sandbag Battery, at the furthest point i'roiu lukermann. The Fourth Division had in a short time 1>'CIDENTS OF THE ACTION. 2-59 all its generals — Sir George Cathcart and Brigadiers Goldic and Torrens — killed or mortally mounded, and 700, or more than one quarter of its strength, put hors de combat. Colonel Swyny, of the 63rd Regiment, and Major Wynne, of the 68th, were killed early. Colonel Crofton was wounded in three places ; Major Sharpe was badly wounded also, and Lieutenant Bowling was killed. The '20th Regiment, to which these ofhcers belonged, went into action 490 strong; it came out 362. The other regiments suftered in propor- tion. The Second Di\-ision had left, when_ it came out of action, exactly six held officers and twelve captains lit for duty, and, I believe. Major Farrer, of the 47th Regiment, was the senior officer,^ and had to take charge of the division. The proper complement of captains to the division would, of course, be sixty. The Light Division, or the portion of it in action, was, as usual, foremost in the fray. Some of the officers had most wonderful escapes. In the 88th Regiment, ilajor Maxwell's horse was shot under him, in front of the enemy's column. Lieutenant Crosse and Lieutenant Baynes were surrounded by a body of Russians, who attacked them with the bayonet, although they were both wounded. Mr. Baynes miraculously escaped. Mr. Crosse was surrounded by four Russians, who thought to make sure work of him. He shot the two in front of him with his revolver, and a private named Houlaghan, rushed out of the ranks, shot one of his remaining assailants dead, bayonetted the other, and, taking up Mr. Crosse in his arms, ran back with him to the rear of the regiment and placed him in safety. Sir T. Troubridge lost both legs above the ankle. He is doing well. The men of the 19th and 23rd Regiments displayed more even than their usual firmness and daring, and met their full share of the enemy's fire ; but many of the Light Division of this brigade were in the trenches. Sir De Lacy Evans, who was very unweU on board ship when the fight began, managed to get on shore and ride up to the front ; and I saw him on the battle-field full of grief for the loss he had sustained in his division. Captain ^Ulix, one of the General's aids -de - camp, was killed ; Captain Gubbins, another aid-de- camp, was wounded ; Brigadier Peunefather had a narrow escape, and Brigadier Adams was slightly wounded ; and there lay the spot the weakness of which the General had so often represented ! . It was enough to make one sad. The Brigade of the Guards lost fourteen officers killed ; but the wonder is that anj' escaped the murderous fire directed on their position. The carnage at the Alma did not present anything like the scene round the Sandbag Battery, which is placed on a steep descent towards the Tcheruaya. The piles of dead here were fright- ful. Upwards of 1200 dead and dying Russians lay behind and around and in front of it, and many a bearskin cap and tall Eng- lish Grenadier lay there too, with frequent corpses of French Chas- seur and infantry soldier. At one time, while the Duke was rally- ing his men, a body of Russians began to single him out, and to take shots at him in the most deliberate manner. A surgeon of a cavaby regiment, Mr. Wilson, 7th Hussars, who was attached to the brigade, perceived the danger of his Royal Highness, and, with 260 THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN. the greatest gallantry and coolness, assembled a few men of the- Guards, led them to the charge, and utterly routed and dispersed the Ilussians. The Duke's horse was killed in the course of the fight. At the close of the day he called Mr. Wilson in front of the regi- ment, and publicly thanked him for having in all probability saved his life. Major Macdonald, whose sangfroid is as conspicuous as his bravery, had his horse shot under him in the heat of the battle, and gathered himself up with the same self-possession that he dis- played imder similar circumstances when unseated by a cannon shot at the Alma. The conduct of the liussians towards the wounded Guards' officers was brutal in the extreme. Colonel Mac- Icinnon would, no doubt, have lived but for bayonet wounds re- ceived while lying on tl-.e ground. His leg was broken, and he was so weak from loss of blood, that he died under the operation of _ I'emoving it. Sir II. Newman was stabbed all over. Itussian ' officers were seen passing their swords through the bodies of our men as they writhed in agony on the ground, and pointing to their men to bayonet them as tliey passed. Such are the armies of the Czar ! A major of the ruffian soldiery who perpetrated these deeds is, however, in our hands ; and, if it can be satisfactorily proved that he has committed the acts laid to his cliarge, he -svill be swung on a gibbet in front of the walls of .Sebastopol. While the Guards were at their utmost need, the French columns moved down impetuously on the exulting enemy, and, taking them in the flank, forced them back along the side of the hill imder the fire of our divisions. The allies charged them, and hailed ball and shot into them with deadly effect. The enemy, though supported by the fire of ti'emendous artillery, could not withstand us ; and before forty-five minutes past eleven a.m., their army was retiring before 8500 E)itish and 9000 French infantry ; and at thirty-five minutes past twelve, they were in full retreat towards Sebastopol, covered by their guns ; at half-past one they were retreating after their infantry into Sebastopol. Lieutenant Hoare, in his Lancaster l>attery, had prepared a parting volley ibr both. He removed his gabions and sandbags, got a good " open" on the road, and when- ever a body of men or horses came in view upon it, bang went the long fellow, and the ponderous cone of iron whistled among tliem, ripping the column from end to end, and strewing the road with dead. The revolvers carried by our officers saved their lives on several occasions this day. When Captain rs'ii'liolson, of the 77th, was lying on the ground he was bayouettcd by a Kussian. Tlie Colonel immediately shot the scoundrel dead. Ensign Jiutts, of the 77th, was taken prisoner by a Kussian, who made him liide himself in tlie bush as his regiment went ])ast, by keeping liis cocked firelock to his head. The young fellow watclied liis cliance, and shot biin dead with his revolver, getting ofi'in safety to rejoin liis regiment. No doubt, there will be abumlunee of private letters full of similar details. Our men were very short of amuuniition. The Guards in particuliir expended all theirs very^ soon. What Avas the cause of this r They surely did not lire (hen- fifty rounds a man. Great exertions were used this (svening to get oiu' wounded into hospital, and the Ambulance Corps did good service. SUBDIVISIONS OF THE RUSSIAN" ARMY. 261 CHAriER XL. Distinctive marks in the Russian army — Divisions at the Ahiia and Inkcr- mann — Devotion of the men to tlieir officers — Memorials of the battle- field — The commissariat — Supply of food — Unparalleled hardships of the campaign — Romance and reality of war. Before Sebastopol, Kav. S. From a prisoner whom we examined I have gleaned some interest- ing: particuhirs respecting the formation of the llussian army. The man was not very " bright," but he tokl the truth according to the light that was in him, and I believe the statements he made were tolerably correct. It had long been a puzzle to ignorant people like ourselves wliy the Russian soldiers had numbers on their shoulder-straps different from those on their buttons or on their caps. In recording my observations on the appointments of the men killed at the Alma I remarked, it may be remembered, that certain " regiments" were present, judging by the shoulder-straps. It will appear that these numbers referred not to regiments, but to divi- sions. So let our Pole — he is a deserter — one of the few who came in lately, speak for himself through an interpreter: — " "\^^hat does the number on the strap on your shoulder indicator" — "It is 2S0. 16. It shows that I belong to the IGth Division of the army." "Who commands it?" — "I don't know — a General." "What does the number 31 on j^our buttons mean?" — "It means that I belong to polk 31, of the 16th Division." " What does the .number 7 on your cap, with P after it, mean ?" — " It indicates that I belong to the 7th rota of the polk." " What does a rota mean ?" — " It means a company of 250 men." " How many rotas are in a polk ?" — " There are sixteen rotas in each polk." " And how many polks are in a division ?" — " There are four polks in a division." "If that is so, why have you 31 on your buttons?" (A pause, a stupid look.) — "I don't know." Finding our friend was getting into that helpless state of confusion into which the hrst glimpses of decimal fractions are wont to plunge the youthful arithmetician, we left him. Is'ow let us combine our information, and see what, according to this Polish authority, a Russian division consists of. It stands thus : — 1 Rota = 2o0 men 16 Rotas = 1 polk = 4000 ,, 4 Polks = 1 division = 16,000 ,, To this add cavalry and artillery 4000 ,, Total 20,000 It is very remarkable that we do not find in our enemy's army •of the .5th of November many of the divisions wliieh fought against us on the 20th of September. Where was the 32nd Division, with which we were principally concerned in the bloody cliarge up to the battery on the hill at the Alma ? Where were the 12th, 31st, and 18th Divisions on the oth of November ? They were present at the Alma, but they were not visible at Inkermann. 262 THE BATTLE OF INKERMAKN. Tlie men resembled those we met at the Alma, and were clad and armed in the same way. We saw no infantry with helmets, how- ever, and our soldiers were disappointed to find the Russians had, in most cases, come out without their knapsacks. Their persons were very cleanly, and the whiteness of their faces and of their feet was remarkable. Few of them had socks on, and the marau- ders, who ever prowl over a battle-iield, had removed their boots whenever they were worth taking-. Our soldiers and sailors, as well as the French, look out with avidity for a good pair of Russian boots, and are quite adepts in fitting themselves to a nicety by their simple mode of measurement. Many of the men had silver medals and ribands striped green and white for "the campaign of 1849 in Transylvania." They were generally carried inside tin cases about their persons. Officers and men wore the same long grey coats, the former being alone distinguishable by the stripe of gold lace on the shoulder. Their uniform coatees, of dark green with white facings and red and yellow trimmings, were put on underneath the greatcoat. A considerable number of the Liege double-grooved rifles were found on the field. Many of the muskets bore the date of 1841, and had evidently been flint guns originally, but had been altered into detonators. I remember a juvenile superstition in my s|3arrow-killing daj's that such guns "shot stronger" than either funt or detonator i)ur sang. Every part of the arm is branded most carefully. The word " bak" occurs on each separate piece of it. The imperial eagle is on the brass heelplate, and on the lock is "tyaa, 1841." I am now speaking of a flrelock with which most of two divisions at least were armed. The bayonets are long, but are not well steeled. They bend if rudely handled or struck with force against the ground. The long and polished gun barrels are made of soft, but tough iron. They can be bent to an acute angle without splitting. From the trigger guard of each musket there is a thong depending, fastened to a cap of stout leather, which is put over the nipple in wet weather. This seems a simple and useful expedient. The devotion of the men to their officers is remarkable. How else is it that we seldom find cither dead or wounded olRccrs on the ground ? On the person of one lieutenant or cai)taiu, who was lying dead, an extremely handsome and ath- letic young man, there was found a roll of linen, which contained the same black, dry, and h;ird fragments of rye-bread Avhich the privates carry about with them. Persons of this rank, however, have generally watches and purses of money about their persons. It is again asserted — and 1 sinc(>rely believe with truth — that the dying and wounded Russians killed manj"^ of our men as they passed on towards the I'ront arainst the retreating enemy. For this reason our soldiers smashed the stock and bent the barrel of nearly every firelock they came across. Some, however, carried bundles of them off the field, as well as heaps of Liege rifles, and of a' heavy, thick sword with a saw-back, carried by the Grenadiers or Artillerymen, which they sell to the cajjtains and sailors of mer- chantmtn, or to those who are anxious for mementoes of the fight. Medals, ribands, the small brass crucifixes, and pictures of saints, and charms found upon the dead are also in great request. The field is visited by shoals of people from iJalaklava every day. HARDSHIPS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 2G3 If it is considered that the soldiers who met these furious columns of the Czar were the remnants of three British divisions, which scarcely numbered SoOO men ; that they were hungry and wet, and half- famished ; that they were men belonging to a force which is generally "out of bed" four nights out of seven; which has been enfeebled by sickness, by severe toil, sometimes for twenty- foui' hours at a time without relief of any kind ; that among them were men wlio had within a short time previously lain out for forty- eight hours in the trenches at a stretch — it will be readily admitted that never was a more extraordinary contest maintained by our army since it acquired a reputation in the world's history. Mr. Commissary-General Filder deserves the greatest praise for his exertions in supplying our men with food. The stories which have been circulated respecting the insufficiency and irregularity of the supply of meat, biscuit, and spirits, are base calumnies. No army was ever fed with more punctuality, and no army, I believe, was ever so well fed under such very exceptional cir- cumstances as those in which we are placed. We are fed by Balaklava alone ; thence comes our daily bread. It has to be carried out day by day, and yet no man in this army has ever been without his pound of good biscuit, his pound and a half or pound of good beef or mutton, his quota of coffee, tea, rice, and sugar, or his gill of excellent rum, for any one day, except it has been through his own neglect. We draw our hay, our corn, our beef, our mutton, our biscuits, spirits, and necessaries of all kinds from beyond sea. Eupatoria supplies us with cattle and sheep to a moderate extent ; but the commissariat of the army depends, as a general rule, on sea carriage. Nevertheless, large as are our advantages in the excellence and regularity of the supply of food, the officers and men have had to undergo great privations. The oldest soldiers here never witnessed or heard of a campaign in which General officers were obliged to live out in tents on the open field, for the want of a roof to cover them, and Generals who passed their youth in the Peninsular war, and who have witnessed a good deal of fighting since that time in various parts of the world, are unanimous in declaring that they never knew or read of a war in which the officers were exposed to such hardships. They landed, as most of us remember, without anything but what they could carry, and they marched beside their men, slept by them, fought by them, and died by them, undistinguished from them in any respect, except by the deadly epaulette and swordbelt, which have cost so many lives to the country. The survivors have often been unable to get their things from on board ship. They have lain down at night in the clothes which they wore during the day ; many delicately nurtured youths have never changed shirt or shoes for weeks together, and the}* are deprived of the use of water for ablution, except to a very limited extent. " Rank and fashion," under such circumstances, have fallen a prey to parasitical invasion — an evil to which the other incidents of roughing it are of little moment. The officers are in rags. Guardsmen who were " the best style of men" in the Parks now turn out in coats and trousers and boots aU seams and patches, torn in all directions, and mended with more vigour than neatness, and our smartest cavalry and line 264 THE HURRICANE. men are models of ingenious sewing and stitching. The men cannot grumble at old coats, boots, or shoes when they see their officers no better ott'than themselves. We have out here " soldier- ing with the gilding off," and many a young gentleman would be for ever cured of his love of arms if he could but see one day's lighting and have one day's parade of the men wdio do it. For- tunate it is for us tliat we have a youth on whom to rely, and that there are in old England men " who delight in war," and who will be ever ready to incur privation, danger, and death at her summons.^ As to young ladies suffering from "scarlet fever," — the pupils of the "L. E. L." school, who are for ever thinking of heroes and Avarriors, singing of champions, of " crow^ning conquerors' brows with flowers," and wishing for "Arab steeds and falchions bright" — if they could but for one instant have stood beside me and gazed, into one of the pits where some 30 "clods of the valley," all covered Avith scarlet and blue cloth, with lace and broidery, and blood, ■were lying side by side, and staring up at heaven with their sight- less orbs as they w^ere about to be consigned to the worm, they would feel the horrors of their hero worship, and wo\ild join in prayer for the advent of that day — if come it ever may — when war shall be no more, and when the shedding of blood shall cease. THE HURRICANE. CHAPTER XLI. 'rrcmcndous hurricane — Picture of tlie camps — Tents destroyed — Hospitals and storehouses overturned — Details of the terrible calamity — The writer finds refuge in Lord Kaglan's stable — A miserable scene — The day after the storm — Appearance of Balaklava and the harbour. Before Sebastopol, JS'ov. 14. The camp was visited by a hurricane to-day. It commenced shortly after six o'clock a.m., and was preceded by rain and squalls from S.AV. and S.W.W. Eor about an hour I had been in a listless state between w^aking and sleeping, listening to the pelting of the rain against the flutter- ing canvas of the tent, or dodging the streams of water which flowed underneath it, saturating our blankets and collecting on the mackintosh sheets in pools. The sound of the rain, its heavy beating on the earth, had become gradually swallowed un by the noise of the rushing of tlu; Avind over the common, and by the llai)ping of the tents as they rocked more A'iolently beneath its force. Gradually the sides (if the canvas, Avhich Avere tucked in under big stones to secure them, began torise and flutter, per- mitting the Avind to enter playfully and drive before it sheets of rain right into one's face ; the pegs began to indicate painful indecision and Avant of iirmness of i)urpose. The glimpses aftbrded of the state of afliiirs outside, by the lifting of the tent Avails, Avere little calculated to produce a spirit of resignation to the fate Avhich TENTS BLOWN OVEK. 265 threatened our frail shelter. The ground had lost its character of solidity, and pools of mud marked the horse and cattle-tracks in front of the tents. Mud — and nothing but mud — Hying before the wind and drifting as though it wex'e rain, covered the face of the earth as far as it was visible. Meantime the storm-liend was coming, terrible and strong as when he smote the bark of the Ancient ilariner. At every fresh blast the pole of the tent played and bout like a salmon-rod ; tlie canvas tugged at the ropes to pull them up, and the pegs yielded gently. A startling crack ! I looked at my companions, who seemed determined to shut out all sound and sense by piling as much clothes as they could collect over their heads. A roar of wind, and the pole bent till the fatal " crack" was heard again. "Get up, Doctor! up with you; E , the tent is coming down !" The Doctor rose from beneath his tii))u(hts of clothes. jVow, if there was anything in Avhich the Doctor put confidence more than another, it was his tent-pole. There was a decided bend in the middle of it, but he used to argue, on sound anatomical, mathematical, and physical principles, that the bend was a decided improvement, and he believed that no power of yEolus could ever shake it. He looked on the pole blandly, as he looks at all things, put his hand out, and shook it. " Why, man," said he, reproachfully, "it's all right — that pole would stand for ever," and then he crouched down and burrowed under his bed- clothes. Scarcely had he given the last convulsive heave of the blankets which indicates perfect comfort and satisfaction, when a harsh screaming sound, increasing in vehemence as it approached, struck us with horror. As it passed along we heard the snapping of tent-poles and the sharp crack of timber and canvas. On it came, " a mighty and a strong wind ;" the pole broke off short in the middle, as if it were glass, and in an instant we were pressed down and half stiHed by the heavy folds of the wet canvas, which beat us about the head Avdth the greatest fury. Half breathless and blind, I struggled for the door. Such a sight as met the eye ! The whole head quarters' camp was beaten flat to the earth, and the unhappy occupants were rushing through the mud in all direc- tions in chase of their eft'ects and clothes, or holding on by the walls of the enclosure as they strove to make their way to the roofless and windowless barns and stables for shelter. Three marquees alone had stood against the blast — General Estcourt's, Sir John Eurgoyne's, and Major Pakenham's. The General had built a cunning wall of stones around his marquee, but ore noon it had fallen before the wind, and the Major's shared the same fate still earlier in the day. Xext to our tent had been the marquee of Captain de Morel, aid-de-camp to the Adjutant-General Estcourt. It lay fluttering on the ground, and, as I looked, the canvas seemed animated by some great internal convulsion — a mimic vol- cano appeared to be opening beneath it, and its folds assumed the most fantastic shapes, tossing wildly about in the storm. The phenomenon was speedily accounted for by the apparition of the gallant owner flghtmg his way out desperately against the wind, Avhich was bent on tearing "his very scanty covering from his person ; and at last he succeeded in making a bolt of it and squat- tered through the mud to the huts. Dr. Hall's tent, close at hand, 266 THE HURRICANE. was levelled ; and the principal medical oiRcer of the British army might be seen, in an unusnal state of perturbation, seeking for his garments ere he took to flight. Brigadier Estcourt, with mien for once disturbed, held on, as sailors say, " like grim Death to a back- stay," by one of the shrouds of his marquee. Captain Chetwode, in drawers and shirt, was tearing through the rain and through the dirt like a maniac after a cap, which he fancied was his own, and which he found, after a desperate run, was his sergeant's. The air was filled with blanksts, hats, great coats, little coats, and even tables and chairs! Macintoshes, quilts, india-rubber tubs, bed-clothes, sheets of tent-canvas went whirling like leaves in the gale towards Sebastopol. The shingle roofs of the outhouses were torn away and scattered over the camp, and a portion of the roof of Lord Raglan's house was carried oft' to join them. The barns and commissariat-sheds were laid bare at once. As instances of the force of the wind I may mention that large arabas, or wagons, which stood close to us, were overturned ; that men and horses were knocked down and rolled over and over ; that the ambulance wagons were turned topsy-turvy; and that a large and heavy table in Captain Chetwode' s tent was lifted oft' the ground, whirled round and round till the leaf flew oft', and then came to mother earth deprived of a leg and seriously injured. The Marines and Rifles on the clifts over Balaklava lost tents, clothes — everything ; the storm tore them away over the face of the rock and liiuied them across the bay, and the men had to cling to the earth with all their might to avoid the same fate. But the scene which occurred here must be described separately. It forms a terrible picture ; and the account of it, whenever it maj^ be written, will form the most appalling chapter in the history of maritime disasters. Looking over towards the hill occupied by the Second Division, we could see that the blast had there been of equal ^dolence. The ridges, the plains, and undulating tracts between the ravines, so lately smiling in the autumn sun, with row after row of neat white tents, now lay bare and desolate, the surface turned into sticky mud as black as ink, and the discoloured canvas rolled up in heaps all over it. Right before us the camp of the Chasseurs d'Afrique S resented an appearance of equal desolation and misery. Their ttle tniti's (Vabri stood for a few minutes, but at last the poles snapped, and they were involved in the common ruin. The face of the country was covered with horses which had torn away from the picquets. Nearly one-half of our cavalry horses broke loose. The Trench, flying for shelter, swarmed across the plains in all directions, seeking for the lee of old walls or banks for protc^ction from the blast. Our men, more sullen and resolute, stood in I'ront of their levelled tents while wind and rain tore over them, or collected in groups before their late camps. Woe l)etidcthe Russians had they come on tliat day, for, fiercer than the storm and stronger than all its rage, the British soldier would have met and beaten their teem- ing battalions. The cry was all throughout this dreadiul day, " Let us get at the town ; better far that we shoidd have a rush at the batteries and be dtmc with it than stand lierc to be beaten by the storm." One regiment alone is said to have presented some A PLEASANT COUP d'cEIL. 267 instances of an unsoldierlike and disorderly disposition, and that is one some of whose officers have lately been much before the public. A few younf' recruits, fresh from the comforts of home, felt severely such a rude initiation into the realities of the profession, and seemed to think they could not be expected to go into the trenches in this bad weather, but they were soon shamed out of their unwillingness by the spirit of their corarades. IS^ot to digress too much, and to return to the pleasant coup (Vceil before us this morning, let the reader imagine the bleakest common in all England, the wettest bog in all Ireland, or the dreariest muir in all Scotland, overhxmg by leaden skies, black as ink, and lashed by a tornado-sleet, snow, pelting drizzle, and rain, — a few broken stone walls and roofless huts dotting it here and there, roads tui-ned into torrents of mud or water across it, and then let him think of the condition in which men and horses must have been placed in such a spot on a November morning, suddenly deprived of their fraU covering, and exposed to bitter cold and wet, "nith empty stomachs and not the remotest prospect of obtaining food or shelter till the storm ceased. Think of the men in the trenches, the covering parties, the patrols, and outlying picquets and sentries, who had passed the night in storm and darkness, and who returned to their camp only to find tires out and tents destroj'ed. These were men who dared not tui-n their backs for a moment, who could not blink their eyes, on whose vi:2:ilance the safety of our position depended, and many of whom had been for eight or ten hoxrrs in the rain and cold. These are trials which demand the exercise of the soldier's highest qualities. A benighted sportsman caught in a highland storm thinks no misery can exceed his own, as fagged and drenched and hungry he plods along the hill-side, and stumbles about in the dark towards some uncertain light ; but he has no enemy worse than the wind and rain to face, and in the first hut he reaches repose and comfort await him. Our officers and soldiers, after aday like this, had to descend to the trenches again at night, look out for a crafty foe, to labour in the mire and ditches of the works ; what fortitude and high courage to do all this ■svithout a murmur and to bear such privations and hardships with unflinching resolution ! But meantime — for one's own experience gives the best idea of the sufferings of others — our tent is do^vn ; one by one we struggle out into the mud, and leave behind us all oiu' little household gods, to fly before a pitiless blast which nearly carries us away, to the side of a broken stone wall, behind which are cowering Zouaves, Chasseurs d'Afrique, ambulance men. Hussars, infantry men, officers, and horses. Major Blane, in a state of distress, is seen staggering from the ruins of liis marquee, under a press of great coat, across the camp, and bearing up for the shelter of Major Pakenham's hut. We hear that the hospital tents are all do'mi, and that the sick have had to share the fate of the healthiest and most robust. On turning towards the ridge on which the large and imposing wooden structures built by the French for hospitals and storehouses were erected, a few scattered planks alone met the eye. The wounded of the 5th. November, who to the number of "several hundred were in these buildings, had to bear the inclemencj- of the weather as well as they could. Several succumbed to its effects. In every dii-ection fresh 2GS THE HURRICANE. scenes of wi-eteliedness met the eye. The guard tents were down, the late occupants huddled tos'ether under the side of a barn, their arms covered with mud, lying- where they had been thrown down from the " pile " by the M'ind. The officers of the g-uard had lied to the commissariat stores near Lord llaglau's, and found there partial shelter. Inside the commissariat yard, overturned carts, dead horses, and groups of shivering men were seen — not a tent standing. Mr. Cookesley had to take refuge among his stores, and was no doubt glad to tind it, even amid salt pork and rum puncheons. Nearer to us hussar horses were dead and dying from the cold. With chattering teeth and shivering limbs each man looked at his neighbour. Lord Eaglan's house, with the smoke of its tires steaming away from the chimneys, and its white walls standing out freshly against the black sky, was indeed " the cynosure of neighbouring eyes." Our generals' marquees were as incapable of resisting the hurricane as the bell-tents of the common soldiers. Lord Lucan was seen for hours sitting up to his knees in sludge amid the wreck of his establishment, meditative as Marius amid the ruins of Carthage. Lord Cardigan was sick on board his 3'acht in the harbour ot Balaklava. Sir George Brown Avas lying Avounded onboard the "Agamemnon," off Kamiesch-bay ; SirDe Lacy Evans, sick and shaken, was on board the " Sanspareil," in Balaklava General Bentinck, wounded, was on board the " Caradoc," at Con- .stantinople, or on his way to England. The Duke of Cambridge, sick and depressed, was passing an anxious time of it in the " lletri- bution," off" Balaklava, in all the horrors of that dreadful scene at sea. But General Pennefather, Sir B. England, Sir J. Campbell, Brigadier Adams, Brigadier Buller — in fact, all the generals and colonels and officers in the tield, were just as badly oft" as the meanest private. The only persons whose tents weathered the gale, -as far as I could hear, were Mr. Bomaine, Deputy Judge- Advocate- General ; Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, Boyal Artillery ; and Captain "Woodford. The tirst had, however, pitched his tent cunningly within the four walls of an outhouse, and secured it by guys and subtle devices of stonework. They were hospitable spots, those tents — oases in the desert of wretchedness ; many a poor half- frozen wanderer was _ indebted almost for life to the shelter he there received. While all this writing is going on, pray never lose sight of the fact, as you sit over your snug coal-fires at home, that fuel is nearly all gone here, and that there are savage tights, even in tine weather, among the various domestics, for a bit of shaving or a fragment of brushwood. Never forget that all this time the storm is raging with increased violence, and that from half-past fi o'clock till late in the daj% it passed over the camp with the fury of Azrael, vexing and buffeting every living thing, and tearing to pieces all things inanimate. JN'ow and llieii a cruel gleam of sunshine abso- lutely shot out of a rift in lh(> walls of clouds and rendered the misery of the scene more striking. Gathered np as we were under the old wall, we could not but think with, anxious hearts of our fleet at sea — of our trans])orts off Balaklava and the Katcha — of the men in the trenches and on pic(iuet. Alas ! we had too much reason for our anxiety. Towards teu o'clock matters were looking more hopeless and A MISERABLE SCENE. 26!) cheerless than ever, when a welcome invitation came throug-h the storm for us to go over to the shelter of a well protected tent. Our lirst duty was to aid the owner in securing' the pole with " a fish" of stout spars. Then we aided in passing out a stay from the top of the pole to the wall in iront, and in a short time after- wards a cup of warm tea was set before each of us, provided by some inscrutable chemistry, and, with excellent ration biscuit and some butter, a delicious meal, as much needed as it was quite unexpected, was made by my friends and myself, embittered only by the over-recurring reflection, " God help us, what will become of the poor fellows in the trenches and on the hill ?" And there wc sat, thinking and talking of the soldiers and of the fleet, for hour after hour, while the M'ind and rain blew and fell, and gradually awakening to the full sense of the calamity with which Providence was pleased to visit us. Towards twelve o'clock the wind, which had been blowing from the south-west, chopped round more to the west and became much colder. Sleet fell flrst, and then came a snowstorm, which clothed the desolate landscape in white, till the tramp of men seamed it with trails of black mud. The mountain ranges assumed their winter garb. French soldiers, in great depression of spirits, flocked about our head-quarters and displayed their stock of sorrows to us. Their tents were all down and blown away — no chance of recovering them ; their bread was " toitt moniUe et gate," their rations gone to the dogs. The African soldiers seemed particularly miserable. Poor fellows ! several of them were found dead next morning out- side the lines of our cavalry camp. AVe lost several men also. In the Light Division foiu- men were "starved to death" by the cold. Two men in the 7th Fusileers, one man in the 33rd, and one man of the 2nd Battalion llifle Brigade, were found dead. Two more of the same division have died since, and I fear nearlj' an equal number have perished in each of the other divisions. About forty of our horses also died from the cold and wet, and many will never recover that fatal day and night. But the day was going by, and there was no prospect of any abatement of the storm. At 2 o'clock, however, the wind went down a little, and the intervals between the blasts of the gale became more frequent and longer. AVe took advantage of one of these halcyon moments to trudge away to the wreck of the tent, and, having borrowed another pole, with the aid of a few men we got it up all muddy and filthy and secured it as far as possible for the night ; but it was evident that no dependence could be placed on its protection, and tlie fioor was a mass of dirt and puddle, and the bed and clothes dripping wet. I mention my own tent only, because what was done in one case was done in others, and towards evening there were many tents re-pitched along the lines of our camps, though they were but sorry resting- places. Although the tents stood, they flapped about so much and admitted such quantities of snow, rain, and filth froni^ outside, that it was quite out of the question to sleep in them. _ AVhat was to be done : Siuldenly it occurred to us that there might be room in the barn used as a stable for the horses of Lord Pvaglan's escort of the 8th Hussars, and we at once waded across the sea of nastiness which lay between us and it, tacked against several gusts, fouled 270 THE HURRICANE. one or two soldiers in a diiFerent course, grappled with, walls and angles of outhouses, nearly foundered in big horse-holes, bore sharp up round a corner, and anchored at once in the stable. What a scene it was ! The ofl&cers of the escort were crouching over some embers of a wood tire ; along the walls were packed some 30 or 40 horses and ponies, shivering with cold and kicking and biting with spite and bad humour. The Hussars, in their long cloaks, stood looking gloomily on the llakts of snow which drifted in at the doorwaj^ or through the extensive apertui'es in the shingle roof. Soldiers of dift'erent regiments crowded about the warm corners, and Frenchmen of all arms and a few Turks, joined in the brotherhood of misery, lighted their pipes at the scanty iire and sat close for mutual comfort. The wind blew savagely througli the roof and through clunks in the miid walls and window holes. The building was a mere shell, as dark as pitch, and smelt as it ought to do — an honest unmistakeable stable — improved by a dense pack of moist and mouldy soldiers. And yet it seemed to us a palace ! Life and joy were inside, though melancholy Frenchmen would insist on being pathetic over their own miseries — and, indeed, they were many and great — and after a time the eye made out the figures of men huddled up in blankets, lying along the wall. They were the sick, who had been in the hospital marquee, and who now lay moaning and sigliing in the cold ; but our men were kind to them, as they are always to the distressed, and not a pang of pain did they feel which care or consideration could dissipate. A staff officer, dripping with rain, came in to see if he could get any shelter for draughts of the 33rd and 41st Regiments which had just been landed at Kamiesch, but he soon ascertained the hopelessness of his mission so far as our quarters were concerned. The men were packed into another shed " like herrings in a barrel." Having told lis, " There is terrible news from Balaklava ; seven vessels lost, and a number on shore at the Katcha," and thus made us more gloomy than ever, the officer went on his way, as well as he could, to look after his draughts. In the course of an hour an orderly was sent off to Balaklava with despatches from head- quarters, but, after being absent for three-quarters of an horn-, the man returned fatigued and beaten, to say he could not get his horse to face tlie storm. In fact, it would have been all but impossible for man or beast to make headway through the hurricane. We sat in the dark till night set in — not a soul coidd stir out. No- thing could be heard but the howling of the wind, the yelp of wild dogs driven into the enclosures, and the shrill neighings of terrified horses. At length a candle-end was stuck into a horn lantern, to keep it from the wind — a bit of ration i)ork and some rashers of ham, done over tlie wood lire, furnished an excellent dinner, whicli was followi'd by a glass or horn of hot water and rum — then a pipe, and, as it was cold and comfortless, Ave got to bed — a heap of hay on the stable floor, covered with our clothes, and thrown close to the heels of a playful grey mare who had stong antipathies to her neighbours, a mule and an Arab horse, and spent the night in attempting to kick in their ribs. Amid smells and with incidents impossible to describe or to allude to more nearly, we went to sleep in spite of a dispute DISASTERS AT BALAKLAVA. 271 between an Irish sergeant of Hussars and a Yorkshire corporal of Dragoons as to the comparative merits of liglit and heavy cavalry, •with digressions respecting the capacity of English and Irish horse- flesh, which, by the last we heard of them, seemed likely to be decided by a trial of physical strength on the part of the disputants. Throughout the day there had been very little hring from the Kussian batteries — towards evening all was silent except the storm. In the middle of tlie night, however, we were all awoke by one of the most tremendous cannonades we had ever heard, and, after a time, the repoi't of a rolling hre of musketry came do^vn on the wind. Looking eagerly in the dii'cction of the sound, we saw the flashes of the cannon through the chinks in the roof, each flash distinct by itself, just as a flash of lightning is seen in all its length and breadth through a crevice in a window shutter. It was evident there was a sortie on the French Hues. The cannonade lasted for half-an-hour, and giadually waxed fainter. In the morning we heard the Russians had sallied out from their com- fortable warm barracks on the French in the trenches, but that they had been I'eceived with an energy which quickly made them fly back again to the cover of their guns. It is said that the French actually got into a part of the Kussian lines in chasing their troops back, and spiked some of the guns within an earth- work battery. November 15. With the morning came a bright cold sky, and our men, though ankle deep in mud wherever they went, cheered up when they beheld the sun once more. The peaks of the hills and mountain sides are covered still with snow. As rumoiu-s of great disasters reached us from Balaklava, I rode into toAvn, after breakfasting in my stable, and made my way there as well as I could. The roads were mere quagmii-es. Another day's rain would have rendered them utterij" impassable, and only fl't for swimming or navigation. Dead horses and cattle lay aU over the country, and here and there a sad little procession might be seen wending its way slowly towards the hospital marquees, which had been again pitched, charged with the biu'den of some inanimate body. In coming along the ridge by the French lines I observed the whole of the troops were tui'ned out, and were moving about and wheeling in column to keep their blood warm. They had just been mustered, and it was gratifying to learn that the rumours which had been circulated respecting lost men were greatly ex- aggerated. Our men were also busily engaged in the labours of the camp — trenching, clearing away mud, and preparing for duty. The Russians in the valley were very active, and, judging from the state of the ground and the number of loose horses, they must have been very miserable also. Turning down by Captain Powell's battery, where the sailors were busy getting their arms in order, I worked, through ammuni- tion mules and straggling artiUery - wagons, towards tlie town. Balaklava lay below us — its waters thronged Avith shipping— not a ruffle on their surface. It was almost impossible to believe that but twelve houi-s before ships were di-aggiug their anchors, drifting', running aground, and smashing each other to pieces in that placid 272 THE HURRICANE. loch. Tlie whitewashed houses in the distance were as clean-look- ing as ever, and the old ruined fortress on the crags above still frowned upon the sea, and reared its walls and towers aloft, un- injured by the storm. On approaching the town, however, the signs of the tempest of j'esterday grew on one, and increased at every step. At the narrow neck of the harbour two or three large boats were lying, driven inland several yards from the water ; the shores were lined with trusses of compressed hay which had lioated out of the wrecks outside the harbour, and pieces of timber, large beams of wood, masts and spars of all sizes formed large natural rafts, which lay stranded by the beacli or lioated about among the shipping. The old tree which stood at the guard-house at the entrance to the town Avas torn up, and in its fall it liad crushed the house so as to make it a mass of ruins. The soldiers of the guard were doing their best to make themselves comfortable within the walls. The fall of this tree, which had seen many winters, coupled with the fact that the verandahs and balconies of the houses and a row of very tine acacia trees on the beach were blown down, corroborates the statement so generally made by the inhabitants that they had never seen or heard of such a hurricane in their lifetime, although there is a tradition among some that once in thirty or forty j^ears such visita- tions occur along this coast. In its present condition Balaklava is utterly indescribable. If the main sewers of London were un- covered and the houses placed by their brink, the hardy man who walked down the streets thus formed would be able to realize the condition of the thoroughfares in this delightful spot. The narrow main street is a channel of mud, through which horses, wagons, camels, mules, and soldiers and sailors, and men of all nations — English, French, Turks, Arabs, Egyptians, Italians, Maltese, Tartars, Greeks, Bulgarians, and Spaniards — scramble, and plunge, and jostle, and squatter along; while " strange oaths," yells, and unearthly cries of warning or expostulation till the air, combined with the noise of the busy crowds around the sutlers' stores, and Avith the clamorous invitations of the vendors to their customers. Many of the houses are unroofed, several have been destroyed alto- gether, and it is quite impossible to lind quarters in the place, the preference being given a])parently to the sutlers and storekeepers, who swarm on shore from every ship, and who arc generally Levantines, with the most enlarged notions of the theory and prac- tice of buying in the cheapest and selling in the dearest market. The " City of London," (,'aptain Cargill, returned to Balaklava to-day, and entered the harbour. She was the only vessel which succeeded in getting out to sea and gaining a good ofHng during the hurricane of the 1 ttli, and the ca])tain told me, in all his expe- rience; (and, as an old Aberdeen master, he has passed some anxious hours iu]sea- water) he never knew so violent a wind for the time it lasted. Kovemher 16. There was an afiair of picqucts last night between thi^ French and Kussians, in which a few men were wounded on both sides, and which was finished by the reti'cat of the Russians to their nuiin body. This took place in tlie valley of Balaklava, and its most disagree- THE MAIL SERVICE. 273 able result (to those not engaged) was to waken up and keep awake every person in the town for a couple of hours. The siege goes on much as \isual. A good deal of the winter clothing has been saved from the "Prince," we hear. The halts lloated up from the deep, proving how completely the ship must have been broken up by the rocks. Within the last month about 3.500 sick and wounded men have been sent to Scutari ti-ora Balaklava. The Turks are verj- un- healthy, and lie about the streets near their hospitals in abject misery. Their filthy habits increase the horrors of this place. -Vol-. IS. The mail leaves to-day for England. There is no news of any kind. The siege drags its slow length along day after day till one is out of patience with it. The sensation of weariness produced by this slow cannonade is indescribable. It must be something like that which would be experienced by a man who lived in a house where an amateur played on the big drum in the drawing- room mornina-, noon, and night. CHAPTEll XLIII. Delay of the mails — Difficult position of newspaper correspondents — Martial Thrasos — Tlie real allies of Kussia — A sharp atlair — The French commence hutting — Fifes and drums of the Guards — Scarcity of generals in the army — Lord Cardigan's indisposition — Kussiaa cavalry attack on Eupatoria — The Commissariat department. Befoke Sebastopoi., A'or. 19. This evening a courier arrived from Varna, with a despatch from the Duke of Newcastle to Lord Raglan, dated November 10, which he had conveyed from Bucharest to Varna on horseback. The contents are not likely to be made known, but the fact itself is a cruel commentary on the text of the post-office " regulations." When this courier arrived, the mail which should have gone on the 18th had just been sent on board the " Medway," which will arrive in Constantinople about thirty hours after the French steamer of the 20th has sailed from that port for Marseilles. As the " Arrow," which took the mails of the 13th from the Crimea, was late for the mail steamer of the loth from Constantinople, our friends in England wiU be favoured with two mails, each five days' late, in succession. Imagine sending " mails" at this crisis, when the heart of England is on the rack, by " gun -boats" and hospital ships! Such "management" and such "regulations" are above or below all comment, but they certainly deserve public contempt and indignation. The public money is freely given to carry out every end of this expedition, and to provide for the efficiency of every branch of the service, and it is intolerable that those who are charged with one of the most important portions of it should be so indifferent to the comfort and happiness of hundreds of thou- sands, whose hopes and fears are centred in the fate of this army. T 274 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. Nov. 20. Newspaper correspondents are placed in rather a difficult posi- tion out here at present. In common with generals and chiefs, and men-at-arms, they write home accounts of all we were doing to take Sebastopol, and they joined in the prophetic cries of the leaders of the host that the fall of the city of the Czar — the centre and navel of his power in these remote regions — would not be deferred for many hours after oui* batteries had opened upon its defences. In all the inspiration of this vmiversal hope, these poor wretches, who cling to the mantles of the military and engineering Elijahs, did not hesitate to communicate to the world, through the columns of the English press, all they knew of the grand operations wliich were to eventuate in the speedy fall of this doomed city. They cheered the heart of England with details of the vast arma- ments prepared against its towers and forts — of the position occu- pied by her troops— the imbecility of the enemy's lire — of the range of the guns so soon to be sUenced, of the stations of our troops on commanding sites, and they described vnih. all theii- power the grandiose operations which were being taken for the reduction of such a formidable place of arms. They believed in common with the leaders, whose inspiration and whose faith were breathed through the ranks of our soldiers, that the allied forces were to reduce Sebastopol long ere the lines they penned coiild meet the expectant gaze of our fellow-countrymen at home, and they stated under that faith and in accordance with those inspirations that the operations of war undertaken by our armies were vmdertaken with reference to certain points of position and with certain hope of results, the knowledge of which could not have proved of the smallest service to the enemy once they had been beaten out of their stronghold. Contrary to these hopes and inspirations, in direct opposition to our prophecies and to our belief, Sebastopol still holds out against the Allies ; and the intelligence conveyed in newspapers which we all thought we would have read in the clubrooms of Sebastopol has been conveyed to the generals of an army which still defends its walls, and has been given to the leaders of an enemy whom we had considered Avould be im puissant and defeated, where they have proved themselves to be, in reality, powerful and unconquered. The enemy know that we have lost many men from sickness ; they know that we have so many guns here and so many guns there, that our head-quarters are in one place, our principal powder magazine is in another, that the camp of such a Division has been annoyed by their tire and that the tents of anotlur had escaped injury from their shot, but it must be recollected that Avhen these details Avere written it was contidently declared that, ere the news covdd reach England of the actual pre- liminaries of the siege, the Allies would have entered Sebastopol, that their batteries wouhl have silenced the tire of the enemy, that tlie (quarters of their generals would have been within the enceinte of till' town, that our magazines would liave been transferred to its storehouses, and that our divisions would have encamped within its walls. It mattered little thereiore if we pointed out the losses of our men, the number and position of our guns, the site of our THE REAL ALLIES OF THE CZAR. 275 q^uarters, the position of our mag'aziues, or the range of the Rus- sian cannon. How much knowledge of this sort the enemy might have gleaned through their spies, or by actual observa- tion, it is not needful to inquire, but undoubtedly without any largely speculative conjecture it may be inferred that much of the information conveyed to them, or said to have been conveyed to them, by the English press, could have been ascertained through those very ordinary channels of communication, the eye and car, long ere our letters had been forwarded to Sebastopol, and translated from English in iisiini superiorum. However, it is quite evident that it is not ad\"lsable to acquaint the enemy with our proceedings and movements during a siege which now promises to assume the propoi'tions and to emulate the length of those opera- tions of a similar character, in which hosts of men, conveyed by formidable armada trom distant shores, set down to beleaguer some devoted fortress. To various enlightened Englishmen here the InvaUde liusse is, I am sorry to say, the model of judicious journalism. Poor creatures, who possess no attributes of military genius except those which may be imparted by an accidental temporary and fortunate j uxta- position with their chiefs, imagine they can carry out the objects of a great campaign by treating with a contempt which would be supercilious, except for the cumbrous eftbrts of these martial Thrasos to disguise insolence as impudence, the representatives of that press, which, with all its dissensions and differences, has ever sought to maintain the honour of England in this great war, and to promote the efficiency and to redress the evils of her military organization. They are few indeed, and insignificant, but they do, nevertheless, clamour with all the vigour of " the grasshoppers on the hank" against the correspondents out here for special treason of the newspapers in telling the Russians that their shot went so far and no farther, and that their tire did so much damage on such a a day and so little upon another. Do these people know they are veritable Cossacks in disguise ? Are they aware that they are only nominal enemies of the Czar? Do they reflect that they are the types of that degenerate race who were described by a French statesman as "ever lying on their faces with their ears to the ground to listen for the sound of the Russian cannon r" The feel- ings, sympathies, and secret hopes of sueh as these must be with the savage legions who are arrayed against us. In the British camp, and in the centre of those battalions which England has sent forth to fight for liberty, for justice, for the safetj- of Europe, for the integritj- of nations, for the traditions of the past, for the hopes of the future — these are the men who are the real allies of Xicholas, and these are the beings who are the emissaries of a brutal and ignorant despotism. They are full ot mortal hate and study of revenge for imaginary injuries against all men who " scribble for the press," and they forget that by the pens of these scribblers they have been exalted from the condition of a helot soldiery into the state of a military oligarchy. Glad am I to say that the spirit manifested by such men is in direct antagonism and in discredit- able contrast to the feelings evinced not only by their superiors in I 2 276 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. actual and in military rank, but by the vast and overwhelming majority of the officers of the British army, who even evince the kindliest and most hospitable disposition towards the civilians who share with them the remoter chances of the field without the re- motest prospect of sharing- in the rewards of the survivors, and who accompany them but to herald their deeds and to record their valour and their names to their fellow-countrymen. How many English captains in times gone by were slain in distant fields whose names were never heard by English ears ? When Marlborough or Granby won a battle, who heard of Brown, or Jones, or llobinson — of Lloyd, or Campbell, or O'Hara, who fell dead by the colours of his regiment in some bloody campaign of Flanders ? Many a brave fellow is now unnamed, caret quia note sancro — (because the newspaper correspondent has not heard of him), but assuredly all who are known to have done brave deeds are willingly celebrated, and are not sepulchred in the dismal columns of the London Gazette. If they do not share the actual dangers of the field (and it would have been difticult for the most experienced of our strate- gists to have pointed out the place at Alma or Inkermann w^here a man could have stayed without " danger"), assuredly the special correspondents have braved the pestilence, the diseases, and the privations, more fatal than the sabre or the musket which have Bmitten our troops, in common with all their fellow-countrymen out here, and they certainlj^ cannot be supposed to have especial interest in the success of our enemy's arms. So far as I am con- cerned, I never will state any fact which I think likely to be of service to the Russians, seeing that this war may last some time to come in this place, but I will ever endeavour to combine that reti- cence Avith a due regard to the fulfilment of my duties as' special correspondent of The Times, and I hope to prove that the obliga- tions are not incompatible with each other. The "Samson" and ''Firebrand" shelled so severely the ranks of some Cossacks who came down to plunder the wrecks, and actually fired on our men-of-war's boats as they puUed in to save our men, that they were driven back precipitately. Kov. 21. Last night a smart afi'air, in which three companies of the Rifle Brigade (1st battalion), under Captain Tr yon, displayed great cool- ness, energy, and courage, took place with the enemy. In the rocky ground between our iirst and second parallels, in the ravine towards the left of our left attack, about 300 Russian infantry had established themselves in some ca\'erns and old stone huts used by she])herds in days gone by, and had for the last twenty or thirty hours annoyed the Murkiug and covering parties of the French right attack and of our left battery by an incessant fire of rilies. It was found expedient to dislodge llu'm, and at seven o'clock this party of the Ritle iJrigade was sent to drive the Russians out of the caves in which they had taken shelter. These caves abound in all tlie ravines, and are formed by the decay of the softer portions of the rock between the layers in which it is stratified. Tlie Rifles advanced, and very soon forced the enemy to retreat after a brisk fire, in which they killed and wounded a considerable number of THE AFF^UR OF THE CAVES. 277 the Russians with comparatively little loss to themselves. The enemy fell back on their main body ; and when the llilles had established themselves for the night in the cave's which the enemy had occnpied, where they found blankets, great coats, &c., they were assailed by a strong column of Russians, who tired volleys of musketry and rifles against their small force continuoiisly, and were only kept at bay by the deadly return of our Minies. The action ended in the complete repulse of the llussian columns, but we have to deplore the loss of that most promising and excellent officer. Captain Trj'on, of the llifle Brigade, who was killed by a shot in the head. We had seven men killed and eighteen or nine- teen men wounded in this afiair. The draughts of the Guards and of the 19th Eegiment, as well as of the various men belonging to other portions of tl:e force out here, which arrived in the " (iueen of the South," disembarked this morning. Greatly astonished did they seem as they were invited to walk anlde-deep in the mud through arabas, Turks, camels. Frenchmen, Grim Tartars, Greeks, and Bulgarians, along the principal thoroughfare of Balaklava out to their camps. Like young bears, thej^ had their troubles all before them, and the bril- liancy of their uniforms, which has just renewed our notions as to what a red coat ought to be, was fading fast when they were last seen before the coating of liquid tilth which the natives of Bala- klava seem to consider as the normal paving of their thoroughfares. Notwithstanding a northerly wind, the weather to-day was tine and mild, something like that which Londoners are apt to rejoice in occasionally in a genial February. Carts arc busily emploj-ed in conveying to the camp stores of provision and ammunition. The French are hutting themselves, or rather they are burrowing holes for themselves, which they thatch over with twigs and branches all along their lines. The Guards' drums and fifes kept the whole place alive last night, and cheered the drenched lliHe picqucts far above the bay on the misty mountain tops by the familiar squeaks of "Cheer, boys, cheer," and " Willikins and his Dinah," aided by a rattling chorus, in which the men of the " Queen of the South" joined. There was but little mind for song left in the poor fellows of the draughts that night as they encamped in the mud of the plateau. Lieutenant- Colonel de Bathe, Lord H. Vane, and several other officers came out in this vessel. Some very fine Turkish brass guns, weighing about 75 cwt., and throwing shot and shell nearly as heavy as our 95 cwt. guns, were sent up to our batteries to-day, and placed in a position whicli will enable them to tear the columns of the enemy to pieces, should they move along within 2000 yards of them. I cannot more particularly indicate the spot for prudential reasons, but the Kussians will ascertain it to their cost whenever they repeat some of their recent " demonstrations." Our army is at present in rather a strange condition with regard to its generals. The Light Division is provisionally commanded by Brigadier-General Codrington, Sir George Brown being still unwell on board the " Agamemnon." 