The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-20 00:00:00

DECEMBER 20, 1856. ittraturt. Letters from Head-Quarters ; or, the Realities of the War in the Crimea. By an Officer on the Staff. Two Vols. London : Murray. W E hasten to direct the attention of our readers to this striking work. We do not pre tend to have mastered its contents, but we have studied it enough to feel satisfied that it is by far the most authentic end coinprehen• sive account of the war in the Crimea yet given to the public. The author was attached to Lord Raglan's staff, from the departure of the British army from England until Lord Raglan died, after the unsuccessful attack upon Sebastopol, June 18, 1855. He had thus opportunities of obtaining exact knowledge on all leading events; and he has now spoken out with freedom highly honourable to his spirit. As he has chosen to conceal his name, it is not for us to establish his iden tity. He states that he was selected by Lord Raglan at Varna to convey despatches to Omer Pacha. That is one circumstance of proof. He states that he returned to England shortly after Lord Raglan's death. That is another. He leaves other footprints of his identity in different parts of his volumes which will scarcely leave any curious investigator in doubt. Suffice it to say, that we have perfect confidence in the author's veracity ; and that his book is exactly the one to convey to the English mind the whole plain, unvarnished truth on the leading incidents of the war. And first, as to the character of Lord Rag lan. We all know how cruelly that great, good, and magnanimous commander was maligned. If there is any respect for truth in the mind of the British people—any admi ration for true heroism—any sense of shame for undeserved wrong—a perusal of these volumes must powerfully turn the tide of sentiment in his favour. The wrong which was done him can never be re paired. He died with a feeling of bitterness at his heart that his conduct was misunder stood, and his services unappreciated by his country. This feeling did not lessen his courage, did not impair his resolution, but it helped to break him down. "Ambition should "he made of sterner stuff." While he was exhausting his energies to maintain the strength and spirit of his army, during that dreadful winter passed on the bleak heights of lialaklava, he was harassed by reports that. the Home Government intended to recal him. Only those who have gone through these volumes will be able to understand the terrible difficulties with which he had to contend. He triumphed over them, but the struggle helped to kill him. It is noticed about the time of the attack of the 18th June, how rapidly " he had aged of late," though his intel lect was as clear, his spirit as high, his heart as firm, as it had ever been. He was grievously disappointed by the failure of that attack ; and the more so, as lie saw that the failure was principally owing to departure from the scheme of attack which he had previously arranged with General Pelissier. On the even ing of the repulse news came that his beloved sister had died in England. Just afterwards his comrade and friend, General Estcourt, sank from illness. His own constitution had been severely tried by anxiety, and the cease less work of the war. On the 26th of June, "after writing all the morning his numerous despatches and letters," he was compelled, for the first time since he assumed the command of the army, to yield to indisposition. He never rose more. On the morning of the 28th it was thought he was much better ; at noon a fatal change occurred, and at half-past eight in the evening he died : The principal chaplain to the forces went into his bed room shortly before his death and read the service, and after, when all was over, a prayer was offered up by him, in which all most earnestly jAned. Nothing could have been quieter or more peaceful than his death-bed—so calm, and without an effort. It was scarcely possible to tell the moment when his sprit fled to rest. 1 need not tell you the grief of all present ; it can better be imagined than described. By nine o'clock it was k nown to t h e genera l s o f the 1 14liali army that Lord Raglan was no more, and they all immediately came up to head-quarters to express their sorrow, and gaze once more on the features of him whom they all loved and revered. His death has created a pro found sensation in the army; now that he is gone, every THE PRESS. oue finds out what a loss they have sustained. Our allies, especially the French, have shown great sympathy with us on this sad occasion. The commanders.jn•chief of each army, and the admirals of the allied fleets, came up to head quarters on the morning of the 29th instant, to take a farewell look at their late colleague. All seemed deeply impressed by the event. It was a touching sight to see these old warriors who had so often looked death in the ace unmoved, shedding tears of regret over the body of our late beloved commander. General Pelissier stood by the bedside for upwards of an hour crying like a child. In these volumes will be found numerous notices of Lord Raglan's conduct in the Crimea, which will enlighten the public as to his true character. It will be seen how he spared no labour to