MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 269, 30 May 1855, Page 3

MEMORANDA ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE WAR.

(Selected from Private and Published Letters.) tlipPl? SlT> I<)N, 0F THB Russians.—Riding along in, 7 (0" lhe 27th Nov-) over tie French B S-i "in Ule lele.«''aph to the lower road to their IHi °"c C(Hlhl see the Russians chafing « coStW 7 ' IW" the"h»«e». «r enoaged Selbonrnl " T' U, Xi- A"y Olle who has visited Han-"r Sifn amberß<i "P t0 the tn^ °f U' e over "the " 'r o VWy fair idea of the llei«hts towams r i y ' B:ilakl!iva as it sweeps round Z^ mTi always bnTrin flhe hei"'ht Ute thvtllf oak and thick brushwood.

From the angle of the plateau over the Tcher■naya the heights are destitute of timber or brushwood, and descend to the valley in shelving slopes of hare rock or gravel banks. The valley lies at the bottom, studded with a few giant tumuli, on which the redoubts which formed so marked a feature in the affair of the 25th of October are situated. It is about a mile and abalf across from the telegraph to the base of the heights at the other side of the valley, which rise in unequal plateaux, on one of which is Kamara, on another Tchorgoun, on another B,iidar, till they lose their character of table lands and become rugged mountain tops and lowering Alpine peaks, which swell in. the distance into the grand altitude of Tchatir Dagh. Along this base the Russian horse, which seems to number 6 oi'j7;6oo, are constantly moving about between the T.ehernaya and the redoubts in'their possession, but at times some of them disappear up the gorge of the Tchernaya, as was the case this morning. Possibly they go for provisions to the more open country behind the gorge. Their-in-fantry, which does not appear to exceed 8 or 9,000 men, are stationed up in these mountain villages, or amid the plateaux which are covered with scrub and bushes. Their artillery must be stationed in the villages. At present there is no sign of their preparing for an assault, and assuredly, if they do come on, they will receive a most egregious hiding, for our men are in a good position, and the allied infantry are nearly as strong as theirs, while their cavalry and artillery will be paralysed. General Caurobert has taken upon himself the responsibility of saying that we need make no increase to our force at Balaklava, for that he will guarantee the safety of the place.—7?mes Correspondent.

Unaccountablk Impovidence.—lndeed our cavalry is at present employed in feeding itself. It is all they have to do. The men are sent down with their horses from the camp to the water side every day, and carry back their fodder and rations. It is perfectly disgraceful to the authorities, whoever they may be, to see on this, the 12th day after the gale, trusses of coin- ,_ pressed hay, floating about and rotting in eyeVy j direction in the harbour, while our horses are dying of sheer inanition. Scandalous neglect and indifference to the interest of the public service are chargeable somewhere or another in this matter. The compressed hay would have kept sweet for many days had it been fiched out even within the week after it had floated out of the wrecks, and the slight impregnation of the outer portion by salt water would not*have rendered it at all distasteful to the horses. But no ; we are all "Jolly miller weights" out here, and care for nobody or nothing; and so the fodder floated and bobbed about, stranded on the fringe of unutterable abominations and corruptions by the beach, floated off again, and rotted and stank, and stinks and rots, while the animals are half starving. lv the same way the immense amount of timber which washed about the harbour and on the coast outside, and which would have answered for hutting all the army, and for fuel, was permitted to drift out again the other day, when the freshet set in to the head of the harbour, after the rains, and when the wind blew off the shore, and very little of it was saved; though woe betide the luckless wretch who may be found by the Provost-Marshal walking off with a piece of wood for bis hut without an order.— lbid.

