The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

MEETING OF ENEMIES.

A little scene at the outposts on the Inkerman
line, in the depth of winter, gives palpable life to
a large class of incidents on the skirts of the diffe-
rent camps. It is quite dramatic in its way :
" A few nights ago, when it was very cold, our
men on sentry in front of Inkerman observed seve-
ral Russian soldiers coming towards them without
arms, and they naturally supposed them to be de-
serters ; but on their approaching nearer they
made signs that they wanted a light for their pipes,
which one of our men gave them, and then they
stayed a few minutes talking to our sentries, or
rather trying to do so, the conversation being some-
what after this wise :
" Ist Russian soldier--'Englise bono
" lit English soldier—' Ruskie bono !'
" 2d Russian soldier—` Francis bonu !'
" 2d English soldier—' Bono r
" 3,1 Russian soldier—' OAlem no bono r
" 3d English soldier—' Ah, ah ; Turk no bono r
" Ist Russian soldier— Oslem !' making a face, and
spitting on the ground, to show his contempt.
" Ist English soldier—' Turk !' pretending to run
away, as if frightened, uppn which all the parties go
into violent laughter, and then, after shaking hands,
they retire to their respective beats."

KINGLIKE AND HIS PONY.
" This morning (before the battle), when Lord
Raglan was waiting, surrounded by his staff, for the
troops to get into their places, a gentleman joined
us on a handsome little pony. This pony began
neighing and screaming in the most wonderful man-
ner, and so continuously that one could hardly hear
what was said. At last it attracted Lord Raglan's
attention, and he said, I never heard a pony make
such a row ; does any one know who the gentleman
is !' Some one of the staff said, I think he is one
of the newspaper reporters, my Lord ; shall I tell
him to go away ?' Lord Raglan laughed, and said,
' If you do, he will show you up you may depend
upon it.' It so happened that I had made this
gentleman's acquaintance on the beach a few days
before. So I told Lord Raglan that it was Mr.
Kinglake, the author of Eothen." Oh !' said my
Lord, ' a most charming man 1' and was going to
speak to him, when Marshal St. Arnaud came up,
so for the time he could not do so. About 11
o'clock, as we were nearing the Russian position,
indeed when within sight of them, Lord Raglan
and his staff were riding in advance ; presently a
pony dashed past us at a furious pace, and who
should it he but Mr. Kinglake ! On he went right
through our skirmishers, with his horse's head be-
tween his legs ; but, fortunately for his rider, the
saddle got forward, and after a time went over the
horse's ears—of course the author of ' Eothen'
went with the saddle. It was rather an absurd
thing just before a battle ; we all laughed except
Lord Raglan, who rode up to him and inquired
most kindly after him ; offered him (I think) one
of his own ponies to ride, and told his orderly
to put his saddle to rights. Mr. Kinglake was
all thanks. That night, after the battle, Lord
Raglan met him wandering about, not knowing
where to go, so asked him to dinner. Of course
he came, and delighted every one present with
his charming manner and conversation."

THE DAY AFTER THE BATTLE OF ALMA.
" In the course of the morning there was a con-
ference between Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord
Raglan ; the former wished much to advance and
follow the enemy. To this, however, Lord Raglan
would not listen ; and he said he had nearly 3,000
wounded English and Russians, and that as we
moved over three miles from the sea, it Iwas quite
impossible to move them all on board a ship under
two days. The Marshal said he had lost over 1,200
men hors de combat, and out of that number 1,000
wounded had already been moved on board ship,
or would be so by the evening. I say that is what
the Marshal said ; but everybody else said it was a
great exaggeration. . . . On returning towards
headquarters Lord Raglan saw a French gun-limber
drawn by six horses, standing a few yards from
where the two Russian guns that we had captured
had been placed, so he sent one of his aides-de-camp
and Vico to know what they wanted. M. Vico
asked first of all one of the French drivers ; he an-
swered, with the most perfect innocence, that they
had come to fetch the gun. What gun ?'—' Oh !
one of the guns taken by the English.' Ccol, rather
I think. However, on M. 'Vico asking a French
serjeant who had come in charge of the limber, he
was sharp enough to say that he had been sent by
the French general of artillery to take the calibre
of the gun ! A strange way of doing so, to send a
serjeant with a limber and six horses. There could
be no doubt that they came with the full intention
of taking one of the guns away ; and, indeed, the
Marshal almost admitted it to Lord Raglan, for the
next day he proposed that all the trophies taken
from the enemy should be divided between the two
armies. This was of course not agreed to by Lord
Raglan, who knew there would be endless dis-. I
putes."