The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-10 00:00:00

MBER.

Lanark 2O
Newmarket F 0 26
Walsall 26
Northallerton 27

BER.
Warwick Autumn IG
Richmond 17
Newmarket H 22
Worcester 30

NOVEMBER.
Liverpool

IRISH RACING FIXTURES FOR 1855.
APRIL.

Carragh April
MAY
Howth and Baldoyle 15 1 Confy Castle 3O

...24

JUNE.

Curragh June .26
JULY

Monkstown
Bellewstown 4
Carlow lO
AUG
Galway
Tramore Sand
Tuam 14
SEPTEMBER.
Curragh September 4 I Tramore Strand .., ...... 18
Jenkinstown Park ll I Rilkie lB
Cahirciveen l7 I Limerick 25
OCTOBER.
Johnstown 2 DownßoyalCorporation.23
Irish Metropolitan
Curragh October l6
NODE

DownßoyalCorporation.l7
Bal}yeigh .23
Heath of Maryborough..3o
,UST.

Rr,scommon 21
Kilcock 28

.ER.

Armagh

6

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

LONDON AND SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.-TrAffio re-
turn for the week ending April 7, 1855 £17,162 18 6
Corresponding week last year 16,047 12 1

Increase in 4: 5 £l,lli 6 5
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending April 7,
1855 £13,899 8 11
Corresponding week last year 1',963 1 7
Total of the half-year to this date, 1855 132,148 9 6
Total of the half-year to this date, 1854 139,978 3 0

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MILITARYLIFE, AFLOAT, IN THE CAMP,
AND IN THE TREN LIES.

The following was written by a non-commissioned
officer now in the army in the Crimea :

