The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-07 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 7, 18556.

THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

We continue to-day the publication of the second re-
port from Sir John APlceill and CA. Tulloch upon the
state of the army last year in the Crimea :

" TENTS,

" Numerous complaints were made regarding the tents,
principally that many of them were old, thin, and worn out,
and that a sufficient number of marquees had not been avail-
able for the hospitals. It may, therefore, be necessary, briefly
to advert to this supply, although our information in regard
to it is very imperfect, owing to the interruption of our in-
quiries in the Quartermaster• General's department, from the
causes previously referred to.
" It appears from a return, printed in the Appendix to the
third report of the 1 Committee on the Army before Sebasto-
pol,' that the total number of tents issued to that army, up
to the 31st of March, 1855, was—hospital marquees, 194 ;
officers' marquees, 223; and circular tents, 10,735. Of these,
it is stated that none had previously been issued, except 65
hospital marquees, 101 officers' marquees, and 1,238 circular
tents, which had been employed only during the temporary
encampment at Chobham ; 122 of the circular tents had also -
been used elsewhere. Considering that the ordinary duration
of a tent is generally from two to three campaigns, and that
those in question were examined, and all requisite repairs
effected, before they were again issued, it is improbable that
they could have been in an insufficient state. It is more likely
that complaints on this head have arisen from the insufficiency
of any tents, of the ordinary structure, to afford shelter
against the inclemency of the winter in the Crimea.

The scale on which the circular tents was issued was:—
To Officers of Infantry and S 2 circular tents to each field officer
Cavalry
To Infantry Regiments 1 do. to every 15 men.
.1
4 do. extra for guards

To Cavalry Regiments 1 do. to every 12 men
4 de. extra for guards.

" Each regiment took out a sufficient number of tents on
this scale for the full establishment, though many were consi-
derably below it, and the draughts subsequently forwarded
to the Crimea also took out tents proportioned to their
strength.- There muo,tberefore, lip-ye been enaugla, beyond
what was really necessary for the accommodation of the
troops, to replace any that might have become unserviceable,
either from wear and tear or from accident ; but a reserve of
above 500 tents was also sent out in the course of the sum-
mer, expressly.-to provide for any such wants. It would ha
superfluous to go further into the particulars of this supply.
That the number of tents furnished to the army munch ex-
ceeded what Lhoy were ever likely to require, is sufficiently
e,tablished by the fact of its having, at the beginning of De-
cember, been ut,re than equal to one-fourth of the numerical
force then present.
" In order to provide against any want of hospital mar-
quees, each regiment, whether of cavalry or infantry, took
out at least one witkit ; a few went out in the waggons of
the Ambulance Corps, and a reserve of 70 were sent out at
the request of Dr. Smith, on the 29th of April, 1851, and
reached Varna in August, where they were distributed as
stated in page 115 of Appendix.
"Altogether there could not have been fewer than 120 hos-
pital marquees in possession when the force left for the Cri-
mea, yet, in the end of that year, it appears from the Report
of the Medical Commissioners (page 9), that there were only
37 marquees with the whole force. The regiments, it is un-
derstood, left their marquees with their heavy baggage at
Varna, beyond which we have been unable to trace them. It
is said that a large quantity of stores was lost or abandoned
there after the removal of the troops, of which these may
have formed a part ; but we are without any decided evidence
to that effect.

