Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-09-03

The New York Times, in view of the re-
iterated sneers which we have received
and are receiving from the English press
as to our failure to put down the rebellion
in one year, reads John Bull an interest
ing and instructive lesson from his own
history, as to the success with which
that power prosecuted the Crimean war
In doing this, the Times is free to confess
that we have lost a great many men by dis
ease and a great many by battle-we have
wasted great deal of mOney-have made
great many mistakes-have lost great
deal of time-have frittered away great
many resources, and, upon the whole,
cannot look upon the last year as one Of
brilliant success. But of all other nations,
the British have the least reason to taunt
us with want of activity or results, as the
following facts in her own history will
show: The English troops left England in
February, 1854, and landed-27, 900 strong
upon the 14th of September, every man
of them, in consequence of a wantof pre-
paration in the quartermaster's depart
ment, being compelled to stop the first night
in the mud, without fires, tents or blankets,
and in the midst of a cold rain Storm
On the goth of September the battle of
Alma was fought, in which the French
took the lead. On the 25th the armies ad-
vanced to Balaklava, when they sat down
to the siege ofSebastopOl, one halt of which
town the French carried by assaultjust
one year from that time Here was one
year of time, thousands of fmen and endless
quantities of stores wasted without the sligh
est reason therefor. On the 9th of October
they began to dig trenches, to plumber the
neighboring peasants, and to die of fever
and cholera. On the 25th the English
were attacked at Balaklava by the Russians
whom, with the aid of the French they
succeeded in repelling. When this was
done the English again settled down to
digging and dying of fever. There was
most shameful lmismanagement in the care
of the troops. Hundreds died from cold
and neglect. On the 5th of November,
the Russians again attacked them at mixer
mann, which had been 'unaceountably'
left undefended. A terrible conflict en-
sued, in which the English were
finally saved by the French, who
turned the Russian flank and COM
PEELED them to retire. The Allies now went
into winter quarters. The Russians, when
the English set themselves down before
sebastopOl, had had no expectation ofbeing
able to hold out, but encouraged by the
inexplicable inactivity of the English, had
proceeded to throw up the Notifications
and defences which proved so formidable.
Winter came in with all its horrors, so
graphically portrayed by Russell, Of the
Times. He writes The wretched beggar
who wanders about the streets of London
in the rain, leads the life of Prince when
compared to the British soldiers who are
fighting out here for their country"
Cholera broke out, and the huts and
streets of BalaklaVa were full of the un-
buried dead and the unattended dying.
The camp Russell describes as sea of
mud. He says =" Vultures sweep over
the mounds in Aocks; carrion crows and
obscene birds hover over their prey,
menace the hideous dogs who are feasting
below, or sit in gloomy dyspepsia, with
dropped head and dropping wing on the
remnants of their banquet p Horses
drnn axhanztHI- 4hA road Man .--ndn
and plunge about, faint from hunger and
die from sickness under the very eyes of
comrades powerless to help them. Dec. 4th
seventy dead bodies were deposited in
shallow graves ;-"I count" says Russell
on the 9th, "thirty-fve " bodies already on
the ground, and it is early in the day p
men were absolutely freezing for lack of
shelter while timber for huts lay on board
ship which nobody could unload and
cargoes Of warm clothing could not be
brought ashore because the regulations"
would not permit The British troops
were absolutely dependent on the French
for food, for shelter, for help in cooking,
and for everything they had. Sixty horses
persisted in one night from cold, and out of
one division alone $50 men were taken out
of the trenches seized with cramps and
half frozen. The ambulance corps was
utterly disabled, and but for the kind
ness of the French" says Russell, in
lending US their litters, many of our poor
fellows would have died in their tents"
And so it went on day after day, until
out of $4,000 British soldiers sent to the
CTimea since the beginning Of the s0aT, in
September, 1854, not 25, 900 on the 1st Of FEB
ruary, 1855, remained fit for duty! During
December and January alone 5000 sick
and wounded were sent on board ship at
Balaklava. The Brigade of Guards which
mustered $500 when it left England, and
had received 1,5OO reinforcements, num-
bered less than a thousand in the beginning
of February"
In the following June Lord Raglan,
COmmander-in-C Chiefof the British forces,
died, and was succeeded by Gen. Simpson.
On the 18th of August the Russians made
another attack upon the Tchernaya, and