The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-07 00:00:00

not get them—while in France, we are not so rich—we bul
common things for our soldiers, and they do get them-
and that is what makes the difference.' "

A French officer said to the writer, "Your army
is magnificent--officers and soldiers are first rate--•
but your staff is good for nothing, and the men are,
now perishing from their inability and neglect.
On the 29th of March, 1855, the author write
in his note-book, without further comment,
" Green coffee is served out to this day, to the
men at Scutari." The author renders frequent tog-
timony t 6 the accuracy and utility of Mr. Russell's
information. It would be absurd, be says, to 01
that every detail is correct, but that in such a moll
of writing there should be so little that can be dill'
proved, he considers marvellous. The publicity
given by the newspapers to the sufferings of the
army, at the time, be considers was of most essen-
tial service. It is unfortunately but too evident
since that nothing was afterwards done to bring
the offenders to justice. He ridicules the idea of the
papers giving information to the enemy, for hi
says the Russians need hardly have procured in.
formation of what took place in our camp three
weeks later, when they could have it in a fell
hours by means of their own spies, who, it is no'
torious, go in and out of the camp without did'
culty. The following passage is an effectual arr.
sever to those who deny the hardships the army
had to =duly.
There also some gentlemen who insist that the so'
counts published in the papers of the hardships suffered bl
the army during the winter are not only much exaggerated.
but in many inst tnces false. They contend also that such
sufferings as were experienced are inseparable from winter
campaigns. These gentlemen were living during that alai
in comparatively good quarters, passed every night in bed,
and were not exposed to fire or weather. They wars
eithsr well-fed by their generals, or had plenty of mono/
at their command to buy any luxury or necessary at ,al3l
price, no matter how exorbitant ; and as they never stirria
out except when they could not help it, and then never
went far, they were ignorant of what took place. ICaose
ing nothing themselves, and doubting what they heard,-
and read, they were not likely to give much information
to their superiors.

" I do not believe that the papers contained th. lesq
exaggeration. The wonder is—not that the men died
during winter, but that any of then' survived it."
The writer also severely censures the culpable
neglect. that left the heights of Inkerman unde•
fended.

`• A few days before the battle, some empty barrels were
made to serve as gabions, and filled with earth, and a tie„"
of parapet formed by putting sods of turf on the low well,
which had been erected soon after the first arrival of the
division. I was present while it was being done, anal
heard the staff-officer, who was superintending the work+
and who was afterwards killed, ridicule it, and call it
' Herbert's Folly.' 6ubsequent events pretty /Attila
showed that it was no folly at all ; and this breastwork,
although paltry in itelf, still did good service • and''
Colonel Herbert—or whoever caused it to be door"
made it as strong as the means in his power would per;
mit him to do. I have heard engineer officers say that
they used frequently to represent the unprotected
state of our Right; and m-my have said that Si!
De Lacy Evans and the Duke of Cambridge used, dik7
after day, to go to head-quarters, and beg that somothiof
might be done to fortify it, but all to no purpose,spa
that they were even laughed at; so I cannot but thin"'
that there must rest the blame. Defensive works we" ,
thought to be unnecessary. Directly after the battle
a strong work was thrown up onthe ridge, and erased Wititi
three iron 18-pounders, and three 8-inch howitzers. gad
this been done before, we might have repulsed the Rea;
clans with small loss to ourselves, for they never could
have established their artillery on the opposite ridge, and
there would have been little-danger of their breaking ill°
the camp at that point."
The author's opinion of the Turks is a very 10
one ; he has scarcely a word to say in their favour, '
though he frequently remarks on their treachery'
peculation, &c. In fact, he records it as his opinloll/
that, in defending Constantinople, our aim shouicl
ho less "to keep the Turks in than to keep the
Russians out." He considers that it will be necee'
sary for the Allies to keep an army of occupation
in Constantin pie for some time, to insure the carry'
ing out of the proposed reforms. The writer was
among the few English who walked about and Olin*
dered Sebastopol, according to a vow of long stand"
ing, which ho began to fear would never be fulfilled.
He deserved some peculiar reward for his persever-
ance, for he says that though hundreds of amateurs
went out for longer or shorter periods none re-
mained so long or lived so much in the camp as h.
did. He appears to have been especially fortunet°
al3o in immunity from accidents or illness, as he
tells us that " most of the volunteers in this cant'
paign have come to grief. Whether they cony
menced as civilians or as volunteers from other re-
giments not engaged in the war, with few exuer
tions, they have either died, been killed, or severelf
wounded.' Full details of the battles are givenj
though they are so well known that comment wow('
be superfluous. Among the many books that have
been written on the subject, few have given a more
forcible and impartial narrative of the events of the
war, or shown forth more clearly the confusion and
suffering occasioned by official mismanagement.
The easiness and simplicity with which it is written
will attract many to whom technical terms and de'
scriptions would be unintelligible. On the whole,
therefore, it may safely be ranked among the most
successful works on the campaign.