The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-26 00:00:00

LETTER FROM AN OFFICER IN THE
CRIMEA.

(Freda the Doily Noss.)
CAMP ABOVE SEBASTOPOL, he. 6.
Bir,—A crisis is cominz. Unless the aid opine
quickly, which all experience of the wisdom and
us=of oar military rulers forbids us to impost, a
Moscow disaster is to be exhibited to the
weld. Bat this time British troops will make the
scow their winding•sheet : the Frssoh will escape;
and honestly, for their prudent care and energy, do
they deserve the immunity. I have thawed my ink
to writs, with the hope still of saving life : foe
yea have the electric telegraph, and can send
messages, and, eves at the expense of ruf-
fling that "divine calm" which seems to torpify
all its ministers, and all its officers save only one—the
aseretarist. Messages of the right sort sent quickly
may be the mans of saving from destruction many
a fast slaking soldier. While you are struggling to
sabot for as tens and twenties of young rem-dts,
fifties mad hundreds of your old soldiers are dying
here. They are dying from starvation. I say it
who know it—who know what amount of warmth

and whet amount of fo3d are absolutely necessary to
preserve strength and life in men exposed
to the fatigues mid hardships your moldier,
before Sebastopol are expos d to—that they have
been left to die from starvation. For the last six

weeks the ration issued have not been of a kind ur
of a quantity to support strength or health. The
clothing has not been sufficient to maintain the mew
wary vigour of the circulation. The means of essin
lug have not been soeh as to enable even the ansinot
of food issued to be turned to a proper aceonnt s
mash of its nutritious qualities has bees wasted.
Year medical officals have pointed oat the evingelmg
on ;
huedt have written official remonetraasse WM.
theof their own department, through general
ahem bat their communications have set bead bo-
asseedeven with a reply. And the menaresow
fires dysentery mid diarrhcei, from enessiati=
deliiik, from diseases marking the solemn of agony
sled dropsy. not to mention affections of the het sad
fingers, that we cannot send them away from amp
fast enough. The very last day the French look I.
oar sick for us to Balaklava they could not supply uc
with transport at all adequate to the demand. Lad
those men who are not oa the rick list, who are
" doing their duty," as it is called, if yeti mold wily
see their lean and hollow cheeks, their emaciated
figures, it would make your heart ache to think that
some of these men it was who were able a tear months
siege to storm the heights of Alma. There are very
few men who crossed the river Alma in the leading
divisions of the British army will ever trouble the
medallist for a record of that event. Those who were
fortunately wounded and removed to Scutari—bad as',
they then thought their fate—will perhaps live to wear
their medal and bless the day they were deprived of
the power of campaigning it further in the Crimea.
I know the supplies you have seat from England
—the stores of shelter, food, and clothing for the
strong, the stores of medicines and comforts for the
weak—bat they have been of little arsil. Yon have
bad generals and brigadiers, military officials of many
names and many ranks—but you have net had ales
•of energy, men of business habits, to mood=
efforts, to make proper use of your MMus to
bete your donations. They have bees asst whin
they were not wanted; they have ash been eat
when they were wanted. Theme which have arrived
only a short di,taace from their deatisades, have
been detained by the jealousy of Issamiley balm=
conffictiog department., till they have oirtted °sly to
block up the highway, and stop the very anent of
affairs. Perishable things have been kept till they
were spoiled; the imperishable qualities of other
stores have not saved them, for boat•loads of mini.
doss of war and winter clothing have been sunk in
the very harbour of Baleklava by neglect. Some stores
have been dealt out with • niggard parsimony,
others have been distributed with reckless liberality,
almost to all comers, and those who happened to be
near, and the stronger, helped themselves to Boos'
shares. What avails it to us in camp to hear that
at this moment the port of lillaklava is full of neces-
saries, of clothing of all sorts, of wooden houses, of
luxuries? All is inextricable confusion there. Some
official sends to us a requisition for a large quantity