promote the comfort, to raise the courage, and insure the safety of his troops ; how he freely exposed himself to dan ger, and was always cool and colleted in the thick of it; and how—which is of far the most importance—results proved the soundness of his judgment and the clearness of his views. The only fault we are inclined to find with the author is, that he sometimes seems to bear more hardly than circumstances call for on the conduct of our allies. We shall be curious to see what our excellent friends across the Channel will say to many passages of this book. It consists of a series of letters sent home by the author to his friends. These letters have been carefully revised, but are printed substantially as they were written. The earlier ones are full of interesting and, in some degree, novel details. We particularly relish the description of the author's ride as a courier from head-quarters, at Varna, to Omer Pacha, on the Danube. But we pass on to the more important portions of the book. Often as the battle of the Al►na has been described, we never befere had so clear a conception of some details of it as these letters convey. The author saw the whole action as Lord Raglan saw it. During the battle his lordship was in continual danger. Thus, at the commence ment of the action : The Russians kept a certain number of guns firing at the staff, and, as for some time Lord Raglan remained on the road, the shot came bounding along half a dozen at a time: anything but pleasant. We were very fortunate, for no one was hit. Two horses were killed, and the shot that killed the last almost touched Lord Raglan's back. He took no more notice of the firing than if he had been at a review. The passage of the river was perilous : Just going into the river we were under cover from the Russian riflemen, as there was a high bank by the water. side which protected us. Directly we got into the river, and were crossing to the road on the opposite side, a very heavy enfilading fire was poured upon us, both from cannon and small arms. In the river two of the staff were shot down ; but Lord Raglan, whose presence of mind never left him for a moment, turned to one of his staff and said, " Ah ! if they can enfilade us here, we can certainly enfilade them on the rising ground beyond. Order up Turner's battery ! " He then went on, following the road, which turned away to the right. In a minute more we were among the French skirmishers, who looked not a little astonished to see the Eng lish Commander-in-Chief so far in advance. A sudden bend of the road again to the left brought us under the most infernal fire from some of the gnus pasted, as I before mentioned, in front of our line. We were in a sort of lane with high hedges on both sides, and the round shot came down it in a manner I shall never forget. What appeared to save us was that almost invariably the Russians fired too high, as all the shot went just over our heads. I say all, though more than one horse was killed in this lane, hut I think always from ricochet shot. The decisive charge of the Ist Division is admirably told : To return to the Ist Division. They were advancing in beautiful order, and marched straight on the Russian bat tery; when half way up the hill the Fusilier Guards were, to a certain extent, thrown into temporary confusion by the left of the Light Division, who were retiring. This momentary check caused them great loss, but, after a minute or two, they rallied, and soon rejoined their com rades. It was at this moment that the guns directed by Lord Raglan came into action, and, as I before told you, after the second shot the Russian artillery limbered up and began to retreat. Thus the heavy cannonade which the Light Division had been under was at a most important moment arrested, and thus spared the Guards. I say the Guards, because the brigade of Highlanders, being more on the left, were almost entirely out of the line of fire, and consequently escaped with comparatively trifling loss. Directly the Russians had withdrawn their guns, three heavy masses of infantry advanced slowly down the hill. It was an anxious moment, for, if they only had courage to charge, their very weight must have swept our thin line before them. I should any these three columns could not have numbered less than 9,000 men, for they were three entire regiments, which as yet had not been into action, each regiment nominally consisting of 3,000 men; yet such was the imposing air and perfect formation of the British troops opposed to them that they never advanced out of the slowest walk. The Ist Division paused for a moment—it was only to " lock up " more closely. Some one said to Lord Raglan," The Guards are going to 1215 retire; " but he knew them better, for he said, " No etc h thing ; they'll carry the battery. Ns time for us to go and join them." Lesving directions with Captain Turner to fire upon the Russian columns of infantry advancing down the hill opposite against the Ist Division, he descended into the valley, and rode over it in the direction of the Guards. Before we had got halfway we saw the let Divi sion and the Russian columns approaching towards one another, at a distance of sixty yards apart ; the brigade of Highlanders having been brought round