The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-04 00:00:00

OBSEQUIES FOR. THE KILLED IN THE

CRIMEA.
The Freeman's Journal gives the following account of
the celebration in St. Paul's, Roman Catholic Church,
of obsequies of the soldiers who have fallen in the .Rus-
sia 3 war :
" The interior of the chr7cli presented an aspect of
sombre grandeur. The high altar, and also the side altars
were draped in black. lie -entre nave, constituting the
lower choir without the sanctuary, we, richly carpeted
and surrounded with seats for the attendant clergy. In the
centre of the nave was erected a tastefully designed cata-
falque, covered with black velvet, bordered with rich
silver lace. Sui mounting the catafalque was an emble-
matic coffin covered with a pall of silk velvet, embroidered
with a cross in white satin. On the lid of the coffin was
displayed a helmet, worn by a soldier of the Royal Irish
Dragoons killed in tie action at Alma, and who, pre-
vious to his departure for the war, had been an atten-
tive frequenter of Es duties in this church. At each
corner of the catafalque, flags of Great Britain and
the French tricolour waved over the coffin. Around the
base of the erection were placed six massive tapers of wax,
lighted. The funeral bell, which tolled during the
morning from the church tower, called together a vast
congregation, including crowds of gentry and citizens
of all classes, among which latter might be recognised
many of the wives and relatives of the deceased sol-
diers. A large section of the military still in garri-
son were mingled with the congregation. The church
organ pealed forth but once previous to the ceremonial,
when the tones of the Dead March were heard. At this
period an incident fraught with deep and melancholy in-
terestoccurred. Mr. Wheble, brother of thelatelarcented
Rev. Mr. Wheble, the pious missionary at the seat of war,
who has lost his 'le while discharging the duties of a
philanthropist and a Christian priest, entered the church,
conducted by the Rev. Mr. Smithwick, and took the
place assigned him, in order to assist in the de zotions
about to be offered up for the repose of the souls of our
have soldiers. Shortly after 11 o'clock the vast body
of clergy issued from the sanctuary. They were con-
siderably over 100 in number. The ceremonial com-
menced with solemn office for the dead. At the proper
period the grand pontifical high mass commenced, and
the canticles peculiar to it were sung by the full choir
of priests. At the conclusion of the high mass the
solemn absolution of the dead was pronounced at the
head of the catafalque by the Lord Bishop of Bombay.
The ceremonial then terminated."

LETTERS FROli THE CRIMEA.

