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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd February 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 103, Untitled Article

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      . HO r > &S OJF IHE S IEfrE . The Times correspondent Teftams * mflincfa ? ng in his ttescriptioHs of the suffering in the camp , and in his denunciations against those who might have prevented it . We gite some extracts whjeh , althoiigh they are occasionally denied , are constantly verified by other accounts : — H 0 WTWB < 3 OH > . ASPECTS "THB'TROOPS . " The cold weather has been ^ ttended by a decrease of one class of diseases and by an increase of these affecting the respiratory organs . -Severe cases of frost-bite have occurred among the men . Some have died m consetjuence , o « wsrs wiU probably lose their limbs or extremities . Officers < have also succumbed to the cold , and to overwork , « A fatigue parties . Pleurisy , severe cold , rheumatism , bronchitis , and pneumonia have appeared among ns ^ and , though diarrhoea and dysentery-are not so prevalent , cases of -scorbutic dysentery have rather-been augmenting in aramber . "

      STATISTICS OT WSEAWB . " Jan . 8 th . —The 63 rd Hegiment had only seven men fit for duty yesterday . The 46 th had-only thirty men : fit for duty at the same date . A strong company of the 90 th has been reduced by the last week ' s severity ; to fourteen file in a few days , and that regiment , though considered very healthy , ' lost fifty men by death in a fortnight . The Scots Fusilier Guards , who have had -out , from beginning to end , 1562 men , now muster , including servants and corporals , 210 men on parade . "Many other regiments have suffered in » ke proportion Xieutenant Dent , of the 9 th Regiment , who was in command of -a fatigue . party engaged in carrying up provithe thairh

      sions to the camp , became so unwell on way e could not keep up with his men , and was found dead in the snow . The day before yesterday , as one of our officers was passing by a French camp , he was hailed by a captain into whose tent the body of an English officer had j ust been carried . It w as'frozen and cold . The cap had been taken away , arid the boots and coat , by some . of the scoundrels who form part of every army . I don ' t know the name of the poor fellow who died so miserably , nor could I learn anything about him since , and the officer who was called in could not leave his party , and was obliged to follow them , but he duly reported the circumstance to the proper quarter . " -

      REGIMENTALS—A CONTRAST . - t " It is really humiliating to out-national pride and distressing to our sense of what we -might be , and ought to be , to see the" French entering Balaklava with their neat " ^ waggons and clean-looking men , and stout horses , to aid our wretched-looking , pale , weakly soldiers , and emaciated horses ,- in carrying up ammunition . Their officers are always neat , clean , and well-dressed . , Ours are , not as the the artists of facetious periodicals represent them , with frayed epaulettes arid decently-patched coats , but ragged and dirty . A . great deal has been said at home about the propriety of assimilating the dress of the officers to that of the men , but so long as the officers have different

      duties and different arms from the private soldiers , and that must be always , they must be marks for riflemen . The enemy ' s sharpshooters see a man on horseback with an infantry regiment ;_ if _ he be dressed like a drummer they know he is an officer , and fire at ' hiin accordmg l ^' . They observe a line of infantry advancing or firing ; one man on the flank , or in front ,, has a sword in his hand ; he is cheering on the men ; he is giving orders ; ho is a mark for their rifles too . As an old sergeant of our riflemen said the other day , ' It ' s no matter what dress a man wears . If we see an active chap a bustling About and moving among the men , our lads will have a ¦ crack at him . ' And thus it is so many Kussian officers have fcillen . The French officers , who wear very marked ¦ epaulettes , and are easily discernible among their men , don ' t complain of their distinctive uniform . As to the

      shako , it has almost ceased to exist as a headdress ; the soldiers kick them away as soon as they can , and Mr . John Bull would be astonished to see the number of his neat brass-mounted felt liats which lie in the mud about our camp . Each cost him some 20 s . each . Paradethe pnrade of a crack regiment—would certainly break the old gentleman ' s heart . lie who has been accustomed to behold two rigid lines of beautifully-executed dolls , as firm , as clean , and neat as if they had come out of a liuremburg toy-box , would behold—instead of this dclatant red , with any-coloured facings und white brcastlaco , his neat Albert shako , his regimental blue trousers —a mud-bespattered , dingy russet garment , with grease facings and chocolate-coloured lace , pantaloons of various shades of brown , and the most eccentric headdress and footgear that over necessity suggested . "

      GFi'IOEItS IN J'LACK OF HORSES . "Thonrrangoinentof oursyrttom of futigueparties Roems defective . The man arc often sent out from Bulaklavu when it is too lato in the day for thorn to got baclc to camp ore nightfall . The other day a party of the 42 nd startod out . to head-quartera after three o ' clock . In coroiug ihorae two man died in the Fronoli cump , and another areeolvcd a aevoro fall and fractured an arm . Tlio duty in , imicod , very trying . The men aro provided with a stout pole for each , couple , and a cask of rum , biscuits , or beef ia along from . it betweon them , und then they go off on a trui » p < if , about ; ilvo wiled from the commissariat

