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

'THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 4, 1854.

1849 in Trausylvania." They were generally carried inside I
tin "^-e about their persons. Otneors micl nee wro•e the
S 2-11, the former being n lone is luge
able by the stripe of gold lace on the shoulder. Their
uniform coatees, of dark green with white facings and
red and yellow trimmings, were put on underneath the
greatcoat. A considerable number of the Liege double-
grooved rifles were found on the field. 11.Iany of the muskets
bore the date of 1841, and had evidently been flint guns
originally, but had been altered into detonators. I re-
member a juvenile superstition in my sparrow-killing
days, that such guns " shot stronger" than either flint or
detonator per san'/. Every part of the arm is branded
most carefully. The word " BAK" occurs on each
separate piece of it. The imperial eagle is on the brass
heelplate, and on the lock is "TYAA, 1811." lam now
speaking of a firelock with which most of two divisions at
least were armed. The bayonets are long, but are not
well steeled. They bend if rudely handled or struck with
force against the ground. The long and polished gun bar-
rels are made of soft, but tough iron. They can be bent
to an acute angle without splitting. From the trigger
guard of each musket there is a thong depending, fastened
to a cap of stout leather, which is put over the nipple in
wet weather. This seems a simple and useful expedient.
Beyond all understanding, however, are the uses of a piece
of stick shaped like a bayonet, without a handle, which we
found in the bayonet sheathe. It may be to keep the
sheathe from collapsing; but when the bayonet is in the
sheathe where is the long wooden skewer put? As I write
a thought occurs to me. It is placed in the gun as a plug,
for it is round for an inch at the end, and is ornamented
thereat by a brass button. Well, if that be the solution, I
am glad of it, for our soldiers lose a great deal of time in
hot arguments over this matter, and most of my friends
must plead guilty to lucubrating in vain upon it. The de-
votion of the men to their officers is remarkable. How
else is it that we seldom find either dead or wounded offi-
cers on the ground? On the person of one lieutenant or
captain, who was lying dead, an extremely handsome and
athletic young man, there was found a roll of linen, which
contained the same black, dry, and hard fragments of rye-
bread which the privates carry about with them. Persons
of this rank, however, have generally watches and purses
of money about their persons.
It is again asserted—and I sincerely believe with truth
—that the dying and wounded Russians killed many of
our men as they passed on towards the front against the
retreating enemy. For this reason our soldiers smashed
the stock and bent the barrel of nearly every firelock
they came across. Some, however, carried bundles of
them off the field, as well as heaps of Liege rifles, and of a
heavy, thick sword with a saw-back, carried by the Gre-
nadiers or artillerymen, which they sell to the cap-
tains and, sailors of merchantmen, or to those who are
anxious for mementoes of the fight. Medals, ribands, the
small brass crucifixes, and pictures of saints, and charms
found upon the dead are also in great request. There is a
regular tariff of prices,—medal, from ss. to 20s. according
to size ; riband, a dollar; crucifix a dollar ; pictures, ac-
cording to size, drollery, and ugliness, from 2s. 6d. to 10s. ;
charms, ls. 6cl. ; firelocks, 30s. ; rifles, 50s. ; swords, 20s.
The field is visited by shoals of people from Balaklava
every day.
If it is considered that the soldiers who met these
furious columns of the Czar were the remnants of three
British divisions, which scarcely numbered 8,500 men ;
that they were hungry and wet, and half-famished ;- that
they were men belonging to a force which is generally
" out of bed" four nights out of seven ; which has been
enfeebled by sickness, by severe toil, sometimes for 24
hours at a time without relief of any kind ; that among
them were men who had within a short time previously
lain out for 48 hours in the trenches at a stretch—it will
be readily admitted that never was a more extraordinary
contest maintained by our army since it acquired a reputa-
tion in the world's history.
Mr. Commissary-General Filder deserves the greatest
praise for his exertions in supplying our men with food.
The stories which have been circulated respecting the in-
sufficiency and irregularity of the supply of meat, biscuit,
and spirits are base calumnies. No army was ever fed
with more punctuality, and no army, I believe, was ever
so well fed under such very exceptional circumstances as
those in which we are placed. The writers who describe
the Southern Crimea as a land flowing with milk and
honey forget that to us it is a forbidden Eden,
and that the Cossack stands at the gate to bar
our approach. We have eaten up everything edible
within the precincts of the little angle of which
we maintain possession by force of arms ; the hay
has been consumed, the vegetables have been consumed, the
grapes have been consumed—nay, the very leaves have
been boiled for food, and the vines used for fuel ; the cat-
tle and sheep have been consumed, and we are now masters
of a huge camp as sterile as a rock, and from which the
last vestige of shrub or tree will soon disappear under the
camp-kettle. We are fed by L'alaklava alone; thence conies
our daily bread. It haste be carried out day by day, and
yet no man in this army has ever been without his pound
of good biscuit, his pound and a-half or pound of good
beef or mutton, his quota of coffee, tea, rice, and sugar, or
his gill of excellent rum, for any one day, except it has
been through his own neglect. We draw our hay, our
corn, our beef, our mutton, our biscuits, spirits, and neces-
saries of all kinds from beyond sea. Eupatoria supplies
us with cattle and sheep to a moderate extent • but the
commissariat of the army depends, as a general rule, on
sea carriage. Nevertheless, large as are our advantages in
the excellence and regularity of the supply of food, the
officers and men have had to undergo great privations.
The oldest soldiers here never witnessed or heard of a cam-
paign in which General officers were obliged to live out in
tents on the open field, for the want of a roof to cover
them, and Generals who passed their youth in the Penin-
sular war, and who have witnessed a good deal of fighting
since that time in various parts of the world, are unani-
mous in declaring that they never knew or read of a war
in which the officers were exposed to such hardships.
They landed, as most of us remember, without anything
but what they could carry, and they marched beside their
men, slept by them, fought by them, and died by them,
undistinguished from them in any respect, except by the
deadly epaulette and swordbelt, which have cost so many
lives to the country. The survivors have often been unable

