The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-16 00:00:00

THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL.

THE writer of Inside Sebastopol• is one of a class
known to our camp in the Crimea as " T. Crs.,"
or travelling gents. He landed at Balaklava
on the 11th of September last, and quitted it on
the 18th ; and from his week's sojourn on the
spot, and conversations with officers and men,
conceives himself entitled to speak with authority on
the events of the great siege, and in particular to
" tell the true story of the repulse at the Redan on
" Bth September." He is so strong on this point
that he overlooks the fact that the details of that
event have previously been told by more competent
and experienced persons than himself. The news-
paper correspondents have given the world a
tolerably correct version of what really took place on
that eventful day ; and though this "T. U." had
never published his narrative we should have been
much less in the dark as to the truth than he seems
to suppose.

As usual with " T. Gs.," this one listened open-
mouthed to all the gossip he heard, and is inclined
to exaggerate the worth of the information he ac-
quired, for no better reason than that the said
"T. G." heard with his own ears and saw with his
own eyes—a fair enough warrant for his own belief,
but not likely to much influence the great public who
have the accounts of many observers before them,
and can estimate the accuracy of many ears, and the
keenness of many eyes. One frank avowal in the
preface indisposes us to give our ear wholly to the
" T. G.'s" testimony :
This book will probably pass the seas and be read by
those who were companions in the rambles it describes;
and perhaps some surprise may be felt that the scenes, the
words, and the interlocutors of some of the dialogues have

been changed. T have done this purposely. . . 1 have
sometimes changed a date, or altered a commission, or
moved the position of a tent, when reporting camp
experiences.
This means that the " T. G." has " cooked" his
narrative. He might have omitted what he pleased,
but why change scenes and words? II it is allowable
to alter the position of tents and confuse dates, why
not "go the whole animal," turn Sebastopol into
Gibraltar, and describe the repulse at the Redan as
having occurred a hundred years ago? What above
all things we d: sire in narratives of actual experience
is literal truth. If from any cause a man cannot tell
this, he Fad better hold his tongue altogether, than
publish garbled statements. We cannot imagine
any reason why the "T. G." should not in this case
have minutely and faithfully described what he saw
and what he heard. His disguise must be a very
thin one, if his narrative be substantially correct.

The main purpose of the book seems to be to
show that the British attack on the Bth September
failed most disgracefully. The author is afraid that
Jolla Bull will lap himself in a fool's paradise if he
is not plainly told that some of his soldiers ran away
on that occasion, and that others could not be induced
to advance. His account is, that after the attacking
column had gallantly stormed the Redan, and effected
a lodgment in the work, the reserves were ordered to
advance, but hung back. He represents an officer
as saying :

When they got half way between the trenches and the
Russian works a panic seemed to seize them. They did
not run away, but they stood still. We saw their officers
trying to excite them by voice and gesture to advance.
Some even took hold of their coats and tried to start them,
as you wou'd try to start a jibbing horse. It was all in
vain; they would not move.

The men in the Redan could not be brought to
charge—the Russian supports came on in over-
whelming numbem—a retreat was necessary—the
force in the trenches was disorganised, and the
attack failed. This is nearly all that the "T. G."
has to tell.
As to the officers, there is no doubt that on tbat
day they nobly did their duty :
If Inkermann was a soldier's victory, the Redan was the
touchstone of the valour of the British officer.

It is not FO unprecedented a thing as the " T. G."
seem. to suppose for even British soldiers to be
struck with panic. All bodies of troops are liable to
an uncontrollable impulse of alarm. In this case
our men seem to have been under an impression that
the ground was mined, and that they would all be
blown up in the moment of victory. They did not
fear the Russian batteries, still less the Russian
bayonets, but a hidden danger, which seemed the
more terrible to their imaginations from the ob-
scurity in which it was involved, and their inability
to vanquish it.
The case against General Simpson is strongly
stated here. An old officer is represented to have
said:—

I think the men who had twenty thousand veterans.
and who yet elected to play the game•stroke of the cam-
paign with two thousand raw recruits, and two thousand
fellows who had jibbed at the very same spot before,
deserves—to be criticised by civilians.

• 'wide Sebastopol. London: Chapman and Hall.

