Varna is such a town as only could have been devised by a nomadic race

aping the habits of civilized nations. If the lanes are not so

ill-paved, so rugged, and so painful to the pedestrian as those of

Gallipoli; if they are not so crooked and jagged and tortuous; if they

are not so complicated and fantastically devious, it is only because

nature has set the efforts of man at defiance, and has forbidden the

Turk to render a town built upon a surface nearly level as unpleasant to

perambulate as one founded on a hill-side. After a course of 100

miles,--by shores which remind you, when they can be seen through fogs

and vapours, of the coast of Devonshire, and which stretch away on the

western side of the Black Sea in undulating folds of greensward rising

one above the other, or swell into hilly peaks, all covered with fine

verdure, and natural plantations of the densest foliage, so that the

scenery has a park-like and cultivated air, which is only belied by the

search of the telescope,--the vessel bound to Varna rounds a promontory

of moderate height on the left, and passing by an earthen fort perched

on the summit, anchors in a semicircular bay about a mile and a half in

length and two miles across, on the northern side of which is situated

the town, so well known by its important relations with the history of

the struggles between Russia and the Porte, and by its siege in 1829.

The bay shoals up to the beach, at the apex of the semicircle formed by

its shores, and the land is so low at that point that the fresh waters

from the neighbouring hills form a large lake, which extends for many

miles through the marsh lands and plains which run westward towards

Shumla. Varna is built on a slightly elevated bank of sand on the verge

of the sea, of such varying height that in some places the base of the

wall around it is on a level with the water, and at others stand twenty

or thirty feet above it. Below this bank are a series of plains inland,

which spread all round the town till they are lost in the hills, which,

dipping into the sea in an abrupt promontory on the north-east side,

rise in terraces to the height of 700 or 800 feet at the distance of

three miles from the town, and stretch away to the westward to meet the

corresponding chain of hills on the southern extremities of the bay,

thus enclosing the lake and plains between in a sort of natural wall,

which is like all the rest of the country, covered with brushwood and

small trees. A stone wall of ten feet high, painted white, and

loopholed, is built all round the place; and some detached batteries,

well provided with heavy guns, but not of much pretension as works of

defence, have been erected in advance of the walls on the land side. On

the sea-face four batteries are erected provided with heavy guns

also--two of them of earthwork and gabions, the other two built with

stone parapets and embrasures. Peering above these walls, in an

irregular jungle of red-tiled roofs, are the houses of the place, with

a few minarets towering from the mosques above them. The angles of the

work are irregular, but in most instances the walls are so constructed

as to admit of a fair amount of flanking fire on an assaulting force.

Nevertheless, a portion of the inner side of the bay, and other parts

are equally accessible to the fire of batteries on the trifling hillocks

around the town. The houses of the town are built of wood; it contains

about 12,000 or 14,000 inhabitants, but there is more bustle, and

animation, and life in the smallest hamlet in Dorsetshire, than here,

unless one goes down to the landing place, or visits the bazaar, where

the inhabitants flock for pleasure or business.

General Canrobert and staff reached Varna on the morning of the 2nd of

June. He landed about mid-day, and after an extempore levee of the

French officers on the beach, proceeded to call on Sir George Brown. The

first thing they did when their Sappers arrived at Varna, before the

English came up, was to break a gateway through the town wall, on its

sea-face, to allow troops and provisions to be landed and sent off

without a long detour. This proceeding drove the Pasha of the place

almost deranged, and he died soon afterwards.

The cavalry sent by Omar Pasha was of infinite service in transporting

provisions, horses, and cattle. The latter were wretchedly small and

lean. A strong man could lift one of the beasts, and there was not so

much meat on one of them as on a good English sheep. Food was good

enough, and plentiful; a fowl could be had for seven piastres--1_s._

2_d._; bread and meat were about the same price as in London; a turkey

could be procured for half-a-crown; wine was dear, and not good; spirits

as cheap as they were bad. Omar Pasha prohibited the export of grain

from all the ports of Roumelia.

Owing 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 had been collected, was nearly sufficient for the

wants of the First Division. There was a small army of hairy,

wild-looking drivers stalking about the place, admiring the beauties of

Varna, spear or buffalo goad in hand.

The British camp was at first pitched on a plain, covered with scrub and

clumps of sweet-brier, about a mile from the town, and half a mile from

the fresh-water lake. The water of the lake, however, was not good for

drinking--it abounded in animalculæ, not to mention enormous

leeches--and the men had to go to the fountains and wells near the town

to fill their canteens and cooking-tins.

Admirals Dundas and Hamelin came into the bay in order that they might

assist at the conferences. A new pasha also arrived, who was supposed to

be better fitted to the exigencies of the times than his predecessor.

At three o'clock on Monday, June 5th, the Light Division of the army,

consisting of the 7th, 19th, 23rd, 33rd, 77th and 88th Regiments, and

the Second Battalion of Rifle Brigade, with part of the 8th Hussars, the

17th Lancers, and four guns attached, commenced its march from the

encampment at Varna, on their way to their new encampment at Aladyn

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 about eighteen miles from

Varna, the route being through a rich and fertile country, perfectly

deserted and lifeless--not a house, not a human creature to be seen

along the whole line of march.

When once the traveller left the sandy plain and flat meadow lands which

sweep westward for two or three miles from Varna, he passed through a

succession of fine landscapes, with a waving outline of hills, which he

could 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.

Never were tents pitched in a more lovely spot. When the morning sun had

risen it was scarcely possible for one to imagine himself far from

England. At the other side of the lake which waters the meadows beneath

the hill on which the camp was placed, was 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 saw it at once exclaimed,

"Surely there must be a fine mansion somewhere among those trees!"

The camp was pitched on a dry, sandy table-land. On the right-hand side

the artillery (Captain Levinge's troop), the small-arm and ammunition

train (Captain Anderson), and the rocket carriages, caissons, artillery

horses, &c., had their quarters. The valley between them and the

table-land on which the camp was situated was unoccupied. On the

left-hand side, on a beautiful spot overlooking the lake, at a

considerable elevation, was the little camp of the commissariat,

surrounded by carts and araba drivers, flocks of sheep and goats, and

cattle, and vast piles of bread and corn. The Rifle camp was placed at

the distance of 300 yards from the commissariat camp, on the slope of

the table-land, and commanded a beautiful view of the lakes and of the

surrounding country; and the 7th, 19th, 23rd, 33rd, 77th, and 88th

Regiments were encamped close together, so that the lines of canvas were

almost unbroken, from one extremity to the other. Brigadier-General

Airey and staff, and Drs. Alexander, Tice, and Jameson, had pitched

their tents in a meadow close by some trees at the upper end of the

encampment. Brigadier Buller's marquee was close to the lines of his

brigade. Captain Gordon, R.E., the Rev. Mr. Egan, and Captain Halliwell,

had 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,--and near at hand were the tents of the Sappers and Miners. The

cavalry were stationed about nine miles further on, close to the village

of Devna.

[Sidenote: ALADYN.]

In front of the Rifle camp was a rural burial-ground, long abandoned,

probably because there were not many people left to die in the district.

It was of the rudest kind. No sculptured stone, not even a scratch of a

chisel, distinguished one resting-place from another, but a block of

unhewn granite was placed at each grave, and the Sappers and Miners, who

were a most utilitarian corps, 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. These same Sappers had hard work of it

in building this bridge. The 10th company who laboured at it, worked

entirely naked and up to their breasts in water for one whole day. It is

no wonder that a few of them suffered from fever in consequence.

The open country was finely diversified, with abundance of wood and

water all around, within easy distance of the route. Long lines of

storks flew overhead or held solemn reviews among the frogs in the

meadows. As for the latter, they were innumerable, and their concerts by

day and night would delight the classical scholar who remembered his

Aristophanes, and who could test the accuracy of the chorus. Eagles

soared overhead, looking out for dead horses; and vultures, kites, and

huge buzzards scoured the plains in quest of vermin, hares, or

partridges. Beautiful orioles, a blaze of green and yellow, gaudy

woodpeckers, apiasters, jays, and grosbeaks, shrieked and chattered

among the bushes, while the nightingale poured forth a flood of

plaintive melody, aided by a lovely little warbler in a black cap and

red waistcoat with bluish facings, who darted about after the flies, and

who, when he had caught and eaten one, lighted on a twig and expressed

his satisfaction in a gush of exquisite music. Blackbirds and thrushes

joined in the chorus, and birds of all sorts flitted around in

multitudes. The commonest bird of all was the dove, and he was found so

good to eat, that his cooing was often abruptly terminated by a dose of

No. 6.

On the first morning of my visit, as I rode from the camp, a large

snake, about eight feet long and as thick as my arm, wriggled across the

path; my horse plunged violently when he saw him, but the snake went

leisurely and with great difficulty 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 behind drew

a long barrelled pistol, and was adjusting his aim, when with the

quickness of lightning the snake darted into the thicket, and though

four of us rode our horses through the cover, we could not find him. He

was of a dark green, mottled with white, had a large head of a lighter

hue, and protuberant, bright eyes. Jackals were said to abound, but

probably the wild dogs were mistaken for them. There were traditions in

camp concerning roe deer in the hill forests, and the sportsmen found

out the tracks of wild boars through the neighbouring hills. Huge carp

abounded in the lake; and very fine perch, enormous bream, and pike

might be had for the taking, but tackle, rods and lines were very scarce

in camp. There were no trout in these waters, but perch and pike took

large flies very freely, whenever the angler could get through the weeds

and marshy borders to take a cast for them.

But where are the natives all this time?--come, here is one driving an

araba--let us stop and look at him. He is a stout, well-made, and

handsome man, with finely-shaped features and large dark eyes; but for

all this there is a dull, dejected look about him which rivets the

attention. There 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 dare 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 cap of black sheepskin, with the

wool on, beneath which falls a mass of tangled hair, which unites with

beard, and whisker, and moustache in forming a rugged mat about the

lower part of the face. A jacket made of coarse brown cloth hangs

loosely from the shoulders, leaving visible the breast, burnt almost

black by exposure to the sun. Underneath the jacket is a kind of vest,

which is confined round the waist 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 rudely-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, _à la_ Wallack, in a state of extreme dilapidation and

poverty.

If you could speak with this poor Bulgarian, you would find his mind as

waste as the land around you. 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 in prayer or works. He believes

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 Russia, 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 mile, from some distant

village, in the hope of being employed by the commissariat, who offer

him what seems to him to be the most munificent remuneration of 3_s._

4_d._ a day for the services of himself, his beasts, and araba. His food

is coarse brown bread, or a mess of rice and grease, flavoured with

garlic, the odour of which has penetrated his very bones, and spreads in

vapour around him. His drink is water, and now and then an intoxicating

draught of bad raki or sour country wine. In that abject figure you look

in vain for the dash of Thracian blood, or seek the descendant of the

Roman legionary. From whatever race he springs, the Bulgarian peasant

hereabouts is the veriest slave that ever tyranny created, and as he

walks slowly away with downcast eyes and stooping head, by the side of

his cart, the hardest heart must be touched with pity at his mute

dejection, and hate the people and the rule that have ground him to the

dust.

[Sidenote: THE COMMISSARIAT.]

Let the reader imagine he is riding in Bulgaria any hot eventide in

June, 1854; he will pass many a group of such poor fellows as these. A

few miles before him, after leaving Varna, he will catch glimpses of

English hill-tents through the trees on a beautiful knoll, running down

towards the rich marshes at the head of the lake, which he has kept on

his left all the way. Let us water our horses, for the place is yet some

way off. Now and then encountering 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 gun 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 pursuit of the sports of the field.