Sufferings of the army at Balaklava. —Although it may be dangerous to communicate facts likely to be of service to the Russians, it is certainly hazardous to conceal the truth from the English people. They must know, sooner or later, that the siege has been for many days practically suspended, that our batteries are used up and silent, and that our army are much exhausted by the effects of excessive labour and watching, and by the wrt and storm to which they have been so incessantly exposed. The "Russians will know this soon enough. They are aware of it long ere this, for a silent battery—to haz.ird a bull —speaks for itself. The relaxation of our fire is self-evident, but our army, though weakened by sickness, is still equal to hold its'position, and to inflict the most signal chastisement mi any assailants who may venture to attack them. In fact, I believe nothing would so animate our men, deprived as they are of the cheering words and of the cheering personal presence and exhortations of their generals, and destitute of all stimnlaiinu influences beyond those of .their undaunted spirit and glorious courage, as the prospect of meeting the Russians outside their

entrenchments, and deciding the campaign at the point of the bayonet. It is now pouring rain—the skies are as black as ink—the wind is howling orer the staggering tents—the trenches are turned into dykes—in the tents the water is sometimes a loot deep—our men have neither warm or waterproof clothing—they are out for 12 hours at a time in the trendies—they are plunged into the inevitable miseries of a winter campaign—and not a soul seems to care for their comfort, or even their lives. These are hard truths, but the people of England must hear them. They must know that the wretchedbeggar who wanders about the streets of London in the rain leads the life of a prince compared with the British soldiers who are lighting out here for their country, and who, we are complacently assured by the home authorities are the best appointed army in Europe. They are well fed, indeed, but they have no shelter, no rest, and no defence against the weather. The tents, so lonjf exposed to the blaze.of a' Bulgarian sun, and now 'continually drenched by torrents of rain, let the wet through " like sieves," and are perfectly useless as protections, against the weather. A hundred military ' Ofelli' will send home word of this to England, and it is now impossible for any English general to control the correspondence of officers and men under his command, though in despotic, countries the censorship of the press may sucr. ceed in restricting to the terrified hearths and. homes of families the depressing and anxiousinfluence of letters from the seat of war. No, one despairs of success and victory, but the country ought to know how dearly they aro earned, end lo whom they are due.

The Cholera, at Bai-aklava.—-The cholera, which broke out on the night of the 28th of November, continues its ravages, and we cannot estimate the number of deaths from it and its abettors in the desiructron of life lower than 60 per diem. No less ihan 85 men died the nisrht. before last in the camp, according to the statements I have received and believe, and the number of sick men is very large. Among the victims to cholera and fever, within the last few days, were Lieutenant Godfrey, senior lieutenant of the Rifle brigade, a young and popular officer; Lieutenant M'Lachlan, of the Royal Artillery, who was also a great favourite ; and two men of the Mounted Staff Corps, recently arrived here. Of the marine officers in the trenches only two are fit for duty. Of the naval lieutenants of the brigade of seamen, amounting to 20, it is stated only five are able to work. — Ibid.

The Turks making a Road.—The Turks are'em ployed in making; a road—actually making a road at last! Its course will be from the town, past bead-quarters, up to No. 5 Baftery They are also employed in handing on shore and piling shot and shell. It is amusinsr t<> watch the miserable gravity and indifference wiih which these poor civ;t:ires work. Standing in vows, the men pass the shot from the boats to the beach with a lazy air, which is only disturbed when an unusually big fellow turns up for transmission. Then the groans, the rolling of eves, the convulsive struggles, the grunts which pass like electric shocks from man to man with the 68-pouud shot or 13-inch mortar are really astonishing, but at last the globe of metal seems to acquire heat, and is dropped in the mud like a hot potatoe by a suffering Mussulman. They are really weak and wretched, not naturally/ but owing to sickness and bad living.— Ibid.

