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THE
BRITISH EXPEDITION
TO THE
CRIMEA
BY
WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL, LL.D.
_NEW AND REVISED EDITION_
WITH MAPS AND PLANS
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE
NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET
1877
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| THE INDIAN MUTINY. |
| |
| In crown 8vo, cloth, price 7_s._ 6_d._|
| |
| MY DIARY IN INDIA, |
| |
| _In the Year 1858-9_. |
| |
| BY |
| |
| WILLIAM HOWARD RUSSELL, LL.D. |
| |
| SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF "THE TIMES."|
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NOTICE TO THE READER.
EDITION OF 1858.
The interest excited by the events of the Campaign in the Crimea has not
died away. Many years, indeed, must elapse ere the recital of the
details of that great struggle, its glories, and its disasters, cease to
revive the emotions of joy or grief with which a contemporary generation
regarded the sublime efforts of their countrymen. As records on which
the future history of the war must be founded, none can be more valuable
than letters written from the scene, read by the light documents, such
as those which will shortly be made public, can throw upon them.[1]
There may be misconception respecting the nature of the motives by which
statesmen and leaders of armies are governed, but there can be no
mistake as to what they _do_; and, although one cannot always ascertain
the reasons which determine their outward conduct, their acts are
recorded in historical memoranda not to be disputed or denied. For the
first time in modern days the commanders of armies have been compelled
to give to the world an exposition of the considerations by which they
were actuated during a war, in which much of the sufferings of our
troops was imputed to their ignorance, mismanagement, and apathy. They
were not obliged to adopt that course by the orders of their superiors,
but by the pressure of public opinion; and that pressure became so great
that each, as he felt himself subjected to its influence, endeavoured to
escape from it by throwing the blame on the shoulders of his
colleagues, or on a military scapegoat, known as "the system." As each
in self-defence flourished his pen or his tongue against his brother, he
made sad rents in the mantle of official responsibility and secrecy.
Even in Russia the press, to its own astonishment, was called on to
expound the merits of captains and explain grand strategical operations;
and the public there, read in the official organs of their Government
very much the same kind of matter as our British public in the evidence
given before the Chelsea Commissioners. Much of what was hidden has been
revealed. We know more than we did; but we never shall know all.
I avail myself of a brief leisure to revise, for the first time, letters
written under very difficult circumstances, and to re-write those
portions of them which relate to the most critical actions of the war.
From the day the Guards landed in Malta down to the fall of Sebastopol,
and the virtual conclusion of the war, I had but one short interval of
repose. I was with the first detachment of the British army which set
foot on Turkish soil, and it was my good fortune to land with the first
at Scutari, at Varna, and at Old Fort, to be present at Alma, Balaklava,
Inkerman, to accompany the Kertch and the Kinburn expeditions, and to
witness every great event of the siege--the assaults on Sebastopol, and
the battle of the Tchernaya. It was my still greater good fortune to be
able to leave the Crimea with the last detachment of our army. My
sincere desire is, to tell the truth, as far as I knew it, respecting
all I have witnessed. I had no alternative but to write fully, freely,
fearlessly, for that was my _duty_, and to the best of my knowledge and
ability it was fulfilled. There have been many emendations, and many
versions of incidents in the war, sent to me from various hands--many
now cold forever--of which I have made use, but the work is chiefly
based on the letters which, by permission of the proprietors of the
_Times_, I was allowed to place in a new form before the public.
W. H. RUSSELL.
_July, 1858._
PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1876.
For several years the "History of the British Expedition to the Crimea,"
founded on the "Letters from the Crimea of the _Times_ Correspondent,"
has been out of print, and the publishers have been unable to execute
orders continually arriving for copies of the work. At the present
moment the interest of the public in what is called the Eastern Question
has been revived very forcibly, and the policy of this country in
entering upon the war of 1854, has been much discussed in the Press and
in Parliament. "Bulgaria,"[2] in which the allied armies failed to
discover the misery or discontent which might, at the time, have been
found in Ireland or Italy, is now the scene of "atrocities," the
accounts of which are exercising a powerful influence on the passions
and the judgment of the country, and the balance of public opinion is
fast inclining against the Turk, for whom we made so many sacrifices,
and who proved that he was a valiant soldier and a faithful and patient
ally. The Treaty of Paris has been torn up, the pieces have been thrown
in our faces, and a powerful party in England is taking, in 1876,
energetic action to promote the objects which we so strenuously resisted
in 1854. "Qui facit per alium facit per se." Prince Gortschakoff must be
very grateful for effective help where Count Nesselrode encountered the
most intense hostility. He finds "sympathy" as strong as gunpowder, and
sees a chance of securing the spoils of war without the cost of fighting
for them. Since 1854-6 the map of Europe has undergone changes almost as
great as those temporary alterations which endured with the success of
the First French Empire, and these apparently are but the signs and
tokens of changes to come, of which no man can forecast the extent and
importance.
The British fleet is once more in Besika Bay, but there is now no allied
squadron by its side. No British minister ventures to say that our fleet
is stationed there to protect the integrity of Turkey. If the record of
what Great Britain did in her haste twenty-two years ago be of any use
in causing her to reflect on the consequences of a violent reaction now,
the publication of this revised edition of the "History of the
Expedition to the Crimea," may not be quite inopportune.
W. H. RUSSELL.
TEMPLE, _August, 1876_.
_Note._--_In addition to the despatches relating to the landing in
the Crimea, the battles of the Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, and the
Tchernaya, the assaults on the place, &c., there will be found in
the present edition the text of the most important clauses of the
Treaty of Paris in 1856, the correspondence between Prince
Gortschakoff and Lord Granville on the denunciation of the Treaty
in 1870, &c._
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
THE CONCENTRATION OF THE BRITISH TROOPS IN TURKEY--THEIR CAMPS AND
CAMP-LIFE AT GALLIPOLI, SCUTARI, AND IN BULGARIA.....1