Private Smith, of the Rifle Brigade, with a goose in each hand, is

stalking homewards from the hamlet by the lake-side. Mr. Flynn, of the

Connaught Rangers, a little the worse for raki, is carrying a lamb on

his shoulders, which he is soothing with sentimental ditties; and

Sergeant Macgregor, of the 7th, and Sergeant Aprice, of the 23rd Welsh

Fusileers, are gravely discussing a difficult point of theology on a

knoll in front of you. 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 familiar sounds of

washing and lines of fluttering linen, attesting the energies of the

British laundress under the most unfavourable circumstances. In a short

time the stranger arrives at a mass of araba carts drawn up along the

road, through which he threads his way with difficulty, and just as he

tops the last hill the tents of the Light Division, stretching their

snowy canvas in regular lines up the slope of the opposite side, come

into view.

The people of England, who had looked with complacency on the reduction

of expenditure in all branches of our warlike establishments, ought not

to have been surprised at finding the movements of our army hampered by

the results of an injudicious economy. A commissariat officer is not

made in a day, nor can the most lavish expenditure effect the work of

years, or atone for the want of experience. The hardest-working treasury

clerk had necessarily much to learn ere he could become an efficient

commissariat officer, in a country which our old campaigners declare to

be the most difficult they ever were in for procuring supplies. Let

those who 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 supplies by the cart or wagon cut off, corn scarcely

procurable, carriages impossible, and the only communication between the

camp and port carried on by means of buffalo 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 experienced by those who had to

procure the requisite necessaries for the expeditionary forces. To give

the reader a notion of the requirements of such a body as an

expeditionary army of 25,000 men, it may be stated that not less than

13,000 horses and mules would be required for the conveyance of their

ammunition, baggage, and stores in the field.

The movements of the troops were often delayed on account of want of

transport. Buffalo and bullock carts, and their drivers, vanished into

thin air in the space of a night. A Bulgarian is a human being after

all. A Pasha's cavass might tear him away from "his young barbarians all

at play;" but when he had received a few three-and-eightpences a day,

off he started the moment the eye of the guard was removed, and, taking

unknown paths and mountain roadways, sought again the miserable home

from which he had been taken.

The people were so shy, it was impossible to establish friendly

relations with them. The inhabitants of the Bulgarian village of Aladyn,

close to the camp at the borders of the lake, abandoned their houses

altogether. Not one living creature remained out of the 350 or 400

people who were there on our arrival. Their houses were left wide open,

and such of their household goods as they could not remove, and a few

cocks and hens that could not be caught, were all that was left behind.

The cause generally assigned for this exodus was the violence of a few

ruffians on two or three occasions, coupled with groundless apprehension

of further outrages--others said it was because we established our

slaughter-houses there. Certainly the smell was abominable. Diarrhoea

broke out in the camp soon after my arrival, and continued to haunt us

all during the summer. Much of this increase of disease must be

attributed to the use of the red wine of the country, sold at the

canteens of the camp; but, as the men could get nothing else, they

thought it was better to drink than the water of the place. There were

loud complaints from officers and men from this score, and especially on

account of the porter and ale they were promised not being dealt out to

them; and the blame was laid, as a matter of course, on the shoulders of

Sir George Brown. While the men of the light division lay outside Varna

they were furnished with porter; but on moving further off they were

deprived of it, and the reasons given for the deprivation were various,

but the result was manifest. The men heard that the soldiers of the

other divisions near Varna got their pint of porter a day, and that they

should be dissatisfied at this distinction is not surprising. A draught

of good porter, with the thermometer at 93° or 95° in the shade, would

be a luxury which a "thirsty soul" in London could never understand. It

was evident that some wholesome drink ought to have been provided for

the men, to preserve them from the attacks of sickness in a climate

where the heat was so great and the supply of pure water inadequate.

Many of the officers rode into Varna, bought salt, tobacco, tea, and

spirits, and brought it out in the saddle-bags, either to distribute

gratuitously or at cost price to their men. This was an immense boon,

particularly as the men, except servants on leave, were not allowed to

go into Varna. A small stock of preserved potatoes was sent out, but it

was soon exhausted.

[Sidenote: ARRIVAL OF THE GUARDS AT VARNA.]

After I had been a few days at Aladyn, I rode down to Varna, and was

astonished at the change which the place had undergone. Old blind side

walls had been broken down, and shops opened, in which not only

necessaries, but even luxuries, could be purchased; the streets, once

so dull and silent, re-echoed the laughter and rattle of dominoes in the

newly-established _cafés_. 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 be

purchased at prices not intolerably high. The natives had followed the

example. Strings of German sausages, of dried tongues, of wiry hams, of

bottles of pickles, hung from the rafters of an old Turkish khan, which

but a few days before was the abode of nothing but unseemly insects; and

an empty storehouse was turned into a nicely whitewashed and gaily

painted "Restaurant de l'Armée d'Orient pour Messieurs les Officiers et

Sous-officiers." 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 was named the Rue Ibrahim,

another Rue de l'Hôpital, a third Rue Yusuf; the principal lane was

termed the Corso, the next was Rue des Postes Françaises; and, as all

these names were very convenient, and had a meaning attached to them, no

sneering ought to deter one from confessing that the French manage these

things better than we do. Did any one want to find General Canrobert? He

had but to ask the first Frenchman he met and he would tell him to go up

the Corso, turn to the right, by the end of the Rue de l'Hôpital, and

there was the name of the General painted in large letters over the door

of his quarters. The French post-office and the French hospital were

sufficiently indicated by the names of the streets. Where at this period

was the English post-office? No one knew. Where did the English general

live? No one knew. Where was the hospital for sick soldiers? No one

knew.

On the 12th, the 5th Dragoon Guards, which left Cork on the 28th of May,

were landed from the _Himalaya_. The French from Gallipoli had already

approached the lower Balkans. Lord Raglan was confined for some days to

his quarters at Scutari by illness. The Duke of Cambridge and his staff

landed on the 14th of June, and with him came the Brigade of Guards.

The disembarkation of the Guards was effected, and with a rapidity and

comfort which conferred great credit on the officers. The French

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 to thump the drivers, to push the natives out of the

way, to show the road, and, in fact, to make themselves generally

useful.

CHAPTER VI.

Camp life--Good news from Silistria--Forces in and near

Varna--Egyptian troops--Omar Pasha visits the camp--Bono,

Johnny--Affair at Giurgevo--The Black Virgin--Levies from

India--Council of War--Ominous signs.

The fraternity established between the French and English troops became

daily more affectionate, and individual friendships soon sprang up, all

the closer, perhaps, for a squabble now and then, which ended in the

_redintegratio amoris_; but it was evident that it did not answer to let

the troops of the two nations mingle indiscriminately in crowded

market-places, and we were well satisfied that we were in advance

towards the Danube. From all I could see, I was convinced of the

sagacity of the opinion of Marshal St. Arnaud, who objected to the march

of the English Dragoons through France on their way to the East.

On Saturday, the 24th of June, a Tatar with an escort rode past the camp

by the Shumla road, at full speed for Varna, and, on arriving there,

repaired to the quarters of Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan, with

dispatches from Omar Pasha. The two commanders-in-chief held a

conference, at which several of the French and English generals were

present, and on the same evening two steamers left the port of Varna

with dispatches, one for Constantinople, and the other for the Admirals

at Baltschik. On the previous Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the noise

of a distant cannonade had been heard at intervals by the outlying

pickets in the direction of Silistria, and hypothesis and conjecture

were busy hatching _canards_, which flew about the tents in ever-varying

plumage and form. But on Saturday the great fact was known in Varna, and

soon travelled out here, that the siege of Silistra was raised, and that

the Russians were in full retreat from the scene of their

discomfiture--so precipitately that their route could not be

ascertained. A reconnaissance was ordered to be undertaken by Lord

Cardigan by Yeni Bazaar and to the eastward of Shumla, towards Hadschi

Oghlu, to ascertain if the enemy had retreated across the Danube.

[Sidenote: TURCO-EGYPTIAN TROOPS.]

On the 24th Prince Napoleon arrived, to take the command of his

division, and was received with the usual 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 hoisting 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 R. England, arrived in Varna, and

some of the baggage of Adams's brigade, as well as detachments of the

41st, 55th, and 95th Regiments. Portions of several French regiments

also landed. The plain round Varna, for three miles, was covered with

tents. Grass, herbage, and shrubs disappeared, and the fields were

turned into an expanse of sand, ploughed up by araba wheels, and the

feet of oxen and horses, and covered with towns of canvas. There could

not have been less than 40,000 men encamped around the place, including

French, English, Egyptians, and Turks, and the town itself was choked in

every street with soldiery. More than 300 vessels were at anchor in the

bay, in readiness to sail at a moment's notice. Upwards of 500 carts

came in from the Turkish army to carry stores and provisions towards

Shumla and the Danube.

A review of about 8,000 Turco-Egyptian troops was held on the plain

behind Varna, on the day the Tatar brought the news of the raising of

the Siege of Silistria. 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 manoeuvres were carelessly

performed and done in a listless manner. 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 themselves of their thumbs or

fore-fingers--a useless attempt to escape conscription altogether. The

French and English officers did not form a high opinion of anything but

the raw material of which the troops were composed,--a raw material

which, like everything else in Turkey, had been spoilt as much as

possible by the genius of mal-administration. Behind stone walls,

defending a breach, or in a sortie, the Osmanli, with his courage,

fanaticism, and disregard of death, which he considers indeed as his

passport to heaven, may repel organized European troops; but no one who

sees the slow, cautious, and confused evolutions of the Turks, their

straggling advance and march, their shaky squares and wavering columns,

can believe they could long stand against a regular army in the open

field.

Their file firing was anything but good, and a spattering of musketry

was kept up from rank to rank long after the general discharge had

ceased. The men had all polished musket-barrels, in imitation of the

French, and their arms appeared to be kept in a most creditable order.

The Egyptian field-pieces, six and nine-pounder guns of brass, were

beautifully clean and neat, and the carriages, though rather heavy,

were, perhaps, well suited to the country. The gunners seemed to

understand their business thoroughly, and the carriages 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 pilaff, and lard or grease

in lieu of butter. Their tents were just as commodious and as good as

our own, but they put more men into each than we were in the habit of

doing.

On the 30th of June the bulk of the British troops quitted their

original position at Varna. The Light Division, under Sir George Brown,

left their quarters on the plateau near Aladyn, and marched to Devna,

about eight and a half or nine miles off; on that day, and on Saturday

morning, the First Division, under his Royal Highness 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 which had just been abandoned by the Rifle Brigade, and their

right extending to the plains lately used by the Light Division as

parading and drill ground.

Sickness and diarrhoea in the camp were greatly on the decline; sore

lips were common, principally from exposure to the sun. The Duke's

Division seemed to grow beards with impunity. His Royal Highness, who

lived out close to his division under canvas, having abandoned his

quarters in Varna within a few days after he got into them, had his

men's parades and field-days before nine o'clock. The brigadiers

preferred the hours between nine and noon, under the impression that the

sun was not so powerful then, on account of the forenoon breezes, as it

was earlier in the morning. We had a thunderstorm almost every day, and

very grateful it was, for the temperature was always lowered ten or

twelve degrees by the rain and electrical discharges. The commissariat

were doing their duty manfully. The quality of the meat was really very

good, though the doctors thought a pound a day was not enough for each

man in such a climate, especially as the meat was rather deficient in

nutritious quality.

[Sidenote: OMAR PASHA VISITS THE CAMP.]

