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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd February 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 7

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      ^Bbbuaens: 3, 1855.] T H E X E A D E B,....

      ^ BBBUAEns : 3 , 1855 . ] T H E X E A D E B ,. 103

      5otes Of The Siege. The Times Correspond...

      5 OTES OF THE SIEGE . The Times correspondent remains unflinching in his descriptions of the suffering in the camp , and in his denunciations against those who might have prevented it We give some extracts which , although they are occasionally denied , are constantly verified by other accounts : — ¦ • - HOW THE COLD AFFECTS THE TROOPS . " The cold weather has been attended by a decrease of one class of diseases and by an increase of those affecting the respiratory organs . Severe cases of frost-bite have occurred among the men . Some have died in consequence , others will probably lose their limbs or extremities . Officers have also succumbed to the cold , and to overwork , on fatigue parties . Pleurisy , severe cold , rheumatism , bronchitis , and pneumonia have appeared among us , and , though diarrhoea and dysentery are not so prevalent , cases of scorbutic dysentery have rather been augmenting in number . "

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

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

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

      duties and different arms from the private soldiers , and tliat must be always , they must be marks for riflemen . The enemy ' s sharpshooters see a man on horseback with - ^^^ " ^ j ^ g ^^^^ v- ^ j ^ - ^ -diiea ' ed'like' ^ a' ^ druinm ' cr they know he is an officer , and fire at him accordingly . They observe a line of infantry advancing or firing ; one man on the flank , or in front , has a sword in his hand ; he is cheering on the men } he ia giving orders ; ha is a mark for their rifles too . As an old sergeant of our riflemen said the other day , ' It ' s no matter what dress a man wears . If we see an active chap a bustling about and moving among the men , our lads wilKhave a -crack at him . ' And thus it is so many Russian officers have fallen . Tha French officers , who wear very marked epaulettes , and are easily discernible among their men , don't complain of their distinctive uniform . As to the

      shako , it has almost ceased to exist as a headdress ; the soldiers kick them away as soou as they can , and Mr . John Bull would be astonished to see the number of his neat brass-mounted felt huts which lie in the mud about our camp . Each cost him some 20 s . each . Parade — the parade of a crack regiment—would certainly break the old gentleman ' s heart . Ho who has been accustomed to behold two rigid lines of beautifully-executed dolls , A 3 firm , as clean , and neat as if they hud come out of a Nureinburg toy-box , would behold—instead of this eclataiit red , with any-coloured facings and white breastlace , hia neat Albert shako , bia regimental bluo trousers —a mud-bespattered , dingy russet garment , with grcuso facings and choeolato-colsured laco , pantaloons of various shades of brown , and the most eccentric headdress and footgear that over necessity suggested . "

      OFFICI 2 UH IN l'l-AOB OF HORSES . " The arrangement of our system of fatigue parties sooms defective . The men are often sent out from Balaklavn when it ia too lot © in the day for them to get back to camp era nightfall . The other duy a party of the 42 nd started out to hoad-quartera after three o'clock . In coming home two men died in the French camp , and another received a severo fall and fractured an arm . The duty is , indeed , very trying . The man arc providod ' with n stout pole for each couplo , and a cask of rum , biscuits , or boef ia slung from it between them , and then they go off on a tramp of about flvo miles from the commissariat

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

      The Morning Post has a capital account of the RUSSIAN SPIES . " The Cossacks still muster strong round their old haunt near" Balaklava . A singular incident occurred during the day of the reconnoissance , which has been much talked of since " , as showing the daring and dexterity of our opponents . The Rifles and Highlanders had advanced considerably in front of their position , so as to bring them within short distance of the Cossack pickets . While remaining there , an officer ( apparently belonging to the Rifles ) was observed to stroll from the lines , pass the outposts , and walk in the direction of the Cossacks . At first he was supposed to be Lieutenant Thynne going out shooting , and under this idea the sentries called out to warn him that he- was going in the direction of the enemy . But the officer took no notice beyond quickening his pace till he came up with

      the Cossacks , and , after a short parley with them , mounted a horse and rode off . The Rifles remained perfectly astounded at such a barefaced act of desertion—the men swearing that it was an officer , and that for that reason they had refrained from firing after him ; and the officers asserting that it was one of the men . But when the regiment returned to camp , and there was a general muster to ascertain the individual who had acted so disgracefully , the astonishment was greater still ; for not a man was missing . The truth was then evident to all that the man was nothing less than a Russian spy , "disguised as a Rifle officer . Such a one might easily escape detection among the Zouaves , or even the Highlanders and Marines , but that he should have passed unchallenged through the centre of the Rifles themselves seems quite beyond comprehension . The nerve , coolness , and confidence necessary for such a feat must be something extraordinary .