161

The author altogether rejects—we think properly
—the notion that the attack was intended merely as
a diversion :

believe there is not an officer in the British army who
doubts that if the Highlanders and the Marines, or if
General Eyre's division, had stormed the Redan, it. would
have been carried and held. That General Simpson did
not doubt it was evident from the fact that he had the
Highlanders alone in the trenches ready to assault it
when it was abandoned.

The author condenses in a paragraph what he states
to be the opinion of all Frenchmen to whom he
spoke on the subject :
They will subscribe to any theory, and join in any corn-
pliment to the English arms; they will even politely de-
plore the freedom with which our generals are criticised by
our press ; but they are always faithful to two impressions.
The first is that " there were great faults committed on the
Bth September; " the second that " if the Redan had been
taken simultaneously with the Malakoff, the Russian army
must have capitulated or been destroyed."
This latter view—repeated more than once—is the
most noticeable point in the book. The "T. G.'s"
picture of " Inside Sebastopol," as it presented itself
to his eye immediately after the Russian evacuation,
is spiritedly written, and the report of his journey
out and home may be welcome to persons who think
of making a similar trip.
So far we had written some weeks ago, when the
bock first came before us, but circumstances pre-
vented the notice appearing. Now we have a sup-
plementary sheet sent by the author, containing a
smartly written defence of himself against his critics.
He still harps on the notion that John Bull must not
be fondled and soothed like a baby, that he ought to
be told the truth, and that as there were great faults
committed on the Bth of September, it is better that
we should openly proclaim them ourselves than at.
tempt to hush them up and accept the equivocal
compliments, "the praise undeserved which is cen-
sure in disguise," which our allies are willing to
lavish on us. There is force in this view. But then
we don't like the "Eureka " to be shouted forth in
so jubilant a tone. We should mourn our short-
comings in sackcloth and ashes, not proclaim them
with a flourish of cock-a-doodle-doo, as if they were
something to be proud of. Manner is sometimes
more than matter. Hornpipes are to be danced in
fetters ; and with moderate tact an author can convey
unpleasant truths without unnecessarily shocking the
susceptibilities of his readers.
Our Tent in the Crimea • is a more judicious
though a less spirited performance. It is the pro-
duction of two brothers, who landed in the Crimea
early in August last year. One of them was obliged
to leave, through illness, before the final assault
took place, but the other remained, and was witness
to the events of the ever memorable Bth of Septem-
ber. The projected assault was known throughout
the camp the day previous to its occurrence, and in
the British army there was a conviction that it would
be, on our part, triumphantly successful. The
" Brother " generally sustains the view taken by the
author of " Inside Sebastopol." The grand mistake
was the mistake of the General. The first rush, on
which all depended, should never have been coca
mitred to the raw troops who had lost the dash and
daring characteristic of our men by the performance
of trench duty. The Brother writes :
It is not the conduct of a few men that disgraces an
army. English courage and English endurance have had
in the Crimea trials too severe, and have shone forth too
nobly under those trials, to countenance the supposition that
the English soldier is different to what history for cen-
turies past has shown him to be. All the other troops on
the field on that day were of a character to maintain the
name and honour of England. The other divisions await-
ing their tarn of action held thousands of hearts thirsting
for rettgaance, and swords that would have been neither
" weak nor slow to second all such hearts could dare,"
but they were never thought of. and never tried. In those
other divisions, too, young recruits funned not the strength
of the regiments. For a service like that of the Redan,
picked troops, and the oldest troops, are, or should be,
generally selected. It was our misfortune that the reserve
parties which lined the sth, or most advanced parallel,
were composed mainly of boys, recently arrived, and new
to the business. A feeling had gained ground among
them that the Redan was mined in every direction, and
not all their officers could say, not the tears that they
shed, not even the supplications which they made, could
shake that conviction, or induce the men to advance to
their supposed certain destruction. Upon the result of
this crisis turned the fortune of the day.
The Brother repeats the statement which we find
" Inside Sebastopol," that towards evening a message
arrived from the Malakoff, informing General
Simpson that the Russians were retreating across
the bridge they bad constructed to the north side.
The "Brother " is of opinion, with the other "I'. G.,"
that had the Redan been won, it would have been
impossible for the Russians to have effected their
retreat as they did. A great portion of their force
must have surrendered, and the day would have been
in the highest degree honourable to the allied ems.

• Our Tent in the Crimea, and Wanderings Inside Sebastopol,
By Two Brothers. Loudon! Bewley.