On the 3rd of July, news arrived that Omar Pasha was on his way from

Silistria to Varna, and might be expected in an hour. The Turkish

infantry on the plains below were observed to fall in, and draw up in

front of their tents. About two o'clock a faint 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 Devna, and the whole of the staff hastened to pay

their respects to Omar Pasha, who mounted his horse, and attended by his

suite and followers, rode up the hill towards the camp, in the front of

which the division was drawn up in line. The _coup d'oeil_ was

magnificent. The blue outlines of the distant hills, over which played

the heavy shadows of rapidly-gathering thunder-clouds--the green sweep

of the valley below dotted with tents, and marked here and there with

black masses of Turkish infantry--the arid banks of sand, and grey

cliffs, displaying 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, topped by the canvas walls behind them--formed a spectacle

worth coming far to see. Omar Pasha was dressed with neatness and

simplicity--no order but the Star of the Medjidji glittered 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 lines of his calm

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 well contrasted with

his snow-white whiskers. In the rude and rather sensual mouth, with

compressed thick lips, were traceable, if physiognomy have truth,

enormous firmness and resolution. The chin, full and square, evinced the

same qualities, which might also be discerned in the general form of the

head. Those who remember the statue of Radetsky, at the Great

Exhibition, will understand what this means. All the rougher features,

the coarse nose, and the slight prominence of the cheek-bones, were more

than redeemed by the quick, penetrating, and expressive eye, full 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

person he appeared to be rather below than above the ordinary height;

but his horse, a well-trained grey, was not so tall as the English

chargers beside him, and he may really be more than five feet seven or

eight. His figure was light, 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 Hyde-park as a

well-appointed quiet gentleman. His staff were by no means so well

turned out, but the few hussars of the escort were stout,

soldierlike-looking fellows. One of them led a strong chestnut 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 performed some simple

field-day manoeuvres, to the great delight of the Pasha. As the men

moved off after exercising for about three-quarters of an hour, the

cavalry came up at full trot, and at once riveted the attention of the

Pasha. There were one and a half squadron of the 17th Lancers, a troop

of the 8th, and a troop of the 11th Hussars. The artillery horses and

dragoon 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 soon

after 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 receive Omar

Pasha.

For some days 3,000 Bashi-Bazouks and Militia were encamped close to our

cavalry camp, and every day performed irregular evolutions in the plains

below, and made the night hideous with their yells and challenges. On

Wednesday, the 5th of July, 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, there to be placed

under the mild rule of General Yusuf, the famous Algerine commander, who

had tamed so many of the wild tribes of the desert to the French yoke.

In all the villages about tales were told of the violence of these

ruffians--they were true types of the Mussulman "soldiery" as they are

yet to be found in Asia, and as they would have been, perhaps, even in

the camp, if the eye of Europe had not been upon them. A common practice

among them during their march through this very district was to take

away the sons and young children of the miserable Bulgarians, and demand

a ransom. A poor widow's only son was carried off by them. They put a

price on his head she could not pay. She told the chief of the party

so, and offered all she had to give to the scoundrel, but he would not

accept the sum; and she had never seen her son since. One would have

thought that General Yusuf was the very man to get these gentry into

order; but the result proved that he was unable to subdue their settled

habits of irregularity. Omar Pasha did great good by a little wholesome

severity. He seized on whole hordes of them, took their horses and

accoutrements, and sent them off to be enlisted by compulsory levy into

the armies of the faithful as foot soldiers.

Their camp, just outside the town, was worth a journey to see. Their

tents were all pitched regularly, instead of being thrown down

higgledy-piggledy all over the ground, and their horses (nearly all

stallions--such neighing and kicking, and biting and fighting as goes on

among them all day!) were neatly tethered in lines, like those of

regular cavalry. There were about 3,000 of these wild cavaliers, and it

would have been difficult to find more picturesque-looking scoundrels,

if the world was picked for them from Scinde to Mexico. Many of them

were splendid-looking fellows, with fine sinewy legs, beautifully

proportioned, muscular arms, and noble, well-set heads, of the true

Caucasian mould; others were hideous negroes from Nubia, or lean,

malignant-looking Arabs, with sinister eyes and hungry aspect; and some

were dirty Marabouts, fanatics from Mecca, inflamed by the influence of

their Hadj, or pilgrimage. They were divided into five regiments, and

each man was paid a franc a-day by the French authorities. For this

reason many of our Bashis "bolted" from Colonel Beatson and the English

officers, and joined the French. Colonel Beatson had no money to pay

them, and, indeed, it was not very clear that he had the sanction, or at

all events the approbation, of Lord Raglan, whatever countenance he may

have received from the home authorities. As Omar Pasha moved northwards,

and left a larger extent of ground between his army and the Allies

without military occupation, these wild and reckless men, deserting from

both Beatson and Yusuf, became more and more troublesome, and began to

indulge in their old habits of violence and plunder.

[Sidenote: BONO, JOHNNY!]

Omar Pasha left Varna early on Thursday, the 6th of July, and, on

arriving at Aladyn, found the Duke of Cambridge's Division ready to

receive him. He expressed his admiration at the magnificent appearance

of the Guards and Highlanders, and after the review he retired with His

Royal Highness the Duke to his tent, where he remained for some time,

and partook of some refreshment. About two o'clock Omar Pasha's

travelling carriages, escorted by Turkish cavalry, appeared in sight of

our camp. The Pasha was received by Lord Raglan, Sir George Brown,

Brigadier-General Scarlett, the Brigadiers of Division. After a time the

5th Dragoon Guards went past in splendid order, and then the two troops

of Royal Horse Artillery and the battery, which did just what they are

wont to do when his Royal 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, unlimbering guns, taking them to

pieces, putting them together, and vanishing in columns of dust. They

came by at a trot, which was gradually quickened into a dashing gallop,

so that the six-pound and nine-pound guns, and carriages, and tumbrils,

went hopping and bounding over the sward. A charge in line, which shook

the very earth as men and horses flew past like a whirlwind, wreathed in

clouds of dust, particularly 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 Russian 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 inspection was over at half-past three

o'clock, to the great delight 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.

There was one phrase which served as the universal exponent of peace,

goodwill, praise, and satisfaction between the natives and the soldiery.

Its origin cannot be exactly determined, but it probably arose from the

habit of our men at Malta in addressing every native as "Johnny." At

Gallipoli the soldiers persisted in applying the same word to Turk and

Greek, and at length Turk and Greek began to apply it to ourselves, so

that stately generals and pompous colonels, as they stalked down the

bazaar, heard themselves addressed by the proprietors as "Johnny;" and

to this appellation "bono" was added, to signify the excellence of the

wares offered for public competition. It became the established cry of

the army. The natives walked through the camp calling out "Bono, Johnny!

Sood, sood" (milk)! "Bono, Johnny! Yoomoortler" (eggs)! or, "Bono,

Johnny! Kasler" (geese)! as the case might be; and the dislike of the

contracting parties to the terms offered on either side was expressed by

the simple phrase of "No bono, Johnny." As you rode along the road

friendly natives grinned at you, and thought, no matter what your rank,

that they had set themselves right with you and paid a graceful

compliment by a shout of "Bono, Johnny."

Even the dignified reserve of Royal Dukes and Generals of Division had

to undergo the ordeal of this salutation from Pashas and other

dignitaries. If a benighted Turk, riding homewards, was encountered by a

picquet of the Light Division, he answered the challenge of "Who goes

there?" with a "Bono, Johnny," and was immediately invited to "advance,

friend, and all's well!" and the native servants sometimes used the same

phrase to disarm the anger of their masters. It was really a most

wonderful form of speech, and, judiciously applied, it might, at that

time, have "worked" a man from one end of Turkey in Europe to the other.

The most singular use of it was made when Omar Pasha first visited the

camp. After the infantry had been dismissed to their tents, they crowded

to the front of their lines in fatigue jackets and frocks to see the

Pasha go by, and as he approached them a shout of "Bono! bono! Johnny!"

rent the air, to the great astonishment of Omar, while a flight of

"foragers" gave him some notion of a British welcome. He smiled and

bowed several times in acknowledgment, but it was said that as the

whoops, hurrahs, and yells of the Connaught Rangers rang in his ears, he

turned to one of the officers near him, and said, "These are

noble-looking fellows, but it must be very hard to keep them in order!"

He could not comprehend how such freedom could be made consistent with

strict discipline in the ranks.

Early in July Lord Cardigan returned to camp with the detachments of

Light Cavalry, with which he effected an extended _reconnaissance_ along

the banks of the Danube, towards Rustchuk and Silistria. The men were

without tents, and bivouacked for seventeen nights; in a military point

of view, the _reconnaissance_ effected very little service.

On the 16th, the _Vesuvius_, Captain Powell, and the _Spitfire_, Captain

Spratt, were cruising off the Sulina mouth of the Danube, and it

occurred to the two captains that they would feel their way up to the

scene of poor Captain Parker's death. On the morning of the 17th, Lieut.

A. L. Mansell, of the _Spitfire_, 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 of water on the bar, instead of six or seven as is

generally reported. The channel was found to be about a cable's length

across, and when Lieut. A. L. Mansell had buoyed it down he returned to

the ships, which were ready with their paddle-box boats, their launches,

gigs, and cutters. This little flotilla proceeded 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, nothing being spared but the church

and lighthouse.

On the 17th of July, Omar Pasha having slowly advanced from his camp

opposite Rutschuk, on the track of the retreating Russians, entered the

town of Bucharest, and took military possession of Wallachia.

[Sidenote: THE BLACK VIRGIN.]

On the 18th, an old woman, said to be Fatima Honoum, the Karakizla

(Black Virgin), Kurdish chieftainess, passed through Devno on her way

from Varna, attended by a rabble rout of thirty or forty Bashi-Bazouks.

She stopped at a rude khan or café, and enjoyed her pipe for a time, so

that one had an opportunity of seeing this Turkish Semiramis. She

appeared to be a lean, withered, angular old woman, of some seventy

years of age, with a face seamed and marked in every part of its dark

mahogany-coloured surface with rigid wrinkles. Her nose was hooked and

skinny--her mouth toothless and puckered--her eyes piercing black,

restless, and sinister, with bleary lids, and overhung by tufty grey

brows. Her neck, far too liberally exhibited, resembled nothing so much

as the stem of an ill-conditioned, gnarly young olive tree. With most

wanton and unjustifiable disregard of the teachings of Mahomet and of

the prejudices of Mussulmans, she showed all her face, and wore no

yashmak. Her attire consisted of a green turban, dirty and wrinkled as

her face; an antiquated red jacket, with 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, such as

knives, pistols, and yataghans, and wide blue breeches. Hanoum was a

spinster, and her followers believed her to be a prophetess. The

followers were Bashi-Bazouks _pur sang_, very wild and very ragged, and

stuck all over with weapons, like porcupines with spines. Their horses

were lean and scraggy, and altogether it was a comfort to see this

interesting Virgin Queen of the Kurds on her way to Shumla. The lady

refused to visit our camp, and seemed to hold the Giaour in profound

contempt. We never heard of her afterwards, but she was remarkable as

being the only lady who took up arms for the cause in this celebrated

war.

Next day, some five-and-twenty horsemen rode into the village, attired

in the most picturesque excesses of the Osmanli; 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 Peshawur and other remote portions of the north-western

provinces of the Indian Peninsula, and while the officer who was

conversing with 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 crusade

against the Infidels, had rushed to join the standard of the Sultan.

They were ordered 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 seemed quite delighted with

his command, and, as he had the power of life and death, he imagined

there would be no difficulty in repressing the irregularities of his

men.

A council of war was held on Tuesday, July 18th, at Varna, at which

Marshal St. Arnaud, Lord Raglan, Admiral Hamelin, Admiral Dundas,

Admiral Lyons, and Admiral Bruat were present, and it was resolved that

the time had come for an active exercise of the powers of the allied

forces by sea and land. The English Cabinet, urged probably by the

English press, which on this occasion displayed unusual boldness in its

military counsels and decision in its suggestions of hostility against

the enemy, had despatched the most positive orders to Lord Raglan to

make a descent in the Crimea, and to besiege Sebastopol, of which little

was known except that it was the great arsenal of Russia in the Black

Sea. On the 19th orders were sent out by Lord Raglan to Sir George

Brown, at Devno, to proceed to headquarters at Varna immediately. Sir

George Brown lost no time in obeying the summons. He sent a portion of

his baggage on at once, and went on to Varna, attended by his

aide-de-camp, Captain Pearson. Lord Raglan and his second in command had

a long conversation, and on Thursday morning, the 20th, Sir George

Brown, attended by Captain Pearson, Colonel Lake, of the Royal

Artillery, Captain Lovell, of the Royal Engineers, &c., went on board

the _Emeu_, Captain Smart, and immediately proceeded to the fleets at

Baltschik. At the same time General Canrobert, attended by Colonels

Trochu, Leboeuf, and Sabatier, took ship for the same destination. The

generals went on board the flag ships of the respective admirals, and

stood out to sea, steering towards the Crimea, on board her Majesty's

ship _Fury_. Of course, the object of this expedition was kept a dead

secret; but it was known, nevertheless, that they went to explore the

coast in the neighbourhood of Sebastopol, in order to fix upon a place

for the descent.