The Hokbous of Balaklava.—As to the town itself, words cannot describe its tilth, its horrors, its hospitals, its burials, its dead and (lv'mg Turks, its crowded lanes, its noisome sheds, it* beastly purlieus, or its decay. All the pictures ever drawn of plague and pestilence,, from the work of the inspired writer who chronicled the woes of infidel Esrypt down to the narratives of Boccaccio, De Foe, or i\igliko, fall short of individual'" bits "of disease and death which any one may see in hal'-a dozen places during half an hour's walk in Balakiava. In spite of all our efforts the dying Turks have made of every lane and street a cloaca, and the forms of human suffering which meet tlie eye at every turn, and once were wont to shock us, have* now made us callous,and have ceased even to attract passing attention. Raise up the piece of matting or couise rug which hangs across the doorway of some miserable house, from within which you hear wailing and cries of'paiu and prayers t > the Prophet, and you will see iv one spot and in one instant, a uiiu>s> of uecumu-

lated woes that will serve you with nightmares for a lifetime. The dead laid out as they died, are lying: side by side with the living, and the latter present a spectacle beyond all imagination. The commonest accessories of a hospital are warning; there is not the least attention paid to decency or cleanliness—the stench is appalling—the foetid air can barely struggle out 10 taint the atmosphere, save through the chinks in the walls ami roofs, and, for all I can observe, these men die without the least effort being made to save them. There they lie just as they were let gently down on the ground by the poor fellows, their comrades, who brought them on their backs from the camp with the greatest tenderness, but who are not allowed to remain with them. The sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by the dying. In the Russian hospitals great mortality has taken place amongst the wounded, and only 20 prisoners are now under treatment for wounds. Hospital gangrene broke out among them, and the stumps mortified. It is said, indeed, that some of the men were so fanatical or so ignorant that they tore the bandages off their stumps and refused to let the surgeons probe their wounds. The Avon, which has 350 sick and wounded on board, loses only about bor 6 a-day. While I am dwelling on the condition of Balaklava, I may mention that there is no control whatever established over the sutlers allowed to open stores in the town, and the result is that the soldiers are fleeced enormously by the scum of Levantines who buy up cargoes of cheap articles at Constantinople, and sell them here at enormous profits. The French with a wise contempt for the axioms of political economy in war time, establish a surveilance over their sutlers at Kamiesuh, and lay down a tariff of prices which allows a fair-profit, and the result is that they are actually far better-supplied'than we are in our open market. We have one or two respectable men at Balaklava, but they cannot find room in their stores for all the hungry applicants from the camp.— lbid.

The 63rd Regiment.—We were engaged in that sanguinary battle of the oth of November, when the regiment greatly distinguished itself, and where its loss was severe. Colonel Swyny fell near the commencement, struck by a piece of shell on the right temple, close to the Rossians, one barrel of his revolver being found to have been discharged. His body was "discovered without being robbed as most were, and we buried him near our General, Cathcart, and other officers who fell almost at the same time. He was the only mounted officer of the corps whose horse escaped. Ensign Clutterbuck and Ensign Twysden, carrying the colours, both fell. The former died instantaneously on the field, struck in the hf>ad ; the latter received a mortal wound, and lived in his tent, most carefully attended by his servant (Kenny) for some days. He was a gallant young fellow and need not have been in ihe field that day, as he was on inlying picket. He carried the Queen's colours, which he uncased and unfurled, which doubtless made him a conspicuous mark, though he died from a shell wound. Captain Fairtlough was shot through the thigh, Adjutant Bennet through the leg. his horse shot under Lim. Lieu tenant Newingham, who left the sick-list that morning- to be present, received a ball in his leg, which is still lodged ; Captain Harries wounded in the foot by a splinter from a shell ; Ensign Morgan, very severely by shell, iri the leg; Captain -Rarrison, and Lieutenant Johns, wounds slight. Almost every officer present was grazed, bruised, or had his clothes torn. The re»iment was fairly among the Russians, charged like veterans, and when they turnc.i |u>iu:d them with large stones. Poor Captain Curtois, towards the close of the action, when lying <n the ground was nearly cut in two by a ion>!<l shot. I spoke to him a i'ew minutes before, ;u,d lie was smoking as coolly as possil.;-. He lived two hours, and died qnietlv in hi- t.n.t. Major H..11. Dwlzell had a horse shotHii.ie,- :,i,n. Sergeant Hack proved himself an heir,: was acting sergeant-major, the other nemo :, ;i :;„, side list. Serireaiit Bropy was sbottim.L^h the thigh. Captain Macquarie, -fcaisign famish, and 60 men have arrived ■ aiidil.-e-Kiib, 62nrt,jwid 97tb Regiments have also «mvert, ; ,s well as draughts from the brtiardj. 2:irn, 55ih, 57th, and 68th; these constitute rdiiforcHuients to about 4000 men, and were niiic-h wauled, as the army, originally too small, uas n-<iw.:ed by at least 8000 men by disease !l{ | ( ] casualties. The winter will be, iiowevcr, m:v v.o.st foe. Our position here is sostn- ;;g -that, the wont overwhelmiiig force of