278 PROGRESS OP THE SIEGE. The First Division seems to be altogether broken up for the pi'esent. The Duke of Cambridge is unwell on board the " Retri- bution." The Brigade of Guards appears to be commanded by Colonel Upton. The Brigade of Highlanders is down at Kadikoi, under the com- mand of Sir Colin Campbell. The Second Division is commanded by Brigadier-General Pennefather, in the room of Sir De Lacy Evans, who is on his way home very unwell. The Second Brigade of the Second Division is without a briga- dier, for General Adams' wound is far more serious than was at first supposed. The Third Division remains under the command of Sir Richard England. The Fom-th Division, deprived of all its generals, is commanded by Sir John Campbell. Brigadier-General Lord Cardigan is almost unable to leave his yacht owing to his continued indisposition. The Artillery are under the command of Lieut. -Colonel Dacres duiing the absence of Lieutenant-Colonel Gambler, who was wounded in a few minutes ofter succeeding to the command left vacant by the death of Briga- dier-General Strangways, on the 5th of November. JV^OV. 22. On the 7th, a large body of Russian cavalry advanced on Eupa- toria, and a French colonel, with eighty horse, pushed forward to save his beeves and mutton from the hungry gripe of the Cossacks. These Russian cavah'y forces always screen heavy iield guns, and on this occasion, as at the Bouljanak, a square of horse opened and plumped their round shot and shell into the handful of Frenchmen. The colonel was dismounted, seven men were killed or w^ounded, and a few horses were knocked over; and, as the French were retiring in good order, a polk of Lancers made a dash at them. Our rocket battery was, however, near at hand, and one of these whistling fiery abominations rushed right through their ranks. The horses reared, the riders bore well away to the left, and as rocket No. 1 was steadily followed by rockets Nos. 2, 3, and 4, the Lancers "bolted," leaving several dead on the field. The "Fii'e- brand" has had two or three opportunities of exercising her long guns on bodies of the Russians near Eupatoria, and on one occasion not very long ago, 120 dead bodies on the field attested the fatal accu- racy of her 10-inch guns. I regret to say that our cattle at Eupa- toria are by no means in high condition ; they have perished from hunger. It may readily be guessed that joints from the survivors arc scarcely in such a condition as would justify the least conscien- tious of London waiters as describing them as being in "prime cut." And here I must remark that 1 have heard with astonish- ment, that persons out here have written to the public journals complaining of the army rations. It must be remembered that the cattle just alluded to are not destined for the food of the army in their present state, and that excellent beef and mutton have been served out to the men in profusion, 1 ill tlie inevitable exigencies of our position reduced them to fall back on excellent salt beef and pork. The commissariat department of this army, in spite of unforeseen MISERIES OF THE CAMPAIGN. 279 calamities, in spite of deficient transports, of bad roads, of sea delays, of Avinds and waves, — have continued to feed the men won- derfully well ; and I maintain, and ever will do so, that no body of troops ever took the field with such an abundance of supplies de- rived from distant countries, and that no army was ever so well fed away from their own homes as the present British Expedition. That it may be so to the end is all a soldier can ask. jVov. 23. Rain, rain, rain — mud and dirt. Mild weather, broken every half-hour by violent gales of wind. Landing heavy guns. The post^leaves to-day in the " Harpy." Mails to be sent to Kamiesch Bay, eleven miles oft', on a horse borrowed from me by the post- master, as the authorities contented themselves with " ordering them to be sent." When they will reach Kamiesh through the swamps, who can tell ? and when they -will reach England, who may prophesy? Several councils of war held lately. The Staff Corps have arrived. CHAPTER XLIII. Practical suspension of the siege — Jliseries of a winter campaign — The army witliout rest, shelter, or warm clothing — The " higgledy-piggledy rough and tumble " system in Balaklava harbour — Disgraceful neglect — Sufferings of the men in the trenches — Seasonable relief from " TJie Times Fmid" — The Russian position viewed from the heights over the French lines — Rats quitting the ship — Kightly entertainments. Before Sebastopol, xVw. 25. Although it may be dangerous to communicate facts likely to be of service to the Russians, it is certainly hazardous to conceal the truth from the English people. They must know, sooner or later, that the siege has been for many days practically suspended, that our batteries are used up and silent, and that our army are much exhausted by the eftects of excessive labour and watching, and by the wet and storm to which they have been so incessantly exposed. The Russians will know this soon enough. They are aware of it long ere this, for a silent battery — to hazard a bull — speaks for itself. The relaxation of our fire is self-evident, but our army, though weakened by sickness, is still equal to hold its position and to infiict the most signal chastisement on any assailants who may venture to attack them. In fact, I believe nothing would so animate oiu- men, deprived as they are of the cheering words and of the cheering personal presence and exhortations of their generals, and destitute of all stimulating influences beyond those of their undaunted spirit and glorious courage, as the prospect of meeting the Prussians outside theii- intrenchments, and deciding the campaign by the point of the bayonet. It is now pouring rain — the skies are black as ink — the wind is howling over the staggering tents — the trenches are turned into dykes — in the tents the water is sometimes a foot deep — our men have not either warm or waterproof clothing — they are out for twelve hours at a time in the trenches — they are plunged into the inevitable miseries of a winter campaign — and not a soul seems to care for their comfort, 280 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. or even for their lives. These arc hard truths, but the people of England must hear them. They must know that the wretched beggar who wanders about the streets of London in the rain, leads the life of a prince compared with the Briti^^h soldiers who arc fighting out here for their country, and who, we are complacently assured by the home authorities, are the best appointed array in Europe. They are well fed, indeed, but thej- have no shelter, no rest, and no defence against the weather. The tents, so long exposed to the blaze of a Bulgarian sun, and now continually drenched by torrents of rain, let the wet through " like sieves," and are perfectly useless as protections against the weather. Last night there was a brisk afi'air between the French Chasseurs de Vincennes and the llussian riflemen in front of the Flagstaff Battery earthworks, and the Ivussians dispelled all absurd myths about their want of powder and ball by a most tremendous cannonade. Assaults and counter - assaults continued amid a furious fire, which lighted up the skies with sheets of fiame from, nine o'clock at night till near four in the morning. The French at one time actually penetrated behind the outer iutrenchments, and established themselves for a time within the enceinte, but, as there was no preparation made for a general assault, they withdrew eventually. General Canrobert has issued a very flattering ordrc dnjour, in which he especially eulogizes the intrepid bravery and noble energy of the three companies of the 1st battalion of our Rifle Brigade in the affair with the llussian column, in which poor Captain Tryon was killed, and Lord Raglan has mentioned it in very handsome terms in a general order of the day subsequentl}'. AVo now, in conjunction with the French, retain possession of the "Ovens," as the caves which were the subject of the dispute are termed. They are to the left of our Greenhill Battery, between the French left and our right attack. The gales of wind to which the fleet has been exposed are exces- sively strong and violent. Every night there is a storm for a few hours; every day there is a "breeze of wind" and rain. Will it be credited that, witli all our naval officers in Balaklava with nothing else to do — with our emharrtis dcs richesses of captains, commanders, and lieutenants — there is no more care taken for the vessels in Balaklava than if thej' were colliers in a gale oft' New- castle ? Sliips come in and anchor where they like, do what they like, go out when they like, and are permitted to perform Avhatever vagaries they like, in accordance M'ith the old rule of " higgledy piggledy, rougli and tuniblc," combined with " happy-go-lucky."' Now in Kamiesch liay the vessels are about tenfold more numerous than those in Balaklava, yet tlie order and regularity which prevail in the French marine are in the most painful contrast to the con- fusion and disorganization of our ovvu transport and mercantile marine service. Cajitain Christie avers that our merchant captains Avont attend to him. Captain Powell, of the "Vesuvius," a most active and indefatigable officer, is beach master, but he has no power of interference in such matters as I have alluded to, and there is no harbour police whatever. DISGRACEFUL KEGLECT. 281 Kov. 26. The preparations for the renewal of the bombardment of Sobas- topol are proceeding- with a certain degree of energy and activity from day to day. The great obstacle to the conveyance of guns and ammunition up to the batteries is the state of the roads, or rather of the tracks across the hiUs. The "Stromboli" has arrived in Balaklava harbour from the fleet carrying sixteen 32-pounders from the armament of the '* Bri- tannia," and the " Firebrand" came in this afternoon with twenty- four guns of the same description, and about sixty ton weight of shot and shell. There are also some new guns landed from the " Queen of the South" direct from England, and large stores of ammunition are lying on the beach in readiness for transport, but the huge guns press the carriage wheels of the trucks deeply inta the soft earth, and our horse-power is just now inadequate to move them up the hillside. Indeed, our cavalry is at present employed in feeding itself. It is all they have to do. The men are sent down with their horses from the camp to the waterside every day, and carry back their fodder and rations. It is perfectly disgraceful to the authorities, whoever they be, to see on this the 12th day after the gale, trusses of compressed hay floating about and rotting in every direction in the harbour, while our horses are dying of sheer inanition. In the same way the immense amount of timber which washed about the harbour and on the coast outside, and which would have answered for hutting all the army and for fuel, was permitted to drift out again the other day when the ireshet set in to the head of the harbour after the rains and Avhen the wind blew ofi'the shore, and very little of it was saved, thougli woe betide the luckless wretch who may be found by the Provost Marshal walking- oft' with a piece of wood for his hut without an order. The struggle between French and liussian riflemen, aided by artillery, was renewed last night as usual. The great bone of con- tention, in addition to the Ovens, is the mud fort at the Quarantine Battery, of which the French have got possession, though, truth to tell, it does not beneflt their position very materially. The Liege rifles used by the Ilussians are very efflcient weapons, but there is not much execution done, as the combatants Are entirely at the flashes of their opponents' weapons. Kov. 2 7. Although the men are only left for twelve hours in the trenches at a spell, they suft'er considerably from the effects of cold, wet, and exposure. The prevalent diseases are fever, dysentery, and diarrhoea, and in the Light Division, on which a large share of the labour of the army falls, there were 350 men on the sick list a day or two ago. The men's clothes are threadbare and tattered, and are not fit to resist rain or cold. The " Firebrand," " Stromboli," and other vessels have already arrived with stores of wood for the purpose of constructing huts. Another evil from which the men suft'er is one which should at once be remedied. Before the fight at Alma, and during their fight for dear life and honour up those gory steeps, the soldiers, encumbered by knapsacks, havresacks, and greatcoats, and parched with thirst, threw away their camp kettles, and those who were provident enough to pick them up after 282 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. the halt again threw them off during the forced march on Bala- klava, so that there are A'ery few camp kettles left in the camp. The soldiers consequently have only their "hookey-pots" and small tins to cook in, and are oftentimes deprived of comfortable meals in consequence. Some tiannel has been sent up here by the gentleman in charge of the funds intrusted to The Thnes for distribution, and, though it is not cut up, it has been found most serviceable for the invalids. On the heights over Balaklava are stationed the great bulk of the marines and marine artillerymen belonging to the fleet. With the exception of a few steamers, every ship in the fleet has landed her marines, officers, and men, and they formed an efficient corps of 2000 strong, now somewhat weakened by sickness. They are under the command of Colonel Hurdle. The second in com- mand is Colonel Eraser. The new battery, the guns of which will be worked principally by sailors, is flnished, and it only remains to pierce the parapets with embrasures. It is afleche, and will contain twenty-six pieces of very heavy metal. The right side of the fleche commands the Inkermann road and battery; the left side sweeps the head of Inkermann Creek and commands the shipping, which will now be driven down towards Dockyard Creek. There was a Polish deserter came in to-day with a strange story. He says that on the 25th the Grand Duke Michael reviewed a strong force of Russians (as he stated, of 12,000 men, but no reli- ance can be placed on the assertions of men of this class with regard to the numbers of a force of any magnitude), and that he addressed them in a spirited speech, in which he appealed to all their passions and prejudices to exert every energy in their forthcoming eflort to drive the heretics out of Balaklava into the sea. At the conclusion of his harangue the Grand Duke distributed a sum of money to the troops — two silver roubles to each private, and so on in propor- tion. Eiding along the heights over the French lines, from the tele- graph to the lower road to Balaklava, one could see the Russians chating their hands over the cooking tires, few and far between, rubbing do-mi their horses, or engaged in collecting wood. Any one who has visited Selborne, and clambered up to the top of the Hanger, will have a very fair idea of the heights over the valley of Balaklava as it sweeps round towards Inkermann, always barring the height and magnitude of the trees, for which he must substi- tute dwarf oak and thick brushwood. From the angle of the plateau over the Tchernaya the heiglits are destitute of timber or brushwood, and descend to the valley in shelving slopes of bare rock or gravel banks. The valley lies at the bottom, studded with a few giant tumuli, on which the redoubts which formed so marked a feature in the aflair of the 25th of October are situated. It is about a mile and a-half across from the telegraph to the base of the heights at the other side of tlie valley, wliich rise in unequal plateaux, on one of which is Kamara, on another Tcliorgoun, on anotlier Baidar, till they lose their character oftablehuids and become rugged moun- tain tops and towering Alpine peaks, wliieh swell in the distance into tile grand altitude of Tchatir Dagh. Along this base the Russian horse, which seems to number GOOO or 7000, are constantly PRACTICAL SUSPENSION OF THE SIEGE. 283 moving about between the Tchernaj-a and the redoubts in their possession, but at times some of them disappear up the gorge of the Tohernaya, as was the case this morning. Possibly they go for pro- visions to the more open counti'y behind the gorge. Their infantry, which does not appear to exceed 8000 or 9000 men, arc stationed up in these mountain villages, or amid the plateaux which are covered with scrub and bushes. Their artillery must be stationed in the villages. The affair on the night of the 26th between the French and Russians turns out to have been more serious than was supposed. The enemy must have suffered severely, for they were actually bayonetted close to their own trenches. We are exempted from these attacks partly by the nature of the ground inoiu* front, partly by the distance of our batteries from the enemy's lines, and by the severe chastisement they have received whenever they have at- tempted a sortie against us. The "Rodney" and " Vengeance" alone of the sailing men-of- war wiU remain out here during the winter. Two French line-of- battle ships will also remain with them, and the coast and harbour of Sebastopol will be effectually guarded and blockaded by the steam squadrons of the allied ffeets. Nov. 28. All the scum of the Levant — Italians, Smyrnotes, Perotes, Greeks, and robbers — which had resolved itself for the nonce into domestic servantry, and accompanied the expedition since it left GaUipoU, is gathering itself up and returning to its source. The rats think the ship is sinking ; they declare they cannot endure the cold and hardships of the camp any longer, and they are getting away as fast as they can to burrow in the dingy cafes of their nasty cities. The inconvenience of this proceeding to the luckless masters, who are thus deserted in their utmost need, is excessive. Four o'clock p.m. There is up to this moment no sign of any conveyance being sent to the post-office at Balaklava for the carriage of the mails to Kamiesch Bay, where it is supposed a steamer is lying to carry them to Constantinople for the mail of the 30th. It is understood that the postmaster lately sent in a strong remonstrance to the highest authority here with respect to the mode in wliich the army and the country have been and are treated regarding the despatch of the mails. He was informed last night that an escort womd be sent down to carry over the bags to Chersonese, but at four o'clock no escort had arrived. At two o'clock the postmaster sent out a communication to head-quarters, stating that there had been no assistance rendered him to get away the mails. Even if the troopers were to arrive this moment, it is very doubtful if they could get to French Bay in time to allow of any steamer of the class usually employed in the mail service getting to Constantinople before the boat of the 30th started. Is this wilful neglect or cul- pable forgetfulness ? The siege is practically suspended, and the utmost we do is to defend the trenches at night and to return shot for shot whenever the enemy fire. Of coiu-se, as the cessation of the fire of our bat- 284 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. terics allows tlie besieged, or rather the partially invested force in possession of the town, to do as they please, the Russians very wisely go to work to increase their internal defences, and they are said to have constriicted street batteries on a large scale ; but I own that, except at two points, I am not able to discover them. "We have plenty of ammunition, but our guns are shaken by the continual tiring, and the vents are blown to such a size that a man could put his thumb into them, the aperture being at the same time irregular and jagged. The Russians during the day do not fire on an average more than a gun every five minutes. As the puiFof smoke curls out of the embrasure, the look-out man in the battery cries, " Tower," or "Redan," or "Garden Battery;" and. when the iron messenger, whistling and roaring through the air, has thrown up a cloud of earth and bounded away up the hill side, bang goes an answering gun from one of the batteries opposite the work which has roused iip our artillerymen. The fire on the French is, however, much more lively, and is kept up with some eiFect on their earthworks and parallels. Every night (generally about nine o'clock) the Flagstaff batteries, Quarantine batteries, and Wall batteries, open a furious cannonade, which lasts for from twenty minutes to forty-five minutes, as hard as the men can load the guns, right into the French lines, and then follows instantly, as a matter of course, a sally, the result of which is invariable. The Russians push a strong column out of the place, rush towards the first line, drive in the picquets and rifiemen, get up to the first parallel — sometimes into it — occasionally beyond it, and close to the second parallel are received as they advance by the French covering parties with a deadly fire, halt and fire in return, are charged by the French, who rout and pursue them into the town, but who are obliged to retire by the fiank fire of the batteries and by. the mitraille of the street guns. In this way the French lose forty or fifty men now and then, but the loss of the Russians in these aJerf.es must be very considerable. Frequently, about day- break in the morning the Russians repeat the performances of the previous evening, but are not permitted to come so close. There are two rumours afioat— one is that the French have landed a large force on tlie north side of Sebastopol — at Fupatoria, the Katcha, or the Belbek, according to the fancy of the speaker ; the other, that a large body of Russians have crossed the Sea of Azof, from Asia, and are marching across the Crimea to reinforce Prince Menschikoff. Why do not some of our wonderi'ul gunboats take a look into this same Sea of Azof, and see what the Russians are doing there ? As yet they have done nothing but carry the mails, and in bad weather they have proved that they are scarcely fit to carry their guns. The " Caradoc" is collecting wood for the \ise of Lord Raglan and staff. The harbour is full of driit timber, broken into the smallest fragments, and, horrible to relate, tiunks of human bodies, all mutilated and torn, are continually diifting in tiom the wrecks. The " Ottawa" vill land her stores of warm clothing tmd the troops to-morrow. EQUESTRIAN SAILORS. 285 CHAPTER XLIV. Rain, mud, and misery everywhere — The fortifications of Sebastopol strength- ened — /ieconnaissance by the Grand Duke Michael — Postal delays — I'riva- tions of the army — Scarcity of food — Impassability of the roads — Disasters the result of apathy and mismanagement — Indescribable horrors of the town and hospitals of balaklava — 3Ir. Augustus Stafford's visit of mercy. ^ Before Sebastopol, Kov. 29. A ST0I15I of wind and rain ; the camp miserable to a degrreo, and Balaklava intolerable. The heavy mortars Avith which the " Golden Meece" was laden have been landed, but there is no chance of moving: them, or the new guns and ammunition on the wharf. The sailors' camp has been moved further towards the right and front, but the change is scarcely for the better, and the mud lies a foot deep all over the place — trying work for man and beast, parti- cularly Avith short commons. By the bye. Jack is becoming a great horseman, and his fondness for equestrian exercise sometimes induces him to appropriate auimals to which he is not entitled by the rules of the service, or by any other rules, except those laid down by His Imperial ilajestj' the Czar for the seizure of " material guarantees." As a friend who came to see me some time ago remarked on going through the camps, " It appears to me that the infantry are better mounted than the cavalry, and the sailors have the pick of the infantry horses." Jack has become, in fact, a victim to the peculiar fascination exercised by the equine race over all who come in close contact with them, and has lost sight of the distinction between yuurs and mine completely. AVhenever an officer loses his horse he sends oyer to the sailors' camp for it, and there he is tolerably sure to lind it. I suppose one must still head one's letters " Siege of Sebastopol," but really and truly, there is no siege of the place whatever, and all this delay increases the difficulty which was caused by our original neglect and indifference towards the formidable works which we permitted the llussians to throw up with impunity, and which have converted Sebastopol into one of the most formidable defensive positions the world ever saw. In order that people at home may know what they have to expect when Sebastopol falls, should it be taken by assault, I may as well tell them that the llussians, availing themselves of our inactivity and silence, have fortitied Sebastopol fourfold within the last ten days. They have scarped the ground in front of all their batteries ; they have also constructed a strong abattis in front of all their lines — a most formidable obstacle to the progress of attacking columns. They have thrown np earthworks and mounted gims on every available point, and they have made sunken batteries before all their redoubts and before the Round Tower, as well as along the scarps of the slopes. 2\'ov. 30. Captain Gibb and his company of Sappers and Miners were landed to-daj-, and will prove a welcome addition to our force. There was a very heavy lii'e of musketr j' and cannon on the French last night 286 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. at nine o'clock. The mud has become so serious a nuisance that the authorities are fairly driven by its importunate attempts to smother them to take steps for its removal. The Turks and some of our soldiers have been sent to remove it from the lanes of Balaklava and from the principal roads, but scrapers are scarce except at head- quarters. The Divisions yesterday were on half rations, except the Guards, for Avhom Colonel Cunyngham contrived to bring- up three- quarter rations. IS'o guns or shot can be moved up to-day. The condition of the Russians in the valley and on the heights near Tchergoun and Kamara must be deplorable. Last night three deserters, all of whom spoke German, came into our lines and delivered themselves up to a picquet of the Guards. They stated that the army outside the town did not consist of more than 20,000 men, and that they were so hardly worked and badly fed they were much exhausted. A muster of all men to be dressed in greatcoats and black trousers and with crossbelts was ordered to take place at four o'clock to-day. The cavalry and horse artillery are ordered into the town of Bala- klava. The Light Brigade is expected in almost immediately, and the men and horses will be put into the houses and sheds. Our horses were dying so rapid lj% that the cavalry would soon have been dismounted. A very long reconnaissance of our" lines was made to-day, at the distance of about 1000 yards, by no less a person than the Grand Duke Michael and a very large staff, among whom our knowing people said they could see Prince MenschikofF and General Liprandi. The Grand Duke was recognisable by the profound respect paid to him by all ; wherever he went hats were taken off and heads un- covered. He was also detected by the presence of a white dog which always accompanies him. He is a fine stout young fellow enough, but he could not have seen much about Balaklava to put him in a good humour ; for he is averred by the best telescopes to have looked mightily displeased. While making his inspection, the enormous telescope through which he gazed was propped on two piles of mus- kets and bayonets, and he made frequent references to a very large chart, Avhich could be seen on a portable table. The Grand Duke, after closing his review of us, rode back up the hills towards Tcher- goun. Most of the llussian cavalry have disappeared from our rear, and the force in and over the valley seems greatly diminished. Dec. 1. Our mails are still reposing in the dilapidated building which serves as the British armj' post-oflficc. ^^'hat the people of England will say to this unjustitiable and wanton neglect, how mothers and fathers, wives and sisters will regard this cruel indifference to their feelings, no one can doubt. It is true, intli'd, that the mails would have carried home many sad tales of suffering and of deatli, but it cannot be intended to cut off England from all communicatioi\ Avitli the army and navy ; and, if it be intended, those who attem])t to carry out their projects will find they have laboured under a fatnl delusion. No power on earth can now establish a censorship in J']ngland, or suppress or pervert the truth. Publicity must bo accepted by our captains, generals, and men-at-arms, as the necessary condition of any grand opera- I SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS. 287 tion of Tvar ; and the endeavour to destroy the evil will only a-ive it fresh via-our, and develope its powers of mischief. The truth will reach home so distorted, that it will terrify and alarm far more than it would have done had it been allowed to appear freely and simply. The army is suffering- g'reatly ; worn out by night-work, bj' vigil in rain and storm, by hard laboiu- in the trenches, they find them- selves suddenly reduced to short allowance, and the excellent and ample rations they had been in the habit of receiving, cut off or miserably reduced. For nine days there has been, with very few exceptions, no issue of tea, coffee, or sugar, to the troops. These, however, are luxuries — not necessaries of military Life. The direct cause of this scarcity is the condition of the country, which, saturated by heavy rains, has become quite unfit for the passage of carts and arabas ; but there is also a deficiency of sup- plies, which may be attributed to the recent gales at sea. There is, therefore, a difficulty in getting food up to the army from Balaklava, and there is besides, a want of supplies in the commissariat maga- zines in the latter place. But, though there is a cause, there is no excuse for the privations to which the men are exposed. We were all told that when the bad weather set in, the country roads would be impassable. Still the fine weather was allowed to go by, and the roads were left as the Tartar carts had made them, though the whole face of the country is covered thickly with small stones which seem expressly intended for road metal. As I understand, it was suggested by the officers of the Commissariat Department that they shoxild be allowed to form depots of food, com, and forage, as a kind of reserve at the head-quarters at the difterent divisions ; but, instead of being permitted to carry out this excellent idea, their carts, arabas, wagons, and horses were, after a few days' work in forming those depots, taken for the use of the siege operations, and were employed in carrying shot, shell, ammunition, &c., to the trenches. Consequently, the magazines at head-quarters were small, and were speedily exhausted when the daily supplies from Ealaklava could no longer be procured. The food, and corn, and hay, provided by the commissariat, were stowed in sailing vessels, wHich were ordered to lie outside the harbour, though they had to ride in thirty or forty fathoms of water on a rocky bottom, with a terrible coast of clift'of 1200 feet in perpendicular height stretching around the bay, and though it was notorious that the place was subject at this season to violent storms of wind. A hurricane arose —one of unusual and imknown violence — these ships were lost, and with them went to the bottom provender and food for fully twenty days of all the horses in the army, and of many of the men. It happens that we had a forewarning of what might be expected. On Friday, the 10th of November, just four days ere the fatal catastrophe which caused such disasters, I was on board the "Jason," Captain Lane, which happened to be lying outside, and as it came on to blow 1 could not return to the shore or get to the camp that evening. The ship is a noble steamer, well manned and ably commanded, but ere midnight I would have given a good deal to have been on land ; for the gale, setting right into the bay, raised a high wild sea, which rushed up the precipices in masses of 288 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. water and foam, astonishing' for their force and fnry ; and the strain on the cable was so great that the captain had to ease it oft' by steaming gently a-head against the wind. The luckless " Prince," which had lost two anchors and cables on bringing up a day or two before, was riding near the " Agamemnon," and adopted the same expedient ; and, of the numerous vessels which lay outside, and which in so short a time afterwards were dashed into fragments against those cruel rocks, the aspect of which is calculated to thrill the heart of the boldest seaman with horror, there were few which did not drag their anchors and draw towards the iron coast which lowered with death on its brow upon us. Guns of distress boomed through the storm, and flashes of musketry pointed out for a moment a helpless transport which seemed tossing in the very centre of the creaming foam of those stupendous breakers, the like of which I never beheld, except once, when I saw the Atlantic running riot against the clifts of Moher. Eut the gale soon mode- rated — for that once — and wind and sea went down long ere morning. However, Sir Edmund Lyons evidently did not like his berth, for the "Agamemnon" went round to Kamiesch on Sunday morning, and ordered the " Firebrand," which was lying outside, to go up to the fleet at the Katcha. As to the "Prince" and the luckless transports, they were allowed — nay, ordered, I hear — to stay outside till the hurricane rushed upon them. I'he cholera, which broke out on the night of the 28th of November, continues its ravages, and we cannot estimate the number of deaths from it and its abettors in the destruction of life lower than sixty per diem. No less than eighty-flve men died the night before last in camp, according to the statements I have received and believe, and the number of sick men is very large. Of the naval lieutenants of the brigade of seamen, amounting to twenty, it is stated only Ave are able to work. Yesterday evening a muster of all men in great-coats and black trousers was ordered throughout the camp, in order to ascertain the number flt for duty. The men are in great hopes that " something will be done" consequent upon this parade. It is now raining drearily. There is no prospect of the roads getting better at ])reseut. The muddy verge between the waters of the harbour and the walls of the tumbledown slieds and houses of the town is covered with vast piles of cannon, shot, and shell, and a number of Turkisli 8()lb. guns, of large mortars, and of 32lb. ships' guns, mounted on their carriages, is blocking up the narrow beach. 'The Turks are employed in making a road — actually nuxking a road at last ! its course will be from tlic town, ])ast head-quarters, up to No. 5 Battery. They are also em])loyed in handiug on shore and piling shot and shell. It is amusing to watch the miserable gravity and iudiftercnce with which these poor creatures work. Standing in rows, the men pass tin; shot I'rom tlie flats to the beach with a lazy air, which is only disturbed when an unusmilly big fellow turns up for transmission. Tlien tlic groans, the rolling of eyes, the convidsive struggles, the grunts which pass like electric .shocks from man to man with the (iS-jiound siiut or i;5-inch mortar arc really astonishing, but at last the globe of metal seems to acquire heat, and is dropped in the mud like a hot potato by a HORRORS OF BALAKLAVA. 289 sufleriag' Mussulman. They really arc ^veak and wrctcliccl, not naturally, but owing to sickness and bad living'. As to the town itself, words cannot describe its filth, its horrors, its hospitals, its burials, its dead and dying Turks, its crowded lanes, its noisome sheds, its beastly purlieus, or its decay. All the pictures ever drawn of plague and pestilence, from the work of the inspired writer who chronicled the woes of infidel Egypt dowTi to the narratives of Boccaccio, De Foe, or Moltke, fall short of in- dividual " bits" of disease and death, which any one may see in half-a-dozen places during half an hour's walk in Balaklava. In spite of all our eflbrts, the dying Turks have made of every lane and street a cloaca, and the forms of human suflering which meet the eye at every turn, and once were wont to shock us, have now made us callous, and have ceased even to attract passing attention. Raise up the piece of matting or coarse rug which hangs across the doorwaj' of some miserable house, from within which you hear wailings and cries of pain and prayers to the Prophet, and you will see in one spot and in one instant a mass of accumulated woes that will serve you Avith nightmares for a lifetime. The dead, laid out as they died, are lying side by side with the living, and the latter present a spectacle beyond all imagination. The commonest acces- sories of a hospital are wanting ; there is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliuess — the stench is appalling — the fostid air can barely struggle out to taint the atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls and roofs, and, for all I can observe, these men die without the least eftbrt being made to save them. There they lie, just as they were let gently down on the groimd by the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are not allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by the dying. In the Eussian hospitals great mortality has taken place among the wounded, and only twenty prisoners are now under treatment for wounds. Hospital gangrene broke out among them, and the stumps mortified. It is said, indeed, that some of the men were so fanatical or so ignorant that they tore the bandages oft' their stumps and refused to let the surgeons probe their wounds. The " Avon," which has 350 sick and wounded on board, loses only about five or six men a-day. Mr. Augustus Stafford, M.P., who is staying on board the *' Sans- pareil," visited the camp yesterday, though the weather was not by any means tempting. He inspected the huts and tents of the men, and no doubt ascertained some startling particulars respecting the hardships and sufierings soldiers must endure in making war. To- day he is employed in visiting the hospitals, and he lias kindly sat b3^ the bedsides of our sick and wounded soldiers. Listened to their stories, and wrote letters for them to their families. It is raining and blowing with violence. Dec. 2. It cleared up last night, and on the hills there was a sharp, but most welcome frost. There was a smart brush in front at seven o'clock this morning, but as yet I have not ascertained the parti- 290 PEOGRESS OP THE SIEGE. culars ; it seemed, however, as if the Russians either received re- inforcements or fancied they gained some success, for they cheered loudly, and all the bells of the town rang for some time. Dec. 3. The cause of the Russians cheering yesterday morning is now ascertained. They had received a reinforcement of men and of provisions, and, according to the statement of a deserter, both were much needed. They also clieered in the morning ere they came out to attack a party of the 50th Regiment, posted in the Ovens — the caves in the rocks to the left of and below our left attack, in a ravine near the neck of the harbour. As our men liad been out in the wet all night they found their rifles would not go off, and, the enemy being very numerous, they were forced to fall back, and the Russians once more established themselves in the Ovens. They were soon made too hot to hold them, for a party of the Rifle Brigade was at once pushed down, and speedily dislodg;ed them. We lost two men killed and two severely wounded — eight men slightly wounded in this affair. CHAPTER XLV. The camp a wilderness of mud — Pictures of dirt and woe — The Slough of Despond — Misery effaces the distinctions of rank — Painful reflection — Mor- tality amongst the Turks — Mode of burial — Retreat of the Russians from Komara — Attempted surprises and skirmishes — Dismal prospects. Before Sebastopol, Dec. 4. If any of our great geologists want to test the truth of their theo- ries respecting the appearance of the primeval world, or are desi- rous of ascertaining what sort of view Noah might have had when he looked out of the Ark from Ararat, they cannot do better than come out here at once. The whole plateau on which stands " the Camp before Sebastopol"- — the entire of the angle of land from Ealaidava round to Kherson, and thence to the valley of Inkermann — is fitted at this )noment for the reception and delectation of any number of ichthyosauri, sauri, and crocodiles — it is a vast black dreary wilderness of mud, dotted with little lochs of foul water, and seamed by dirty brownish and tawny-coloured streams running down to and along the ravines. On its surface everywhere are strewed the carcases of horses and miserable animals torn by dogs and smothered in mud. Vultures sweep over the mounds in nocks ; carrion crows and "birds of prej^ obscene" hover over their prey, menace the hideous dogs who are feasting below, or sit in gloomy dyspepsia, with drooped head and dropping wing, on the remnants of their banquet. It is over this ground, gained at last by great toil and exhaustion and loss of life on the part of the starving beasts of burden, that man and horse liave to struggle from IJalaklava for some four or five miles with the hay and corn, th(! meat, tlie biscuit, the pork, Avhich form the subsistence of our army. Every day this toil must be undergone, for we are fed indeed by daily bread, and only get MELANCHOLY PICTURES. 291 half rations of it. Horses drop exhausted on the road, and their loads are removed and added to the burdens of the struggling' sur- vivors ; then, after a few eiForts to get out of their Slough of Despond, the poor brutes succumb and lie down to die in tlieir graves. Men wade and plunge about, and stumble through the mud, with mut- tered imprecations, or sit down on a projecting stone, exhausted, pictures of dirt and woe unutterable. Sometimes on the route the overworked and sickly soldier is seized with illness, and the sad aspect of a fellow-countryman dying before his eyes shocks every passer-by — the more because aid is all but hopeless and impossible. Officers in huge sailors' boots, purchased at Balaklava for about five times their proper price, trudge on earnestly in the expectation of being able to carry back to their tents the pot of preserved meat or the fowl, bought at a fabulous cost in that model city of usury- dom, ere the allotted portion of wood under the cooking tins has been consumed. It requires a soldier's eye to tell captains from corporals now, mounted on draggle-tailed and unkempt ragged ponies covered with mud. The pride and hope of our aristocracy, of our gentry, of our manufacturing boinr/cuisic, of our bankership, and shipping owners, and money-owning and money-making classes, with dubiously coloured faces, tattered and bepatched garments, and eccentric great coats and head-gear, are to be seen tiling up and down the hlthy passes between Balaklava and the camp, carry- ing out ligneous hams, or dishevelled turkeys, strings of onions, sacks of potatoes, Dutch cheeses, almost as fatal as Russian bullets, bread, the worst varieties of " Goldner," bottles of wine and brandy, crocks of butter, and assortments of sausages, from the economical but nasty saveloy, iip to the be-silvered and delicate Bologna. They are decidedly "disreputable looking." The liveliest sus- picions of Bow-street would be excited at their appearance in court. They are hairy and muddy, as the police reports would say, in short, "wearing the air of foreigners," but the vast majority of them are the noblest, cheeriest, bravest fellows in Em-ope — men who defy privation, neglect, storm, and tempest — who, in the midst of difficulties, rarely despond and never despair, and who comfort and animate by the brightest examples of courage and high valour, of constancy and unflinching resolution, the gallant fellows around them. The painful reflection which ever occurs to one is, what necessity is there for all the suffering and privation created by this imperfect state of our communications ? Why should not roads have been made when we sat down before the place ? Their formation would have saved many lives, and have spared our men much sickness and pain. Had there been the least foresight — nay, had there existed among us the ordinary instincts of self-preservation — we would have set the Turks to work at once while the weather was iine, and have constructed the roads which we are now trying to make under most disadvantageous conditions. The siege opera- tions have been sometimes completely — sometimes partially— sus- pended, and the attack on Sebastopol has languished and declined. Neither guns nor ammunition could be brought up to the batteries. The mortality amongst the Turks has now assumed all the dimen- sions of a plague. Every sense was offended and shocked by the TJ2 292 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. display, day after day, in the streets, of processions of men bcarin.s? half-covered corpses on litters at the busiest hour of the day, and Colonel Daveney at last gave orders, or rather granted permission, that the Turks should bury their dead on the hill-side, over the town. Yesterday, ere evening, iipwards of seventy bodies were carried to their long home, and deposited in shallow graves, not above a few inches deep, and were left with a shovelful or two of earth and pebbles over them, as close together as they could b& packed. To-day the same process is going on. The dead are frightful to look upon — emaciated to the last degree, with the faces and heads swollen and discoloured, a,nd drops of blood stealing- down i'rom nose and ear ; there they are, lying out in ranks on the hill-side, while the living, who seem soon about to follow them, dig their graves. I can count thirty-live bodies already on the ground, and it is early in the day ; over the hill-side come men bearing- more litters. Ere the body is interred, the clothes are taken oft" and laid at one side, an officer in attendance decently washes the corpse with water, pours a little of the same fluid down the throat, and composes the limbs, and, after a few words of prayer, the Mussul- man is placed beside his fellows. As the result of such a mode of burial would be the outbreak of some all-destroying pestilence, the Commandant of the place has ordered it to be discontinued, and the Turks must in future bury their dead outside the town in the valley^ in graves four feet deep. Dec. 5. The whole of the works of our new attack have been completed, and are now awaiting their armament. Owing to the cessation of rain we have been enabled to get up to the artillery park live guns of position and three thirteen-inch mortars. The scarcity of rations continues except among the Gxuxrds, the Marines and ILides on the heights, and the Highland Brigade near the town of Balaklava. Dec. G. Last night, at twelve o'clock, there was a great stir down in the valley of Balaklava. The hoarse hum of great crowds of men was. heard by the picquets, and they reported the circumstance to the officers of the French regiments on the heights. Lights were seen moving about in the redoubts occupied by the Russians since the affair of the 2.3th October. It was supposed that the enemy had received reinforcements, or were about to make a dash at our position before Balaklava. The Hospital Guards and tlie invalid battalion were at once turned out, and the French shrouded in their capotes grimly waited in the lines tlie first decisive movement of the enemy. The niglit was cold, but not clear, and after a time the noise of wheels and the tramp of men ceased, and the alarm was over. Ere morning, however, we knew the cause of it, for about five o'clock a.m. an outburst of flames from thc^ redoubts in which the llussians liad hutted themselves illuminated the sky, and at the same time the fire broke out in tlie cottages on tlie slope of the hill before IComara. When morning came tlie smoke was seen ascend- ing to heaven, and the llussians Avere visible in nmch-diiwinished numbers on the higher plateaux of the hills near ISeliorgom and Komara. The faint rays of the morning sun played on the bayonets. SURPRISES AND SKIRMISHES. 293 of another portion of the force as they wound up the road towards Mackenzie's farm, and passed through tlio wood over tlie rif^ht l)ank of the Tchernaya. The reason of this retreat remains unknown to us as yet. Perhaps the Russian g-eneral was informed by lus spies that the French had Landed at the north side of Sebastopol, and ■were marehina: on his Hank, for the story of the landino; is universally believed, and is utterly untrue. It is more probable, however, that the severity of weather and want of shelter forced him to abandon the position in the valley. The French pushed down their cavalry, and seized the plain. They found dummies (mock guns) in the embrasures, the Russians having carried off all their artillery, to the number of eighty-tive pieces. Dec. 7. A warm fine day, bright sun, and clear sky. This is indeed a treat, for though it is the presage of wintry snow and frost, even that would be a delightful change. It would dry the roads and enable us to feed our men and arm our batteries. The fire to-day was not heavy or well-sustained on either side, but there was more than one severe brush between the rifiemen, French and English, and the Russian carabineers. Dec. s. "We had a severe frost last night, and we are rapidly getting up guns and mortars to the fi'out ; if tliis weather lasts all will soon be well. Dec. 21. There certainly never was a siege of such grandeiir as the present with fewer incidents. With the exception of the advance of the army in the rear on the 2.5th of October, and the grand sortie on the oth ult., no movement of any moment has* been attempted by the Russians to raise the siege. They confine themselves to occa- sional surprises in the trenches, which end usually in a little skir- mishing and the loss of a few men on both sides. Last night one of these attempts was made on several points of our line. On the right, where one of the fresh regiments was on picquet, they succeeded in carrying away some blankets, but on the left they did rather more damage. In front of the left attack there is an earthwork tlirown up for infantry, which runs down towards the great ravine forming the continuation of the military harbour of Sebastopol, which divides the town proper from the so- called military town. This ravine is the boundary between the English and French positions. In order to guard this point the sentries of the French and English outlying picquets ought to be in constant communication with each other. Somehow or other this was not the case in the present instance, and the Russians must have been well informed of this, fur following the ravine they suc- ceeded in coming close to the sentry on the extreme left, bayoneted him, and penetrated into the earthwork before they were recognised as Russians. In order to deceive the sentries they commanded in French, which ruse was so successful that they killed and wounded sixteen men — among the latter, Major Mollcr, of the 50th — and carried away eleven men and two otficers. Captain Frampton and Lieutenant Clarke, as prisoners. They were, however, after a short 294 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. skirmish, driven hack hy the 34th before they could do any further mischief. The day before yesterday the "Royal Albert" arrived with the 1st battalion of Guards, and part of the 71st Regiment. The " Firebrand" and " Sphynx" took the troops on board at Cherso- nesus Bay, and brought them over to Balaldava yesterday, where they were disembarked and encamped for a day or two, on tbe sides of the hills opposite to the town, before they go up to the front. Yesterday saw the departure of Admiral Dundas. He left in the afternoon, in the "Furious," for Constantinople, and Sir Edmund Lyons took the command of the fleet. This latter is in its status quo off C'hersonesus Bay, while several steam-frigates are day and night " on picquet," watching the movements of the enemy's fleet. Dec. 22. " We have again for a change pouring rain, and the roads, which had just begun to be tolerable by the little respite of diy weather, are again as abominable as ever. " Unfortunately just this day has been chosen to take down a convoy of sick to Balaklava and embark them for Scutari. The greatest part of the cases are brought on by exposure and over- working, and a few days' rest and proper care would be sufficient to restore many. It is a pity that the dismasted transports, which have been towed down to Constantinople, have not rather been converted into temporary hospital ships, where the men who are not dangerously ill might have remained until they are again flt to resume their duty. A similar plan answers very well for the naval brigade and the Marines. The " Diamond " has been converted into a temporary hospital ship, and lately the " Pride of the Ocean" has been applied to the same purpose for Marines, and it is marvellous how few men have to be sent away, while among the sick sent to Scutari there are many who recover before they arrive at that place. CHAPTER XLVI. A reconnaissance en force — Tlie enemy abanart of the city beyond them seems untouched. To the rear of the lound Tower of Malahoff, which is still split up, and rent from top to bottom, as it was the first day of our fire, there is a perfect miracle of engineering-. It is impossible to speak too highly of the apparent solidity, workmanship, and finish of the lines of formidable earthworks, armed with about eighty heavy guns, which the Rus- sians have thrown up to enfilade our attack, and to defend this position, which is, indeed, the key of their works in front of us. One line of battery is. neatly revetted with tin boxes, supposed to be empty powder cases. This is the mere wantonness and sur- plusage of abundant labour. Behind this work I could see about 2000 soldiers and workmen labouring with the greatest zeal at a new line of batteries, and labouring undisturbedly. There is a camp at the rear of Malakoff, and another camp is visible at the other side of the creek, close to the Citadel, on the north side. Most of the men-of-war and steamers were lying with topgallantmasts and yards down, under the spot of land inside Fort Constantino. Our third parallel, which is within a few hun- dred yards of the enemy's advanced worlcs, seemed unoccupied, except by riflemen and sharpshooters, who keep up a constant fire in the place, but from my position over the British lines I could not see so well into our approaches as I could look upon those of the French from the mounds on the left of tlieir picquet-house. On the whole the suburbs are destroyed, though still susceptible of being used by the enemy to check our advance. Jan. 25. A circumstance occurred in Balaklava to-day which I will state for the calm consideration of the public at home without one single word of comment. The "Charity," an iron screw steamer, is at present in harbour for the reception of sick British soldiers, who are under the charge of a British medical officer. That officer went on shore to-day and made an application to the officer in charge of the Government stoves for two or three to put on board the ship to warm the men. "Three of my men," said he, "died last night from choleraic symptoms, brought on in their ])resent state from the extreiue cold of the shi]) ; and I fear more will follow them from the same cause." "Oh!" said the guardian of the stoves, " you miist make your requisition in due form, send it up to head-(]iunlers, and get it signed properly, and returned, and then I will let you have the stoves." " But my men may die mean- time." "1 can't hel]) that ; J must have the requisition." " It is my firm belief that there are men now in a dangerous state whom another night will e( rtainly kill." "1 really can do nothing; I must have a requisition iirojieily signed before I can give one of these stoves away." " For God's sake, then, lend nic some ; Fll be responsible for their safety." "I really can do nothing of the kind." "But, consider, this requisition Mill take time to be filled up and signed, and meantime these poor fellows will go." "I cannot help that." "I'll be res])onsible for anything you do." " Oh, no, that can't be done !" " Will a requisition signed by the SPECIAL FACTS FOR DR. SinXH. 323 P. M. 0. of tliis place be of any use ■" " Xo." " Will it answer if he takes on himself the responsibility r" " Certainly not." The surgeon went off in sorrow and disgust. Such are the "rules" of the service in the hands of incapable and callous men. Here is a sijecial fact for IJr. Smith, the head of the British. Army Medical Department. A surgeon of a regiment stationed on the elills above Dalaklava, who has about forty sick out of two hundred men, has been applying to the "authorities" in the town for the last three weeks for medicines, all simple and essential, an^ cannot get one of them. The list he sent in was returned with the observation, " We have none of these medicines in store." To-day tliis poor surgeon, too, came down with his last appeal: "Do, I beg of you, give me any medicine you have for diarrhrea." " JVe hacen'tanij." "Anything you may have, I'll take." " We haven't any." " Have you any medicine for fever you could give ? Any- thing you can let me have, I'll take." " We haven't any." " I have a good many cases of rheumatism among my men. Can you let me have any medicines for them r" " We haven't any." Thus, for fever, rheumatism, and diarrhoea, the most prevalent complaints of the army, there were no specifies whatever, and the surgeon returned up the hill-side with the bitter reflection that he could give no aid to the unfortunate men under his care. Can any one of the "facts" I have stated be denied? Certainly not by any one who regards the truth, and who is not a shameless utterer of false- hoods. Dr. Smith can prove, no doubt, that there are granaries full of the tinost and costliest drugs and medicines for fever, rheu- matism, and diarrho3a at Scutari, but the knowledge that they are there little avails poor fellows dying here for want of them. Jan. 2G. Hard frost last night— very fine day. Orders have been issued for the inspection of the knapsacks of certain regiments, to see if they can carry three days' provisions. Sui-ely it is not intended to send out men to bivouac in these mountain passes for three nights. Sir George Brown is expected back to resume his command of the Light Division. The 14th Regiment have disembarked; it consists of very j'oung men and lads, ill suited for the work and climate to which they will be exposed. The Guards, though re- lieved from picquet duty, still take their turn in the trenches ; and the detail of rank and tile for the trenches is stronger than that which they used to furnish for picquets. There was tiring last night, very heavy at times, and brisk musketry all day. Our bat- teries remain silent. T 2 324 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. CHAPTER LII. Fine nights and sunny clays — Sickness still clings to our troops — " Making things pleasant" — Disagreeable facts and figures — A severe skirmish between the French and Kussians — Advance of the French works — Continued postal irregularities. Before Sebastopol, Jan. 27. The weather, thanks to Heaven, eontinnes to be extremely favour- able to us. Cold, clear nig-hts, with a brig-ht, uneloitded moon, are followed by warm, sunny, genial days. The thermometer generally falls to eighteen or twenty degrees at twelve every night, and rises to forty-four degrees of Fahrenheit at noon the following day. At present the more immediate effect of this change of weather is the facility of communication between Balaklava and the camp. The surface of the country and tlie roads, or mud tracks, arc hardenetl by the frost for several hours each morning, and remain in a state fit for travelling over, with more or less difficulty, till the intluence of the sun has resolved them into cloggy, sticky swamps. Towards dark the frost sets in again, and enables the late return parties to get out to camp with forage and stores. Eut, with all this, the hand of the plague is not stayed. Still sickness clings to our troops, and the poor worn-out soldiers who climbed the bloody steeps of the Alma in the splendour of manly strength, and who, full of the noblest courage and devotion, defended in broken tile the heights over the Tchernaya against the swarming multitudes of the Mus- covite, weak, exhausted, and "washed out" by constant fatigue, incessant wet, insufficient food, want of clothing and of cover from the weather, now die away in their tents niglit after night, ilany of these men are too far gone to recover. Doctors, and hospitals, and nurses are now too late, and they sink to rest unmurmuriugly, and every week some freshlj' formed lines of narrow mounds indi- cate the formation of a new burial-place. It must not be by anj* means inferred that tlie French escape sickness and mortality alto- gether. On the contrary, our allies have suffered to a degree which, would be excessive, if it were not compared with our own unfor- tunate standard of disease and death. They liave also lost great numbers of horses, and to tliu diminution caused bj^ illness and overwork in tlu'ir ranks, must be added tluit which accrues from the nightly sorties of the Russians and the heavy lire to wliiclithej- are continually exposed from the enemy's batteries and sharp- shooters, xvevertheless, the loss of the French is very much less than our own. AVhole regiments have vanished as if by magic. In some cases the men have not fallen in action, nor have they been exposed to the labours of the army beginning tlie cain])aign. ^'o wonder, then, that the old soldiers of the Crimea, the men of Alma, Inkermann, and J5alakhiva, should go at last, and share the fate of tlie raw levies, and of the iniacelimatized regiments. According to what 1 hear from a few ])i'ople out here, who are eccentric enough to purchase a stray number of the obscurer Lon- don journals, 1 seem to have been honoured by a good deal of abuse Irom some of them at home for telling the truth. 1 really would UNPALATABLE TRUTHS. 