Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-02-08
A sCoRcHING ARTICLE FROM THE LONDON
TINES.

A sCoRcHTNG ARTICLE FROM THE LoNDo
TINES.
"THE INGRATIrUDE OF MoNARcHIEs"-
ArriUol Back IN England Of sliJ
! load Of Wounded Soldiers from tn
! Crimea-7He Heroes Of dina, haker
mann, and Balaklaya.
On Tuesday last, the Himalaya ar.
rived at Portsmouth, and, after delay
of twenty-four hours, ranged alongside
the jetty, and began TO unload her
melancholy cargo of sick and wounded
the shaken and mutilated remnants of
the heroes of Alma, of Inkermann, and
of Balaklava. 1t must have been in
itself touching and moving spectacle,
such as the sternest nature could scarce
ly witness without pity. Here were
men who, exposed to every hardship,
and urged on by no incentive but feel
ing of honor and devotion, by the mere
effort of unconquerable will and un-
finching hardihood, had saved our
army from destruction and our country
from disaster, and what was now left OF
this tremendous infantry, this gsllant
and dashing cavalry? Armless, eye
less, footless, as our correspondent de-
scribes them-rent with shot or shell,
pierced by bayonets, and hacked by
sabres, they staggered on, supporting
each other in this melancholy march,
till they stood once more on that sacred
soil which bad sent them forth to con-
quer, and which might almost be sup
posed to throb under the feet of its re-
turning protectors.
They came; but who was there to
welcome them? Everybody knows that
Portsmouth swarms with officials, naval
and military, and that, if the Queen
had been landing from Osborne instead
Of our helpless and crippled soldiers
from the Crimea, there would not have
been wanted one of the tale to swell the
unmeaning pomp and idle ceremony
We should have had the Admiral Su-
perintendent, the Port Admiral, the
Lieutenent Governor, and host of 9TH
er officials whose titles it is not worth
now recording, as none of them could
find time to attend to this ordinary duty
of hospitality and humanity, or to see
that the noble freight of the Himalaya
was received with all honor, all graft
tude, and all tenderness. The officials
went not there, though they received
"a hours notice, and the Decentralization
was left to be effected by the invalids
themselves, with such aid as the crew
of the steamer could afford them. But
there is one class of officials never want
ing to the duty of saluting an English
man on his return to his native land. If
the Generals and Admirals were want
ing, the custom-house officers were not
They were there to examine the bag
gage Of the wounded soldiers, laudably
anxious that no single pound of tobac-
co should escape its contribution to the
revenue, and afford an untaxed solace
to the miserable hours of sickness or
The search was con-
Quoted on the open jetty, and until it
was concluded no soldier or officer was
allowed to leave the spot. They sat
and crouched as best they might in the
bleak January afternoon, those shiyer-
ing and mutilated relics of the strong
and the brave, and pondered, doubtless
with thoughts too bitter for words, on
the welcome which the country for
which they had given all, extended to
them in returns
There were no ambulances, no stretch
ers: there was no one to care for them,
OF to conduct them to their allotted
home, until at last, after the matter
seemed almost desperate, help came in