The following letter is from a surgeon serving u
he camp before Sebastopol :
" Camp before Sebastopol, Nov. 8.
"Again I have to tell of the hard-fought battle field,
and of my preservation from its dangers. Praised be God,
He has sheltered me once more under the protection of
His guardian arm, so continually outstretched to sale
and defend me from all danger. Ere you receive this
the newspapers will have given you the intimation of the
battle just fought, and of oursuccess therein. Since the
commencement of the campaign we have been thrice en-
gaged in actual battle ; and that of Inkerman has truly
been terrible and sarz,uinary. Our gallant foe seems de-
termined, at least on lrod, to test our strength, although
by this time he must be well sa,tisfi 1 that English shot
and steel are irresistible in opposition.
" At about daybreak of the sth ' the enemy was re-
ported to be moving against us, the first intimation of
which was the usual desultory firing from the English
advanced pickets. Fancying for a while it was but an
affair of outposts, I determined on lying quietly and
snugly in my tent for a while ; but hal no sooner so
determined than the booming of our field guns (of which
a small number are always ' ready,' near to our most
exposed position) warned me that it was desirable to
turn out, the more so as there was heard in the distance
a steady roll of musketry. The alarm was general
through the whole Allied camp, when, throwing aside
clamber and bLinket too, and without re,arding my
toileL (being at all times ready attired for action), I was
Is'c'zly in the saddle, waiting my turn for duty.
" In comparatively a short time our outposts were
di:vee in, when column after column of the enemy came
pouring over the hills which separate our lines from
theirs. Soon all was bustle, though order prevailed in-
tact, and quick as thought our troops were face to face
.vith their adversaries. The advance of the e-semy was
so rapid we were taken entirely by surprise, so well had
they planned and directed the attack, since their ad.
sauced troops were upo i our very camp ere sufficient
force could be bought to oppose them. This latter,
ho .vever, was soon remedied, for on came the artillery
a:, a gallop, and were speedily followed by the infantry,
who quickly formed, and were seen crowding the
side and crest of the hill, when the fight soon wore the
aspect 6f a real battle. My services were soon in requi-
sition, when T made, as I thought, convenient arrange- ...
inents for the wounded, but which I was compelled to 174
abardon in the course of an bout, from the circumstance 20
of solid shot and live shell falling thickly around me, so 20
as to render my position anything but agreeable. I 20
now fell back on my own camp, where, having a tent ro
and all things handy, I established as comfortable an 20
hospital as could be wished, and where I was soon in 100
requisisioa by a host of applicants of all ranks, who
had been sent to the rear for surgical aid. I was soon, 100
however, again compelled to beat a retreat, the Russians 20
having advanced their battalions into such a position that 25
they regularly enfiladed our whole camp. It was well 25
for the inn, _tea of the tents that they had abandoned 25
them so speedily, for the shells of the enemy blew them ~,,,,
into shreds in a short time. The battle continued .1-""
for hours, and we had been contending against five I leo
times our number, yet, happily, without onr adversary
20
obtaining command of our position, or reost probably 5
I should have a different tale to relate than the one 5
lam at the present moment so agreeably engaged 20.
tn. Ail it was, the Russian columns were so strong
and numerous, and, moreover, they fought so bravely 100
and so well, that tho issue at one period of the ~„„
day was dOubtful, for they charged our guns up to their -`1"
very mouths, and, what is more, they rushed in and 112
spiked some two or three of them, and bayonetted our
gunners who were opposed to them. This arose in con- 20
sequence of our force being so weak that we could not 100
detach a sufficient number of infantry to protect the ar- 20
tillery, and, as the place where the battle happened was 5
a hill-side, covered with thick stunted brushwood, we
could not ' limber-up' and retire before they were among
us. Their triumph, however, was but of short duration,
for, on a regiment or two moving up, our brave
gunners dashed in again, and had the good fortune to
recover their guns without other aid than their own.
This one fact will show how fiercely raged the battle, for
when the enemy came to such close quarters as to get
Into hand-to-hand encounters with artillery, you can
Imagine that the 'dogs of war' seemed indeed to be let
loose, and that the ' demon of strife' strode triumphantly
along, gloating over the carnage his nature exults in.
Dreadful indeed was the fight; far more severe than
that of the Alma.
"Our loss has been very sad ; three General officers
killed, and three others wounded ; of other officers, 32
killed and 79 wounded, so that 100 will not cover
our loss. Our entire loss we can yet hardly estimate,
though it is reported that 3,000 of our army are hors de
combat. The whole of the English force engaged num-
bered 11,000, that of the French 8,000, of whom they
lost about 600, but nay own opinion is that both these
latter numbers are magnified.
" From information derived from the prisoners, we
found that a large portion of the force we had been en-
gaged with had only arrived the day previously from
Silistria, and that they had been two months on their
march from the Principalities. In regard to the progress
of the siege it goes on but slowly, but no doubt surely.
You ask me whether a certain amount of apprehension
comes over in going into action. Most certainly there
does, and I believe the very bravest man who lives
experiences such, although, of course, in different de-
grees ; all that sort of thing soon wears off when
once the mind is employed, and you are prevented
from dwelling upon the danger you are exposed to.
He must, however, be a heartless being indeed who can
unmoved behold without awe the dread reality of war ;
but I much question whether such a mortal exists.
In answer to your inquiry respecting the locality of
the surgeon in action, I may remark that when there
is only one attached to the battery, he is net expected
to keep close up, but so soon as he sees the position
it has taken he should make arrangements as to where
the wounded shall be brought, as well as where
he is
himself to be found. When the enemy is in force, it would
be hard to say where one place was safer than another,
since a variety of circumstances may alter the state of
things, and hence it happens
(unless a position be taken
up at a most inconvenient arid unreasonable distance
from the great scene of operations). the surgeon cannot
be said to be free from danger. Wherever duty calls
him, there is his right position ; yet lot are entreat you
to Lave no fear on my account, rather believing that the
Almighty is continually mindful of those of His crea-
tures who, with lively faith, wait on His providence for
; protection in the hour of trial and of danger.
err

THE BANKERS' ALIZINACK AND DIRECTORY for 1855
(Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster•row), edited by Mr.
D. M. Evans, has been published, and contains much
useful information. Its value as a work of reference is
increased.by the introduction of additional ralttor, such
as a list of the failures during the year, with the balance
sheets and statements of the principal firms, while the
annual chronology and banking and commercial retros-
pect is clearly and concisely arranged.—Vittel.