" When it became necessary, in consequence of the ad-
vanced state of the season, to provide some better shelter
than tents for the troops, great difficulties presented them-
selves. The whole of the country, within the narrow limits
occupied by the army, had already been denuded of wood
for the sake of fuel ; most of the houges of the former inhabi-
tants had been destroyed for the same object; and even the
loose surface stones had, in most places, been used up in
building low walls to afford a slight shelter for the regimental
horses, or for cooking places ; consequently few materials of
any kind were available except what could be imported.
" No scarcity of wood existed along the shores of the Black
Sea, but the difficulty was to provide it at the camp in suffi-
cient quantities for building purposes. Hired labour could
not be obtained, and the demands for the services of the
troops in the trenches, and for other military duties, were
such that they could not be spared to prepare it, oven had
they been capable of doing so.
" As soon as it was decided, therefore, that the army was
to winter in the Crimea, vessels were despatched by Lord
Raglan to several of the ports in the Black Sea, in the hope
of obtaining boarding and scantling of such dimensiOns as to
admit of being cut into the required lengths, to afford shelter.
Contracts were also entered into in England, about t'ie middle
of November, for wooden huts, of which the parts were so
'fitted that, with the aid of the .printed directions and litho-
granhed plans which accompanied them, the whole might be
put together oven by unskilled workmen.
" These huts were framed of the lightest material that could
with safety be used, the boards being only about three-quay
ters of an inch in thickness ; they were Dift. long, Oft, wide,
and from 11 to 12ft, in height to the ridge pole, with a gra-
dual slope to about Oft at the side, and c ilculated to contain
from 20 to 25 persons, though, under ordinary circumstances,
they would scarcely have been considered sufficient for half
that number. The men were raised from the ground by slop-
ing floors, on each side, of inch-plank, leaving an unfloored
space of about 3ft. wide down the centre, in which there was
a stove for the purpose of cooking and warmth. The total
weight of . each but, including the iron-work, was about
Si), tons. Of these nearly .1,404-were-sent nut. Another
description of wooden hut, but less complete, and formed
of heavier timber, was obtained from Trieste, to the
number, it is understood, of nearly 100 ; consequently
there can be no doubt that a sufficiency of hut accommoda-
tion or building materials, was provided for all, had it only
been practicable to make it available.
" The difficulties which subsequently arose in regard to
land transport do not appear to have been contemplated
when these huts were ordered ; otherwise It must have oc-
curred to the authorities, that when the whole laud trans-
port of the army was insufficient to carry to the front the
supplies necessary for tho subsistence of the men, the arrival
of 2,500 tons of building material was more likely to mid to
the confusion of a crowded harbour and crowded wharves than
to diminish the sufferings of the troops. Even now it is
doubtful whether the labour undergone by the men in carry-
ing those huts to the heights, during the months of January
and February, was compensated by the advantages derived
from them, though these were admitted to be great. Some
of the commanding officers declined to employ their men on
that duty, believing that the evils were greater than the ad-
vantages.
" The first arrival of the loose boarding and scantling from
ports in the Black Sea took place on the 25th November,
and the distribution commenced on the 2d December, when
Major Hall was appointed to superintend it, whose evidence,
in regard to the mode of distribution and the extent to which
it was carried, will be found elsewhere.

" The quantities received, and the vessels by which they
were brought, as well as the dates of their arrival, are as
follow :

at the end of that month, and the remainder in Febrozry.
Before the first vessel arrived, however, the troops had to be
employed in carrying provisions to the..frent,. and so much
had their strength been reduced by V.:eir sufferings, and such
was ih• state of the roads, that a weight of from 201 b to 251 b.
was as much as a, man could bring up from Balaklava. In-
deed
it is stated in evidence that men conk' not have car-
ried their arms, accoutrements, and ammunition from the
heights to Balaklavannd back in a day through such mud as
it was necessary to.trayerse. It consequently required from
250 to 300 men to carry up a single hut sufficient to aecont-
modate, at the utmost, 25 men ; and as, at this rate, it was
impossible to spare &sufficient numbs *oat their other duties,
the attempt had to be abandoned, silk )ugh that acconmo la-
tion, if there' lied been transport, would have been of the ut-
most advantage during the rest of the winter.
" It appears from the evidence of the Commissary-General
that 270 Spanish mules were appropriated by Lord Raglan to
the conveyance of these huts; but when we arrived early. in
March, although they had been erected for a considerable por-
tion of the corps in the immediate vicinity of Balatlava, only
two or three of those in front were hutted; by great exertion
a few huts had also been got up there for hospitals.
" A summary of the information received from officers com-
manding corps, in reply to No. 20 of the printed queries,
showS that, by the end of April or beginning of May, the
Guards, Cavalry, Royal Horse Artillery, and 9 Infantry Corps,
with the Artillery of two Divisions, had been completely hut-
ted; that S Infantry Corps were still without any huts; that
12 Infantry Corps, the Artillery of three Divisions, Naval
Brigade, and Siege Train, had huts for their hospitals only ;
and that 11 Infantry Corps; with the Royal Marines, were
partially hutted, to the extent of from one•fourth to one-half
of the men.

" A letter from Capt. Keane, of the Royal Engineers, the
officer in charge of wooden huts sent from England, shows
generally the state of the supply, and the reason.wby it was not
sooner made applicable to the accommodation of the men.