325 put on my Claude Lorraine g-lass, if I could. I would, if I could, clothe skeletons with flesh, breathe life into the occupauts of the charnel-house, subvert the succession of the seasons, and restore the Icf^ions M'hieh have been lost ; but I cannot tell lies to " make things pleasant." Anj' statements I have made, I have chapter, and book, and verse, and witness for. Many, very many, tliat I have not made, I could prove to be true with equal ease ; and I could make public, if the public interest required it. There is not a single man in this camp who could put his hand on his heart and declare he believed that one single casualty had been caused to us by information communicated to the enemy by me or anj' other newspaper correspondent. The onlj* thing the partisans of misrule can allege is, that we don't "make things pleasant" to the autho- rities, and that, amid the tilth and starvation and deadly stagnation of the camp, we did not go about " babbling of green fields," of present abundance, and of prospects of victory. Xow, suppose we come to " facts." Do people at home know how many bayonets the British army could muster at this moment ? Do they believe we have 'iojOOO, after all our reinforcements ■ Thej- may be told— nay, it may be proved to them by figures at home — that the British army here consists of .3.5,000 men. I warn the British public not to believe that, with all our reinforcements, they reach near half that number. The grave and the hospital have swallowed them up bj' thousands. Just think of this " fact," — that since the first day of December, 18-54, down to the 20th of January, 1855, 8000 sick and wounded men have been sent down from camp to Bala- klava, and thence on shipboard ! iShall I tell you how nianj' have returned? And yet people at home, who gloat over the horrors of Walcheren, and consider disaster the normal end of British expedi- tions, tell us it is " croaking" to state the facts in such cases as these, or even to allude to them ! The man who could calmly sit down and write home that all was hope, that our troops were healthy, that there was only an average mortality, that every one was con- fident of success, that our works were advancing, that we are now nearer to the capture of Sebastopol than we were on the 27th of last October, that transport was abundant, and the labours of our army light, might be an agreeable correspondent, but assuredly he would not lead you to form a very accurate opinion on the real state of affairs in this camp before Sebastopol. But the worst is this, that we can have no hope of receiving reinforcements of a serviceable or enduring description. The wretched boys sent out to us now are not even fit food for powder. They die away ere a shot is tired against them. Sometimes a good draught is received ; and if there were more of the same description as the draught of the 77th Kegi- ment, just arrived, our army would be in a much better position. Even they, however, could not endure the severe work of long vigil and exposure to cold and wet in the trenches. And now lor another " fact." The battle of Inkermann was fought on the oth of Novem- ber, as the world will remember for ever. About 40 per cent, of the Brigade of Guards were killed or wounded on that occasion. They have since received reinforcements, and the brigade, which mus- tered about 2.500 men when it left England, has received some 1.500 men in various draughts up to the end of the j-ear. What is the 32G PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. present strentrth of the Brigade of Hoiiseliold troops — of that mag- nificent band who crowned the struggk^ of tlic Alma with Tictory, and beat bade the liussiau hordes at Inkermann ? I think they could muster, including servants and all available soldiers, about 950 men in the whole brigade. Here is another fact. Hince the same battle of Inkermann, at least 1000 — 1000 men of the Brigade of Guards have been " expended," absorbed, used up, and are no more seen. The official returns will show how many of that thou- sand were killed or wounded by the enemy. Another fact. There are two regiments so shattered and disorganized — so completely destroyed, to tell the truth, that they must be sent aAvay tobe "re- formed." The representatives of one regimental numeral have gone down to Balaklava already. The representatives of the other will speedily follow it, and both will repair to Malta, or some such place, till they can be made into "regiments" once more. Now, mark, one of these regiments was neither at the Alma nor at Inkermann — the other was engaged in the latter battle only, and did not lose many men. Jan. 28. Sunday was celebrated by an extremely heavy fire of miiskctry between the Russians and the French covering parties and sharp- shooters. The volleys which rolled through the less massive reports of the continual rifie practice, were as heavy as those we heard at the Alma or Inkermann, and, from the numbers of llussian infantry thrown into the works, it is evident the enemy intend to disprite the small space of ground between the last French trench and the broken outworks of their late batteries with the greatest vigour and obstinacy. Possibly, indeed, orders have been received instructing the commanding officer to resist any nearer approaches on the part of the P^rench, who have now burrowed up, trenched, zig-zagged, paralleled and parapetted the whole of the country from the shore below the (Quarantine Fort to the rising ground close to the Flagstaff Fort, for two miles in depth, by five or six miles in length. The storm of musketry never ceased last night upon these advanced works, and the constant flashes of the heavy guns lighted up the sky till daylight. The French replied by small arms, and scarcely returned a cannon shot. Many of their guns are as yet masked, but nearly all of them are in position, and each gun will he provided with 250 rounds of ammunition. The Russians have discovered some of th(> guns, aiul their fire has been particularly directed upon those ])ieces, but tluy luive done little (iamage. It cannot be expected that such an aliair as last night's can take place without considerable loss on both sides. After daybreak the fire recommenced with great fury, and about eight o'clock a regular battle Avas raging in the trendies between the French and Russians. There could not have been hsss than 3000 men oneacli side firing as hard as they could load and i)ull trigger, and the lines of the works were marked by thick curling hanks of smoke. The fire slackened on both sides about nine o'clock simultaneously. _ Not a night now passes without severe skirmishing, or, rather, sharyjshooting, behind the para])ets and in the broken ground between the lines. The works arc, indeed, almost into the town,. SIGN'S OF IMPROVEMENT. 327 and dominate its suburbs, but the ruined houses of these suburbs are turned into defences for rideinen, and the town itself is almost one formidable battery, from the glacis up to the ridge over the sea on which the south side of the town is situated. Our own batteries are in very good order, and are ready for the reception of the — ■ jueces of artillery, which can be put into them in. three nights. ■ There has been no sortie of consequence made by the garrison since I last wrote ; all their energies are devoted to throwing up fresh works. In one of the ordinary skirmishes the night before last an oihcer of some rank fell into the hands of the French. The deserters have begun to come in from the Russians again. We have had only one deserter for some time back. Balaklava is becoming more orderly every day. At the suggestion of Com- mander Derriman, of the " Caradoc," Lord E,aglan authorized the authorities at Balaklava to prepare tea for the sick on their arrival in the town before going on board ship. Yesterday Mr. Skead, Master of the " Caradoc," with a working party from the ship, gave more than 300 of these poor creatures a cup of warm tea each at the termination of their cold and harassing journey from the camp. Their delight and gratihcation at such an unexpected attention were very great. The weather is becoming milder. No frost last night. Thermometer now, at four p.m., 40°. The post service here is a mere organized system of disappoint- ment, liemonstrance and exposm-e are quite useless. They have been tried often enough in refei-ence to these postal grievances. CHAPTER LIII. "Warm days and fresh spirit — 3Ir. JIurdoch's process for " benching" large guns — Better arrangements — Sanitary state of the army — Serious sortie on the French — A spy in the trenches — Good fellowship between the French and Cossack picquets — Preparations for laying down an electric telegraph — The navvies at work — Anxiety for the assault. Befoke Sebastopol, Jan. 14. It is evident that the struggle between the allies and the garrison and covering army is about to be renewed with greater vigour than before. The warm da}-s have given heart and spirits to our men, but the R,ussians have also derived advantage from the improved condition of the roads and of the countrj', and we hear they have thrown great quantities of stores into Sobastopol recently. Mr. Murdoch, of tlie " Sanspareil," who has performed the opera- tion of " bouching" (or fitting new vents into guns) on several large pieces of ordnance in the trenches, has received the thanks of Lord Raglan for his verj' useful labours, and his Lordship inspected the process the other day in person. He gave orders that some artil- lerymen should be sent to meet Mr. Murdoch on the foUowiug day, in order to be instructed in the process, and Mr. Murdoch walked np from Balaklava, and was in the appointed place at ten o'clock to meet them, but he waited for two hours in vain ; not a man 328 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. came near him. He offered to leave the tools to perform the work on his own responsibility with the artillery, but, somehow or other, no readiness was evinced to accept his ofl'er. The value of the operation performed ou the spot on a gun Avhose vent has been in- jured by excessive tiring is enormous. Instead of a piece of useless metal, in a few hours you have a gun as good as new, and ready for instant use. Notwithstanding the fine weather, the transport of clothes, fuel, and provisions entails considerable hardships on the men. The sick make little progress towards recovery, and the number of men sent down every day is a sad proof of the unsatisfactory condition of our army as regards its sanitary state. Ponies have been lent to some regiments to bring up their clothing. The Second Division has been ordered to take part of the night duty of the hard-work- ing and hard-hghting Light Division, and the men of the latter have now sometimes three nights out of seven in bed. The coffee is now issued to the mc-n roasted, with few exceptions. Vegetables, however, are greatly needed. Picks and spades, billhooks and axes, are in much request, and are very much needed, liequisi- tion after requisition is sent in, and returned scratched out. In one company of a regiment I know there are three pick-heads and no handles, two spades, one broken in two, and all the bill-hooks worn out, and yet these must be used to clean the camp, to dig graves, and cut wood. The Board of Ordnance deserves great credit for the care they have taken of their men. The artfllery offered a great contrast for a long time to the rest of the army. They were well shod, well clad, and decent-looking. The ofKccrs have had a splendid stock of long bouts to choose from ; they have waterproofs, fur caps, fur coats, &c. Among the stories with which the officers begiiile the monotony of camp life, there is one which is said to be " quite true," and wliich is therefore received with great interest. Some time ago an Eng- lish officer, who is now a prisoner at Simpheropol, received letters from his irieuds in England, who were at that time ignorant of his fate. It is a rule to forward all letters to prisoners after they have heen opened and read. One of those sent to the gentleman in question was from a young lady. She requested the officer to take Sebastopol as soon as possible, and to be sure and capture Prince Menschikoff in person, adding that she expected to receive a button off the Prince's coat, as a pr^of of the young gentleman's prowess. When this letter was delivered to the ofiieer, it Avas accompanied by another from the Prince, enclosing a button, and stating that he had read the young lady's letter, and regretted he could not accede to her views as regarded the taking of Sebastopol or himself, but that he was happy to be enabled to meet her wishes on a third point, and that he begged to enclose a button from his coat, which he re- quested the gentleman to forward to the lady who was so anxious to possess it. The weather still keeps up, but we are told to expect a change very soon, and to be jjrepared for a dreiiry February and a teirible March. There was a Council of War to-d;iy at Lord llaglan's head- A SPY IX THE ca:.ip. 329 quarters, at which General Canrobert, General Bosquet, and several French officers were present. There was a serious sortie on the French last night, and some desperate lighting in the trenches. The Russians were repulsed with loss. Among the dead was an officer, richly dressed and covered Avith orders. He was thought to be a general, but it is now believed he was a staff officer of the Xaval Brigade ; his body was sent back to the enemy. There can be no doubt, from the statements of tlio prisoners, that the Grand Dukes have returned. A great and unusual animation exists in the town. The men work busily at the defences, and the thin streaks of smoke from the camp fires indicate the arrival of considerable masses of the Russians over the Tchernaya, on the table lands above it. Jan. 30. By general orders dated 29th of January, Lord Raglan commu- nicates the intelligence to the arm}' that the Russian commanders have entered into an agreement with the allied generals to cease tiring along the lines whenever a white Hag is hoisted to indicate that a burying-party is engaged in front of the batteries. This order was required, for several accidents had taken place among burj'ing-parties on both sides from the lire of the riflemen. Admiral Boxer has arrived, and will assume the command of the harbour of Balaklava. The harbour and town are much better than they have been. Jan. ?,\. To-day, a spy icalked through some of our trenches, counted the guns, and made whatever observations he pleased besides, in, addition to information acquired from the men with whom he conversed. He was closely shaven, and wore a blue frockcoat buttoned up to the chin, and he stopped for some time to look at Mr. Murdoch, of the " Sauspareil," " bouching " the guns, or putting new vents into them. Some said he was like a Frenchman, others that he " looked like a doctor," no one suspected he was a Russian till he suddenly bolted away down the front of the battery towards the Russian picquets, under a sharp fire of musketry, through which he had the singular good luck to escape unscathed. Strict orders have been issued, in consequence of this daring act, to admit no one into the trenches or Avorlcs without a written permission from the proper authorities, and that all perscms found loitering about the camp shall be arrested and sent to divisional head-quarters for examination. I stated some time ago that the Frencli have been in the habit of sending out working parties through our lines, towards the valley of Baidar, to cut wood for gabions and fuel, along the sides of the romantic glens whiclx intersect the high mountain-ranges to the south-east of Balaklava. They have frequently come across the Cossack picquets, and as it is our interest not to provoke hostilities witli tiiera, a kind of good fellowship has sprung up between our allies and tlie men of the Russian outposts. The other daj' tlve French came upon three cavah-y horses tied up to a tree, and the officer in command ordered them not to be touched. On the same day a Chasseur had left his belt and accoutrements behind him in the ruined Cossack picquet- Louse, and naturally gave up all hope of recovering them, but on 330 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. his next visit lie found them on the wall iintouchecl. To requite this act of forbearance, a French soldier, who had taken a Cossack's lance and pistol, which he found leaning against a tree, has been ordered to return them and leave them in the place he found them. The next time the French went out, one of the men left a biscuit in a cleft stick, beckoning- to the Cossacks to come and eat it. The following day they found a white loaf of excellent bread stuck on a stick in the same place, with a note in Ilussian, which has been translated for them in Ealaklava, to the effect that the Russians had plenty of biscuit, and that, though greatly obliged for that which had been left for them, they really did not want it; but if the French had bread to spare like the sample left for them, it would be acceptable. The sentries on both sides shont and yell to each other, and the other day a llussian called out, as the French were retiring for the day, "JS^ous nous reverrons, mes amis — Frangais, Anglais, liusses, nous sommes tons amis." I fear the cannonade going on before Sebastopol, the echoes of which reach the remote glades distinctly, must have furnished a strange com- mentary on the assurance, and must have rather tested the sincerity of the declaration. Fch. 1. This morning early the French made a demonstration on our right, and two divisions were marched down towards Inkermann, con- sisting of about 16,000 men, but the PaiNsians, who had been cheer- ing loudly all along our front, did not meet them. I regret to say our gallant allies suftcred severely in the sortie which took place on them this moi'ning and last night. About 300 men and several officers were put hors de cowhat, and the loss is the more melan- choly, inasmuch as a considerable amount of it was occasioned by an unfortunate mistake, which led one French regiment to fire upon another in the obscurity of the night. The tiring all last night was incessant. The guns ordered up to the hill over the road outside Balaklava have not yet been mounted, but the work is all traced out, and the guns are lying ready to be hoisted up and placed on their carriages. The weather is beautiful ; in fact, it is almost too warm for the time of year, and makes our men, wlio will insist on wearing all their warm clothing, at once unpleasantly hot and oppressed. Our picquets have the strictest injunctions to be on the alert, and our cavalry have a little more duty in the way that cavalry are acjcustomed to act tlian lliey have had lor some time back. The preparations lor laying down the electric telegraph from, head-quarters are going on rapidly and with success. Feb. 2. Nothing unusual last night. Many of the regiments were held in readiness for immediate action. The cavalry were under arms all niglit. A])out '200 sick ('amc down and were sent on board the " Ivipon." Many of them were covered with vermin, and their blankets were not sent down with them. The weather has changed. It is cloudy and overcast, and it blew hard at intervals last night, but the tliermometer is still up to forty-two degrees. The Russians have not moved. The "St. Jean d'Acre" is still outside the har- bour. The roads are all covered with shakos, which have been EAGERNESS FOK THE ASSAULT. 331 thrown away by men of the various draughts and regiments re- cently landed on their way to camp. Fib. o. A very sudden change in the weather, quite characteristic of the climate and of its extreme variations, occurred about one o'clock this morning. A bitter cold wind sprang up and blew with violence, and the thermometer fell to eighteen degrees. A deep fall of snow took place, and the whole landscape is once more clothed in white. It is now freezing intensely. This will put im- i:)ediments in the way of our railroad making. The navvies are hard at work picking and growling and lighting among themselves. There was a regular battle on board one of their ships last night, and the Provost-Marshal will have to give a few of them a taste of his quality ere they are brought to a sense of their responsibility in a state of martial law. There was little firing on the trenches last night. The French, had, as usual, a couple of smart fusillades. Our third parallel, in. front of Chapman's battery, is to be strengthened at last. Every day_ strengthens the correctness of Sir John Burgoyne's homely saying about Sebastopol — " The more you look at it, the less you will like it." Three months ago that oliicer declared his opinion to be that the place ought to be assaulted. Now General Niel comes, and we hear that he laughs at the notion of our reducing the place by the tire of artillery. The French are extremely anxious for the assaidt. Our army has long been in a condition which induces it to prefer anything to the trenches. It may easilj' be imagined that General Canrobert is becoming less popular among his soldiers than he was. General Bosquet, who commanded the French movement at" Inkermanu, is rising in favour, as he is known to be in favour of the bayonet. The "Kipon" sails to-day with sick for Scutari. Most of the poor fellows are in a very low state, notwithstanding the stimulus of hot brandy-and-water and warm tea furnished to each of them by Mr. Skead at the little establishment in Balaklava, which may truly be called " The Caradoc restaurant." The brandy is furnished out of the stores purchased by " The Times' Fund," and administered here by Dr. McShane, of the " Caradoc." In addition to this, arrow-root, sugar, and medical comforts are given at the restaurant from the same source to each sick man who re- quires it, as he arrives. Your Commissioner has done immense service by the stores he has sent up here. An officer said to me yesterday, with tears in his eyes, "The things I've got from ' The Times' Fund' out of the ' Bride' will save many of my poor fellows' lives. My God ! what would I have given for them a month ago ! Many of our best men woidd now be alive if I had had them." The guns of our new battery outside Balaklava are in position. About three miles of the line of rail have been marked by the engineers from Balaklava beyond Kadikoi, and a line of white sticks in the ground denotes so much of the route at present. The arming of our batteries in ivont goes on every night. 332 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. CHAPTER LIV. Distribution of the Fund Stores — Tlie Christmas presents begin to tin-n up — Dangerous proximity to a Cossack — Tlie railroad and the navvies — A colony of expelled sutlers — Turkish burying ground — Strange scenes — Fickle climate of the Crimea — Ammunition boats — Barbarous murder — A swarm of reckless vagabonds — The navvies at work. Before Sebastopol, Fch. i. The thermometer this morning" stood at 22°. There was a sharp frost clurinu: the night, but the siiu's rays softened the ground ■during the daytime, though they did not temper the wind, which was very keen and searching. The enemy iired very little during the day, and the French followed their example, so that we had a day of rest, only that the ritlemen on both sides kept up the usual fusillade from their pits and covered works. In the afternoon a small party of Cossacks, with two light field-pieces, "were observed crossing the head of the valley towards Inkermann, but no consi- derable movement of the Russians, that I am aware of, was visible throughout the day. Their men muster in force, however, over the lieights of Inkermann, and on the ridges between the lielbek and the south side of Sebastopol. They must suffer very severely during these cold nights, for they are less able to bear the severity of the •climate than our own soldiers, being accustomed, as I am informed, to spend their winters in hot close barracks, where they reruain as long as the hard weather lasts. The Cossacks alone are employed in the open country during frost and snow. Owing to one of those unaccountable delays which seem to attach themselves to all our operations here, the " Sir George Pollock," the ship appointed to sell the stores ]3rovided by Government at cost price, has not yet opened shop. Some of the Crimean Army- Fund stores liave been opened, and are in the course of distribution. They will be distributed officially, and by the instrumentality of the quartermaster-general's department in each division, but in- dividual officers may get stores tor their respective regiments by providing carriage for them. It has been decided by the managers that "it is better to sell than to give away;" and ac- -cordingly all articles which are not actually gifts to the fund will be sold at such a price as may d(;fray costs and exi)euses. Our parcels and boxes and Christmas ])resents are turning up very slowly in the chaos of Raluklava. The presents sent \>y the Prince to the Guards are in the " St. Jean d'Aere," but have not yet been delivered. Poor fellows I Those who live will have ample com- forts if they divide the share of their departed comrades among them. Lord Rokeby is said to have been affected to tears when the three regiments of Guards paraded, on his taking tlie command. His lordship has communicated a most gratifying letter from the Queen to tlie officers, in which her Majesty expresses her admira- tion of the conduct of " her beloved Guards." There was little firing all day, and no inovement of troojis on either side. The " Medway" arrived at Palaklava with the 1st battalion of the 71st Regiment. A COSSACK IN AMBUSH. 333 Feb. 5. Lord Raglan rode into Ealaklava to-day, and remained iu the town some time, inspecting the arrantiemeiits of the various de- partments of the service. A honse took tire while his Lordship was there, but it was soon extinguished. Curiously enough, it has been remarked, it is said, that on each of the previous days when his Lordship visited the town a ship in the harbour was on tire. Kearly tlie whole of the newly-landed French division is pushed over towards onr right. To the great dismay of the commissariat officers a portion of the harbour of Balaklava has been assigned for French ships to lie in, and they are to unload stores there for those regiments wliich are nearer to Balaklava than to Kamiesch, and thus thej' make; their own road of use to themselves. The harbour is now full of ships, packed as close as herrings in a barrel. As I was riding out towards the camp this afternoon, with an officer of the Scots Fusileer Guards, I witnessed a refreshing in- stance of the vigilance of our men. We rode out along the valley towards the "Worouzofi" road, and kept a little too much to our right, so that, happening to look towards the top of a mound about 300 yards distant, the tirst thing that struck us was the head of a Cossack as he crouched down to escape observation, in the hope that with the aid of his picquet he could make us prisoners. It was just as well a bullet had not striick either of us, but, as a rule, sentries never tire on stragglers passing within range. A little in advance of and keeping towards the mound on our riglit was an English soldier ; behind him, at the distance of some 400 yards, another soldier was seen running, shouting at the top of his voice, with his firelock at the present. The first man kept walking rapidly on. The other halted and fired, and the ball knocked np the earth close to him. Still the fellow kept on, and we were riding up to see what he was, when a Heavy I)ragoon dashed at a gallop from the cavalry picquet-house, and rode between the man and the hill. The foot soldier turned back at once with the Dra- goon, who marched him to the picquet-house, and then went up to the other man. Wo found this poor fellow was a sentry from the hill in front of the Highland Lattery, and that he had run all the distance after the other man. whom he had seen edging up towards the llussian lines along the plain. He returned at once to his post, and iu a quarter of an hour more he was on his bleak beat, pacing up and down, with his eye fixed on the enemy. It was amusing to watch the Cossack all this time. Xothing could be seen of him for the time Init his little bullet head over the bank. He evidently imagined that by lying close he might get one of us,, but he was disappointed, for the Dragoon requested us to go more to the left, and thus debarred us the use of a path which many of the men of the regiments on the right of the camp had been iu the habit of taking for a long time past. Camp near Kadiekova, Fi:h. 6. No bombardment yet — no fire opened, and yet the day generally assigned by rumour for the re-opening of our attack has been passed and gone now twenty-four liours ago. The only great tj'pe of life and motion visible to me is "the navvy's barrow." That potent 334: PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. engine of civilization is lying in stacks on tlie water's edge at Balaldava. The principal depot for the railway stores is in the horrible sqnalid space in the rear of the post-office. When yv^e first arrived in Balaldava this house was in good order, and was white- washed and scrupulously clean ; a neat wooden balcony, reached by a flight of steps from the garden, led to the priuoipal rooms on the upper floor, and from thislbalcony a strong but light trellis-work, extending far down the garden, scarce sustained the rich masses of glowing grapes which burst through the thick foliage of the vines. The garden itself was enclosed by a whitewashed wall, and a gate • at the end led out upon the quay — garden, and walls, and gate, and trellis-work, and Imlcony, have long since disappeared, and the soil has been for months a liquid abomination, so that it is a. glad sight to behold barrows, and sleepers, and blocks of wood laid over it. It is strange that the first use — perhaps the only use — the Crim- Tartar will ever witness for centuries of the great invention of recent days should be to facilitate the operations of war and to destroy life. When the railway will be finished I know not ; already there is a hitch, for it appears the survey had to be stopped yesterday, inasmuch as the line crossed the road M'hieh the French are so busy and so successful in making up towards the front from Xadikoi. After the expedition has left the shores of the Crimea, and has become a tradition among its people, the works of our unfinished railroad may serve to exercise the ingenuity of future Cimmerian antiquaries, and may form the only permanent mark of our presence on this bloodstained soil. The pick is at work, and the peculiar idiom of the navvy strikes the ear as he salutes "the sojer," and asks after " the foitin 'afore Sebastopowl" from his perch xip among the rocks outside Balaklava. The line of railway is nearly surveyed, but it has not yet been marked out beyond the mound outside Kadiekova, over the plain which leads up to the plateau on which our camp stands. The entrance to Balaklava presents a most extraordinary appearance at present. After de- scending into the valley from the plateau on which the camp stands, and passing over the plain, all torn and trodden into mud by incessant traffic of horses, men, and carts and camels, which extends up to Kadikoi, you suddenly turn round by a mound on which stands a battery, sweeping the plain, and behold a new wooden world that has arisen by magic in a few days along the hill- side over the road to Balaklava. Bows of white huts strew the ground. A little town, called "]kilfalo Town," "Log Town," " Hut Town," or " Sutlers' Town," according to the fancy of the speaker, has been erected on the right-hand side of the path, about three-quarters of a mile outside lialaklava, for the expelled sutlers ; and, from the din and clamour, one might imagine he was coming to some well-fre([uented English fair. A swarm of men, in all sorts of grotesque uniforms, French, English, and Turks, throng the narrow lanes between tlie huts and tents, and carry on bargains in all the languages of Babel with Greek, Italian, Algcrine, Spaniard, Maltese, Armenian, Jew, and Egyptian, for all sorts of merchandize. Here 1 belield my runaway servant — a vagabond Italian — selling small loaves of bread for 2.v. each which he had purchased from a French baker in Balaldava for Is. G(/., and thus realized Qd. out of TURKISH BURYING -GEOUNB. 335 it for a short walk. I'he guard-house had had no effect on him, and, as the authorities do not interfere in such cases, I was left to solace myself with the poor revenge of seeing him break his shins over a tent-stick as he ran away to escape my horsewhip. Here you may see all the scoundrels of the Levant who can get across the Black Sea making little fortunes by the sale, at the most enormous prices, of the vilest articles of consumption, which necessity alone forces us to use ; and here you may see a few honest traders sitting moodUy in their stalls and mourning over their fast-departing probity. There is not one Englishman, so far as I know, among these sutlers of the IJritish army, though the greatest vein of nuggets that ever charmed multitudes to a desert was as dross and dirt to the wealth to be realized in this festering crowd. Camel-drivers, arabajees, wild-eyed, strange-looking savages from out-of-the-way corners of Asia Minor, dressed apparently in the spoils of the chorus of " Xabticco" or " Soiurcuniile," stalk curiously through the soldiery, much perplexed by the conilicting emotions of fear of the Provost- Marshal and love of plunder. There are about 150 huts and tents clustered together on this hill-side. Close beside it is the new Lattery. Then more huts and tents, occupied by the cavalry. On the other side of the cleft in the mountain ridge through, which the town is approached, are the huts and tents of the High- landers, Turks, French, Marines, and Rifles, guarding the lines towards Kamara, and rising one above the other till they cover the tremendous crag which frowns down at the sea, 1200 feet below. Then there is an odd-looking acre or two of ground with a low wall round it, which looks as if all the moles in the world lived beneath it, and were labouring night and da^- — so covered is it with mounds of earth, through which peer rags and bones. This is the Turkish biu-ying-ground, and full well frequented is it. Little hearses may be seen flocking to it down the hill- sides all day, and returning with the empty litters gravely back again. Thej- have also turned one or two vineyards into graveyards, and they have also selected a quiet nook up among the hills for the same piu'pose. Our own more decent graveyard is situated outside the town, in low ground, close to the sea. The huts and tents of the 14th, and long rows of Avooden sheds for the mules, and the tents of the sailors guarding stores, and the huts of the landing-wharf, are all crowded along the steep and at the edge of the bay on the other side of the town, so that the place altogether would give one the idea that he was looking at some great migratorj' population just settled for a week, or had fallen across one of the mushroom canvas cities of Australia. Of course, those who are nighest get lirst served to the huts, and are best able to put them up. If liirnam Wood were formed of white deal boards, Macbeth would see his worst suspicions realized could he but witness the moving forest of timber marching up to the front. He would behold literally miles of men, and of mules and ponies, all struggling along through the mud with boards — nothing but boards. In calm weather they get on well enough, but a putf of wind puts an end to all progress, and a strong gust lays men and horses in the mire. However, they are slowly working up towards the camp, but it cannot be conceived by a person not on the spot how hard it is to take up even one hut, and v.'hat a great quantity 336 PKOGRESS OF THE SIEGE. of timber has to be moved ere the building is complete. The weather is lino, but cold. The following- is ray journal since my last letter : — The cold and frost have almost disappeared ; the only traces of winter remaining- to us are patches of snow on the hill-sides and in the ravines, and the blanched mountain ridg-es in the far distance, or the rotten roads, in which the blackened snow still lies in masses perforated by deep holes, dangerous to horse and man. The ther- mometer is up to lifty-two degrees. The birds are singing around us ; the sun is generally bright and warm for several hours in the day. It is, in fact, one of those Crimean proto-springs of not unfrequent occurrence, wherein even the trees, and vines, and grass are deceived for a short time, and think they may put forth their young buds and shoots. But the inhabitants warn us not to be misled by this transient calm ; March is still to be endured, and we hear that he roars right royally, and conies in, and remains in, with bitter cold and very strong winds, and heavy falls of rain, sleet, and snow. The month of ]\Iarch is, in truth, like tlie month of November in the Crimea, and we all know what disasters Ave endured during twenty terrible days of that mouth in 1854. The climate, indeed, is beyond all conception lickle. A bird may be singing, under the impression that he lias done with foul weather, and may soon be getting ready his nest, and very shortly after- wards he may be knocked down by a blow on the head from a hail- stone. Warm clothing has been served out to most of the army. A store of it brought out a long time ago (six weeks) by the " Jason," and sent on board another vessel, has just been trans- shipped into a third, instead of being landed. Can any one tell the reason why ? It must be observed that the articles most essential to the healtli and comfort of the men are of the most disgraceful description. I was told by the ]u-incipal medical officer of one of the divisions of this army that the surgeons of the various regi- ments had complained to him that the ammunition boots served out to the men were not only too small, but " that the soles dropped oft' after a week's Avear. Tlic long Avaterproof boots are generally of better quality, and last very avcU, but the " ammuuition boots," as they are called, liaA'e been infamously made out of bad materials. The health of the camp is improving a little, but there are still a great number of men in hospital. A Ioav fever, a kind of bilious attack, arising from a disordered liver, prevails rather extensively. The men's stomachs are, in fact, disorganized, and their Avhole system exliausted, by the labours and fatigues to Avhieh tliey have })een subjected. Even yet there is little or no fuel to be had by the men in front. The supplies of charcoal are scanty, and infrequent and irregidar. Au order Avas issued some time ago to supply so many pounds of charcoal to each man in the trenches ; but it Avas found iin])Ossiblo to carry it out, as the commissariat could not furnish tlu; charcoal nor transport for it. In default of charcoal or wood, the men are obliged to grub out of the soil, bj' the most painful laljour, the roots of bruslnvood or of viius, and they are often (jbliged to go doAvn the liill-sides riglit under the enemy's lire in order to gather enough to cook their meals. The Light Division, thougli it has been the hardest Avorked, is BARBAROUS 31URDEK. 337 one of the healthiest in the army, and yet such is its condition, viewed under the very favourable asjject it at present oitlrs to the spectator. The Guards are now reduced to less than iive hundred men tit for duty. It must be observed that where the condition of one regiment is noticed to be better than that of another, if they have been an equal lenath of time in the campaign, it will be found invariably that the result is the work of three men — the Colonel, the Doctor, and the Quartermaster. Efficiencj^ zeal, and activity on the part of the last-named class of officers produce the best effects, and 1 have been a witness of the extraordinary amelioration which one of them can bring about in the state of a regiment by his almost unassisted labours. There was a murderous hre kept up for about an hour yesterday morning between the French and liussians. The cannonade and roll of small arms was incessant. I do not remember if I men- tioned to you in my last letter the fact that the llussians had cut into the gallery of a French mine, and had destroyed an officer of Engineers and some men by smoke-balls, after which they blew up the mine. It is unfortunately too true ; but our allies had their reveusre. "When the llussians came out, as usual, last night the Frencli got three 18-pounders in readiness, and carefully laid them on the approach to the sallyport, nicely stored with grape and canister. The enemy made their sortie under a tremendous can- nonade from the batteries, and then rushed in upon the works, but they were received with such destructive volleys of Minies and musketry that they were speedily driven over the trench towards the town. The three guns were tired right into their retreating columns at short ranges, and continued to plough them up with round shot till they got under cover of their works. Seven llus- sians were killed inside the trenches, and remained there. Many wounded men were carried off, and it is eonjectm-ed that 2-30 or 300 were killed and woimded before they reached the town. The French lost about fifty in killed and wounded. I regret to stats that a barbarous murder has been committed on Private E. Cullen, servant of Lieutenant Harvey, of the 9th liegiment. When the unfortunate man was found his bodj' was lying nearly naked not very far from tlie new Turkish camp. One of the chief interpreters has been sent with the Provost-^Iarshal to make inquiries about the camp as to the poor fellow's death. It is certain our army is gathering around it a swarm of reckless vagabonds, whom it will require all the Provost- Marshal's vigilance and power io ke(_p in order. Mule-drivers from Spain and Malta, runaway Italians, who were brigands, patriots, or thieves at home, and ha\-e been worse in the towns of the Levant ; runaway servants, Greeks from the alleys of Pera, and adventurers from all the corners of Asia, arrive here daily, and some of them have very peculiar notions of the way in which a man may "seek his fortune." The " navvies" are working away heartilj', pulling down the raekctj' houses and frag- ments of houses near the post-office of Balaklava, so as to form the terminus of the first bit of the Grand Crimean Central Railway (with branch line to Sebastopol). They have landed a large quantity of bar- rows, beams, rails, spades, shovels, picks, and other materials. The frail houses soon dissolve into heaps of rubbish iiuder their vigo- z 338 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. roiis Wows, and the more friable remains are carted off and sliot into and over the ineHable horrors and nastiuesses of the Turkish plague and charnel-liouses. Jt is sickening' to think of it, but it is nevertheless true : the wells in the town of Balaklava, down by the sea-side, must be tilled with water that has trickled though the earth down the hill, from and through the layers of Turkish corpses that lie festering above, barely covered from sight by a few inches of earth. The neighbourhood of the French camps is very tilthy. It is surprising that such acute and active men as our allies should permit these dirty habits to exist, and that their able surgeons do not point out the danger arising from them to the whole army. They leave their dead horses unburied close to their tents. The Turks pay greater apparent regard to cleanliness when in the field, but at the best of times a camp is a strong-smelling place, and must necessarily be somewhat dirty. All we can do is to make it as little otfensive as possible. On the other hand, the French dis- play the greatest regard to cleanliness of person, and take oppor- tunities (which our men do not or cannot) to wash their clothes wherever there is a running brook or a supply of water. CHAPTER LV. The works of the Slalakoff Tower — The English batteries too distant to be effective — Improvements at Balaklava — " General Kumour" — Preparations to receive the enemy, who did not appear — The Russians again occupy their position at Kamara and Tchorgoun — Slow progress of the siege. Feb. 7. A DULL, heavy day. There was an extremely hot contest last night between the French and llus^ians : the cannonade, which sounded all over the camp, lasted about an hour. The enemy, not satisfied ■with what they have already done, are still labouring hard at the ■works in the rear of the Malakotf (or the Itound Tower) and at three o'clock to-day they hud about 1200 men employed on the earth slopes and parapets of th(! batteries. A\'hile I was examining the place to-day there was scarcely a shot hred for two hours. The small steamers and boats were particularly active, running across the creek and to and fro in the harbour, and everything seemed to go on in the town much the same as usiuxl. One portion of the place containing some iine buildings, and a large church ■with a cupola, as seen from the ])icquet-house, put one in mind of the view of Greenwicli from the I'ark ()l)servatory seen through a diminishing glass. The French mortars have already begun to tell on the stonework of the buildings o])posit(' their batteries — in a few days our allies will be able to inilict tremendous damage on the town. Lord llaglan has ordered ten of our 13-inch mortars to bo lent to tiie I''rench, and Major Claremont came down to IJalaklava to g(!t tlieni landed Irom the " Fireily" with all speed. They were already preparing platforms for the mortar-beds to-day. Our left attack seemed in very Unc order as seen from the hill over the- niPEOVEMENTS IN BALAKLAVA. 339' Frencli right, at tlie other side of the ravine. The para])ets and trenches arc said to be in better order than they were on the first day of the siege. All the other works are equally improved, and when the fire reopens, its volume and weig-ht will be prodigious. I should state, however, that tlie French engineer. General Niel, who visited tlie English trenches recently, expressed a decided opinion that the butteries were too far to produce any substantial results. When we first sat down before this place it was proposed that the first parallel should be at the usual distance of from 600 to 800 yards from the defences ; but to this it was objected that there would be great loss of life in making it so near, and that the old rule of war which fixed the distance of the lines of the besiegers from those of tlie besieged, was abrogated by recent improvements in gunneiy, and by the increased power and range of siege guns. Our batteries were constructed at upwards of 1000 and 1200 yards from the enemy, and the steadiness of our artillerymen and the activity of our sailors were frustrated by the length of the range, which enabled the lUis.^ians to escape the force of our fire, and em- boldened them in working their guns. Meantime, the railway is in the stage of babyhood, and has a very hard time of it in the mud and stones outside Balaklava. The town of lialaklava itself is undergoing vast improvements, partly by demolition, partly by expulsion of the sutlers, and especially by the energetic action of Major Hall and Colonel Harding, and the harbour arrangements have been much improved by Captain Powell. The harbour presents some appearance of order, and that is saying much, when it is considered that the place is as much crowded as a London or Liverpool dock. The qiuiy is at last something better than a quag- mire and a series of mud pitfalls, and the streets of the town have ceased to fiiictuate between water-courses and dirt-heaps. Stones have been laid down, and have been beaten into a rough pavement by endless traffic. There is very little news respecting the Russians or their operations. The French have scarped the WoronzofFroad more deeply than before, and have cast a kind of drawbridge over it. The valley of the Tchernaya is still flooded deeply, and the pools aflbrd some excellent duck shooting to our more adventurous sportsmen, who are not deterred by the round shot and shell of the lower Inkermann Battery, very liberally bestowed, from following their game under difficulties. Fab. S. "General Eumoiu-" is a very efficient officer in the management of alertes." He is never surprised, and errs rather on the safe side of caution than otherwise. This morning he turned out aU the troops in and about Balaklava, manned his guns, roused np Admiral Boxer, awakened Captain Christie, lauded the seamen, mercantile and naval, and, taking Sir Colin Campbell and his staff' out on the hills, awaited an attack which never was made, but which, no doubt, would have been repelled with signal energy and success. It appears that a spy passing through the lines of the Ilifie Brigade on his way to the head-quarters of the French armj' — being interro- gated by a young officer, informed him that the Bussians had small bodies of men — about a sotnia, or demi-troop, in several of the Z2 340 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. villages towards the eastward of Balaldava, sucli as Tcliorg'oim.' and a large body of Russians, whom he estimated at 35,000 men, were in their rear, moving round to the south-ea^t of Baidar, so as to approach our right on the heights over Ealaklava. Having com- municated this intelligence, the spy went on his way, and the ritleman. in the course of the day, imparted the result of his inquiries to another officer in a Highland regiment. There is no place in the world like a camp for the hatching and development of "canards." The q^^ thus laid was very soon matured, and the young bird stalked forth, and went from tent to tent, getting here a feather and there a feather, till it assumed prodigious dimensions and importance. How it became " official " has not exactly come to my knowledge, but certain it is that at half-past ten o'clock at night orders were sent from Sir Colin Campbell to the regiments aldng the iutrenchments up the heights to hold themselves in readiness for an attack, and the 71st Kegiment was marched up to strengthen the bold crest occupied by the Rifles and Marines. Later at night, or early next morning, Colonel Harding, the ener- getic and active Commandant of Balaklava, roused up the (iuarter- master- General, Major Mackenzie, who at once repaired to Sir Colin Campbell's quarters, and learned that this attack was fixed to come off at half-past four or five o'clock a.m. The alarm spread —the harbour was soon involved in it. Captain Christie sent orders round to all the large merchant steamers to be in readiness to render all the aid in their power ; and Admiral Boxer ordered the men of the " Vesuvius " to be lauded, and the sailors of the trans- ports to be armed and in readiness for service. The " Wasp" and " Diamond," all cleared for action and moored stem to stern, so as to form a floating battery, commanded the approach of the harbour from the land side. At four o'clock Sir Colin Campbell and his staff mounted the heights up to the Rifle camp. It was bright moonlight. A dee]) blue sky sparkling with stars was streaked here and there by light fleecy clouds of snowy whiteness, which swept slowly across the mountain crags, or darkened the ravines and vallej's with their shadows like masses of infantry on the march. Scarce a sound was audible near us, except at long intervals the monotonous cry of the sentries, " Xumbcr one, and all's M'ell," or the bells striking the hours on board the ships ; but terrible salvoes of artillery and incessant volleys of musketry from the front before SebastoiJol told that the French and Russians had availed tliem- selves of tlie moonliglit to continue their contest with renewed vigour. The sullen roar of the heavy mortars M'liich came booming upon the ear twice or thrice in every minute bespoke the deadly use which our allies Avere making against the city of the beauty of the morning. In the rear, around the deep valleys and on the giant crags towards the sea, all was silent. The men behind the trench which defends our ix'sition from lialaklava to the seaboard scarcely spoke above a wliisiici-, and wvyv. almost lost to sight, but the moonlight played on long lines of bright barrels and sparkling- bayonets, which just crested, as it were, tlie dark outlines of the breastwork, beneath which English, French, and Turk were lying- in )eadiuess for the enemy. The guns in the redoubts and earth- work batteries were prepared for instant service. All the batteries SLOW PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. 341 were fully manned, and, had the enemy come on at that time, he ■would have met with an astonishingly warm reception. I liad been roused out before four o'clock in the morning, but, being rather incredulous in the matter of alertcs, I had contented myself with getting on my clothes and having the horses saddled, till the tiring from Sebastopol became so very heavy that the echoes from the heights sounded as if there was really a conflict taking place above. However, I was soon undeceived, for the sound decreased, and at last all was silent around us. An hour and a half of anxious vigil brought the dawn. All eyes peered tlirough the strange compound of light, formed by the rays of the rising sun and the beams of his fast-declining satellite, to discover the columns of the enemy, but there were none in sight. Just as the ^un rose, the eternal Cossack vedettes came in view on the hill tops to the east, each figure standing out sharp and black against the glowing backirround. A few liussians were seen about Kamara, but it was evident there was no preparation for an attack this day, and Sir Colin Campbell gave orders for the men to return to their tents. The fact was, that the story of the Tartar had been magnified and distorted to such an extent before it came to the General's ears that he believed it was quite certain the Russians would have attacked us. The events of this day, however, have shown that the spy brought trustworthy intelligence to us. The lius>ians have actually re- turned to the heights over the valley of Balaklava towards the left of the Tchernaya, and have reoccupied the hills and ravines about Kamara and Tchorgoun in some force. They appear to be casting lip intrenchments along their front, and it was quite evident, at four o'clock this afternoon, that thej" were getting up two heavy guns on a space of land close to " Canrobert's Hill," which would enable them to annoj' our convoys across the plain to the camp very considerably. At present there is no telling the exact force of Russians in our rear, but the spy fixed them at 3o,000 men. A reconnaissance on a small scale was to have been made by Sir Colin Campbell, accom- panied by Lord liurghersh, but, owing to the thick weather, it did not take place. The siege makes slow progress on our side. The French have been bombarding from ten large mortars for the last twenty-four hours, without producing any apparent effect commensurate ■with the weight of such a tremendous mass of metal as they are throwing into the town. They tire about four large shells every minute for six hours in the twentj^-four, and then reduce the fire to one or two shells a-minute. The Russians have directed a tolerably strong fire on the mortars, but thej' have done no considerable damage of any kind. Lord Raglan visited the camp the day before yesterday. Feb. 9. Omar Pasha arrived at Kamiesch last night, in the " Colombo," and to-day his Highness visited General Canrobert and Lord Raglan, and had lengthened interviews with them. These inter\"iews, iu efi'eet, constituted a council of war, and it is reasonable to suppose that the operations of the campaign have been finally determined on and arranged between the allied Generals. 342 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. The "weatlier was fine to-day, though it rained a little this morn- ing. At night, however, the rain — the most active of " General Fevrier's" lieutenants — came down incessantly. The Prussians are moving about on the hills in our rear, and a column of infantry was seen to march along over the Tehernaya heights towards Sebastopol yesterdaj". This morning all our troops at the heights over Balaklava were out under arms from half-past four o'clock till seven o'clock in a dense fog and drizzling mist — the same force as before. The llussians made no sign, and the men were dismissed to their tents soon after daylight. There Avas an awful cannonade last night all along the Russian lines, and a sortie was made, which was repulsed by the French, while a feint on our lines was equally unsuccessful. Feb. 10. One of those sudden changes which render this climate the most peculiar in the world took place last night. The day had been warm and beautiful ; the night was cold, and the rain fell in tor- rents. This morning the ground is partially covered with snow, which descended heavily towards morning, but which thawed fast. The roads will be in a very bail condition in consequence. Omar Pasha inspected the works btfore Sebastopol after his arrival. A vessel was ordered to be in readiness at Kamiesch yesterday, to carry his Excellency to P]upatoria. There is no visible movement among the Russians on the heights this morning, and it is doubtful whether the guns are in the earthworks they have thrown up on the ridges. CHAPTER LYI. Heavy rain — Cossacks hovering on our rear — Rapid progress of the railway — Escape of a prisoner from Sebastopol — Sickness in the camp — Uncom- fortable weather — More mismanagement — Superiority of the French system of cooking — A Somersetshire chefcle cuisine — Soyer's receipts for cooking — Kothing wanting but the materials — Pigs a national institution — Cost of soldiers to the country — Arrival of Sir George Brown — Strict secrecy re- specting our operations. Balaklava, i'>6. 10. It rained heavily all night, and the ground was reduced to such a state in a few hours, that the rfcimnaissance which Sir Colin Campbell, aided by the French, intended to have made with the men under his command, was postponed. The atmosphere Avas so obscure, that it was all but impossible to catch a glimpse of the enemy's move- ments ; but a break in tlie rain and a lift in the haze now and then enabled us to see them working at some earthworks on the brow of the hills before Kamara. They also pushed a vedette up to the top of Canrobert's Hill (formerly the site of liedoubt A'o. 1, held by the Turks previous to the 12.5th of October.) About the middle of the day three columns of men were observed moving round from their right by the back of Kamara towards the hills over Baidar; they titok Avitli them some hehl-guns, and their num- bers Avere estimated at .'iOOO men. Tlu re is a sAvarm of Cossacks between Kamara and the road to ]\lackenzie's farm, moving about in all directions, and their vedettes are posted along the heights COXSTRUCTION OP THE RAILWAY. 343 over the WoronzofF-road. Our hea%'Y drajrooQ vedettes on the last inoimd over that road nearest to our Hues have also been doubled. Some of the Cossaeks this afternoon came so close to our front look- ing out for stragglers, that a shell was tired at them from Xo. 4 Battery, near Kadekceva (Kadikoi). The railway is making very respectable progress. It has wound its way up the greater part of the main street of Balaldava, and the engine has been astonishing the Turks by great puft's of steam from its iron hmgs, and by sundry shrieks and screams, as it has been put in play by the engineers, outside of the post-office yard, in order to see if its health or constitution has suiiered by the sea voyage. The railroad is simply constructed — the wooden sleepers are laid down longitudinally over a bed of stones on the road, and the rails are fastened down on them. It nearly tills up the breadth of the main street. About fifty yards of rail have been laid down in the street, but the road is in many places in a state of forward- ness, and will soon be ready to receive the x-ails. The road winds outside the church of Kadikoi. Lord Raglan visited Balaklava to-day and inspected the works of the railway, in which he seemed to take great interest. His lordship was accompanied by a numerous staff. After examining the progress and condition of various departments in the town, he visited the "Caradoc restaurant," and tasted the tea which is served out to the sick men. A man of the 88th Regiment, who had been taken prisoner in a sortie a few nights ago, made his escape on Friday night, and came into camp in a most miserable condition, his hands and knees being terribly cut and lacerated. He stated that he had crawled away over a place strewed thickly for a great distance with broken glass. His sulferings niagnitied the space, no doubt, but he said he had struggled on over a mile and a-half of this awful causeway. The description he gave of the condition of the garrison would be encouraging to us if it could be altogether relied upon. I regret to state that sickness does not diminish in the camp. Scurvy and low fever extend their action everyday. Now, scurvy is mainly caused among debilitated men by the use of salt meat and the want of vegetables. Even fresh meat alone will develop it among men worn out by excessive labour, should they have no leguminous diet. I believe there has been only one cargo exclu- sively of vegetables ever sent up here, and that came in the " Harbinger," which lay in Balaklava for weeks, till her load of potatoes and onions began to rot and become putrid, so that much of it was unht for use, and had to be thrown away. "Whoever had an order got a sack of potatoes ; but who could carry a sack of potatoes to the front ? Meantime, ships chartered by Government for the use of the ser\'ice, come in day after day to Balaklava with quantities of vegetables for sale, and with stores of provisions to be sold lor the private protit of the stewards and adventurers at great prices, though the charter-party of these vessels expressly forbids any such use to be made of any ship, or any private property to be conveyed in her while she is in the emploj'ment of the Grovernment. The mortality among the Tui'ks is not so great. As an instance 3i4 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. of the £?oocl fcclino: of our poor allies, the Bono Johnnies, I may mention a circnmstance whioh is very creditable to them, and which is, I am sorry to say, illustrative also of the disposition of some of the French and Eng-lish soldiers towards the Turks, and of practices which became so common that they had to be forbidden by special orders. An English artilleryman, for some fancied slight, set upon a Turk, and s:a\e him a beatin.y-, and attacked " outra,e:eously" a Turkish officer who came to his countryman's assistance. He was found guilty of the double otience by general court-martial, and sentenced to tifty lashes. Osman Pasha, the commander of the Turkish troops, and the ofHeer who had been struck, interceded with Lord Ivauian for the remission of the man's punishment, and his lordship, who is one of the most clement and merciful of men, yielded to their request, and in general orders rescinded the sentence of the court-martial. Feb. 11. A day quite worthy of "General Fevrier's" gratitude — bleak, raw, and stormy; the wind rnging furiously between intervals of profound calm — the sky invisible in a murky sheet, from which fall incessant sliowers of rain, sleet, or snow alternately, or altogether — and the landscape shut out of sight at a few yards' distance by the gray walls of drizzling clouds and vapour. It may be imagined that no one stirred out who could help it ; a few drenched fatigue parties and some artillery wagons sent down for shot and shell were all one could see between Balaklava and the camp, and in the front all was silent— not a gun was fired the greater part of the day, and the popping of rilies nearlj' ceased also. A considerable number of sick men (217) were sent down yes- terday from the camp to Balaklava. There were many bad cases of scurvy and of scorbutic dysentery among tlic men ; and yet vegetables of all sorts and lemons and oranges are to be found in abundance, or could have been purchased in any quantities, all along the shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora. No one can say there were no ships to bring them. Balaklava contains ships which have been lying here for weeks — ay, for months — doing uothhuj. The splendid screw steamer " Jason," titted up cspeciallj' as a horse trans])ort, came in many days ago from Ismea laden ic'ith a curijo of ivuodfor fuel. The expenses of such a large vessel must be enormous, and yet she has been in harbour now for nearly a fortnight doing nothing. Many cases like this — many .stronger (if one is not at liberty to say grosser) cases tlian this could 1)0 adduced, if necessary, but it would serve no good jnirpose to bring tliem forward, because every one seems tolerably well persuaded just now that there has been very great mismanagement inside and outside Balaklava. There is a good deal of sickness in the French camp, and one regiment is said to have suH'ered as much from scorbutic diseases as any of our own, and to have ceased to exist, like the 63rd Regi- ment. But the French have no large steanu'rs wliicli they can send to image in all the ports of Asia Minor; and, with all tlieir deficient transport, they have had far less sickness and less loss of life from disease cent, per cent, than our troops, Avhile they have A SUMPTUOUS BANQUET. 