The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-28 00:00:00

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[PRICE SD.

sundries, I found a few colours and a brush. thus
was I set up as an artist ; I look something like one
now, or perhaps more like a poor poet, for I am
become a curious, lantern-jawed, carnivorous,
hungry-looking, long-boarded, stick-at-nothing in-
dividual—quite a queer specimen of what humanity
can come to; indeed, a kind of fellow one would
prefer to avoid meeting in a narrow entry on a dark
night, and no " peeler" at hand, as usual. Not to
say, however, that my general appearance attracts
much notice here, for all are pretty much alike,
and I think, from our outward personal appear-
ance, any one of us setting foot in England, would
at once be taken for a " suspicious character," and
the first policeman called upon for evidence would
not hesitate to swear that "he'd know'd him to be
a bad ma for a long time," Were it not known that
he was a veteran returned from the East. Such
" is the state of man," as far as a fragment of a
smashed pier-glass informs me.
I think I told you in my last that on account of
the damage my person received at Inkerman I was
unable to move about, and put up for some days in
the little quiet village of Karanii, as being under
canvas this wet and cold weather is anything but
pleasant far an invalid, and my wound proved more
severe than I at first imagined ; and I can assure
you that a fragment of a shell weighing about 7
pounds, and catching you. on the lower ribs and
hip, is not quite agreeable. Luckily my revolver
saved me in a great measure, for you may imagine
the force of the blow whet I tell you the stack is
broken and the trigger smashed ; the poor horse's
off-hock was completely shattered, and we were
both rolled over. I got very comfortable quarters
in the house of a Greek family, who did every-
thing to make me comfortabke. They had been
•Very•well off before our troops-landed in the Crimea
but when we took Balaklava they fled in haste
from Kadikoi, which is near there, leaving all their
property behind them, and everything was carried
off or burnt. They arrived at Karanii with the
little they could carry away, and being within our
lines of contravellation, they found themselves cut
off from their friends and confined to the village
without the means of procuring provisions. There
were about one hundred and fifty inhabitants in
the village, aid in a short time whatever store of
provisions they might have had began to fail, and
there was nothing to be got but corn, from which
they made a kind of bread black as coal and tast-
ing like sawdust, and they had not even enough of
that. Being entitled to four rations for myself and
servants, and having none of the latter but soldiers
who get their own from Government, I was en-
abled to help the family, in whose house I was,
very considerably, as did also several other officers,
but it was a pitiful sight to see women and chil-
dren reduced from affluence to such a condition.
By my advice, they, with several others in the
village, petitioned General Canrobert to allow them
to join their friends, stating their distress, and he
very kindly did, and, a few days ago, GJ women
and children, and four men were embarked on
board a steamer for a Russian port eastward of
Balaklava. It was a cold, raw, rainy night when
they left, and I pitied the poor creatures trudging
through the mud in such weather, women, sometimes
with children at their breasts, and two above 90
years of age. I tried to coriso!e them with the
idea of meeting their friends, but they were entirely
overcome with the thoughts of leaving their homes
in the hands of strangers, and having to seek others,
where they knew not, fir they were poor, and
"the poor make no new friends." One young girl,
the youngest of four sisters, of whom three were
married to soldiers in the Russian army, was the
only one who tried to keep up the spirits of the
rest. The whole family were very beautiful, but
she was of that transcendant beauty which one
rarely sees, except in statues or paintings. She led
an old creature, past 90, almost imbecile, who fol-
lowed from instinct, as it were, and walked along,
trying to sing 11)1110 of the songs of her country
to cheer up the rest. Pooe girl ! had I belonged
to any profession other than my own, my 'dear
--, I would have had a wife beautiful as th.e_first
flowers of spring, with eyes like a gazelle, an. a
face and figure resembling that of Hero, or etlen
of old. I pressed what coin I had into her hand
as I put her in the boat, so that she and her sis-
ters at least might not want for bread on lauding,
and I rode back to my tent well contented with
what I had done, and ' I know the good God who
takes care of little fishes will not forget it, and will
give me a lift in rough places when I may require
it," as the saying is in India. '
When Suleiman Pacha returned to Constanti-
nople, he was put into prison, all his goods were
confiscated to the State, and he was exiled from
Turkey. Poor fellow, his only crime was being rich,
and this act is a disgrace to the nation. I believe,
however, that steps have been taken to prevent this
unjust sentence from being put into execution, as
as' the charge of " having quitted his post without
permission" cannot hold good, as he was ill, and
General Canrobert himself gave him leave. A few
clays ago, Osman Pacha came out from Constanti-
nople to take command of all the Turkish forces
here, which are to be augmented to 30,000 men.
He seems a very decent person for a Turk, and a
more able and intelligent officer than most of those
I I have seen hitherto. _ _

