The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-27 00:00:00

78 Original ytttra front ttt dritnta. [We have received the following series of letters from an officer in the Fourth Division, which will be read with in terest. It is worthy of remark, that at the very time when the Duke of Newcastle declared in the house of Lords that not a day had passed without full rations being supplied to the army before Sebastopol, the Fourth Division were for eight days and nights without either rum or meat.] Camp before Sebastopol, 17th N0v.,1854. My dear —, 1 write to you ex promiva. I regret to say it is not in the style I expected. Since the Bth inst., when we arrived here, till the 11th, the weather has been very bad indeed, and we naturally lose a deal of men from cholera, cramps, &c., but on the 11th inst. it came on to blow a perfect hurricane, all our tents were blown away, the ground was worse than the wettest Irish bog, and our sufferings then are really beyond description ; men dying in the trenches, on the march to and from the trenches, and in camp ; no provisions, in consequence of the state of the roads ; in fact, while it lasted, it was frightful. We hear to-day that there is something of a capi tulation going on, but we never can believe a word, there are so many different accounts. The army in our rear, I understand, are certainly gone ; we hear that 60,000 of them were turned out to attack us, but the men would not fight the English : they don't care for the French and the Turks, but the sight of a red coat utterly dismays them ; and it is certain that our loss at Inkermann is owing to our men having turned out in great coats ; they took us for French and Turks, and if it had not been for the Zouaves coming to our aid we must have been perfectly annihilated. The French are splendid soldiers, the Zouaves in particular. I dined with them yesterday ; they gave me some stewed mutton, potatoes, and brandy, and we all considered we had a capital dinner. I have lived for days out here on biscuit and rum, and was glad to get it. However, the weather is now very fine, and we are getting on better; but the fact is if we do not do something soon, our men cannot stand it. If you people at home could only see us now,—all the army have got long beards, and are the most extra ordinary-looking fellows that can well be imagined. Our officers have stood it capitally up to this; weihave only had one sick. I tell you the most splendid thing we can get out here, is a box of provisions from Fortnum and Mason's for the Crimea, and a hairy coat, cap, and gloves, with the hair so as to keep off the rain and keep you warm. We can get things here at immense prices : in Balaklava, for instance, I went yesterday, and by the greatest luck got a goose on board some ship just come in for 12s. It has been the only thing in the way of fresh meat I have had for a week, so think what a luxury it is. Certainly if you have money you can better yourself considerably. Imagine paying 103. for a tin of potted meat which you finish at your breakfast. Nov. 30--ended Dec. 2. I assure you it has rained almost incessantly, and when rain falls here it comes with a vengeance. You might often have remarked at the end of a heavy shower in England, it would fall in torrents for a few minutes before it clears ; but I don't exaggerate when I tell you that I have seen it rain here like that for consecutive days and nights. And what is the consequence? Why, our gallant fellows are dying round us like rotten sheep; we have lost eighty four men already from diarrhoea. There were some few cases of Asiatic cholera, but I believe it has now cleared away : there are this morning 162 men sick, some of whom will, it is expected, soon be called to their accounts. Such is the state of things at present in the —th. The 62nd, who did not arrive till some time after us, we are told lost ninety men up to this ; so you see it evidently tells on new regiments. It has been the case with all the regiments when first they arrived at Alma and elsewhere, but we, i.e. the fourth division, have to contend against an almost more desperate enemy, which is starvation, having the worst commissariat in the army, who complain of having no transports, and the conse quence is, we have been for eight days and nights without either rum or meat, and I feel convinced that we shouldn't have lost half the men if they had only had their proper rations ; but just imagine men turning out at four a.m. for the trenches, under a pouring rain, not getting their allowance of grog when there, and when relieved at seven p.m. they come to their wet tents without, perhaps, so much as some biscuit and coffee. You know this must tell on the poor fellows, coming from the most com fortable ship, where they had all they wanted, to a place with weather most wretched, and work which your people in England could scarcely believe pos. sibla for men to accomplish : and the worst is, we have lost all our finest men and oldest soldiers. The Grenadier company have lost almost twice that of any other company ; and I need not tell you what fine fellows they were. I try to keep up their pluck as well as I