Camp before Sebastopol, March 10, 1855.
Dearest Brother,—l will now give you a full and par-
ticular account of my adventures. We started on
the 12th of January, a draft of upwards of 200, and
the good people of Cork gave us a good cheering to 1
hearten us on the way, handkerchiefs waving from every 1
available window on each of the river Liffey's sides till
we embarked on board her Majesty's screw-steamer
Princess Royal—a fine vessel to look at, but abominable
as a transport. I would like the good people of Eng-
land to know and thoroughly understand how the poor
soldier is treated when he sets out on a campaign. In
the first place, the ship was crowded scandalously, up-
wards of 1,000 of a crew, including marines, and about
the same number of soldiers of many different regiments,
crammed into messes of 30 men between two of the
cannons, where eight men only should be ; decks,
although so many troops aboard, continually wet,
causing great unpleasantness between soldier and sailer ;
and as to rations, I had to throw aside all squeamish-
ness, and rough it how I could. I was sea sick for the
first four or five days, and after that I sunk completely
to a shadow, so much so that all said I must he left at
Scutari. Never shall I forget the pair and anguish of being
ill and jostled about as a thing only waiting its turn to be
thrown overboard. Such carelessness of sick persons is
a disgrace to the English navy. The doctor's medicine
chest was not found till we passed Constantinople, so
you may judge small was the quantity of medicine he
had to cure anybody. I will give him his due, he did
his best under such inconveniences, but God keep me
from hospitals in future. But that is past. I gradually li
improved in health until we landed; at least, sufficient
to withstand the fatigue we have had to undergo up to
the present time, though rather weary now—having
been in the trenches all day, which is no joke, from Vow
o'clock in the morning till seven at night, out of that
working four hours with pickaxe and spade. To one
who is not used to it navvying is not an agreeable em-
ployment. I am galloping too fast. We bad a very fair
voyage up to Malta, though rather rough in the Bay of
Biscay ; but after we had passed that place we bad a great
many sudden squalls, which made me think the vessel
could not possibly weather it through the Black Sea, for
three out of six boilers were ussl- as. We get to Gibraltar
on the 19th, and stopped 12 hours only to take coal. I
was too ill to give more than a glimpse at it, but, as near
as I can describe it, it is a steep barren-looking rock;
with not a sign of a gun to be seen from our ship, and
here and there a house to be seen looking rather pretty
in the distance. We arrived at Malta on the 26th, and
stopped a couple of days. As soon as we entered i he har-
bour and dropped anchor, hundreds of bum-boats came
alongside, and such a jabbering, you would have split
your sides laughing. They row very swift, standing up to
it, and every boat has an eye on each side of it painted
and striped with all manner of colours, looking very pic-
turesque, together with their peculiar dress. It is a very
pretty little harbour, only the buildings have a very yel-
low appearance on account of the nature of the stone.
They are great cheats these Maltese, charging one man
six times the price they would another. Oranges and
figs are very plentiful, but on account of these Maltese
smuggling liquour aboard for the sailors, very little
silence is there of getting down to buy anything. I must
tell you one thing that happened there. A mule was
brought aboard, and a mess of 30 men shifted for the
express purpose of finding it accommodation, and the
men told to go on deck or anywhere to mess and to
sleep, when they inquired the reason. Such a piece of
tom-foolery as parades with fire locks and belts amongst
a crew employed on deck, jostled first on one side and
then on the other, I never witnessed before in the
course of my short experience in soldiering. Well, that
is past. I may have to mention a Few more extrava-
gances on the part of officers in her Majesty's service
before I have finished this letter. I will now pass
through the Straits of the Dardanelles up to Constanti-
nople ; and never was I more astonished at the beauty
of the place, surpassing all views that ever these eyes
witnessed. Stretching for several miles, this vast city
appeared like a vision just opening through a warm
mist ; minarets and domes were countless, and every
house painted a different shade of colour. During our
stay of three days I had an opportunity of seeing the
Sultan and his suite, in white and gold barges, gliding
across the harbour, together with the sound of Turkish
music. It was really a novelty to me. Every one of
the sailors got drunk while we stayed there—a small
brig being alongside, laden with coal, they had a fine
opportunity of smuggling alcohol aboard. The plea-
sure-boats here are in the exact shape of a canoe—gliding
along with astonishing swiftness and little labour. I
will now drive on through the Black Sea, but very
slowly, on account of the shortness of steam and the
weight of shot and shell in her bottom. Nothing very
particular occurred, except the usual rough sea, until we
anchored about 2 miles from Sebastopol ; there we first
saw the storm of shell and shot that we were so soon to
be amongst. Our ship was too large to enter the har-
bour of Balaklava, so we had to enter that good ship,
to wit, the Terrible—terrible indeed has it been to the
Russians for some time back, having made them smart
pretty well—it carries the heaviest metal of any ship in
our service, and has furnaces to make the shot red hot.
We entered the harbour—a very peculiar winding en-
trance to it, so much so, that the Russian vessels used
to glide into it unperceived by the English and French
vessels in chase. We were 2 days more before we
landed : that eventful day was the 9th of February, a
day to be well remembered by me as being the date of
my first touching Russian territory. Well, we arrived at
our camp (that is, our first camp) about a mile from the