the enemy can hardly dislodge us.

Yesterday we got do rations, and the men are suffering very much from the continual exposure to the constant wet and cold that we have had for the last week ; their feet are never dry, some of them have uo soles to their shoes and no socks, others no shirts ; and I would defy any one who saw the regiments leave England to recognise the careworn half starved skeletousof which they now consist. We are encamped on a clayey piece of ground, which is now mud up to the knees; the tents are as wet within as on the outside, and there is what is worse than any thing else, a scarcity of wood. We have been told that we may hut ourselves, but how to do so without Wood I know not. Our engineers and artillery are doing nothing. The French are pushing forward their approaches to within 200 yards of the mud fort: but the storm of shot and shell is so great that it is a wonder how they exist at all. They are magnificent soldiers. J made my debut in the trenches last night, and inarched down in silence in a storm of wind and rain. The trenches are very wet, and no attempt lias been made to drain them. The consequence is that we are all standing in wet up to our knees, with no dry places to put our firelocks.

The Guards at Balaklava.—Oh, London, come and behold your Guards. Here they are ! What do you think that half-starved piece of humanity is, with a hayband tied round his legs to keep his trousers together, and with a ragged coat, and a face that saw soap (lie last time that it smiled across the Eusine ? Is he one of the Guards? Yes, this unfortunate little village is now one straggling mass of men and horses— worse than those that Henry reviewed before the battle of Agincourt—powder, shot, shells, &c. Keep on your; legs by all means, for if you are down it is all over with you.

An Incident of thb War.—l was with my poor master in all liis engagements, attending him as near as possible. We lay down together at night in his tent, and the same blanket covered us. It took me eight hours to pick him out from the dead ; and when I found him his rough coat had been stripped off him. He had five bayonet wounds, and his undercoat was riddled with shot. I wrapped him up in his cloak and two blankets and carried him over the dead to his tent, laid him out, lit a fire outside his tent, and watched over .him all night. The next morning I got a stubborn jibbing mule and a gun carriage, and laid him thereon, to take him down to Balaklava to his brother who had arrived but to see him about three days before. With difficulty, I got along the road, about eight miles, when I met some blue-jac-kets—four ; I told them whnt I was doing, and asked their help. " Ay, ay, my lad, we'll help you." They went into a Held and got two bullocks and a cart, put the body on it, and most carefully conducted it to Balaklava ; and when I offered to reward them, not a farthing or a drop would any of them accept. Brave fellows, those blue-jackets! Tthen went on board one of the ships, bad a coffin made, put the body into it, and buried it in the churchyard at Balaklava. Then I raised a headboard and planted his grave with cypress; and whenever after I went there, there I found the younger brother nf my late master, Sir R. N——. I sailed with him from Balaklava in the Medivay, and came overland to England. No tongue can describe the horrors of the battle of Inkermann. I was there waiting for my master, having his telescope slung around me, with a bottle of water, two potatoes in my pocket, a bit of ham and a biscuit, and a small bottle of rum. Many of the officers wished me to stay, particularly a colonel ; but no, sir, I have outlived one dear master on the battle field—l cannot take on with another. I must hasten home.