The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

but some proof-sheets of it having been com-
municated to one of the Paris papers some
days before, we were able in our last number
to give a translation of its most interesting
feature—the plan of campaign which the Em-
peror Napoleon drew up for himself, in the
event of his having, as he at one time intended,
gone to the Crimea to take the command of
the allied armies. Considering, however, that
(as we stated in the review of the first volume)
the work has been written by direction of the
French Government, and by the aid of re-
ports, letters, and documents, some of them
of a strictly confidential character, communi-
cated by it, the publication of the Emperoe's
pica de eampayne by no means exhausts its
interest. And so we proceed at once to give
the reader some idea of its other contents.
Resuming the history of the siege of Sebasto-
pol at the date at which his last volume left it,
that is, the 17th October, the author con-
tinues it day by day to the battle of Balaklava,
which he details at considerable length. His
account of that ever memorable affair contains
little or nothing that can be strictly called
new; but coining from the chosen historian
of the French Government, and representing
what the Government believes to be the truth,
it is singularly interesting. We can, however,
only notice its principal points. The attack
of the Russians ou the Highlanders is thus
described :

All at once a force of about 400 Russian cavalry
turned suddenly to the left to attack the Highlanders both
in front and on their right flank. This brave regiment, by
order of Lieutenant Colonel Ainslie, who commanded it,
waited in lire, with intrepid calm, the arrival of the enemy.
When the latter was at a short distance the Scotch received
them with a point-blank discharge which caused confusion
in their ranks. A second time they returned to the charge
on the right flank of the Highlanders; but they found
before them the same human wall, immovable, unshake-
able, and the same fire received them. The cavalry then
turned tail and disappeared, similar to the passing clouds
charged with storms which fly rapidly across the sky.

The encounter between the Russians and
General Scarlett's heavy brigade is detailed at
length, and the author then gives a clear de-
scription of the positions held by the Russians
—positions which completely commanded the
field—when Captain Nolan arrived with the
fatal order to Lord Lucan to endeavour to
prevent the enemy from carrying off the guns
they had captured Lord Lucan naturally
hesitated :
In presence, however, of the hesitation of Lord Lucan,
Captain Nolan repeated that the orders of Lord Raglan
were to make the cavalry charge imme liately (de lancer la
cavalrie immedialement). " But where must I send them ? "
said Lord Lucan. " ➢ly lord," replied the officer,
" there are our guns," showing the redoubts, " and there
is the enemy!"
On this,—

Lord Lit can, not perhaps accepting in all its extent the
responsibility of the important command which he held,
believed himself imperatively obliged to obey, and sent the
order to Lord Cardigan to attack.
The author then goes on to sad• :

In presence of this order Lord Cardigan hesitated, as
Lord Lucan had done ; for to obey the order was to lead
his valiant brigade to certain death, without having a single
chance of success. He observed that his troops would be
overwhelmed (ecrases) by the crossfire of the enemy's
batteries during all the distance they would have to go, and
that that distance was considerable ; that, moreover, the
infantry would keep up a continuous fire on them before
they could arrive. But to such just objections the reply
was that the order of the general•in•chief was imperative.
Lord Cardigan bent his head in sign of obedience, with.
out pronouncing a single word, and placed himself at the
head of his brigade. He cut, we are told by one of the
persons who were near him, a look of profound sadness on
his splendid regiments which inevitable death was about
to decimate, and then gallopped off, crying, " Forward, the
last of the Cardigans ! "
On his right Captain Nolan placed himselftsword in
hand, and throw himself in the first rank into the melee
of grape•shot which tore up the plain. Perhaps he felt
that, after the imprudent words which an unreflecting
movement of impatient courage had dictated to him, he
ought to be one of the first to brave the glorious death to-
wards which flew, calm and resolute, the squadrons of
light cavalry.