small town of Balaklava ; and well tired I was, although
it wa4 but a mile, for in addition to the usual heavy
marching order of a soldier, we had a fur cap, a Mack-
intosh coat or waterproof, two flannel shirts or Guernseys,
two pairs of flannel drawers, two extra pairs of socks, a
woollen comforter for the neck, a pair of leather mitts
(woollen inside), a water-keg or cask, a pair of long
boots reaching to the knees, two blankets, and a sheep-
skin coat ; so you may think a poor soldier might soon
be tired under such a load, especially when you take
into account that at that time the roads were mud above
the ankles, and our camp lay on the side of a bill, the
soil of which it was composed being very clayey. Well,
I did get there, and you may judge what my reflections
were ; but we had one great consolation—we were the
only troops in wooden huts, so we could be dry, and
cook at a small stove in the centre; but very, very short
of wood, scouring the country for miles around for it ;
so you may be sure we might think ourselves lucky if
we got a meal on catch. So long as we can keep a bis-
cuit in our haversacks, and get a drop of coffee now and
then, I do not care, for to eat much of the salt pork and
beef cannot, it is so scandalously dirty by the time we
get it ready for eating. A little rice and peas we get,
too, but the cooks are always going to hospital, or con-
fined for being late with the meats, that you may count
that as nothing much. The grog keeps the spirits of the
men up wonderful ; although the French cainps are so
close there have been very few cases of drunkenness in
our regiment. So much mud trampled into the huts of
course makes everything dirty, together with no time
for washing ; it being a long way to get water, and a
crime to be caught a mile from camp except on duty,
causes, I am sorry to say, a congregation of lice, but
while such is the state of things it is impossible to remedy
it. Did you ever see a dead horse thrown across a cart
ready for the kennel ? well, such is the appearance of the
fresh meat that we get once in a fortnight, with a fine
plaster of mud around it. Well, I have given you the
dark side, now for the brighter side. A private clears as
muck as a corporal in England, and a corporal as much
as a serjeant, and are paid pretty regular. We can get
bread in Balaklava at ls. 6(1. the 21b loaf (it was double
a short time ago), cheese, of a poor description, at the
Maltese market, about two miles from Balaklava, at 2e.,
buitfte yrou at 2a',
to 6d., sugar at Bd., tea at 3s. a pound ; pickles
go to the price—figs, onions, sprats, to-
-it,
bacco, raising, currants, bacon (2s. 6d. per pound), and
ships have entered the harbour laden
cwointhfecatilioey ;
theser
things at a much reduced price. The
people of England—at least some of them—have been
very kind in sending us candles and a barrel of porter,
and a Mackintosh cape for the cooks to wear, clogs for
the men going out of the hut at night, and tea at 6CI. per
pound ' • but amongst so many men it is lost, being only
a taste for each man (I forget to say we have lime-juice
once a-week). So much for provisions, if we like to buy
them. Now for the weather. I will tall you of every-
thing I can think of. When I first landed the day was as
warm as the month of May in England. We had not
been more than three days ashore when such a sudden
change in the -temperature in one night I never wit-
nessed ; it was just penetrating us to the very core with
cold. To mend the matter I was orderly corporal the
first week. Oh, it was en nice ; taking grog and rations
to melt on guard miles away-L-pitch dark at night; splat-
tering on through the mud, sometimes losing one's way,
again tumbling down ; enough to try the temper of a
Quaker. Well, I am glad we have shifted our camp up
to the front, although the trench duty is rather severe—
still, as the weather has again changed for the better, it
is not so bad. We are still in wooden huts, about three
miles from Sebastopol, and six miles from Balaklava,
and the strongest regiment out here (we have just heard
that another draft is on the way). I have been in the
advanced trenches and zig-zaes by night and by day,
and I can assure you it is exceedingly pleasant, in the
day, to have the Russian needle-bullets wheezing round, 1
and now and then a shell bursting through the bank
makes you jump in spite of yourself. We are not more
than 50 3ards from the Russians, who now and then
make a sortie out of the town, but, as luck has had it,
not on the nights that I have been in them. We are
always expecting a turn out at night, sometimes accou-
tred with a coat thrown over us, hourly expecting their
attack, You may be sure we do not get much rest ;
but I can bear this better than the fatigues down at
Balaklava, at the quartermaster's stores, for that was no
joke. There are stores there of clothing that would
astonish you, enough to stock two such armies as we
have with warm clothing ; but I think it will all be of
little use, for we have just heard that Nicholas is uead.
It'is decided we are to attack Sebastopol on Sunday
next. The English batteries, almost completed, over-
looking the town, and, I think, with the aid of the
French, we stand a very good chance of taking it. It
is wonderful to me it has held out so long ; but both
English and French began too rash. The north side
being still open, it enables the Russians to withstand us,
but we have erected some tremendous batteries since,
mortars that I could creep into and hide myeelf com-
pletely. Sebastopol lies in such a peculiar position that
I have often heard the question, " where is it ?' and no
wonder, for the town is not much, it is the fortifications.
Well, I think I have said enough about everything (no
I've not). The first day we entered the trenches one of
ours was shot through the head, that is the only case at
present in our regiment ; but lots of casualties occur in
other regiments, hut not many in ours, because we never
fire at all ; only the French answer them ; we are biding
our time. I am very glad to hear that you have had
in time to comeyour spa christened after me. I may,