can, and the poor fellows tell me all they care for is to get their grub and their grog, and they all are in the greatest anxiety to have a go at the Russians. Now, for the officers, some are TILE PRESS. obliged to go on the sick list, they are so bad, but the poor fellows never give in till they can't help it. My brothersub,who is now lying in his bed beside me, had a very severe attack last night; nothing would remain on his stomach; he now says he is better. Our surgeon has just given him a powder, and, although he is for the trenches to-night, he says if he can stand, he wont go on the sick list. From all I can hear, our storming the place is a certainty, as soon as we can destroy the shipping, which will be when we get our guns up to the new battery, which, owing to the bad weather and the bad roads, is now very difficult. The French have been in the town several times, and have killed some gunners and spiked their guns occasionally. I commanded a working party within a short dis tance of the town in our advanced parallels last night, and I was at one time so close that I could see the Russian sentry of their picket; be challenged us, hut we beat a quick retreat. We were five in num ber, merely going to have a look at the beggars, and, if they had got scent of our working party, they might have annoyed us with grape and canister. Very soon after I marched my party away, they made an attack on our advanced parallel, and got into the trench, but they were very soon driven back. _ Dec. 22. I received your welcome letter of the 25th, for which, as for all the others, words cannot express my thanks. I will now answer your inquiries. It is an undoubted fact that we are, and always have been, hard up for provisions and medical comfort, and the consequence is, that although we came out here 900 strong (and you will agree with me that 000 finer fellows were not often to be seen), we are now, at the outside, 450 fighting men. The French are before us by centuries regarding everything in campaigning except soldiers; but the passive enddrance, honest pluck, and true valour of a British soldier are quali fications no where to be found except in the service of our gracious mistress. Ah ! by Jove! 'twould ao your heart good, or rather it would rend it, to see those gallant fellows enduring every hardship with out a single murmur save one, i.e., " I wish to God we could go at the Russians while we are alive and able." Thank God, we are now pretty well climatised, and don't lose so many, except from wounds. A sergeant in my company had his leg taken off yester day morning. Poor fellow ! he was in capital spirits in the morning going down to the trenches, wishing they might have a go at the Russians. He was struck on the road leading into Sebastopol by a chance shot. Four of our officers have gone sick to Scutari, among whom is young -. It takes an awful time to get poor sick officers away. I don't know how many poor fellows have to sign his leave. Poor was very bad indeed, spitting blood, &c., and it took nearly a fortnight to get him away ; but the French, noble fellows as they are, have lent us their mules to remove our sick, so we are now better off. I did not bring out the least warm clothing, but managed to buy a flannel suit from the sailors, which has stood me in good earnest. I mentioned in my last what you might send, but I forgot the most particular of all, which is two pair of long boots to reach all the way up the leg—water proof. I believe they would be the saving of one's life. I have been up to my knees in mud and water, and have seen poor soldiers dragging the soles clean off their boots. lam happy to say the men are daily getting warm clothing. I have written to to send me out all the money he can ; it is a great essential out here—it keeps one from starving. I have not seen fresh meat now for a fortnight. I have a large foot, and a very high instep; the larger the boots the better—if not too large. I hope you have received all my letters. I have written almost every post. If the Lord spares me, I shan't forget you on Christmas-day. This day and last night it has rained dreadfully, with the coldest wind I ever experienced. I am on duty and inlying picket to-day. I have to visit my sentries after twelve o'clock at night. When you are in bed, snug and warm, think of your soldier friend. DEC. 20. I have received yours of the Bth, and am sur prised to see that you have not received my letters, as I have written by every post; but I hope ere this you have got a lot of them. Ten thousand thanks for the box, which I hope will come to hand; it will be a great godsend. We are going on the same as usual. They report the Vladimir has escaped from Sebastopol, and has gone to Odessa for supplies. The Fury, I believe, has followed her. We don't seem in the least nearer taking Sebastopol. I think myself we are lying on our oars for something or other ; no one seems to know what we are doing ; we have some fighting occasionally in the advanced parallels, and that is all. I hear the wooden houses have arrived. I have not seen them yet. The 4th Division (i. e. ours,) is awfully worked ; I don't think we can stand it much