      Untitled Article

      SCRAPS FROM THE CAMP . LoiU ) Eaolan was in 13 ulakluva . on tho 8 th January , the day before I was there , lie had not been there before for nearly three months . It was thon a comparatively clear day , as tho thaw had not conio to mix snow and mud together ; but oven Lord llaglan , I should think , must have found it a little worse than ho expectod . On this , the 8 th day of January , some of the Guards , of Her Majesty Queen Victoria ' s Household Brigade , are walking about iu the snow wit / tout soles to their shoes . When tho men . go on duty overnight , tho snow being meltoil by tho boat of tho sun , their boots become very wot ; tho frost during the night freezes the leather , and tho poor follows cut tho boots off to ease the agony occasioned by tho hardness of tho leather pressing upon their tender feot .

      M'Donald , our oxcellunt Provost-Marshul , is a man whoso feelings arc not to be trifled with , and none are moro faithful in the discharge of their duties . Woe to the unfortunate individual who ia cuught in tho act of gathering together a little ilrewood , tho ronmiiiN of tho unfortunate wrecks of the 14 th , which have floated into the head of tho harbour , and lie . thero , useless and untouched , when' men , are freezing at the camp above ! Let some poor wretch , ooriio down and scrupo together au

      armful of this wood , and he is considered an offender of the deepest die , arid unfit to Escape ; an'd consequently , an acquaintance with'M'Donald ^ andTl ^ or 24 lashes ,, as the case may be , are the result . "When the bombardment is commenced , 50 rounds every 12 hours are to be'fired from each piece of oiJinance , until all the ammunition is expended . According to this arrangement about " 20 , 000 rounds 6 f shot and shell will be thrown into * Seba , stbpol every 24 hours , and the Russians must surely be" made of sterner stuff than bronze or granite if they stand 50 or 60 hours 6 f such a cannonade . When the bombardment has done its worst it is said we are to storm .

      It must not be inferred that the French are . all healthy while we are all sickly . They have dj'seritery , fever , diarrhosa , and scurvy , as well as pulmonary complaints , but not to the same extent as ourselves , or to anything like it in proportion to their numbers . Some of our allies have suffered and died from home sickness . We are all afflicted with that disease , but none of us have died of it as yet , except one man . During the whole of Christmas-day , two divisions , it is said , received nothing but an issue of charcoal .

      The warm clothing is going up to the front m small detachments . Never shall I forget the bitter sarcastic laugh with which a number of an illustrated weekly journal , which came by last mail , was handed round a tent full of officers , who indulged in sad merriment over the fancy sketch of our British soldiers in their winter clothing of furs and waterproofs , with a fine wooden edifice , " capable of containing any number of men on paper" in the background , suggestive of nice hot cooking and snug lying o' nights .

      In the batteries , I saw one of the seamen , gunners receive a wound in the head from a round shot , yet he providentially escaped death . The shot ricocheted , flew by his head , carried away his cap and a quantity of hair from his head . When the cap was picked up it contained a lot of the hair . He was only a little stunned , but , for precaution ' s sake , he was sent up . to the camp hospital . Qy vb Pacha ' s Horse . — Duty took me to the Quartermaste -General ' s-office before 1 started on my rounds , and y , hen crossing Lord Raglan ' s yard , I saw at his door some ten or a dozen led horses—one of them the Pacha ' s , a beautiful silver grey , whose coat , short and sleek even at this season , literally shone like silver ; it was dazzling , and such a horse ! What care , what grooming must have been bestowed on it I Our chief and life staff have their horses well stabled and fed , but they looked like dirt by the side Of this Turkish steed .

      Unmistakable : Symptoms . —I have a brasier of ~ charcoal in my tent , and lam sitting writing to _ you clad in a warm shooting-coat , apeacoat over it , a railway rug round my legs , a cloth cap pulled over my ears , and one glove on , besides a large woollen comforter round my neck ~ and—a scarf round my waist ; nor am I a chilly mortal ; most of my neighbours complain more of the cold than I do . Breed of Horses . —I lament to say that our horses are dying by scores , weekly , for want of forage—at least , so it is said ; but my own impression is , that it is not the only cause—which may , in part , be referred to the English breed of horsesand which has been so extolled .