return the compliment. I think somehow I shall escape
and come home to kiss him some day unawares—at
least I'll try hard far it. Try, my Fear lar,,ther, to send
me seine drawing paper and pencils just a small por-
tion ; I could make sonic sketches that would be worth
something. You would laugh at our present appearance
—so different froth soldiers at home. Send me word all
about our parents. I would like to know all about your-
self and wife—in fact, anything to read, for we get no-
thing here, not a glimpse of a newspaper in a month. I
will put my directions on the outside of the envelope.
Put three postage stamps nn a letter, and two en a news-
paper, and via Marseilles in the corner, and it will arrive
in 13 days l'll bring or send her a memento of
Sebastopol ; and, trust me, I have not firgotten or
neglected you. Expect to receive another in a week
after this. This will not start till the 10th, arrive with
you on the 23d. I shall expect t 3 receive one from
you on the sth April. Good-bye, God bless you. This
may possibly be the last you will receive. If I fall,
keep it in remembrance of one who loved not wisely,
but too well.

The following letter is from a serjeant in the Highland
Brigade:—
CAMP, HEIGHTS OF BALAKLAVA, March IG.—Our bri-
gade, as you are aware, has been intrusted with the
defence of this position, and until the enemy left the
ground taken from the Turks on the 25th of October,
we were constantly employed in strengthening the lines
and keeping a sharp look-out—in fact, we had 'not a
spare minute. But about the beginning of December the
enemy took up a fresh position at a greater distance from
us, leaving only an outpost behind. Our services then
became available to carry shot, shell, gabions, and bis-
cuits to the depot at head-quarters. This was most la-
borious work, and the horrible state of the road to Se-
bastopol made it ten times verse. The mud was knee-
deep the whole way, with here and there a deep rut
which would take a person up to the wa,,st ; and as it is
a stiff clay soil, it was most difficult to drag through,
unless at places where it was very wet and did not
take such a tenacious hold of the feet. The labour
of getting over this road may be judged of by the fact
that all the beasts of burden employed on it got worn
out in a very few journeys, and hundreds of them
died by the wayside. It was sometimes very pain-
ful to witness the efforts of the poor animals to get
up after falling—they seemed to know as well as our-
selves the fate that awaited them ; not one of them that
ever I saw falling had strength to rise again, so they pe-
rished where they lay. In this way, at certain parts of
the road, I have seen a pavement formed by the bodies
of dead animals, which, although revolting enough, the
men v ere often glad to avail themselves of for the pur-
pose of getting over a deeper slough than usual. The
weather too was generally very inclement, heavy rain
and wind often prevailing, which blinded and soaked
every one on the road ; and, t 9 crown all, the shoes were
often lost in the mud, and the unfortunates had to con-
tinue the journey barefooted. There are about five miles
of such a road as I have described to travel over before
reaching the depot, where, if the weather was unusually
severe, Lord Raglan, with the thoughtful kindness which
characterises him, had a gill of ruin served out to each
man. Had it not been for this seasonable issue of spirit i
I am quite sure we should have lost many men who
would have been too much exhausted to return to
camp without some such stimulant : as it was, several
men were lost who had not strength to return. Lat,
terly, a number of men were appointed to prepare
hot coffee for us, which was three times more welcome
than any amount of ruin—in fact, it was often for days
the only warm meal enjoyed by many, as the heavy
rains did not admit of cooking. Of course, you can
judge what a miserable plight the inside of the tents
were in during the continuance of this weather ; the
mud had to be scraped from the floor with shovels be-
fore lying down at night, for the wet feet tramping out
and in, and the rain, which poured through the worn-
out canvas as if no such obstruction existed, made the
inside of the test worse than almost any metal road I
ever saw at home. Constant exposure to such a fearful
.state of things made deadly inroads on the health and
constitution of the men, and the effects are now visible
in the closely-packed graveyards in the vicinity of the
camps ; but I trust this is all over now. There were
often heartrending scenes to he witnessed on the road
the days when the diseased and wounded were removed
from Sebastopol to Balaklava, in order that they might
be sent to Scutari. What I saw on the road was fully
as bad as the worst stories I read in the newspapers. Of