On the 21st the 1st Division of the French army, General Canrobert and

General Forey's Division, struck their tents, and broke up their camp

outside Varna. They took the road which led towards the Dobrudscha,

which they were to reconnoitre as far as the Danube, and on the 22nd

General Yusuf followed with his wild gathering of Bashi-Bazouks,

numbering 3,000 sabres, lances, and pistols.

[Sidenote: OMINOUS SIGNS.]

The result of this expedition was one of the most fruitless and

lamentable that has ever occurred in the history of warfare. The French

Marshal, terrified by the losses of his troops, which the cholera was

devastating by hundreds in their camps at Gallipoli and Varna, and

alarmed by the deaths of the Duc d'Elchingen and General Carbuccia,

resolved to send an expedition into the Dobrudscha, where there were--as

Colonel Desaint, chief of the French topographical department, declared

on his return from an exploration--about 10,000 Russians, two regiments

of regular cavalry, 10 Sotnias of Cossacks, and 35 pieces of artillery.

Marshal St. Arnaud, who was confident that the expedition for the Crimea

would be ready by the 5th of August, and that the descent would take

place on the 10th of the same month, imagined that by a vigorous attack

on these detached bodies of men he might strike a serious blow at the

enemy, raise the spirits and excite the confidence of the Allies, remove

his troops from the camp where they were subject to such depressing

influences, and effect all this in time to enable them to return and

embark with the rest of the army. It has been said that he proposed to

Lord Raglan to send a body of English troops along with his own, but

there is, I believe, no evidence of the fact. The 1st Division was

commanded by General Espinasse, and started on the 21st for Kostendji;

the 2nd Division, under General Bosquet, marched on the 22nd towards

Bajardik, and the 3rd Division, under Prince Napoleon, followed the next

day and served as a support to the 2nd. All the arrangements were under

the control of General Yusuf. Having passed through the ruined districts

of Mangalia, the 1st Division reached Kostendji on the 28th of July.

They found that the whole country had been laid waste by fire and

sword--the towns and villages burnt and destroyed, the stock and crops

carried off. A cavalry affair took place on the same day between Yusuf's

Bashi-Bazouks and some Russian cavalry, in which the former behaved so

well that the General, aided by 1,200 Zouaves, pushed forward to make an

attack on the enemy, and wrote to General Espinasse to march to his

assistance. On that night, just ere the French broke up their camp at

Babadagh, in order to set out on this march, the cholera declared itself

among them with an extraordinary and dreadful violence. Between midnight

and eight o'clock next morning nearly 600 men lay dead in their tents

smitten by the angel of death! At the same moment the division of

Espinasse was stricken with equal rapidity and violence at Kerjelouk.

All that night men suffered and died, and on the 31st of July General

Yusuf made his appearance at Kostendji with the remains of his haggard

and horror-stricken troops, and proceeded towards Mangalia in his death

march. On the 1st of August General Canrobert, who had returned from his

_reconnaissance_, arrived at Kostendji from Varna, and was horrified to

find that his camp was but a miserable hospital, where the living could

scarcely bury the remains of their comrades. He could pity and could

suffer, but he could not save. That day and the next the pestilence

redoubled in intensity, and in the midst of all these horrors food fell

short, although the General had sent most urgent messages by sea to

Varna for means of transport, and for medicine and the necessaries of

life. The 2nd and the 3rd Divisions were also afflicted by the same

terrible scourge, and there was nothing left for the Generals but to

lead their men back to their encampments as soon as they could, leaving

behind them the dead and the dying. The details of the history of this

expedition, which cost the French more than 7,000 men, are among the

most horrifying and dreadful of the campaign. On returning to Varna the

Bashi-Bazouks, tired of the settled forms of a camp life, and impatient

of French drill, and the superintendence of brutal or rude

non-commissioned officers, began to desert _en masse_, and on the 15th

of August the corps was declared disbanded, and General Yusuf was

obliged to admit his complete failure.

We return to Varna, where we find the same awful plague of the later

days of the world developing itself with increasing strength and vigour.

All June and July I lived in camp at Aladyn and Devno, with the Light

Division, making occasional excursions into Varna or over to the camps

of the other divisions; and although, the heat was at times very great

indeed, there were no complaints among the men, except that diarrhoea

began to get common about the beginning of July. On St. Swithin's day we

had a heavy fall of rain, some thunder and lightning, and a high wind.

On the 17th I heard several of my friends complaining of depression,

heaviness, ennui, &c., and "wishing to do something," and the men

exhibited traces of the same feeling. On the night of the 19th, having

gone down towards the river to visit Captain Anderson, of the

Artillery, I was struck by the appearance of prodigious multitudes of

small dark beetles, which blew out our candles, and crawled all over the

tents in swarms. On the 20th, as I expected there would be a move down

to Varna, and wanted to get some articles of outfits, I rode down there

with some officers. Up to this time there had been no case of cholera in

the Light Division; but early on Sunday morning, 23rd, it broke out with

the same extraordinary violence and fatal effect which had marked its

appearance in the French columns, and the camp was broken up forthwith,

and the men marched to Monastir, nine miles further on, towards the

Balkans.

CHAPTER VII.

The Angel of Death--Rations--Army Payments--Turkish

Outrages--Cholera--French Hospital--Captain Burke--The Fire at

Varna--Progress of the Cholera--Preparations for a Move--Final

Deliberations--Embarkation of the Troops--Array of

Transports--Suspense.

It will be seen that the cholera first appeared among the troops at

Varna, but the English forces were tolerably free from it till it had

been among the French for nearly three weeks. A good deal of sickness

prevailed among the Turkish and Egyptian troops. Diarrhoea was only

too prevalent. Nearly every one had it in his turn. The quantity of

apricots ("Kill Johns") and hard crude fruit which were devoured by the

men, might in some degree account for the prevalence of this

debilitating malady. The commissariat bread was not so good as at first,

and speedily turned sour; but the officers took steps to remedy the evil

by the erection of ovens in the camp. As the intensity of the sun's rays

increased, the bread served out to us from the Varna bakeries became

darker, more sour, and less baked. As a general rule, the French bread

was lighter and better than our own, and yet they suffered as much from

diarrhoea as our troops.

In Varna the inhabitants suffered from the pestilence as much as the

troops. Many of them fled from the town, and encamped near the

neighbouring villages. Turks and Greeks suffered alike, and perished

"like flies," to use their own image.

Illness increased; on the 28th of July there were thirty-three cases of

cholera in our hospital, and a much larger number in the French

hospital. The Duke of Cambridge was suffering from diarrhoea; indeed,

a large percentage of officers of the different divisions had been

attacked by this complaint, but great precautions were taken by the

medical officers to prevent neglect in the early stages, and to cheek

the premonitory symptoms.

[Sidenote: ARMY PAYMENTS.]

The Heavy Dragoons at Varna, although encamped on a lovely plateau on a

promontory by the sea-side, the healthiest-looking site that could have

been chosen by a medical board, in a few days lost twenty-six men from

cholera--a large number out of such skeleton regiments.

The ration was increased to 1-1/2lb. of meat, and a ration of rum was

issued. Drilling and tight stocking began to fall into disuse, and, by a

general order, moustachios were allowed, according to the pleasure of

officers and men.

No less than 110,000 pounds' weight of corn, chopped straw, &c., was

issued daily for the horses. To this was added all the full rations of

meat, 27,000lb. of bread, proportionate quantities of rice, tea, coffee,

sugar, &c., for the men. The commissariat had, besides, the horses,

carts, saddles, packsaddles, tents, carriages for Dragoons, Light

Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery, Sappers and Miners, to find interpreters.

Commissary-General Filder's office in Varna was like a bank in the City

in the height of business. The officers at the other branch departments

were equally busy, and it was 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.

We paid in ready money, and a commissariat chest, under the care of Mr.

Cowan, was established at Shumla, to keep our officers supplied with

gold and silver. The French, on the contrary, gave cheques on their

commissariat chest at Varna, which were only payable on presentation

there. It can readily be imagined that a peasant at the other side of

the Balkans, or an ignorant Bulgarian up the country, regarded this

printed paper with huge disdain, and it was certainly rather hard to

have to journey from Roumelia into Bulgaria in order to get 10_s._ or

12_s._ for the hire of an araba. The araba drivers were suspicious, and

grew sulky and discontented. As soon as they were paid any large sum

they sought, and generally with success, the first opportunity of

getting away from our service.

Sir George Brown and Sir E. Lyons went down to Constantinople on board

the _Agamemnon_, on the 1st of August, and for several days they were

busily engaged in making arrangements for the transport of the fleet,

and in the preparation of boats and provisions.

Positive orders were received by Lord Raglan to attack Sebastopol. On

the 20th he had despatched Sir George Brown and several English officers

to make a _reconnaissance_ conjointly with General Canrobert and

officers of the French Head-quarters Staff. On the 28th of July the

commission returned after a cruise, in which they had been enabled to

count the very guns of Sebastopol. In the course of their

_reconnaissance_ they coasted slowly along the west face of the shore

from Eupatoria southwards, and at the mouth of the Katcha discovered a

beach, which the English and French generals decided on making the site

of their landing. The _Fury_ stood off the port quietly at night, and

about two o'clock ran in softly, and stopped within 2,000 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, 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 could; but the shot came after her still faster. A shell

burst close to her, and one shot went through her hull.

Signs of a move soon became unmistakable. On the 29th July the Turkish

fleet and the transports, which had been lying in the Bosphorus, left

their anchorage for Varna, carrying with them pontoons and siege guns.

The preparations made at Varna for the embarkation of the English forces

were hailed with satisfaction by officers and men, tired of the monotony

of life in this wretched country, and depressed by the influence of

illness and laborious idleness. It was not then known where they were

going to; but, in the absence of any exact knowledge respecting the

destination of the troops, conjecture pointed with unsteady finger to

Odessa, Anapa, Suchum-Kaleh, or Sebastopol. There were, however, divided

counsels and _timides avis_. Lord de Ros, Admiral Dundas, and Admiral

Hamelin, were notoriously opposed to the descent on the Crimea; Marshal

St. Arnaud did not like to attack Sebastopol, nor was Sir George Brown

very sanguine of success.

The force of the Russians in the Crimea was supposed to be upwards of

55,000 men, but considerable reinforcements might have been sent there

of which we knew nothing. The Russians were well served by their spies,

and were acquainted with all our movements; neither Marshal St. Arnaud

nor Lord Raglan had equal means of intelligence. Speaking merely in

reference to strategic considerations, there appeared to 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 liable 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 was able to neutralize the preponderance of the

hostile army, and place our troops upon equal terms. It was not

impregnable, either from the quality of the works or natural position,

and, like all such fortresses, it could not but fall before the regular

uninterrupted continuance and progress of sap, and mine, and blockade.

The result showed, however, that the usual conditions of a siege were

not complied with in this case; and the character of the expedition,

which was at first a dashing, sudden onslaught, was, perhaps inevitably,

changed by the course of events. Colonel Maule, Assistant

Adjutant-General, Major Levinge, Mr. Newbury, Pay-master of the 2nd

battalion Rifle Brigade, and Gregg, of the 55th Regiment, died. The

hospital was quite full, and, numerous as our medical staff was, and

unremitting as were our medical officers in doing all that skill and

humanity could suggest for the sufferers, there were painful cases, of

not rare occurrence, in which the men did not procure the attention they

required paid to them till it was too late. Many of the poor fellows,

too, who desired the attendance of a clergyman or priest at their dying

hour, were denied that last consolation, for the chaplains were few, or

at least not numerous enough for the sad exigencies of the season.