so as to take the Russian columns in flank, the whole division sent in a withering volley, which perfectly staggered the Russians, literally knocking over every man in their two front ranks. The enemy stopped, fired a random volley, turned, and fled, without another attempt at staying the victorious course of the British troops. The moment the Russian, turned, down went the bayonets, and the whole division charged up the hill, dashing through the battery, and cap turing a gun which some Russian artillerymen were in the act of carrying off. Cheering as they went, they bayoneted hundreds of the flying enemy. They were followed by the Light Division, which had been some time re-formed, and even assisted the Ist Division in repelling the advance of the Russian masses of infantry. The 2nd Division ad vanced also, and charged up the valley; they also cap tured a gun and limber complete, besides driving the enemy like sheep before them. On the further heights, about a mile and a half from the Alma, the British troops ceased their pursuit. And then arose such a cheer !—a cheer from 20,000 victorious men Even some of the poor wounded fellows joined in it. I shall never forget that cheer as long as I live ; it was, in deed, thrilling. I almost pitied the fallen enemy, it must have been so galling to them, as I heard a man of the Guards say to a comrade, " I say, Bill, pleasant for them poor devils (pointing to some wounded Russians) hearing our chaps cheer so." The men were tired, and many almost exhausted for want of water. Lord Raglan rode up and down the line of troops, the men cheering him vociferously. The author charges the French with the blame of not following up the victory by pur suit : Nothing struck me more during the day than Lord Raglan's wonderful calmness and - presence of mind during the whole battle. He rode everywhere, with round shot, shell, and musket-balls flying about him, with an indif ference that was really remarkable ; never got apparently excited in voice or manner, and might just as well have been riding in Rotten-row in Hyde-park. Shortly after on these heights Lord Raglan met Marshal St. Arnaud, where, after mutual congratulations, Lord Raglan wished very much that some pursuit should be made of the retreating Russian army. He offered our cavalry, and I think two or three batteries of artillery. but said the infantry had suffered so much that they could not well advance without weakening too much the English force. Marshal St. Arnaud replied that he could send no infantry, and that his artillery had exhausted their ammunition : indeed he appeared to think that quite enough had been done. Lord Raglan saw there was no help for it, and therefore much against his will gave up the pursuit. To Sir John Burgoyne is given the credit of suggesting the flank march, which brought the allies to the south side of Sebastopol. Lord Raglan instantly adopted the proposal. Ott occasion of the first bombardment, when the fleets were to join in the attack, Admiral Hamelin positively refused to accede to the proposal of the British admirals to take the ships as closely to the forte as possible. He decided not to advance nearer than 2,000 yards from the forts, and hence the comparative failure of the naval attack. (i. 285, et seq.) The account of the battle of Inkermann occupies fifty pages of narrative. It is admi rably written. As on all other occasions, Lord Raglan, heedless of danger, stationed himself at those points where his command might be most advantageous. When the fight was raging most desperately we read:— At this time the head-quarter staff suffered severelyffrom the fire of the enemy, and had especially to mourn the lose of one of its principal members. General Strangways, when in the act of receiving orders from Lord Raglan, was struck by a round shot, which carried off one of his legs just below the knee. He turned round and asked in a calm voice for some one to help him off his horse. Major Adye had already dismounted, and went to his assistance. He placed the poor old general on the ground, and then hurried off to procure a stretcher to carry him to the rear. Almost at the same moment that General Strangways was mortally wounded, a shell entered Colonel Somerset's horse just behind the saddle, and burst inside, covering him (Colonel Somerset) with blood, and splashing several of the staff around. Wonderful to say, Colonel Somerset escaped unhurt, except a slight bruise. Colonel Gordon also had his horse killed under him by a round shot at this place . When the guns were brought up— Lord Raglan remained for some little time watching the effect of our practice, and by his coolness and sangfroid encouraged the men in serving the guns. I think, while he was there, five or six men were killed and wounded close to him, besides several horses ; but, although a man of the kindest heart and warmest sympathies, Lord Raglan, in action, never allows his attention to be taken off by the casualties around him, and therefore, though in the midst of this great slaughter, neither his voice nor manner was apparently changed. Indeed, to such an extent is this indifference carried, that it is a common saving among his staff, that " My lord rat* likes being under fire than otherwise."