of timber or clothing, ready signed and approved,
with a message that we have only to send to Bala-
Mara and get it. This precious document delivered,
the staff man washes his hands of the business, and
smolders his duty does. As to seeing that the order
is, or an be, carried out, that is not his affair. Bet
we have not the meads of bringing these things up.
We cannot get ap to amp the necessary amount of
food, we cannot get clothing or fuel for warmth and
cooking. Some weeks ago we could have done more,
but the men are too worn and weak now to carry
loads from Balaklava. They can hardly carry them-
selves. The men who are going into the trenches at
night cannot be permitted to go on fatigue to Bala-
klava • there is no probability of their being able to
get beck: again in time to go out on this duty. The
men, therefore, available for the 13alsklava fatigues
are only those who have just come off duty from the
trenches, or from picket. They have had no rest, for
men on sentry or off must move about constantly to
prevent their limbs from fr.ezing, but that cannot
be considered ; better to keep in movement, though
they may hardly be able to drag their legs to Bala-
kis,' and back, much less carry loads, than to be
Bing down on the damp ground of their tent and
sinking into torpor from which perhaps it will be
impossible to rally them. By this forced labour we
have contrived to get up a few Turkish cloaks and
new great coats; but the greater part of the men are
wearing threadbare coats, and coatees and trimmers,
that will not button over the additional under-
clothing which his been lately issued to them. The
ammunition boots are villainous affairs. The leather
is bad, the workmanship is bad, and the boot
itself is wholly unfitted from its shape for
these snows and this lesson of the year.
When the plain was covered with adhesive viscid
mud it separated the seams, and made openings
between the layers of the soles. As the snow melts,
the leather soaks up the water, and in the morning
the boot is frozen, and so hard that the soldier can-
not get his swollen and tender foot into it. The
number of men going to hospital is greatly increased
by affections of the feet. As to arrangements for
wishing clothes or for personal cleanliness, there
are none. Parades for cleanliness, for uniformity of
dress, have been given up long since. There are no
means appointed of getting eyes the few blankets
used in hospital washed. They menet be washed in
the mow, without the protection of a shed, without
the means of procuring warm water. The fact
is, as some commanding officers said lately,
"It has come to this—the staff have given up
all attempt at providing for us. We are left to
ourselves; each regiment must do the best it tan for
iteelf—it is • case of self-preservation." We are
truly in a state bordering on disorganisation. Gene-
ral orders are published and read, and there they
end. Over and over again notice is given that from
such sad sub a date the troops will receive wand-
so, but do not be deluded into the belief that the
troops receive what is thus ordered. Some may—
some receive double the allowance ; others none—ft
is all accident. Fuel and light ware ordered to be
given beau men by the commissariat sheathe middle
, of November last. In this part of the camp no light
at all—not an ounce—has been issued, and feel only
twigs; and at this very date regimental parasitism
asarmGiant t from the commissariat money to issue to the
There is no money in the chest. A
is expected, but of course it depends on the
sad waves when the supply will arrive. When
&pram et the men's pay can be issued there are
may ads things that can be purchased, though at
extxamiaist priors, which help to make up for other
defisismelee. Either the commissariat have too mach
to de for the number of their officers, or in that, as in
ether departments, there is no providence, no method,
or, as they say themselves, their arrangements are
thwarted by the interference of others. Who is
there who will come and bring order out of our mili-
tary chaos? Who will organise our transport?
Who will regulate the supply of food, of shelter, of
'lathing to the troops?
ei
all
It hes been my fortune to serve in a brigade, the
ba:=of which, from the time the divisionlanded
to the date when he quitted it fora higher
aPlPdationt, a period of six months, made ash di,
Mof the regiments composing it.. Ilis
on was accomplished with all the paws
ly which admiring crowds so much gram