to get their things from on board ship. They have lain down
at night in the clothes which they wore during the day ;
many delicately nurtured youths have never changed
shirt or shoes for weeks together, and they are deprived
of the use of water for the ablution, except to a very li-
mited extent. " Rank and fashion," under such circum-
stances, have fallen a prey to parasitical invasion—an evil
to which the other incidents of roughing it are of little
moment. The officers are in rags. Guardsmen who were
" the best style of men" in the ?arks now turn cut in
coats and trousers and boots all seams and patches, torn in
all directions, and mended with more vigour than neat-
ness, and our smartest cavalry and line men are models of
ingenious sewing and stitching. The men cannot grumble
at old coats, boots, or shoes when they see their officers no
better off than themselves. We have out here " soldier-
ing with the gilding off," and many a young gentleman
would be for ever cured of his love of arms if he could but
see one day's fighting and havo one day's parade of the men
who do it. Fortunate it is for us that we have youth on
whom to rely, and that there are in old England men
" who delight in war," and who will be ever ready to in-
cur privation, danger, and death at her summons. As to
young ladies suffering from " scarlet fever"—the pupils of
the " L. E. L." school, who are for ever thinking of
heroes and warriors, singing of champions, of "crowning
conquerors' brows with flowers," and wishing for " Arab
steeds and falchions bright"—if they could but for one in-
stant stood beside me and gazed into one of the pits where
some 30 " clods of the valley," all covered with scarlet
and blue cloth, with lace, and broidery, and blood, were
lying side by side, and staring up at heaven with their
sightless orbs as they were about to be consigned to the
worm, they. would feel the horrors of their hero worship,
and would join in prayer for the advent of that day—if
come it ever may—when war shall be no more, and when
the shedding of blood shall cease.
Food—bread, the staff of life, and meat—we have in
sufficient quantity, and if the department over which Mr.
Filder presides can only supply us as it has done during
our winter in the Crimea, the 'army will be much indebted
to it. In the efforts the commissariat officers are making
for the maintenance of the army they receive material aid
from our merchant ships.