[Sidenote: CHOLERA.]

The French losses from cholera were frightful. The hospital had been

formerly used as a Turkish barrack. It was a huge quadrangular building,

like the barracks at Scutari, with a courtyard in the centre. The sides

of the square were about 150 feet long, and each of them contained three

floors, consisting of spacious corridors, with numerous rooms off them

of fair height and good proportions. About one-third of the building was

reserved for our use; the remainder was occupied by the French. Although

not very old, the building was far from being in thorough repair. The

windows were broken, the walls in parts were cracked and shaky, and the

floors were mouldering and rotten. Like all places which have been

inhabited by Turkish soldiers for any time, the smell of the buildings

was abominable. Men sent in there with 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. I

visited the hospital one memorable night in search of medical aid for my

friend Dickson, who was suddenly seized with cholera. I never can forget

the aspect of the place--a long train of thirty-five carts filled with

sick was drawn up by the wall. There were three or four men in each.

These were soldiers sent in from the camps waiting till room could be

found for them; others were sitting by the roadside, and the moonbeams

flashed brightly off their piled arms. All were silent; the quiet that

prevailed was only broken by the moans and cries of the sufferers in the

carts. Observing many empty arabas were waiting in the square, I asked a

_sous officer_ for what they were required. His answer, sullen and

short, was,--"_Pour les morts_."

On the night of Tuesday (Aug. 10th) a great fire broke out at Varna,

which utterly destroyed more than a quarter of the town. The sailors of

the ships, and the French and English soldiery stationed near the town,

worked for the ten hours during which 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

they deserved. The fire broke out near the French commissariat stores,

in a spirit shop. 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 inhabitants, the yells of the Turks,

the clamour of the women, children, dogs, and horses, were appalling.

Marshal St. Arnaud displayed great vigour and coolness in superintending

the operations of the troops, and by his exertions aggravated the

symptoms of the malady from which he had long been suffering. The French

lost great quantities of provisions, and we had many thousand rations of

biscuit utterly consumed. In addition to the bread (biscuit) which was

lost, immense quantities of stores were destroyed. 19,000 pairs of

soldiers' shoes and an immense quantity of cavalry sabres, which were

found amid the ruins, fused into the most fantastic shapes, were burnt.

The soldiers plundered a good deal, and outrages of a grave character

were attributed to the Zouaves during the fire. Tongues and potted

meats, most probably abstracted from sutlers' stores, were to be had in

the outskirts of the camp for very little money soon after the

occurrence, and some of the camp canteen keepers were completely ruined

by their losses. To add to our misfortunes, the cholera broke out in the

fleets in Varna Bay and at Baltschik with extraordinary virulence. The

_Friedland_ and _Montebello_ suffered in particular--in the latter

upwards of 100 died in twenty-four hours. The depression of the army was

increased by this event. They "supped full of horrors," and listened

greedily to tales of death, which served to weaken and terrify.

We lost fifteen or sixteen men a day. Some people said we pitched our

camps too closely; but Sir George Brown's division covered nearly twice

the space which would have been occupied by the encampment of a Roman

legion consisting of nearly the same number of men, and yet there is no

account in history of any of these camp epidemics in Gaul, or Thrace, or

Pannonia, or in any of the standing camps of the Romans, and we must

believe that the cholera and its cognate pests arise out of some

combination of atmospherical and physical conditions which did not occur

in former times. The conduct of many of the men, French and English,

seemed characterized by a recklessness verging on insanity. They might

be seen 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. They

might be seen in stupid sobriety gravely paring the rind off cucumbers

of portentous dimensions, to the number of six or eight, and eating the

deadly cylinders one after another, till there was no room for more--all

the while sitting in groups in the fields, or on the flags by the shops

in the open street, and looking as if they thought they were adopting

highly sanitary measures for their health's sake; or frequently three or

four of them would make a happy bargain with a Greek for a large

basketful of apricots ("kill Johns"), scarlet pumpkins, water melons,

wooden-bodied pears, green-gages, and plums, and then retire beneath the

shade of a tree, where they divided and ate the luscious food till

nought remained but a heap of peel, rind, and stones. They then diluted

the mass of fruit with raki, or peach brandy, and struggled home or to

sleep as best they could. One day I saw a Zouave and a huge Grenadier

staggering up the street arm in arm, each being literally laden with

enormous pumpkins and cucumbers, 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 cucumbers. One took a bit and handed it to

his friend, who did the same, and thus they were continuing their

amphiboean banquet till 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, notwithstanding 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 exclaimed, "_Tu es là, donc, mon ami, mon cher Jeeon! Eh

bien, je me coucherai avec toi_;" and calmly fixing a couple of

cucumbers for his pillow, he lay down, and was soon snoring in the

gutter in unison with his ally. The Turkish soldiers were equally

careless of their diet and living. It was no wonder, indeed, that

cholera throve and fattened among us.

All the tokens of an impending expedition were eagerly caught up and

circulated among the camps. A number of boats, ordered by Admiral Lyons

at Constantinople, now arrived at Varna, and their construction showed

they were intended for the disembarkation of troops. Each vessel

consisted 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 as to form a kind of raft, and drawing more

than a foot of water, and capable of landing two heavy guns and their

men, or of carrying 150 or 200 men with the greatest of ease. The fleet

was assembled in the bay, and consisted of steamers of a magnitude and

speed hitherto unknown in any operation of war, and of sailing vessels

which would have constituted a formidable navy of themselves. It was

calculated that the disembarkation of 20,000 could be effected by the

boats of our steamers in two hours. Cavalry would be more difficult to

manage; but at this time our strength in that arm was not very great,

for we had two Generals in command of a force which mustered in the

Crimea less than 1,200 sabres. The artillery, under General Cator,

consisted of the siege train (30 guns out), commanded by Colonel Gambia;

the Royal Horse Artillery, Colonel Strangeways; 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 had twelve field guns attached to it, so that

there were forty-eight field guns in all. The C and I troops of the

Royal Horse Artillery acted with the Cavalry.

But the armies of the allies were about to enter upon the career of

active warfare, and to escape from a spot fraught with memories of death

unredeemed by a ray of glory. It was no secret that in the middle of

July a council of generals and admirals had, by a majority, overcome the

_timides avis_ of some, and had decided upon an expedition to the

Crimea, in compliance with the positive orders of the English Cabinet,

and with the less decided suggestions of the Emperor of the French. That

project had been arrested by the sickness and calamities which had

fallen on the French and English armies, but it had not been abandoned.

In the second week in August the cholera assumed such an alarming

character that both Admirals (French and English) resolved to leave

their anchorage at Baltschik, and stand out to sea for a cruise. On

Wednesday the 16th the _Caradoc_, Lieutenant Derriman, which left

Constantinople with the mails for the fleet and army the previous

evening, came up with the English fleet. The _Caradoc_ was boarded by a

boat from the _Britannia_, and the officer who came on board

communicated the appalling intelligence 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.

After the great fire on the night of the 10th the cholera seemed to

diminish in the town itself, and the reports from the various camps were

much more favourable than before. The British army was scattered

broadcast all over the country, from Monastir to Varna, a distance of

twenty-six or twenty-seven miles. The Duke of Cambridge's division

marched in from Aladyn, and encamped towards the south-western side of

the bay. It appeared that notwithstanding the exquisite beauty of the

country around Aladyn, it was a hot-bed of fever and dysentery. The same

was true of Devno, which was called by the Turks "the Valley of Death;"

and had we consulted the natives ere we pitched our camps, we assuredly

should never have gone either to Aladyn or Devno, notwithstanding the

charms of their position and the temptations offered by the abundant

supply of water and by the adjacent woods. It was the duty of the

general in command to pay attention to the representations of the

medical officers and the traditions of the natives, which assigned to

this locality a most unfavourable character for the preservation of

health.

Whoever gazed on these rich meadows, 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 verdant hill-sides, and on the dancing

waters of lake and stream below, lighted up by the golden rays of a

Bulgarian summer's sun--might well have imagined that no English glade

or hill-top could well be healthier or better suited for the residence

of man. But these meadows nurtured the fever, the ague, dysentery, and

pestilence in their bosom--the lake and the stream exhaled death, and at

night fat unctuous vapours rose fold after fold from the valleys, and

crept up in the dark and stole into the tent of the sleeper and wrapped

him in their deadly embrace. So completely exhausted was the Brigade of

Guards, that these 3,000 men, the flower of England, had to make two

marches from Aladyn to Varna, which was not more than (not so much many

people said as) ten miles. Their packs were carried for them. How

astonished must have been the good people of England, sitting anxiously

in their homes, day after day, expecting every morning to gladden their

eyes with the sight of the announcement, in large type, of "Fall of

Sebastopol," when they heard that their Guards--their _corps

d'élite_--the pride of their hearts--the delight of their eyes--these

Anakims, whose stature, strength, and massive bulk they exhibited to

kingly visitors as no inapt symbols of our nation, had 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! In the Brigade there were before the march to Varna upwards of

600 sick men.

[Sidenote: FINAL DELIBERATIONS.]

The Highland Brigade was in better condition, but even the three noble

regiments which composed it were far from being in good health. The

Light Division had lost 110 or 112 men. The Second Division had suffered

somewhat less. The little cavalry force had been sadly reduced, and the

Third (Sir R. England's) Division, which had been encamped to the

north-west of Varna, close outside the town, had lost upwards of 100 men

also, the 50th Regiment, who were much worked, being particularly cut

up. The ambulance corps had been completely crippled by the death of the

drivers and men belonging to it, and the medical officers were called

upon to make a special report on the mortality among them.

In truth, it may be taken as an actual fact that each division of the

army had been weakened by nearly one regiment, and that the arrival of

the division of Sir George Cathcart did little more than raise the force

to its original strength.

The same day Lieutenant A. Saltmarshe, of the 11th Hussars, died of

cholera. Dead bodies rose from the bottom in the harbour, and bobbed

grimly around in the water, or floated in from sea, and drifted past the

sickened gazers on board the ships--all buoyant, bolt upright, and

hideous in the sun.

At a Council of War, held at Marshal St. Arnaud's quarters on the 24th

of August, the final decision was taken. There were present the Marshal,

Lord Raglan, General Canrobert, Sir George Brown, Sir Edmund Lyons, Sir

John Burgoyne, Admirals Dundas, Hamelin, and Bruat, and the deliberation

lasted several hours. Sir John Burgoyne's views with regard to the point

selected for our landing in the Crimea were not quite in unison with

those of the Generals who have lately reconnoitred the best locality. It

would not have been very politic to have published the decisions of this

Council, even if they had been known, though secrets did leak out

through closed doors and fastened windows. It was, indeed, said at the

time, that the London journals did great mischief by publishing

intelligence respecting the points to be attacked. Some people were

absurd enough to say, with all possible gravity, that they would not be

at all surprised if the whole expedition against Sebastopol were to be

abandoned in consequence of articles in the English newspapers.

Certainly, if any "dangerous information" were conveyed to the Czar in

this way, it was not sent home from the head-quarters of the army, but

was derived from sources beyond a correspondent's reach. Considerations

connected with geographical position did not appear to exercise the

slightest influence on the reason of persons who urged the extraordinary

proposition that the publication in a London newspaper of a probable

plan of campaign influenced the Czar in the dispositions he made to meet

our attack. Even if the Czar believed that plan to be correct--and he

might well entertain suspicions on that point--is it likely that he

would take the trouble, as soon as he has read his morning paper, to

send off a courier to the Crimea to prepare his Generals for an attack

on a certain point which they must have hitherto left undefended? His

spies in London rendered him much surer and better service. The debates

in Parliament threw a much plainer and steadier light upon our

movements. And yet so positive was the Emperor Nicholas that all our

preparations were shams intended to deceive him, so unintelligible to

him were the operations of a free press and free speech, that he

persisted in thinking, up the very eve of the descent, that our armies

were in reality destined to follow up his retreating legions on the

Danube, and he obstinately rejected all Prince Menschikoff's appeals for

reinforcements.