      . " The French on ~ the following . day returned the compliment by sending out another spy , who was admirably disguised , and whose mission was completely successful ; more than this it would hardly be prudent to say . " POSTMASTER AT CONSTANTINOPLE . " I must say that a more disobliging and discourteous individual does not exist . Under his fostering care the post-office has become most shamefully abused , and many whose letters' are- regularly-dispatched to them never obtain them . The transport service hardly ever

      obtain the letters so frequently sent from England . Letters addressed to the different transports of the service accumulate by hundreds in Constantinople , and , as one of our ' angels' says , because they do not belong to the army or navy , they may lie there , for they will certainly never be sent to the parties concerned . As for those unconnected with either army , navy , or transport , I pity them , for they have no chance . Letters may be sent them , clearly and distinctly addressed , but they will never reach here ; and when the unfortunates visit the post-office and make a civil request for their letters , the answer is . ' Devil a one , sir ! ' "

      Scraps From The Camp. Lord Raglan Was In...

      SCRAPS FROM THE CAMP . Lord Raglan was in Balaklava on the 8 th January , the day before I was there . Ho had not been there before for nearly three months . It was then a comparatively clear day , as tho thaw had not come to mix snow and mud together ; but even Lord Raglan , I should think , mufit have found it a little worso than ho expected . On this , tho 8 th day of Jnnunry , some of the Guards , of Her Majesty Queen Victoria ' s Household Brigade , are walking about in tho snow without soles to t / teir shoes . When the men go on duty ovornight , tho * snow being melted by tho heat of the sun , their boots become very wet ; tho frost during the night freezes tho leather , and the poor fellows cut the boots off to ease tho agonj ' occasioned by tho hardness of the leather pressing upon their tender feet .

      M'Donald , our excellent Provost-Marshal , is a man whoso feelings are not to bo trifled with , and none aro more faithful In tho discharge of their duties . Woe to tho unfortunate individual who is caught in tho act of gathering togethor a little firewood , the remains of tho unfortunate wrecks of tho 14 th , which have floated into the head of the harbour , and lie thoro , useless and untouched , when mon are freezing at tho camp above ! Lot some poor wretch conic down and scrape together au

      armful of this wood , and he ia considered an . offender of the deepest die , and unfit to escape ; . and consequently , an acquaintance with M'Donald , and 12 or 24 lashes * as the case may be , are the result . When the bombardment is commenced , 50 rounds every 12 hours are to be fired from each piece of ordnance , until all the ammunition is expended . According to this arrangement about £ 0 , 000 rounds of shot and shell will be thrown into Sehastopol every 24 . hours , and the Russians must surely be made of sterner stuff than , bronze or granite if they stand 50 or 60 hours of such a cannonade . When the bombardment has done its worst it is said we are to storm .

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

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

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

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

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

      than tho horses . Aim .-SoYEU . — Tho other night I was sitting beside one of our men in the trenches . I saw him eating something which he had difficulty in cutting . 1 offered him my knife , being sharper than his , and on examining his meat I found it was raw fresh beef . He was eating it quite contentedly . Moving in tub Ckimka . — Can you fancy a poor fellow , who may be struck down from disease of a most prostrating diameter , being cither jolted along m a waggon , without springs or covering , or placed across a horse , for three hours , exposed to an atmospherewinch may be many degrees below the freezing points l ' ar better would it bo to let tho poor invalid remain in even his comfortless tent , than to subject him to sum torture . Our departments are certainly most rotten , and never will bo better until each has power withm itself , so as to make arrangements lor its own ntt ^ - tios , ' without being referred , as it often M'lJJf to « second , third , or i ' ourtn department for Ha conduct or

      g R ™ FRYiNO , WNS .-Wo have fitted up somo capital cookintf houscs by digging holes and made acme snug fireplaces , bu * all . !« of uo use , fuel u very Bca . ce , wo cannot got tho food up from Balaklava to cook , and ,-f wo could , it must bb grilled on tho fire , as wo havO no pots nor saucepans ; our flmall camp kettles—you know what I mouu—that wo carry on tho top of our knm > -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 3, 1855, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03021855/page/7/