The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

construct dams and form reservoirs at the camps, and
some efforts have also been made to bore artesian wells,
but I am not aware that any great success has attended the
latter enterprise, and I am certain that the former has
been very imperfectly carried out. Major Brandling, of
the I troop, constructed some good troughs near Karanye.
Colonel Harding, with ampler means, has made a very
creditable reservoir at the entrance to Balaklava, and
there have been isolated instances here and there of
similar foresight, but to the best of my knowledge nothing
has been done to provide water for "the army "—that
thirsty monster, with 200,000 or 240,000 mouths and
stomachs, who will soon lie sweltering and gasping beneath
a broiling sun, worn out by exertion, and maddened by
want of this vital necessary. The efforts to bore artesian
wells have not been successful, and Mr. Upton penetrated
several hundred feet through the solid rock beneath the
soil of his farm, and failed to find any trace of water. The
number of wells on the plateau itself indicates sufficiently
the extremity to which the very few inhabitants must be
reduced now and then in hot dry seasons. Around the
farmhouse in which Lord Raglan dwells there are no less
than six deep wells, and it is only wonderful that they have
stood so long, although resupplied recently by the drainage
consequent upon the saturation of the whole plateau by
heavy rains. There has: been some weak, bald chat about
" the fleet supplying the army with water." The bulk of
our army is ten or twelve miles from the anchorage of the
fleet, and water is one of the most difficult articles to carry
known to us. Where are our tanks, our water-bags, our
transport to supply us from Kamiesch ? Above all, where
is our transport? Difficulties have already arisen respect.
ing the carriage of rum from Balaklava to the front, be-
cause it is in puncheons, and not in smaller vessels. And,
then, suppose some accident occurs to the fleet or to the
distilling apparatus ! Is the fleet to remain here to manu-
facture water for the army? Are we, in sober truth, to be
left to take our chance of dying of thirst in summer, just
as we were drowned by wet in winter? Even supposing
we had possession of the Tschernaya, it would be far to
carry the water up steep hills 21)0 or 300 feet above its bed
to the plateau at the east of which it flows, and the source
would remain in possession of the enemy. This is a vital
question, if the army is to remain here.

The writer of a private letter states, on the 14th
ult..—

We have had terrible work here. Last night the 18th
Regiment fired on the 08th by mistake. The Russians
made an attack on the advance batteries and were repelled
by the 68th and Rifles; the Russians returned in a short
time with a reinforcement, again attacked the batteries,
and a fearful struggle took place. The reserves were then
sent up—the 9th, 18th, and 44th—and when they got into
the advanced trench both sides were so covered with mud
that we could not tell Russians from English; so the re-
serve opened fire, but it was unfortunately on the poor
68th ; they then charged on them, when they found out
their mistake, but not till a good many of the 68th had
fallen; however, the Russians had it hot and warm after-
wards. The poor fellows who are wounded in advance of
the trench are obliged to lie there all day till dark, as the
Russians tire on any of our people who go to bring them
in. Many of the wounded might recover if brought in,
but they lie and bleed to death. The Russians make sor-
ties daily and nightly, as since General Jones came up we
are pushing the works close up to the town ; so the work
is very hard upon our poor fellows, often being three or
four nights without rest.