The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-17
THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The Appreciation That n Gave Godkin
ofthe Horrors OF War.

efthe Horrors OF War.
leetiops" In the New York Evening
Post.)
In 1858, while was living In London.
there were many threatenings Of war on
the horizon. EnRland was beginning
once more TO be excited about what was
called "the eastern question" There
were then several unsettled questions
which, as has been well said, "have no
pity for the repose OF nations" One
was the eastern question, which was
made up Of two sub-questions: What
was to become OF the Greeks, and what
was to become Of the .Turksf The Greeks
were the only Christians Of that part Of
the world who had begun to attract.wsst-
ern attention. The servians were only
too glad 10 be unmolestsd swinehsrds,
and the Bulsarians TO be obscure farm
ers. There were other qusstions-the
Italian question, the Polish question and
the Hungarian question; but Europs was
rarely wrought up by more than one at
n time. BY the eastern question I was
excited, - we'll as my elders. wrote o
letter to tho Daily News aivocxting the
Chains Of the Greeks to Constantinopls.
Why knight Hunt, the then editor. &C.
cepted II and published it with certain
prominence, I never fully understood.
My recollecti ton of 1t 10 that 10 was most
ly rhetoric and classical "Reminiscences. 1
was only ~. and knew nothing about
either Greece, or the Greeks, or Constant
inople; but I was possessed with that
common illusion Of young men. that
facility In composition indicate the ex-
istenos Of thought. In the early years Of
the Nation, received visit from man
who wished to become q contributor to
that periodical. He assured me Of his
ability to write; the only difficulty with
him was, he said. that "he could not
think Of anything to say."
was not a. badly on at the time Of
which speak a. this man was. l had
enough to say, but 1t was not relevant.
1t was, however, good enough In Mr..
Hunts eyes to lead him to ask me to 60
to Turkey for tine Daily News, II war
broke out It was declared q few days
later, and went to the Danube, where
l saw tn, outbreak Of hostilitiss. l did
not 60 to the Crimea until the winter Of
1854. passed q ooupls Of months at
Eupstoria, about 10 miles north Of Sebss-
topol, which WAS assaulted by . strong
Russian column while ] WINS there. A
few Indian offlnsrs, home on lsave, and
myself were the only Giaours present,
and the Indian officers were stron ely Of
the opinion that, II the place were oar
ried, the fugitive Turks would massacre
US out Of sheer vsxation. The assault was
made, but failed. The column advs ncsd
through Munssulman graveyard, u nder
a heavy fire OF artillery. When the affair
was over, rode over their Inc Of march
and came upon the most horri BILE speota.
ole Imaginable The shot had brok en-
the tombstones into small piece, nd
through them had Inflicted the ghas tliest
W unds and decorations on the men who
had fallen. had been over two other
battisfslds on the Danube, but they ware
nothing like this, though covering .
wider area.
There was an English ship lying In the
harbor. whose fire. thrown across the
town without the possibility OF aiming,
considerably annoyed the Russians, and
forced their cavalry to retire ont OF range.
! watched the practice with interest, and
admired It's excellence, considering that
20 years later to curious little ooinci.
dencs. was invited to dinner at the
late George Cabot Msrd's In New York.
to meet an Englishman named Robartes.
l cat opposite him at the table. and was
telling the story OF this fight, and Of the
aid rendered by the English ship, when
noticed that he was not only interested
but excited. and was evidently eager to
say something. l began to fear l had
oomp,ittsd some indisoretion, when, to
my relief, he burst forth with II was the
midshipmAn In the maintop. directing
the fire Of the guns." had many chat
with him afterward aboat those "old
Late In the spring went OF Sebastopol
and was there until the place was taken.
Owing to the kindness Of friends In the
Piedmontese army, was enabled to visit
the Malakoff either the afternoon OF Its
capture or the following morning, / now
forgot which; but the burying parties
were just going to work. When We
reached the top Of the parapet, the Rus
SLAMS we're still dropping shells from the
other side OF the harbor wherever they
saw group, SO that we were obliged to
walk singly. The sight which met our
eyes within the fort was q horrid one
Ten thousand men, as / was after ward
told, both Ruf sians and French, lay dead
within IN Enclosure Of two or three acres,
the result of an hour or two OF mutual
stabbing and shooting. No one. not even
the youngest, could avoid the reflection
that probably but few Of these unfortu.
nates knew what the quarrel was about
In which they had sacrificed their lives.
This, and the scenes In the trenches
through which, passed that day. gave
me dissust for war which, during the
40 years that have since elapsed, l have
never ceased to express whenever an OPP
portunisy offered. The do,trine Of the
Inheritance Of qualities, which now plays
90 large part In the discussions OF mod
ern publioists concerning the course Of
history, inevitably suggests that the
fighting instinct which lies latent In the
breasts of even the most civilized peoples
must be legacy from countless genera
tons Of rem ote ancestors, who, even
after the dawn of consciousness, must
have followed rspine and the murder OF
strangers as their daily occupation. lt
% In fhaaa thtuua in raaltty thai war con-