      , I consider that our horses are overbred for the work they have-to perform , as well . Jts the . exposure , theyhave to undergo . The French artillery horses are from Normandy ; they are small in size , but very compact , have lots of bone , and carry a great deal of flesh . They appear to have much of the English cart blood in them , being , in part , a kind" of finely bred cart cob . The French horses are , notwithstanding tho weather , in as good condition as when they deft France , being " as round as an apple , " -with coats as sleek as satin , and have sufficient speed for anything . I have often witnessed the " gallop" of the Horse Artillery on Woolwich-common , but on active service quickness should be more in the men

      than the horses . Anti-Soykk . —The other night I was sitting beside one of our men in tho trenches . I saw him eating something which he had difficulty in cutting . 1 offered him my knife , being sharper than his , and on examining his meat I found it was raw fresh beef . Ho was eating it quite contentedly . Moving in the Crimea . — Can you fancy u poor fellow , who may be struck down from diaeaso of a niost prostrating character , being cither jolted along in a duced

      waggon , without springs or covering , or j across a horso , for three hours , exposed to an atmosphere which may bo many degrees below tho frcoziug poiut V I'flr better would it bo to let tho poor invalid remain m even his comfortless tent , than to subject linn to nucu torture . Our departments tiro certainly most rotten , and never will bo bettor until each h « s power witniu itself , so as to make urrunguinonts for Us own necessities , without being referred , as it often »>) 'P ™«> t <> o second , third , or fourth department for its conduct or g rA " FnYiNO , A .. s .--We have fitted up aomo lanital cookinghuuse * by digging hole * and made some Liutf fire , Jaces , but all is of no two , fuel w very scarce we cannot get the food up tvmu lluluklavft to cook , and if wo could , it must be grilled on the lire , an wo have no pot * nor saucepan *; our wnall camp kottles-you know what I mean—that wo curry on tho top of our luian-

      Lifor&Gt;Bfl Oj Ihe Siefre

      stores at Balaklava to-the head-quarters . I have seen the officers'dividing this labour with their men , and as I was coming in "from the front on Saturday I met a lad who could not long have joined , in charge o a party of the 38 th Regiment , who took the place of a tired man , and struggled along under his load , while the man at the other « nd of the pole exhausted the little breath he had left m appeals to his comrades : Boys ! . boys ' , won't you come and reKeve the young officer ? " Horses cannot do this work , for they cannot keep their , legs , and n < jw almost every one hundred yards of the road is marked by a carcass . To give an idea of the loss we have sustained in this way , here is a fact . There is now on duty in Balaklava a party of orderlies , whose duty it is to go about and bury all offal and dead animals every day . On an average they have to inter the bodies of twelve horses each twenty-four hours , all of which have died within the town . !"

      The Morning Post has a capital account of the -HHSSIAN SPIES . " TheCossacks still muster strong round their old haunt near Balaklava . A singular incident occurred during the day of the reconnoissance , which has been much talked of since , as showing the daring and dexterity of our opponents . The Rifles and Highlanders had advanced considerably in front of their position , so as to bring them within short distance of the Cossack officer

      pickets . While remaining there , an ( apparently belonging to the Rifles ) was observed to stroll from the lines , pass the outposts , -and walk in the direction of the Cossacks . At first he was supposed to be Lieutenant Thynne going -out " - shooting , and tinder this idea the sentries called out to warn him that he -was going in the direction of the enemy . But the officer took no notice beyond quickening his pace till he came up with the Cossacks , and , after a short parley with them , mounted a horse : and rode off . The Rifles remained

      perfectly-astounded at such , a barefaeed act of desertion—the men swearing -that it was an officer , -and that for that reason they had refrained from firing after him . ; and the officers ; asserting that it was one of the . men . But when the regiment returned to camp , and there was a . general muster to ascertain the individual yrho had acted so disgracefully , the astonishment was greater still , for not a man was missing . The truth was then evident to all that the man was nothing less than a

      Russian-spy , disguised as a Rifle officer . Such a one might easily lescape detection among the Zouaves , or even the Highlanders and -Marines , but that he should have passed unchallenged through the centre of the Rifles themselves seems quite beyond comprehension . The nerve , co olness , > and confidence necessary for such . a feat must b ~ e something" extraordinary . ¦ " The French on the following day returned tho compliment by sending out another spy , who was admirablv disguised , and whose mission was completely successful ; more than this it would hardly be prudent to say . "

      POSTMASTER AT CONSTANTINOPLE . " I must say that a more disobliging and discourteous individual does not exist . Under his fostering care the post-office has become most shamefully abused , and many whose letters are regularly dispatched to them never obtain" them . -The transport - service ~ hardly , _ evcr obtain the * letters so frequently sent from England . Letters addressed to the different transports of the ser-Y'ice accumulate by hundreds in Constantinople , and , as one of our ' angels' says , because they do not belong to the army or navy , they may lie there , for they will certainly never be sent to the parties concerned . As for those unconnected with either army , navy , or transport , I pity them , they have no chance . Letters may be sent them , clearly and distinctly addressed , but they will never reach here ; and when the unfortunates visit the post-office and make a civil request for their letters , the answer is , ' Devil a one , sir ! "

      Untitled Article

      ^ jebriiabt 3 , 1855 . ] THJ ) IiEADEB . 103

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 3, 1855, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2076/page/7/