245 oeen better provided witli food and soldiers' luxuries. Hud the French army undergone the same amount of vigil, lahuur, and fatigue to which our army was exposed, I am convinced it would have been in as bad a plight, and that it would have suilVrcd very nearly tlic same proportionate losses. Their system of cooking is better ; their system of hutting is better ; instead of having twelve or fourteen miserable, glt)omy fellows, sitting moodily together in one tent, where each man eats his meal, cooked or uncooked, as best he can, they have four men together in a tent, who are neither miserable nor gloomy as a general rule, because they have a good dish of soup and bouilli well made at the mess tire, and carried away " piping liot " in the camp kettle of the tent. The canvas of the tente d'ahri is, in fact, in bad w^eather only a roof to a deep pit in the shape of the parallelogram formed by the liaps of the canvas. This pit is dug out of the earth ; it contains a little hre- placo at one enci, with a mud chimney outside, and is entered by a Hight of two or three steps, which descend to the drj' lioor. Our men rarely dig out the earth, and their tents are generally pitched on the surface of the ground. They have no time to do any better. In cooking, I need not say our neighbours beat us hollow. I partook of a sumptuous banquet in the tent of an officer of the Guards the other night, the staple of 's^hich was a goose, piu*- chased for a golden q^^^ in Balaklava, but which assumed so many forms, and w^as so good and strange in all — now coming upon you as a ^Ji'^ce de resistance, again assuming the shape of a gihiutte that would do credit to Philippe, and again turning up as a delicate little plat with a Havour of woodcocks, that the name of the artist Avas at once demanded. He was a grisly- headed Zouave, who stood at the door of the tent, prouder of the compliments which were paid to him than of the few francs- he was to get for his services, " lent," as he was, by the captain of his company for the day. \ few days after — these were Christmas times, or were meant to be so— there was a dinner in another friendly tent. A Samaritan sea-captain had presented a mess with a leg of English mutton, a case of preserved turnips, and a wild duck. Hungry as hunters, the little party assembled at the appointed hour, full of anticipated pleasure and good fare from the fatherland. " Bankes, bring in dinner," said the host, proudly, to his chef de cuisine. The guests were set — the cover was placed on the table — it was removed with enthusiasm, and, lo ! there lay the duck, burnt black, and dry as charcoal, in the centre of a mound of turnips. "I thout vowls wor alays ate vurst," was the sole defence of the wretched criminal as he removed the sacrifice for the time. Then he brought in the soup, which was excellent, especially the bouilli, but we could not eat soup all night, especially when the mutton was waiting, "xsow, then, Bankes, bring in the leg of mutton." " The wawt, zur:" "The leg of rauttun, and look sharp, do you hear? I hope you have not spoiled that too." " Woy, zur, thee's been 'atin oo't !" The miserable being had actually huiled down the leg of mutton in the soup, having cut it — large slices ofi'it — to make it fit the pot ! We have had great fun with the recipes for cooking rations which appear in the papers. M. Soyer's were good and simple, but 34 G PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. every one of them had been found out by experiment months ago, and were familiar, however little successful, to every camp cook. The recipes which teach the men how to make rations palatable by the help of a " sliced turkey," nutmegs, butter, flour, spices, and suet, are cruel mockeries. Can any one tell us why the army must eat salt pork ? Why is this the only meat except beef that is served out ? The lean is always very hard and tough, and requires great care and trouble in cooking to make it masticable — the fat is ever in undue proportion to the lean, and is far too "rich" for a debilitated stomach. Are " pigs" a national institution, to be maintained at any cost ? Is the flesh of the bull a part of the constitution? A soldier is a very dear animal. A crop of them is most difficult to raise, and, once they have been fully grovvn, and have become ripe soldiers, they are beyond all price. Have we not got abundance of meats in our warehouses, of ve- getables, of all kinds of nutritious preparations, to bestow on those who are left to us, and who are really " veterans," for in the narrow limits of this one campaign they have epitomized all the horrors, the dangers, and the triumphs of war ? The ration, with. its accessories of sugar, tea or coftee, tobacco, and rice, was sufficient, as long as it was unfailing, and while the army was in full health; but it is not sufficient, or, rather, it is not suitable, when the men are debilitated from excessive weakness. What has been the cost to the country of the men of the Brigade of Guards who died in their tents or in hospital of exhaustion, over- work, and deficient or improper nutriment? The brigade musters now very little over 400 men fit for duty. It would have been clieap to have fed those men who are gone on turtle and venison, if it could have kept them alive — and not only those, but the poor fellows whom the battle spared, but whom disease has taken from us out of every regiment in the expedition. It is the men who are to be pitied — the officers can take care of themselves ; they have their bat-horses to go over to Kamiesch and to Balaklava for luxuries ; their servants to send for poultry, vegetables, wine, pre- served meats, sheep, and all the luxuries of the sutlers' shops ; and they have besides abundance of money, for the pay of the subaltern is ample while he is in the field. Feb. 12. Sir George Brown arrived to-day, and Lord Raglan went down to meet him, and returned with him to head-quarters. The wea- ther has changed again. The sun is out, the rain is over, and a cold, drying wind is blowing over the plain. The French are arm- ing our right attack. The left attack is completely armed. There is no appearance of any considerable force of Uussians either to the north of Sebastopol or over the heights of ]5alaklava. All danger of attack from Baidar seems very trifling. Jt would be almost im- possible for the enemy to deploy on the hills and in the ravines over our position, and the plain is impassable for artillery. The Tcher- naya is now our great line of defence, and it is aline which defends itself. There is only one bi-idge over it, descending from Mac- kenzie's farm, and tliat is not lit for the transport of either artillery or cavalry ; and tiie banks of the river are so steep, that bridges must be thrown over whenever it may be desirable to send either PITIABLE CONDITION OF THE HORSES. 347 arm across it. Towards Inkerniann, the whole valley is flooded, and turned into marsh and bog-. The preparations to remedy our great error in the plan of our first attack proceed^ rai)idly. Our troops are in better condition, and huts are being erected on every side. Fch. 13. It blew half a gale of wind all night, and the rain fell till two o'clock p.m. in the daj', but the wind was warm and the tempera- ture agreeable. The roads are very heavy, and the country is_ not easily traversed. The soil is not so tenacious, however, as it is Avhen drying up in tine weather after heavy rains. It is tlieu so sticky, that the wheels of artillery wagons actually " drag" in it, and the earth accumulates solidly between the spokes. It need not be said with what difficulty men get over the ground on foot. As to the condition of the horses, it is really pitiable. It is now four or five daj-s that our cavalry and artillery horses have been with- out hay, and that all they haA^e had to eat has been the ration of barley, and, now and then, a little chopped straw. The reason of this is simple. No hay has been received by the commissariat in harbour ; and yet it is stated that ilr. Filder wrote last September to the authorities at home, to state that it would be absolutely necessary for them to take steps to send out forage for the horses from England. What is the result of our mode of doing business ? At a recent board, the veterinary surgeons condemned no less than 140 horses out of the Royal Artillery alone ! The diseases of most of these animals — once fine English horses, the glory and pride of Woolwich holidays — were simple ; they were the produce of hard work in carrying up shot and shell, and of insufficient food. The mounted staff corps is now reduced to about twenty-eight effectives. The French workmen have made considerable progress with the new batteries on our right. On the left they were exposed to a heavy fire from four till half-past four o'clock, and the Russians blew up another French magazine inside the batteries. They at once opened fij'e along their lines with six tremendous salvoes of artillery, and rushed up on their parapets and gave three loud ring- ing cheers. The damage done by the explosion was, I am happy to say, very insignificant, and before the Russians had ceased cheer- ing, the French took their revenge by discharging a tremendous volley of heavy shells, which burst on the walls of the Admiral's house, and silenced for a time the guns in No. 3 Battery at the Flagstaft^ Fort. The railway progresses very rapidly, and has now reached a point 300 yards from the town. Tlie enemy appears to have abandoned any attempt to annoy the workmen, and have not put guns on Can- robert's-hill. The French mortar batteries are within 1300 metres of the inner batteries of the Russians. A sortie of insignificant strength was made by the garrison last night, and was repulsed as usual. The French lost five men only. The Cossacks on the hills to the north- east of Balaklava have nearly disappeared, and there are no indi- cations that they intend to reoccupy the hills on which it was sup- posed the enemy were about to reconstruct redoubts. 348 PEOGPtESS OF THE SIEGE. The utmost secrecy is observed respectius- our future operations. Strict orders have beeu issued that artillery aud engineer officers are not to give information respecting our works to any one but officers entitled to demand it ; and infantry officers are not allowed to get any details concerning the works and armaments. CHAPTER LYII. llccal of Lord Lucan — Hot parcliing wind — Crocuses and hyacinths cover tlie jiroiind — Lord Ivaglan visits tlie camp — ?.[ortality among the horses — Crowded state of the liarboiir — Improved aspect of tlie town — Abundance of provisions — Ilenewed activity on all sides. BaLAKLAVA, Fill). 14. The great topic of conversation and gossip to-day is the recal of the Earl of Lucan from the command of the Cavalry Division. The circitmstances under which this unusual exercise of authority has taken place are not very accurately known, except to a few officers to whom Lord Lucan has communicated them, but the prevailing impression among those who are likely to be well informed, and whose opinions carry weight, is certainly to the effect that the step is not justifiable on the grounds set forth for taking it. Feb. 15. Last night the wind increased in force, blowing in strong gusts and squalls, which tore down tents and the materials for hutting on the heights over Balaklava, and sent them clattering down the hill. This wind, hot and dry as one of the warm breezes of the tropics, sucked up the moisture of the roads as it passed, and the tracks of deep mud and the waste of earth and water on which our camp stands are rapidly becoming solid — so rapidly, indeed, that the effect is little short of magical. It much resembles the Mediterranean sirocco. The thermometer exposed outside my quarters marks no less than seventy-one degrees. The sky is overcast and lurid, but there are no clouds visible — the whole atmosphere is of a slaty grej' hue overhead and on the horizon, but objects at a distance give well-delined outlines, and are not at all obscure. The wind is very uncertain in force ; at times the gusts are terrific ; they generally come at intervals of five or six minutes, and vary in strength at each outburst. The general direction of the wind is from the south-south-east to south-west. Under the strange change of tem- perature, the bidbous roots, which seem to abound in the soil of the Chersonese, are putting forth slioots Avith vigour, and crocuses and hyacinths, some /;/ jlotrcr, have ])uslied their bright green leaves above the black surface of the soil, and, by their freshness and vividness of colour, afford a strong contrast to the sterile aspect of the hoof-betrodden ground. Towards night the violence of the gale abated. The Field-Marshal came down to Balaklava yesterday, and visited the various public establishments in the town, and inspected the progress of the railway. There was another sortie last niglit, which the French repulsed with a loss of thirty-five killed aud wounded and missing. APPEARAIfCE OF TYPHUS FEVEK. 349 The Russians lost at least as many in their hasty retreat. The ■\vorks on our right are in splendid order. Tlie division of General Bosquet on ouv right and in rear of our riglit Jiinik was reinforced to-day by upwards of 8000 men. The Russians have established three batteries from Inkermann Light east on the heights over the Tchernaya towards the south- east, with the object of annoying our flank, but the distance is too great, and aU their efibrts to injure us have hitherto been abortive. Feb. 17. Fine and temperate. Thermometer forty-six degrees, being an increase of eight degrees since yesterday ; the men busily employed in getting up shot and shell to the front. On the north side of Sebastopol the Russians have seamed the earth in every direction with mud batteries and entrenchments. To-day about 2-300 men could be seen through the glass working at a long trench which runs nearly due south-east from the end of the bay at Inkermann towards the Belbek. It seems as if their camp between Inkermann and the Belbek was not so large. Probably some considerable force has been drawn off in our present inactive state towards their centres of supply. Lord Raglan visited a portion of the camp to- day. Scarcely a single day passes, indeed, on [which his Lordship does not now inspect some part or other of the lines. All our lines towards the sea-road from Yalta have been much strengthened, and the proiile of the works, which was certainly not satisfactory before, has been altered and improved. Feb. IS. Shot and shell still going iip to the front. The mortality among the horses does not diminisli ; and the wretched oxen intended for conversion into beef die rapidly of emaciation. In August last Government paid 10/. a pair for them, and since then Mr. Hanson has received, it is said, in addition to that sum, 3/. a-head for feeding them. They are now — those tluit are alive — tit for the instruction of students of comparative anatomy. AVhy on earth was Captain Powell, an efticient harbour-master, taken away just as he was beginning to get the harbour into order, aided as he was by the officers of the Vesuvius ? Feb. 19. The drying winds continue, and the plateau to the south of Sebastopol can be traversed easily on horse or foot, even at the bottom of the ravines. With this tine weather the good spirits and energies of our men have returned, but I regret to say the warm wind which blew the other daj* brought with it, or developed, the seeds of typhus fever, which broke out in several regiments lately, and soon marked some of the strongest men as its victims. At the moment I write there is an appearance of a change in the weather ; the thermometer is at forty-six degrees, and the wind is strong from the westward, with heavy masses of clouds coming down along with it. The trenches, however, are drj' ; tiie men get aU they want ; provisions are abundant ; hay has arrived, and fresh vegetables have been sent up to the front to cheek the scurvy. The progress of the railroad is extraordinary. It is alreadj- com- pleted out to the entrance of the village of Kadikoi, to-morrow it 350 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. will have passed through it on its way out to the plateau, and on "Wednesday it will be, in all probability, used for the transport of a cargo of shot and shell out so far from Ealaklava in the intervals of the workmen's labour. The aspect of the town is greatly altered for the better. The M'retchcd hovels in which the Turkish soldiery propagated pestilence and died, have been cleaned out or levelled to the earth, the cesspools and collections of utter abomination in the streets have been tilled up, and quicklime has been laid down in the streets and lanes, and around the houses. The sutlers have been driven forth to a wooden world of their own outside the town, and the number of visitors to the town diminished. Indeed, the railway, which sweeps right through the main street, very effec- tually clears away the crowds of stragglers who used to infest the place. It is inexpressibly strange to hear the well-known rumbling sound of the carriages and wagons as they pass to and fro with their freights of navvies, sleepers, and rails ; it recals home more strongly than anything we have yet heard in the Crimea. The Cossacks are riding about the hills in front ; our vedettes are watching them ; vast masses of men in long lines carrying planks of wood or fascines intersect the plain, and seem at a distance like armies of ants migrating. The thunder of cannon from the front booms through the air; the martial music of the French regiments interrupted by the creaking of cartwheels, the cries of camels, the yells of drivers in nearly every language of the east or west, — worse than all, by the terrible instruments of the Turkish bands, — speak of war, which no Englishman has ever known at home in this day. Even the railway cannot bring thoughts of peace. It is now a very efleotive engine of war. Measures will be taken to protect it from the enemy, but as yet they evince no inclination to annoy the Avorks or workmen, even if they had the power to do so. As to the siege of Sebastopol, all I am at liberty to say is that oxxv works and those of the French make great progress this dry wea- ther, and that no event of consequence has occurred since I last wrote. CHAPTER LVIII. Preparations for a reconnaissance — The French troops assembled — Sudden change of weather — 'I'he intended operations postponed — Sir Colin Ciinip- bell and Brigadier Villenois attempt the rccminaissancc — Defeated by the weather — The writer loses his way in a snow-storm — I'erilous situation. Fib. 20. In my last despatch, which left at seven this morning, some eulo- giums were passed upon the weather, almost up to tlie time of its departure from the Crimea. I then felt iiiciineu to think the winter was gone. The birds, however, were still gregarious. They did not seem to know \'alentine's-day had come and passed. The old Tartars shook their round bullet heads, when one asked them if the frost and snow liad (le])arted lor the; year ^N'ild fowl still ilew in noisy hie over the Chersonese, and so, between the actual heat of tlie weather and the prognostics and experience of those who PREPARATIOXS FOR A RECOXNAISSAXCE. 3.^1 knew better, it was a matter of doubt whether to put up one's warm clothing under the bed or still keep it ready for use over it, as the usiial stowage of such articles is confined to tliose localities. On Monday night extensive preparations were made very secretly for a reconnaissance, to be conducted by Sir Colin C'ampb'jll on our side and by Generals Bosquet and Yillenois on the part of the French. The weather, the most important condition of action in a winter campaign, had been unfavourable, but the few fine days from the loth to the 19th had made the country in tolerable order for the movements of artillery and cavalry. The French were to have furnished 4000 men ; Sir Colin Campbell's force was to have consisted of about 1800 men. Soon after dark the French on the left of the head-quarters camp began to get in readiness, and the hum of men, and the peculiar dull sound of armed masses on the march, betrayed the movement of our allies. A reconnaissance was to take place. Sir Colin had made all his preparations too, and everybody was to be up and under arms long ere daylight. By degrees the rumour spread from one confidant to the other, and by midnight a good number of outriders and amateurs were aware of what was going on, and strict orders were issued for early calls and saddling of horses " to-morrow morning at dawn." JN'othing excites such interest as a reconnaissance. Our army here is de- prived of the peculiar attractions of most wars in Europe. There is none of the romance of the Peninsular campaigns about it. We are all shut tip in one dirty little angle of land, with Cossacks barring the approaches to the heavenly valley around us. There are no pleasant marches, no halts in town or village, no strange scenes or change of position ; nothing but the drudgery of the trenches and of fatigue parties, and the everlasting houses and works of Sebastopol, and the same bleak savage landscape around us. The hardest-worked officer is glad, therefore, to get away on a reconnaissance, which gives him an excitement, and varies the monotony of his life ; it is a sort of holiday for him — a hunt at Epping, if there be such a thing, to his cockney existence. Before midnight the French had assembled in columns of companies, to the number of 2000, close to head-quarters. About the same time that they all assembled the wind changed, and began to blow with some violence, and the stars were overcast by clouds. About one o'clock in the morning the rain began to fall heavily, and continued to descend in irregular torrents for an hour. Then the wind chopped round to the north and become intensely cold, and the rain at once crystallized and fell in the form of hail, and at last the snow drifted down all across the camp, while the gale rose higher and higher, and increased in severity every moment. It was evident at last that no good could come of exposing the men any longer, and that the reconnaissance would be a failure ; it certainly would not enable us to form any accurate conception of the numbers or position of the enemy, inasmuch as it was impossible for a man to see a yard before him. Major Foley was therefore despatched by General Camobert from the French head-quarters, to inform Sir Colin Campbell that the French would not move, and the regiments under arms were ordered back to their tents, which they found with difficulty. When Major Foley, who had lost his way, arrived after oO'J PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. many devious wanderings at head-quarters, one of Lord Ea^-lan's aids-dc-eamp was at once despatched to acquaint Sir Colin Camp- bell that the French were not coming', and to desire him to postpone any movement of the troops under his command. This officer had to set out about three o'clock in the morning for the heights over Dalaklava. On passing througli the French camp over the valley, he called on Brigadier-General Yillenois to inform him of the change which the weather had effected in the plans Avhich had been agreed Tipon, but the General said he thought it would be better to move down his men to support Sir Colin, in case the latter should have advanced before the counter-orders reached him. When our aid- de-camp, after a struggle with the darkness, reached Sir Colin's quarters, about four o'clock, the General was gone. Another diffi- cult ride at last enabled him to overtake the General on the march with a body of men towards Tchorgoun. It may be imagined the news was not very pleasing to one wlio was all on fire, cold as he was, for a brush with the enemy, but the news of Brigadier Ville- nois' ]n'omise put him into excellent spirits, and the word " For- ward" was given to his little force. They were accompanied by the Zouaves on the heights. These troops were under arms from a very early hour, and by four o'clock they were moved down towards the plain, and proceeded towards Kamara and Tchorgoun through the snow-storm, which increased in violence and severity as the morning dawned, and protracted the darkness of night. The KiHes preceded the advance, with the Highland Light Infantry, in skirmishing order. Strict orders were given that there was to be no firing in case the troops came upon the enemy, and it was hoped that we might surprise them ; but the density of the falling snow pre- vented our men from seeing more than a few yards before them, and after daylight it was impossible to make out an object six feet in advance. However, the skirmishers managed to get hold of three Russian sentries, belonging probably to the picquet at Kamara, and their comrades gave the alarm, for as our troops advanced, the Cossacks and infantry ATdettes fell back, firing their carbines and muskets into the darkness. The drums of the enemy were heard beating, and they had time to turn out while we were making our way towards them. Through rifts in the veil of snow their columns could be observed slowly moving back towards the heights over the Tchernaya, and it was quite impossible to form a notion of their strength or position, but it is thought they mustered about .5000 men. By their movements it seemed as if they had strong reserves in their rear. By tliis time our men had begun to sutfer greatly I'rom the cold, to wliich they had been exposed for several hours. Their fingers were so cold they could not " fix bayonets" when the word was given, and could scarcely keep their rifies in their hands. The cavalry horses had ahnost refused to face the snow — frostbites began to occur, and nu^n's cars, noses, and lingers gave symptoms of being attacked. The Highlanders, who had been ordered to take off their comfortable fur ca])s, and to put on their becoming but less suitable Scotch bonnets, suftered esjjccially, and some of them were severely frostbitten in the ears— indeed, tliere was not a regiment out in which cases of "gelatio," chieliy of the eai's and fingers, did not occur. Scarcely had the enemy appeared iu sight AX UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE. 353 before the snow fell more heavily than ever, and hid them from onr ^■ieyv. The French were not visible— one company could not see its neighbour — each regiment was hidden from the other. The men were becoming momentarily less able to advance. There were no reserves to fall back on in case of a check. The space between Tchorgoun and our lines was considerable, and the strength of the enemy was unknown. Under these circumstances it would have been exceedingly unwise to proceed with the reconnaissance. The attempt had been defeated by the weather ; it was a coup manque, and the best thing to be done was to retire as soon as possible. Sir Colin very unwillingly gave the order to return, and the men an'ived at their quarters about eleven o'clock a.m., very much fatigued and exhausted by the cold, ^\'ith no other result than the capture of three prisoners and the exchange of some random volleys, in which no mischief to us was occasioned by the Russians, nor iu all probability to them by us. The enemy were, however, put on the alert, and must have spent a very unpleasant day and night afterwards. Had the movement succeeded, the greater part of their force might have fallen into our hands. Such a day as followed that morning I have never witnessed. Being anxious to get a letter oif by the post ere it started from Kamiesch, and not being aware that the reconnaissance had been countermanded, I started early in the morning for the post-ofdce marquee through a blinding storm of snow. The wind howled fiercely over the plain ; it was so laden with snow that it was quite palpable, and had a strange solid feel about it as it drifted in endless wreaths of iine small flakes, which penetrated the interstices of the clothing, and blinded horse and man. For some time I managed to get on very well, for the track was beaten and familiar. I joined a convoy of artillerymen, but at last the drifts became so thick that it was utterly impossible to see to the right or left for twice a horse's length. As I fancied the artillerymen were going too much to the right, I bore away a little, and soon after met a solitary pedestrian, who wanted to know the way to Balaklava. I sincerely trust he got there by my directions. As he was coming fi'om Lord liaglan's he contirmed me in the justice of my views concerning the route, and I rode off to Avarn my friends the artillerymen of their mistake. They were not to be found. I had only left them three or four minutes, and yet they had passed away as completely as if the earth had swallowed them up. So I turned on my way, as I thought, and, riding right into the wind's eye, made, at the best pace I could force the horse to put forth, for my destination. It was not above an hoiu-'s ride on a bad day, and yet at the end of two hom-s I had not only not arrived, but I could not make out one of the landmarks which denoted an approach to it. Tents, and hill-sides, and jutting rocks, all had disappeared, and nothing was visible, above, around, below, but one white sheet dra^mi, as it were, close around me. This was decidedly unpleasant, but there was no help for it but to ride on and trust to Providence. The sea or the lines would soon bring one up. Still the horse went on snorting out the snow from his nostrils, and tossing his head to clear the drift from his eyes and ears ; and j-et no tent, no man — not a soul to be seen iu this A A 354: PROGRESS OP THE SIEGE. peninsula swarming with myriads of soldiery. Three hours passed ! — Where on earth can I be ? Is this enchantment ? Has the army here, the lines and trenches, and Sebastopol itself, gone clean off the face of the earth ? Is this a horrible dream ? The horse stops at last, and refuses to go on against the storm. Every instant the snow falls thicker and thicker. A dark form rushes by with a quick snarling bark — it is a wolf or a wild dog, and the horse rushes on affrighted. The cold pierces one's bones as he faces the fale, and now and then he plunges above the knees into snow- rifts, which are rapidly forming at every hillock and furrow in the ground ; a good deep fallow — a well or pit — might put a speedy termination to one's fears and anxiety at a moment's notice. Minutes become hours, and my eyes were bleared and sore striving to catch a glimpse of tent or man, and to avoid the new dangers in our path. Suddenly I plunged in amongst a quantity of brush- wood — sure and certain sight that I had gone far astray indeed, and that I was at some place removed from the camp and the wood-cutters. The notion flashed across me thatt he wind might have changed, and that in riding against it I might have shaped my course for the Tchernaya and the Ilussian lines. The idea of becoming the property of a Cossack picquet was by no means a pleasant ingredient in one's thoughts at such a moment. Still ■what was to be done ? My hands and feet were becoming insen- sible from the cold, and my face and eyes were exceedingly painful. There was no help for it but to push on, and not to let night come on. That would indeed be a serious evil. At tliis moment there was a break in the snowdrift for one moment, and I saw to my astonishment a church dome and spire on my right, which vanished again in a moment. My impression was, that I must either be close to Kamara or to Sebastopol, and that the church was in either of those widely separated localities. Either vfaj the only thing to do was to bear away to the left to regain our lines, though I could not help wondering where on earth the French works were, if it was indeed Sebastopol. I had not ridden very far when, through the ravings of the wind, a hoarse roar rose up before me, and I could just make out a great black waU as it w^ere rising up through the snow-drift. I was on the very edge of the tremendous pre- cipices which overhang the sea near Cape Fiolentc ! The position was clear at once. I was close to the Monastery of St. George. Dismounting, and carefully leading my horse, I felt my way through the storm, and at last arrived at the monastery. The only Zouave in siglit was shooting larks out of a sentry-box, but he at once took my horse to tlie stable, and showed me the way to the guardhouse, where his comrades were enjoying the comforts of a blazing fire, each waiting for his turn to be shaved by the regi- mental barber. Having restored circulation to my blood, and got the ice out of my hair, I set out once more, and a smart Zouave undertook to show me tlic Avay to ht'ad-quarters ; but he .soon got tired of liis undertaking, and deserted me on the edge of a ravine, with some very mysterious instructions as to going on always " tuiii droit " which, seeing that one could not see, would have been very difficult to follow. ]5y the greatest good fortune I ma- naged to strike upon the French tents of the wagon train, and RUSSIAN MODE OF CONDUCTING A SORTIE. 355 halting at every outburst of the tempest, and piishing on when the storm cleared away a little, I continued to work my way from camp to camp, and at last arrived at head-quarters, covered with ice, and very nearly " done up," somewhat before four o'clofk in the afternoon. It was some consolation for me to find that uliicers had lost themselves in the very vineyard, close to the house, that day, and that aids-de-camp and orderlies had beconie completely bewildered in their passage from one English divisional camp to another. CHAPTER LIX. Rigour of the weather — Russian mode of conducting a sortie — A Frenchman's spirits rise with the thermometer — Inspection of Sebastopol — Appearance of the town and defences — The French trendies — Mortar practice — Enormous preparations on the north side of the harbour. Feb. 21. The northerly wind continued to blow, and in the Crimea frost and snow are ever borne on its wings till April. The thermometer marked 20° early in the morning, but as the sun shone out soon after eight o'clock and the wind was not high, the day was en- durable, and even enjoyable to any one who could move about and was well clad. To the men in the trenches, who were necessarily obliged to keep quiet, and whose supply of fuel was scanty, the cold must have been very trying ; but the warm clothing and long boots enabled them to bear the severity of the weather, which would have been fatal to many of them had they been in the same state as those poor feUows on whom winter fell with all its rigour- while they had got but the rag of a regimental coat and the regimental blanket. The Ivussians during the night made a small demonstration against us, thinking that the sentries and advanced posts might be caught sleeping or away fi-om their posts. Their usual mode of conducting a sortie on the scale which they have hitherto preferred is to send on some thirty men in advance of a party of .500 or 800, in loose skirmishino' order. These men advance stealthily, en tirailleur, up to the line of our sentries and picquets, and feel their way cautiously, in order to ascertain if there is a weak and un- defended point for the advance of the main body. If the firing is slack, the latter immediately push on, rush into the trenches, bayonet as many as resist, and, di-agging off all the men they can get as prisoners, return to the town as rapidly as possible. In these affairs the French suffer most. Any man, however weak, can rush across a landing into the nearest room, and do damage in it before he is kicked out. The French are so close to the Russians they may be said to live next door to them. The latter can form in a small body, under cover of their works, at any hour in the night, and dash into the works ere our allies can get together to drive them back again. Last night some thirty-five men advanced upon the sentries stationed in front of Major Chapman's batteries (the left attack) , but they were instantly perceived and challenged. They replied "Ruski!" and were at once fii'ed upon. The Riiie- 356 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. nipn in tlic pits Mliicli have been made in front of these lines gave them a spattering volley, and the Tiraillenrs at once retreated, and, with the body in reserve, returned to their lines. It is strange they should have given such a reply to the sentries' challenge, but the men all declare the liussians used the 'word I have mentioned, wliich would seem to be the Russians' notion of their own name in the English tongue. As the sun came out the aspect of the camps soon changed, and our French neigliboiirs tilled the air with their many-oathed dia- logues and with snatches of song. A cold rrenchman is rather a morose and miserable being, but his spirits always rise with sun- shine, like the mcrcurj- of a thermometer. Thej' are now in excel- lent humour at the chance of a reconnaissance, which will take place certainly as soon as the Aveather is favourable. In company with two officers from the head-quarters camp, I had a long inspection of Sebastopol to-day from the ground beliind the French position, and I must say the result was by no means gratifying. AVe went up to the French picquct- house first {la Maison d'JEan or JMaison Blanche of the plans), and had a view of the left of the town, looking down towards the end of the ravine which runs down to the Dockyard- creek, the buildings of the Admiralty, the north side of the harbour, and the plateaux towards the Belbek and behind Inkermann. As the day was clear one could see very well through a good glass, in spite of the dazzling effect of the snow and the bitter wind, which chilled the hands so as to render it impossible to retain the glass very long in one position. The little bridge of boats from the Admiralty buildings across to the French side of the town was covered with men, who were busily engaged passing across supplies, and rolling barrels and cases to the other side of the creek, showing that there is a centre of supply or some kind of depot in the Government stores behind the liedan, and opposite to the hre of our batteries. Several large lighters, under sail and full of men, were standing over from side to side of the harbour, and dockyard galleys, manned, with large crews of rowers all dressed in white jackets, were en- gaged in tugging Hats laden with stores to the south-western side oftlietown. A tug steamer was also very active, and spluttered about in all directions, furrowing the surface of the water, which was scarcely "crisped" by the breeze, so completely is the harbour landlocked. The men-of-war, with their large white ensigns barred by a blue »St. Andrew's cross Hying from the peak, lay iu a line at the north side, between Forts yievermiia and Constantino, the top- gallant j-ards and masts of two out of four being down ; a two- tlecker with ban' to])iuasts lay on the south side, with her l)roadside towards the \\\h ('ivile; and tlu^ white masts of three vessels peered above the buildings of the town furtlier away on the right towards Inkermann. Tlie inner ])art of the town itself seemed perlectly untouclicd, the white houses shone britrhtly and freshly in the sun, and the l)ells of aGothie chapel were ringing out lustily in the Irosty air. Its tall houses running uj) the hill sides, its solid h)ok of masonry, give Scljasloiiol a resenil)laiice to parts of Jiath, or at least put one in mind of that city as it is seen from the declivity which overluuigs the river. There was, however, a re- APPEARANCE OP SEBASTOPOL, 357 markable change in the look of the city since I saw it last — there were no idlers and no women visible in the streets, and, indeed, there was scarcely a person to be seen who looked like a civilian. This may in some measure lead us to believe the report that the Governor has ordered all the women across to the north side, and out of the place. There were, however, abundance of soldiers, and to spare, in the streets. They could be seen in all directions, now sauntering in pairs down desolate-looking streets, now chatting at the corners or running across the open space from one battery to another ; again in large parties on fatigue duty, or relieving guards, or drawn up in well-known grey masses in the barrack- squares. Among those who were working on the open space, car- rying stores, I thought I could make out two French soldiers. At all events, the men wore long blue coats and rod trousers, and, as we work our prisoners and make them useful at Ealaklava, where I have seen them aiding in making the railway, I suppose the Muscovite commanders adopt the same plan. Outside the city, at the verge of the good houses, the ej^e rests on great walls of earth piled up some ten or twelve ieet, and eighteen or twenty feet thick, indented at regular intervals with embrasures, in which you can just detect the black dots which are throats of cannon. These works are of tremendous strength. For the most part there is a very deep and broad ditch in front of them, and their tii'e is so far from being direct that, wherever the ground allows of it, there are angles and flechcs which admit of flanking tires along the front, and of cross tires on centre points of each line of attack or approach. In front of most of the works on both the French and English sides of the town, a suburb of broken-down whitewashed cottages, the roofs gone, the doors off, and the windows out, has been left stand- ing in detached masses at a certain distance from the batteries, but gaps have been made in them so that they may not obscure the tire of the batteries. The image of misery presented by these suburbs is very striking — in some instances the havoc has been committed by our shot, and the houses all round to the rear of the Flagstaff Battery, opposite the French, have been blown into rub- bish and mounds of beams and mortar. The advanced works which the llussians left on the advance of our allies still remain, and it is hard to say whether there are any guns in them or not, but they are commanded so completely by the works in their rear that it would be impossible to hold them, and at present they would afford a good cover to the Russians, while the latter could Are through the embra,sures of the old works with far greater ease than the enemy could get at them. The Russians managed their withdrawal very well. They threw up their new earthworks behind the cover of the suburb ; when they were finished, they withdrew their men from the outer line, blew do-mi and destroyed the cover of the houses, and opened tire from their second line of batteries. Their supply of gabions seems inexhaustible — indeed, they have got all the brushwood of the hills of the South Crimea at their disposal. In front of the huge mounds throAvn u]) by the Russians, fore- shortened by the distance, so as to appear part of them, are the French trenches — ^mounds of earth lined with gabions, which look like fine matting. These lines run parallel to those of the enemj^ 358 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. The nearest parallel is not " armed" with cannon, but is lined with ritlenien. Zigzags and covered ways — that is, trenches cut at angles from one parallel to the other — lead down from trench to trench. The troops inside walk about securely, if not comfortably. The cover- ing parties, with their arms piled, sit round their little fires, and smoke and enjoy their coiiee, while the working parties, spade in hand, continue the never-ending labours of the siege — tilling gabions here, sloping and thickening the parapets there, repairing embrasures, and clearing out the fosses. Where we should have a thin sergeant's guard at this work, the French can aftbrd a strong company. There was no general tiring to-day, but a large mortar inside the Russian lines towards the sea projected a huge bomb into the air every half minute or so across a hill in front of it, to annoy a working party who were engaged in throwing up a new approach, towards the (Quarantine Fort. A column of white smoke rushing up into the air expands into concentric rings — then follows the heavy dull report, like the beat of some giant drum, and then comes the shrill scream of the shell as it describes its fatal curve, and descends with prodigious velocity, increasing rapidly every instant till it explodes, with the peculiar noise of " a blast," just as it reaches the ground. At least it ought to do so ; but to-day I watched the shells one alter another, and only two out of three burst pro- perly, though the range and flight were beautifully accurate. The Russian fusees are bad, but their artillerymen are not to be excelled Avhen their practice is undisturbed. It is rather an unpleasant reflection, whenever one is discussing the range of a missile, and is perhaps in the act of exclaiming, "There's a splendid shot," that it may have carried misery and sorrow into some happy household. The smoke clears away — the men get up — they gather round one who moves not, or Avho is racked with mortal agony ; they bear him away, a mere black speck, and a few shovelsfuU of mud mark for a little time the rest- ing-place of the poor soldier, whose wife, or mother, or children, or sisters, are left destitute of all solace, save memory and the sympathy of their country. One such little speck I watched to-day, and saw (luietly deposited on the ground inside the trench. Who will let the inmates of that desolate cottage in I'icardy, or Gascony, or Anjou, know of their bereavement? However, there goes another shell, and it does nothing but knock up a cloud of snow and dust. There is no use in looking more towards the left ; the black, cold sea alone is there, with its bleak horizon of cloud, a mass of masts in Kamiesch, and a cou])le of vigilant steamers, like two great eyes, staring into the harbour of Sebastopol, ke(>])ing watch and ward over the fleet inside. We descended the hill slope^ towards Upton's house, now occupied l)y a strong picquet of the French, under the command of a cou])le of oflieers. Wv slioidd liave been able to put a sergeant's guard tliere at the outsiile. A wagon-train was waiting there with its cargo of ammunition ; liere the ground is strewed with incredible (luantities of shot iired at tlu; commence- ment of the siege. As we advance to the first French trench near the place where their batteries were " snutt'ed out" on the 17th of October, the plain is covered with livnidreds of tons of these iron missiles, and one can trace the direction of the tire of cacli gun by VAST WORKS OF THE KUSSIANS. 359 observing the regular lines in which they are lying. The Russians never lire now, even on considerable parties, and let idlers reap as much grape-seed as they like, unless they are actually in the nearest approaches. So we had another halt, and a long look into and over the French trenches, from a little mound in the rear. From this position one can see the heights over Inkermann, the plateau towards the Eelbec, the north side, the Eank of the military town opposite the English, our own left attack, and the rear of the redoubtable Tower of Malakoff. The lirst thing that struck one was the enormous preparations on the north side, extend- ing from the sea behind Fort Constantine far away to the right behind Inkermann towards the Belbek. The trenches, batteries, earthworks, and redoubts all about the citadel (the North Fort) are on an astonishing scale of magnitude, and indicate an intention on the part of the Ilussians to fall back on the north side when we occupy the south side of the place. Major- General .Jones is said to have declared the posi- tion was not so strong as he expected to find it from the accounts he had heard, but it is only to the eye of a practised engineer that any signs of weakness present themselves, for the earth is furrowed as far almost as the eye can reach by enormous banks, pierced with embrasures. The heights over the sea bristle with low batteries, with the guns couchant and just peering over the face of the clifts. Vast as these works are, the Russians are busy at strengthening them. Not less than 3000 men could have been employed to-day on the groiuid about the citadel. One could see the staff-oflicers riding about and directing the laboiu-s of the men, or forming into groups, and warming themselves round the camp fires. About three o'clock three strong bodies of cavalry came down towards the fort, as if they had been in the direction of the ALma or Katcha. They halted for a time, and then resumed their march to the camp over Inkermann. In this direction also the enemy were busily working, and theii" cantonments were easily perceptible, Mith the men moving about in them. At the rear of the Round Tower, however, the greatest energy was displayed, and a strong party of men were at work on new batteries between it and the ruined suburb on the commanding hill on which Malakoft" stands. Our own men in the left attack seemed snug enough, and well covered by their splendid works ; in front of them, on the slopes, were men, French and English, scattered all over the hill side, grubbing for roots for fuel ; and further on, in front, little puffs of smoke marked the pits of the Rifiemen on both sides, from which the ceaseless crack of the Minie and Liege smote the ear ; but the great guns were all silent, and scarcely one was trred on the right during the day ; even Inkermann and its spiteful batteries being voiceless for a wonder. As one of the oflicers now began to rub his nose and ears with snow, and to swear they were frostbitten, and as we all felt very cold, we discontinued oiu" reconnaissance, and returned to the camp. The wind blew keenly, and at night the thermometer was at 16°. Therewere few cases of illness in the trenches ; but sickness has increased within the last twenty-four hours. Typhus fever has, thank God ! nearly disappeared. I regret to add that another convoy of 220 wagons was received 3G0 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. by the enemy to-day, without loss to them, or any attempt on our part to hinder them getting such extensive supplies. Feb. 22. Thermometer twonty-two degrees ; dull and cloudy. Nothing to report. Lord Raglan inspected the camps, Fd). 23. The "Australian" arrived to-day with Lord George Paget on board. The railway is now one hundred yards beyond Kadikoi. One stationary engine has been run up to the high ground near the plateau of the camp. Intet- alia, we are to have an hotel at Bala- klava. It is to be conducted by " Mrs. Seacole, late of Jamaica." I suppose the lady calculates on a liberal share of patronage when excursion visitors come out to see the siege in the summer. The French are working actively on our right, and in advance of it, and the enemy do not disturb them. Day dull, but line, no wind. Thermometer thirty-four degrees during the day ; it now marks twenty-three degrees. CHAPTER LX. Furious cannonade — Strong sortie on the Frencli lines — Success of our allies — Impatience of the French for the assault — The Russians fortify their new position — An armistice granted for one hour — 'Wonderment of the Cossacks at the sight of a line of railway trucks — The Commander-in-Chiefs secre- tary work — Merchant adventurers at Balaklava. Before Sebastopol, Feb. 24. I WAS woke up shortly after two o'clock this morning by the com- mencement of one of the most furious cannonades we have heard since the siege began. The whole line of the Russian batteries from our left opened with inconceivable force and noise, and the Inker- mann batteries began playing on our right ; but the Frencli were more exposed to the weight of this most terrible lire, which shook the very earth, and lighted up the skies with incessant lightning flashes for an hour and a half. Under cover of it a very strong sortie has been made, and for half an hour the musketry rolled in- cessantly witli volume and vigour enough for a general action. The instant the iire opened I got out of my blankets and went towards tlie front, but 1 could see nothing but a blaze of hre before the trenches : our batteries were silent. _ As no_ person — not an officer even, unless he be actually on duty — is permitted to go down to the works or beyond the inlying sentries and pic(iuets, i can at tliis hour of the morning (four a.m.) tell you no more than that the liringhas now ceased, and 1 liave returned with the impression that a very serious ait'air lias taken place. The cannonade lasted from a quarter-past two a.m. to half-past three a.m. Feb. 25. The wcatlier has again become mild, and, altliough the clouds are heavy, the air is genial to-day. The general impression which existed among the English re- IMPATIENCE FOR THE ASSAULT. 361 spectine: the imfavourable result of the attack of the French on the new llussian trench near Mahikolt" has been modihed by the Eublication of an order of the day by General Canrobert, in which e describes the operations of the morning of the 24th as a great success. It is gratifying- to tind that our allies have not considered their inability to retain the ground occupied by the Russians as a misfortune. Lord Ilaglan, accompanied by Sir George Brown, visited Bala- klava yesterday, and afterwards rode up the hills and examined the whole of the position. His lordship went up to the redoubt at the very extremity of the lines right over the sea. When the men who are to aid the present force come up, the position will be of immense strength. We have now the Guards in reserve, and the 14th and 71st Regiments close at hand, within a few minutes' march of any point assailed by the enemy. The Zouaves next the Higlilanders have been reinforced. The Turks are healthier than they were, and are now lit to take a vigorous part in the defence, should an attack be made upon it. As the hill sides in front of the camp are covered -ft-ith brushwood, the enemy can carry on exten- sive sorties without being seen, unless -a reconnaissance takes place. The French have cleared a good deal of cover away for gabions and fascines, but thej- have not penetrated far enough across the hills to produce any essential result. Feb. 26. The Zouaves were under arms and in readiness to attack the Russian work in front of us last night, but for some reason or other they did not carry out their project. Verj- heavy firing took place all night. The Russian batteries were scarcely ever silent for a minute, and the tiring of small arms was incessant all along the front, but more especially on the French, on our right and left. A strong sortie took place on the left, but was quickly repulsed without loss. The Russian ridemen showed in front with uncom- mon boldness, and in great numbers, and some sharp struggles occurred between them and the allied riflemen for superiority, but, on the whole, the advantage rested with our men, notwithstanding that the Russians flred under cover of their enormous batteries. The French soldiers, it is said, grow impatient, and demand to be led to the assault. They certainly might begin the work by driving the Russians out of their new trench. The Zouaves are chiefly anxious for tlie pillage, and they are diflicult gentry to deal with. They are exceedingly irritated against the marine infantry, whom they threaten in detail with exceedingly unpleasant " quarters of an hour" at some time to come for their alleged retreat on the morning of the 24th. ^^Ces sacres mafclots" come in for hard language, for the Zouaves have got it into their heads not only that the marines bolted, but that they fired into those before them, who were the Zouaves aforesaid. In their excessive anger and energy they are as unjust to their comrades, perhaps, as they are complimentary to ourselves, and I have heard more than two of them exclaim, " Ah, if we had had a few hundred of 3-our English we should have done the trick; but these marines — bah !" General Monet has quite lost one hand, and the other is much mutilated, but he is not so dangerously wounded as was imagined. The 362 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. Zouaves are said to have lost nine officers killed and missing, and eight officers wounded. Feb. 26. Since the mail left on the morning of the 24th there has been little doing to advance the objects of the siege, nor does it seem that any great unanimity of counsel exists between the allied Commanders with respect to the mode in which Sebastopol is to be General Canrobert has had several interviews with Lord Raglan lately. To-day Sir Edmund Lyons came over from Kamiesch to head-quarters, and had a long interview with the Field-Marshal. The differences of opinion which existed, or were said to have existed, between Sir John Burgoyne and General Bizot, no longer continue, but it is believed out here that Sir John was in the right, and that General Niel and Major- General Jones supported his views. It may be added, however, that both these generals are thought to have condemned the general plan of attack, which they consider very faulty, especially on our right. Sir John Burgoyne is not, however, responsible, his friends say, for those works, as he has been placed in a very anomalous position, and has had no real absolute control over the works. He was merely an amicus curi(B in the consultations of the engineers. The Russians appear to be throwing up a large square redoubt on the place which they have selected with so much resolution and sagacity. It is only due to them to say that they have displayed no ordinary boldness in taking this ground, as well as courage in defending it when occupied. In order to explain their position, it must be recollected that the French have the control of the neck of the creek of Sebastopol at Inkermann. The shore at the south- east side of this creek is very high, and almost precipitous ; it is quite too steep for men either to ascend or descend in masses. Between the hill on which the Round Tower is situate, and the Mamelon recently occupied by the Russians, there is a tremendous ravine running down to the sea, the wall-like sides of which, as they reach the high cliii's on either side, would efl'ectually bar any attempt to cross it under the tire of an enemy. It is evident, therefore, that the Russians made up their minds cither to hold this ground or to run the chance of perishing in the sea in their rear. They could scarcely hope either to break through the French at Inkermann, or to escape across the ravine under fire. I saw them yesterday working as if for the bare life, and throwing up immense banks of earth, while men from the clLS's brought up gabions and fascines. Feb. 28. The oppressive warmth which characterized the weather j^esterday has disappeared. This morning was dark and somewhat cold, and each hour leaves less light in the sky, ami increases its wintry feel and aspect. Two large guns (8-inch) were sent up the heights over Balaklava, and the French toolc up two more of our heavy pieces to put in their new batteries over Iiikcrinann to-day. It is now rumoured that our iirc Avill really he opened anaiust the place very soon ; indeed, it will begin, according to the most eager, before this letter can roach England. AN. ARMISTICE FOR ONE HOUR. 563 An armistice took place for an hour yesterday. In the orders for the day, Lord lluj^'lan notilied that at the request of General Osten-Sacken, an armistice was granted from twelve till one o'clock, to enable the Kussians to bury their dead. There was not much firing in the morning previously. At twelve o'clock precisely, white flags were run up on the battery flagstafts on both sides, and immediately afterwards, a body of Kussians issued from their new work near ilalakofl', which was the object of the French attack of the 24th, and proceeded to search for their dead. The French were sent down from Inkermann on a similar errand. A few Kussian ofiicers advanced about half-way up towards our lines, where they were met by some of the officers of the allies, and exjtreme courtesy, the interchange of profound salutations, and enormous bowing, marked the interview. The officers sauntered up and down, and shakoes were raised and caps dofl:ed politely as each came near an enemy. The exact object of the armistice it is hard to say, for neither French nor Russians seemed to tind any bodies unbm-ied. Shortly before one o'clock, the llussians retired inside theii- earthwork. At one o'clock the white flags were all hauled down in one instant, and the last fluttering bit of white bunting had scarcely disappeared over the parapet, when the flash and roar of a gun from Malakoft' announced that the war had begun once more. The French almost simultaneously flred a gun from their batteries also ; in a minute afterwards, the popping of rifles commenced as usual on both sides. The Cossacks about Balaldava are particularly busy to-daj-, and, having nothing better to do, I spent an hour watching them through my glass from the artillery camp at Kadikoi. Thej^ had a picquet of ten horsemen at Kamara, from which the vedettes on the top of C'anrobert's HiU were furnished, and they had a similar body of eight horsemen on the slope at the back of 2\o. 2 Redoubt. There were a few regular Hussars in a handsome dark blue or green uniform, with white belts, on duty as sentries. The horses seemed to follow the Cossacks about like dogs. The men all wore long loose grey coats and round fui' caps. They cannot be very badly oft' for provisions, inasmuch as the fields behind them towards the slope of the hill to Mackenzie' farm were tolerably well filled with cattle. From the top of Canrobert's Hill their vedette can see everything that goes on in the plains, from the entrance to Ealaklava to the ridges on which the French right rests. Not a horse, cart, or man, can go in or out of the town which this sentinel could not see if he has good eyesight, for he is quite visible to any person who gazes on the top of Cani'obert's Hill. The works of the railway must cause this Cossack very serious discomposure. What on earth can he or dees he think of them ? Gradually he sees villages of white huts rise up on the hiU-sides and in the recesses of the valleys, and from the Cavalry Camp to the heights of Balaklava, he can now behold line after line of snug angular wooden buildings, each with its chimney at work, and he can discern the tumult and bustle of Yanity Fair. This may be all very puzzling, but it can be nothing to the excitement of looking at a long line of black trucks rushing round and under the hill at Eadikoi, and running down the incline to the town at the rate of twenty miles an hour. A number of the 3G4 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. Cossacks did gallop up to the top of the hill to look at a pheno- menon of that kind, and they went capering about, and shaking their lances, in immense "wonderment and excitation of spirits when it had disappeared. In addition to the old lines thrown up by Liprandi close to the Woronzoft-road, the llussians have now erected, to the rear and north of it, a very large hexagonal work, capable of containing a large number of men, and of being converted into a kind of in- trenched camp. The lines of these works were very plain to-day, as they were marked out by the snow, which lay in the trench after that which fell on the ground outside and inside had melted. There were, however, no infantry in sight, nor did any movement of troops take place over the valley of the Tchernaya. Last night, in front, the Russians actually began to construct an advance from their new intrenchment at Malakoit'. This is "besieging" with a vengeance ! The French seem to have given up all notion of taking this work from the enemy, although 20,000 men were under arms the other night to do it. Emboldened by this success, the Russians are apparently preparing to throw un another work on the right of the new trenches, as if they had made up their minds to besiege the French at Inkermann, and attack their right attack. Lord Raglan goes out to one or other of the divisions every day he can spare from his desk. Perhaps there is no clerk in England who has so much writing to get through, ijjsd manu, as the Field- Marshal in command of the forces. I believe his Lordship is fre- quently up till two or three o'clock in the morning, looking over papers, signing documents, preparing orders and despatches, and exliausting his energies in secretary's work. Such a life could with most men afford little opportunity or energy for action. The system that necessitates such labours on the part of a Commander- in-Chief must be faidty; it certainly is uusuited for the field or for times of war, and is cumbrous and antiquated. Creneral Estcourt has also to get through an enormous quantity of writing, and General Airey is mucli occupied in the same way. The require- ments of home authorities oblige the heads of departments liere to i^erform a great deal of writing. They have to till ui) innu- merable forms, requisitions, abstracts, and returns, ana every motion in the House for papers overwlielms them with fresh matter for pen, ink, and paper. There are a good many merchant adventurers in the harbour, who are sorely hunted about l)y tlie authorities. Admiral Boxer is very stingy about sea-room, and looks sharply after all strangers. He is very properly im])ressed with a sense of tlie cxigeucies of the public service, and takes care that the pul)lic ])roperty is first attended to. In the harbour there is scarcely room for the nume- rous vessels which are engaged by Government; and it is desirable, certainly, to see that the disinterested gentlemen, who only come out here to make cent. ])er cent, in .sujjplyiug tlie Avants of our l)rave fellow-countrymen, sliould not Ite allowed to interfere with the action of the pul)li(; authorities. In the ciise of Lord lUantyre's vessels everj' possible indulgence ought to be exhibited, because his Lordship has sent out a most valuable and useful assortment of articles, which are sold at the lowest rates to ofliccrs and men. Of UNACCOirS'TABLE MISTAKES. 