Jp jra 5r spa ©S III 1A8I®^« A Panoramic View of the Seat of War around Sebastopol, includJng^anubian Provinces, Turkey, Asia Minor, ^\ m Russ i a and the Crimea, froma Surveyj ^order of Louis Napoleon, Emperor ofFrance. 1. Bukowina. 2. Sereth. 3. River Sereth, 4. Transylvania — Austria. ronstadt — a frontier ■ Austria. 6. Part of the Carpathian range of Mountains. 7. Moldavia. 8. Botuchany. lo! ChSatk 11. Brailow. 12. Bucharest — thotnpital f *\y a \_ lachia. 13. Wallachia. 14. Oltenitza. 16. Giurgevo. 16. Bessarabia — prcni uce f Turkev taken by the flgsians. 17. Bender — the capu of Bessarabia. 19. Kilia. J). Keeeial 23'. The River Pruft _ tho pre3ent boundary oftt fassian Empire. , The River Dn: . The River Danube — the northern boundary of the Turkish Empire. . Part of the Turkish province of Bulgaria. . Schnmla. . Rustchuk. . Silistiia. . Matchin. , Baltschik. . A range of rugged Mountains, 3fi. Burgas. 3b Constantinople 42. ThcDudMeU™"™- 43. G.ilhp'ili, 44. Sult»»fch,th S Tro M ofth e New i* "Wineiit. 45. Bune! -' "i Hi supposed to be the 51. Boh\ . Siuope — where a great portion of the Turkish fleet was surprised by the Russians, and destroyed. . Trebizond, a commercial town of Turkey. The country around Siuope and Trebizond was for- merly a Roman provin " " Paphla; . the New Testa- Armenia.^ w Ptel of Turkish 59. Bajazid. 00. Mount Ara^ 61. Erivan. 62. Kars. 63. Gurari. 63A. ThePlain Sof . „ Plains offt; ^Mat, called the 64. Tims, the ^m the Bible vaai of Georgia. In headq' 65. Gori. 66. Stavropol, the capital of Caucas the countrv inhnhif^ i — t 67. a ~..„ FU1 , tuc capital ot UaucaMa, the country inhabited by the Calmuc Tartars, aicasus Mountains, extending from the Sea of Azof to the Caspian Sea. . The flat country of the Don Cos- sacks, between Stavropol and Tchcrkark. 68. New Tchcrkark, the »?' Don Cossacks. 69. The River Dou. ., 70. Rostov. 72. Sea of Azof. „ tt B< 73. The Steppes of Sou" 74. Odessa, on the soul" the Black Sea. 7.5. Nicolaief. . _ Wc h (WJ 76. The Village in »ni» J^i philanthropist, and was buned. 77. Kherson, 78. Berislav. 84. Bunat.... 85. Old Tort. 88. Balaclava. 87. Alushta. 00 Caffa. Gulf of Caffa. ma the principal fortress of tho the norllic.i I <)'"« 'the'Black Sea. The succes- of fortresses below Anapa Published by HIGGTTJS & BRADLEY, 20 Wnsta^ ^^ Bostoni THE POWERS OF EUROPE AND FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. BY A BRITISH OFFICER. ILLUSTRATED FROM SUPERIOR PHOTOGRAPHS. BOSTON : HIGGINS AND BRADLEY, 20 Washington Street. 1856. Tfe Entered according to Act of Oongrees, In the year 1866, by HIGGINS & BRADLEY, In the Olerk'a Office of the District Court of the United States, for die Southern District of New York. PREFACE. This work makes no pretensions to absolute originality being partially a compilation, with incidents in the life of the Author, who was an actor in many of the scenes narrated. He has striven to be judicious in selecting, from the most authentic sources, only that which would be interesting, at this crisis, to the general reader. Some extracts are given entire; in other cases, long pas- sages have been abridged and condensed. Information from a vast variety of sources has, in many instances, been put together, and presented in a new and more graphic form. Minute details, as far as practicable, have been avoided ; whilst the whole ground has been, more or less, completely surveyed. The Author has sought to make a popular vol- ume, which might be read with pleasure, and be permanently serviceable as a book of reference. The bloody sieges of Saragossa, Gerona, and Badajos, have been referred to more in detail to afford the opportunity of comparison with that of Sebastopol ; while the battles of Auster- litz and Waterloo have been described for comparison with those of Alma and Inkermann. The origin and progress of the present war are detailed. The biographies of the princi- pal characters now engaged in the East will be found enter- taining ; and the Author confidently hopes it may prove a volume of interest and permanent value. H.F. G. CONTENTS. CHAPTER L • Summary survey of Europe — Aristocracy of France — France previous tc the Revolution — Revolutionary Symptoms — The Great Powers, 1792-6 — William Pitt — Execution of Louis XVI. — The Allies against France — Siege of Toulon — Invasion of Holland — Napoleon — His early youth — Thirteenth Vendemiaire — The Campaign in Italy — Rapid victories oi Bonaparte — Expedition to Egypt — Return of Bonaparte — First Consu late — The passage of the Alps — Second Campaign in Italy — Napoleon Emperor — War with England — Alliance between the Great Powers, 1805 — Indecision of Prussia — Alexander visits the tomb of Frederick the Great — Battle of Austerlitz — Treaty of Tilsit — Secret understanding respecting Turkey — British orders in Council — Battle of Wagram — ■ Annexation of Finland — Campaign of Moscow — The Grand Alliance, 1813 — Battle of Leipsic — Allies enter Paris. CHAPTER II. Origin of the War in the Peninsula. — Siege of Saragossa. — Murderous Character of the War. — Success of the French in Portugal. — Battle of Rolica. — Battle of Vimiero. — Convention of Cintra. — The French evacuate Portugal. — Preparations of Napoleon for another Campaign. — He subdues the Country, and enters Madrid. — Address to the Span- ish People. — Napoleon recalled by the War with Austria. — Soult and Ney intnisted with the Command of the French Army in Spain. — Retreat of Sir John Moore. — Battle of Corunna. — Death of Sir John Moore. — The British Army sail for England, 50 CHAPTER III. Joseph Bonaparte again King of Spain. — Hi3 Difficulties with Soult. — Second Siege of Saragossa. — Another English Army, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, lands at Lisbon. — Battle of Ta^avera. — The English retire into Portugal. — Siege of Gerona. — Principal Events of the Campaign of 1810. — The English Troops make a Stand at Torres Vedras. — Retreat of Massena. — Siege of Cadiz. — Escape of French Prisoners. — Opening of the Campaign of 1811, 99 CHAPTER IV. The Author, with his Regiment, leaves Gibraltar, for Tarifa. — Dissensions between the Spanish and English Officers. — Battle of Barossa. — Retreat of the French. — Suffering of the Pursuing Army. — Guerillas. — Don Julian Sanchez. — Juan Martin Diaz. — Xavier Mina. — Continued Pri- vations of the British Army. — Adventures of the Author in Search of Food. — Arrival of the Commissariat with Provisions. — Extravagant Joy of the Troops. — Departure of the British Army for Badajos, . 123 CHAPTER V. Badajos. — Its Capture by the French. — Attempts to retake it by the English. — "Wellington invests it in Person. — Assault upon Fort Chris- toval. — Storming of the Town. — Terrific Conflict. — The place sacked by the Victors. — Disgraceful Drunkenness and Debauchery of the Troops. — The Main Body of the Army depart for Beira, .... 160 CHAPTER VI. Brief Summary of Events for Four Tears preceding the Battle of Waterloo. — Author's Narrative resumed at that Period. — Preparation of Troops for the Battle. — Skirmishing preceding its Commencement. — Recep- tion of the News at Brussels. — Departure of the English for the Field of Battle. — Disposition of the Forces. — Attack upon Hougomont. — Progress of the Battle. — Arrival of the Prussian Reinforcements. — Charge of the Old Guard. — Flight of the French 217 CHAPTER VII. TURKEY AND RUSSIA. Origin of the Ottoman Empire — Siege and Capture of Constantinople by the Turks— Mahomet — The Sultans — Abdul Medjid—Kis, popularity and power — The Koran. The Russian Empire — Area and population — Social organization — Reli- gious policy — Nobility — Serfs — Conscription — The Army — Progress cf Russia and extension of her frontiers — Nicholas — Poland . . . 221 CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF THE WAR. Arrival of Menschikoff at Constantinople — Demands of the Czar — The Sultan — Occupation of Moldavia and Wallaehia — Conference of Vienna — r Protest of the Porte — Turkish forces — Commencement of hostilities . 258 CHAPTER IX. OMER PACHA. Anecdote — His Birth — Reforms — Sultan Mahmud — Enlistment in the Turkish army — His application — Expeditions among the wild tribes — Appointed Generalissimo — Present high position — Domestic life — Marriage — Personal habits — Kossuth and Hungarian refugees — War on the Danube —Battle of Oltenitza 268 CHAPTER X. SCHAMYL, THE PROPHET-WARRIOR OF THE CAUCASUS. Caucasus — Character of the tribes — Circassian slave trade — Birth of Schamyl — Personal appearance — Form of government — His army and body-guard — Financial rule — Struggles with Russia — Personal habits — Legend — Circassian women in battle — Escape from the Russians . 