The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-26 00:00:00

THE LATE WAR IN THE CRIMEA.

THE FIRST SHOT ON THE ALMA —Lord Raglan
had placed himself, with his staff, in front of the
troops, and I must tell you that by this time the
staff had grown to three times its proper number
—that is to say, every officer of the commissariat
or medical department who had a quadruped,
chose to join the head-quarter staff, as probably
the best position for seeing the battle. I should
think there could not have been less than fifty

or sixty mounted officers. This great number
began to be a nuisance—as it perpetually obstructed
the view, as they crowded round the Commander-
in chief in a manner that in any other service
would have been thought highly impertinent, and
resented accordingly. Some one suggested to
Lord Raglan that it would be as well to hint that
those gentlemen not actually on the staff had better
move off. However, Lord Raglan, with his usual
good nature, said, '•Let them stay ;' and then
added, You know, directly we get under fire,
those not obliged will depart, you may rely
upon it' Lord Raglan was quite right. In two
minutes the first shot was fired against us by the

enemy. I looked at my watch; it was exactly
pm. The shot, which was evidently fired at
the staff (the only bedy of horsemen in sight, and
the most advanced), fell short, and bounded over
us with a whiz that made many duck their heads.

You should have seen the hankers on scattered in
all directions. There was no more crowding about
Lord Raglan.
PRINCE NAPOLEON IN THE WAR —I wits presented
to Marshal St. Arnaud and Prince Napoleon ; the
latter is most Wonderfully like the pictures one has

seen of his uncle in his younger days. I think he
affects his attitudes -and dress as much as prat
ticable. He was dressed in a French general's
uniforin, viz., tail-coat, buttoned up to the chin,
white inexpressibles, and Napoleon boots. He
stood generally with his arms folded, and a lock
of hair falling over his forehead, as you so often
see represented in pictures of Napoleon I. His
manner is good, gentle, and courteous, and,
altogether, one receives a favourable impression
of him on first acquaintance. Marshal St. Arnaud
is different in every way—so energetic and ddmon-

strative in manes, he-gives yoti' the idea of an
actor ; talks very fast, whether in French or broken
Enalish, and is withal most goodnatured.

MEETING OT ENEMIES.—A little scene at the
outposts on the lukermann line, in the depth of
winter, gives palpable life to a large class of inci-
dents on the skirts of the different camps. It is

quite dramatic in its way :—" A few nights ago,
when it was very cold, our men on sentry in front
of Inkerman observed several Russian soldiers

coming towtittlis Las. Tv 11.1.A\1t41) EALL.Lin,
naturally supposed them to be deserters ; but, on
their approaching nearer, they madv signs that
they wanted a light for their pipes, Which one of
our men gave them, and then they stayed a few
minutes talking to our sentries, or rather trying to
do so, the conversation being something after this

Wi SA :-

" Ist Russian soldier—' Englise bono !'
" Ist English soldier—' Ruskie bono
"2'l Russian soldier—' Francis bone !'
"2d English soldier—' Bono !,
" 3d Russian soldier—' Oslem no bone !'
" 3d English soldier—' Ah, ah ; Turk no bono
" Ist Russian soldier—' Oslem !' making a face,
and spitting on the ground, to show his contempt.
" Ist English soldier—' Turk!' pretending to run
away, as if frightened, upon which all' the parties
go into violent laughter, and then, after shaking
bands, they retire to their respective beats."
MR. KINGLAKE AND HIS PONY.—This morning
(before the battle), when Lord Raglan was waiting
surrounded by his staff, for the troops to get into
their places, a gentleman joined us on a handsome
little pony. This pony began,neighing and scream-
ing in the most wonderful manner, and so con-
tinuously that one could hardly hear what was
said. • At last it attracted Lord Raglan's attention,
and he said, "I never heard a pony make such a
row; does any one know who the gentleman is?"
Some one of the staff said, " I think he is one of the
newspaper reporters, my Lord ; shall I tell him to
go away ? " Lord Raglan laughed, and said, "If
you do, he will show you up, you may depend
upon it.' It so happened that I had made this
gentleman's acquaintance on the beach a few days
before. So I told Lord Raglan that it was .Mr.
Kinglake, the author of Eothen.' Oh !' said my
Lord, a most charming man !' and was going to
speak to him, when Marshal St. Arnaud came up,
so for the time he could not do so. About elven
o'clock, as we were nearing the Russian position,
414:Pled when within sight of them, Lord Raglan
and his staff were riding in advance ; presently a
pony dashed past us at a furious pace, and who
should it be but Mr. Kinglake ! On lie went right
through our skirmishers, with his horse's head
between his legs ; hut, fortunately for his rider, the
saddle.got forward, and alter a time went over the
horse's ears—of course the author of " Eothen"
went with the saddle. It was rasher an absurd
thing just before a battle; we all laughed except
Lord Raglan, who rode up to him and inquired most
kindly after him; offored him (I think) one of his
own ponies to ride, and told his orderly to put his
saddle to rights. Mr. Kinglake was all thanks
That night, after the battle, Lord Raglan met him
wandering about, not knowing where to go, so
asked him to dinner. Of rouse lie came, and
delighted every one present with his charming
manner and 'conversation.
THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE OF ALMA —ln the
course of the morning there was a conference be
tween Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan ; the
former wished much to advance and follow the
enemy. To dila, however, Lord Raglan would not
listen ; and ho said ho had nearly 3,000 wounded
English and Russians, and that as we moved over
three miles from the sea, it was quite impossible
to move them all on board a ship under two days
The Marshal said he had lost over 1,200 men hors
de combat, and out of that number 1,000 wounded
had already been moved on board ship, or would
be so by the evening., I say that is what the
Marshal said ; but everybody else said it was a
great exaggeration. ; .. . On returning towards
head quarters Lord Raglan saw a French gun-limber
drawn by six horses,standing a few yards from where
the two Russian guns that we had captured had
been placed, so he sent one of his eides-de-camp
and Vico to know what they wanted . M. Vico asked
first of all one of the French drivers he answered,
with the most perfect innocence, that they had
come to fetch the gun. " What gun?" "Oh ! one
of the guns taken by the English." Cool, rather I
think. However, on M. Vico asking a French ser-
geant who had come in charge of the limber, he was
sharp enough to say that he had been sent by
the French general of artillery to take the calibre
of the gun 1 A strange way of doing so, to send a
serjeant with a limber and six horses. There
could be no doubt that they came with the full