in St. James's-park, and summer visitors delight is
vitamin' on Soethsea-common. Until lately, feel
nearly three months, the brigadier's marques has been
within howshot of his brigade; yet, though con-
plaiuts have been frequently forwarded respecting
the condition of the men of his reginweats, COM plaints
Yto their messing, clothing, and state of health,
be never once soiled his boots by CaUliilif seer
to his regiments personally to asserlain if the
implants were well founded or otherwise. No—
to leers if privates Dick and Harry got soup get
dieser, to ssoertain its quality, or even to me that
they got their rations cooked at all; to ester the
hospital tent, to console the sick or wenntied, to
assure. himself that thliy received rem admit=
mad the mammary medicine—was not within the
=of his dignity. And, passing beyond the
to a still higher power. I remember well
ea Ise oocesion a commanding officer going to the
rillto whom I allude to solicit his interference
might be issued to the men of his regiment
instead of the coffee berry, which was given out by
the Commissariat in a green state, and was
consequently difficult and troublesome to prepare for
thipoldiers' meals.Therequest wumadein person and
it was at the same time explained that there was a
quantity of tea in the Division Commissariat Store.
the tea, and d—u the coffee, tos—l wish
there were no such thim in the world- one's just
Y good as the other, mr, was the calm, comiderate,
and satisfactory reply. Yet such are the was whom
Ragland trusts with the administration of stain in
which are involved the comfort, and happiness, and
health of her troops, almost without • cheek--sash
are some of those whom she delights& to honest.
Courageous, undoubtedly. But so are mastiffs. Have
not Privates Ap, Mac, and o', proved that they
are brave? What British soldier wants courage ?
Ws want something more then bravery In generals
and of loors of the staff. Daring and courage are not
every day called for—they most not be absent when
they are required—but there are other qualities
needed every hour in thole whom authority contains
the lives of hundreds. I say it after cue delibera-
tion, we have been brought to our present lamentable
condition by the neglect and indifference of superior
officers, by the utter ignorance of business, and
absence of personal action, on the part of our staff
officers. When an officer is placed on the staff, why
should he do more than he is actually compelled to
.do in the ordinary routine el duty P—why even do
that P—he is certain of promotion. Was there any
distinction made in the " Cocked-hat Gazette,* as it
is now familiarly called, when spoken of in regi-
ments? Was not every officer on the staff, if it be not
a contradiction in terms, particularly recommended for
promotion? Were not the services of every staff officer
personal or departmental, were he an inikeds-eamp,
or a deputy-adjutant quartermesterveserel, were
not his services distinguished @meekest Sea a eap-
tain—the last, perhaps, on the list of regimental
captains—taken from his regiment and made, aidade-
camp to his uncle, General This, or deputradjutant
quartermaster-general in the division of his fathees
old friend, General That, and watch the result. The
captains who have remained with their regiments,
striving with theii companies through the thick of
the fight, and passing night after night with their
men amid the exposure and dangers of the trenches,
are not even named, perhaps; but their junior,
fortunately for himself, having got • staff
appointment—receiving with that staff appoint-
ment superior pay and allowances—having ease
and comfort by day, and every night in bed—sud-
denly jumps over their heads, and receives for his
"distinguished services”--• majority. And this gain
of a majority in advance of his lees distinguished
comrades is not merely a present advantage—it is
the stepping-stone to other advantages throughout
his whole military life. In our school days the boy
who worked at hie task was plated above the idlers;
in oar man days, we find a system the very reverse,
hold ground. If there were only a drone corps, per
se, no one would object to the honours showered
upon it; but it is too bad to reward them at the ex-
pense of the bees who have gathered the hooey.
You must send some assistance to us; if left to the
military authorities, to our staff, the aid we require
will come too late. If you could see the condition
we have been brought to by this TOO LATE attention
to everything—if you could see the miserable,
tattered, filthy, emaciated groups of men, which once
formed the splendid regiments which left the shores
of England in such vigorous health and spirits; if
you could contrast the glorious army which ad-
vanced, wave after wave, burning with military
ardour, and proud in their martial array,
over the undulating steppes of the Crimea—
which swept away the vaunted power opposed to
them on the hills of Alma—if you could contrast
that army with the crippled and sickly remnant
here !—not crippled by the shot of the enemy, but
by neglect and sickness—fitter for the most part to
be inmates of a hospital than to be at the commence-
ment of such an undertaking as a winter campaign
in these snows and on these heights.
After the battle of Inkermano our staff ordered
entrenchments to be made, and outworks, and bat-
teries : bad they been made before the battle some
hundreds of lives might have been saved. They
were made too late. When the mud was knee deep.
and the rain was descending day after day, our stair
ordered roads to be made : had they bees col:strutted
when the weather was fine, and the fragments of
stone, which seemed scattered for the very purpose
of making and repairing roads, could be seen, the
lives of many horses and mules would have been
saved, and many a cart and waggon kept available
for future use. But they were began too late.
Arrangements were made for the shoeing of the bit
animate, a more liberal ration of forage ordered ter
them, when it was too late—when numbers hod
died, and the remainder were almost too reduced to
be restored to a healthy condition. The staff=
of making depots of provisions, and coin
eteres, too late. It was discovered, too latettimt sill-
ies vessels could not get a safe anchorage eft de
reeky comet outside of Balakiava. But wee fit tkase
too late calamities were for want of warning. Tbe
sheepskin clothing, the wooden sheds, were ordered
too late ; and now they are due, if we are left to
ourselves, and the arrangements of oar staff, the men,
will get the use of them too late. The winter clothes
will be issued in the spring—the wooden huts
erected when none are left to inhabit them.
M. Id.