Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1854-12-29
rhe I.,1.r.ture 81 Batt1e

he histories and historians, that have held the at
ention ofthe British reading public so long IN the
,lash and din of arms the most highly special novel
oses It's interest," spals upon the mental appetite, fed
mon the details of carnage and the terrific realities
IF war What are the woes of an imaginary hero
Dr. heroine, what are the most poignant miserIes of
ordinary life-what the most highly wrought
scenes of social wretchedness in the most loathsome
nurlus and Asatias of great capitals, when brought
n comparison with the vivid SKETCH for instance OF
The Geld of Inkerman on the night following the bat
le furnished to the London Morning Herald, by its
Crimean correspondent What stern, sculptu
rescue Dantean group is presented by the following
extract from the letter of the Herads correspondent
'Across the path. side by side, lay five guardsmen,
who were killed by one round shot as they advanced
to charge the enemy They lay on their faces in the
same attitude, with their muskets tightly grasped IN
both hands and oil had the same grim, painful troUn
upon their features, lake aoho strck docn in
the act Of closing acith their foes" This death pic
ture reminds Of the frieZes, of the scuptured ag
onies upon some gloomy old Gothic temple. The
moonlight scene is sterny terrible
than any ina inative picture that ever rushed upon
the phrenzy-rolling eyes of a Salvador Rosa in his
most rapt mood:
"Facing me was the Valley of Inkerman, with the
Chernaya, like band of silver, flowing gracefully
between the hills which, for varied and picturesque
beauty, might vie with any part of the world. Yet
| shall never recall the memory OF lnkerman Valley
with any but feelings of loathng and horror; for
around the spot from which surveyed the scenery
lay upwards of 5000 bodies. Many badly wounded
also lay there; and their low dull means of mortal
agony struck with horrible dstnctness upon the ear,
or worse still, the hoarse, gurgng cry and vehement
struggle les of those who were convulsed before they
passed. Around the hill small groups of men with
hospital stetchers were searching out Tor those who
still survived; and others, again. with lanterns, bu
silly turning over the dead looking for the bodies of
officers who were known to be killed, but who had
not been found Here also were English women.
whose husbands had not returned, hurrying about
with loud lamentations, turning the faces of our dead
to the moonlight, and eagerly seeking for what they
feared to find. These latter were far more 10 be pl-
tied than the inanimate forms Of those who lay
slaughtered around.
X The fine tall forms of our poor fellows could
be distinguished at glance, through the gray great
coats. stained with blood, rendered them externally
They lay as they fell, in heaps sometimes our men
over three or four Russians, and sometimes Rus
sian over three or four Some had passed away
with smile their faces and seemed as If asleep
others were horribly contorted, and with dstended
eyes, and swollen features appeared to have died in
agony but defylng 10 the last Some lay as if pre-
pared for burial and as though hands OF relatives had
arranged their manged limbs, while others, again.
were in almost startling positions, half standing or
kneeing, cluching their weapons, or drawing car
fridge. Many lay with their hands extended toward
the skyas if to avert blow, utter prayer, while
others had malignant scowl or mingled fear and
hatred as if, indeed, they died desparing. The
moonlight impaired aspect of unnatural paleness
to their forms and as the cold damp wind swept
around the hills, and waved the boughs above their
upturned faces, the shadows gave horrible appear
of vitality; and it seemed as if the dead wero
laughing and about to rise This not the case
on one spo but all over the bloody field"
What scene is here presented on that blood stained
Crimean campaign, carpeted, as it were, with the
dead and dying bodies of thousands of and hor-
ses, with vast and mingled mass of convulsed and
agonlzed human and besal life, all blanched and
whitened by the CHASTITY spendor of the full noon
As long The letterwriters of the leading Partisan
and London journals furnish their readers with
such awful realities, the imaginary woes of fiction
must remain in abeydnce and the occupation of Mes
sers. Sue, Dumas, Dickens, Buwer, Thackeray, and
MesdameS George Sand and Jane Eyre will be gone
indeed unless they take passage in the Levant steam
ers for Constantnople Varna, and Sevastopol. But
there is particular need of these great masters
pairing to the seat of war to give the world vivid pic
lures of the dreadful realities there, because the
anonymous correspondents Of the London and Paris
journals, already on the ground, seem TO be fully
competent TO discharge their duty in this behalf
Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon these En-
glish and French letter writers. Their letters, in
point of mere literary finish and excellence, will bear
comparison with the best passages in the works of
the best writers of the day 1t is there
great hands on the ground, such as Knglake & Lay
ard, but there other anonymous correspondents
who are destined to high literary positions by
their Crmean epistles alone The great novelists to
whom alIuson has already been made, ought not to
complain that they cannot find readers during the
present momentous struggle.
They have had long season of fair weather where
in TO make hay, as the proverb goes-they Fave had
q long interval of peace wherein the ennuyed and
routine bored populations of enlightened countries
constantly obliged to resort TO their fascinating
pages to escape from the dull and palIng realities
occupations and incidents of ordinary life. If their
purses are in faced, collapsed state, now that the
rereatng tide of public interest powerfully attrac
ted and drawn in another direction, has left them
high and dry the beach, they must thank their
own prodigaty and want of foresight for their need
and insolvency The last quarter OF century has
been paradsa for noveists in particular With
the exception of the brief revolutionary outbreak in
Europe in 1S48 and few unimportant wars in re.
mote quarters OF the globe. and the world encircne
march of the cholera the highly spced narratives oil
the great living masters of fictitious writing, have
had counter excitements to contend with except
be sure railroad massacres and steamship disasters
which have occurred and reoccured and re-recurred
pretty frequently, to be The Errant Juif
Consuelo, Djalma, Micawber, Pickwick and the
countless host of mag inary personages, both tragic
| and comic, whose w.t. whims, quips, quirks, oddities
humors. ferocitles, pathos and misfortune have al
ternately convulsed the reading world with laughter
or drowned it in tears have had their day. for time
| at least The world has something TO weep ovel
now, not woven out of the airy materials wherein the
imagination delights to work, something made O.
sterner stuff. Therefore, it can dispense with tht
painted semblance of misery for while.
DISTRESS AMONG THE WORKING CLASSES IN New
YoRK.-The New York Herald says
"We announced some weeks ago that tho owners
of the large foundres and shpyards in the upper par
of the city had discharged great numbers of the
workmen, in consequence of the hard tim es tbev