365 course, there is no comparison between these vessels and those which have been freighted with cargoes of luxuries sokl at luxu- rious prices. CHAPTER LXI. Preparations for renewing the bombardment — Ominous silence — Hailway services — Croat labourers — L'nusvial display of energy in the public de- partments — Variable weather — Abundance of flowers spring up — The Chersonese suddenly converted into a garden — Flocks of birds — Exciting sport — Gold seekers. Balaklava, March 1. About 240 sick men were sent in from the front to Balaklava to- day on French ambulance mules, and were received, and refreshed at the Caradoc restaurant. The preparations for the renewal of our fire are pressed on with rapidity ; and arrangements have been made to send up at least 2000 rounds a-day to the front from the harbour. About 200 mules have been pressed into this service in addition to the railwaj'. and the Highlanders and the artillery horses are to be employed in the carriage of heavy shell to the front — a duty which greatly distresses and disables them. The men of the Founh Division, the 17th and 18th Regiments, have been armed with the Minie or with the new ritie. Some strange and unaccountable mistakes take place occasionally in the way in •which our arms are distributed. It will scarcely be credited (but it does no harm now to mention it) that at Balaklava the Scots Greys Jutd no cartridges to fit their carbines, and that they were armed with the old cavalry sword, which bent in several instances on coming in contact with the thick coats of the Russian horsemen. The new swords are excellent weapons, and aftbrded great satisfac- tion to all but those on whom they were tried. To-day there are frost and snow, thermometer at thirty-one degrees. March 2. It froze last night. The thermometer was at tM'enty-four degrees at two a.m. this morning, the wind strong and very cold. It is scarcely to be believed that, M-ith all our immense stores of warm clothing, boots and shoes are by no means plentiful with the army. The 14th Regiment has been much employed in fatigue duties about the town. About three hundred pairs of boots were served out to them, but the thick heavy clay sucked the soles oft', and for a week back some of the men have been going about without any soles to their boots — ergo, their feet were on the ground, with the thermo- meter at thirty degrees : that is not agreeable locomotion. The Guards are now all down about Balaklava. Some of them seem in very delicate health. A few old campaigners have attained that happy state in which it is said that a cannon-ball will hop oft" the pit of the stomach. The silence and calm of the last few days are but the omens of the struggle which is about to be renewed very speedily for the posses- sion of Sebastopol. The Russians are silent because the allies do not impede their works. The allies are silent because they are preparing for the contest, and are using every energy to bring iip from Kamiesch and Balaklava the enormous mounds of projectiles 366 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. and mountains of ammunition which will be required for the ser- vice of the new batteries, and to extend, complete, and strengthen their offensive and defensive lines and trenches. The railway has begun to render us some service in saving the hard labour attendant on the transport of shot and shell, and en- ables us to form a sort of small terminal depot at the distance of two miles and thi-ee quarters from Balaklava, which is, however, not large enough for the demands made upon it, and it is emptied as soon as it is formed by parties of the Highland Brigade, who carry the ammunition to the camp depot, three miles and a half further on. The railway is not yet sufficiently long to induce Mr. Filder to avail himself of it largely for the transport of provisions to the front, as he conceives such a partial use of it would impede the for- mation of the rail, derange his own commissariat transport, and produce endless confusion at the temporary terminus. The com- missariat officers of the Second Division have, however, been allowed to use the rail between six and eight o'clock every morn- ing, and about 500 tons of provisions and stores have been moved up towards the front by it within the last few days. The navvies, notwithstanding the temptations of the bottle and of strange society in Vanity Fair or Buffalo-town, work honestly and well, with few exceptions, and the dread of the Provost- Marshal has produced a wholesome influence on the dispositions of the refractory. The Croat labourers astonish all who see them by the enormous loads they carry, and by their great physical strength and endurance. Broad-chested, flat-backed men, round-shouldered, with long arms, lean flanks, thick muscular thighs, and their calfless legs — ^feeding simply, and living quietly and temperately — the Croats perform daily an amount of work in conveying heavy articles on their backs which would amaze any one who has not seen a Constanti- nople "hamal." Their camp, outside the town, is extremely pic- turesque, and, I am bound to add, dirty. A rich flavour of onions impregnates the air for a considerable distance around, mingled ■with reminiscences of ancient Parmesan, and the messes which the nasty-handed Phillises dress for themselves do not look very in- viting, but certainly contain plenty of nutriment, and are better, I dare say, than the tough pork and tougher biscuit of our own ration. The men are like Greeks of the Isles in dress, arras, and carriage, but they have an expression of honest ferocity, courage, and man- liness in their faces, which at once distinguishes them from their Hellenic brethren. We have also a number of strong "hamals" in our service, who arc very useful as beasts of burden to the com- missariat. Parties of men have been lent to Mr. Bcatty to assist in the works of the railway, and at this moment 200 men of the Naval Brigade have been detailed in ordei' that tlio construction of it may be hastened and facililntcd as niucli as ])(>ssil)le. I was favoured by a striking proof of tlu: energy of the ])r()cee(lings of the navvies the other day. I had left my quarters in Balaklava, as 1 do each week, to spend some days going from divisiou to division, and regiment to regiment, and left my delectable premises in their usual condition : a coui'tyard of abominations unutterable, the favoiuite resort of ENERGETIC PROCEEDINGS. 367 Tartar camel-drivers, wlion they had a few moments to devote to the pursuit of parasites, and of drunken sailors, who desired digni- fied retirement from the observation of the Provost Marshal's myr- midons, was siuTounded by a wall which enclosed a ruined shed, in which stood some horses and a few old poplar trees. I left on one post-day and returned on another, and it was with diificiilty I recognised the spot. A railway was running right across my court- yard, the walls were demolished, a severance existed between the mansion and its dependencies, and just as my friends and myself entered the saloon and bedchamber — a primitive apartment, through the floor of which I can investigate the proceedings of my qua- di'upeds below — the navvies gave us a startling welcome by pulling down a poplar right on the roof, which had the effect of carrying away a portion of the balcony, roof, and pent-tiles, and smashing in two windows. Whatever the cause may be, it is quite evident that an unusual display of energy has been visible recently in most of the public departments connected with the army. The word " must" begins to be heard. "Whether its use is attributable to the pressure of the French, to instructions from home, to the necessity which exists for it, or to any specific cause, I am unable to sui'mise. Certain it is that officers are now told so many guns 7nust be in the batteries on such a day, and that such a work nncst be finished by such a time. A _ Chef d'Etat-Major has been appointed, and General Simpson is expected every day, to assume that important office, and to harmonize the operations of the (iuartermaster- General's and Adjutant-General's departments. A sanatorium is about to be established on Balaklava heights, the hospitals are in order, and now (and now only) a General visits the trenches everjr day, and sees that the men do not neglect their duty. As another instance of this vigoiu". Captain Christie has been removed from the post of Captain superintending the Transport Service ; and Captain Heath, who canvassed the merchant captains for testimonials to the orderly state of Balaklava Harbour, &c., and received more than thirty replies to his circular, has been appointed in his stead. The weather has been of the most extraordinary character for the last few days. Three days ago the very sight of a great-coat or pair of warm gloves made one perspire ; next day it was so cold that even our immense stores of warm clothing were not super- fluous : out of the midst of summer you are here suddenly precipi- tated, at half an hour's notice, into the midst of winter. But we have been spared the infliction of rain, and frost and mere cold are very endurable, and even healthful, as long as we have no wet. The thoughts of a summer in the Chersonese may make the boldest tremble, for the sun's rays will develope fever and pestilence out of the layers of animal matter festering below the surface of the soil as assm-edly as they will ripen the ear or quicken the fruit for autumn. We have had a few warm days only, and yet the soil, wherever a flower has a chance of springing up, pours forth multi- tudes of snowdrops, crocuses, and hyacinths. The Chersonese is covered with bulbous plants, some ot' great beauty, and the shrubs contain several rare species. The finches and larks here have a Yalentine's-day of their own, and still congregate in flocks. Yery 368 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. brilliant g:oldfinclies, large bunting-s, s-olden- crested wrens, larks, linnets,titlarlvs, and tbrec sorts of tomtits, the hedge sparrow, and a pretty species of wagtail, are very common all over the Chersonese; and it is strange to hear them piping and twittering about the bushes in the intervals of the booming of cannon, just as it is to see the young spring flowers forcing their way through the crevices of piles of shot and peering out from under shells and heavy ordnance. The insides of our huts are also turned into gardens, and grapes sprout out of the earth in the window sills, the floor, and the mud walls. Divers, cormorants and shags still haunt the head of the harbour, Avhich is also resorted to by some rare and curious wild- fowl, one like the Anas spoiisa of Linnanis, another the golden- eyed, tufted widgeon. The eagles, vultures, kites, buzzards, and ravens wheel over the whole plateau in hundreds at a time for two or three days, and all at once disappear for the same time, when they return, as before, to feast on the garbage. Probably they divide their attention between the allies and the Russians. The Tcher- naj'a abounds with duck, and some of the officers have little decoys of their own, where they go at night, in spite of the Russians. It is highly exciting sport, for the Russian batteries over Inkermann will assuredly send a round shot or shell at the sportsman if he is seen by their sentries ; but even that does not deter them. In the daytime they adopt the expedient of taking a few French soldiers down with them, who actually, out of love of the thing, and for the chance of a honncmain, are only too happj' to go out and engage the attention of the Cossacks in front, while their patrons are engaged in looking after mallard. There are bustards and turkey bustards on the steppes near the ]Monastery of St. George, and the cliffs present appearances which have led two or three officers acquainted with Australia to make sohie fruitless searches for gold ore. The cliffs are principally of granitic porphyry, and the ravines near them abound with pebbles of jasper, bloodstone, &c. There is abundance of "black sand" in the interstices of the rocks, which are of exceeding hardness, and are perfectly useless for building, but south-west ^pf St. George, and all along the plateau, there are great quantities of the finest blue limestone. March 3. Bright moonlight night from nine p.m. till four this morning. Thermometer 28 deg., but no wind blowing and no severity of weather. The French and Itussians have availed themselves of the fineness of the uiglit to keep up a constant fire of musketry and guns on each otlier from the trenches. The horses of tlie Cavalry and Artillery continue to suffer severely, notwithstanding the im])rovement of the weather. They are now nearly all in wooden slieds. Colonel Doherty had only three horses fit for active service the other day on the strength of the 1 .3th Light Dragoons. The French throw rockets of a new construction every night into Sebastoiiol. They seem to answer remarkably well, and are accu- rate in flight and long in range. March 4. The French and Russians had a severe brush about daybreak. The volleys of musketry lasted an hour, laingliug with the roar of a cannonade. The sortie was repulsed. FIRST CRIMEAN SPRING MEETING. 3G9 General Canrobert, General Bosquet, and staff", rode over to the Eng-lisli head-quarters to-day. The Generals were closeted with Lord liaglan for some time, but of course nothing- is known publicly respecting the subject and result of the council. The enemy attacked the French on both Hanks this morning. CHAPTER LXII. Camp sports — First Crimean Spring Meeting — Two " bolters " from the Rus- sians — ilarks of improvement everywhere — The electric telegraph and the old-fashioned semaphore — Intelligence of the death of the Emperor Nicholas — A story of the old higgledy-piggledy system. Bajjaklata, March 5. A "N'EiiY fine, warm, bright day. This morning early there was a repetition of the affair between the French and Eussians. Very little damage is said to have been done, considering the enormous waste of ammunition. The Eussians are working in front of their batteries like bees. Xo effort is made to disturb them. At the armistice the other day some of the enemy who came out, shook blankets with the broad arrow and B.O. on them in the faces of our soldiers. They are throwing up a new redoubt towards the Yictoria Eedoubt. In order to strengthen our right, which the enemy menace more evidently every dav, the whole of the Xinth Division of the French army was moved over there to-day. The sports of the camp have commenced. Dog-hunting has been, "open" for some days past, and the curs of Karanj'i have had several hard but successful runs for their lives. To-dav our first spring meeting took place, and was numerously attended. The races came oft' on a little piece of undulating ground, on the top of the ridges near Karanyi, and were regarded mth much interest by the Cossack picquets at Kamara and on Canroberfs Hill. They evidently thought at first that the assemblage was connected with, some military demonstration, and galloped about in a state of excitement to and fro, but it is to be hoped thej^ got a clearer notion of the real character of the proceedings ere the sport was over. In the midst of the races a party of twelve Eussians were seen approaching the vedette on Xo. 4 Old Eedoubt in the valley. The Dragoon fired his carbine, and ten of the men turned round and fied, and when the picquet came up to the man, they found two deserters had come in. One of them was an officer; the other had been an officer, but had suffered degradation for " political causes." They were both Poles, and the ex-officer spoke French and German fluently and well. They expressed great satisfaction at their escape, and the latter said, " Send me wherever you like, provided I never see Eussia again." They stated that they had deceived the men who were with them into the belief that the vedette was one of their own outposts, and, as they belonged to a partv which had only just arrived, they believed it was so, and advanced boldly till the Dragoon fired on them, when they discovered their mistake and fied. As the Poles were well mounted they dashed on towards our post ; the Cossacks galloped down to try and cut them oft", but B B 370 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. did not succeed. On being taken to Sir Colin Campbell they re- quested that the horses they rode might be sent back to the llussian lines, for, as they did not belong to them, they did not wish to be accused of theft. Sir Colin granted the request, and the horses wei-e taken to the brow of the hill and set free, when they at once galloped oiF towards the Cossacks. The races proceeded after this little episode just as usual, and subsequently the company resolved itself into small packs of dog-hunters. The deserters state that a corps of about 8000 men have joined the army between Baidar and Simpheropol. Mai-ch e. The weather has been extremely mild and fine. The nights are clear, and the moon shines so brightly that it is not easy, without being observed, to carry on the works which are iisually performed during a siege at night-time. Nevertheless, certain important alterations and amendments have taken place in the construction of our offensive line, and our defensive line over Balaklava has been greatly strengthened, and its outworks and batteries have been altered and amended considerably. Everything round us bears marks of improvement. The health of the troops is better, mortality and sickness decrease, and the spirits of the men are good. The wreck we made of Balaldava is shovelled away, or is in the course of removal, and is shot into the sea to form piers, or beaten do^^n to make roads, and stores and barracks of wood are rising up in its place. The oldest inhabitant will not Icnow the place on his return. If war is a great destroyer, it is also a great creator. The Czar is indebted to it for a railway in the Crimea, and for new roads between Balaklava, Kamiesch, and Sebastopol. The hill-tops are adorned witli clean wooden huts, the flats have been drained, the watercourses dammed up and deepened, and all this has been done in a few days, by the newly awakened energies of labour. The noise of hammer and anvil, and the roll of the rail- way train, are heard in these remote regions a century before their time. Can anything be more suggestive of county magistracy and poor-laws, and order and peace, than stonebreaking ? Here it goes on daily, and parties of red-coated soldiery are to be seen con- tentedly hammering away at the limestone rock, satisfied with a few pence extra pay. Men are now given freely wherever there is work to be done. The policeman walks abroad in the streets of Balaklava. Colonel Harding, the new commandant, has exhibited great ability in tlie improvement of the town, and he has means at his disposal whicli his predecessors could not obtain. J^ord Raglan is out about the camps everyday, and Generals Estcourt and Aircy are equally active. They all visit Balaklava, inspect the lines, ride along the works, and by their presence and directions infuse an amount of energy which will go far to make uj) for lost time, if not for lost lives. A sanatorium is being establishi'd on the heights for 400 patients. The filthy heaps accumulated by the wretched Turks, wlio perished in the I'o'tid lanes of Balaklava, and the masses of aljomination unutteiable wliich they left beliind them, have been removed and mixed with stones, lime, manure, and earth, to form piers, whicli are not so oft'ensivc as might be expected. The dead horses are being collected and buried beneath ELECTKIC TELEGRAPH ESTABLISHED. 371 lime and earth. The railway extends its lines by nig-ht and by day. A little naval arsenal has grown iip at the north side of the harbour, with shears, landing- wharf, and storehouses, and a branch, line will be made from this spot to the trunk to the camp. In a fortnight more it is hoped the first engine will be at work, and it is lying aU ready, with the tender and all the apparatiis for pulling Tip the trucks beside it, at its allotted station. The harbour, crowded as it is, has assumed a certain appearance of order. The collections of rotten clothes and rags, the garments of the poor Turks, have been burnt. Cesspools have been cleared out, and the English Hercules has at last begun to stir up the heels of the oxen of Augaeus. The whole of the Turks are removed to the hiU-side, where they have encamped. Each day there is a diminution in the average amount of sickness, and a still greater decrease in the rates of mortality. A good sanitary officer, with an eftective staff, might do much to avert the sickness which may be expected among the myriads of soldiers when the heats of spring begin. The thermometer has on an average been at 45 degrees during the day for the last three days. To-day it was at 52 degrees. Fresh provisions are becoming abundant, and supplies of vegetables are to be had for the sick and scurvy-stricken. The siege works are in a state of completion, and are admirably made. Those on which our troops are now engaged, proceed uninterruptedly. A great quantity of mules and ponies, with a staft' of drivers from all parts of the world, have been collected together, and lighten the toils of the troops and of the commissariat department. The public and private stores of Avarm clothing exceed the demand for it. The mortality among the horses has ceased, and, though the oxen and sheep sent over to the camps would not find much favour in Smithfield, they are very grateful to those who have had to feed so long on salt junk alone. The sick are nearly all hutted, and even some of the men in those camps which are nearest to Balaklava have been provided with similar comforts and accommodation. These are aU cheering and delightful topics to dwell upon. How happy one is to communicate such most pleasing intelligence ! The electric telegraph has now been established between head- quarters and Kadikoi, and the line will be speedily carried on to Balaklava. It is rather singular that the French prefer the old- fashioned semaphore. They have had a telegraphic communication by semaphore established between the camps and naval stations for some time back. The camp of the allies is being rajjidly con- centrated, as it were, by these means of communicating with each of its parts with rapidity. The news of the death of the Emperor Nicholas has produced an immense sensation here, and has given rise to the liveliest discus- sions as to the eft'ect which such an event is likely to produce upon the contest in which we are engaged. The enemy fired very briskly all to-day, as if to show they were not disheartened at the news. We have now about sixty garrison carriages at the artillery depot, and the stores of shot and shell seem inexhaustible, but, in reality, are not too much for thirty hours' firing. Our guns of posi- tion will now be available, if ever we requii-e to use them. The BB 2 372 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. story of these gnns is instructive. It will be remembered that the Ptussians inflicted great loss upon us by their guns of position at the Alma, and that we had none to reply to them. Indeed, had they been landed at Kalamita Bay, it is doubtful if we could have got horses to draw them. However, if we had had the horses, Ave could not have had the guns. The fact is, that sixty fine guns of position, with all their equipments complete, were shipped on board the " Taurus" at M oolwich, and sent out to the East. When the vessel arrived at Constantinople, the admiral in charge, Avith destruc- tive energy, insisted on transhipping all the guns into the " Ger- trude." The captain in charge remonstrated, but in vain — words grew high, but led to no result. The guns, beautifully packed and laid, Avith CA'crything in its proper place, were hauled up out of the hold, and huddled, in the most approved higgledy-piggledy a la JiaJaklava ancienne, into the " Gertrude," Avhere they Avere depo- sited on the top of a quantity of medical and other stores. The equipments shared the same fate, and the hold of the A'essel soon presented to the eye of the artilleryman the realization of the saying anent the arrangement of a midshipman's chest, " CAerything Tippermost and nothing at hand." The officer in charge got to Varna, and in vain sought permission to go to some retired nook, discharge the cargo, and restow the guns. The expedition sailed, and when the " Gertrude" arrived at Old Fort, had Hercules been set to clear the guns, as his fourteenth labour, he could not have done it. And so the medicines, that would certainly have done good, and the guns, that might have done harm, were left to neu- tralize each other ! There is nothing to say about to-day except that it was fine and mild. March 7. The medical service has sustained a great loss in the death of Dr. Chilley Pine, for many years in the 4th lloyal Irish Dragoon Guards, and lately acting as "Principal Medical Officer of the Second Division. There is nothing to report concerning the siege. March 9. There was brisk firing last night. Nothing of consequence occurred, that I can ascertain. /The French poured fiights of their new rockets into the town last night ; the efiect Avas pretty to look at, but I am not aware if the damage Avas great. A restaurant in a Avooden hut has been opened for officers at Vanity or Donuybrook Fair, near Kadikoi. FIRST MINING OPERATION. 373" CHAPTER LXIII. Continued fine weather — Our siege works approaching but never attaining completion — Increasing numerical strength of the army — Improved health of the troops — Jack Tar's adaptation of stray liorseflesh — An " out-and- out sporting dromeydairy" — The cami) a sea of abundance — Sharj) atlair between tlie French and Russians. Balaklava, March 10. The weather lias continued to be so mild and fine, that it is scarcely generous to notice the few Elack Sea fo,hed dogs had some unpleasant moments afterwards, but they now have got into the habit of running straight for the Russian batteries. A sergeant and private of the 79th Regiment have deserted. The sergeant belonged to tlie light company, and it is supjiosed liis head was affected by excessive drinking. This regiment continues to suft'er severely from sickness. They have lost 100 men within the month. The men are dying at the rate of two a-day. Dr. Gavin has arrived, and comidains that hv cannot find any of the autho- rities with wliom lie wants to communicate. The commissariat officers have handed over their oxen, horses, and mules to ('ohmel ]\l'Miu'do's Land Transport Corps, which is working remai'kably well under the energetic direction of its commandant. All tho SQUANDERING OP PUBLIC MONEY. 393 commissary officers have now to do is to make a requisition on the Land Transxiort Cori)s attached to the Division for the carriasje of certain stores, and then to distribute them on arrivah Apropos of eating and drinking, I must mention a story which is going con- cerning the occurrences of the night of the 24th. The Russians carried oft' all the men's rum in one attack. In another, two of them got drunk in a traverse, and were found in friendly inter- coiu'se with one of our soldiers, all three Happing their arms and floundering in rum like stranded turtles. Our food is now abun- dant. There are, however, great complaints of the way in which the coflfee is roasted. It is either burnt or half-roasted, and the coft'ee made from the berry is very inditterent. As an instance of the way in which public money is sqiiandered. by the authorities, — well, if not bj' the authorities, by somebody or other who is vicegerent for the Genius of Misrule at Balaklava — I will just mention a circumstance which has recently come to my knowledge, and which any economist on the committee of inquiry may protitably ask a question or two anent. Mr. Alfred Pratt, an ofHcer of Customs, was appointed by the AYar-oflice some time ago to superintend the warehousing and landing of stores at Balaklava, and was sent out there by the Government with a staft' of one foreman of works, eight warehousemen, and thirty dock laboiu-ers, with whom he arrived a month ago. This little expedition has, up to the present moment, cost the country about 5000/., and has not done a particle of good for the money. Mr. Pratt, who is a practical engineer, oft'ered to build a lauding wharf, but the authorities Avould not give a site for it. They would not employ him on the duty which the Government commissioned him to execute. He states that he has been treated with neglect, and has been subjected to contumely and aftront, and at this instant he is employed side by side with a corporal in superintending the levelling of ground for wooden huts at a salary of 25s. per diem ! Praj' do put a termination to the energies of the Berlin wool interest, and try to stop the manufacture of mitts, cufts, chest protectors, comforters, socks, &c., the very sight of which puts one in a stew this hot weather. There is scarcely an officer out here who is not em- barrassed with bales of things which have arrived since the fine weather set in, and which he cannot now get rid of at any sacrifice. The ladies of England, Ireland, and Scotland, have been profuse in their contributions of winter clothing. Every description of stationery — pens, ink, paper, and light literature, has also been largely supplied, and the Egyptian-hall collection of books has been most acceptable to the poor patients in the hospitals. March 27. Last night Captain Hill, 89th Picgiment, in proceeding to post his picquets, made a mistake in the dark, and got too near the Ptussian picquets. He was not verj" well acquainted with the country, and the uncertain light deceived him. The Russians challenged, "Qui va la?" " Kous, Frangais !" was the reply. The two picquets instantly fired, and Captain Hill dropped. There were only two or three men with him, and they retired, taking with them the Captain's great-coat. They only went a few yards to the 394 PROGRESS OP THE SIEGE. rear to get assistance, and returned at once to the place where Captain ilill fell, but his body had been already removed, and the Russian picquets had withdrawn. His fate is uncertain, but it is hoped that he is not severely wounded, and is safe in the hands of the Russians. Two little " affairs," calculated to break the monotony of Bala- klavan existence, occurred on Monday. Imprimis, a light broke out among the Croats. These gentry were all armed when they landed, and it was judged inexpedient to deprive them of their stomachs-full of pistols and yataghans. It was known for some time past that ill-blood existed between various little sections of these wild mountaiuers ; Montenegrins, Albanians, Croats, Arnauts, Greeks, even Alfghans and Koords — all had their quarrels. Some of the men accused the head men of cheating them. Last night a squabble took place between two parties of the Croats. They drew their pistols and daggers, a regular light took place. Thirty or forty shots were fired, and men fell wounded, two of whom have since died. Colonel Harding, the commandant, with a party of men, proceeded to the spot and quelled the riot, and disarmed all the Croats on the spot. It is a pity it was not done before. Secundo, a fire broke out in the haibour on board a vessel (No. 113), I believe, laden with combustible stores. The alarm bell was rung, the " Leander " sent round her boats, and after an immense deal of excitement the fire was extinguished. An inquiry has taken place into the origin of the fire, but it appears to have sprung from nothing more than the drunkenness of some of her crew. CHAPTER LXYIII. Activity and energy of the Russians — The puzzle of the limekilns — Captain Christie superseded — Harassing duties of the French — Another fu-e in Balaklava — Derungenients of the postal service — The bomliardment stiU delayed — Wilil cattle — A crowd of spectators dispersed — Wcw from Cathcart's Ilill— Duels between the batteries — Hand-to-hand fight — First railway trip — Fatal accident. Fourth Division Camp, March 30. The weather has been exceedingly fine since the despatch of the last mails, and has been very favourable for all siege operations. Never- theless, the day on which the lire is to be reopened remains buried in the womb of the future, or, in other words, no one can say with, any degree of confidence that our batteries will be ready on any fixed date to continue the work Avhich has languished since the 22nd of last October. On the other hand, the Russians have dis- played the greatest activity and energy. They have actually thrown u]) two new redoubts — one opposite the left, another on the Hank, of tlic riglil atltick, since my last lutter was despatched, and the works w hicii tliey have constructed on Mount Sapoiine, to the right of the Mamelon, have been strengthened and partially armed, notwithstanding the enemy have had to work under a galling fire of shells. Their rifie pits are now regularly connected and in- CAPTAIX CHRISTIE SUPERSEDED. 395 trenclied, and in one of them tliey have mounted a heavy gun in advance of the Round Tower. In fact, they have made a parallel towards our works, and are now gradually approaching the French right attack towards Inkermann. Heavy guns, with small charges, are used to " lob" shot and shell into the advanced works on both sides. For the last three or four mornings the force under Sir Colin Campbell has been turned out before four o'clock a.m. The men are all under arms at dawn, and ready for any duty that may be required of them ; but the Russians do not show in any numbers near Balaklava. Our two new batteries on the left attack have been tiuished, and the night before last our men made a covered way in front of these batteries with great energj-. The Russians have been greatly puzzled, and are exceedingly angry, with the proceedings of our lime-bumers in front of the Third Division. The volumes of smoke arising from the kilns have attracted their notice, and they have shelled the spot at in- tervals ever since, to the discomfiture of Major-General Barnard's poultry in the rear of the quarries. One shell grazed the General's tents, another burst among the little temporary establishment of cocks, hens, and sheep, and is said to have injured some of them, and the General has had to shift his quarters. The navvies who were burning the lime took the exigencies of their position with great coolness, and contented themselves with expressing a wish for a private cannon to themselves to fight the Russians with in the intervals of lime-bm-uing. The Russians evidently think the smoke arises from some works connected with the railway, and although the kiln, which is concealed by the quarried stone before it, is full two miles fit'om their batteries, they direct shells at it now and then during the day. The telegraph is now in full play between the right attack, the left attack, and Lord Raglan's quarters. From the latter place there is also a line to Sir Colin Campbell's, at Kadikoi. Oui' scat- tered camp is thus, as it were, concentrated and kept in close com- munication. The railway is now completed up to the plateau, and has been carried close to head-quarters, where there will be a large depot and station established. Captain Christie, who has been superseded by Captain Heath, as Agent of Transports, has issued a memorandum taking leave of the commanders in that branch of the service. March 31. The weather has changed once more. It is now' very raw and cold, and threatens another snowstorm. Indeed, there is no security against frost and snow in the Crimea till April is over. There was little firing last night and this morning. The Riissians are still engaged in strengthening and extending the advanced woi'ks before the Mamelon and the Round Tower, and their artil- lerymen keep a sharp eye on the new parallel of the French on our right, and on our own advanced i^araUel on the extreme of the left attack, into which they keep up a fire throughout the day. As a proof of the extreme severity with which the war presses on the Russians, and of the losses to which thej- aye subject, I may mention a fact, which is stated on excellent autlaority, that out of 396 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. seven Admirals who were in command at Sebastopol, no less than five have died or been killed since the siege began. General Osten- Sacken commands the army in the held outside Sebastopol, and it is understood that he has expressed a coniident belief that his posi- tion is impregnable to assault. From the town itself we hear that the men are not on full rations, and that the5r get no pay. The soldiers are exceedingly discontented at the non-fulhlment of the promises held out to them that their arrears of pay should be made up to them. Much more do tliey grumble at not receiving their current pay. yipril 2. The beKef that our batteries will open on Wednesday or Thiirs- day next is very general. To those who recollect how often they have been disappointed in similar expectations there are large sus- picions respecting any day this week, next week, or next month, being the exact time for commencing operations. There are now four heavy guns in the face of the Mamelon, oppo- site the right attack. The French, who have hitherto enjoyed comparative repose, are now very hardly worked. They have three nights out of seven in the trenches, and take twenty-four hours at a time, as our men do. In proportion as they are employed our over- work diminishes. We have now three nights out of seven in bed as a fair average. The most harassing part of the duties of the French is marching considerable distances to the trenches. Many of the men come from the rear of Lord llaglan's quarters to the right attack. Our allies send down very large parties and reserves. _ Kot less than 12,000 or 14,000 men are marched on duty for the right alone every night, and the French mass large bodies of men in rear of all their working and covering parties. We cannot afford to send the full complement of men to our batteries, and the engineers and the officers in command of the trenches have frequent difficulties respecting the disposal of the troops, and complaints and reports are not unfrequcnt in consequence. Our ap]iroaches almost lead us to the advanced llussian works. On Sunday i]w l-lnglish engineers threw up a trench within 5.50 yards of the (larden Battery. The sentries posted along its front entered into that kind of rough joking with the Russians whieli is popularly called " chafhng," and the picquets were not more than sixty yards i'rom each other. Although the lUissians had a line of double sentries in front of this work, numbering at least 200 nien, lliey did not attempt to disturb our operations. Their i)riueipal efforts for the last tAVo days lia\(! been directed to the i''reuch works on the right, wliicli they shell incessantly. Our allies do not care to return the iire. They are busied in making tlieir ap- proaches and ijreparing their batti'ries. The Ilussians sometimes use very heavy charges of ])owder, and ])ropel tlieir shot with extraordinary force. As an instance of tliis 1 may mention that tlie day before yesterday a G8-i)ound shot from the lti;dan i)asscd right through the piirapct of our battery, where it was from eighteen to twenty feet thick, and struck down, but did not kill, a gunner inside the work. '1 luy have some excellent artillerymen, and theii- practice witli different chargesof jxiwder isvery good ; but their shcU-Jiringismdiirerent, ])rincipally owing to their bad fusees. ACTIVITY IN BALAKLAVA. 397 There was another alarm of fire in Balaklava last night. About eleven o'clock the ensyiueer's storehouse at the entrance to the town was found to be on lire. The alarm bells rang in all the ships in liarbour. The crews hastened on shore; the Guards, who were on duty, hastened down to the spot, and were speedily followed bj' a fatigue party of the 71st liegiment, but the seamen and people oil shore had already begun to pidl down the shed, and the lire was extinguished within the building in the space of half an hour, after destroying or damaging a considerable quantity of stores. It was observable that this tire broke out to windward, and that had it spread, the whole town might have been burnt, and the shipping- could scarcely have escaped. How it originated no one knows. To-day the greatest activity was displayed in Balaklava. The quays swarmed with labourers engaged in piling up shot and shell and loading the railway carriages with ammunition, of which immense quantities were sent up to the front. The first human cargo — one of sickness and suffering — was sent down to Balaklava to-day. Four wagons, tilled with sick and wounded soldiers, ran. from head-qiuirters to the town in less than half an hour. The men v/ere propped up on their knapsacks, and seemed very comfortable. ^>Vhat a change from the ghastly processions one met wdth some weeks ago, formed of dead or dying men, hanging from half-starved horses, or dangling about on French mule-litters ! ilaj or- General the Hon. Yorke Scarlett left this evening for England, whither he has been summoned on account of the serious illness of his wife. His place will be taken by Lord G. Paget, and Colonel Shewell will act as Brigadier of the Light Cavalry Brigade. Our cavalry picquets in the plain have been strengthened, and a, strong patrol sweeps the plain in front of the Kadikoi at night. The Russian watch-fires can be seen plainly after dark on the hills be- yond the redoubts, but the enemv do not show in force during the day. The mail arrived to-day at head-quarters, but, as there is gene- rally a " derangement" in what are called the " arrangements" of the postal service out here, the bags of the lloyal Engineers and Cavalry and the miscellaneous bag were not forthcoming up to four o'clock to-day. The British army postmasters have nothing to sav to the irregularities. The Sanatorium, under the care of Dr. Jephson, is now becoming a great curative establishment, and promises to aii'ord great benetits to our sick and wounded men, who will be saved the evils of the voyage to Scutari, or of the longer passages of Abydos and Smyrna. It already presents the appearance of a little village, with small patches of garden in front of the huts, and its position, on an ele- vated plateau among the rocks and savage crags of the ravine which winds up past the old Genoese castles of Balaklava to the heishts of our camp over the sea, is strikingly picturesque. The total strength of the British army last month was 22,600 men. Of these about 6000 would only be available in extremis, and the ordinary strength of the whole army in ho.yonets would not exceed 15,000 men. Air'il 3. The allies have sustained a grievous loss in the death of M. St. 398 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. Laurent, Commandant of French Engineers in the right attack. He was mortally wounded by a rifle ball on Monday, as he was on duty in the French battery over Inkermann. One of the most important works over Inkermann bears his name, and he did much to place that portion of our attack and defence in a most efficient state. This morning one working party effected a very diificult ope- ration with entire success and without loss of life. They connected the advanced parallels of the two attacks by a trench without losing a single man, though tliey were close to the enemy's rifle- men, and were exposed to round shot, shells, and grape from the batteries. The uncertain light of the moon prevented the Russians firing with accuracy ; but as they brought down two field-pieces into their advanced works to play on our working party with grape, one of our 9-pounder field-pieces was ordered into the ad- vanced trench to reply to them, and our single gun speedily silenced their two pieces. At dawn they fired with greater accu- racy, and we lost two sappers, and a few men killed and wounded. April 4. We have lately been receiving a quantity of wild cattle, trapped on the hill-sides of Asia, and when they are let loose, after the sea voyage, they generally create a good deal of unwholesome excite- ment by charging in every direction through and about Balaklava, and by taking to the heights and butting every man they meet. In a little affair of this kind the other day one of the Provost- Marshal's men fired at an infuriated bull and missed it, but shot a soldier who was in chase through the leg. This bull knocked down men like ninepins, and cleared the alleys and quays ; nor did he succumb till he had been the object of a smart fusillade, and had been made "a pincushion for bayonets," as was observed by an Hibernian bystander. The Land Transport Corps is working extremely well, and I have not heard any complaint whatever against the mode in which the service is carried out. Colonel M'Murdo's administration has so far been attended with complete success. The management and direction of the railway has been handed over to this ofiicer, who has appointed an ofiicer to manage each terminus. April 5. It was expected that our batteries would open fire to-day, but it was soon ascertained that the hopes of the impatient people were once more doomed to disappointment. A number of outsiders crowded up to the front to see the proceedings ; and it was some time before they could be persuaded that " the affair was not coming off"." The Russians amused tliemselves by slicUing the camp again to-day, but they did no harm. Yesterday, when there was a large crowd of French and English, including some of the stafi', in front of the ])icquet-house, near the Mortar Rattery, the Russians sud(hnily llirc^w a sliell wliich fell right into the midst of the group. The greater part of the assembly tlirew themselves down and rolled away on the ground as fast as they could. At last the shell burst with a loud report, and one of the fragments struck VIEW FROM CATHCART's HILL. 399 and wounded a French sentry about fifty j-ards off. Then the crowd got up and ran away. Led horses broke loose or were let go and scampered off in all directions, and as the few oifieers who had nerve to remain and enjoy the di?^comtiture of the runaways were enjoying the joke, down came another shell into the very centre of them. The boldest could not stand this, and in a few minutes not a soul could be seen near the ground. The Military Secretary lost his cap, owing to the eccentric evolutions of his frightened qua- druped, but he speedily recovered it, and that was the only loss caused by the two shells, excepting the poor fellow put hors de combat for the time. It was a lovely day, though somewhat hazy, and the idlers off duty employed their leisure hours in gazing listlessly at the endless duel between the allied batteries and the Russian works from the mounds in rear of the trenches. "Cathcart's Hill," a small rectangular mound in front of the Fourth Division camp, enclosed by the ruins of a wall just peering a foot above the grass, is a favourite resort for the officers belonging to the regiments behind the left attack. It commands a view of the extreme French left towards Kamiesch, and of their approaches to the Flagstaff Battery and the crenellated wall. Taking up the view from this point on the left, the eye rests on the mass of ruins in front of the French lines, seamed here and there with white banks of earth, dotted with embrasures, or banked up by walls of gabions. Tliis part of Sebastopol lies between the sea at Artillery Bay and the Dockyard Creek. It is exceedingly like portions of old London after the first burst of the wide-street commissioners upon it. This strip of ruin, the combined work of French and Russians, is about two miles long and 300 or 400 yards broad, and it sweeps round the to^vTi like a zone or girdle. The houses inside it and close to it are more or less injured, but as the distance from the French lines becomes greater the marks of injury are less perceptible ; the tall white storehouses, with roofs of sheet iron, the domes of chui-ches, the porticos of palaces, and the stately outlines of great public buildings, shine pleasantly in the sun- shine. Tier after tier of roofs rise up to the crest of the hiU on which this portion of the town is built, and figures steal across the field of the glass as it sweeps over the space, the streets appearing as though the owners kept a keen look-out for shells. In front of this portion of the town the dun steppes are scarred all over by the lines of the French approaches, from which ixt intervals arise the smoke wreaths of cannon or the pufls of the rifie, answered from the darker lines of the Russians in front of the city. At night this space is lighted up incessantly by the momentary twinkle of the flashes of the Chasseiu's. Then comes a deep ravine, on the shoulder of which the French have established a battery which can be directed against the Garden Battery on the other side, and the neck of the Dockyai'd Creek, into which the ravine runs. This ravine runs from the hollow in which Lord Raglan's house is situated down to the Dockyard Creek. At the right of this creek is Fort Paul, with a long range of dockyard bxiildings. In the bend of the creek there is a two-decker, with her broadside presented to the 400 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. town, SO as to sweep the approaches from the left. She is out of the line of fire of our batteries, and the French cannot touch her. Half- Avay up the creek, and closer to us than the man-of-war, is a bridge of boats leading from the French side to the English side of the city, which the Russians use constantly. This bridge is also out of range. The English left attack (Chapman's) begins on the rise of the ridge which springs up from the right of this ravine, as we face Sebastopol, and the advanced works in front of it run close iip to the Garden Battery and to the Redan. _ The " attack" itself faces these two Russian batteries, and is directly opposite the pile of Government offices and dockyard buildings, many of which are " pitted" bj' the shot which have flown over the Redan. Between our left attack and our right attack is another deep ravine, along the right side of which the Woronzow-road_ zigzags into Sebas- topol. On the ridge on the right side of this ravine is our right (Gordon's) attack, and on the right and rear of it is the Sea Service Mortar Battery. To the right front of this attack are the works of the Round Tower, flanked by the Mamelon on the right, and by the recently erected Russian redoubt on the right of the Mamelon, over Mount Sapoune. To the right of the right attack, springing from the plateaii between the Fourth and Light Divisions, there is another deep ravine called the Middle Picquet Ravine, which is now occupied by the French, and their works on their right attack begin at the fall of the hill, at the right of this ravine opposite the ritie pits of the Mamelon, and thence spread away to the right to Inkermann. Cathcart's Hill commands a view of the whole posi- tion, with the exception of a portion of the left attack, whicli is concealed from sight by the ridge called the Quarry, where our lime- burners arc at work in rear of Chapman's batteries. Within the space marked by the ruins of the four walls are the humble graves of Sir George Catheart, of General Strangways, of Brigadier Goldie, of Colonel Swyny, of Colonel Seymour, and of two or three other officers who fell at Inkermann. The place derives its name from the circumstance of General Catheart using it as a look-out station, and as his resort of a morning during the siege. Colonel Seymour's remains are marked by a neat tomb-stone, a pillar and cross in white stone with an inscription in English and Russian, stating who he was and how he died. General Strangways' grave is also marked by a headstone and "inscription. General Cathcart's resting-place is as yet undistinguished by any record, save that which lives in the memory of l\is country. The flag of the divi- sion, a red and white burgee, floats from a stafl" on the left front angle of tlie parallelogram, and two stands have been erected for telescopes in the centre of the front. A look-out man with a telescope is stationed here to observe the movements of the enemy, and he can sweep their front from tlie west to the east, and can o])serve what is going on upon the north side almost up to tlie Belbek. Somewhat to tlie front of tlie flngstatf on the left is a cave in which Sir .lohn Campbell lives, lie I'ound it a Avelconic refuge on the (lay of the storm of the 1 tth of November, and since then it has been enlarged. It is now marki'd by a little wooden fence resting on cannon shot, around which there is an impromptu flower THE BELEAGUERED CITY, 401 garden. The General's marquee and the tents of his staff are close at hand. It is exciting enough to look at the heleaguered city (that is the melodramatic phrase which seems to be popular) and to watcli the siey-e operations on a calm hne day. The ground in rear of the dark lines, serrated with black iron teeth which mark our bat- teries, is almost deserted. The soldiers are sauntering about in p;roups just below the cover of the parapets, and a deep greyish blue line denotes the artillerymen and covering parties, whose heads appear just above the trench. In front are the whitish mounds of the llussian intrenchments, and batteries with the black muzzles of the guns peering through the embrasures. The grey- coated llussiaus stalk about on the inner slopes of the parapets, busily engaged in carrying iip gabions and repairing the damaged works. Suddenly, a thick spirt of white smoke bursts from the face of the Mamelon, the shot bounds into Gordon's Battery and knocks up a pillar of earth, and then Hies around throwing up a eloud of dust at each ricochet. Scarcely has it struck the parapet before another burst of smoke rushes out of one of the embrasures of the JN^aval Battery, and a mass of Avhitish earth is dashed up into the air from the face of the Mamelon. Then comes another puff from one of the French batteries on the right, and a shell bursts right in the devoted work — " Bravo the sailors !" " Well done, French !" cry the spectators, and as the words leave their lips two or three guns from the Hound Tower and as many from the Ma- melon hurl shot and shell in reply at their assailants. A duel of this kind sometimes lasts all day with the occasional diccriissement of a shell or round shot at working or covering parties on either side. The Russians hre very well, but they are not generally equal as artillerymen to our men, nor is their practice so invariably good. The French, who are intent on checking their approaches, plough right up and enfilade their trench from the right of the Mamelon to the riHe-pits, and make excellent shots. Xow and then our sea- service mortars speak out Avith a dull roar that shakes the earth, and after nearly a minute of expectation a cloud of smoke and dust at the rear of the Round Tower bespeaks the effects of their terrible missiles. About twelve o'clock in the day the Russians knock off' work to go to dinner, and our men follow their example ; silence reigns almost uninterruptedly for two hours or more, and towards four o'clock the tiring begins again. Meantime our officers walk about or lounge on the liill-side, and smoke and chat away the interval between breakfast and the hasty dinner which precedes the turn-out for twenty-four hours' vigil in the trenches. Many a hospitable cigar and invitation to lunch is given, the latter with the sure confidence, and with the greater chance of a ready accept- ance, now that the Crimean Army Fund has done its work, and that one is tolerably sure of a slice of -a giant game-pie, to be washed down by a temperate draught of that glorious \^'elbeck ale which has made the Duke of Portland's name a household word in our army. Towards evening our mortar battery in the right attack hred two salvoes of shells — three 13-inchcrs at a time. The hrst three pitched into different parts of the works of the Round Tower — one right D D 402 PROGEESS OF THE SIEGE. into the centre of the shattered stonework itself. Beams of timber^ trunks of bodies, legs and arms of human beings, were seen to fly- up in the air, and after a time a blaze of lire ran along a portion of the work, which appeared to spring from one of the enemy's mines. The second salvo must have been very destructive also. On the ■whole, the result was so satisfactory to the feelings of a sailor in the battery, that he then and there expressed his decided determi- nation to Captain Grant to reward him for his conduct with the entire use and possession of his whole " go of grog" for that day. There was very heavy firing from half-past ten to half-past eleven o'clock, which was heralded in by some brisk volleys, and we hear that our working parties in the advanced trench happened to meet a working party of the Russians, and that a regular hand- to-hand fight with pickaxes, spades, bills, hatchets, and musket stocks, took place between the two parties, in which the Russians had the best at one time, and we gained the ground at another time, till at last the Island courage did its work, and our men drove the enemy up towards our own lines. The tight was renewed in front of the trenches. The covering parties came out on both sides to the aid of their comrades, and at last the Russians were repulsed after a severe struggle. Our loss in killed and wounded is stated to be thirty-seven. The Prussians were said to have left forty-one bodies and that of one officer behind them in one of GUI' parallels, but the report requires confirmation. It is believed that they lost in killed and wounded about 150 men out of the 750 who were engaged in the affair. By considerable exertions for the last two or three days the de- mands of our engineers and artillerymen in the front have been almost complied with Colonel M'Murdo has made good use of the railway, and Major Anderson, at Balaklava, has seconded his efforts to send adequate munitions of war to the front for our open- ing day. To-day, Good Friday, the ten 13-inch mortars which lately arrived have been sent up — a work of no ordinary labour. Two 68 pounders are ready to follow, for the Sailors' Battery ; and for the last few days about 600 13-inch shells (each of which weighs 190 lbs.) have been carried up to the further terminus of the rail- way, and thence to the artillery park, daily, exclusive of those carried by artillery wagons and horses. Great quantities of shot for heavy guns have also been conveyed by rail, and Colonel M'Murdo has been enabled to furnish thirty-three wagons daily for the carriage of the munitions of war. ISOO barrels of gunpowder have been brought up to the front within the last twelve days, so that there arc now 280 tons added to our stores of that highly useful article. This work has been carried on by unskilled labourers, by Croats and Turks, by people from Mesopotamia, by Koords and Levantines, under the direction of Mr. Gillivray, and a few non-commissioned officers of artillery. The railway carried up 1000 shot and shell tliis forenoon alone. It is to be regretted that our first railway trip had rather an un- fortunate termination tliis evening. A party of tlie 71st Regiment, which was sent up to work in tlie trenches on tlie Land Transport mules, came down before dark to head-quarters, where they were THE BATTERIES OPEN FIRE. 403 inspected by Lord Raglan. The men then marched off to the ter- minus, a couple of hundred yards from head-quarters, and g-ot into the wagons, which proceeded down the incline towards Balaklava at a moderate speed. The momeutum was so great that the rate was quickly increased to twenty miles an hour. The breaks became useless, and the director of the train, who behaved very well, managed, with great difficulty, to check the wagons, but the concussion was so great that one of them was broken, and many men were pitched out and severely injured. One man was killed on the spot, and several will have to undergo surgical operations. April 7. The ravages of the small-pox in the fleet have not decreased. The "St. Jean d'Acre" has been obliged to go into quarantine, and has landed her crew near Kamiesch, with many cases of the malady among them. Several men-of-war have put to sea to cruise for a time. We have now nearly completed our fourth parallel. It is within sixty yards of the rilie-pits of the Russians, and it mil speedily be armed with cohorns, which will make the pits too hot to hold the riflemen. A battery has been thrown up for the express purpose of clearing the ground of pits in front of the Redan and Round Tower, and it is expected to open this evening. The enemy having found out the value of the Mamelon, are working at it night and day, though they must suffer greatly from our fire. The harbour is now tolerably clear ; indeed there are fewer ships in it than I remember for many months past. Sickness is diminish- ing. Instead of sending down 1200 men a-week to Scutari, we now despatch, on an average, 250. THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. CHAPTER LXIX. The batteries open fire on Sebastopol — Heavy storm — The enemy taken by surprise — Pictorial effect at daybreak — The Kussians commence a tremen- dous cannonade — Damage to their works — General Bizot wounded — Energy of the Russians — Jack Tar's excessive courage — Turkish reinforcements — Picturesque and warlike appearance of the Moslems. Camp of Fourth Division, Easter Monday, April 9. This morning at daybreak the allied batteries simultaneously opened fire on the defences of Sebastopol. It is now four o'clock in the afternoon, and the rain, which began to fall last night, is descending in torrents, accompanied by a high breeze of wind. So thick is the atmosphere, that even the flashes of the guns are invisible, and the gunners must be firing by guesswork at the flashes of the batteries, as it is impossible to see more than a few yards in advance. A driving sheet of rain and a Black Sea fog D D 2 404 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. •whirl over the whole camp, which has already resumed the miser- able aspect so well known to ns of j'ore. Tents have been blown down, the mud has already become several inches deep, and the ground, as far as it is visible, looks like a black lake, studded -with innumerable pools of dun-colom-ed 'water. 