The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-04 00:00:00

straw prior to that date. There appears always to have
been enough of barley in store or iu the harbour, though
there was occasionally much difficulty in getting at it,
owing to the crowded state of the shipping, and it was at
all times difficult to find conveyance for it to any consider-
able distance. The bay and straw began to fail about the
14th of November, after the gale in whiah so many vessels
were lost off the coast; prior to that date no serious defi-
ciencies have been established.

"During the great scarcity of hay and straw, between
the 14th of November and Ist of January, the Commissa-
riat seem to have been in nearly the same difficulty as the
Quartermasters in regard to furnishing any accurate state-
ments of their issues. The forage had to be sent up on the-
regimental bat animals, there being no other means of trans-
port. It was often late before they reached Balaklava, and
they were in so weak a state that the men sent with them
could only venture to carry up a portion of the forage due ;
what was left behind would probably be considered by the
Quartermaster a short issue, while the Commissariat officer
would, perhaps, hold that had made an issue in full.
It is admitted on all hands, that there was groat irregu-
larity in the arrangements at that time, which we hope
will be considered a sufficient reason for our not attempt-
ing to enter into any details of the deficiencies at that
period. It may ouffice to state that they must have been
very considerable indeed, and, coupled with exposure,
were no doubt the cause of very heavy loss and inefficiency.*
There is one case, however, from which such serious con-
sequences how° arisen that it requires some special notice.

" WANT OF FORAGE IN LIGHT CATALRY BRIGADE.

"The Light Cavalry Brigade, which had for some time
previously been stationed in the valley adjacent to Ba-
laklava, was removed, first to the vicinity of head-quarters,
for two or three days, and thereafter, on the let or 2d of
November, to Inkerman, where it was stationed near the
Windmill, a distance of at least seven or eight miles from
Balaklava. This change at a time when the roads were in
an extremely had state, and when there was great diffi-
culty in obtaining the means of transport, created very
serious obstacles to a proper supply of forage being ob-
tained.

"It is alleged by Depety-Assistant-Commissary-General
Crookshanks that there was a certain quantity of hay at
Balaklava, but not the means of carrying it io the front ;
occasionally he managed to brieg up a little till the 14th
of November, when the supply failed entirely. After that
date the want of transport affected the supply of barley
also, which on several days did not exceed from to
21b. daily per horse, being all that they had to keep them
alive. The returns of ono of the regiments show that, for
the last four days they were on the ground, the average
was only about 211 b. for each horse, previously exhausted
as they had been by the want of hay or straw during the
early part of the month.
" When the supply began to fail, the Commissariat officer
referred to, who appears to have done everything in his
power to meet the difficulties of the case, proposed, as he
knew there was plenty of barley at Balaklava, that if a de-
tachment of the horses were allowed to go down daily he
would engage to bring up enough for the rest of the brigade.
This proposition appears to have been brought specially
tinder the notioe of Lord Cardigan by Lieutenant-Colonel
Alayou, Assistant Quartermaster-General of Cavalry, who
states that his lordship declined to accede to it, as he had
previously done when a similar proposition was made to
him to send the horses down for hay before that sup-
ply failed.
"The whole brie•ade remained in this state till the 2d of
December, when it was directed to return to its previous
position, but by that time the horses were reduced to each
a state from starvation that they could no longer bear the
weight of their riders ; they had to be led down ; many
were left on the ground in a dying state, and of the re
mainder 17 died on the road before they could reach their
former station, a distance of only about 6 miles.
" It is no part of our duty to enter into the military
reasons which may have led to the detention of this ori-
gade on a spot where the horses could not be foraged by
the Commissariat, or which may have induced a refusal to
adopt the only measure by which apparently they could
be subsisted; we merely call attention to the fact, as one
of the instances of a deficiency of supply which formed the
special subject of oar inquiry.
" With regard to tho period from the Ist of January to
the 31st of March last, returns have been obtained from
each quartermaster showing the quantities of forage re-
quired, and the quantities received and deficient, of which
a summary is given in the Appendix. This does not esta-
blish any apparent deficiency of importance during that
period, for it was the practice, when hay was wanting, to
make it up by double the weight of shopped straw, or
sometimes by half the weight of barley ; 21b. of bran were,
in like manner, occasionally substituted for the usual issue
of chopped straw, so that on the whole the horses during
this period seem not to have been badly rationed, though
not with precisely the same description of forage as they
had been accustomed to on home service.
" In comparing the regimental and Commissariat state-
ments and returns on this head, it is necessary, however,
to keep in view that, owing to the difficulty of carrying
chopped straw, the men often objected to take it, and
much was in consequence left behind, when it could not be
exchanged for any other description of forage. This ap-
pears to have been in some cases assumed as a deficiency,
though it could obviously not be considered by the Com-
missariat in that light, or borne on the returns as such.

"LOSS OF HORSES DURING THE WINTER.

" With reference to the effect of the deficiency of forage
and the other privations to which the horses of the army
were exposed, we have ascertained the loss among them
from various causes in the Cavalry and Artillery. A sum-
mary of the return obtained on that head will be found at
page 193 of Appendix, which shows the loss attributable
to sickness to be as follows, for the six mouths from Octo-
ber to March inclusive :