Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-02-14
Miserable Condition of the English
Troops in the Crimea.


bune, in letter dated Jan. 4, at Constanti.
nople, increases the suferings of the Eng.
lsh army to degree not yet yentured upon
by The Times itself. The Tribune has the
utmost confidence that the report is no ex-
aggeralion. The letter says:
No sooner had news of the acceptance Of
the four points reached this place than it
was bruted that peace would positively
ensue. 1t is also said that dispatch was
sent to Lord Raglan, stating that an armis.
tice might be expected soon, and have
heard it said that the news was quite balm
and cordial to the poor suffering British
soldiers in the bitches before Sebastopol.
OF these sufferings, no one at a distance can
furm any correct view. When | tell you
that after the battle of Inkermann there were
but $4,000 fighting men left out of some
10000; that, although 10000 men have
been added since then, the number of fight.
ing men still continues the same; that the
British hospital at Scutari at this moment
contains six thousand invalids, and that some
TWO thousand men are at Balaklava waiting
to come down here to die, you may form
some estimate Of things. Friends OF mine,
both English and American, who have re-
Gently visited Sebastnpol, tell me that the
miserable condition ofth British camp forms
striking contrast with that Of the French.
Lord Rag CLAN is despised, by his own officers
as well as men,, to degree almost amoun-
ting to INSTRUMENTATION. He is an old aud
feeble man; his own dwelling in the camp is
comfortable house, abundantly supplied
with furniture, and appearing to be the
museum for all the knick. .knacks stolen
from the Russian country-seats which once
stood on the locality Of the camp, but which
has been burned by the freezing men for
fuel. He is never known to visit the troops,
nor to look at the trenches; he never orders,
or superintends review of them; nor is he
ever known to give any order showing an
interest in their destitute condition and i'm.
mense suSerings. When the news of his
elevation to the grade of Field Marshal came
out from England, it elected universal
groan among all of the British troops, and
even from the officers, at the reckless and
unjust manner in which the Queens govern
ment had thrown it away upon an incompe-
tent, unworthy object. This, however. is an
act OF unjust policy, done with the view of
securing for England, in future history, all
the credit of the landing in the Crimea, the
battles of Alma, Balaklara and lnkerman,
and the -. Of Sebastopol. The French
have long since said that The English were
an incumb:ance to them, and that it panied
them thus to behold wretched and suffering
humanity without possessing the power to
rescue. They freely say that the English
are brave men, but not soldiers; that they
are totally destitute Of any knowledge Of the
administration of an army and, indeed, they
now look upon them as no longer the nation
which they were in the time Of Napoleon ],
The position of the British forces is the
more exposed of the two, while their mum.
bers are too few for the task assigned to
them. There are not enough men to afford
proper relief to those in the trenches
The soil Of the Crimea is mixture OF clay
and lime; there is, however, abundance of
stone in layers, but the soil is soft, and when
wet, becomes extremely ly miery. This is pc.
culiary the case in the trenches, where the
ground is heavy, and the water always from
one to three feet deep. Notwithstanding
this, they must he occupied to save their
own lives and that Of their octogenarian and
semi -imbecie Field.Marshall. Imagine a
thousand men standing long night in win.
ter-perhaps under continuous fall of rain
jim these bitches, denied the tight to sleep,
and required to be ready at moments no.
tice to rise, rush forward and repel the at.
tack of their never tiring, never.sleeping foes.
How arduous must be this service, will be
seen from The fact, that, in the face of Ger.
tain death, these men often fall asleep and
are bayone'ed by the sorties, OF which you
now and then read garbled accounts in tho
papers.
Balaklava is some six or seven miles
from the British camp; the ascent is at
first steep, but afterward the road is rath.
er level, offering no other obstacle than the
want of a good road. bed The British
commander has foreseen nothing, and con.
sequently prepared nothing, for winter
Rains have thoroughly soaked the road, and
rendered i! perfectly impracticable for man
or beast. The Commssariat is managed
in a manner quite ncomprehensible, and
all Of the English people here declare that
several of its chiefs should be hung for their
utter indifference and negligence. Imagine
the fact that the men in the trenches have
no other food than dry biscuit, raw pork,
aud unburned coffee, and that hundreds of
them are now in the Scutari hospital.bar.
racks here, with feet mortified from long
and continued exposure to the wet of the
trenches-After weeks of wet, with no
change, and without the means of drying
their shoes or boots, the men give up in ut
ter despair, from inability any longer to
stand on their feet, and lie down to die, while
their comrades, in pulling off their soaked
boots, pull off the toes in them! Incredible
as it may appear, have heard that the large
steamer Jason contains a great number OF
boxes full of shoes and boots for these same
men-that they have been on board for
some five months, and that each visit to
Baiaklava, the Captain and Purser begged
the English Commissaries to take them, and
give them to the suffering men-but they
will not, because it requires an order from
some superior authority. This, am assur.
ed, is the case with many other objects of
general utility to the poor, suffering English
solders, than whom braver men never shoul-
dered musket The French must, and do,
feel perfect contempt for the British army.
The superior French officers say that Louis