Often as the charge of the light brigade has
been described in story and sung in song, we
are sure that a translation of our author's
account of it will be read with pleasure, if
only because it be the best and most authori-
tative that has yet appeared from a French
pen:—

The troops collected on the hills saw with infinite sad•
ness the superb brigade rash along the plain to an impos-
sible attack, the madness of which could alone equal its
heroism. Every heart beat, and every eye was fixed, until
it kad.dtsspimared in a doud of smoke; and theirit passed

SATURDAY,

•

on, rapid as lightning, towards the murderous batteries
which poured forth storms of grape-shot.
One of the first who fell, stricken to death, was Captain
Nolan, carrying with him into the tomb the secret of
this sanguinary enigma—a shot struck him in the midst of
the breast. He uttered a loud cry, and one of his hands
grasped his horse convulsively by the mane; and the aiiimat
gallopped about with the corpse.
This hurricane, which the fire of cannon could not check,
astonished the Russians. The soldiers gallopped up the
mamelons, passed through the batteries, traversed thick
columns, and left a void in them, in their sanguinary march.
A strong mass of infantry, secreted in a sheltered spot; rose
all at once and received the English with a fierce fire. The
intrepid brigade, reduced by death, passed throngh it also,
and then found itself in presence of the Russian cavalry,
on which it worked. A frightful melee ensued, in which
cavalry and infantry were confounded.

But soon the Russians, stupitied by this act of audacious
desperation, formed themselves four ranks deep, and nwn
and horses were nnable to break through that living ram-
part. Russian regiments of lancers took the disunited
squadrons in the flank, and compact masses advanced from
all sides. The valorous brigade, in order not to perish
altogether, was obliged to retrace its steps : but it had '0
break through the enemy's ranks a second time, and to
traverse the plain which, so to speak, was enveloped in
smoke, and shot, and flame.

The French cavalry made some movements
which enabled them to silence some batteries
most dangerous to the light brigade, and
thereby facilitate somewhat its return :

The return was frightful. Across a plain filled with
dead and dying, gallopped madly horses without riders, or
dragging after them their riders mortally wounded; whilst
others wounded, terrified by the dreadful tumult, and
scarcely able to remain on their legs, went amongst the
heavy cavalry and pressed against them. It was a sad and
heartrending spectacle to see this fine brigade, diminished
by one-half, brought back to the English lines by its
valiant general.
After the battle of Balaklava, General Can
robert, we are told, saw clearly that the Rus•
sians, who had received reinforcements, could
not fail to make an attack on the position of
the allies on the plateau before Sebastopol;
and seeing this he was struck by—

The insufficiency of the defensive works of the English
who left in a dangerous position and without support the
divisions encamped at the extremity of the plateau of
Inkermann, where two roads coming from the bottom of
the valley met. The French general-in-chief consequently
ordered that from the 28th October the first division
should cease to supply workmen anti battalions to the
trenches, being desirous to have it entirely under his direct
orders and at his immediate disposition, in order to send it
to the point at which an unforeseen attack should render
its presence necessary. He besides ordered General
Bosquet to establish his corps of observation in such a
manner as to he able to repel any attacks made from the
valleys of Balaklava and the Tschernaya, and, approaching
as much as possible by his left to the right of the English
at Inkermann, be ready to support them if necessary.

On the 26th,the Russians did make an attack
on General Evans's position at Inkermann,
but the English defeated them with consider-
able loss. At the beginning of the action,—

General Bosquet seat five battalions to the position
attacked, and went himself to offer to place his troops at
the disposition of Sir De Lacy Evans. But th- English
general did not consider that be needed the assistance
offered, and he warmly thanked General Bosquet, at the
same time assuring him that " the troops under his orders
would suffice to repulse the enemy."
On the following days the French pushed on
their works with great energy, and were soon
in a position to make au assault on the Mat
bastion; but the English were behind in their
approaches towards the Redan and Malakoff.
However,—

When the fear was expressed to them that they would
not be able to make an assault at the same time es the
French, they replied that they would march against the
Hedan and Malakoff as, in the battle of the Alma, they
had marched against the Russian works protected by a
powerful artillery.

On the Ist of November a vigorous fire
was opened on the Russian works by the Eng-
lish and French batteries, and it did so much
damage that " it was resolved in council that
" the assault should be made on the 6th.'
Preparations for the assault were at once
made, with extraordinary activity, by the allies.
But the Russians on their part, who had re-
ceived large reinforcements, and who had just
been joined by the two sons of the Emperor
Nicholas, had formed the audacious project of
driving the allied armies into the sea, and
were not less active—nay, were even more so—
in their preparations. The first project of the
Russians was to attack the allies by the AI
teau on the side of Balaklava ; but it was tc
strongly armed with artillery, and too lve4
defended by the French corps of obsprvation.
They W.worer wr.c.eive.d
The same difficulties did not exist on the side of Inky
mann, where there was only a portion of the English arnlY

Alit 24, 1856.