" SHELTER FOR HORSES.
" The date at which the hutting of the cavalry commenced
was iu no case earlier than the enel of Jan. or beginning of
Feb., and it was not completed before the middle of March,
by which time the severity of tbo season had so far abated
that this shelter was of.i.-.."paratively little importance. Con-
sideritig that these-Melt vptiXC within abbot a mile of the store
where the wood might be obtained, that they had no work in
the trenches, and that the only duties likely to interfere with
the application both of horses and men to this important ob-
ject was tho carrying up of their own forage from Balaklava,
and furnishing parties occasionally to bring down sick, and
carry up provisions to the front (which seems never to have
occupied more thanabout a sth part of the whole), it appears
strange that more rapid progress was not made in obtaining the
advantage of hut accommodation, particularly when they are
described as having suffered so much in their tents.
Considering, also, the suffering and severe loss of horses
from exposure to the weather in the commencement of the
winter, there appears to have been a want of promptitude or
baggage-horses of the Sappers and
Miners at Balaklava. Experience has' now proved that even
a very'moderate degree of shelter would have been sufficient
shelter, Such ucil n i
a devising
esvai saved the for them some means of temporary
to save the lives of many of the horses, if not to maintain
them iu serviceable condition ; and it must be presumed that
such measures were considered practicable, for a proposal to
erect, with the assistance of his men, some sort of cover for
the horses of the corps, appears to have been made by the
officer commanding the Scots Greys, but the manner in which
it is stated to have been received by the Lieut.-General com-
manding the cavalry was calculated to deter other officers
from making any similar proposal.

not make such appeals, it Nv as because they found that when
made by others they prod in ;ed no result.
"The Inspector-General. {states that the deficiencies in the
general store at Balaklava a rose partly from a failure in the
depot at Scutari to comp; v with his requisitions, and the
tardiness with which the sL4 plies thence were sometimes for-
warded, as well as from the:. omission, on some occasions, of
any notice of their shipme o t, in consequence of which they
were not landed. Difficul! • and delay were also sometimes
caused by their being stow e 1 under a great part of the cargo
which it was necessary to di a zharge before they could be got at.
" Though the correspene It Ince at pages 164 to 172 of Appen.-
dix no doubt shows that rep acted applications were made by
the Inspector-General to n a reserve dopot at Scutari for me-
,.

dicines and medical comfort a to inset the wants of the hospi-
tals in the Crimea, we feel 1 lc .n.nd to express our opinion that,
at a time when the existence:. of a great portion, of the sick was
imperilled by the tbsence of these supplies, something more
than the mere transmission o f the usual official demand on the
purveyor or the apothecary :st Scutari was necessary to relieve
the Inspector-General of kh; responsibility ; and when he
found the inattention to these) applications causing a delay of
nearly two months in the :ci rival of supplies for which the
demand was urgent, it appes :rs to us that ho ought to have
so.ne more decided steps to :insure attention to his requisi-
tions. A proper officer might; have been sent to Scutari, with
instructions to bring back mg hatever was most urgently re-
qnired for the hospitals.
"In some cases, however, the deficiency appears to have
arisen from imperfect, arraruements in the Crimea. The
storekeeper in charge of the medical stores at Balaklava, had
instructions to intimate when any drugs were running short,
and the sufficiency of the set pply seems to have depended
chiefly upon his vigilance and foresight; but as be was not
informed of changes in the pvg mailing diseases, he could not
anticipate the demand to whi o h that change would give rise,
and it was only from the extcx:t of the requisitions for parti-
cular remedies, which, per?).: tps, exhausted the supply in
store, that he became aware...of the necessity of replenishing
his stock. •

" It therefore happened thrgt, froni the 30th of March to
the 20th of April, when fever' most prevailed, and quinine
was extensively used as a rentody, and, in some corps, still
more extensively as a prophy !static, there was none of that
medicine in the general store. at Balaklava, though It largo'
supply was lying at Scutari. There was, indeed, a certain
quantity in most of the diviai onal stores, but in one there
was none, and several corps 'which had been using it exten-
sively were Urns suddenly depri veil of the remedy on which
their medical officers had chic f 1; ' relied. This deficiency was
partial and temporary, bat it&- occurrence after so much of
public attention had been diredted to the subject indicated a
defect in the system, which wues pointed out to Lord Raglan
in a letter of the 27th of April"

" HOSPITAL ORDERLI EIS AND ATTENDANTS.

