Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1855-01-19
The State of things before ssbastopol.

The following savage article Is an lex.
tract from the leading article OF the Lon.
don Times Of Dec. 23d. It discloses a
state Of things, which il true, has been stu.
diously concealed heretofore.
There is no Disgusting the matter r.
We are not speaking from our own cor
respondence only, We say, on the evil
dence OF every letter that has been re.
.eived in this country and we echo the
opinion Of almost every experienced sol.
der or well.informed gentleman, when
we saw that the noblest army England ev.
.r sent TO these shores has been sacrifice
ed to the greatest mismanagement. In
competency, ie,hargy, arislocratic hau.
teur. official indifference, favor, routine,
perseverance and stupidity reign, revel
and riot in the camp before Sebastopol,
in the harbor Of Balaklava, in the hos
pitfalls of Scutari, and how much nearer
home we do not venture to say. We
say it with the EXTREMIST reluctance
no one sees or hears anything Of the
Commander .in.Chief. Officers who in
ded on the l4th Of September, and have
been necessarily engaged in the opera
tions of the seige, are not even acquainted
with the face OF their Commander,
Had the eye Of the, General. fallen on
the confusion in the harbor Of Balaklava,
on the impossible state Of the road from
that place to the camp, on the state Of
the trenches, on the unprotected state Of
the right flank, before the battle !.of Ink
ermann, and, before that, on the circum.
ctanCes under which the futal charge OF
Balaklava took place, we can hardly sup
nose but that so able man as Lord Rag.
Ian undoubtedly would have prevented
such errors and neglects. We only echo
the feeling Of every letter from the seat
OF war. In the officer and the private
alike we find quiet, resigned, unimpas.
stoned conviction that the whole affair is
bungled in tho most hopeless and horri-
bic manner. Everybody perceives it in
his own state, in the fate Of his comrades
in the condition of the camp and in the
progress Of the seige. Young gentlemen
bred in every luxury, and with an ample
store of every military comfort, were still
at the last date, wearing day and night.
nothing but the threadbare clothes and
worn.eu, boots in which they landed on
the l4,h Of September. They had no
means Of getting up the things left behind
in the transports. What becomes Of ev-
erything sent TO Balaklava nobody knows,
but, while they are rotting, thousands are
perishing for the want OF them. Every.
body can point out something that should
be done. but there Is nobody to order it
to be done: aud fifty thousand men, or
what now remains Of them, are drifting
with their eyes open, but hand bound,
spelI.bound, 1,owards destruction. Do
any OF the letters, or any of the regimen
tai officers returned from the war, give a
different account
On the contrary. does it come within
everybody's knowled5e, as it does in ours
that me letters handed about in private
circles. and not published. lest they
should prejudice the writer in the seyes
OF his superiors, give far more gloomy
account than any letters that we have
ventured.o publish!
The burden is forced upon us, and we
must speak out. Good nature is II pleas.
ant tning IN us way, Dut II EnSiahu Il
ever TO be ruined, i, will be by unseason.
able good nature. by unlimited confidence
connlvance, indulgence, and all Vie sof-
ter forms OF virtue. England has not
become what i, it is by good nature, nor
is good nature the one sole element Of
our social and commercial system.
Send on, men who will save the army
not from the Russians, though they are
formidable, bu, from despair which is
weighing down the spirits Of every one
II will be Of little use to send ont rein
forcemen,s by thousands unlees we take
steps for their better management. As
it is, they march to their graves. and be.
gin to perish by scores from the hour
they land. Misrule receives them on the
beach, and wearies them, drenches them,
and so destroys them. till few spectral
figures are all that remain. The soldiers
Of the Peninsula. when they saw the
the Duke Of Wellington after an absence
used to exclaim that his face did them
more good than the arrival Of ten regi.
ments. Such head OF coadjutors equiv.
alent to il, is what We wan, for the Cn.
mea.