and that not protected by any serious works of defence,
against a bold coup-de-mein.
The English, however, did not appreciate
the gravity of the situation, though, as we
have seen above, it hal been revealed to them
by the. French, and still more by the attack
made on the 26th. Accordingly,—
Whilst all the fears of Lord Raglan were turned towards
lialaklava, all the apprehensions of General Canrobert and
General 13osquet were on the contrary turned towards
lukermann ; and often did the latter speak of it to the
Puke of Cambridge, Sir De Lacy Evans, and Sir George
Cathcart.
And on this subject the author remarks :
oar allies have displayed such great value and such
heroic courage that we may be permitted to say all the
the truth. Everyone had seen all the danger of the plateau
of Inkermann, perpetually exposed to a surprise, and
General Sir de Lacy Evans himself had made observations
about it. It was in fact the only point by which the enemy
could bring up cannon and endeavour to penetrate to the
allies. But the attack of the 26th October, vigorously
repulsed, had doubled the confidence of our allies. Ex-
haulted too, it must be confessed, by the labours of the
siege, they had neglected or delayed, from want of men,
to raise defences on this point. All that they did was, by
weans of gabions, sandbags, and fascines, to construct a
sort of redoubt on the eastern side.
The terrible battle of Inkermann, of the sth
November, is then minutely described from
the beginning to the close. The negligence
of the English is first of all brought promi-
nently forward :

It was nearly five o'clock in the morning—Brigadier-
General Codrington had just visited the advanced guards
otitis brigade of the light division. No movement of the
enemy had yet given an alarm, or even caused their pre-
sence to be suspected. And yet they had already advanced
in enormous masses, and began to scale the heights which
commanded the valley; and their guns were ready to take
their positions as soon as the first dawn of day should per-
mit them to be placed and to assure the direction of their
fire. In the English camp, on the contrary, everything
was in repose and security ; the troops sleeping in their
•tents were tar from expecting what a sanguinary awaken-
awaited them.

The French, on the contrary, were on the
alert :

As soon as the first shots had been heard in the camps
of the second French division, General Hosquet rushed to
his horse. By his order the generale was sounded, and all
the troops took arms General Canrobert,
informed of the attack, had immediately despatched the
(deers of his staff with orders to the different generals to
take everywhere positions of defence (these officers found
everywhere the divisions already under arms), whilst he
himself, getting on horseback, prepared to visit in succes-
sion the different attacks of the enemy.

The Russians, it is known, attacked in two
other places, from the plain of the Tschernaya
and towards Balaklava, as well as at Inker-
mann, and the question was which was their
reL I attack. 6eneral Bosquet thought it was
Inkermann, and he went towards that place
at the head of a few battalions and two batteries
of artillery :

Scarcely had he passed a windmill situated nearly at the
extremity of the English lines, than he met Generals
Brown and Cathcart. He immediately went to them, and
expressed the fears which he felt with respect to the attack
lukerniann, and offered them the support of the troops
he had with him, and of others if necessary. But the
English generals had at that moment no disquietude ; as
on the 2tith October, they thanked General Bosquet for
his hearty zeal, but said, " Our reserves are sufficient for
all eventualities; only be kind enough to cover our right a
little iu the rear of the English redoubt."
General Bosquet sent, as requested, two
battalions to the right flank of the English,
and examined as well as he could the two
other attacks. After he had done so,—
He was still dominated by the belief that these two
demonstrations were only a diversion to disguise the prin-
cipal effort on the plateau of Inkermann, and he said to
the secretary of Lord Raglan, Colonel Steel, who was near
him, he having come from the English head quarters, " Go
to Inkermann! It is at Inkermann that the great struggle
will be !"

The tame attack on Balaklava, and the
thunder of cannon and musketry at Inker-
mann, soon convinced the General that he was
right. And,—

At the same moment some English officers hurried up.
At their head, gallopping as fast as he could go, was
Colonel Steel—his horse was covered with foam. He
stopped to speak to General l3osquet ; the others rode to-
wards Lord Raglan, who was on the heights nearer Bala-

The English colonel told General Bosquet what he had
anticipated from the beginning of the day—that the serious
iittack Was on Inkerniann—that the English were over
whelmed by the constantly increasing numbers of the
enemy—that from all mints Russian columns appeared to
replace those who bad been repulsed—and that their
masses were inlacing the plateau. Also that the l)uke of
Cambridge and his valiant Guards were lighting with
desperation; that Generals Cathcart and Brown were
everywhere; and that there was not a moment to be lost.