,The Russians generally make a sortie during the
night, and are always driven back with loss. They do
this thinking they may harass our men in the
trenches, and perhaps the army in general ; but
we have become so much accustomed to the boom-
ing of cannon, night and day, that we sleep on,
without paying any attention to it. Not so, how-
ever, the Russians themselves, for whenever the
moon goes under a cloud, or the night gets darker
than hsual, they begin to fear, an attack, and blaze
away from every piece on the rampart in all possi-
ble directions, thinking to frighten us from making
the attempt. Whenever they cannonaded in greater
force than usual, one of the Greek girls in the
house I was living in used to say, "Nov the Rus-
sians are in great fear, and Menschikoff keeps
them at their guns to sustain their courage," and
perhaps to prevent his losing men by desertion, as
whenever the night is darker than usual, men
come over from Sebastopol, and give themselves
up.
The French are arming the third parallel, and
in the course of two or three days 148 pieces of
heavy cannon will open on the place from a dis-
tance of 80 yards. My private opinion still is, that
had we attacked the place the day we arrived, we
should have taken it without much loss, and saved
our army from all the hardships, sickness, and
misery occasioned by the severity of the weather,
which they have suffered from being under canvas.
Not only this ; our cavalry is done up ; the horses
are ruined from exposure, and the greater of what
remain are useless—indeed, they can hardly drag
themselves to water. This is one of the finest arms
of the Service entirely lost, to say nothing of our
artillery horses being made in the same state. The
English horse, accustomed to warm stables, good food
and grooming, cannot stand the rigour of this cli-
mate, exposed as he is in the open air to rain, cold,
and snow, often up to his knees in mud, and not
half fed. The French cavalry stand it butter than
ours, a great many having African horses, who
have never stood iu a stable, and can bear the cold
better. One of their regiments, mounted on
Turkish horses, stands hard work and cold very
well.
Yesterday morning the Russian division under
Liprandi made a movement to the left during
dark, and occupied a position on the hills to the
east of Balaklava. Their rear guard set fire to the
huts, made of branches, that were formerly occu-
pied by the men, which caused a smoke that dark-
ened the atmosphere for an hour. If the weather
had been more favourable we might have out off
the division entirely, as it was almost separated
from the rest of the army.
I was at the French trenches at about 12 p.m.,
when three 'Russian steamers moved out of the
harbour of Sebastopol, and fired several shots at
our shipping that were anchored off Kamiesch, and
also at the French sixth division that was encamped
near the sea. Three of our steamers gave chase,
and they made the best of their way back into Se-
bastopol. Our steamers let drive at them, but at
too great a distance to do much damage ; however,
they would not stand fight, but ran for it. It ap-
peared to me that our steamers wore too long a
time in coming out ; but perhaps they waited to
allow some steamers from Katcha to cut off the
Russian retreat into Sebastopol, but they did not
make their appearance.
We have had nasty wet and raw weather lately,
which has occasioned much 'sickness among our
troops e but yesterday and to-day it appears to be
clearing up, and I think we may expect a little fine
weather ; which I hope we shall avail ourselves of,
and take Sebastopol.
FROM • A GUARDSMAN.

----
" In front of Sebastopol, Nov. 17, 1854.
" Dear Brother,—Pray excuse this short note,
as I liar hardly time even to eat my rations, for I
am always on duty both night and day, and it is
the same with all of us • but thanks to the Al-
m i ty lam in the best Of health, although always
on dui. To-night lam for guard, making the
third night running, and I am up five nights out