longer. They say when the houses come in we are SATURDAY, to be removed to the right to recruit; the sooner the better for the poor fellows. God bless you all ! The orderly sergeant is coming for the letters, so I must shut up. I have just saved the post. More anon. Camp before Sebastopol, Jan. 7, 1855, My dearest —,Up to this time no tidings of any of the boxes, except that a box from the P. is and has been for eight or ten days at Balaklava on board the Golden Fleece, and that, I suppose, con tains something from you; and also, I hope, a fur pelisse from the P. To-morrow my legs will have to carry me to Balaklava, and I shall try and get some ambulance or commissariat trap to bring the said box up to camp : of course it will rain, or snow, or some such abomination, to prevent my going, for I never get wet for pleasure, only for duty. Your packet of letters was most acceptable ; I read them over three times, and this afternoon the baron dropped in and I read a portion of them to him. How we gloated over the thought of the box from Fortnam and Mason's ! Yesterday was the coldest day I ever felt; I started at four a.m. for the horrid trenches, snowing and sleeting so that I could hardly see a yard before me. It had been so cold that I could scarcely sleep all night : our tent door won't shut, and the snow drove in so as to fill half the tent, and completely cover me, lying in the corner under a heap of blankets. I will just describe my dress to meet this pleasant day. Two pair of thick socks (I luckily got a very loose but by no means waterproof pair of boots before I left London, so that I can wear two pair of socks) a menno jersey, knitted drawers, two flannel shirts, then a warm waistcoast, over that my regi mental coatee, over that a shooting-jacket, a pair of• corduroy trousers tied in with a string at the bottom, over all that a small blanket which came right over my head just exposing the tip of my nose, and on the top of all my regimental great-coat, a naked sword in my hand to serve for a walking stick, so you now have an idea of the uniform of a British officer on service. I managed to keep warm all but. my hands and feet, the latter got wet through walk ing down, and remained in that jolly condition all day, and if I sat down for any time they froze hard; however, with a huge flask of rum I got through the day very well, lost my way coming home in the snow,. and wandered into the third division, and got back to my tent about eight p.m., very cold and hungry, found my messmate had got a stunning olla podrida soup ready, and, oh ye gods and little fishes ! two , bottles of porter, hot with sugar and ginger! How it went down and set me all right I need not relate. I went to my blankets and slept like a top all night, got up this morning and felt so well that I deter mined to have a trash, which I did, and felt better than I have done since I have been out here. This afternoon I had the good luck to buy from a sailor a pot of preserved meat (155.), soup and bonnie, and a pair of long stockings for five bob, and by jewel what a capital dinner we made of it (not the stock ings but the meat) ; and, what is better, there is enough left for dinner for to-morrow. I have not seen T. G. since my feed on New Year's-day. The turkey I managed to roast, and it was unanimously pronounced stunning—at all events, four of us com pletely finished him, together with two araba cows'• tongues, and an immense pudding made of flour,. mutton fat, figs, and lemons, which tasted to us: better than any English Christmas pudding. 1 know that I had such a lump on my chest for fair hours after it that I could hardly breathe, aria I dare say T. G. was in the same state. We had a big jorum of rum punch after all, and separated about ten, very late and dissipated for the Crimea. Yesterday was the Russian Christmas, and we thought it not unlikely that they might get screwed, and come out after dinner and get licked ; but they didn't show, and hardly fired a shot all day. We have completely and entirely ceased firing, but they still fire a shot at us now and then, particularly their advanced sharpshooters, who do us an immense lot. of mischief, shooting to a certainty every one that shows his head above the parapet; whereas our sharpshooters are quite shut up, and have already ceased on the left attack. I don't know what they do on the right attack. A few days ago a sergeant and another man of the 57th were coming back from Balaklava about dusk with a lot of warm Jerseys for the men, and they were potted and taken prisoners into the town, a nice booty for the Cossacks who took them. If you know any one coming out, tell them to be sure to bring a good canteen well stocked with sauce pan, fryingpan, gridiron, and kettle (I would give sovereign for one), knives and forks, tin and horn cups. I wish I had brought a good one. Lots of my baggage was lost by our ship landing part at Cher sonese, and part at Balaklava; among other things, a canteen which I bought at Cork, and if I was to come out now I would bring lots of preserved meat, chocolate, &c. I have written to the P. for a mule, a copper kettle, some knives and forks, and said tbmt