1 am now seated in a hut, into which the storm and the rain drive at every gust. Man or beast could not remain without some shelter on such a day as this. All around us there is a dense veil of grey vapour, sweeping over the ground and concealing from sight the tents which are close to our camp. The tiring has slackened considerably since twelve o'clock. It is not easy, so murky is the sky and so strong the wind, to see the Hashes or hear the report of the Russian guns or of the French cannon on either flank, though the hut is within a couple of hundred yards of the enemy's range ; but "we can tell that our batteries in front are thundering away continuously in irregular bui'sts, and are liring some twenty-live or thirty shots per minute. Early in the morning they were tiring from seventy to eighty shots per minute, but, as it is no longer necessary to press our gunners, they have reduced the rate of lire. From the time our batteries opened till three o'clock the wind Hew irom S. and W., and was right in the back of our artillerj-men, so that the smoke from their guns was carried away towards the enemy, and the smoke from the Russian embrasures was driven back upon the men behind them ; but the wind has now veered round more to the westward, and at times takes a little northing, so that the smoke is swept away prettj^ equally from both lines of batteries towards Inkermann. The enemy were taken completely by siu'prise when we opened fire. They replied, indeed, pretty briskly at once to the i'rench lire on our left, and the Flagstaff liattery and works were manned immediately. The Garden Battery and Redan Eatterj' came into play soon after we opened tire, but some time elapsed before the Round Tower works or the Mamelon answered, and for half an hour their guns were Aveaklj' handled. The Inkermann and Careening Bay batteries were almost silent for three quarters of an hour before they answered the French batteries on our right. The knolls and ridges in front of the camp, •which have hitherto been crowded whenever there was a sharp tire •with spectators, are now utterly deserted — not a human creature is out, except the shivering camp sentinels and the men wlio arc engaged in the batteries. In the course of Saturday, General Canrobert and General Bos- quet visited Lord Raglan at his quarters, and had a lengthened interview of two or tlirce hours with his Lordsliij). At the conclu- sion of the conference Lord Raglan, attended by Sir George iJrowu, rode out by the camps of tlie ;]rd, 4ih, 2nd, and Light Divisions, and was warmly cheered by the men, many of whom liad turned out of their tents to view the races of the 3rd Division, wliich were marked, unfortunately, by severe accidents to Captain Morris, R.E., and Captain Shilfner. ilis Lordship's appearance is now well known to the troops, and lie is always received Avith enthusiasm in the camps. On (Saturday great exertions were made to complete platforms, AN UXCOMFOKTABLE RIDE. 405 mount g:uns, and ^ot up ammunition, and it ^vas evident that Lord Kaglan was anxious to see to the final arrangements for an attack, supposing it to take place on Monday, for he inquired during his inspection into many matters connected with the disposition of the troops and the armament of the batteries. A sharp fusillade took place in the night between the French outposts and the Russians. The neighbourhood of Balaklava was narrowly watched, and the piequets were strengthened on the plain at night, as information had been received that an attack was likely; but the night passed quietly away. On Easter Sunday the French had grand mass in each of their camps, with all the pomp of military bands, and Divine service was performed, as usual, in each of the English divisions. Our sailors brought up two large guns to the front with great alacrity, but I believe it was not found possible to assign a position for them. Late in the day, hearing that there was nothing likely to take place on Monday, I left the front, and returned to Balaklava ; but in the course of the evening I received an intimation at my quarters that lire would open at daybreak the following morning. It was then black as Erebus, and raining and blowing with violence ; but there was no choice for it b\it to take to the saddle again, and try to make one's way to the front. Xo one who has not tried it can fancy what work it is to hnd one's way through a widely-spread camp over a difficult country in a pitch-dark night. Each tent and each camp is so much alike that it is impossible to discriminate between it and its fellow ; and all the landmarks, so familiar in the daytime, are lost in one dead level of blackness. So it was that my two companions and myself, after stumbling into holes and out of them — after forcing our horses into l\u'kish lines and French lines, found ourselves, after three hours' ride, very far indeed from our destination in the front, and were ^lad to avail ourselves of the hospitality of some friends at the head quarters' camp to stop till dawn, wet and tired as we were. The rain fell incessantly and heavily, and the wind blew with violence all night. At four o'clock on Monday morning a small party, disguised in waterproofs and long boots, left the camp for the front, as it was quite certain that orders had been sent to the batteries to open fire at daybreak. The horses could scarcely get through the sticky black mud into which the hard dry soil had been turned by one night's rain, and, although it was early dawn, it was not possible to see a man tweutj'' j-ards oft'. A Scotch mist, mingled with rain, settled down on the whole camp. As we approached the front, there was a profound silence in the camp. Suddenly three guns were heard on the left towards the French lines, and the whole line of our batteries opened at once. The volume of sound was not near so great or so deafening as that of the 17th of October, and the state of the weather ren- dered it quite out of the question to form a notion of the gradual eftect of our fire, so that the most interesting portion of the day's proceedings was lost. Just as the cannonade opened the sailors came streaming over the hiUs from the batteries, where they had been relieved, and a few men turned out of the huts in the 3rd Division to the front, evidently very much astonished at the sudden opening of the fire. On C'athcart's HiU only one or two officers 40G THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. were yisihle, and Sir John Campbell and an aid-de-eamp on foot in front of the General's tent watching the fire. The rain then. descended in torrents, and, as there was nothing to be seen, heard, or learnt, every one M'ithdrew to shelter after a long and hopeless struggle with the weather. (Lionel Dacres was the only officer I saw out in front of Cathcart's Hill when I went np, with the excep- tion of Sir John Campbell. General Jones visited the batteries during the iirc, and Lord llaglan, I presume, stationed himself at his favourite place, which it would be hazardous to mention, lest the siege might last longer than we hope, whence he can get a fair view of almost the whole of the batteries in fine weather. The storm was so heavy that scarcely a soul stirred out all day. It was dark almost as night. About 5 o'clock the suu slowly descended into a rift in the dark grey pall which covered the sky, and cast a pale yellow slice of light, barred here and there by columns of rain and masses of curling vapour, across the line of batteries. The outlines of the town, faintly rendered through the mists of smoke and rain, seemed quivering inside the circling lines of fire around and from them, but they were the same familiar outlines so well known to us for the last seven months — the same green cupola and roofs, and long streets and ruined suburbs, the same dockyard buildings, and dark trenches and bat- teries. The little details of ruin and destruction which must have taken place after to-day's fire could not be ascertained. The eye of painter never rested on a more extraordinary effect, and his art alone could have rendered justice to the scene which shone out on us for a moment, as the sickly sun, flattened out, as it were, between bars of cloud and rain, seemed to have forced its way through the leaden sky to cast one straightened look on the conflict which raged below. The plateau beneath our standing-place was lighted up by incessant flashes of light, and long trails of white smoke streamed across it, spirting up in tliick masses, tinged with fire, for a mo- ment, till they were whirled way in broader volumes by the wind. In the deep glow of the parting gleam of sunset the only image suggested to me calculated to convey the actual eff'ect of the fire of the batteries to our friends at home was a vision of the Potteries' district as it is seen at night, all fervid with fire and pillars of smoke, out of the windows of an express train. This glimpse of the batteries, brief though it was, proved extremely satisfactory. On the extreme left the French batteries were firing with energy on the long line of batteries in front of the loopholed wall, and on the Flagstafl' and Garden Batteries, which were replying very faintly and feebly by one or two scattered guns. Our left attack (Greenhill or Chapman's Batteries), working with vigour and pre- cision, was principally directing its fire against the Itedan, which only answered by five or six guns, which did not appear to be re- markably well served or aimed. Our right attack (Gordon's Bat- teries), aided by the advanced battery and by the French redoubts, had silenced the Mamelon and fired some three or four shots for every one from the Bound Tower, and the Bussian battei'ies to the right of the Mamelon were voiceless. So much could be seen, when rain and mist set in once more, and shut out all from view, save one faint blear of yellowish haze to the west. THE RUSSIANS RECOVER THEIR SURPRISE. 407 Half-past 1 1 o'clock, p.m. The rain has ceased and the night is fine. A tremendous can- nonade has rao:ed alon* our lines since 6 o'clock, to which the enemy reply feehlj'. Great quantities of shells have heen thrown into the place within the last four hours. Some trifling' affairs of advanced posts have taken place in the ravines, but as yet there is no appearance of a strong sortie. Tuesday, April 10. It was nearly noon before the Russians recovered their surprise and manned the whole of their guns, and we gained a decided ad- vantage by the secrecy with which the day of opening tire was kept, and by the excellence of our arrangements. In the extreme right Inkermann Battery, manned by our artillerymen, the guns, in consequence of a message from our allies that they were suffering from our silence, were opened before all was quite in readiness, and the result was that the enemy inflicted some damage on us in con- sequence of theii' being able to concentrate their tire before it was taken off by the other batteries. The casualties in the tirst day's cannonade on our side were not numerous. In the Naval Brigade one most excellent and zealous young officer. Lieutenant Twyford, of the " London," lost his life. He was killed on the spot, and a piece of stone knocked up by the same shot struck Lord John Hay on the face, cut his mouth, and knocked two of his teeth down his throat, besides wounding him in the shoulder. The cannonade on both sides commenced at dawn to-day, and it was apparent that the Russians had quite recovered from the sur- prise of the preceding day, for they opened with tremendous salvoes from their batteries. Our gunners " gave them as good as they got," and soon silenced several of their most troublesome guns. The practice from the left of the left attack and from the riglit of the right attack, which was more under observation than other parts of our works, was admirable, and at every shot the earth was knocked up out of the enemy's parapets and embrasures. Our shell practice is not so good as it might be, all on account of bad fusees. If the fusee burns properly, the direction and flight of the shells are unerring, but a large proportion burst in the air. Some of our fusees were made in 1802 and subsequently. I have heard of some belonging to the last century, but they are not the least re- liable, and some of very recent manufacture have turned out the worst of all. At twelve o'clock at noon the fire slackened. The French had silenced eight or nine of the guns of the Bastion du Mat (Flagstaff), and had inflicted great damage on the outworks and on the buildings inside the batteries in the western tower. They had also almost shut up the Inkermann Batteries. On our side we had silenced half the guns in the Redan and Round Tower, and had in conjunction with the French left the Mamelon only one out of seven guns to reply to us, but the Garden Battery, the Road Battery, and the Barrack Battery were comparatively uninjiu-ed, and kept up a brisk flre against us aU day. Our guns were restricted to eight shots an hour each. The sea- service mortars tired only once in every thirty minutes. The Russians, with great sangfroid, repaired the batteries outside under 408 THE SECOXD BOMBAEDMENT. iire, and appear to have acquired confidence and courage, but their fire was by no means so brisk as it was when the sieg'e commenced last year. On our side six guns were disabled, including- one large mortar. From two till four o'clock the firing was very heavy on both sides. It then slackened for half an hour, and at thirty minutes past four it recoinmenced, and there was one continuous roar of cannon and mortars till darkness set in. Then the French began_ to throw in shells by five and six at a time, and discharged quantities of rockets into the town, and our mortars kept up a steady fire at the Redan and Mamelon till daybreak. His Excel- lency Omar Pasha visited Lord liaglan to-day, and a council of war took place at our head-quarters, at which the French generals assisted. The day was dark, and drizzling mists fell at intervals ; in the early morning it rained heavily. IVcdnesdwj, Ajn'il 11. The expectation which the outsiders entertained that "the fleet would go in" this morning, has not been realized. At daybreak I was up at Cathcart's Hill to witness the opening of our fire, and Avith some hope that I might see, too, the first broadsides of our wooden walls. It was a thick morning, and the view was obscured by vapours and drizzling rain, but the dark hulls and rigging of the steamers and line-of-battle ships were visible through the mist ; and, though clouds of steam weie fiying from the funnel-pipes, it was quite evident that the fleet were only oft" the port, and had no intention of taking part in the bombardment. Only one otficer, Captain Norcott, of the Rifle Brigade, was up at that part of the front which is close to the lines of his regiment, and a few stragglers had crept out of the adjoining tents to look at the town and its long lines of battery. Through the grey light the flashes of the guns lighted up the embrasures, and the shot cleft the air with a dull, hoarse roar, and struck with a heavy throb into the earthworks. Our shells were bursting right into and over the Mamelon, which the French were also plying from their luker- manu batteries. The. Round Tower now and then iired one of the three or four heavy guns which are placed in the west angle works, but the Redan and Garden batteries were worked Avith vigour. On the left the whole of the outlines of the town and of the_ French batteries were obscured by the smoke from the guns, which hung in heavy white wreaths on the ground. Tlie fire was very heavy, and the riflemen in front "of the batteries ke])t up a sharp fusillade on the embrasures, which was sometimes aiulible in the lulls of the cannonade. It was tolerably evident that the Rus- sians liad more than recovered from their surprise, and that they had laboured to recover the ground they had lost with all their might._ Their batteries Avere fully manned; and their iire, if not so precise as our oWn, was very quick. They occasionally resorted to their old ]n'actico of firing oft' six or seven guns in a salvo — a method also adopted by the French occasionally. As the rain set in again soon alter six o'clock nothing more Wiis to be seen, and we returned to our tents. The- cannonade continued all day uninter- ruptedly, but irregularly, and as soon astlie rain ceased and tin; bat- teries were visible, I returned t(i Catlicart's Hill. I could not see that any marked change had been made in the profile of the enemy 's works. GENERAL BIZOT WOUNDED. 400 Several of tlie embrasures in tlic TJcdan had been destroyed, and the Round ToM'er works were a good deal " knocked about ;" but there was no great reduction in the weight of the enemy's tire. The allied iieet was quietly stationed to the south of the Quarantine forts. Their presence tliere had, however, the effect of drawing otf a num- ber of the Russian gunners, for the sea batteries on the north and south sides were all manned, and we could see the artillerymen and sailors inside the parapets standing by their guns. Large reserves of infantry were drawn up near the north forts, and the corps over Inkermaun were under arms. The Russians were seen carrying their wounded across to the north side in boats, and it is probable tliey also get the relief for the batteries in the same way, and that they keep the bulk of their magazines in the forts at the other side of the roads. General Bizot received a very severe and dangerous wound to-day. He was struck by a ritle ball under the ear, and it tore right across his face and lodged close to his eye in the temple at the opposite side. Some hopes are entertained that his life will be saved. Xo. 2 battery, left attack, suffered severely to-day from the heavy tire directed against it, and the Barrack Battery proved very troublesome, but its tire was not so mischievous as that of the Garden Battery. A strange and almost unexam- pled accident occurred in one of our batteries. A 13-inch mortar, with a moderate charge and not over-heated, burst on being tired, and flew into two pieces, splitting up longitudinally. One of the huge masses was thrown thirty yards to the right, and another a great distance to the left, and yet, wonderful to relate, though the fragments flew along tlie traverses and parapet, not one person was killed or wounded. AVe were less fortunate in the case of the Lan- caster gun, which was struck by a shot and knocked to pieces, killing and wounding severely six men. Several engineer officers to whom I have spoken, while expressing regret at the accident, have declared their satisfaction at getting rid of the gun, in which, they could place no confidence, on account of its wild and uncer- tain firing. Omar Pasha visited Lord Raglan again to-day, and there Avas another council of war or conference, at which General Canrobert and General Bosquet were present. Lord Raglan visits the front every day, and spends some time examining the effects of the fire ; and Sir John M'Neil, Colonel Tulloh, General Pennefather, and Sir George Brown, are frequently visible among the spectators on the advanced mounds commanding a view of the siege operations. Everj' one who can, gets away, however, for a few hours, and gazes on this extraordinary spectacle from the ridges over Sebastopol. Up to to-day, the Xaval Brigade has lost forty men, killed and wounded. The firing this afternoon was extremely heavy and irregular on the part of the Russians. In the early part of the day, an electric telegraph was sent up to head-quarters to say that a body of Russians were marching from the heights of ]tlackenzie's farm towards Tcliorgoun, but no one seems to know what has become of them. We hear that the small- pox in the lleet is very much better. The French poured incessant volleys of shells into the western part of the town after dark, and we aided them with bombs from the mortars into the enemy's batteries. 410 THE SECOND BOMBAEDMENT. April 12. At dawn this morning, tlie allied batteries and the Russians re- commenced their terrible combat as usual, and it was evident that the encmj' had exerted themselves greatly to repair damages during the night, and that they had replaced four or five damaged gixns, mended broken embrasures and injured parapets, and were, in fact, nearly as ready to meet our lire as they had been at any time for the last six months. On our side, foiu' of the guns for the advanced parallel, which for the previous two nights we had failed to get into position, were at last brought down after dark, and it is expected that material results will be produced by their lire when they are in position. Broken platforms were removed and damaged guns replaced by others. The morning was hazy, and the rain fell at times, but towards the afternoon the weather cleared up again, and the heights were crowded with spectators, many of whom were Turkish officers recently arrived from Eupatoria. An English lady on horseback, who rode up to Cathcart's Hill, attracted nearly as much attention from these gentlemen as the cannonade. Our batteries throughout the day fired steadily, and if their cannonade was less imposing in appearance than when they sent forth salvoes and irregular bursts of lire and smoke, it was probably more effective. Orders were sent to all the batteries to restrict the firing to 120 rounds per gun each day. The vivacity of the sailors' bat- teries has been diminished by thatorder, but their practiceis splendid, and the enemy have directed their heaviest fire on them in reply. The 13-inch mortar batteryfires parsimoniously one round per mortar every thirty minutes, but it requires a long time to cool the great mass of iron heated by the explosion of 12lb. or 16lb. of powder. The English battery on the right at Inkermann has been very well served, and has caused great damage to the enemy, and the Round Tower has been almost shut up ; nor did the Mamelon fire a shot for the four hours I was watching it. The portion of the town op- posite the French is a heap of ruins. The incessant shelling at night has done much mischief to the private houses. Our allies fire to-day with great energy. Their Inkermann and Teheruaya batteries are admirably served, and they have not only kept down the firing of the Mamelon, aided by Gordon's Battery, but they have also answered the batteries on the north side of the harbour, the Inkermann Cave Batteries, and have silenced for the present the Lighthouse Battery No. 2. Our fire from Gordon's Battery and its advanced works has swept away the Rific-pits, has damaged some six or seven guns in the Rouud Tower, and has kept under the fire from one face of the Redan, while the fire from Chapman's Battery has been very successful against the Redan, the Barrack Battery, the Road Battery, and the Garden Battery. The French on th(! left have done great mischief to the Garden Battery also, and their fire has crushed the guns of the Flagstaff' Battery {liat- ierie the Mat) comiiletely, but they suffer coUsiderably from the Quarantine Fort and its outworks, and horn the Dockyard Har- bour Battery. "VVe have (]uite destroyed tlie snuiU but heavily-armed and destructive battery caUed that of "Careening Bay," recently constnicled by the Russians ; but of course we have sustained con- siderable losses in a contest of artillery waged with a skilfid and determined enemy. DESTRUCTIVE FIRE OF THE RUSSIANS. 411 The cannonade has never ceased all day, but it is not so heavy on the whole as it has been for the three previous days. At fifty minutes past four the batteries relaxed firing, but they renewed it at six, and the lire was very severe till nightfall, when the bombard- ment commenced and lasted till daybreak. Up to this date we have barely lost 100 men in killed and wounded, and we can see that the liussians suffer frightfully, judging by the wounded they send across to the north side. Friday Morning, April IS. At four o'clock, a.m., the Eussians opened a powerful and de- structive lire on our six-gun advanced battery, which was in a very imperfect state, and by concentrating the fire of twenty guns on it, dismounted some of the pieces and injured the works severely, so as to render the battery useless for the day. Our working party only succeeded in getting one gun into the new battery tliis morn- ing, owing to causes I have already mentioned, although they worked till it was nearly dawn. Our mules were lost, fifty of them at least, by the Land Transport Corps, returning from the trenches last night, as the officers could not find their way, and the animals got loose. On every side I hear loud complaints against the ram- rods of the Enfield rifies, or rather against the mode in which they are fixed in the weapon. The least rain or damp so swells the wooden stock into which the steel ramrod runs, that it is impos- sible to draw the latter, and it has been also said that the locks are very apt to become wood-bound, in which state, of course, they wall not act. Friday Noon. The Sailors' Brigade have again sufiered very severely. Although they only work thirty-five guns in the various batteries, they have lost more men than all our siege train-working and covering parties put together, and up to half-past three o'clock they had had seventy- three men killed and wounded, two officers killed, one wounded, and two or three contused. The sailors in Xo. 2 Batter\% in Chap- man's attack, silenced three of the best guns in the iledan yester- day, but the Russians replaced them during the day, and actually opened fire at five p.m. from the very embrasures which had been knocked to pieces. The reports of injury done to our batteries have been greatlj- exaggerated. In addition to the 13-inch mortar, which was burst, and the Lancaster destroyed by a shot, there have been only four guns disabled by the enemy's fire, and one of our 9-pounders, directed against the Rifle-pits, has been " dinted" by a shot. One of our 24-pounders was burst by a shot which entered right at the muzzle as the gun was being discharged. Another gun was struck by a shot in the muzzle, split up to the trunnions, the ball then sprung up into the air, and, falling at the breech, knocked oflfthe button. There are only three gims firing from the Round Tower this morning, but the enemy has mounted a heavy gun in the Mamelon, at which we are at present directing our fire. The Redan is very much damaged on the right face and front already, and three of the embrasures, at least, are knocked to pieces. It is impossible to deny to the Russian engineers great credit for the coolness with which they set about repairing damages under lire ; but words cannot do more than justice to the exertions 412 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. of our own men, and to the Engineer officers and Sappers engag'ed iu this most perilous duty. When an embrasure is struck and injured, it is the business of the Sappers to get up into the vacant space and repair the damage, removing the gabions, &c., under hre, and without the least cover from shot, shell, or riflemen. Our Engineer officers have frequently set the example to their men in exposing themselves when not called upon to do so, and I believe that, as yet, there has not been a single instance iu which a gun has been silent owing to damage done to an embrasure. Poor Jack pays the penalty of his excessive courage in the loss which he sustains. The sailors will not keep under cover. When they tii'c a gun they crowd about the embrasures and get upon the parapets to watch the effect of the shot, and the result is that they are exposed to many more casualties than the artillerymen, who are kept under cover by tlieir officers. Yesterday, under the very heat of the fire, a Russian walked through one of the embrasures of the Round Tower, coolly descended the parapet, took a view of the profile of the work, and sauntered back again — -a piece of bravado which very nearly cost him his life, as a round shot struck within a yard of him, and a shell burst near the embrasure as he re-entered it. Tmo divisions of Turkish Infantrj- have just marched from Kamiesch, past the head-quarters' camp, towards Balaklava. They mustered about 15,000 men, and finer young fellows than some of the soldiers of the crack regiments I never saw. Very few of the privates wore decorations or medals, but many of the officers had them, and had evidently seen service against the Muscovite. They had had a long march, and their sandal shoon afforded sorry pro- tection against the stony ground ; and yet it Avas astonishing that so few men fell out of the ranks or straggled behind. One regiment had a good brass band, which almost alarmed the by- standers bj' striking up a quick step (waltz) as they marched past, and playing it in very excellent style, but the majority of the regi- ments wei'e preceded by musicians with drums, fifes, and semi- circular thin brass tubes, with wide mouths, such as those which may have tumbled the walls of Jericho, or are seen on the sculp- tured monuments of primoival kings. The colonel and his two majors rode at the head of each regiment, richlj^ dressed, on small but spirited horses, covered with rich saddle-cloths, and followed by pipe-bearers and servants. The mules, with the tents, marched on the right — the artillery marched on the left. The two batteries I saw consisted each of foiu" 24lb. brass howitzers, and two 9lb. brass field-pieces, and the carriages and horses were in a very ser- viceable state. Eachguu was drawn by six horses. The ammunition boxes Avere rather coarse and heavy. The baggage aninuils of the division marched in the rear, and the regiments marclud in columns of companies three deep, each company on an average with a front of twenty rank and file. One of the regiments had Alinie rifles of English make, the majority, however, were only armed with fiint firelocks, but they were very clean and briglit. They all dis])layed rich standards, blazing with cLjth of gold, and many-coloured flags Avitli the crescent and star embroidered on them. All the men carried their blankets, squares of carpet for prayer and sitting xijion, and cooking utensils, and their packs were of various sizes CHANCES OF AX ASSAULT. 413 and substances. As tliey marclied alons? in the sunlight over the undulating ground, they presented a very picturesque and warlike spectacle, the stem reality of which was enhanced by the thunder of the guns at Sebastopol, and the smoke-wreaths from shells bursting high in the air. On ascending the range of hills towards Balaklava, they must have been seen by the Russian army over the Tchernaya, and by the Cossacks oa Canrobert's Hill. CHAPTER LXX. Chances of an assault — Desperate conflict between the French and Eussians — Particulars of the sortie — Gallantry of the French — Service of the fleet — Explosion of French mines — The fire of the batteries diminishes — Anti- cipations of an assault. Camp of Fouktu DmsiON, Friday, April 13. Up to the present moment our batteries have succeeded in establishing a superiority of fire over the Eussians, but it is not very decided, and the silence of the enemy's guns may arise, in some measure, from want of ammunition, or from confidence in the strength of their earthworks. It would seem, indeed, as if our fire was almost thrown away on the enormous mounds of earth cast up at the Eedan and before the Eouud Tower and "W^estern Batteries. I am forcibly reminded to-day of the old simile of the butt at Woolwich, whicli I was compelled to resort to six months ago to illustrate the effects of our artillery on the earthworks of Sebastopol. The whole of the iparapets of the Bedan and E-ound Tower are jagged and pitted with holes several feet deep, where the shot have sunk, the sharp angles of the embrasm'es are knocked away, and the ahattis in front is cou- siderablj^ damaged here and there, but the real strength of the place is imimpaired; and, as long as the Eussians can find new guns, fresh suppHes of ammunition, and men to fight the batteries, we are not one inch nearer to the town than we were iu last October, so long as we rely alone on the fire of our artillery to make us masters of it. There are great diflerences of opinion among those officers to whom I have si)oken respecting the chances of an assault, but there can be little doubt but that an attack on the Eound Tower, the Mamelon, and the two earthworks on the south side of lukermann, whicli are called by the French the batteries 1 Avril and 2 A^Tll, would be attended with success, if made with sufficient force, although the loss of life would be very considerable until' guns could be got up to reply to the fire of the north forts, the shipping, and the bastion face of the Eedan. Far be it from me to arrogate to mj^self the smallest military know- ledge, or to pretend to criticize the operations of our generals, but I use the words of many officers when I say that these places are not invulnerable, and that the possession of them would most materially conduce to a successfiil termination of all our labours. It may be that our generals see some surer and less bloody path into Sebastopol. They may well hesitate to sacrifice the gallant fellows who must fall in such an arduous and terrible undertaking 414 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT, as the storming of these positions ; but if Great Britain has set her heart on the reduction of the stronghold which has ah-eady cost her so much precious blood and treasui-e, she must be content to pay the price to the last farthing. Hitherto our army has scarcely been in a position to undertake any offensive operation against the enemy outside, but the efficient reinforcement it has received of 20,000 of Omar Pasha's best troops should render our chiefs able to direct a reconnaissance against Baidar, unless an assault is imminent. On Tuesday the enemy received a large convoy of stores. To-day they have received fresh supplies, apparently of ammunition, but there is no appearance of any increase to the army encamped between the Belbek and the Tchernaya. The an-ival of the Turks puts an end to all fear for Balaklava, and the hues may now be held against as many Russians as can be deployed to attack them without the smallest fear of the result. 10 P.M. The batteries have been nearl.y silent since dusk. The fire has now recommenced. There is a smart affair going on between the Rifles and advanced parties in the trenches on our left. Ten Minutes toll, p.m. I had scarcely written the above lines, after having looked out of the hut to listen to the reports, when the roll of volleys of musketry on the left roused me out once more ; and I have just now come back from Cathcart's Hill with the painful impression that our noble allies have sustained a serious check. Five minutes' run brought me to Cathcart's HUl. where numerous groups of officers and men had already assembled. It is a starlight night, but dark, that is, the stars do not light up the deep blue sky sufficiently to enable one to see the guns before us very distinctly, or to trace the outlines of the country. But on our left, it seemed, when the hUl was reached, as though all the constellations in Leaven had settled on the earth, and were twinkling in flashes and flickering tlu'cads of fire in front of the Bussiau lines. The effect of the desperate work which has been going on between the French and the Kussiana can be conipai*ed to nothing that I can think of save a broad street, as seen from a distance, brightly illuminated for some festive occasion, with the Avind i)laying fiercely and irregularly along the fretted gas-pipes. It was quite uidcnown to any of the spectators whether this conflict was the result of a sortie by the enemy or of an assault by the Frencli on th(> Flagstaff Battery and its outworks, and at this moment I am (luite unable to determine the question. That the contest has been fiei'ce and bloody there cannot be the smallest doubt, and as I write the fire has commenced again. Saturdaij, April 14, IMf-paat 12, a.m. Since 11.10 the fight has been raging, and I have returned once more to my den in despair as to its cause. I am now in- clined to thank it was a sortie in the trench, which was unsuc- SORTIE ON THE FRENCH AVORKS. 415 cessful, was renewed, and was finally repidsed victoriously, and with great loss to the enemy. There is now a profound silence — not a gun can be heard, and the horrid din of shot and shell screaming and whistling through the air, the bursts of cannon and bombs, the cheers, and rolling volleys, have aU died away, and the deadly lights have died out and left all the black waste in dark- ness. ^^Tiile the fight lasted the quantities of shell thrown by both sides were prodigious. They might be seen six and eight at a time seaming the sky with their fiery curves, and then burst- ing with a bright red flash which lit up for an instant the smoke, and flashed through it like a beam from the setting sun through a murky cloud. The French threw " bouquets," two. three, and four shells from one mortar in flights at a time, and must have caused fearful havoc in the enemy's lines. At every crashing volley our men used to grow quite excited, and many a " Bono Franceese" ran thi'ough the crowd, but the few Frenchmen who were there talked in subdued and eager tones with a deeper interest in the fate of their gallant comrades than we could feel. Towards the close of the struggle the Russians fired angrj' volleys from their cannon, and threw a multitude of shells into tlie French lines, which were ijaid back with interest. Our men seemed to think it Avas a French attack, and one feUow exclaimed. "Oh! when are we to get a chance?" Another exclaimed, " A\Tien we do. Jack, I hope to the Lord they'll let us go at it by daylight. I like to see my inimy!" The progress of the battle was watched with the most intense anxiety, and many were the speculations and arguments respecting the lines of fii-e — as to whether they were from friend or foe, and as to whieli was wliich, and who were gaining and who were losing. At last with the silence we all dis- persed, and the camp is once more profoimdly quiet, for the reports from the rifle-pits are deadened by the wind. Saturday Kight. The severe and protracted conflict on the left which kept us up on Cathcart's HDl beyond the small hours originated in a very resohite and angry sortie of the Russians from tJie Flagstafl^ bat- teries on the left of the French. At first, the weight of the torrent of armed men which swept out of the enemy's lines bore back the French in the advanced works, where the covering parties are ne- cessarily thin, and many lost their lives by the bayonet; but our gallant allies contested the ground desperately, and, having re- ceived the aid of an inconsiderable reserve, charged the Russians and drove them right into their own lines, to which they fled with such precipitation that the French entered across the parapet along with them and reached their advanced guns, which they could have spiked had the men been provided with the means of doing so. The enemy poured such volleys of musketry, grape, canister, and round shot on our allies that they were obliged to retire to their own works ; and, indeed, no steps had been taken to enable them to secure their hold of the place. As they were retiring under a heavy fire the enemy made another sortie in 416 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. greater streugtli and with more determination and fury than before. A sanguinary fight took place between the works, in which the bayonet, the musket-stock, and the bullet were used in a pell-mell struggle, but the French asserted their supremacy once more, and in spite of the fierce charges of the Russians, in defiance of the stubborn resistance evoked by the cries and ex- ample of the enemy's officers and by repeated cheers, forced them batthng back across tlieir trenches once more, and took possession of a little advanced work, which they held all night, in defiance of the enemy's efforts to dislodge them ])y a vigorous cannonade, to which the allies replied by incessant shells. In order to distract the attention of the enemy and prevent too many of them crowd- ing over to the left of the town General Bosquet sent down word to the men in the trenches on our right to keep up a constant fusillade on the Eussian works. The loss of our allies was, I regret to say, considerable in this brilliant aflair. The report is, that they had sixofficei's and 300 men Jiors de combat, but I believe there were six officers killed and nine officers wounded. The energy and spirit with which the French fought are beyond all praise. This morning our advanced batteries were armed with fourteen guns by a working party under Colonel Smith, 68th Re- giment. They opened with very great efiect at daybreak, and directed so severe a fire against the Eussian batteries throughout the day that they were obliged to concentrate the fire of a con- siderable number of guns upon the two batteries in order to pro- tect themselves from their destructive efiect. We nevertheless mamtained oiu' fire, although the position of our batteries exposed them to considerable damage. The men go to the trenches in high spirits now, as Mr. Tower and Mr. Egcrton, the administrators of the Crimean Army F'und, have obtained permission from the authorities to give each man a pint of beer liefore he starts. I saw a party of 900 men of the Fourth Divi- sion marching down on Saturday i\iglit to the batteries, and I really believe they could not have looked more cheery and plea- sant had they been bound to Greenwich Fair. They were com- fortably covered with waterproof cloaks and leggings, and there was a tremendous fire of fragrant tobacco kept up as they marched ofl^ jauntily and lightly to the smoke, blood, and dirt of the trenches. By a careful and prudent arrangement the men are kept under cover, but the utmost precaution cannot now pi'cvent casualties. The French have kept up a tremendous fire all day. Our batteries are firing with regularity and admirable precision. Tlie Eound Tower and Mamelon fire languidly; the latter, indeed, is all but silent, but the large guns from the re-entering angle of the west face of the former are very well serv(>d and their shot are well aimed. There is a battery opposite the French left, among tlie houses of the to\\ n, whicli annoys our allies consider- ably. However, they are making arrangements which will very speedily silence it, or, at all events, reply to its fire directly. "We have been too often deceived Avhen wo said, " OJi, we are making a battery to silence so and so," to repeat the phi-ase with EXPLOSION OF FRENCH MINES. 417 witli confidence any longer. It sometimes happens that the guns to be silenced get the superiority. The remarkabl.y fine quality of the metal of the llussian guns — in other words, their excellent iron — gives them great advantages by enabling them to fire rapidly and continuously. Besides, many of their troops are under cover in caves, pits, and galleries at the back of the batteries and of the elevated ground on Avliich they are built. Notwithstanding all this, the resolution, strength, indomitable perseverance, and devo- tion of the allies give them the superiority in every kind of contest with the enemy. April 15. His Excellency Omar Pasha, attended by his suite, rode round the rear of our batteries to-day, and Lord Raglan visited the Turkish encampment on the hiUs to the west of the Col de Bala- klava. It appears that our fleet is not quite idle. Every night one Enghsh and, possibly, one French man-of-war runs in and discharges a broadside into the south side of the town. The " Wrangler" was the first, and she is supposed to have done some mischief with her heavy guns. The "Valorous" went in so close that the enemy caught sight of her, and as she discharged her broadside they sent the very first shot slap through her paddle- box, and obliged her to haul off" as well as she could. The bat- teries continue their fire aU day as usual. The effect of this continual pounding is tiresome to a degree beyond aU expression. The most enthusiastic amateur is wearv of a field-day after four hours' firing of the Eoj'al Horse Artillery and a few voUeys of small-arms. What would he be if his t.^Tupanum were exposed to the ceaseless beat of the bm-sts of tremendous ordnance and the dull echoes of tlie bombardment among the hills, mingled with the treble of rifles, which pop, pop, pop for ever, morning, noon, and night, and now have done so for a long week? There is uo quiet in tent or hut. Every fresh roar of the guns, every sudden explosion, sends us running to the hill-top to see what is the matter, or keeps one in an uneasy, anxious state, in which writing is all but impossible. It was stated that the French would explode their mines C/bw- (jades, I believe) this evening. At half-past eight o'clock three pillars of red flame hurtled through the air with an appalling crash from under the batteries of the Flagstaff Bastion, blowing up the parapets and platforms of the outer work, and laying it in ruins. The fom'th and principal mine was not exploded, as it was found to be close to the gallery of a Russian mine, and so far the explo- sion failed, and the French were unable to make such a lodgment as was anticipated; but they rushed in and established themselves in the course of the night in a portion of the outer work, and to the best of my belief they are there at present. The Russians, believing the explosion was the signal for a general assault, ran to their guns, and for an horn* their batteries vomited forth prodi- gious volumes of fire and smoke against our lines from one extremity to the other. The force and fury of their cannonade was astounding, but notwithstanding the length and strength of 418 THE SECOND BOMBAEDMENT. the fire, it caused but liltle damage to the works or to their defenders. General Bizot, -n ho had been wounded by a rifle ball in the face, died in the course of the night. April IG. There was a council at Lord Eaglan's to-day, at which Omar Pasha and the French generals assisted. General Bizot's honoured remains were interred to-day, and Lord Eaglan and tlie principal ofEcers of his staff' assisted at the sad ceremony. The cannonade on both sides was very heavy throughout the day, and as it was calm and fine, the French rocket battery opened in the evening, and fired into the dockyard buildings t\ itli effect. A small fire was observed to break out soon afterwards, and flames were ob- served issumg from the sides of one of the ships late in the even- ing, but it is supposed this was finally extinguished by the evening. A portion of the 10th Hussars landed this morning, and marched over to their camping-ground near Karanyi, between the village and the 4th Dragoons. The men and horses were in excellent condition, and the latter are small, sinewy animals, just the thing for the country and climate. Captain Ducane has returned to Varna, having accomplished the landing of the electric telegraph cable Avith singular success. The railway accumulates more shot and shell at the terminus than our men can carry away. Our fire has been diminished to eighty rounds per gun a-day. Tuesday Morning, Ajiril 17. There is a considerable diminution in the fire of the batteries on both sides this morning. The haze, which lasted aU night, has been dissipated by the sun, and has enabled us to see that things in and about Sevastopol are very much as usual. The suburb opposite the French is reduced to heaps of rubbish, up to the lines of stately houses and ranges of buildings which constitute the Belgravia of Sebastopol. Tuesday Koon. The batteries have commenced firing with greater energy. A Polish deserter has come in, who reports that we missed a golden opportunity last Monday. It appears that the Eussians were api^rised of the landing and march of the Turks, and re- ceived information which led them to belicA^e we were about to attack Liprandi's army. Every available man was sent o\it of Sebastopol on Sunday last, and when we opened fire on Monday morning they had only 8(K>0 men in the place. This accounts for their silence and for their surprise. For two days they were working might and main to get their men back from Liprandi's army to the to\\u again, and they have no■^^' 28,000 men inside. The deserter says "the place is a perfect hcU." Tuesday Is^ght. The fire in the town last night is supposed to have been caused by the ships' broadsides of shells. The French did their best to keep it alivc^ by constant discharges of shell from their Picquet- house Battery. The firing ^as very heavy, almost as vigorous, indeed, as that on the second evening of the bombardment, when A2JTICIPATED ASSAULT. 419 twenty-three sliells were counted twinkling np among tlie stars as they swept down from the French batteries npon tlie Russian works. Last night a working party threw np about fifty yards of trench, with good cover in advance of all our works. Captain King, E.E.. and six or eight men, were wounded by the enemy, and two men were killed. The French have made still greater progress, for, notwithstanding all the efforts of the enemj', they established themselves in the crater formed by the explosion of their mines the other night, and are now in possession of a locus standi within ten yards of the inner trench of the Flagstaff Fort. They accomplished that object with the loss of several men. The Russians exploded a mine which ran close to the gallery of a French mine, but the result is not known. The French, however, cleared a considerable mass of rubbish and gabions a^^ ay by firing a mine under the outer parapet and ditch of the Flagstaff Battery. During the fu'e upon our batteries we have had twenty-five guns more or less damaged. We have masked our 95 cwt. gun for prudential reasons. One 10-inch gun has been smashed to pieces, and the platform of another has been destroyed ; but "ne have silenced a far greater number of the enemy's guns, and our damages wUl be made good in a very short time. A certain number of kiUed and wounded are struck off the strength of our army ever}' day, and the Russians still hold their own, though their losses must be very great and the cannonade TQUst cause considerable injury to the town. It is said there is to be an assaidt "to-morrow;" but at present it would be a hazardous thing to attempt, for the Russians last night showed us that they had plenty of guns and of men to man them aU along their lines, and that as yet they have ample sui)plies of ammunition and round shot. Theu- shells seemed to be used more parsimoniously than they were when oiu' tire first re-opencd. It is little short of mar- vellous how they have kept up their supphes so long ; the stores of Sebastopol cannot be like the widow's cruse, and one woidd think they had been pretty well cleared out by tliis time. Where the Russians get their shot and sheU from it is not easy to deter- mme, and still less can it be ascertained how they carry such prodigious loads of materiel into the city. The French, develop- ing that high degree of miUtary science for which they are cele- brated, use all the means of attack known in modern sieges with considerable success, and advance their works daily towai'ds the enemy, whom they bombard and cannonade and discharge rockets at incessantly. E E 2 420 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. CHAPTEE LXXI. Diminution of the fire — Eeconnainsance by the Turkish troops, assisted by French and English — I'icturesque marcli — Ghastly memorials of the action at Balaklava — Halt at Kamara — Trecipitate flight of the Cossacks — Brilliant feat of arms performed by the 77th Kegiment — Suspension of the bombardment. FonRTii Division Camp, ^pr?7 18. OuE fire is very mitch climinisliod to-day. The Eussian lire is also slackened just in proportion as tlicy find onr giins do not play on them. The Frencli batteries have also relaxed a little in their energies. Even ^vere there no considerations connected ■with the state of the siege and of our supplies of ammunition involved in this diminution of the weight of our bombardment and cannonade, it must be remembered that, unless Avith constant reliefs, four- hour spells at working heavy guns in the heat, dust, and blood of the trenches will wear out the strongest men. At present the men are employed in repairing damages, in replacing injured guns and platforms, &c. There was exceedingly heavy firing last night and this morning. April 19. A reconvaissance was made by a strong division of Turkish troops under the command of his Excellency Omar Pasha, as- sisted by French and English cavalry and artillery, this morning. The i:)articulars of the afiair you will learn from another hand ; but as there was an English force present, I may be allowed to give my own version of w hat took place under my eyes. Late last night, or rather early this morning, orders were sent to the head-quarters of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade and to the C troop of the Eoyal Horse Artillery to be in readiness to turn out at daybreak, and the 10th Hussars (Brigadier-General Parlby, of the Light Ca- valry, in temporary command of the Cavalry Division, during Gene- ral Scarlett's absence) received similar instructions. The Chasseurs d'Afrique and a French rocket troop, for mountain service, ac- companied the recon/iaissai/ce, and rendered excellent service during the day. As the morning was fine and clear, the sight presented by the ti'oops as seen advancing towards Kamara across the i)lain from the heights was very beautiful. So little was known about the recoiniaissdnrc, tliat many oilicers at head- quarters were not a^\are of it till they learnt that Lord Eaglan, attended by a few members of the stJifl", and followed by only six orderlies, had started to overtake the troops. A great number of amateurs, forming clouds of very irregidar cavalry, followed and preceded the expedition. His Excellency the l^islia, who was attended by his stafl", l)y Belirem Paslia (Colonel Cannon), and several 'rurkish odicers of raidi, had the cond'ol of th(> force. The Turks marched in dense columns, bristling with steel, and tlic sunlight (lashing on llie polished barrels oi' their firelocks and on their bayonets, relieved the sombre hue of the mass, for their dark blue uniforms, but little relieved by facings or gay shoulder- straps and cull's, look quite black wheu the nieu are together. GHASTLY MEMORIALS. 421 The Chasseurs d'Afriquo, ehid in light powder-bhie jackets, •with white eartouch beks. aud iu bright red pautalooiis, inouuted on white Arabs, oauglit tlie eye hke a bed of flowers scattered over the plain. Nor did the rich verdure indeed rerxuire any such borrowed beauty, for the soil produces an abundance of wild flowering shrubs and beautiful plants. Daldias, anemones, sweet- brier. M'hitethorii. wild parsley, mint, thyme, sage, asparagus, and a hundi'ed otlier diflerent citizens of the vegetable kingdom s])ring up all over the x^lain. and as the Turkish infantry moved along, thenr feet crushed the sweet flowers, aud the air was filled with delicate odours, wliich overcame the sweltering atmosphere around the cohmms. Rectangular patches of long, rank, I'ich grass, wav- ing high above the more natural green meadow, marked the mounds where the slain of the 25th of October are reposing for ever, and the snorting horse refuses to eat the unwholesome shoots. As the force moved on, evidences of that fatal and glo- rious day became thick and painful. The skeleton of an English dragoou. said to be one of the lloyals, lay still extended on the plaui, with tattered bits of red cloth hanging to the bones of his arms. All the buttons had been cut ofi" the jacket. The man must have fallen early in the day, when the heavy cavalry were close up to Canrobert's Hill and came under the fh*e of the Kussian artillery. There was also a Russian skeleton close at hand in ghastly companionship. The small bullet-skull, round as a can- non-ball, had been picked bare all save the scalp, which was still covered with grisly red locks. Further on, amid fragments of shells and round shot, the body of another Russian seemed start- ing out of the grave, which scarcely covered his lower extremities. The half-decayed skeletons of artillery aud cavalry horses covered with rotting trappings, harness, and saddles, lay as they fell in the agonies of death, or had crumbled away into a debris of bone and skin, and leather straps, cloth, and buckles. From the nu- merous graves, the uncovered bones of the tenants had started up through the soil, as if to appeal against the haste with which they had been buried. With the clasli of drums and the slirill strains of the fife, with the cliamping of bits and ringing of steel, man and horse swept over the remnants of their fellows in all the pride of life. Not the least interesting part of the spectacle was fur- nished by the relics of the Heavy Cavalry Brigade passing over the scene of then* grand encounter with the Muscovite cavalry. Scots Greys and Enniskillens, Royals, 4th Dragoon Guards and 5th Dragoon Guards, all had been there ; and the survivors might well feel proud when they thought of that day. The 10th Hussars were conspicuous for the soldierly and efficient look of the men, and the fine condition of their light sinewy and showy horses. As the force descended into the plain they extended their right flank, and marched towards Kamara, spreading across the ground m front of Canrobert's Hill from No. 2 Turkish Redoul)t u]3 to the slope which leads to the ruined village. A party of Turkish in- fantry followed the cavalry in skirmishing order, and on ap- proaching the village the column immediately in their rear halted, and Bono Johnny proceeded with great actlAritj' to cover 422 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. tlie high •n'oodccl hill which overhangs the village to the right. This they did without resistance, as the few Cossacks in the vil- lage had abandoned it after firing a few straggling shots at the advanced skirmishers. One fellow had been so completely taken by surprise that he left his lance leaning against a wall. An oiEcer of the 71st espied it just as the Cossack was making a bolt back for it. They both rode their best, but the Briton was first, and carried off the lance hi triumph, while the Cos- sack retreated with efl^ective pantomime representing rage and despair. I am told that the Turks discovered a Avretched man armed with a bow and arrows, who said he was a Tchergess, Im-king among the ruins of the village, and that he had a near escape of his hfe, as the Osmanh -oould not believe he was indeed a soldier. In addition to his bow and arrows, he carried a quaint old i^istol, and his coat-breast was wadded with cartridges. I looked into the church, the floor of which had formerly been covered an inch in depth with copper money, thrown there by tlie inhabitants when the expedition first came to Balaklava. The simple faith of the poor people in the protection of their church had not been violated by us, but the Cossacks appeared to have had no such scruples, for not a copeck was to be seen, and the church was bare and desolate, and stripped of every adornment, even to the woodwork. The rest of the place is a heap of ruins, but the Cossacks have burrowed here and there into the stores, and have made sleeping places and stables in the walls of the hoiises. As soon as the Turks on the right had gained the summit of the hill above Kamara, three of the columns advanced and took possession of the ruins, and then drew tip on the slope in front of the church. A few men were sent further on towards Baidar, but could see no enemy, and they contented themselves Mith burning a building which the Cossacks had left standing, the smoke from which led some of us to believe that a little skirmish was going on among the hills. Meantime the great bulk of the force, leaving three columns halted at Kamara, marched on past Canrobert's Hill, the sides of which are covered with the wigwams of the Eussians — some recent, others those M'hich were partially burnt when Liprandi retired last year. They i^assed by the old Turkish redoubts Nos. 1 and 2, towards a A-ery steep and rocky conical hill covered \\ ith loose stones, near the top of wjiicli the Eussians threw'up a wall of rubbish about 2^ f(>et higli. A group of Cossacks and some Eussian officers had ass(>mbled on the top of this hill to examine our strengtli and watch our movements. As the Turkish skirmishers advanced, the French rocket troop accompanied tliem. 1'hc Turks ascended the hill with ardour and witli great agility, firing their ])ieces as they advanced, to wliich the Cossacks replied by a ])etty fusillade. Suddenly an airli of thick white smoke rises from the ground with a fierce, hissing, rushing noise, and throws itself like a great snake towards the crest of the hill; as it files oin\ard the smoke disappears, and Ihe fiery trail is lost, but in a second, a ]nifl' of smoke bursts out wit ha slight explosion on the hill top, and the Cossacks and ]\ussians disa])])ear with precipitation, In fact, the French hail begun their rocket BRILLI^VNT FEAT OF ARMS. 423 practice with great accuracy and success. jSTotking can be better for suck Mork as lliis than these light rocket troops. The apparatus is simple and portable — a few mules, with panniers on each side, carry the whole of the tubes, eases, sticks, fusees, &c., and the effect of rockets, though imcertaiu, is very great, especially against irregular and ill-disciplined cavahy. The skirmishers now crowned this hill also, and the generals and officers of the staff, and numerous idlers and amateurs, followed them. The Russians rode rapidly down the hillside, and crossed the Tchernaj^a by the bridge and at one or two fords near Tchor- goun. Omar Pasha, Lord Eaglan, and the French generals then spent some time in survej'ing the coimtry, whde the troops were halted in the rear, the artillery and cavalry first, suj)ported by four battahous of Egyptians. At two o'clock the reconnaissance was over, and the troops slowly retired to the camp, the skir- mishers of the French cavalry being followed by the Cossacks at a iJrudent distance, and exchanging long shots with them from time to time. Altogether, the reconnaissance was a most welcome and delightful interlude in the dull, monotonous "performances" of the siege. Every one felt as if he had beaten the Cossacks and got out of prison at last, and I never saw more cheering, joyous faces at a cover side than were to be seen at Canrobert's Hill. It was a fillip to our spirits to get a gallop across the greensward once more, and to escape from the hateful feeling of constraint and confinement which bores us to death in the camp. April 20. Last night a very gallant and brilUant little feat of arms, at- tended, I regret to say, by severe loss, was performed by the 77th !Regiment in front of our right attack. There is nothing more remarkable in the active operations of this siege than the import- ance of the part played by the sharpshooters placed in those rifle pits which have been dug by the enemy, and which were con- structed with great skdl and daring, and have been defended with vigour and resolution. The pits now constructed are complete little batteries for riflemen, and the fire from one well established within 600 or 700 yards of a batterj^ of ordnance, is sufficient to silence the guns and keep the gunners from going near the em- brasures. In front of the Redan, opposite our right attack, the Russians estabhshed some capacious j)its, from which they annoyed us considerably, particularly from the two nearest to us on the left-hand side. Round shot and shell had several times forced the Russians to bolt across the open ground to then* bat- teries, but at night they repaired damages and were back again as busy as ever in the morning. Our advanced battery woidd have been gi-eatly harassed by this fire when it opened, and it was resolved to take the two pits, to hold that which was found most tenable, and to destroj' the other. That seiwice was effected last night. About eight o'clock the party of the 77tli, under Lieu- tenant-Colonel Egerton, supported by a v\ iug of the 33rd, imder Lieutenant-Colonel Mundy, moved down the traverses tow ards the rifle pits. The night was dark and windy, but the Russian sentries perceived the approach of our men, and a brisk fii-e was 424 THE SECOND BOMBAKDMENT. at once opened on tliem by tlie enemy, to which the troops scarcely replied, for, firing a terrible volley, they rushed upon the enemy with the bayonet, and, after a short but desperate struggle, drove them out of the two pits and up the slope behind them. Once in the pits, the engineei-s, officers, and sappers and miners set to work to strengthen the defences, and threw iip a gabionnade in front, and with great coolness and courage proceeded to connect the trench of the nearest of the rifle pits with our advanced sap. The enemy opened an exceedingly^ heavy fire of round, grape, and shell upon them, and the Russian sharpshooters from the parapets of the batteries, and from the broken ground behind the abattis, kept up a very severe fusdlade ; but the working party continued at their work in defiance of the storm of shot which tore over them ; and our men remained in possession of the larger of the pits under the trying circumstances I liavc mentioned without any decided attempt being made to turn them out. The General of the day of tlie right attack telegraphed to head-quarters that our troops had gained the pits, and he received directions in reply from Major-General Jones to keep them at all hazards. At two o'clock in the morning a strong column of Russians, certainly double the strength of our men, advanced against the pits, and the combat was renewed. The English troops fought with " the immovable solidity" for which, in the opinion of our allies they are so celebrated. The enemy charged them with the bayonet, but they were met by courage more cool and by arras more nervous than their own, and by the bayonet they were thrust back again and again, and at its point they were driven up to their batteries once more. It was while setting an example of conspicuous bravery to his men that Colonel Egerton fell mortally wounded. The rifle pit is now in our hands, and a smart fire is kept up from it. Its fire is most serviceable, not only against the embrasures of the Eedan, but in reducing and disturbing the fire of the Eus- eian rifle pits on its flank. Up to Friday night the Sailor's Brigade had lost 135 killed and wounded ; the Royal Artillery and Royal Sappers and Miners had had five killed and twenty-three wounded ; the Infantry had had about sixty casualties. The French are said to lose nearly 100 men every night ; in fact, their engineer ofiicers are reported to say they have now got too close to the town defences. Jpril 2 1 . The advanced rifle pit was taken this morning by the English troops in the right attack after a feeble resistance from the Rus- sian infantry, but we were exposed to loss from the fire of tlie guns in the Redan, and the 41st Regiment had fifteen men killed and wounded in the fire which the Russians o]iened ui)on us yesterday evening. The pit Mas levelled, lilled in willi earth, and the men then retired. The French, in extending Ihcir lodgment last night, had to overcome a very vigorous opposition, and sufl'ered con- siderably from the fire of tlie enemy's batteries inside the town, but they persisted, and have now fairly established themselves on the flanks of the Flagstafi". SUSPEKSIOX OF THE BOMBARDMENT. 