283 CHAPTER XI. Town of Sinope — Osman Pacha — The Mussulmans — The Black Sea squadron — Exploit of Captain Drummond — Sebastopol harbor — Achmet Pacha — Citate — The Battle — Turkey, as a military power — Christian population — War in Asia — England and France — Declaration of War — Embarkation of Troops , . . 298 CHAPTER XII. TREATY OF ALLIANCE. The Five Articles of the Treaty — "War on the Danube— General Luders — The Pestilence — Decree of the Czar — Governor of Moscow— Loss of the frigate Tiger — Captain Gifford — Black Sea fleet — Duke of Cambridge—, Arrival at Varna — Captain Hall — Admiral Plumridge — General Bodisc< — Silistria — The Siege— Mussa Pacha — Evacuation of the Principalities bj the Russians 309 CHAPTER XIII. CRIMEAN EXPEDITION. The Crimea — The Fleet — Appearance in the Bay of Baltjik — Sail from Varna — Land atEupatoria — March inland — Battle of Alma — Lord Raglan — Appearance of the Troops — Distance from Sebastapol — The morning of battle — Advance to the river Alma — Russian Position — The Zouaves — Storming the heights — March to Sebastopol — Death of Marshal St. Arnaud — General Canrobert 323 CHAPTER XIV. SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Bay of Balaklava — Landing of the Siege guns — Russian guns — Sebas- topol — Its appearance — Military harbor — Fortifications — Vessels of war— The country around Sebastopol — Allies opening trenches — Message of the governor to Lord Raglan — Bombardment — Lancaster guns — Explosion in the French batteries — Russian powder magazine explodes — The Allied Fleet — The Cannonade — Riflemen — Battle of Balaklava — British and French Position — The Combat — The Turks — The Highlanders — The Russian Cavalry — Captain Nolan — Lord Cardigan 344 CHAPTER XV. SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Lord Raglan — His life — Battle of Inkerman — Morning of battle — Sons of Emperor Nicholas — The attack — Troops engaged — Fierce encounters — Sir George Cathcart — His death — Russian cruelty — French infantry — The Zouaves — Chasseurs — Russians retire — Renewed attack — Repulsed b} 7 the French — Defeat — Sorties — Night after battle — Treaty with Austria of 2d ' jj) ec . — Negotiations for peace — The four points — Landing of Omer Pacha at Eupatoria — Death of the Emperor Nicholas — Alaxander II Fall of Sebastopol. . . . ; • 372 CHAPTER XVI. SIEGE OP SEBASTOPOL. Siege of Sebastopol continues — Sardinia joins the Western Alliance — Battle of Eupatoria — Sudden death of Emperor Nicholas — His love and pride for his Army — His last "Words — Alexander II. ascends the Throne — His 1vTa.-mfp.fitr> to his Subjects — A Sketch of him — Recall of Prince Menschikoff from command in the Crimea — His abilities and failings — His Successors — Gortschakoff's Military Career 175 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Summary survey of Europe — Aristocracy of France — France previous to the Revolution — Revolutionary Symptoms — The Great Powers, 1792-6 — "William Pitt — Execution of Louis XVI. — The Allies against France — Siege of Toulon — Invasion of Holland — Xapoleon — His earl}- youth — Thirteenth YenJemiaire — The Campaign in Italy — Rapid victories of Bonaparte — Expedition to Egypt — Return of Bonaparte — First Consu- late — The passage of the Alps — Second Campaign in Italy — Xapoh on Emperor — War with England — Alliance between the Great Powers, 1S05 — Indecision of Prussia — Alexander visits the tomb of Frederick the Great — Battle of Austerlitz — Treaty of Tilsit — Secret understanding respecting Turkey — British orders in Council — Battle of Wagram — Annexation of Finland — Campaign of Moscow — The Grand Alliance, 1813 — Battle of Leipsic — Allies enter Paris. "The fate of the East depends upon yon petty town," was the exclamation of Bonaparte to Murat, as he pointed towards Acre, which even his military genius was unable to subdue. Repeated and desperate assaults proved that the consequence which he attached to the taking of it was as great as the words expressed. The imagination