intention of taking one of the guns away; and,
indeed, the Marshal almost admitted it to Lord
Raglan, for the nest day he proposed that all
the trophies taken from the enemy should be
4livided-between._ the, two armies. This was of_
course not agreed to by Lord
.-Raglan, who knew
there would be endless disputes.
THE ALLIED ADMIRALS AT VARIANCE.--Great
blame is imputed to the French for the failure of
the first bombardment, and something very like a
quarrel between the French and British Admirals
is recorded. Admiral Dundas desired 'to anchor
within. a thousand yards of the forts—Admiral
Hamelin desired almost to double the distance.
At first Admiral Dundas would not hear of this
proposal, but the French admiral then said that
he would not carry out the first plan, and that,
if Admiral Dundas did not agree 'to the one
then proposed, he should think it necessary
to send •to General Canrobert to inform him
that the Allied Admirals could not come to
an understandrug on the mode of attack, and there-
fore he could not promise him the co-operation of
the fleets. It is said that Sir Edmuud LVODS was
very indignant at the conduct of Admiral Hamelin,
and did all in his power to persuade Admiral Dun-
das not to give in, but to insist on the old proposi-
tions being carried out. Admiral Dundas, fearing
the responsibility of refusing to agree with Admiral
Hamelin, finally settled to follow his plans.
PUNISHMENT IN SEBASTOPOL:A bOIII two years
aE,o, a gang being at work in the dockyard of
Sebastopol, one of them attacked a passer by
without any provocation, knocked him down,
smashed in his face with the manacles on his
hands, then jumped upon and trampled him to
death. The act had been so sudden that the occur-
rence could not be prevented. It was thought by
the authorities that so brutal a murder should be
visited with some peculiar . punishment, as an
example to the others, for if the man was hung
or shot immediately, the circumstance would
soon be forgotten. The case was made known to
the Emperor Nicholas. who, on hearing of it, or-
dered an iron wheelbarrow to be made, and chains
from its legs to be attached to those of the man.
This was aecordingly done, and, of course, the man
could not move a yard without wheeling it in fiont
of him. It is said that a week after he had been
thus punished he begged to be put to death, as it
made his life a burden to him. This, of course,
was not listened to, and three months after the
wretched man died, raving mad !

- -
AN OPINION•OF GENERAL CANROBERT.—When in
April,lBss, the assault was postponed by the desire
of General Canrobert, the Staffofficer writes :—" I
need hardly tell you how much disgustedwe all are
at the vacillating conduct of General Canrobert,
who never seems to know his own mind two days
together No one knows what trouble and
annoyance these constant changes of opinion at
the French headquarters give Lord Raglan, and
how very difficult his position is, the more so as the
people in England appear generally to attribute the
delays to the fault of the English Commander•in-
Chief. No member of the British Government
who really knows the state of affairs dare say any-
thing in defence of Lord Raglan that would com-
promise General Canrobert, as they are so fearful
of in any way endangering the alliance between us.
It is said that General Canrobert is getting very
unpopular with the French army here, as it is
become pretty generally known that ho is the great
obstacle in the way of an assault en the town."
It is known that the Emperor Napoleon had
proposed the plan of a campaign in the field in
the summer of 1855, and we learn from this
book that the plan was approved by the French
and English Governments, and that orders
were sent out to the allied commanders to carry. it
out if. possible. Lord Raglan adhered to his idea
of the necessity of continuing the siege. In spite
of the earnest remonstrances from General Canro•
bert, and the instructions from home, he refused to
give up the English trenches to the Turks. Can-
robert, unwilling to incur the responsibility of dis-
obeying the Emperor's orders, resigned, and was
succeeded by Pelissier, who cordially fell in with
Lord Raglan's ideas. The capture of the Mamelon
was decided,

tell you a curious act, showing how necessary it is
for a general commanding an army in the field to
use his own discretion, even when contrary to the
orders that he may receive from home. The
responsibility is of course great, hilt his reliance
in his own judgment should be greater. The
instance was as follows :—Shortly' before General
Polissier left the French head quarters to witness
the attack against the enemy's works on the after-
noon of the 7th instant, he received a telegraphic
message from the Emperor Napoleon, ordering him
on no account to assault the Matnelon, as his
Majesty considered that it would be attended with
defeat and disaster. General Polissier quietly put
the telegraph in his pocket, and shortly afterwards
mounted his horse and rode off to witness the
capture of the Mamelon, &o. When all was over,
and he had returned to the camp, he showed it in
triumph to some officers of his personal staff—a
great contrast to General Canrobert's conduct
when he received the order for the recal of the
Kertch expedition.—Letters by an Officer on the
Staff