425 There was a skirmish, between the Cossacks and the Turks in the plain this morning. April 21. The troops were imdcr arms ere daybreak, and marclied down into the phiiu. General Veuoy's brigade of General Bosquet's division had their breakfasts at half-past three o'clock a.m., but were not called upon to march. The English cavalry and the artillery, and six battalions of Tiu-kish infantry and two battalions of French infantrj^ advanced about a mile across the low ground outside tlie lines towards Kamara and Tchorgoun, halted, and then came back again. The weather is beautifully fine ; but I regret to state that t.^'phoid fevers have become prevalent. On the whole, however, the health of the troops is in a satisfactory state. Every exertion is being made to bring iip guns to the trenches. Within the last few days eight heavy 8-inch guns and 32-pouuders have been conveyed to the front from the wharfs. Balaklava is now becoming clean, but rather higli in odour. The tank and the washing-houses made, by Colonel Harding's dii'ections, at the extremity of the harbour, have been found extremely useful. Lord llaglan has visited the trenches and batteries frequently" of late, and General Jones never misses an opportunity of doing so. The Eussians are busily engaged in strengthening their works on the north side, and in making new ones all along the plateau on the north-east and east of Sebastopol. Our firing has now been reduced till further orders to thirty rounds per gun, and the bombardment is nearly suspended, partly from want of fusees and partly from considerations of a military character wliich have weight in the councils of our generals. The French still continue to cannonade with energy, and to push on their saps on the extreme right and left of our position with vigour and considerable success ; and it has been satisfactorily ascertained that the Eussians have a very insignificant force at Tchorgoun, though their position is extremel}^ strong, and is im- mediately connected with that held by the army on the heights between the Belbek and the Tchernaya. The French sap has suffered severely, but our gallant allies have pushed it on under every difficulty, and our own works on the right have also been considerably advanced. CHAPTEE LXXn. Another sharp conflict between the French and Russians — Grand JHlitary spectacle — General Canrobert's address to the French officers — Silence of the English batteries — Descriptions of night attacks, or sorties, generally imaginary. Befohe Sf.bastopol, Ajyril 25. Last night a considerable number of Eussian workmen came out of the Bastion du Mat (Flagstaff Battery) soon after dark, and began excavating rifle pits close to the French saps. Our allies 426 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. perceived tliese operations, and at once advanced on tlie Russians and drove tliem back at the point of tlie bayonet. The enemy, stronger than before, returned once again to tlieir labour, and, covered by their gnus, succeeded in making some progress in ex- cavating the work, but they were driven away after another struggle of some duration by our gallant allies. The conflict lasted from eight o'clock till three o'clock in the morning, and the expenditure of ammunition must have been i^rodigious on both sides. In the morning it was discovered that the enemy were in possession of several pits, which they had succeeded in throwing up in spite of the strenuous attempts made to dislodge them. The French loss is estimated at 200 /wrs de comhat. 'ihe Eussians must have lost three times that number, judging from the heavy rolling fire of musketry incessantly directed, upon them. At dawn the conflict ceased, and the cannonade was only continued by the French. There was a review of the Second Division to-day by General Pennefather, on the vacant ground in rear of the camp. The men turned out in excellent order, and the strength of the Division was materially increased by the addition of the 2nd BattaHon of the Eoyals, a remarkably fine body of men. The review was followed by a field day, or general drill, which lasted two or three hours. April 2C. The monotony of the camp was relieved to-day by one of the grandest military spectacles it has ever been the lot of most of us to -nitness. The whole of General Bosquet's army of observation, consisting of forty-five battalions of infantry, of two regiments of lieavj' dragoons, and of two regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique, to- gether with a numerous and well-appointed field artillery, num- bering sixty pieces, were reviewed by General Canrobert, who was accompanied by a large and very brilliant staff, by several EngHsh Generals, and by an immense " field" of our officers. The inspection took i^lace on the ridge which forms the natural defence of the plateau on which the allies are encamped, and the troops took ground from the point of it opposite the first Russian battery over Inkcrmann to the heights above the scene of the battle of Balaklava on 25th of October. At half-past two the black columns of the French infantry formed in front of the whole fields of can- vas, or streaked the plain of the plateau with flashing lines of light, as they marched from their various camps, with the rays of the bright sun refiecled fi'om their arms, and the clash of their bauds (illing Ihe air with the essence of opera. For the space of four or 'iwQ miles the}' could be seen converging and dra^^ ing up regiment after regiment on the extended ridge till tliej' formed a solid wall, living, yet motionless, crowning its sinumit. The ground was too limited to contain such a body of men even in the dense manner in which the men were formed, and llicre was soon a doidjle A^all created by the arrival of fresh rc^ginients. The greater part of the little army must have been visible to the Rus- sians on the heights over the Tcliernaya. and to the Cossacks on the redoubts and on Canrobcrt's Hill in the valley. The spectacle GRAND MILITARY SPECTACLE. 427 of the review rras magnificent in the extreme. At three o'clock, General Canrobert, attended bj^ his stafi", and by General E,ose, Colonel Foley, and Major Claremont, arrived on the ground, and was received by General Bosquet and his staiF. The troops received the General with presented arms. The bands struck up Partant pour la Syrie. The vivandieres standing by the mu- sicians smiled their best. The golden eagles, with their gorgeous stixndards. were lowei'ed, and General Canrobert. his hat trimmed with ostrich plumes, his breast covered with orders, mounted on a spirited charger, with a thick stick imder his arm, followed by a brilliant staff, and his '" esquire" displaying a tricolor guidon, in the air, and by his escort and a suite of Generals, passed along the lines of men, now galloping to the left and now to the right bet^^een the intervals, to inspect the various regiments. General Estcourt. General England, General Pennefather. a great number of stafi" officers, as well as a ruck of Enghsh officers on foot, and on horse, and on ponj^ in all the varied uniforms and mufti of the army, were present. As soon as General Canrobert had reviewed a couple of divi- sions, there was then " an officers' call" of some sixteen battalions. The officers formed a square, and GenenU Canrobert richng into the centre addi'essed them with much elocutionary emphasis ; but, as he tiumed round from time to time, I could not catch more than broken sentences of what he said. These addresses were listened to with profound silence. The General and staff" having reviewed all the troops, took up ground near the centre of the position, and regiment after regiment marched past. A sullen gun from the enemy, directed towards the nearest column from the battery over the Tcheruaya, just ere the Erench moved, denoted the vigilance of the Kussiaus, but the shot fell short against the side of the plateau. The troops— a great tide of men — the coming of each gaudy wave heralded as it rolled in sight over the brow of the hill, crested with sparkling bayonets, by the crash of martial music — rolled on for nearly two hours, and seemed as though it would engidf the camp in its vast swell. Chasseurs a pied, infantry of the hue. Zouaves, Yoltigeurs, and Ai-abs passed on cohunn after column till the forty-five battahons of gallant Frenchmen had marched before the eyes of him who might well be i:)roud of commanding them. The Chasseiu'S Indigenes, their swarthy faces contrasting with then* white tur- bans, clad in light blue, with bright yellow facings and slasliing, and clean gaiters and greaves, showed like a bed of summer flowers, and the Zouaves rushed by with the buoyant, elastic, springing tread which reminded one of their tiger-rush towards Inkermaun; nor was the soldier-like, orderly, and serviceable look of the hue regmients less worthy of commendation. Then came the roll of the artillery, and in clouds of dust, roUing. and bump- ing, and jolting, a storm of guns and carriages swept over the broken ground for a quarter of an hoiu", tiU the sixty guns and then- carriages had gone by. The General then rode along the Hnes of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, and of the two regiments of dragoons, which afterwards went past at a c\mck trot. It was said 428 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. tliat tliere were 2000 horsemen in the four regiments. Tliey cer- tainly seemed fit for any duty that horse and man could be (tailed upon to execute. Tlie horses, though light, are in very good con- dition, particularly those of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. The inspec- tion terminated shortly after six o'clock. Each regiment, as it de- filed past the General, followed the exami)le of the Colonel, and cried " J'ive I'JUmpereur." April 27. General Canrobert reviewed the Imperial Guard and the troops on the right to-day, and the spectators pass the highest cvdogiums on the appearance of the men ; but I was only able to witness the review from a considerable distance, and cannot say more than that the coup cVail was very beautiful. Our batteries are nearly silent — a few guns and mortars reply to an occasional shot from the Hedan and Round Tower at long intervals, and there seems to be a ship behind the Koimd Tower, which harasses our right attack by an odd shell now and then. What a contrast to the French on our left, and even on our right! They have never ceased to fire, and the llussians return shot for shot from the mass of ruins and rubbish in which the batteries are enveloped. The day before yesterday the enemy opened a new battery, which is up among the houses of the town, on a ridge near the Governor's house, and directed a very heavy fire on the French, with a diversion now and then on the left of our left attack. In the right attack ja^sterday we had two gunners killed and the platforms of two guns broken ; and although these batteries have all been severely handled, they have reduced the fire of the Mamelon and Hound Tower with great success. Still we must give to the French every praise for the perseverance of their attack, deprived as they have been of their fair share of support from our fire for some days back. They have certainly atoned for their failure on the 17th of October, which was caused by the melancholy accidents to their magazines. Up to this day (27th) there is no material change in the position of the allied armies before Sebastopol or in the attitude of the onemy ^\ ithin and outside the city. The particulars of the afi'air on Tuesday night between the French and Kussians are but im- perfectly known amongst us. Nothing indeed is more diflicndt to ascertain than the particulars of these nocturnal encounters. After a cannonade and furious firing which would keep a stranger in a state of iTitenso excitement all night, it is common to hear some such di;dogue as this the following morning : — " I say. Smith, did you hear the row last night l'" "No, what was it?" "Oh, blazing away like fury. You don't mean to say you didn't hear it." " Not a sound ; came up from the trenches last night, and slept like a top." " Hallo, Jcmes, (to a distinguished cocked hat on horseback, riding past), tell us what all the sliindy was about last niglit." '* Shindy, was there? By Jove, yes ; I think 1 did hear some firing — the French and the Kussians, as usual, I sup- pose." " No, it sounded to me as if it was in front of our right attack." Another thinks it was on the left, another somewhere else, and so the matter ends, and rests for ever in darkness unless IMAGINARY DESCRIPTIONS. 429 the Invalide Susse, the 31oniteur, or the Gazette throw their prismatic rays upon it. I need not say that all minute descrip- tions of charges at night or of the general operations are not trust- worthy, and must be themere workof the imagination. Each man fancies that the little party he is with bears the whole bnuit of the work, and does all the duty of repulsing the enemy ; and any one who takes his narrative from such sources will be sure to fall into errors innumerable. To '" describe a night attack" or any opera- tion — a sortie or an advance — is a solecism. From the batteries or from the hills behind them one can sec the flashes flickering through the darkness, and can hear the shouts of the men, but that is all — were he a combatant he would see and hear even less than the spectator. Distrust, then, all " full and true particidars" of nocturnal engagements, and be contented with learning " results." Nothing afl'ords finer scope to the exercise of fancy than one of these fights in the dark — it is easy to imagine all sorts of incident, to narrate the mode of advance, of attack, of resistance, of retreat, or of capture, but the recital will be found very incon- sistent with the facts. The generals whose tents are near the front have adopted the device of placing lines of stones radiating from a common centre towards the principal points of the attack, so as to get an idea of the direction in which the fire is going on at night. Even that fails to afiord them any very definite infor- mation as to the course of the fight. In a day or two after the afi'air has been finished, one may hear what really has taken place by taking infinite pains and comparmg all kinds of stories. It is, in fact, a process of ehmination to discover the facts. CHAPTEE LXXIII. EflFect produced on eartliworks by artillery — More blundering — Shells without fusees, and fusees without shells — 3Iay-day in the Crimea — Approach to the Mamelou — Brilliant exploit by French infantry — Preparations for the expe- dition to Kertch — Another rush at the irench works — The enemy repulsed. Before Sebastopol, April 30. Ot'R new battery, which is only 700 yards from the enemy's guns, is nearly completed, and as its armament is very heavy, great results are expected from its fire. Of course the effect of the enemy's fire against it will be increased, and we must e.xpect greater casualties as the advances are pushed on. To my mind, however, the superiority in guns and gimners must be verj" decided hoth in number and position ere we can hope to silence artillery in earthworks by artillery similarly situate. To a certain extent, the damage done to our batteries by the Russians is a test of the effects we have produced on their batteries. If it were an accu- rate test we migJit reasonably conclude that our fire had done but little harm, and had not caused any very great loss of hfe ; but as our fire converges on batteries beliind which are houses, walls, and heaps of stones, where a certain portion of the garrison, of the reliefs and working parties, must be placed, in addition to the 430 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. positive loss of life in tlie Eussian batteries, we nitist cumulate frequent casualties from the shot and sliell flying beyond and be- hind them, and from fragments of stones struck by the shot. That consideration is. however, of very little consequence so long as the enemy can feed their garrison i'rom the army without the city, and adds only to the useless but inevitable slaughter of a siege. In effect, we do those enormous earthworks, of twenty and thirty feet in thickness, very little injury of an ii'reparable nature, by any amount of shot we may direct against them, and the enemy appears able to I'emount guns and place new pieces in position as fast as we can dismount or destroy them. 1 cannot, therefore, think (judging by -v^hat I have seen) that we shall ever be able to silence a larger proportion of the Hussian ordnance than we did between the 17th and 20th of last October, and it is not, I suppose, contemplated by any i^erson that we can ever make a breach in any ]mrt of their entrenchments or batteries. Ovir object, then, must be to reduce the fire of those batteries which command the points selected for assaidt. In order to esti- mate our chance of doing this, we have only to look at what has been done already. We have at first always succeeded in reduc- ing the Russian fire, but as we go on and wear out our guns and exJiaust our ammunition to such an extent that we must reduce oiu* number of rounds and charges of powder, our superiority is gradually diminished, and continues decreasing till it reaches zero, and the enemy begin to recover themselves and their posi- tion. The observation of this siege ought to produce an immense effect on fortifications, for it has been demonstrated, one woidd think, that earthworks properly constructed are far better perhaps than any masonry. The solid mass of stone of which the Mala- koff Tower consisted was smashed, rent up, and split from top to bottom at our very first day's fire. It is now a heap of ruins. The earthwork beneath is as firm as it was the very first day we fired at it. The maximum penetration of a 13-inch shell into a comiiact earthwork is about three feet ; of a 24-poimder, at 700 yards, the shot penetrates about six feet ; of a 56-pounder, at the same distance, about eight feet. The penetration of a ()8-pounder is somewhat more. But granting that every shot we fire has such an effect, and attains the maximum of j)enetration. what result can we hope to achieve against eartlraorks thirty feet thick, capable of being banked up from behind, and defended by an enemy with endless supplies of laboui-ers, of earth and sand, of gabions and timber ? Meantime, the siege ought to be going on, and as far as oxir cannon and mortars are concerned, it is suspended. What is the principal reason ? Simply because Woolwich is not next door to us, and shell and fusees are not forthcoming. '\Vliy some attempt has not been made to bridge over the seas between us and our arsenals it is not for me to say. The fact is, however, plain. There are no fusees for such shells as we have, and \ i'orin a quny all along tlie top of the harlxnir. The seamen under his orders liave blasted away the solid rock which rose almost preci])itously IVom a dei)t]i of ten or twelve feet fi'om llie bottom up to the height of several hundred THEATRE IN THE FRENCH CAMP. 437 feet above the sea, and have constructed a broad road ■winding along; under these rocks from the top of the creek lialf-way down the harbour towards the sea. A branch rail runs along the centre of this road from the depot at the end to join the main line at the head of the harbour, and very fine jetties have been also con- structed, under the same authority, alongside •which large vessels may lie with safety, and where horses, guns, &c., can be discharged even from such ships as the *' Himalaya" vnth the greatest ease and rajjidity. In fact, if we were going to establish ourselves here permanently we could not do much more to secure our facilities of communication, and I only hope that some fine day or other we shall find these things useful in hastening our return home. The siege works are in an excellent state, and nothing can exceed the solidity of our lines ; but the cover in the advanced parallels is not as perfect as could be desired, owing to the dilfi- culty of the ground. Eaces are, I am glad to say, rather at a dis- count. They were becoming de trop, even though they tended to stabilitate the entente cordiale between us and any " sporting cha- racters" among the French officers. Cricket has made some faint attempts to establish itself, but the soil of the Crimea is not kindly, and there is quite hard bowling enough from the Russian batteries to satisfy the most enthusiastic bat in the army. The Zouaves have got up a theatre in their camp, and perform an original ^p/fcc de circonstanee, the proceeds being devoted to the aid of the French prisoners in Sebastopol, who are said to be badly off. The principal fun of the piece is derived from the introduction of an English soldier, who is a great admirer of his French comrades, and who converses with the characters of the play through the medium of two phrases, " Bono Franzis," and " Donuez moi die Cognac, John-nee." Our lively neighbours have got fast hold of the beUef that " the Lord Mayor of London" is coming out to command the English, as a counterpoise to the Emperor's assumption of the command of the French. Labour is now abundant. It is afforded to us by all the raga- muffins of Europe and Asia, and ragamuffin labour is generally dear. What can the Eupatorians think of 3.s\ a-daj- — the sum which is given to a hard-working non-commissioned officer, and which is equal to the revenues of one of their own head men ? The Babel of strange tongues around us is amazing, and one's faith in Bunsen and Max Muller is severely shaken by the aspect of the horrid faces which must pass muster for honest Saxon jowls, just as their language is of the same stock as the innume- rable dialects wliich are jabbered around us. It is a pity that the authorities do not extend the system that answers so well in Balaklava in the stowing of goods to the depot just beyond Kadikoi. The place is well adapted for storing goods, and the depot, beiug just commenced, could easily, with a Uttle care, and under proper superintendence, be converted into a store for the supply of the whole army; but it does not requii'e an experienced eye to perceive that the neglect and inexperience and the waste arising from them are only removed a step from Bala- 438 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. klava. The corn, Iiay, and charcoal, are strewed over a large space of ground, and a clay's raiu wiU destroy much that has at a great expense been sent out. Miss Nightingale has visited several of the hospitals since her arrival, and has, I believe, found matters much better than she expected. M. Soyer has also aiTived, and it is to be ho])cd he can suggest some good and simple mode of cooking and messing instead of oui* present very imperfect, irregidar, wasteful, and unwholesome system. May 10. About one o'clock this morning the camp in front was roused up by an extremely heavy fire of musketry and repeated cheering along otir right attack. The elevated ground and ridges in front of the Third and Fourth Divisions were soon crow dec! with groups of men from the tents in the rear. It was a very dark night, for the moon had not yet risen, and the sky was overcast witli clouds, but the incipient flashing of small arms, which lighted up tlic front of the trenches, the .yell of the Eussians (which our sokUers have cliristened" thelnkermann screech"), thecheers of our men, and the volume of the fire indicated, the position, and showed that a contest of no ordinary severity Mas taking x^lace. For a mile and a half the darkness was broken hj outbursts of ruddy flame and bright ght- tering sparks, which advanced, receded, died out altogether, broke out fiercely in patches in innranerable twinkles, flickered in long lines like the electric flash along a chain, and formed for an instant craters of fire. 33y the time I had reached the front — about five minutes after the firing began — the fight was raging all along the right of our position. I cannot now ascertain the par- ticulars of the affair, and can only describe w hat I saw. The ^ind was favourable for hearing, and the cheers of the men. their shouts, the voices of the oflicers, the Eussian bugles and our own, were distmctly audible. The bugles of the Light Division and of the Second Division were sounding the "turn out " on our right as we reached the high ground, and soon afters ards tlic alarm sounded through the French camp close to them. Hun- dreds of the soldiers had got up, and were drawn up, watching with the most intense interest the fight before them, as fin- as they coidd see it. The tents of the Fourth Division were lighted up, and the okl Inkermann men were all anxious and ready for the word to march, should their services be required. The musketry, having rolled incessanlly for a quarter of an hour, began to cease at intervals along ihe" line. Ilerc and there it stopped for a moment altogether; again it burst forth. TJien came a British cheer whicli thrilled through every heart. " Cm- fello\\ s have driven them back ; bravo!" Then a Eussian yell, a fresh burst of musketry, more cheering, a rolling volley subsiding into spat- tering flashes and broken fire, a ringing hurrah fvcmi the front; and then the Eussian bugles sounding '"the retreat," and our own Imglcs the "cease firing," and the attack, after half-an-hoiir's duration, was over. The enemy were beaten, and were retiring to their earthworks ; and now the batteries opened to cover their A XIGHT ATTACK. 439 retreat. The Redan, Hound Tower, Garden Batteries, and E.oad Battery, aided probablj^ by the ships, liglited up tlie air from the muzzles of theii* guns. The batteries at Careening-bay and at the north side of the liarbour contributed their fire, and the sky was seamed by the red track of innumerable shells. You could see clearly at times the grouud close around you from the flashes of the cannon. The instant they began to fire, our ever active allies the French, on our right, opened from their batteries over Inker- mann and from the redoubts to draw off the Russian guns from our men ; and our own batteries also replied, and sent shot and shell in the dii'ection of the retreating enemy. The effect of this combined fire was very formidable to look at, but A^as probably not nearly so destructive as that of the musketry. From half-past one till three o'clock the cannonade continued, but the spectators had retired before two o'clock, and tried to sleep as well as they might in the midst of the thunders of the infernal turmoil. Soon after three o'clock a.m. it began to blow and rain with great violence, and on getting up this morning I really imagined that one of our terrible winter days had interpolated itself into our Crimean May. The rain has ceased, and the soil is beginning to dry up already, but it stUI blows strongly. It is stated that the fight last night or this morning was less serious than we imagined. The Russians came on us on the left of the right attack, close to the Woronzoff- road, but the troops were ready for them, and di'ove them back in spite of their very heavy musketry. A i^art of the Light Divi- sion took them in flank, and. although the enemy kept up a heavy fii'e from a distance, they did us but httle injury. It does not appear to have been a sortie, or even a ijremeditated attack ; but, whatever it was, the Russians were completely foded. Thej' had pushed out a strong column of troops, and proceeded, it is sup- posed, to execute some works in the rear of the advanced parties which were sent on towards our lines to shield the works from observation. Our sentries were on the alert and gave the alarm, and as the enemy drew near they gave the alarm, and the men were in readiness for them. The Russians crept upon their bellies, delivered a volley at the parai)et, which did no harm, and then rushed on, but they were received by a very heavy and well- dii-ected discharge of Minies, which killed and woimded a considerable number of them. They then lay down again, loaded, and fired from the ground, but their ofiicers in vain en- deavoured* to lead them up to our lines, from which our troops kept up an incessant fire. A portion of the Light Division, moving towards the left, charged another party of Russians coming up close to the Woronzoff-road, and utterly routed them. The enemy, who lost at eveiy volley, notwithstanding their cau- tion, after uttering repeated cheers and yells, iirincipally raised, one may imagine, by the officers, i-etreated down the hill, and it coidd be seen that they bore great numbers of dead and wounded along with them. It is supposed the Russians had 150 hors de combat. The tremendous cannonade they opened was uuat- 440 PKOGRESS OF THE SIEGE. tended -nith mucli effect, considering its weight and intensity, and was only so mucli waste of ammunition, but our fire on their retreating cohimus must have added considerably to their ca- sualties. The total loss in the Light Division last night, I am glad to say, turns out to be onty fourteen hors de comhat. May 11. Last night, about ten o'clock, there was another alarm along our Unes. It Mas exceedingly dark, and the wind was high. The sentries in front challenged and gave the alert, and the men who were in the advanced parallels began to fire with steadiness and rapidity at a body of llussians who were trying to get up to them in the darkness. The enemy rei^lied, and for a time there was a desultory firing, the fla.^hes from which were visible, but it Avas impossible to hear, owing to the violence of the wind. The fight took place in front of our right attack, and was over in about half- an-hour or less. May 12. Last night, in the midst of an awful storm of rain and wind — so thick that no one could see a yard beyond him — a body of Eus- sians came up on our left attack, but the sentries gave the alarm just in time ; and Colonel Macbeth, of the 68th Eegiment, got his men into order and received the first fire of the enemy as they came wv to the trench with perfect steadiness. Some of the Eus- sians leapt up on the parapet and jumped into the batter\', m here they at once met their fate. There was a desperate struggle be- tween the Eussians and the men of the GSth outside the lines, in which the bayonet was freely used on both sides ; but the enemy wei'e repulsed by our fellows, who took some wounded prisoners. The enemy lost heavily, and they were seen dragging ofl' their dead during the night. It is now blowing hard, and it has rained all night. Tlie camp is a mass of mud, and has resumed its old wintrj^ asj)ect. CHAPTEE LXXV. The Sardinian Chnsscurs — Slelodramatic head-dress — TJussian " doilgps" — Appearance of cliolura — IMiss Niglitiugalc's ilhies.s — Hot \vcath('r — Serious apprehensions of want of water — Pretty effect of tlie Sardinian encamp- ment — I'ietorial artists at tlie canij) — Pursuit of a centipede — Uog-hunts — Tlie newest " shave." Before Sebastopol, Tuesday, ^^ay 15. TnE active operations of the siege are suspended for a time ; our batteries are complete, our works finished, but the armament of them is not yet accomi)lished. 'Rxen the Frencli are tired of a useless cannonade, and there lias not been much firing for the last two nights. The Sardinians are accumulating at Ealaklava daily. Two or three steamers arrive every four-and-twenty hours laden \\\{\i those excellent and soldierhke troops. They land all ready NOCTURNAL FRIGHTS. 441 for tlie field, with horses, carts, &c. Their transport cars are simple, stronp;ly made, covered vehicles, not unlike a Londoa bread-cart, painted blue, with the words " Armata Sarda"in black letters, and the name of the regiment to the service of which it belongs. The officers are well mounted, and everyone admires the air and carriage of the troops, more especially of the "Ber- saglieri" (Chasseurs), and the eye is attracted by their melo- dramatic head-dress — a bandit-looking hat, with a large plume of black cock's feathers in the side. The officers of the corps wear a plume of green ostrich feathers. General della Marmora and his stall" have arrived, and Lord Raglan has received him with marked consideration. Those noctiirnal frights which went on so briskly last week have ceased for the present. Although our losses were not hea\y, we were generally deprived of the services of the best men. The old soldiers would go to the front and were knocked over, and in that respect our losses were serious. The Eussians lately adopted various " dodges" to get our men into their hands and to draw them over the parapet, such as putting their caps on the muzzles of their firelocks and holding them just over the trenches, &c.. or shoving their bayonets above the earthworks, and keeping men ready to fire at any soldiers who came forward to seize them. On Friday night, a Russian bugler, a mere lad. leaped upon the top of the trench, and was killed by numerous balls in the very act of sounding the charge. His dead bodj' fell into our trench. The enemy are repairing and strengthening their batteries, and are busy throwing up new works inside tlie town itself. It is not cx3rrect to saj' that there are any earthworks about Sebastopol with tiers of guns in them ; indeed, it would not be possible to construct earthworks with guns placed one above the other in them. The exi^ression applies rather to the fact that there are some batteries formed on the slopes of hills, and that the intrench- ments rise up one inside the other, so that the inner one is higher up on the hill-side than that in front of it. I regi'ct to say that the cholera has commenced its ravages. It is reported that twenty meu died of that terrible disease last night. The 71st Eegiment are about to shift their encampment to the high ground on the left of the Third Division. Both the Bufis and the 71st were in a miserable plight during the rain. Their camping-groimd became a slough, and illness rapidly increased in a few days — no doubt because of the wet ground on which the men lay. Omar Pasha, after visiting Lord Baglan this morning, proceeded to Kamiesch, and embarked for Eupatoria. Miss Nightingale is suflering from an attack of Crimean fever. M. Soyer has been inspecting the hospitals and kitchens, and it is hoped he may effect some change for the better in our present abominable mode of regimental cooking. He had an interview with Lord Eaglan again yesterday. !Xumbers of amateurs are arriving. The Eoj^al Yacht Squadron yacht " Stella" came in on Sundaj-. 442 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. Admiral Boxer lias instituted an admirable liarboiir police — the men have handsome uniforms, and are iji'ovided with a fast pulhng cutter, and at night the silence which prevails on board the ships is a great contrast to the noise and riot w hich existed a short time ago. A wire cable is drawn across the mouth of the harbour every night, and boats row guard as usual inside. Mmj IG. This morning some of the Sardinian cavalry were disembarked at Balaklava, and proceeded to their camping ground, near the French camp of the left. They consisted of Lancers, and were well mounted, handsomely equipped, serviceable looking men, with a martial air and bearing. As they passed hy our cavalry camp at Kadikoi they cheered lustily, one, two, three, and con- thmed to do so at intervals, till they had wound up the road out of sight. The French on the hills above them turned out. and re- echoed their cheers. There is an amicable controversy between us and our allies as to v\ ho shall fraternize the most. May 17. Since the bombardment has ceased there is, indeed, very little to record. Lord llaglau took General della Marmora into the trenches to-day. and proceeded to the advanced parallel, explaining the nature of the position. On their return the enemy caught sight of them, and sent some unpleasant tokens of their recogni- tion in the shape of heavy shot and shell, which excited the atten- tion of every one around Lord llaglan, but did not at all disturb tlie ec[uanimity or draw the notice of the Field-Marshal. The work of arming our advanced batteries continues to be executed with alacrity and success. We are now moving aU om* heavy mortars — 13 inches and 10 inches — into the advanced parallels. A shell from the enemy fell by chance yesterday on the platform which had just been laid for one of these large mortars, and utterly destroyed it. There was scarcely a shot fired to-day on either side. Miss Nightingale is, I am glad to say, very much better to-day, and is now past the dangerous crisis of the fever. The Eussians are working vigorously at the north side. They are erecting an eartln\ork over the Tchernaj'a, opposite the eastern angle of the plateau, under the very eyes of the French battery. May IS. The weather has been so liot for the last few days that fears may be reasonably entertained of the results of lengthened marches or extreme exertion in the sun : in the trenches the tem- perature is stifling and tlie atmos])hcre unwholesome. So far as I am aware, tlie men still wear the same coats and trousers which tliey had in tlie winter; nor has there been, to the best of my belief, any issue of smnmer clothing. Tlie excitement of a march ■would, liowcver, 1)(> vt-ry lieneficial to the troops, provided they ^u■l•e not overworked, and llial tliiy were saved from the outbreak of the terrible maladies w hich devastated our armies last summer. SUPPLY OF WATER. 443 Tlie i^ossession of tlie Tcliernaya will soon become of consequence to lis. were it only for the want of water. I am credibly informed that the rain which fell within the last week is of most uunsual occurrence at this time of year, and that such a supply of ^ater is an exceptional circumstance, ■n liicli makes the heart of all the Southern Crimea glad in time of peace, and fills the farmers with joyful gratitude to Heaven. Henceforth, till the month of July, we can expect no rain. There will not be a drop of water from the sk.v to fill our wells and watercourses for months to come. The consumption of water by an arm.v of 18(3,000 men, and by tens of thousands of eam]> followers, by myriads of cattle, and by beasts of burden, may be readdy conceived to be very great, and to increase as the heat does, just in i^roportion as the means of meeting it are diminished by the same cause. Some feeble at- tem])ts have been made to construct dams and form reservoirs at the camps, and some efforts have also been made to bore Artesian wells ; but I am not aware that any great success has attended the latter enterx^rise, and I am certain tliat the former has been very imperfectly carried out. Major Branding, of the I troop, constructed some good troughs near Karauyi. Colonel Harding, with ampler means, has made a very creditable reservoir at the entrance to Balaklava; and there have been isolated instances here and there of similar foresight, but to the best of my know- ledge nothing has been done to provide vsater for " the army" — ■ that thirsty monster, with 200,000 or250,(XX) mouths and stomachs, who will soon lie sweltering and gasping beneath a broiling sun, worn out by exertion, and maddened by want of this vital necessary. The eflbrts to bore Artesian wells have not been successful, and I have been informed by Mr. Upton that he penetrated several hundred feet through the solid rock beneath the soil of his farm, and failed to find any trace of water. The number of wells on the plateau itself indicates sufficiently the extremity to which the very few inhabitants must be reduced now and then in hot dry seasons. Around the farmhouse in which Lord Eaglan dwells there are. I believe, no less than six deep wells, and it is only wonderful that they have stood so long, although re-supplied recently by the drainage consequent ui)on the saturation of the whole plateau by heavy rains. There has been some weak bald chat about " the fleet supplj-ing the army with water." The bulk of om- army is ten or twelve miles from the anchorage of the fleet, and water is one of the most difficult articles to carry known to tis. AVhere are our tanks, our water-bags, our transport to sup- ply us from Kamiesch ? Above all. where is our transport ? Even supposing we had i^ossession of the Tchernaya, it woiUd be far to carry the water ui> steep hills 200 or 300 feet above its bed to the plateau at the east of which it flows, and the source woidd remaia in possession of the enemy. This is a vital question, if the army is to remain here. Miich of the water used for culinary purposes is fold, muddy, and ill-smelling. Some of it is tainted with the outpourings of the washtub, and in every runnel dozens of men may be seen these hot days washing themselves and their clothes 444 PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE. in the water M'hich vaa.y be the base of the camp soup at some greater distance. The Sardinians are encamped on the slopes of the pleasant hills all round Karanyi. Many of them have only the tcnte d'uhri of the French, a little larger, perhaps, and not quite so light. The tents of the Sardinian Lancers are upheld by their lances, -nhich are stuck into tlie earth, one at each end of the tent ; and their encampment, with its waving pennons, has a very pretty eflect. The Sardinian horses are rather leggy, but they are in excellent condition. They are certainly not such formidable neighbours as the horses of the 10th Hussars, which have most ei'ratic habits, break their picket-ropes, tear oiF through the camps at night, and are small terrors to the quiet sleepers in the vicinity, whose tents are rudely agitated in the darkness by these playful steeds. It was only ^yesterday that an oiEcer of Artillery and an officer of the 8th Hussars, in company Mith myself, Avere riding peaceably along through one of the vales near Karanyi, when suddenly we heard cries of " Look out ! look out !" and lo ! there came a furious steed, his mane and tail erect, down upon us. He had stepped forth out of a pidk of Hussar horses, which were feeding on the meadow grass, to offer us battle, and rushed at full gallop towards our ponies. "Out swords!" was the word, as the interesting qua- druped ran romul us, now menacing us with his heels, now with his teeth, but he was repelled by two bright swords and one strong whip, and at last, to our great relief he caught a glimpse of Colonel Mayo, who was cantering by in utter ignorance of his danger, till he was warned by the shouts of the soldiers. The Colonel de- fended himself and horse with great resolution and courage, and, drawmg his sword, gave point or cut right and left, as the exigen- cies of the case required, till the men came up and beat off the interesting creature. These are agreeable episodes, but it is rather too exciting this hot weather to have superadded to the chances of war and disease the contingency of being demohshed by the teeth or heels of an insane Arab. Balaklava presents an aspect of extraordinary activity, and the amoxmt of stores of all kinds put on shore is beyond conception. When an army has to be fed from beyond seas, one sees what an all-consuming creature it is, and some notion can be formed of its powers of destruction in passing through a cultivated country. Piles of shot, cannon, shell, and cases of shrapiu'l, canister, &c., mounds of cliarcoal hags and m ood, and hea])s of puiu'lieons full of edibles, rise up on every side along the water's edge. The liarbour is, however, now scarcely recognisable, so great is the order prevailing among the shipping as compared with past times, and so vast the improvements in the wharfs and (juays along its shores. But even still tlu^re are cases of needless procrastination and useless expense in discharging v(>ssels m liicli conu^ to one's knowledge almost every \\ eek. For instance, a steamer of some five Inindred tons, called the " Alsler," liiis Ixvn lying in Balaklava for \\w last live or six weeks with a cargo of charcoal, and has not 3'et been discharged. The rate paid for tliis vessel by Goveniment CHASE OP A CENTIPEDE. 445 is about 2?. 15,?. or 2,1. 12.^. Qd. per ton per niontli, so that if the cost of these five weeks be added to tlie price of tlio cliarcoal, it will be found to be rather expensive fuel. Indeed, John Bull is sowing his money broadcast all over the Chersonese. There cannot be a better instance of the j)rofuseness of our expenditure than that which is furnished by the sailing men-of-war maintained here in commission for the sake of the sailors of the Naval Brigade belonging to them. These ships cost the country thousands of pounds, and are comparatively useless, notwithstanding their excellent qualities as men-of-war. It has been calculated that e\^ery seaman of the Naval Brigade belonging to the sailing men- of-war who is on shore here costs the country 25Z. per diem ; but tliat is an effort of arithmetical ingenuity into the results of which I cannot take upon myself to investigate, and the accuracy of which I do not by any means corroborate. The events of this war, or rather the scenery' of the camp and of the country round about us, will be amply illustrated by numerous artists, and the daguerreotype has been used by skilful hands to perpetuate the incidents of camp existence, and the groupings and still-life of the toits. But there are little cvene- ineida every day and every hour occurriug here and there which never can be depicted. One of the commonest and most exciting, while it lasts, is the pm-suit of a centipede. A small party are sitting in a hut enjoying a frugal and cheerful meal. Suddenly there is au outcry ; a man starts up with a face of hoiTor, and with outstretched finger points to a dark insect, all legs and nippers, about six inches long, which is moving rapidly with a tortuous motion along the wall. At the shout of "By Jove, there is a centipede!" every one leaps up shouting "Where? where?" The boldest seize carving-knives or table-forks, the more adroit two sticks wherewith to catch the artfid and venemous enemy, and in a moment the centipede, menaced on all sides, glides rapidly into some chink, where he is pursued by fire and match, or is cut into numberless pieces, and ground up beneath vindictive boot heels. Dog hunts are indescribably comic for a minute or two, l^rincipally on account of the proceedings of the unfortunate animal selected for the sport. He is generally a large shaggy creature, like a wolf, who has a sort of defiance of horses, and a rule over his fellows which induces him to remain quietly gazing at the approach of the hunters, while his less dignified comrades are seeking shelter by fhght, and running with drooping tails and heads hung sideways towai'ds the ravines. The horsemen draw nearer ; the dog rises and gro^ Is into a gruff bark in order to warn them off. On come the horses, spreading right and left ; the dog becomes uneasy and surveys his iwsition, rapidly losing confidence in his mastery over it and in its safety. A horrid whoop is uttered by the hunters, and the wretched annual is suddenly smitten with the terrible conviction that he is an object of special attention to the centaurs, and that he is " in for a run." Uttering loud barks and yelps, he takes to his paws and rushes away for the ravine, and there we leave him. In fact, imtil the novelty wears oft", the 446 THE SEA OF AZOFF. amateur lias plenty to amuse and edify liim. Camp life develops a man's good or evil qualities like long voyages on board ship, and '■ oddities" come out amazingly under its influence. There is a gi'eater excitement liei-e during the run of a good story or of a clever " shave" than there is in London about a new opera, and the men of Athens were not more inquisitive after news than are our British officers with regard to " shaves" and latest hon-mots. In fact, camp life alternates between the most excessive laziness and the most violent exertion, and it is not to be wondered at if a gentleman who has j)assed the night with his eyes wide open, staring into darkness, and not venturing on a wink for fear of a sortie, should indulge in reverie and siesta for the twenty-four hours afterwards. The army is now T^ell supplied generally with food, but the Turkish bi'ead is very bad. May 19. The heat continues excessive. At the present moment (eleven o'clock, a.m.) the thermometer is ninety-five degrees. It is certain that General Canrobert is superseded, and that General Pelissier will take the command of the French forces. Thus we shall have lost the services of four of the original leaders of our allies — viz.. Marshal St. Arnaud, General Canrobert, Prince Napoleon, and General Forey. THE KERTCH EXPEDITION CHAPTEE LXXVI. The expedition to the Sea of Azoff — Embarkation and departure of the troops — The Straits of Kertch — Disembarlcation of the allied forces at Ainbalaki — • Daring exploit of a gunboat — The Russians abandon the town, blow up their works, and burn their ships and stores — Plunder of Ambalaki — Cap- tive poultry — Jlilitary inasqueraders — Capture of Yenikale — Incendiary fires — A number of vessels taken. Befoke Sebastopol, May 21. It has been resolved to send another secret expedition to the eastward of the Crimea, and preparations arc being made at pre- sent for its departure, ^'^ Inch will probably take place on Wednes- day next. Sir George Brown is to command the British troops. General Catn-obert does not return to France, as was inuigiiied, but retains the command of a division of the French army. I saw him yesterday riding about with oidy two orderlies after him — all his apanage of stall" officers, Spahis, and guidons, gone to follow his successor. Tliero are reports of consitlerable changes about to be made in the command of our divisions. Tlie cholera has not made any considerable i)rogr(>ss. The oases generally occur in the trenches, the heat and nastiness of which are inconceivable. The smell of the precincts of the batteries is overpowering and horrible. Nearly all day long there is a plea- SUCCESS OF THE EXPEDITION. 44:T sant breeze playiug over the surface of the plateau, •nliich tempers the ai'clour of the rays of the suu in the camps, but in the ravines and in the trenches and batteries it is rarely felt, and the resnlt is that the heat is stifling. The scarcity of water becomes more formidable every daj'. I understand that the Sanitaiy Commis- sioners have enunciated an opinion, fomied on scientific geological grounds, tliat thei'e is no reason to apprehend any viant of water ; but it is nevertheless true, that the watering of the cavalry horses, as I am informed, is now accom])lished with difficulty, and that two da^s ago the watering was not finished till evening, so scanty was the supj)lj'. There is now no deficiency in any article, as far as I can learn, and no army was ever so amply and luxuriously provided. The amount of shot, shell, poM der, and destructive missiles of all kinds stored at our military depots or actually in the batteries, is very great, and it is amply sufficient to enable us to bombard Sebas- topol for a fortnight from guns of great calibre, and placed very much closer to the enemy, than we have yet been able to open upon them. An order has just been sent up to the 71st Hegiment to get ready to strike tents and march to Balaklava at daybreak, which will be rather hard on some of the men at least, for they will not be up from their tiu*n in the trenches till eight or half-i^ast eight o'clock this evening. May 22. The English contingent of the expeditionary force will number about 500C) men. The French force will consist of 10,0(X) men and sixteen guns. A Tiu-kish corps, 3000 strong, will also embark with the expedition. The emliarkation of horses and artillery is at present going on in Balaklava hai-bour. Off Kertch, May 25. It will not be in my power to do more than announce the com- l)lete success of the expedition up to the present date, and the reduction of the forts and flight of the garrison, without loss on our side. For some time back it was believed that General Can- robert had incurred the serious displeasure of his imperial master for the check given to the first exi)edition. which was laid at his door, and it was understood that General Pelissier would inaugu- rate his command by some very decisive cow^j. On Monday the principal officers received orders to hold themselves in readiness to embark on Tuesday, and it was no longer doiibtful that an ex- pedition was preparing against Kertch, and against the Eussians in the Sea of Azofl". The command of the British contingent was conferred, as before, on Sir George Brown. On Tuesday evening (the 22nd) the "Gladiator," " Stromboli," " Sidon." "Valorous," " Oberon," and "Ardent," came roimd and anchored off" the harbour of Balaklava, and the " "Warcloud," saihng transport, with a party of the 8th Eoyal Irish, under the command of Lieiitenant-Colonel de Salis. and several others, haided outside, where they remained tiU Wednesday morning. Severalof the men-of-war went away to the eastward in the course 448 THE SEA OF AZOFF. of the night. The " Bahiana" (Captain Greene) went out at six o'clock on Wednesday morning, and was followed by the " Hope" (Captain Bowen). The " Trent" (Captain Ponsonby), the " Whit- ley Park," the "London," the "Mariner," and the "Wilhara Jackson," sailing transports, also formed a portion of the vessels. Commander Hoseason was in charge, and Lieutenant Geary second in command of the transports of the expedition. The " Caradoc" (Commander Derriman) left later in the day. There was not much to note on the voyage, and whatever did ■occur must be reserved for the present, as I have neither time nor favourable opporttmity for describing it. The day was most favourable, the sea as smooth as a mirror. We approached Cape Takli, which marks the western extremity of the land at the straits, at half-past ten o'clock, and a thick black smoke was AT.sible, floating in the horizon towards the northward, sufficiently indicating the position of the fleet. As the vessel proceeded on her course, passing through the straits, which are about seven and a half or eight miles broad at the entrance, a group of peo])le could be made out in the balconj' of the lighthouse at Cape Takli, and a few wandering Cossacks were galloping through the mea- dows, half concealed by the rich rank grass. On approacliing Kara-Bournou, it was evident that our vessels were engaged with the forts and earthworks at Pavlovskaya, which guard the entrance to Kertch and Yenikale. Frequent puffs of white smoke, followed by famt echoes and booming reports, which rolled heavily along the shore, told us that the contest was tolerably smart, but it certainly did not last very long ; for at forty minutes past one, a huge pillar of white smoke rushed up towards the skies, opened out hke a gigantic balloon, and then a roar like the first burst of a thunder-storm, told us that a magazine had blown up. The action grew slacker, the firing less frequent. At a quarter past two another loud explosion took place, and a prodigious quan- tity of earth was thrown up into the air along with the smoke. A third magazine was blown up at twenty-five minutes past two. A tremendous explosion, wliich seemed to shake the sea and air, took place about three o'clock ; and at half-past three, three several columns of smoke blending into one, and as many explosions, the echoes of which roared and thundered away together, announced that the Eussians were beaten from their guns, and that they were destroymg their magazines. They could be seen retreating, some over the hills behind Kertch, others towards Yenikale. The allied troops commenced disembarking at once, and the boats of the fleet were ordered out, and landed them on the beach between the Salt Lake, north of (Ja]H! Kamiesch Bouruou, and the clilTof Am- balaki, a hamlet on the hill-side in the little bay between Kamiesch and Pavlovskaya Battery. The heavy steamers lay outside. The transports were anchored off' the Salt Lake to the south, and the gunboats and lighter steamers lay off" the smoking ruins of the I Ju ssian eartl iworks . Sir E. Lyons and Admiral Stewart were on board the " Vesu- DARING EXPLOIT OP A GUNBOAT. 449 TUTS," and Sir George Brown, after seeing tlie troops landed, went on board and held a conference with them. As we anchored, a most exciting scene was taking place towards the northward. One of the enemy's steamers had nm out of the Bay of Kertch, which was concealed from our view by the head- land on which Pavlovskaya and the battery of Cape Bournou are situated, and was running as hard as she could for the Straits of Yenikale. Slie was a low schooner-rigged craft, like a man-of- war, and for a long time it was uncertain whether she was a government vessel or not. A gunboat dashed after her across the shallows, and, just as she passed the cape, two Eussian merchant- men slipped out and made towards Yenikale also. At tlie same moment a fine roomy schooner came bowling doMn with a fair lireeze from Yenikale, evidently intending to aid her consort, and despising, very likely, the little antagonist which pm'sued her. The gunboat flew on and passed the first merchantman, at which she fired a shot, by way of making her bring-to. The forts at Kertch instantly opened, and shot after shot splashed u^) the water near the gunboat, which still keijt intrepidly on her waj'. As the man-of-war schooner bowled down towards the Eussian steamer, the latter gained courage, slackened her speed, and lay-to, as if to engage her enemy. A sheet of flame and smoke rushed from the gunboat's sides, and her shot flying over the Eussian, tossed up a pillar of water far beyond her. iUarmed at this taste of her opj)0- nent's quality, and this sudden intimation of her tremendous armament, the Eussian at once took to flight, and the schooner wore and bore away for Yenikale again, with the gunboat after both of them. Ofi" the narrow straits between Yenikale and the sandbank, which runs across from the opposite land, a great number of gunboats and small craft were visible, and as the English gun- boat ran up towards them, a Eussian battery opened on her from the spit on which the town is situate. One of her consorts, how- ever, which had followed her early in the chase, was now close at hand, and the gunboats dashed at their enemies, which tacked, wore, and ran in all directions, while the gunboats chased them as a couple of hawks would harry a flock of larks. The action with the forts became very sharp, and the Eussian forts on the sandbank began to take part in the unequal contest. Sir Edmund Lyons, however, soon sent off the light steamers and disposable gunboats to reinforce the two hardy little fellows, and the French steamers also rushed up to the rescue. The batteries on the sand- bank were not silenced without some trouble ; but at last they blew up their magazines, and the fort at Yenikale followed their example. The gunboats kept up a running fight along the coast till it was dark. At about half-past six o'clock the batteries in the Bay of Kertch ceased firing, the Eussiaus blew up their works, and abandoned the town. Dark pillars of smoke, tinged at the base with flame, began to shoot up all over the hill-sides. Some of them rose from the government houses and stores of ^Imbalaki, where we landed ; others from isolated houses further inland ; others from stores, which the retreating Eussians must have de- G G 450 THE SEA OF AZOFF. stroyed in tlieir flight. Coustant explosions shook the air, and single guns sounded here and there continuously thi'oughout the night. Here a ship lay blazuig on a sandbank on the left; a farm- house in flames lighted up the skj' on the right, and obscured the pale moon with volumes of inky smoke. All the troops whose services were requu'ed were landed at Anibalaki before dusk, and bivouacked on the ridge about it. Each of our men landed with two days' provisions, but without rum ; some of them carried their tents. A small bodj^ of Eussian cavalry, with two guns, made a reconnaissance of them, from a considerable distance, before night- fall, but chd not attempt to interfere with their proceedings, and the men set to -oork to enjoy themselves in Ambalaki and its neighbourhood as well as they could. As there was nothing to be clone at sea, the ships beiug brought to anchor far south of the scene of action with the gunboats, which still continued, it was resolved to land at the nearest spot, which was about one mUe and a half or two mUes from Pavlovskaya Battery. A row of half a mile brought us from our anchorage, where the shij) lay, m three fathoms, to a beautiful shelving beach, which was exposed, however, only for a few yards, as the rich sward grew close to the brink of the tideless sea. The water at the shore, unaffected by the current, was clear, and it was evident that it abounded in fish. The land rose abrui)tly, at the distance of two hundi'ed yards from the beach, to a ridge parallel to the line of the sea about a hundred feet in height, and the interval between the shore and the ridge was dotted with houses, in patches here and there, through which the French were already running riot, breaking in doors, pursuing hens, smashing window s — in fact, "plundering," in which they ^^■ere assisted by all of our men who could get away. Towards the Salt Lake some large houses were already in flames, and storehouses were blazing fiercely in the last throes of fire. On the ridge above us the figures of the French and English soldiers, moving about against the horizon, stood sharply out. lighted up by the rays of the setting sun. The High- landers, m little parties, sought about for water, or took a stray peep after a " bit keepsake" in the houses on their way to the wells, but the French were always before them, and great was the grum- bling at the comparative licence allowed to our alhes. The houses were clean outside and in — whitewashed neatly, and provided with small well-glazed windows, which were barely adequate, however, to light up the two rooms of which each dwelling consisted, but the hcaA'^y sour smell inside was most oppressive and disagreeable ; it seemed to proceed from the bags of black bread and vessels of fish oil whicli \\ere fouiul in eveiy cal)in. Eacli dw (41ing had out- houses, stables Jbr catlle, ])cns, bakeries, and rude agricultural implements outside. Tlic ploughs were achnirably described by Virgil, and a reference to Adams's Antiquities will save me a world of trouble in satisfying tlie curiosity of the farming interest at home. The furniture was all smashed to pieces ; the hens and ducks, captives to the bow and spear of the Gaid, were cackhng and quacking piteously as they were carried ofl' in bundles from PLUNDER OF AMBALAKI. 