Under any circumstances the Russian engineers knew their coast well

enough to be ready to defend its weak points, and to occupy the best

ground of defence against the hostile descent. They knew our object, if

we went to the Crimea at all, must be the reduction of Sebastopol, and

of course they took care to render the _primos aditus difficiles_. When

the _Furious_ returned to the fleet, after a cruise along the

south-western coast of the Crimea, she saw a Russian intrenched camp of

about 6000 men placed above the very spot at which it seemed desirable

we should effect a landing. Who told the Russians what the intentions of

our chiefs were? Why, they _saw_ an English steam frigate, with Sir

George Brown, General Canrobert, and Sir E. Lyons on board, making a

deliberate survey of that very spot days before, and it was only natural

to suppose that the same strategical knowledge which led the English and

French Generals to select this place for the landing warned the Russians

that it would be wise to defend it. Certainly it was not any article in

a London journal which enabled the Russians to know the point selected

by our Generals, so as to induce them to throw up an intrenchment and to

form a camp of 6000 men there.

However, Marshal St. Arnaud prevented much doubt existing as to our real

intentions, for on the 25th he published the following Ordre Général.

(No. 100.)

"ARMÉE D'ORIENT.

"ÉTAT MAJOR-GÉNÉRAL.

"Soldats,--Vous venez de donner de beaux spectacles de

persévérance, de calme et d'énergie, au milieu de circonstances

douleureuses qu'il faut oublier. L'heure est venue de combattre, et

de vaincre.

"L'ennemi ne nous a pas attendu sur le Danube. Ses colonnes

démoralisées, détruites par la maladie, s'en éloignent péniblement.

C'est la Providence, peut-étre, qui a voulu nous épargner l'épreuve

de ces contrées malsaines. C'est elle, aussi, qui nous appelle en

Crimée, pays salubre comme le notre, et à Sebastopol, siége de la

puissance Russe, dans ces murs où nous allons chercher ensemble le

gage de la paix et de notre rétour dans nos foyers.

"L'enterprise est grande, et digne de vous; vous la réaliserez à

l'aide du plus formidable appareil militaire et maritime qui se vit

jamais. Les flottes alliées, avec leurs trois mille canons et leurs

vingt-cinq mille braves matelots, vos émules et vos compagnons

d'armes, porteront sur la terre de Crimée une armée Anglaise, dont

vos pères ont appris à respecter la haute valeur, une division

choisie de ces soldats Ottomans qui viennent de faire leurs preuves

sous vos yeux, et une armée Française que j'ai le droit et

l'orgueil d'appeler l'élite de notre armée toute entière.

"Je vois là plus que des gages de succès; j'y vois le succès

lui-même. Généraux, Chefs de Corps, Officiers de toutes armes, vous

partagerez, et vous ferez passer dans lâme de vos soldats la

confiance dont la mienne est remplie. Bientôt, nous saluerons

ensemble les trois drapeaux réunis flottant sur les ramparts de

Sebastopol de notre cri nationale, 'Vive l'Empéreur!'

"Au Quartier-général de Varna, Août 25, 1854.

(Signée) "Le Maréchal de France, Comm.-en-Chef l'Armée d'Orient,

"A. ST. ARNAUD."

[Sidenote: EMBARKATION OF THE TROOPS.]

In curious contrast to the above order, Lord Raglan issued a memorandum,

requesting "Mr. Commissary-General Filder to take steps to insure that

the troops should all be provided with a ration of porter for the next

few days." It reminded one of the bathos of the Scotch Colonel's address

to his men before the Pyramids, compared to Napoleon's high-flown

appeal.

The Light Division began its march from Monastir to Varna at five A.M.

on Wednesday, the 23rd. The men were in the highest spirits on their

march, and sang songs on the way; their packs were carried by mules and

horses. They arrived at Yursakova, ten miles from Monastir, near the old

camp of Sir De Lacy Evans's division, who had already left for Varna, at

one o'clock in the day, and pitched their camp there. Sunday was a day

of rest, and many of the men availed themselves of the opportunity

afforded to them of receiving the Sacrament. Through the valley of

Devno, "the Valley of Death," the men marched in mournful silence, for

it was the place where they had left so many of their comrades, and

where they had suffered so much. The air was tainted by the carcases of

dead horses; and as some of the officers rode near the burial-places of

the poor fellows in the division who had died of cholera, they were

horrified to discover that the corpses had been dug up, most probably by

the Bulgarians, for the sake of the blankets in which they had been

interred, and had been left half-covered a prey to the dogs and

vultures. On Monday the brigade again advanced and reached Karaguel,

seven miles from Varna. All the other divisions began to move towards

Varna at the same time, and prepared for embarkation as fast as they

could be shipped from the neighbourhood of the town. The greatest care

was taken to reduce the baggage and _impedimenta_ of the army to a

minimum. To each regiment there was only allowed five horses; and as

every officer had at least one--some, indeed, had two, and others

three--there were some thirty-five or forty horses from every regiment

to be provided for, so that the park formed near Varna for the derelicts

consisted of 4000 government animals and 1200 officers' horses.

On the 27th of August, most of the English men-of-war which had lain at

Baltschik came down to Varna; and, including French, Turkish, and

English vessels, there were seventeen sail of the line in the bay. All

this time the sickness, though decreasing, continued to affect us. The

5th Dragoon Guards suffered so much--their commanding officer (Major Le

Marchant) absent from ill-health, the senior Captain (Duckworth), the

surgeon (Pitcairn), and the veterinary-surgeon (Fisher), dead, as well

as a number of non-commissioned officers and privates--that it was

dis-regimented for a time, and was placed under the command of Colonel

Hodge, who incorporated it with his own regiment, the 4th (Royal Irish)

Dragoons.

On the morning of the 29th of August, the brigade of Guards and the

brigade of Highlanders moved down to the beach, and were embarked on

board the _Simoom_, the _Kangaroo_, and other large steamers. Captain L.

T. Jones, H. M. S. _Samson_, Captain King of the _Leander_, and Captain

Goldsmith, of the _Sidon_, deserved the greatest praise. The plan of

fitting the paddle-box boats, so that they were capable of carrying

seven horses each, was due to Lieutenant Roberts, Her Majesty's Steamer

_Cyclops_, who worked hard, fitting up boats and pontoons.

On 1st of September, the 1st, the 2nd, and the 3rd Divisions of the

French army were embarked on board the vessels destined for their

conveyance to the Crimea. Marshal St. Arnaud and his staff embarked at

Varna, on board the _Berthollet_, on the 2nd of September, and at six

o'clock the same evening shifted his headquarters to the _Ville de

Paris_ in Baltjik Bay.

Monday, September the 4th, was spent by the authorities in final

preparations, in embarking stragglers of all kinds, in closing the

departments no longer needed at Varna, such as the principal

commissariat offices, the post-office, the ordnance and field train, &c.

The narrow lanes were blocked up with mules and carts on their way to

the beach with luggage, and the happy proprietors, emerging from the

squalid courtyards of their whilome quarters, thronged the piers in

search of boats, the supply of which was not by any means equal to the

demand. Some of those most industrious fellows, the Maltese, who had

come out and taken their harbour boats with them, made a golden harvest,

for each ceased his usual avocation of floating stationer, baker,

butcher, spirit merchant, tobacconist, and poultryman for the time, and

plied for hire all along the shores of the bay.

[Sidenote: PARTING SCENES.]

BOOK II.

DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION FOR THE CRIMEA--THE LANDING--THE

MARCH--THE AFFAIR OF BARLJANAK--THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA--THE FLANK

MARCH.

CHAPTER I.

Parting scenes--Extent of the Armada--Life at sea--Waiting for

orders--Slow progress--The shores of the Crimea--Anchorage.

The arrangements for the conveyance of the troops to their destination

were of the largest and most perfect character; and when all the

transports were united, they constituted an armada of 600 vessels,

covered by a fleet with 3000 pieces of artillery.

Although, at first sight, this force appeared irresistible, it could not

be overlooked that the enemy had a large fleet within a few hours'

sail--that in using our men-of-war as transports, we lost their services

in case of a naval action--that our army had suffered much from illness

and death, and that the expedition had something of uncertainty, if not

audacity, in its character--all that was fixed being this, that we were

to descend at the Katcha, beat the Russians, and take Sebastopol.

Writing at the time, I said--"I am firmly persuaded that the patience of

people at home, who are hungering and thirsting for the news of 'the

Fall of Sebastopol,' will be severely tried, and that the chances are a

little against the incidents of its capture being ready by Christmas for

repetition at Astley's. It is late, very late, in the year for such a

siege as there is before us, and I should not be surprised if we are

forced to content ourselves with the occupation of a portion of the

Crimea, which may become the basis of larger and more successful

operations next year."

Few but our generals, admirals, and some old officers, troubled their

heads much about these things, except a few notorious old grumblers. The

only persons who were dejected or melancholy were those who were

compelled to stay behind. Such vast establishments as had been created

at Varna for the use of our army could not be broken up without many

fragments remaining, and these fragments must be watched. There were,

besides, the poor invalids in the hospitals, the officers and men in

charge of them and of various regimental stores, of depôts, of

commissariat supplies, the commissariat officers themselves--in fact,

the guardians of the _débris_ which an army leaves behind it, all

melancholy, and lamenting their hard fate. The most extravagant efforts

were made by some of the officers on whom the lot fell to remain, in

order to evade so great a calamity.

At the last moment many an aching heart was made happy by an order from

head-quarters. The women of several of the regiments who had mournfully

followed their husbands to the beach, and rent the air with their

wailings when they heard they were to be separated from those with whom

they had shared privation and pestilence, were allowed to go on board.

It was found that no provision had been made for their domicile or

feeding. A camp of women!--the very idea was ludicrous and appalling;

and so, as they could not be left behind, the British Andromaches were

perforce shipped on board the transports and restored to their Hectors.

In the course of (Monday) September 4th, six English men-of-war and four

French men-of-war left Varna Bay, and from morning to evening not an

hour passed that some six or eight transports did not weigh anchor and

steer away to the northward to the rendezvous at Baltschik. Sir Edmund

Lyons, who had charge of the arrangements connected with the expedition,

was busy all the day on board his flagship communicating with the shore

and with the fleet.

The signal for starting was very anxiously expected, but evening closed

in on the bulk of the English flotilla still anchored in the waters of

Varna, and for the last time, perhaps, in the history of the world, the

echoes of its shores were woke up by the roll of English drums, and by

the music of the bands of our regiments, which will, in all probability,

never re-visit these ill-omened lands. As the sun set and shot his

yellow rays across the distant hills, the summit of which formed our

camping grounds, and lighted up the flat expanse of rolling vapours

above the lake, one could not but give a sigh to the memory of those who

were lying far away from the land of their fathers--whose nameless

graves are scattered in every glade and on every knoll in that unkindly

Moesian soil.

However, the morrow came, and with it life and motion. A gun from the

Admiral! Signals from the _Emperor_, the seat of power of the Admiralty

agents! The joyful news throughout the fleet that we were to weigh, and

to get off to our rendezvous in Baltschik as soon as we could. Many

sailing transports were already stealing out to the southwards under all

light canvas, in order to get a good offing. All the steamers were busy,

clothing the bay and the adjacent coast with clouds of smoke as they got

up steam, through which, as it shifted, and rose and fell, and thinned

away under the influence of a crisp, fresh breeze, one could see the

town of Varna, all burnt up and withered by fire, its white minarets

standing up stiffly through the haze, its beach hemmed by innumerable

boats, its be-cannoned walls, the blanched expanse around it of hill and

plain, still thickly dotted with the camps of the French.

[Sidenote: EXTENT OF THE ARMADA.]