IG2

We are disposed to think that this view is really
correct. We thought at the time, and we think
still, that the assault should have been made with
the freshest, the hcttest troops which our general
had at his disposal. It was not a battle which had
to be fought, but a charge which had to be made,
and the French showed us the way in which such a
charge was to succeed. Regrets are fruitless, but
we are not quite of opinion that " things without
"remedy should be without regard." Had the Redan
been fairly won, how much higher our position would
have been now, and how much more easy would have
been the accomplishment of peace ! On the whole
these books usefully counteract the foolish notion
that the attack on the Redan should be considered a
mere feint, and that Simpson had made up his mind
to the sacrifice of a few of his poorest troops, to cover
the retention of the Malakoff: The book of the
Brothers is pleasingly written, and we particularly
commend it for the generous and humane tone which
pervades its pages.

Russia : its Rise and Revolutions. By the Rev
Thomas Milner, M.A. London : Longmans.
Ma. MILNER, favourably known by his previous pub-
lications on Russia, has comprised in one volume a
serviceable compendium of Russian history,—from
the rise of the Russian monarchy in the ninth cen-
tury to the accession of the late Emperor Nicholas.
In another volume the author purposes to relate the
reign of the late Czar. Mr. Milner's narrative is
almost exclusively confined to the history of the
reigning sovereigns and their fortunes; it scarcely
touches on the social state of Russia, or on its indus-
trial progress ; and, in treating of the atrocities of
certain monarchs, he does not always bear in mind
the ferocious spirit of the time,—as evidenced not in
Russia only, but in other countries of Europe. What
is said here of Ivan IV., on occasion of his having the
Scriptures translated and printed in his dominions,
would apply to his contemporary sovereign,
Henry VIII.:
The incongruity is not a little striking, that the same
man who placed in the hands of his subjects a printed
portion of the Scriptures in the mother tongue, rioted in
their blood, and Fverned them by means of the rack, the
stake, the ale, and the hangman.

Russia was fortunate in some of her early rulers.
Vladimir Monomachus, who wedded Gyda, daughter
of Harold, the last of our Saxon kings, lett a death-
bed exhortation to his children, remarkable, says the
author, "for the enlightened spirit of its maxims."
Among them we find :
My dear children, praise God, love men ; for it is neither
fasting, nor solitude, nor monastic vows, that can give you
eternal life ; it is beneficence alone. _

Be fathers to the orphan; be yourselves judges for the
widow. Put to death neither the innocent nor the guilty,
for nothing is more sacred than the life and soul of a
Christian.

Violate not the oath which you have sworn on the cross
My brothers said to me, " Assist us to expel the sous of
Rotislaf, and seize upun their provinces, or renounce our
alliance." But I answered, " I cannot forget that I have
kissed the cross."

Endeavour constantly to obtain knowledge. Without
having quitted his palace my father spoke five languages
—a thing which captivates for us the admiration of
foreigners.

The aptitude of the Russians for languages sub-
sists in full force at this day; and is sufficient of it-
self to show the intellectual inunuity of the people.
The revolutions in the reigning dynasty do not seem
to have gone far down among the people. Russia
itself has never yet passed through a revolution of
principles, as England did at the time o 'l,
wars, and as France did more recent'y. The gre .t
body of the people have been alma t uniform),
obedient., and have participated neither
crimes nor the mutations of the governing powers.
A" History of the Sovereigns of Russia" would have
been a more appropriate title for Mr. Milner's book,
than a history of Russia itself. It is significant of
progress in the right direction that, while the Rus•
sian Purple, previous to the commencement of the
present century, has been stained by the greatest
crimes, it has for the last fift3 years been conspicu-
ous for at least as much domestic virtue and felicity
as have distinguished any Court of Europe. The
present Emperor is himself the fond father of a
happy family, and report speaks highly of the
sumabilit, of the Imperial circle. The growth of
such pure domestic influences is a good omen for the
future pacific sentiments of the Russian Govern-
ment. We recommend Mr. Milner to adopt a higher
tone in the continuation of this history which he
contemplates; let him resolve to rise above preju-
dices of all kind, and to speak only the truth, and he
may rely upon it that, in the end, he will find his
account in thorough historic honesty. But for such
an aim some elevation of mind is required, and Mr.
Milner does not give us the impression of being more
than a diligent compiler, adapting his wares to the
present state of the literary market.