451 their liomes by Zouaves and Chasseurs. Everj^ house we entered was ransacked, and cveiy cupboard had a pair of red breeches sticking out of it. and a bhie coat inside of it. Vessels of stinking oil, bags of sour bread, casks of flour or ham, wretched clothing, old boots, beds ripped up for treasure, the hideous pictures of saints on panelhng or pai)er which adorn every cottage, with lamps siispended before them, were lyuig on the floors. Drolcs dressed themselves in faded pieces of calico di'esses or aged finery lying hid in old drawers, and danced about the gardens. One house, which had been occupied as a guardliouse, and was marked on a board over the door "JS'o. 7 Kardone," was a scene of especial confusion. Its inmates had evidentlj' fled in gi-eat disorder, for their great coats and uniform jackets still lay on the floors, and bags of the black bread fiUed every corner, as weU as an incredible quantity of old boots. A French soldier, who, in his indignation at not finding anything of value, had with great -wi-ath devastated the scanty and nasty -looking furniture, was informing his com- rades outside of the atrocities which had been committed, and added, with the most amusing au* of vhtue in the world, "Ah, 3Iessieiu's, 3fessieiirs ! ces hrigands. Us out vole tout .'" No doubt he had settled honourably with the proprietor of a large bundle of living poidtrj- wliich hung panting over his shoulders, and which were oflered to us on very reasonable terms. Notwithstanding the great richness of the land, Httle had been done by man to avail himself of its productiveness. I never in my hfe saw such quantities of weeds or productions of such inexorable ferocity towards pantaloons, or such eccentric flowei's of huge dimensions, as the groimd outside these cottages bore. The inhabitants were evidently graziers rather than agriciilturists. Aroimd every house were piles of a substance hke peat, which is made, we were in- formed, from the dmig of cattle, and is used as fuel. The cattle, however, had been all driven away. None were taken that I saw, though the quantity which fed in the fields around must have been very great. Poultry and ducks were, however, captiu'ed in abimdance, and a party of Chasseiu-s, who had taken a huge wild- looking boar, were in high delight at their fortune, and soon de- spatched and cut him up into junks with theu* swords. There were some thirty or forty houses scattered about the ridge, but aU were pretty much alike. The smeU was equaUj- disagreeable in all, in spite of whitewash, and we were glad to return from a place which a solcher of the 71st said " A Glasgae beggar wad na tak a gift o'." Sir Edmund Ljons weighed at twelve o'clock in the " Banshee," and is standing towards Kertch. The greater number of the men- of-war steamers are following him. The large vessels and line-of- battle ships remain anchored off Ambalald. YENIK.4.LE, May 26. At five o'clock last night Sir Edmimd Lyons returned in the "Banshee," from a short cruise in the Sea of Azofi", towards Axabat. Sir Edmimd Lyons returned to the fleet in the evening, and Sir George Brown went on shore, where he has taken up his &g2 4o2 THE SEA OF AZOFF. quarters in a very humble house iu Yenikale. It was exi^ected that the Eussians might return and attack us iu force, and I fear that a portion of the army after its excesses woukl have been but httle fit to repel them. Yenikale was set on fire in two i^laces j-esterday, and it required all the exertions of the authorities to prevent the flames si^reading and devastating the whole place. The houses are smashed open, the furniture broken to pieces, and " looting" and plundering are the order or the disorder of the day. Two of the 42nd Highlanders, who were in a crowd which was assembled round a house yesterday, were shot in a very extraordinary manner. A French soldier struck at the closed door, to break it with the butt of his musket. The concussion discharged the piece, and the ball killed one of the men on the spot, and wounded the other severely. The quantity of bedding, clothes, looking-glasses, coarse furniture, household chattels, and useful implements of all kinds carried off by the sailors to the ships ofFYenikale was enormous, and the work of transfer from the houses to the vessels still continues briskly. The English have placed sentries over such buildings as they can protect, and the French also have established order to a certain extent among their men ; but our soldiers are much more amenable to discipline on such occasions than troops accvistomed to African warfare, and familiar with the traditions of conquest. The French have also an old grudge against the Eussians, and perhaps feel a more bitter personal animosity against them than we do. Sir George Brown gave orders last night that any person found in the town after dark should be put iu the guardhouse, and that any one in the guai'dhouse in the morning should be flogged. There was, however, an alarm of fire renewed this morning, and some difficulty was experienced in suppressing the flames. A great number of vessels fell into our hands here, and all the government stores and many guns, some of which were found loaded and shotted. The corn which the enemy failed to burn was sprinkled by them with lune and water, to render it unfit for use, and it is feared that the poorer part of the population of Kertch, which is sufllciently numerous, will be reduced to great straits for want of food, as the public granaries are laid waste and ruined. A small force of men has been left to guard it, or rather to protect the inhabitants from marai;ders of the array. The Austrian Consul, -ohose flag is flying on the iirincipal quaj^ has exerted himself to procure protection for life and propertj'. The guns in Pavlovskaya, at Ak-Bournou, and in battery at Kertch have not been destroyed — they are spiked, and that is aU. May 27, 1 o'clock P.m. The fire in the morning was caused by the destruction of the Hussian boat-house and ferry-station opposite Yenikale. which was protected by a battery of eight guns. The " Snake" or " A^'iper"' destroyed the battery, and cut oil" a portion of the garrison, but she could not stay to take them prisoners, as her i)resence M'as required in the Sea of Azofl". Nearly all our light steamers, our gunboats, and two French steanusrs, ar(> now cruising along tlie Hussian coast, and it is probable Me shall soon hear of the demo- GUXS TAKEN IN YENIKALE. 453 lition of tlie fortress of Arabat. It would seem that Eussia. aware of her real weakness in these seas, or ignorant of the truth, allowed the most extraordinary statements to go forth respecting the com- pleteness and magnitude of her prepai-ations for defence. It was imagined that the channel was blocked up at Kertch, or below it, and for some time back it was sedulously stated that the iiassage had been obstructed by sunken sliips, heaps of stones, i^iles of timber, and artificial banks ; but our vessels got up easily in two and a half fathoms of water, at the very lowest, along a channel laid down and buoj-ed by the " Spitfire." There is a pretty strong current running at the rate of about three miles an hour* over the fiats off the town of Yenikale, and the water is almost as tui'bid as that of the Thames, and of a more 3'ellow hue, as it rushes from the Sea of Azofi". Two gunboats, carrying twelve small pieces each, are moored off" the forts of yenikale, and there is a fioating batter^' close to them armed with two very heaAy guns, the floor being flush with the water, and the guns being quite uncovered. Two barks, armed on the main- deck with guns, and used as transports, are resting on the sand, where they were simk by our ships as thej' attempted to escape to the Sea of Azofi". It is suspected that there were few regular troops in proportion to the numbers in and about Kertch and Yenikalti, and that there was a large proportion of invalids, local mflitia men, and pensioners among the sokUers who made such a feeble and inglorious defence. The appearance of our armada as it approached must have been most formidable. Their loss could not have been great. One man v» as foimd dead in the battery at Yenikale, b'ing, as he fell, with the match in his hand, close to the gun he was about to fire, and two more Kussiaus were fomid dead on the beach, but they looked as if they had been killed by the explosion of the magazine. The guns in Yenikale are new and fine. Some of them are moimted on a curious kind of swivel — the i)latforms are on the American prmciple. One brass piece, which is lying near the guai-d-house, is said to have been taken from the Turks at Sinope. The hospital, which is in excellent order, contains sick and womided soldiers, the former sufleriug from rheumatism, the latter sent here from Sebastopol. The enemy fired the magazine close at hand without the smallest care for these imfortimate fellows, and every pane of glass in the windows was shattered to i^ieces by the explosion. The total number of guns taken at Yenikale is about iwenty-five, of which ten were in battery inside the old Genoese ramparts, four in a detached battery, and eleven lying partially dismounted about the works. 454 THE SEA OF AZOFF. CHAPTER LXXVII. Success of the expedition — Numerical strength of the expeditionary force— The scene of our successes — Description of the Straits of Kertch — The Coast of Taman — Cape Takil — Ambalaki — Kertch — Yenikale. Yenikaxe, May 26. The success of the expedition hj land and sea is complete, rapid, and glorious. The forts which defended the narrow and difficult Straits of Kertch have been forced after a feeble resistance, the magazines of the enemy have been exploded by their own hands, all their guns have fallen into our possession, together with a pro- digious quantity of corn, grain, munitions of war, naval stores, and military equipments. The Sea of Azoff is open to us, and our flying squadron of steam gunboats is searching it from end to end, burning and destro.Wng the ships and trading vessels of the Russians, crushing their forts, and carrying terror and dismay along the seaboard of their inland lake. The force which has effected these great objects, and which is ready for further service, consists of 7500 French troops, under General d'Autemarre ; of 5000 Turks, under Redschid Pasha ; of 3805 English, under Sir George Brown — namely, 8(51 Marines, Lieutenant-Colonel Hollo- way ; 168 Artillery, Captains Barker, Graydon, &c. ; the 42nd Highlanders, Colonel Cameron, 550 strong ; the 79th Regiment of Higlilanders, 430 strong. Colonel Douglas ; the 93rd Highlanders, 640 strong, Lieutenant-Colonel Ainslie ; the 71st Highland Light Infantrj", 721 strong, Lieutenant-Colonel Denny ; 50 Sappers and Miners, and 50 8th Hussars, under Colonel de Salis. The staff numbers forty persons, and the Transiiort Corps 310 officers and men. The flying squadron in the Sea of Azoff is under the com- mand of Captain Lyons, son of the Admiral, who is on board the " Miranda," and consists of the following vessels : — " Vesuvius," Captain Osborne ; " Stromboli," Captain Cole ; "Medina," Com- mander Beresford ; " Ardent," Lieutenant-Commander Horton ; "Arrow," Lieutenant Jolliffe; "Beagle," Lieutenant Hewett; " Lynx," Lieutenant Aynsley : " Snake," Lieutenant M'KiJlop ; " Swallow," Commander Craufcn-d ; " Viper," Lieutenant Army- tage ; " Wrangler," Lieutenant Risk ; " Curlew," Commander Lambert. The great mass of the fleet remains at anchor off Am- balaki; but a squadron, in which I believe are the "Highflyer" and " Tribune," along with some French ships, has gone to reconnoitre Anapa and the coast of Circassia. There are not many people who ever heard of Kertch or Yeni- kale since then* schoolbov days until this war recently directed all eyes to the map of the Crimea, but these towns represent, on a small scale, those favoured positions which, nature seems to have intended for the seat of commerce and poutn-, and in some measure resemble Constantinople, which is placed, like them, on a nai-row chainiel between two seas, whose trade it proUts by and commands. THE STRAITS OF KERTCH. 455 On approaching Cape Takil Bournou, which is the south-western corner, so to speak, of the entrance to the Straits of Kertcli, the traveller sees on his left a wide expanse of undulating meadow land, marked all along the prominent ridges with artiheial tumuh, and dotted at wide intervals with Tartar cottages and herds. The hghthouse at the cape is a civilized European-looking edifice of white stone, on a high land, some height above the water ; and as we passed it we could see the men in charge of it mounted in the balcony, and surveying the proceedings of the fleet through telescopes. On the right of the Straits, or, in other words, at the south- eastern extremity, the coast of Taman — famed for its horses, its horsemen, and its buckwheat — offers a varied outline of steep cliffs, or of sheets of verdm-e descending to the water's edge, and the white houses and steeples of Fanagorgia can be seen in the distance. The military road to Anapa winds along a narrow isthmus further south on the right, below the narrow Strait of Boiirgas, leading to one of the estuaries which indent the land in all directions in this region of salt lakes, isthmuses, and sand- banks. From Cape Takil to the land on the opposite side of the Straits the distance is about seven miles and a half. The country on both sides, though bright and green, has a desolate aspect, in consequence of the absence of trees and of enclosures, but the numberless windmills on both sides of the Strait prove the fer- tility of the soil and the comfortable state of the population. From Cape Takd to Ambalaki, where the expeditionary forces landed, the distance is about twelve miles. It is a poor place, built on a small cliff over the sea, which at the south side sweeps down to the beach by the margin of a salt-water lake. As there was no force to oppose the landing, the men were easily disem- barked on a sand}' beach, out of range of the batteries, and close to the salt-water lake. This movement thi-eatened to take the Eiissians who were in the batteries in the rear, and to cut off then* communication with Kertcli, which lies in a baj', concealed from the view of Ambalaki b}^ the Cape of Ak-Bournou. The Eussians therefore lost all heart, and retired from the batteries, leaving the guns spiked, and blowing up the magazines. When the allies landed, the enemy had fled to Kertch, caiTying with them dismay and teiTor, and the troops there, afraid of being attacked in the rear and front, by land and sea, made a hasty retreat towards the interior. In the port of Kertch there were seven small steamers, used for Government purposes, several of which were armed. Of these, four escaped into the Sea of Azoff, ■where they wiU soon be brought under t lie notice of the squadron: three were cut ofi' by the gunboats, and were run aground and burnt b.v the enemy in the Bay of Kertch. Pavlovskaia was a strong earthwork, Avith stone magazines and houses for the little garrison, and it could have given us much trouble had it been manned by resolute men. Inside it, in the hoUow of a bay formed by the promontory on which Pavlovskaia stands, and situate about 45G THE SEA OF AZOFF. five miles from Ambalaki, stands the town of Kertch.. As seen from the sea it is a picturesque and almost a stately town, and the position and air of the place, and of the country behind it, re- semble Naples on a small scale. The bay is semi-circular, and the principal buildings are situate on the waterside, which is bounded by a noble quay faced with hewn stone. The houses are pure white, or gaily tinted with various colours over the stonework ; many of them attain the dimensions and almost deserve the name of palaces. The Tartar houses are mean wignams, but they are aU whitewashed, and their position in the suburbs and on the hill- sides does not render them very conspicuous. To the left or west of the town, facing it from the sea, are extensive magazines, stores, and Government factories, sawmills, manufactories of Minie balls, bakeries, &c. To the right, with a large front of public and i^rivate buildings intervening along the waterside, are the dockyard, the battery, and military and naval establishments. Three or four spires rise above the mass of houses in the back- ground, and one stately mansion of stone, with a pillared portico, j)articularly attracts the eye. At the distance of two miles from the town, on the east, or right-hand side, there are more Govern- ment magazines and a large quarantine station. Some scattered hamlets and two villages lie between Kertch and Yenikale. From Kertch to Yenikale the distance is five miles and a half. Yenikale derives its importance from its position on a promontory close to the entrance of the Sea of Azoff, at the northern extre- mity of the Straits of Kertch. Another of the smgidar banks to be found in this part of the world, shooting from the north-eastern extremity of the Taman Peninsula, runs through the sea in a southerly and westerly direction for seven miles and a half towards Yenikale, and contracts the strait to the breadth of a mile and three-quarters just before it opens into the Sea of Azofi". On this bank, which is fuU of salt-water marshes, and is two or three miles broad in some places, the Kussians had a strong battery commanding the ferry station, armed with long and heavy 36- pounders, and a number of Government buildings of a mean de- scription, and there were great numbers of fishing huts and curing sheds also upon it. The principal battery at Yenikale crossed fire •flith the fort on the sandbank, which is called Sayernaia, and one would have thought that a stout resistance would have been offered to our gunboats ; but the batteries on land were abandoned and the magazines blown up by the enemy ; tlie battery on the sandbank followed tiie example next moi'ning, and Yenikale was surrendered to us without a blow. The town consists of two parts — one a suburb of houses close to the water's edge, and commanded by a ridge of high land rising gradually from the sea. The church, Avhich is a handsome buikling in the J3yzantine style, stands on the hill-side, in liie midst of this suburb. The other part consists of the fort, which is lonned by a quadrangular rampart, armed at the angles with bastions and small turrets. Jllach side of the H(iuare is about a quarter of a mile long. The side parallel to the MARCH TO YENIKALE. 4o7 sea-wall is on the top of the ridge, into which tlie ground rises gradually from the sea, and the sea-wall itself has at its base a broad cxuay by the water's edge. The ridge once gained, the country lies before one in a spacious plateau, with conical mounds and tumuli, forming natiu-al advanced posts for vedettes in the distance. On the land side the ramparts are provided with em- brasures, and are crenellated for musketry ; the walls, though very old, are of great solidity, and are tolerably well preserved. Inside the enclosure are the hospital, the Government-house, the barrack, the batteries, and the stores and magazines. One of the maga- zines which was blown up completely destroyed about two hun- dred feet of the curtain of the work on the laud side. There are marks of ancient entrenchments outside the walls, and the moats, ditches, covered ways, &c., are still well defined. Our troops suffered greatly from the heat on the march to Yeni- kale, which is more than twelve miles from theu' bivouac, but their conduct was exemplary ; nor had they anything to do with the incendiary fires which took place in Yenikale, and which were extinguished three or four times in one night with great difficidty. The weather is extremely fine, but the mid-day sun is rather too powerful for English constitutions. Fi'esh meat is not deficient. Immense quantities of caviare, of cb'ied sturgeon, and of a coai'se- scaled fish like a bream, have been found iu every village and in Yenikale, and are relished by our soldiers, but they have very imperfect means of gratifying the thu'st which follows, as the water is brackish, and the stores of country wine (some of it excel- lent, in spite of the adidteration of oil or essence of roses) have been nearly all discovered and ch'unk up. The water of the straits is only brackish, and our horses, as well as the native cattle, drink it readily, but its taste is very mawkish and disagreeable. The channel is not more than thirteen feet deep opposite Yenikale, and the passage from Kertch was very intricate tUl our men-of-war marked it out 'sa ith buoys and flags. CHAPTER LXXVIII. Excesses in the to^vn of Kertch — Turkish stragglers and Tartars commit hor- rible outrages — "Wanton destruction of the contents of the Museum — Houses ransacked and ijluudered — Immense naval and military stores captured — The old Balaklava system — " Looting" — Tartar and Russian population — Interior of a wrecked mansion — The hospital and its inmates — Destruction of the Russian vessels — Bombardment of Arabat. Kertch, Mmj 2S. IBefoee I proceed to narrate the events which have occurred since my last letter was despatched, I must be permitted to express the sentiments of abhorrence which every civihzed being must ex- perience on survejdng the scene of destruction and barbarous violence presented by this unfortiuiate town, and to protest against any imputation on account of the sacking of Xertch being 458 THE SEA OF AZOFF. attached to Englishmen or to any British subject, Trith the excep- tion of the Lieutenant-General. whose apathj^ or neglect permitted the perpetration of disgraceful excesses. "V^lien the Russian army, mmibering some 2500 men, abandoned Kertch on the after- noon of our landing at Ambalaki, a large caravan of the inliabi- tants, with such property as they could collect in their trepidation, moved out after the soldiery, and proceeded to Mekschelki, in the Bay of Kasantip, leaving behind them their houses full of furniture, and such cumbrous articles as they were unable to move. The Tartars, the Jews, and a few of the poorer Russians remained behind, but the nobles and Government eiyiployes, with few exceptions, fled precipitately. Wlien the allies entered Kertch the following morning, tlie po])ulation made their submis- sion, and offered bread and salt to the conquerors, in accordance with the Russian custom, and they were assiu'ed that they would be protected, and that their lives and property should be spared. The troops marched on to Yenikale, leaving behind them a few sailors and soldiers to guard Kertch, and to destroy the Govern- ment manufactories and a private establishment for making Minie balls and cartridges. In the afternoon of the day on which we occupied Yenikale, the crews of some merchant ships from Am- balaki landed, and began to break into three or four hovises which had been closed and fastened iip, and to pillage the contents. As they could not remove the lieavy furniture, they smashed it to atoms. Towards evening Turkish stragglers from the camp, and others who had fallen out of the line of march, flocked into the town, aud perpetrated the most atrocious crimes. To pillage and wanton devastation they added violation and murder. The Tar- tars who were in the town hailed the arrival of the Osmanli with delight, and received them as liberators, and as brethren to whom they were bound by the ties of religion, of language, and of hatred to the Russians. They led the few Turks from house to house, pointed out, as victims to their cupidity and lust, those who had made themselves obnoxious to their ignorance or fanaticism, and gratified their ancient grudges to the Russian tradespeople and merchants. Tlie French patrols endeavoured to preserve order, and succeeded to some extent, but not till they had killed and wounded several Turks and Tartars. One miscreant was shot as he came down tlie street in triumph waving a sword wet with the blood of a poor cliikl whom he had hacked to])ieces. Others were slain in the very act of committing horrible outrages. Some were borne off wounded to the prison or the hospital, and at last respect for life was established by its destruction. There was not, to be sure, a general massacre. Even savages would have refrained from slaut,'litering tlie inliabitauts of a town which had submitted, and thrown itself ujion tlieir mercy. It was with dilliciilty, how- ever, that the French controlled tlie excesses of the 'lurks, and of some of their own countrymen. Some English mercliant sailors next day aided in th(^ work of pillage and destruction. On ft, re- markable conical hill at the back of the town are two bviildings, DEVASTATION IN THE MUSEUM. 459 one of which is said to mark the resting-place of Mithridates — the other, of modern date, but incorporating some of tlie pilhirs of an ancient temple, which were foimd on the site, is built after the model of the Parthenon. It has been used, if not originally in- tended, as a museum, and was full of cinerary urns and of antique relics collected amid the ruins of the ancient Bosphor, of statuary, and of the contents of timiuli which were opened in the neigh- bourhood. A series of terraces and steps of fine dark granite leads from the market-place to the hill on which the temple stands. Let us ascend them, passing through the groups of Tar- tars and Kussians, who rise as we approach, and bow obsequiously with uncovered heads. On coming close to the building, it is ob- served that the doors have been forced oi^en, and that some of the ancient Greek marbles and tablets which stood against the walls outside have been overtvirned. On the white panel of the door some indignant Frenchman or Eussian has written in iDencil the following admonition, which was only too much needed, whoever were the perpetrators of the ruin within : — " Eu entrant dans cette temple, oil reposcnt les (souvenirs ?) d'lin siecle passe, j'ai reconnu les traces d'une invasion des Tandales. Helas ! Franijais ou Anglais, faites la guerre a la (posterite V), mais ne la faites pas a rhistoire. Si vous avez la pretention d'etre nations civiUsees, ne faites pas la guerre des bar- bares !" It is impossible to convey an idea of the scene within this place. The museum, or whatever it was, consisted of a single large room, with glass cases along the walls and niches for statuary, and rows of stands parallel to them, -which once held the smaller antiquities. At the end opposite the door, a large ledge, about thirty feet from the groivad, ran from side to side, and supported a great number of cinerarj" urns, most probably dug out of the tumiili which abound in the neighbom-hood. It was reached bj' a winding stair- case through one of the pillars at the end of the room. One might well wonder how the fury of a few men could effect such a prodi- gious amount of ruin in so short a time. The floor of the museum is covered for several inches in depth with the debris of broken glass, of vases, m-ns. statuary, the precious dust of their contents, and charred bits of wood and bone, mingled with the fresh splinters of the shelves, desks, and cases in which they had been x)reserved. IN'ot a single bit of anything that could be broken or burnt any smaller had been exempt from reduction by hammer or fire. The cases and shelves had been torn from the walls ; the glass was smashed to atoms, the statues pounded to pieces : it was not pos- sible to do more than guess at what they had once contained. On ascending to the ledge on which the cinerary urns had been placed, the ruin was nearly as complete. A large dog lay crouching in fear among the remnants of the vases, and howled dismally at the footsteps of a stranger. The bm-nt bones which the vases con- tained were scattered about, mixed with dust and ashes, on the floor, and there was scarcely an urn or earthen vessel of any kind imbroken. Here and there a slice of marble, on which were traced one or two Greek letters, could be discovered, and the slabs 460 THE SEA OP AZOPF. and pieces of statuary outside the building were generally too large and too massive to admit of tlieir being readdy broken ; but, on the whole, the work of destruction was complete, and its only parallel could be found within some of the finest houses in the town, such as that of the Governor, where the ruin was equally indiscriminate and universal. One sentry placed at the door would have j)re- vented all this discreditable outrage, which will, no doubt, be attributed by the enemj" to our G-enerals and our troops. For all I know, the Tartars may have joined in the destruction of the museum, or the Turks may have been its sole authors ; but the blame will, no doubt, be attached to the civilized states whose officers and soldiers took the most active part in the operations against the enemy. The Governor's house, a large and fine budd- ing in the French style, on the Quay, has sufl^ered severely, and not a single article of furniture remains intact. The floors of the saloons are covered with fine fragments of costly mirrors. The locks, of solid brass, the hinges, and the window fastenings of the same material, are broken oflT or destroj'^ed — not a single window is left entire in the whole mansion. Legs of sofas, chairs, tables, bits of bureaux, of library shelves, cushions of ottomans and fau- teuils ripped up, and the gilt leather and damask coverings torn into shreds, lie in litter, mixed with the flocks and feathers of beds and pillows, over the house ; and state papers, documents connected with the government of the province, passports, &c., are scattered about for an inch deep in some parts of the building. Empty bottles in all the rooms show that the rioters discovered the wine cellar early enough ; and the discovery, no doubt, contributed to their fury and destructiveness. The kitchens, full of household utensils, the pantries, servants' rooms, and offices had shared the same fate as the rest of the establishment ; picture frames, from which the canvas or paper had been removed, also were found in all directions, and afforded additional proofs of the comfort and luxury of the proprietors, if any were needed, after an inspection of the handsome fittings and conveniences of the mansion. The windows were all doubled, one inside the other — an evidence of the severity of the winter, — and a well-furnished ice-ceUar bore testi- mony to the heat of the summer. The panes were of large size and of great thickness, and Mere creditable to the Kussiau manu- facturers, if they were made in the empire. Much of the furniture was, however, varnished and xjolishcd up to cover its original coarseness and imperfect workmanship. The greatest expense was lavished on the first floor, which was evidently the heaa qiuir- //c>r of the house. Tlie floor below seemed to be used as offices, and that above \a as divided into small bedrooms, &c. Above all were large lofts, betw een the ceiling and roof, inhabited once by nvuuerous pigeons and rabbits, which had all been killed or driven away. Sunie of tlic ])ai)ers I picked up were rather curious. One Avas a "Lottery-ticki't for the benefit of tlic \\ounded soldiers in Die Crimea;" and it appeared by anotlier paper, that a perform- ance had been recently given at the Kertch theatre for the same object. Another was an order for the chief priest, dii'ccting him QUANTITIES OF STORES IX KERTCH. 4G1 to swear to allepance to the new Emperor certain is a Prince, or merely because he is supposed to be friendly to Englishmen, and THE PALACE SPAKED — THE MUSEUJt SACKED. 4 / 6 is known to be connected witli some English families ? Sir George Brown assiu'edl.y has no natural s^'mpathy with pure aristocracy or with anything but pure democratic solchery and military good fortune. It may be — nay, it is — right to save Prince Woronzoff's house, but Mould it not be eqvially proper to protect the stock in trade of some miserable Eussiau mechanic who remained in the town trusting to our clemency, and who was ruined by a few brutal sailors F Prince WoronzofF has many palaces. His friendly feel- ings towards England are at best known to but few, and are cer- tainly of no weight with Frenchmen, because those sentiments, if they exist at all, date from a period antecedent to the true entente cord'iale, and are suggestive of anything but good liking towards Erenchmen. However, the house is so far safe, and if we are sorry that the museum is sacked, we may be i^roud that the palace is spared. The marks of useless destruction and of wanton vio- lence and outrage are too numerous and too distressing to let us rest long on the spectacle of this virgin palace. The silence and desolation of places which a few days before were full of people were exceedingly painful and distressing. They were found in every street, almost in every house, except when the noise of gentlemen inlaying on pianos with their boot- heels or breaking up furniture was heard within the houses or the flames crackled within the walls. In some instances the people had hoisted the Erench or Sai'diuian flag to protect then* houses. That poor device was soon detected and frustrated. It was asto- nishing to flnd that the humblest dwellings had not escaped. They must have been invaded for the mere purpose of outrage and from the love of mischief, for the most miserable of men could have but httle hope of discovering witliiu them booty worthy of his notice. June 14. The Erench fleet has retuimed to Kamiesch, with the exception of a few small vessels left at Yenikale and Kertch. The English fleet remains at Ambalaki. The '" xVrrow" (Lieutenant Jolifie) and the "Recniit" are on guard in Ivertch-bay; the "Eurious," " Sidon," '■ Gladiator," and " Valorous" were, up to last iiight, anchored at the entrance to the bay, and the " Sphinx" was sta- tioned at Yenikale. As Ak-Bournou and Pavlovskaya are such commanding positions, it is intended to renew the intrenchments of the Russians, and to form new lines in addition to them. Half of the 71st Regiment, a battalion of Erench infantry, and 3000 Turks will be marched round from Yenikale to execute these works, and when they ai'e comx^leted they will be gai'risoned by 2000 men. This position wiU to a great extent command Kertch, and will be perfectly secure so long as the sea is open. It will, in fact, form the left of the allied position — the centime being represented by the fleet, and the right by the works at Yenikale. 474 THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. CHAPTEE LXXX. Languor of the siege — Contumacious Croats — Victories of the expeditionary force — The batteries open fire — French attack on the Mamelon — Sangui- nary conflict — Enghsh rush at the Quarries — Gallant attempt to get into the Kound Tower — The allies triumphant. Before Sebastopol, June 2.* During the last few days there has been neither event nor casualty of serious import in the siege works. There are intervals in the clay when you might suppose that " villauovis saltpetre" had no more to do with a modern siege than an ancient one, and that all this demonstration of a state of conflict was merely an amicable suit upon an extensive scale. There are times at night when angry and sudden explosions spring up as if by some unaccountable impulse or conjiu'ation, and continue with an impetuosity which seems as if it intended to finish the whole business in a moment. There are times when the red fusees turn and tumble the air like hot coals belched out of a volcano, and dance successive hornpipes upon nothing ; then the chatter of small arms breaks ixpon the ear in distant imitation of the heavy artillery, like a little dog yislping in gratuitous rivalry of a big one. The fighting is done by jerks and starts, and the combatants, like Homer's heroes, stand at ease the best part of the time, and take it coolly, meaning deadly mischief all the while. The sharpest onset is generally on the side of om' allies, about the FlagstaflT or _ the Quarantine Battery, where they are still sedulously advancing their endless mileage of trench and j)arallel, and promising themselves a result before long. There has been an unusual languor on the side of the Russians, due, as one will have it, to pestilence raging in Sebastopol; as another specidates, to the desire of economizing ammimition ; as a third proposes, on the authority of a live deserter, to the detachment of a large body of men to strengthen the outlying force on the other bank of the Tcherna,ya, and keep Bosquet in check. Shall we say that the warmth of the woatlier has didled their energies, and a freer " lra)ispii'atio)i' reduced the virus of hostihty below its average level? We know, at any rate, that * The regular order of the letters, according to their dates, has been slightly departed from, so that the narrative of the operations in the Sea of Azoll" might ap])ear in an unbroken form. During the absence of Mr. llussell with the ex- peditionary force, the letters from the camp before Sebastopol, describing the third bombardment and the capture of the Mamelon and the Quarries, were ■written by Mr. Stowe,who has since fallen a victim to the cholera. STRIKE OP THE CROAT LABOURERS. 475 tliere are frequent trans-shipments of the useless and incapable hands from the southern to the northern side, and, per contra, as frequent introductions of newer and better blood. We also know, for we can see it, that thej" are working a\^■a3' to strengthen and provision the fortress on the north side. If the rumom- of Miss Nightingale's serious dlness has already reached England, it is due to what will have been a national anxiety to state the fact of her convalescence and departure for Scutari. She left Balaklava to-day (Saturday), Lord Ward placing his steam yacht at her disposal. By the same opportimity M. Soyer returned to Constantinople, after a preliminary sojourn of three weeks in the Crimea, during which he made himself ac- quainted with the various hopes and difficulties which lie in his path as a " regenerator" of the camp cuisine, and introduced to the notice of the Commander-in-Chief his ideas and experiments of simplification. He hopes to institute a system of cooking by companies, the company iu the English regiment appearing the easiest aggregate which can be selected as the unit for a common plan of messing. He has further tm'ned his attention to the as yet unsm-mounted obstacles which attend the preparation of a wholesome farinaceous food, and has devised a form of bread analogous in some of its characters — i.e., in its durability and portabiHty — to biscuit, but in its real qualities as a staple of sub- sistence only differing from the bread of the baker hi the mode of its i^reparation. A very general and very pleasant excitement has to-day pervaded the camj), on its becoming known that inteUigence had arrived of miexpected successes in the Sea of Azoff, which have deducted 14f) vessels from the transport of the Eussians, and cut them out of an enormous supply of grain. June 3. Unhappily, as is wont to happen at unlucky moments, those contumacious Croats who get 3*. per diem, and have accumidated more money this spring than they ever caught themselves cU-eaming of, struck work yesterday, and to-day continue in that insubordi- nation. Ad interim, while it is being duly considered how they shall be brought to reason with money jingling in their pockets, fatigue parties of the Guards are set to do their work for them gratis, and are workmg -\^'ith good will enough, but to a dead loss of muscle, and in numbers insidficient for the pressure of the case. June 4. We did ourselves some mischief last night. Several carcasses, destined for the Russian store buildings, turned out too antiquated to be trusted, and persisted in knocking our own men over in pre- ference ; they fell short, and exploded in our advanced trenches. Eumour asserts that they are of fabvdous and incredible date, going back to the beginning of the centurj' ; and, the cases being actually rotten from age, it may be presumed that they had no business to be here at all. Some men were kdled and injured by their default, and Colonel Munday, of the 33rd, -nas one of the siiiFerers, but his wounds are said not to be dangerous. 476 THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. Since nightfall there has been some heavj' firing, both on the right and left, and a great deal of musketry on both sides. June 5. There were some slight losses in the trenches, it seems. — no great wonder, considering the in'oximity of the combatants. Some of the Russian muskets were loaded with slugs. Last night, too, as if to crown the tragedy of Captain Christie's sudden end, and close the lips of too hasty censors. Admiral Boxer expired in the harbour of cholera, after a short illness. He had been very much depressed by the death of a nephew bearing his name and attached to his person, -s^hich took place from the same cause three days previously on board ship, and had given only too painfid tokens of those feelings which have been so often denied existence. The following extract from a " General After Order." which came out last night, gives a summary of the operations effected by our expeditionary force : — " Berdiansk has been destroyed, with four war steamers. " Arabat, a fortress mounting thirty guns, after resisting an hour and a half, had its magazine blown up by the fire of our ships. " Genitchi refused to capitulate, and was set fire to by shells. Ninety ships in its harbour were destroyed, with corn and stores to the amount of 100,000/. '• In these operations the loss to the enemy during four days has amounted to four war steamers, 24G merchant vessels, and corn and magazines to the amount of 150,000/. Upwards of 100 guns hare been taken. It is estimated that four months' rations for 100,000 men of the Russian army have been destroyed. " On the Circassian coast the enemy evacuated Soudjak Kaleh on the 28th of May, after destroying all the principal buildings and sixty guns and six mortars. " The fort on the road between Soudjak Kaleh and Anapa is also evacuated." June G. An end has been put once more to the long daj's of expectation and the wearisome indolence or sameness of our camp life. For the third time our fire has opened along the whole range of posi- tions. At half-past two o'clock to-day 157 guns and mortars on our side, and above 300 on that of the French, awoke from silence to tumult. The two armies — one should say the four armies, but that the Turks and Sardinians will liardly take a very prominent part in the trench work and assaidt — are now in strcngtli c(iunl to any achievement, and in sijirils ever chiding tlie delay, and urging that one touch of the bayonet which makes all the woi'ld scamper. If the strategic nec(\ssity jioints to some more decisive action this time, so, on the other haiul, tlic intention of going beyond a vain cannonade is toleralily i)Iain, and I think with some stout defiance of the risks. Yesterday the late general order annoimcing the victories of the fleet was read before the brigades, and to-night Lord Eaglnn and (Icncral Pclissier have ridden llirough the camps amidst the luirrahs and acclaniatinns of'botli tlicir armies. There cannot ])e any doubt as to the zeal of tliuse ulioin tliey command. Our lire Mas kept up for the first three hours with excessive CAPTAIN* PEEL AND HIS BLUE JACKETS. 477 rapidity, the Eussians answering by no means on an equal scale, thougli with considerable warmth. On our side the predominance of shells was very manifest, and distinguished the in-esent can- nonade in some degree even from the last. The superiority of our fire over the enemy became apparent at various points before nightfall, especially m tlie Eedan, which was under the especial attention of the jN'aval Brigade. The E-ussians displayed, how- ever, plenty of determination and bravado. They fired frequent salvos at intervals of four or six guns, and also, bj* way of reprisals, threw heavy shot up to our Light Division and on to the Picquet- house-hill. After dark the animosity on both sides gave signs of relaxing, but the same relative advantage was maintained by our artillery. It was a sultry day, with the didl mist of extreme heat closing down upon the valleys, and with no air to rend away the curtam of smoke which swayed between the town and our batteries ; and at night flashes of Hghtning in the north-east made a coimter-illumijiation on the rear of our position. June 7. At four o'clock this morning a still and sluggish atmosphere, half mist, half the result of gunpowder, hung about the town, and, the sun eufiladhig, as it were, all the points of view from his low level in the horizon, telescopes were put out of joint for the moment. The Eedan. however, which stands up boldly- in front of the hills that slope from Cathcart's ]Moimd, gave some evidence of having yielded to rough ti'eatment, the jaws of its embrasures gaping, and its fire being irregular and interrupted. Captain Peel came hy, on his way up from the trenches, about five, very dusty and powdery. His reckless and dauntless seamen had been mak- ing beautiful practice, and had met with what must for them be considered a very moderate proportion of loss, having to record tv^'0 deaths only and fourteen wounds during the fifteen hours, and, with one exception, the last were not ver^^ serious. At nine a cool breeze, much stronger than usual, sprang ui), and continued throughout the day, blowing the wi-eaths of smoke out of the batteries, and carrying off" the solid little round nebulte ex- temporized bj' bui'sting shells, which can only be compared in their expansion to the genie who, in the Arabian JV/'glits, comes out of the iron pot sealed with Solomon's seal. The ■nhole range of fire from right to left became visible in a bright sun, that for once was not a scorching one. On the extreme left, towards the Quarantine, there was very slight firing from the French. The perpetual hiss and crack of shells was still the cliief point of con- trast with the last bombardment in April. The enemy either could not or would not keep up a very vigorous reply. All the early part of the day we had the work very much to ourselves, but, since it has been very much the habit of the Eussians to knock off work in the hotter part of the twentj'-foiu- hours, no very important disclosure was contained in this fact. About eleven o'clock a shell from the Eussians exploded a magazine in our eight-gun battery, and a yell of applause followed the report. Yer3' shght harm happily residtedfrom the explosion 478 THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. — one man was killed, one vrounded, and a few scorched a little. As the day wore on, it leaked out that something of import w as undoubtedly to take place before its close, and that the double attack would probably commence at five or six p.m. An immense concourse of oiEcers and men were gathered all the afternoon round the flagstaff on Cathcart's Hill, and streamed along the spines of the three heights which wind towards Sebastopol from the English encampment. The fire on our side, which had con- tinued since daybreak quietly and soberly, assumed a sudden fui'y about three o'clock, and was kept up from that hour to the critical moment with great activity. The affair itself came off but little after the anticipated time. Between five and six Lord Kaglan and his staff took up a conspicuous position on the edge of the hill belo'O' the Limekiln, where it commands very plainly our four-gun battery, and looks straight into the teeth of the Eedan. A flag- staff was erected with threatening ostentation shortly before he came down, and a little angle of rude wall was as hastily thrown up as a breastwork. The man with the signal-rockets was in attendance, but there was a pause yet for a while. Sir Colin Campbell was observed to place himself on the next summit, still nearer to the enemy, " commonly called," to use a legal phrase, the Green-hill. His appearance drew some fire, and the shells dropped and flashed close by, but without disconcerting his j)ur- pose of having a thorough good look-out place. It was about half- past six when the head of the French attacking column came into view from these two spots, as it chmbed its arduous road to the Mamelon. A rocket was instantly ihi'owu up as the signal of our diversion, and as instantly the small force of our men detached for the i:)Ost of honour made a rush at the quarries. After one slight check they drove out the Eussians, and, turning round the gabions, commenced making themselves snug ; but the interest was so entirely concentrated upon the more exciting scene, full in view upon the right, that they had to wait a good while before attention was directed to their conflict. The French Mcnt up the steep to the Mamelon in most beautiful style and in loose order, and every straining eye was upon their movements, which the declining daylight did not throw out into bold relief. Still their figures, like light shadows flitting across the dun baiTier of earthworks, were seen to momit up imfailingly — were seen running, climbing, scrambling like skirmishers up the slopes on to the body of the a\ ork. amid a plunging fire from the gims, which, owing to their loose formation, did them as yet little damage. i\s an officer, who saw Eosquct wave them on, said at the moment, " They went in like a clever pack of hounds." In a moment some of these dim ■wraiths shone out clear against the sky. The Zouaves were upon the parapet firing down into the place from above ; the next moment a flag was up as a ralljing- ])oint and defiance, and was seen to sway hither and thither, now iq), now down, as the tide of battle raged round it; and now like a swarm they Mere in the heart of the Mam(>lon, and a fierce liand-to-hand encounter, here with the musket, there with the CAPTURE OF THE MAMELON. 479 ■> bayonet, was evident. It was seven minutes and a half from the conmiencement of the enterprise. Then there came a rush through the angle where they had entered, and there was a momentary confusion outside. Groups, some idle, some busy, some wounded, were collected on the hither side, standing in shelter, and now and then to the far corner a shell flew from the English battery facing it. But hardly had the need of support become manifest, and a gun or two again flashed from the embrasure against them, than there was another run in, another sharp bayonet fight inside, and this time the Eussiaus went out, spiking their gvms. Twice the Russians made head against the cuiTcnt, for they had a large mass of troops in reserve, covered by the guns of the Bound Tower. Twice they were forced back by the onsweeping flood of French, v.ho fought as if they had eyes upon them to sketch the svi-ift event iix detail. For ten minutes or so the quick flash and roll of small arms had declared that the uncertain fight waxed and waned inside the enclosure. Then the back door, if one may use a humble metaphor, was bm-st open. The noise of the conflict went away down the descent on the side towards the town, and the arena grew larger. It was apparent by the space over which the battle spread, that the Eussians had been reinforced. "When the higher groimd again became the seat of action, — when there came the second rush of the French back upon their supports, for the former one was a mere reflux or eddy of the stream, — when rocket after rocket went up ominously from the French General's posi- tion, and seemed to emphasize by their repetition some verj' plain command, we began to get nervous. It was growing darker and darker, too, so that with our glasses we could with difficulty dis- tinguish the actual state of affairs. There was even a dispute for some time as to vihether our aUies were going in or out of the work, and the staffs themselves were bj^ no means clear as to what was going on. At last, through the twilight, we discei-ned that the French were pouring m. After the interval of doubt, our ears could gather that the swell and babble of the fight was once more rolling down the inner face of the hill, and that the Eussians were conclusively beaten. " They are well into it this time," says one to another, handing over the glass. The musket flashes were no more to be seen within it. There was no more hghtumgof the heavy guns from the embrasures. A shapeless hump upon a hill, the Mamelon, was an extinct volcano, imtil such time as it should please us to call it again into action. Then, at last, the more hid- den straggle of our own men in the hollow on the left came upper- most. " How are our fellows getting on ?" says one. " Oh ! take my word for it, they're all right," says another. And they were, so far as the occupation and retention of the quarries was con- cerned, but had nevertheless to fight aU night, and repel six suc- cessive attacks of the Eussians, who displa5-ed the most singular pertinacity and recklessness of life. As it grew dark our advanced batteiy imder the Green-liill made very pretty practice and pretty si)ectacle, by fhpping shells over our men's heads at the Eussians. From the misshapen outline of 480 THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. tlie pits a fringe of fire kept blazing and sparkling in a waving sort of curve, just like a ring of gas illumination on a windy night ; the attempt to retake them out of hand was desperately pushed, the Russians poiu-ing in a most terrific discharge of musketry, which caused us no small loss, and as it came up the gorge, contending with the fresh wind, sounded in the distance like water gulped simultaneously from a thousand bottles. Meanwhile the fall of the Mamelon and the pursuit of the flying foe did not by any means bring the combat to an end on the side of our allies. The Zouaves, emboldened by their success, and enraged by their losses, carried their prowess a step too far, and di'eamt of getting into the Round Tower by a coitj] de main. A new crop of battle grew up over all the intervening hollow between it and the Mamelon, and the ripple of musket shots plashed and leaped all over the broad hill-side. The combatants were not enough for victory there too, but they were enough for a sanguinary and prolonged contest, a contest to the ej^e far more violent than that which preceded it. The tower itself, or rather the inglorious stump of what was the Round Tower, took and gave shot and shell and musketry with the most savage ardour and rapidity. The fire of its musketry was like one shelf of flame, rolling backwards and forwards with a dancing movement, and, dwarfed as it was by the distance, and seen by us in i)rofile, coidd scarcely be compared to anything, small or large, except the notes of a piano flashed into fire throughout some rapid tune. Our gunners, observing the duration and aim of the skir- mish, redoubled their exertions, and flung theii* shells into the Roimd Tower with admirable precision, doing immense mischief to the defenders. It was dark now, and every one of them came out against the heavens as it rose or swooped. From Gordon's Rattery and the Second Parallel they streamed and plunged one after another into the enceinte up to which the Zouaves had won their way unsupported, heralded every now and theu by the prompt and decisive ring of a roimd shot. The Russian defence, rather than their defences, crimibled away before this tremendous fire, but, on the other hand, the attack not being fed, as it was not designed, began to languish, and died gradual!}' awa}'. 12 P.M. It is nowl)lowing great guns. There was a heavj^ thunderstorm to-day, visible over to the south-east ; and to-night, as last night, there has been a rival disjilay of heaven's artillery. The French are putting the new front of their position in a state of defence, and employing an immense number of hands There mhs but one embrasure left in a comfortable state in the Redan at the end of the evening, and the (Quarries are too close imder it for heavy guns to be brought to bear. ATTACK AND DEFENCE OF THE QUAKRIES. 481 CHAPTER LXXXI. The Allies keep possession of the Mamelon and the Quarries — Murderous sortie — Losses on the side of the Allies — Scenes on the battle-irround — Illustrations of cliaracter — Armistice to bury the dead — The Kussian? repair tlieir works — Movements in the harbour of Sebastopol — The bombardment ceases. Before Sebastopol, June S. DuKiXG the niglit repeated attacks, sis in all, were made upon otir men in the Quarries, who defended their new acquisition \a ith the utmost courage and pertinacity, and at a great sacrifice of life, against superior numbers, continually replenished. The strength of the part J' told off for the attack was in all only ICXK). of whom 60(1 were in support. At the commencement 200 only went in, and another 200 followed. More than once there was a fierce hand-to-hand fight in the position itself, and our fellows had fre- quently to dash out in front and take their assailants in flank. The most murderous sortie of the enemy took place about three in the morning; then the whole ravine was lighted up with a blaze of fii-e, and a storm of shot was throvcn in from the Strand Battery and every other spot within range. With a larger body in re- serve, it is not doubtfid that they could have been into the Eedan in a twinkling. This is asserted freely both by officers and pri- vates, and the latter express their opinion in no complimentary manner. They were near enough up to it to see that it was scarcelj^ defended, and one officer lost his fife ahuost within it. General!}^ speaking, the Russian gunners were not very active through the night ; mdeed, there was httle for them to do, and they are evidently shy of throwing away ammunition. On the other hand, theu' fatigue parties were as busy as bees, repairing and strengthening their shaken defences, and the sentinels outside our advanced works were near enough to hear the sound of their tools, and see the light of their tobacco-i^ipes. The French, on the other hand, were losing no time in the Mamelon, in which, by the by, they found only seven guns, five of them spiked. When morning dawned, with the wind blowing even stronger than yes- terday, the position held by both parties was one of expectation. The French were in great force within and on the outer slopes of the Mamelon, and also in possession of tT^ o out of the three offsets attached to the Mamelon on the Sapoune-hill. Their dead were seen lying mixed with Russians upon the broken ground outside the Malakofi" Tower, and were being carried up to camp in no slack succession. In the rear of the Mamelon their efforts to intrench themselves were being occasionally interrupted by shells from the ships in the harbour and from a battery not hitherto known to exist further down the hill, while, on their left front, the Round Tower, showing still its formidable platforms of defence and its ragged embrasures above, fired upon their working parties in the western face, and upon then* reserves in the background. The morn- ing brought out on everj' side, along with the perception of I I 482 CAPTURE OF THE MAMELON. advantage gained, and a prey lying at our feet, all the haste and circumstance of the scene, with its XDamful admixture of death and suffering. On our side 365 rank and file and 35 officers had been killed and wounded. On the French side nearly double the number of officers, and a total of not less than 1500 men, i^robably more. It has been stated as high as 3700. The ammunition wagons, the ambulance carts, the French nudes, with their panniers full freighted, thronged the ravine below our Light Divi- sion, which is the straight or rather the ci'ooked road down to the attack on the right. Troops of woimded men came slowly up, some English, the greater portion French, begrimed with the soil of battle. On the left a party of Zouaves had stopped a while to rest their biu'den, it being the dead bodies of three of their officers. A little lower an English soldier was down on the grass, exhausted and well nigh unconscious from some sudden seizure. A party of French were gathered round Imn, supporting him on the baidf, and offering \Aater from their canteens, ^hich he wildly motioned aside. On the right, lining a deep bay in the gorge, was dotted over half a mde of ground a French reserve, with their muskets l)iled, attending the signal to move forward. They were partially within view of the Malakoff, and the round shot and shell came plumping down into the hollow, producing every minute or so little commotions of the saui'e qui pent order, replaced the next moment by the accustomed nonchalance, and the crack of stale charges, fired off by way of precaution. A livclj' and even pretty vivandiere came sti-iding up the ascent, without a sj'mptom of acknowledgment to the racing masses of iron, and smiling as if the honour of her corps had been properly maintained. At ten o'clock the httle incidents of the halting Avar perceptible through the telescope from the crown of the hill below the Picquet-house w ere these : — At the head of the harbour the Kussians were busily engaged burying their dead ; outside the abattis of the Eound Tower several coi-pses of Zouaves were to be distinguished ; about the Mamclon the French troops were hard at work, some of them stripped for coolness to their drawers, and were seen creeping down the declivity on the side towards the Malakoff, and making themselves a deep shelter from its fii'e. Our peoi^le meanwhile on the right attack were calmly shclluig the Malakoft in a cool mat (er- of-business sort of way, but the eternal gun on its right, which has been endowed witli nine months of sti'ange vitality, launched an indirect response into the Maraelon. From and after eleven o'clock the liussians, as usual, slackened fire, nor was tliere any duel of artillery on a great scak^ until after dark. Lord llaglan in the aiternoon went round thehos])itals, and in tlie afternoon many a procession crossed tlie plain bt'aring some officer's body to its resting-place. Our loss in officers killed has been great. The 88th have been the severest sufli'rers, having three oflicers killed, one missing and conjectured to be killed, and four wounded — all indeed wlio were engaged. The four senior officers of the 02nd were put /