At ten o'clock A.M., Tuesday, September 4th, we were fairly under way,

with a ship in tow. The _City of London_, in which I had a berth,

carried the head-quarters of the 2nd Division, Sir De Lacy Evans,

Lieutenant-General Commanding, Colonel Percy Herbert, Deputy Assistant

Quarter Master General, Colonel Wilbraham, Deputy Assistant General,

Captain Lane Fox, Captain Allix, aide-de-camp, Captain Gubbins,

aide-de-camp, Captain Bryan, aide-de-camp, and Major Eman, 41st

Regiment. The coast from Varna to Baltschik very much resembles that of

Devonshire. It was as green, more richly wooded, and crowned by verdant

expanses of dwarf forest trees, which undulate from the very verge of

the sea to the horizon. For some four or five miles outside Varna, the

French, camps dotted these pleasant-looking hills--the abode of fever

and cholera. Then came the reign of solitude--not a homestead, not a

path, not a sign of life visible as for the next eight or ten miles one

coasted along the silent forest! Just about Baltschik the wood

disappears, and the land becomes like our coast between the Forelands,

with high white cliffs and bare green hills above them. The town itself,

or rather the overgrown village, seemed through the glass to be as dirty

and straggling as any Bulgaro-Turkish town it had been our lot to

witness, and offered no temptation to go ashore. On steaming out of the

bay northwards the number of steamers and sailing transports in sight

was wonderful, but when, after a run of two hours, we anchored in

Baltschik roads, one was almost disappointed at the spectacle, for the

line of coast is so long, and the height of the cliffs inland so

considerable, that the numerous vessels anchored in lines along the

shore were dwarfed, as it were, by the magnitude of the landscape. It

was only as the eye learnt to pick out three-deckers and large

vessels--to recognize the _Britannia_ here, the _Trafalgar_ there, the

_Himalaya_ further on--that the grandeur of these leviathans grew upon

one, just as a simple attempt to count the vessels along the coast gave

an idea of their numbers. In addition to the transports, there were

several coal vessels for the supply of the steamers; some laden with

Turkish coal from Heraclea, and others with coal from England.

Towards evening Lord Raglan came from Varna on board H.M.S. _Caradoc_,

Lieutenant Reynolds, which he had selected as his headquarters afloat.

The Duke of Cambridge, and a portion of his staff, took up their

quarters on board Her Majesty's ship _Triton_, Commander Lloyd. Many of

the ships had to get water from the beach, to complete coaling, &c., and

the masters were twice summoned on board the _Emperor_, to receive

instructions from Captain Christie, R.N., respecting the sailing of the

expedition, and the landing of the troops, &c., conveyed to him by the

Rear-Admiral.

The French were nowhere visible, and we learnt, on inquiry, that their

fleet, with the few transports under their charge, had left on the

previous Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and were to rendezvous at

Fidonisi, or Serpents' Island, off the mouth of the Danube, near which

they were to be joined by the fleets from Bourgas and Varna. Their men

were nearly all on board line-of-battle ships. A squadron of steamers,

with a multitude of brigs and transports in tow, was visible towards

evening, steering north-east, and the tricolor could be seen ere evening

flying from the peaks of the steamers; they passed by Baltschik with a

stiff breeze off the land on their quarter. Towards evening the wind

freshened and hauled round more to the northward; but the fleet rode

easily at anchor all night.

Wednesday, the 6th of September, was passed in absolute inactivity, so

far as the bulk of the officers and men of the expedition were

concerned. There was a fresh wind to the eastward, which would have

carried the transports out rapidly to sea. We thought at the time that

some arrangement with the French, or some deficiency to be made good,

not known to us, was the cause of the delay.[7] The ships of the various

divisions were got into order as far as possible, and the officers and

men were in great measure consoled for the detention by the exchange of

good fare on board ship for ration beef and bread and camp living. The

soldier may have the sunny side of the wall in peace, but assuredly he

has the bleaker side in times of war. Wherever the sailor goes he has

his roof over his head, his good bed, his warm meal. He moves with his

house about him. If he gets wet on deck he has a snug hammock to get

into below, or a change of dry clothing, and his butcher and his baker

travel beside him. From a wet watch outside, the soldier is lucky if he

gets into a wet tent; a saturated blanket is his covering, and the earth

is his pillow. He must carry his cold victuals for three days to come,

and eat them as best he may, exposed to the inclemency of the weather,

with no change of clothing and no prospect of warmth or shelter.

These and such other topics could not fail to be discussed on board

ship, and the discussion necessarily promoted a better understanding

between the services, for Jack saw that these rigid gentlemen in red

coats and straps and buckles, whom he is rather apt to look upon as

Sybaritical and effeminate creatures, had to go through as much hard

work and exposure as himself; and the soldier was not a little

surprised, perhaps, to find that those whose business is upon the waters

lived in comfort which he would gladly find in the best-appointed

barrack. Sailors and soldiers worked together in the greatest harmony,

although it was trying to the best of tempers to be turned out of bed

for a stranger, and although people with only six feet square a-piece to

live, move, and have their being in, when stowed away in thousands,

might be expected to view their neighbours with a little reasonable

dislike.

[Sidenote: SIGNAL FOR SAILING.]

At half-past four o'clock on Thursday morning, the 7th of September,

three guns from the _Agamemnon_ fired in quick succession woke up the

sleepers of the fleet. The signal-men made out through the haze of

morning twilight the joyful order fluttering in the coloured bunting

from the mizen of the Admiral, "Prepare to weigh anchor," and in a

quarter of an hour the volumes of smoke rising from the steamers,

mingled with white streaks of steam, showed that not much time would be

lost in obeying it. Ere seven o'clock arrived the steamers had weighed

anchor, and each was busy "dodging about" the mass of transports to pick

up its own particular charges. This was a work of time, of trouble, and

of difficulty. Towing is at all times an unpleasant operation, but it

is especially difficult to arrange the details and to get the towed

vessels under weigh when there is such a mass of shipping to thread as

there was at present. When the vessels were found, and the hawsers

passed and secured, then came the next great difficulty--to get them

into their assigned places in the several lines of the different

divisions. There was some time lost before the lines were formed, and

the signal "to sail" was given. With a gentle breeze off shore the

flotilla started in nearly the order assigned to it. The lines were

about half a mile apart, and each line was four or five miles long, for

the towing power of the several steamers was so unequal, that the weaker

ones tailed off and the stronger got ahead, in spite of repeated orders

to keep station.

It was a vast armada. No pen could describe its effect. Ere an hour had

elapsed it had extended itself over half the circumference of the

horizon. Possibly no expedition so complete and so terrible in its means

of destruction, with such enormous power in engines of war and such

capabilities of locomotion, was ever yet sent forth. The speed was

restricted to four miles and a half per hour, but with a favouring wind

it was difficult to restrain the vessels to that rate, and the

transports set no sail. The course lay N.E. by E., and the fleet was

ordered to make for a point 40 miles due west of Cape Tarkan. On looking

to the map it will be seen that the point thus indicated is about 50

miles east of Fidonisi, or Serpents' Island, off the mouth of the

Danube, and that it lies about 100 miles to the north-east of

Sebastopol, Cape Tarkan being a promontory of the Crimea, 63 miles north

of the fortress. It was understood that this point was the rendezvous

given to our French and Turkish allies. The fleet, in five irregular and

straggling lines, flanked by men-of-war and war steamers, advanced

slowly, filling the atmosphere with innumerable columns of smoke, which

gradually flattened out into streaks and joined the clouds, adding to

the sombre appearance of this well-named "Black" Sea. The land was lost

to view very speedily beneath the coal clouds and the steam clouds of

the fleet, and as we advanced, not an object was visible in the half of

the great circle which lay before us, save the dark waves and the cold

sky.

Not a bird flew, not a fish leaped, not a sail dotted the horizon.

Behind us was all life and power--vitality, force, and motion--a strange

scene in this so-called Russian lake! From time to time signals were

made to keep the stragglers in order, and to whip up the laggards, but

the execution of the plan by no means equalled the accuracy with which

it had been set forth upon paper, and the deviations from the

mathematical regularity of the programme were very natural. The effect

was not marred by these trifling departures from strict rectilinearity,

for the fleet seemed all the greater and the more imposing as the eye

rested on these huge black hulls weighing down upon the face of the

waters, and the infinite diversity of rigging which covered the

background with a giant network.

Towards three o'clock we came up with eight French and Turkish steamers,

towing about 50 small brigs and schooners under the French flag, which

appeared to be laden with commissariat stores, for there were very few

men on board. They steered rather more to the east than we did, and we

soon passed them. Soon afterwards several large French men-of-war

steamers, with transports in tow, appeared in the distance on our

starboard quarter (right-hand side), steering the same course with

ourselves, and they seemed to get very close to the stragglers of our

fleet. One could not but contrast the comfort of our soldiers in their

splendid transports with the discomfort to which our brave allies must

have been exposed in their small shallops of 150 and 200 tons burden.

Towards night, quick steamers were sent on in advance and on the flanks,

to look out, as a matter of precaution. At daybreak they returned, and

reported to the Admiral that the French and Turkish fleets were steering

eastward across our bows a long way in advance. In the course of Friday

morning, the 8th, the wind chopped round, and blew rather freshly right

in our teeth. The result was a severe strain upon hawsers and steamers;

in some instances the hawsers parted and the transports drifted away.

Our progress against a head wind and light head sea was tedious, and on

taking our observation at noon we found we were in lat. 48 33 N., long.

31 10 E., which gave us an average speed of 3 7-10ths miles since we

started on Thursday. At ten A.M. we steered by signal N.E. 1/2 N. About

eleven o'clock the topgallantsails of a large fleet steering in two

lines were seen above the horizon. Signals were made for the transports

to close up and keep in their stations, and the _Agamemnon_ stood on in

advance to communicate with the strangers. The _Britannia_, towed by a

man-of-war steamer and followed by the _Caradoc_, went in the same

direction. At the same time the _Napoleon_, with a convoy of steamers

and transports, rose well into sight on our starboard quarter. The

_Trafalgar_, the _Terrible_, and the _Retribution_, followed the

_Britannia_, and other men-of-war were in advance on our bows.

[Sidenote: SLOW PROGRESS.]

At half-past twelve o'clock the Turco-French fleet was clearly visible,

steering nearly E.N.E. in two lines. They were all under plain sail

aloft and alow--27 sail of the line, frigates and steamers. As we came

up, they laid their maintopsails aback, and hove-to while we passed.

They were in two lines, and the decks of those steamers we came near

were covered with troops, as thickly packed as they could stand. Large

boats and flats were slung over the sides and lashed amidships. Some of

the Turks (who appeared to have six line-of-battle ships--one

three-decker and five two-deckers, and a couple of frigates) carried

troops also. We passed through the fleet slowly, and about three o'clock

they were hull down on our starboard quarter. The wind went down towards

evening, but the weather became raw and cold. When we came up with the

French fleet, Admiral Dundas went on board the _Ville de Paris_, where

there was a conference, at which Marshal St. Arnaud was seized with such

a violent attack of his old malady that he was obliged to leave the

table. It had been reported to the French General that there was a

Russian camp on the Katcha, which was the spot indicated by the

reconnaissance under Sir George Brown and General Canrobert as the best

place for the disembarkation; and this circumstance, coupled with the

fact that the gallant officers in recommending the place had not duly

considered the small size of the bay, and the great size of the fleet,

caused some difference of opinion in the council. Lord Raglan could not

attend this conference on account of the swell, which prevented his

getting up the side of the _Ville de Paris_, and Marshal St. Arnaud

requested Admiral Hamelin and Colonel Trochu to repair on board the

_Caradoc_ and ask his opinion. It was there decided that a second

commission of exploration should be sent to examine the coast from

Eupatoria to Sebastopol, but not until the French Marshal had faintly

recommended a descent on Theodosia (Kaffa), instead of the west coast of

the Crimea. General Canrobert, Colonel Trochu, Colonel Leboeuf,

Admiral Bruat, General Thierry, General Bizot, General Martimprey, and

Colonel Rose[8] were deputed on this service by the French. Sir John

Burgoyne, Sir George Brown, Admiral Lyons, and some other officers,

represented the English.