The services rendered by the captains of the transports
during the whole of ithis campaign really deserve some
public acknowledgment, and yet not one word has ever
been said by the authorities of the zeal, devotion, and
ability displayed by nearly all these gentlemen, and of the
excellent conduct and good feeling of the crews under their
command. Where so many are deserving of praise it is
scarcely fair to single out any particular persons for ap-
probation, but it is not too much to say that such men as
Captain Kellock, of the Himalaya ; Captain Lane, of the
Jason'; Captain Wilson, of the Orinoco ; Captain Me-
thuen, of the Colombo ; Captain Goodall, of the Prince ;
Captain Bayntun, of the Medway Captain Ponsonby,of
the Trent ; and last, not least, Captain Cargill, of the City
of London, merit the thanks of the nation, and merit
them all the more because they have laboured for the pub-
lic service without any particular encouragement from the
authorities. Their patriotism led them to the length of
offering to take a share in the military service of the expe-
dition, to the safety, success, and comfort of which they
had so much contributed. Before the attack of the 17th
Captain Methuen offered to tow any of her Majesty's ves-
sels into action under the forts of the town, and on the 2d
of October Captain Lane, of the Jason, offered Sir E.
Lyons the services of the officers and of 30 men of the
crew of his ship to co operate with the seamen and marines
of the fleet, " and to act in any other way for the protec-
tion of her Majesty's flag." The men made this offer
through Captain Lane, and expressed their willingness to
submit to martial law, and the captain concluded by in-
forming Sir E. Lyons that the Jason could land two l3cwt.
guns at once. It is no wonder that Sir Edmund Lyons ac-
knowledged this offer very warmly, and expressed the gra-
tification he felt at receiving " an offer which reflected the
highest credit" on the captain, officers, and crew of the Jason.
Similar readiness to serve the country was evinced by other
crews and captains as the time of action drew near ; all
did their work well and earnestly, and it is only right that
the country should know what she owes to the merchant
service engaged in this great war.

THE HURRICANE ON THE

14TH NOVEMBER.

Nov. 18.—We have but heavy tidings to communicate
to England by this mail, though still we are thankful that
our loss has been rather by the blast of the tempest than
the hand of the enemy. On Tuesday, the 14th inst., the
fleet and transports lying at Eupatoria, the Katcha, and
Balaklava., were exposed to the fury of a tremendous gale
from the westward, which resulted in the lows of at
least thirty-five vessels, and the partial injury of many
more. The night of the 13th, though lowerinc,b
gave no sign of the approaching storm, for it was almost;
calm in the middle watch ; but about half-past six in the
morning the sky darkened, and a heavy squall burst forth
from the S.S.W. ; secend anchors were immediately let
go, and every precaution taken to prevent disaster. The
gale freshened, and shortly after eight No. 20 trans-
port, Gauger, dragged her anchors, and fouling those
of No. 1, Pyrenees, both ships drove together, and
a few minutes after fouled her Majesty's ship Samp-
son, carrying away her bowsprit and foremast, which
latter in falling struck the mainmast, the fall of which
destroyed the mizenmast ; thus in the space of two
minutes rendering her a complete wreck aloft. The two
transports then broke away from her, and brought up again
at 50 yards distance, about 1,100 yardsfrom the shore. At 10
a.m. a small French brig stranded near the mouth of the
Katcha, and from this time till darkness hid the scone from
our view, a succession of terrible disasters followed each
other iu quick succession. Fortunately the shore in the
neighbourhood of the river is terminated by a sandy beach,
hence here we have not had to deplore the loss of life as well
as property. Nos. 1 and 20 parted for the last time a little
after noon, and were soon dashed on shore, where they
remained at about ten yards distance from the beach, with
the waves frequently making a clear dash over them. At
one p.m. her Majesty's ship Terrible parted all her anchors
and the cry rose to every tongue, " the Terrible will be on
shore ;" but gradually the noble ship faced round to the
wind, and pissed majestically out through the fleet. The
wind, perhaps, was at its utmost height about 10,30 ;