course it was not always like this, for the weather was
often cold and frosty, and the ground covered with snow
and quite hard. The fatigue parties then got easily
enough over the road to Sebastopol; hut for the invalids
coming down it was almost as bad as the wet, because
the French ambulance mules on which they were carried
often stumbled and fell, and the result was cruel hurts to
men whose lives were already almost worn out. But
in general the frost was better than wet, because the
clothes were dry, and the tents inside were not in their
usual muddy condition. At the end of January we
managed to get the huts erected, and lots of warm
clothing were issued at the same time, fresh provisions
were oftener served out, and the weather began to im-
prove greatly. The effect of all this was visible almost
instantly ; the men began to look more healthy, and, as
they could get a shirt dried in the hut, if they only
managed to wash it, they recovered their ofd cheerfulness
very quickly, and before the end of Februarilou might
have heard the bagpipes playing to hearty dancers.
When we first got into the huts we could not sleep well
at night. I suppose the complete change from a wet
muddy floor and flapping canvas to the dry comfortable
boards and the impervious roof, was too large a slice of
good luck to fall at one time to our share ; it therefore
unsettled the mind and made us all quite restless. We
sleep no a• sound enough, I can assure you. Although
our sufferings have been very great, I am yet inclined to
think those of the French were greater ; hut, as they bad
more men than us, they were not necessitated to work
them up until they could no longer move, and, besides,
they bad not such a very extensive position to defend as us.
But what I mean is that we had always a great deal more
stores than they, and although there are many horrible
stories current at home, we ere in general kept pretty
well supplied. Of course, in a winter campaign there is
much frightful suffering, and if John Ball resolves to
have one, he must make up his mind to pay for it,
• and that most sweetly, both in men and money. The
French have not been very well supplied with neces-
saries, but, from their admirable arrangements, they
have been able to make the utmost of what they had.
But that long story about giving us greatcoats is all
nonsense. Their own men are not yet supplied more
than half with these articles, and they are only at this
moment getting their huts landed ; though. it must be
are
de2 getartehmeyt, the
intelligent soldiers,merectedve and beatiryquck usly. in They
one
kind of fighting as much as we did them in the other.
En tirailleur is their favourite mode, and we have no
troops that were accustomed to that w4srk before coming
here, except the riflemen, who learned it Kafirland.
They have learned their lesson to perfection, and our
own wild impetuous charge at Alma was fully equalled
by the manner in which they took up positions from
which they could destroy the enemy in hundredS with-
out exposing themselves. For this sort of work it re-
quires a readiness and tact, combined with desperate
resolution, which is only to be acquired by practice in
the field. The French, from their constant wars in
Africa, were pretty well up in this business, but they
will require to get up very early in the morning if they
I mean to beat us now. But any way, they are our very
good friends, and many kindnesses have passed between
us. There is a battalion of Zouaves encamped on the
hill beside us, and a great many of our men have
formed acquaintances and friendships with them
which they will he sorry to give up at the end of
the war. A vessel came here from Glasgow lately with
a general cargo of goods on board ; amongst other
things was a quantity of oatmeal ; of course, we got a
supply of it, and we had all an opportunity of once
more enjoying our favourite breakfast. The Zouaves
were invited to partake by many, and we liadea, party
of them to dinner in my own hut. The dinner consisted
of porridge, herring, and a piece of cheese ; the porridge,
which was made on the stove inside the hut, was im-
mediately dubbed by the Zouaves who saw it prepared,
soup a la Highlander . We all sat on the floor round
perfect
he
er
fecamp-kettles,of
and t.,121 ew mesawith
t he was
helps w alolfo ws
oe dro
eu
on
fd er a
the
strangest-looking contrivances for spoons that ever were
seen, and occasionally a suers or a d—n was heard as
' a Zonave or Highlander burned his month. The dinner
, was washed down by some excellent rum and a small
drop of whisky, during the discussion of which the pipes
were smoked, and it was agreed to between us that if
we only get a fair chance VC hen the roads are good, we
will clear the Crimea within a month of everything ex-
cept Allies.