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French army . As a general role , the French batteries are not so solidly and finely finished as our own works , nor are they so thick as the more carefully constructed portions o £ Clttipmaa ' ftand Gordon ' s batteries . But these works axe of enormous extent , and the very slight defects in their construction may be . attributed to the loose way in which our allies , construct their gabions . They are not so strorfgly , neatly ,, or carefully made as our gabions , and we have had , in fact , to reconstruct a . portion of trench and parapet made for us by the French in one of our attacks , owing to that very circumstance . It must of first attack
not be forgotten that the success our was materially impedad by the failure of the French in maintaining their fire , and that the failure itself arose from the imperfect construction of the powder magazines in rear of their batteries ,, and by the weakness of their works . These defects have been made good by our allies with rare energy and assiduity . Their parapets have been made of great solidity , and their officers now construct their magazines on the English principle . A magazine which the French built for us was struck by a shell the other day , and the roof was at once destroyed . Fortunately it was not changed . "
HOBBOBS OF BOTJTINB . The Times correspondent this week reiterates his f 6 rmer * statements respecting the mischief of routine . Here is a description of official responsibility destroying its object : — "A circumstance occurred in Balaktava to-day which I will state for the calm consideration of the public at home without one single word of comments 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 present state from the extreme cold of the ship ; and I fear more will follow them from the same cause . ' 'Oh ! ' said the guardian of the stoves , ' you must make your requisition in due form , send it up to head-quarters , and get it signed properly , and returned , and then I will let you have the stoves . ' ' But my men may die meantime . ' - 'I can't -helpthat jI must have the requisition . ' 'It is my firm belief that there are men now in a dangerous state whom another night will certainly kill . ' 'I really can do nothing ; I must have a requisition properly signed before I can give one
of these stoves away . ' ' For Gods sake , then , lend me some ; I'll be responsible for their safety . ' ' I really can do nothing of the kind . ' - But , consider , this requisition will take time to be filled up and signed , and meantime these poor fellows will go . ' ' I cannot help that . ' ' I'll be responsible for anything you do . ' ' Oh , no , that can't be done ! ' ' Will a requisition signed by the P . M . O . of this place be of any use ? ' ' No . ' ' Will-it answer if-hetakes on himself the responsibility ? ' ' 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 . "
— - — - ~ THB-BOASTBJ > . MKDICAX < . SXORES . . " A surgeon of a regiment stationed on the cliffs abovo Balaklava , who has about 40 sick out of 200 men , has been applying to the ' authorities' in the town for the last three weeks for medicines , all simple and essential , and 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 this poor surgeon , too , came down with his last appeal : ' Do , I beg of you , give me any medicine you have for diarrhoea . ' ' We haven't any . ' '
' Anything you may have I'll take . ' ' We haven't ant / . ' 1 Have you any medicine for fever you could give ? Anything 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 ?' . ' We haven 1 1 any . ' Thus , for fever , rheumatism , and diarrhoea , the most prevalent complaints of the army , there were no specifics 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 . "
DISAPPEARANCE OP REGIMENTS . The Morning Post correspondent says : — " The 63 rd Regiment—or rather the remains of it marched tho day before yesterday to Balaklava , there to embark' cither for Scutari or Malta . It loft tho 4 th Division 80 strong , every officer , regimental staff " , and all hands included ( scarcely a sufficient escort for tho colours ) , after landing in tho Crimea about 970 strong , and having since received a draft of 80 inon . Thero was ono sergeant only to represent tho Grenadier company remaining , out of 120 . Tho return shows 400 men in hospital at Scutari ; but numbora , probably , of thoso men have since died , as tho regiments have difficulty in ascertaining at anco tho men they have in hospital after they aro sent down . "
The able , courageous , and indefatigable correspondent of the Times , Mr . Russell , thus recapitulates , with all his wonted force and feeling , tho disasters of our army , in reply to tho hoarless apologists of routine *—11 "Wholo rogiments have vanished as If by fcwgic . In