" Numerous complaints wer a made by the medical officers
of the difficulty of obtaining si 6 table persons to perform the
duties of hospital serjeants, hoe pital orderlies, and personal
attendants. Where the pressur e of military duty was so great,
it was, perhaps, natural that t b ere should be some reluctance'
to part with efficient non-come nissioned officers or men from
the ranks; but it may be dou;V:ed whether persons well qua-
lified for situations in the hospi .‘al would not contribute more
to the relief of their effective < anurades by promoting the re-
covery of the sick than by to lugilm their tour of duty under
arms, and leaving the sick wilth less efficient attendance ;
whatever view may be taken elhat question, there seems to
be no doubt that the arrangem outs have proved insufficient,
and that adequate hospital att., m dance in camp has yet to be
provided. It is understood tl tai this defect is in course of
being remedied ; but, as it wo a much animadverted upon at,
the commencement of the camp etign, we may briefly notice the
previous practice in the army, and the course adopted to meet
the difficulties as they arose.
" The British army has hithe:ello, during peace, been kept
on so limited an eetablishment Voat it was necessary to resirt
to every expedientin order to economise its numbers. This,
no doubt, originated the long-e st ablished practice of having
e the hospital dutiesperformed lys men from the ranks, instead
of by persons especially enlisted :for that duty. The former,
when no great pressure of sicknuas requires their presence in
hospital, can be made available for military duty, while the lat-
ter are a permanent source of ex' imam without any such contin-
gent advantage. That system bas worked moderately well for
a long series of years, but when the army was required for ser-
vice in Turkey its numbers were so limited that it became ne-
cessary to add to the effective strength by every possible expo-
d i ent, and ene of the readiest whic. b. presented itself was to restore
to the ranks the men usually withdrawn for hospital service,
and to replace them from some other source.
" Nations whose armies are ra is ed by conscription are never
likely to encounter any diffrculty-in providing attendants on
the sick. Out of the large urn. iber of conscripts annually
placed at the disposal of the Goweorament there will-always be
many who, from their particular aptitude for that service, or
on account of their being less flit ed for more active military
duty, can be selected with adv at stage ; but an army which
has to depend entirely upon voluntary enlistment possesses
no such facilities ; the strictnessmvith which all military obli-
gations aro interpreted in this CD untry renders it necessary,
if he is to lag employed exclusi-roly as a hospital attendant,
that the merlin should be enlisted specially for that particu-
lar duty; and, among men in tbe vigour of youth, who are
inclined to enter the army, few a) re disposed to place them-
selves in the position of nurses af. a time when the operations
of active warfare are going on. :Although recruiting fOr this
particular service has 'now been_ going on for nearly a year,
with pay, pension, and other rit Ivantages, much exceeding
what is granted to the private soildier, the number required
is understood still to be incomplete, notwithstanding that re-
cruits have been taken at a mete h more advanced age than
they would be received Into any' other branch of the service.
_ •

" But when the war broke o ttt there was not time to ob-
tain the necessary attendants for,the hospital by the slow pro-
cess of recruiting; the demand for their services was imme-
diate, and it was desirable, especially at the commencement
of a campaign, that they should have some military experi-
ence, lest they might prove an encumbrance ; recourse was
tkerofore had to a eilectien from, the military pensioners, till
some more suitable body of mon could be obtained.
" The employment of this clas a, oven for the more onerous
occupation of garrison duty at II et me and abroad, was not an
innovation ; it has always been tho practice, on the com-
mencement of a war, to call back: into the service the pen-
sioners who may have recoverud from their disabilities,
or are still of an age to pe•rform garrison duty, and
they hold their pensions expreasly on condition of attend-
ing to such calls. During tho Peninsular war upwards of
10,000 pensioners were employed. in veteran and garrison
battalions at home and abroad , and immediately on the
breaking out of the present -Fair all those belonging to the
navy and marines were re-exami neat, and about 2,000 sent on
shipboard, or into the coast-guard, where they have since
been constantly employed. Nos ach call was made for the
services of the military pensioner's, because it was conceived
that they would be equally useful a an enrolled force in their
respective districts ; but, as the 7 arc a younger body than
the Greenwich pensioners, their :average age being only be-
tween forty and fifty, it was not an unreasonable supposi-
tions considering their provims military expeLience and
habits, that they might be usefully employed in the hospital
and ambulance duties, for which soldiers from the ranks
could no longer be spared.
" The measures taken to obtain these men, the conditions
of their engnonaent, and the precautions adopted in regard
to their qualifications are detallel by Colonel Tulloch in a
memorandum which is annexed ; and, as the various objec-
tions which have been taken to their employment are there
inquired into, it appears unnecessary to enter upon thesis
here, beyond stating that, if GU and inefficient, as is under-
stood to have been alleged of therm, they appear by the state-
ment noted below* to have been singularly fortunate as corn-
' pared with the youngest and most effective part of the force ;
the deaths between October and April having been only 53
out of a strength which averaged i'7o, or under 20 per cent. ;
while the mortality in the infantry during the same period
was nearly double that proportion. It is true that these men
escaped much of the hard work in the trenches, but they
must have sustained a heavy loss by their attendance on the
sick, particularly during the prevalence of fever, which in so
many instances proved fatal to the orderlies.