About six o'clock on Saturday morning, the _Agamemnon_ and _Caradoc_,

accompanied by the _Samson_ and the _Primauguet_, left the fleet and

steered due east, a course which would bring them to the coast of the

Crimea, a little above Sebastopol. For the rest of the fleet, the

greater part of Saturday was almost lost, for we did not move eight

miles in the interval between eight A.M. and noon. The advanced ships

were ordered by signal to lie-to for the rear of the fleet, which was

very far astern. Our observation at noon gave our position lat. 44 30

N., long. 30 11 E., which is 22 miles north-west of the point, 40 miles

west of Cape Tarkan, for which we were ordered to steer, and it appeared

we were keeping away considerably to the westward and northward at

present. From ten A.M. till three P.M. we scarcely moved a mile.

Finally, all cast anchor in the middle of the Black Sea, in 25 fathoms

water. The weather fine--the precious time going fast. So passed the

greater part of Saturday and all day Sunday.

Night came on, but still there was no sign of the _Agamemnon_ or of the

French and English Generals-in-Chief. The French and Turkish fleets

combined were ten leagues south this morning, trying to beat up to us.

The _Napoleon_ arrived and anchored near us, and several French steamers

with transports in tow hove in sight. All the Generals not in the secret

of our policy were sorely puzzled.

Our exact bearings at noon, verified and amended, were, lat. 45 36

north, long. 31 23 east. This was about 25 miles north and west of the

original rendezvous given to the fleet at starting.

Many of the ships were so short of coal they would have had some

difficulty in steaming to Sebastopol, in case it was resolved to go

there.

We made very slow progress. At half-past two o'clock the French fleet

was visible on the starboard or right-hand bow, hull down, and with

their topmasts only visible above the horizon. They seemed to be

steering towards the south-east. The sun was hot, but the wind felt cold

and piercing; at times slight showers fell. The sea was very smooth and

tranquil, and of that peculiar dark colour which has induced so many

nations to agree in giving it names of similar significance. The fleet

stretched across the whole diameter of the circle--that is, they had a

front of some eighteen miles broad, and gradually the irregular and

broken lines tapered away till they were lost in little mounds and dots

of smoke, denoting the position of the steamers far down below the

horizon.

As many of the seamen in the merchant vessels and transports had been

grumbling at the expected boat service, which rendered them liable to

shot and shell if the enemy should oppose the landing of the troops, and

some had gone so far, indeed, as to say they would not serve at

all--particularly the seamen of the _Golden Fleece_, a communication was

made to Admiral Dundas, before the departure of the ships from their

anchorage, and his reply, to the following effect, was circulated and

read among the crews of the transports, to their great satisfaction, on

Sunday morning:--

"Having been in communication with General Lord Raglan on the

subject of officers and men employed in the transport-service

receiving pensions for wounds, I beg you will make known to them

that the same pensions as are given to the officers and seamen of

the Royal Navy will be granted to them for wounds sustained in

action.

"W. DEANS DUNDAS."

[Sidenote: THE SHORES OF THE CRIMEA.]

The _Caradoc_ and _Primauguet_ returned at seven A.M., on the morning of

the 11th September, with their attendant guardians, after a cruise along

the coast; on the morning of the 10th they arrived off Sebastopol, which

they reconnoitred from the distance of three miles, and then proceeded

to Cape Chersonese, where the beach appeared favourable for a descent,

but the _timides avis_ opposed the proposition on the ground that the

men would have to fight for their landing. Some camps were seen near the

town, and on turning towards the north, and arriving off the mouth of

the Belbek, the Commissioners saw a small camp on the heights over the

river. It was decided that this beach and little bay were too close to

the enemy for the landing. Then they went upwards to the Katcha, which

Sir George Brown had recommended, but all the officers at once condemned

the spot, as the beach was much too small. There were some troops

visible on shore. The _Caradoc_ next ran on to the Alma, which was found

to be protected by large camps along the southern ridges--proceeding

towards Eupatoria she lay off a beach between the sea and a salt-water

lake about fourteen miles south of that town, which after some

consideration, the Generals fixed upon as the scene of their landing,

and having reconnoitred Eupatoria, they made for the rendezvous. In

about half an hour after they joined us, signal was made to the

transports to steer to Eupatoria. Soon afterwards this signal was

recalled, and was replaced by another to "steer S.S.E." For the whole

day we ran very quietly on this course without any incident worthy of

notice. The night closed in very darkly. The lightning flashed in sheets

and forked streams every two or three minutes, from heavy masses of

clouds behind us, and the fleet was greatly scattered. We were driving

through a squall of rain and wind, varied by hailstorms. The

thermometer was still at 65°. Our course was rather hazardous at times,

and so many steamers were steering across us that great care was

required to steer clear of them in the dark. The moon, which would

otherwise have aided us, was quite obscured by banks of clouds.

During the night the expedition altered its course slightly to the

eastward, and stood in more directly towards the land. The night was

fine, but the sharpness of the air told of the approach of winter. Two

heavy showers of hail, which fell at intervals in the morning, covered

the decks with coatings of ice a couple of inches thick, but the sun and

the broom soon removed them. Early in the morning of the 12th, just

after dawn, a dark line was visible on our port (or left-hand) side,

which became an object of interest and discussion, for some maintained

it was land, others declared it was cloud-land. The rising sun decided

the question in favour of those who maintained the substantiality of the

appearance. It was indeed the shore of the Crimea.

The first impression as we drew near was, that the coast presented a

remarkable resemblance to the dunes which fortify the northern shores of

La Belle France against her old enemy Neptune; but when the leading

ships had got within a distance of 18 or 20 miles, it was evident that

the country beyond the line of beach was tolerably well cultivated to

the margin of the sand. Clumps of trees, very few and wide apart, could

be made out with the glass, and at last a whitewashed farm-house or

fishing-station, surrounded by outhouses, was visible on the sea-shore.

The land was evidently a promontory, for it tapered away at each end to

a thin line, which was lifted up by the mirage above the sea horizon,

and was lost in air. We had, in fact, struck on the coast south of Cape

Tarkan. At seven o'clock a remarkable table-land came into view in quite

an opposite direction, namely, on our starboard or right-hand side,

showing that we were running into a deep indentation of the coast. By

degrees, as we advanced, this hill, which was in the form of the section

of a truncated cone, became a very prominent object, and was generally

supposed to be Tchatyr Dagh, a remarkable mountain of some 5000 feet

high, east of Sebastopol. As no course had been given to steer by during

the night, the fleet scattered greatly, and was seen steering in all

directions. At 9.30 A.M. the steamer leading the second division was

stopped, her head lying N.E. by E. The other divisions "slowed" and

stopped also, or quickened their speed, as they happened to be before or

behind their positions.

At 10 A.M. a fleet of eleven men-of-war appeared in the north-west,

steering towards us. Signal was made to close up and keep in order. At a

quarter past ten signal was made to steer E.N.E. by compass. This

unexpected change of course puzzled us all greatly, and we were thus

ordered to go back on the very course we had just come. About 8 A.M. we

had been in about 44 45 lat., 32 30 long., as we now began to steer away

from land towards our original rendezvous. The average speed of the

expedition was about three miles an hour. At one o'clock we steered due

N. by W., the fleet of transports and of men-of-war being visible in

all directions, some going south, others east, others west, others

north--in fact, it puzzled every one but the Admiral, or those who were

in the secret, to form the slightest notion of what we were doing. Three

three-deckers, two two-deckers, two frigates, and four steamers, ran

away on our starboard side, as our head was turned from the land, to

which we had been steering, and lapped over, as it were, the wing of the

fleet of transports.

Out of all this apparent chaos, however, order was springing, for these

changes of our course were no doubt made with the view of picking up

stragglers, and sweeping up all the scattered ships. The _Emperor_ led

the way towards the N.E., and great was the grumbling and surprise of

the captains, Admiralty agents, and military men with a taste for

aquatics. "We have been steering S.E. all night, and now we are steering

N.W., and going back again--very strange!" &c., was the cry. Others

believed the expedition was only intended as a demonstration. In fact,

"they knew all along" that was all that was meant, and that we were

going to Anapa or Odessa, or some other pet destination of the speakers,

after we had thoroughly frightened the Russ in Sebastopol. There were

wise men, too, who said the expedition was a feint at that particular

point, and that when we had drawn the garrison out of Sebastopol we

should run suddenly down and take it with comparative ease, while

deprived of its usual number of defenders. We had, however, only gone on

this course for two hours when the leading ships of the lines stopped

engines, the fleet passing slowly through the rear of the transports

towards the southward, with a fine leading breeze. None of the French

expedition were clearly visible, but some steamers and sailing ships far

away to the N.W. were supposed to belong to it. At 3.15 signal was made

from the _Emperor_ to steer W.N.W. This order completely baffled even

the sagest of our soothsayers, and took the wind out of the sails of all

the prophets, who were rendered gloomy and disconsolate for the rest of

the day. But when, in a few minutes after, the _Emperor_ made signal to

steer by compass N.E. by E., and we turned our head once more in-shore,

it was felt that any attempt to divine the intentions of our rulers was

hopeless. We were also desired to prepare to anchor, but in the depth of

water under us--not less than forty fathoms--it was very likely that

many ships would never be able to get up their anchors and cables again

if we had done so, as they were not strong enough to stand so great a

strain. The expedition had been got together pretty well by this time,

and with a freshening breeze stood in for the land. It presented the

same aspect as the other portion of it, which we had seen closely

earlier in the day.

[Sidenote: ANCHORAGE.]

A few farm-houses were dimly discernible in the distance over the waste

and low-lying plains, which seemed embrowned by great heats. Little dark

specks, supposed to be cattle, could also be distinguished. Shortly

before six o'clock the anchor was let go in sixteen fathoms of water, at

the distance of twelve or fifteen miles from shore. The number of

vessels was prodigious--forty-four steamers could be counted, though

many of the French vessels were not visible. When evening set in, the

bands of the various regiments, the drums and fifes of those who had no

bands, the trumpets of cavalry and horse artillery, and the infantry

bugles formed a _concert monstre_, which must have been heard on shore

in spite of the contrary breeze. Some of the ships lay closer in than we

did, and they were so thick that collisions took place more than once,

happily without any serious consequences.

The sunset was of singular beauty and splendour. Heavy masses of rich

blue clouds hung in the west, through innumerable golden chasms of which

the sun poured a flood of yellow glory over the dancing waters, laden

with great merchantmen, with men-of-war staggering under press of

canvas, and over line after line of black steamers, contending in vain

to deface the splendour of the scene. When night came on, and all the

ships' lights were hung out, it seemed as if the stars had settled down

on the face of the waters. Wherever the eye turned were little

constellations twinkling far and near, till they were lost in faint

halos in the distance. The only idea one could give of this strange

appearance is that suggested by the sight from some eminence of a huge

city lighted up, street after street, on a very dark night. Flashes of

the most brilliant lightning, however, from time to time lifted the veil

of night from the ocean, and disclosed for an instant ships and steamers

lying at anchor as far as could be seen. About eight o'clock, just as

every one had turned in for the night, orders were sent on board to the

deputy-quartermaster-general of each division respecting the

preparations for the disembarkation of the men. The men seemed in

excellent health and spirits. The number of fever and cholera cases,

though greater than we could have wished, was not sufficient to cause

any very great alarm. No doubt the voyage had done the army good, and

they all looked forward with confidence to their landing next day.

The place off which we anchored on the night of Tuesday, September 12th,

was marked on the charts as Schapan. It is fourteen miles distant N.N.E.

from our starting-point on Tuesday at noon, so that we only ran that

length the whole of the afternoon from twelve to six o'clock.

CHAPTER II.

Eupatoria--Orders for the landing--The French land first--Cossacks

in sight--Sir George Brown's escape--A brush with the

Cossacks--Tartar allies--Shelling a Russian camp--An unpleasant

night--A garrison at Eupatoria.