some cases the men have not fallen m action , nor have they been exposed to the labours of the army beginning the campaign . No wonder , then , that the old soldiers of the Crimea , the men of Alma , Inkerman , and Balaklava , should go at last , and share-the fate of the raw levies , and of the unacclimatised regiments . Two regiments at leasts—that is the officers , the colours , and a few privates and non-commissioned officers , , wjtfl be sent away for ' reorganisation . ' Is there not something to be learnt out of the fact that few . of our officers sicken and die even in the most unhealthy regiments ? If the officers are more exposed than the men to the fire of the enemy in action , they are certainly less liable than their men to diseaseand to the fatal effects of diarrhoea , fever , and
, dysentery .. According to what I hear from a few people out here , who are eccentric enough to purchase a stray number of the obscurer London journals , I seem to have been honoured by a good deal of abuse from some of them at home for telling the truth . 1 really would put on my Claude Lorraine glass if I could . I would , if I couldj clothe skeletons with flesh , breathe life into the occupants of the charnel-house , subvert the . succession of the seasons , and restore the legions whicH have been lost ; but I cannot tell lies to ' make things pleasant . ' Any statements I have made I have chapter , and book , and verse , and witness for . Many , very many , that I have not made , I could prove to be true with equal ease ; and 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 any other newspaper correspondent . The only thing the partisan * of misrule can allege is r that we don't make things pleasant to the authorities , and thai , amid the filth and starvation and deadly stagnation of the camp , we did not g » about 4 babbling of green fields , " peMant abundance , and of prospects of victory . Nowv suppose we come to ' fects . ' Do people at home know how many bayonets . the British army could muster at this moment ? Do they believe we have 25 , 000 , after all our reinforcements ? They
may be told—nay , it may be proved to them by figures at home—that the British army here consists of 55 , 000 men .. I warn the British public not fo believe that , with all our reinforcements , they reach near half that number . The grave and the hospital have swallowed them up by thousands . Just think of this ' fact , '—that since the first day of December , 1854 , down to the 20 th of January , 1855 , 8000 sick and wounded men ha- % been sent down from camp to Balaklava , and thence on shipboard ! Shall I tell you how many have returned ? And yet people at home , who gloat over the horrors of Walcheren , and consider disaster the normal end of British expeditions , tell us it is ' croaking' to state the facts in such cases as these , or even to allude to them !"
THE GUARDS . " The battle of Inkerman was fought on the 5 th of November , as the world will remember for ever . About forty per cent , of the brigade of Guards were killed or wounded on that occasion . They have since received reinforcements , and the brigade , which mustered about 2500 men when it left England , has received some 1500 men in . various draughts up to the end of the year . What is the present strength of the Brigade of "Houses hold troops—of that magnificent band who crowned the struggle of the Alma with victory , and beat back the Russian hordes at Inkerman ? I think they could muster , including servants and all available soldiers , about 958 men in the whole brigade . Here is another
fact : Since the same battle of Inkerman , at least 1000 —1000 men—of tho Brigade of Guards have been ' expended , ' absorbed , used up , and are no more seen . Tho official returns will show how many of that thousand were killed or wounded by the enemy . Another fact : There arc two regiments so shattered and disorganised —so completely destroyed , to tell tho truth , that they must bo sent away to bo ' re-formed . ' Tho representatives of ono regimental numeral have gone dow n to Balaklava already . Tho representatives of tho 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 , ono of these regiments was neither at tho Alma nor at Inkerman—tho other was ongaged in tho latter battle only , and did not lose many mcu . "
THE FORTUNE OP VTAR . Rapid promotion is alreadydawning for the younger officers . Tho Daily News correspondent in the camp says : — " A case camo undor my notice a short time ago showing how rapidly war is making its own men , and fashioning for itsolf tho instruments to work with . Mr . Dickson , of tho 77 th Regiment , has just gone homo to join tho do ' pot company of his regiment on his promotion to a junior captaincy . Captain Dickson was engaged
at tho Alma and at Inkexmnn ,- and in either battle , I understand , ho did good service . Ho Mis just ceased to bo an ' infant' in law , and it is but two years since ho entered tho service His is not a solitary nor an exceptional case . War clears tho way for its own . Men who for years would hold out In poaco quarters dio or drop down to Scutari , and from thonco homo . Battles playsad havoo with tho army list . A race of now men w rapidly rising and growing into command—men who have youth , cnorgy , and vigour . Whether thoy have
the other and higher qualities of leaders of jreglments and divisions remains to be seen . Much depends on tne individual character-of the persons so rising ; much on their talents . But the infusion of young blood into Hie service , ' so long talked of and wr itten about and : wished for , is becoming a reality , and a year or two of active warfare will give us " colonels of five-and-twenty and generals at thirty , at the head of regiments and brigades . " ' ¦ • ,
WEATHER IN THE CRIMEA ; . Something definite on this subject must be valuable . The Times correspondent , writing , January 27 , says ;— . " The weather , thanks to Heaven , continues to be eattremely favourable to us . Cold , clear nights , with , a bright , unclouded moon , are followed by -warm ,, sunny , genial days . The thermometer generally falls to 18 dog . or 20 deg . at 12 every night , and rises to 44 ; deg . of Fahrenheit at noon the following day . It is not unusual to have several weeks of fine weather of this kind at a
corresponding period of the year in the Crimea , but all the natives concur in stating that we have still hard times before us—tempest , heavy rains , or snow , but not very intense cold , and that this introduction to the Crimean spring continues , on an average for about three weeks ,, but that it may last twice as long . 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 the roads , or mud tracks , are hardened by the frost for several hours each morning , and remain in a state fit for travelling over , with more or less difficulty , till the influence 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 te > camp -witk forage and stores- "
A HOSPITAL PROGESS 1 OK . Here is a horrible account of a party of the sick proceeding to the Hospital . It is from the-Times : — " They formed one of the most ghastly processions £ hat ever poet imagined . Many- of these men were all but dead . With closed eyes , open mouths , and ghastly attenuated faces , they were borne along two and two , the thin stream of breath , visible in the frosty air , alone showing they were still alive . One figure was a horror—a corpse , stone-dead , strapped upright in its seat , its legs hanging stiffly down , the eyes staring wide open ^ the teeth set on the protruding
tongue , the head and body nodding with frightful mockery of life at each stride of the mule over the broken road . No doubt the man had died on his way down to the harbour . ~ As tne ^ apparition . passed , the only remarks the soldiers made were such as this' There ' s one poor fellow out of pain , anyway ! ' Another man I saw with the raw flesh and skin hanging from . Eis fingers , the naked bones of which protruded into the cold air , undressed and uncovered . This was a case of frost-bite , I presume . Possibly the hand had been dressed , but the bandages might have dropped off . All the sick in the mule litters seemed alike on the verge of the grave . "
BLUB JACKETS IN THE CAMP . - _ . Thecorrespoadentpfthe JWornjnjr F ^* t says : — " The sailors who form the Naval Brigade have got , " with very good reason ^ the reputation of being equal to our allies in foraging , and particularly in appropriating stray horses ; so much so , that any one who is unfortunate enough to miss a horse is immediately , advised to visit the sailors' camp . Jack , no doubt , appreciates using a pony ' s back instead of his own to bring up his
rations from tho harbour . I heard rather an amusing story told of a naval officer , who having walked up as far as the sailors' camp , did not feel much disposed to wade bo ^ ck again through the mud , and inquiring if there was a horse to be had , ' No , sir , ' said a man , ' but we have a nice young dromed-a-ry , if you likes that . You see , sir , about a week ago we had plenty o' orses , but the mischief is , so soon as ever we gets ' em into training on ' ard biscuit , them soger officers comes and takes ' away , and so it aint no use . ' "
POLITENESS AT SBBASTOFOL . The Crimean correspondent of the Jmtrnal de Constantinople states that since the Allies and the Russians are prevented by the season from meeting each other in battle array , they contend who shall overcome the other in courtesy and politeness ; and ho gives some anecdotes of this contest ;—" The Allied troops arc strictly forbidden to possess themselves of the money or jewellery of tho killed or wounded . The latter and tho prisoners retain everything thoy may have about thorn . Whatever is toxiwl on the persons of tho officer * among tho kflkcl is sent to the Russian hoad-qnartew , with tho nnmo of tho late possessor , whenever it can bo discovered . "If an ofHcor is missing nt tho evening roll-call , a flag of truce is sent into tho enemy ' s camp to inquire , if ho has been made prisoner ; and if tho reply is in the affirmative , his money and oficctH arc forwarded to him . " A colonel of Russian Hussars having had his horse killed , and falling undor tho animal ,, at the battle of Inkerman , lost his sabro . Aftor tho action ho eont to tho French head-quarters to bog that it might bo rer turned to him , on account of tho valuo Iio attached to A
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. "FaiattTAUX 17 , 1855 . ] f HE IEAPBB . 147
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 147, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2078/page/3/
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