reverts from the position of the army of Egypt before that ori- ental city, arid rapidly traversing the events of succeeding history, runs down to the position of the army of the suc- cessor of Bonaparte, and of his English and Turkish allies, who, on nearly the precise parallel of longitude, are uni- tedly engaged in besieging one of the first strongholds of Europe. In recounting some of the great events of the times 1 2 EUROPE AJSTD TEE ALLIES. which have filled the world with their grandeur, and whose present and future place in history overshadows the preceding ages, a rapid resume, of the situation of Europe, just previous to and at the commencement of the great drama, may be useful, and serve to recall facts and events which may to the general reader have been known but forgotten. One who stands amid the gardens and grounds of Ver- sailles, and contemplates the enormous luxury and expend- iture of its builder, while he recalls his vast wars, his policy, and his intrigues, can better understand the decla- ration of Louis XIY. to his assembled parliament. " The State ! I am the State!" And such an observer can also discover the truth of that statement, that it was that buil- der who laid the foundations of the French Revolution with the stones of Versailles. The keen sagacity of the polite Chesterfield could detect that approaching revolu- tion a quarter of a century before it took place ; and his remarkable prediction shows how rapidly the signs of the gathering storm must have accumulated in the years suc- ceeding the Augustan age of France. The energies of the nation had been devoted to the service and pleasure of the monarch ; they now began to be directed to their proper end, the examination of their own interests. From the theatre and the pulpit the genius of the French people hurried precipitately into morals and politics, a sudden revolution took place in the minds of all, and the conflict it produced lasted during a whole century. The exclusive privileges of the aristocracy, who mono- polised every official position, and who alone were eligible to rank in the army, choked the developement of the great CONDITION OF FRANCE, 1787-8. 3 body of the people ; and while they consumed the reve- nues of the State they were in a great measure exempt from taxation. Cradled in the luxury of courts, the aris- tocracy were sunk in vice and effeminacy. And they looked upon the great body of the people as only a neces- sary appendage to a government in which they had neither right nor control. In the most martial nation of Europe the private soldier could not, by the greatest daring or genius, elevate him- self, because only the aristocracy could obtain rank. The effects of the opposite system were afterwards seen with Napoleon, who boasted that he conquered Europe with the bivouac ; with generals raised from the ranks. The oppressions of the feudal tenure in France exceeded belief ; the people were even obliged to grind corn at the landlord's mill, press their grapes at his press, and bake their bread at his oven on his own terms. The fermentation which had long been going on in the public mind; "the revolt against* eighteen centuries of oppression" began to develop itself rapidly. Yet the monopolizers of all the national rights continued to dispute for a worn out authority. The court, careless and tranquil in the midst of the struggle, were wasting the property of the people while surrounded by the most frightful disor- ders. When it was told to the effeminate and dissolute Louis XY. that the nation could not suffer much longer, he characteristically said, "Nevermind, if it last my time it is sufficient for me !" Such was the eighteenth cen- tury. It was during the years 1787 and '88, that the French nation first conceived the idea of passing from theory to EUROPE AXD THE ALLIES. practice. The weak and vacillating Louis XVI., the least fitted of all men to guide the destinies of a nation in the throes of political convulsion, had successively tried ministry after ministry, and one expedient after the other ; yet the ship of state was swiftly approaching the vortex of the whirlpool in which it had entered. " Upon what trivial events often depend the most im- portant affairs. The mistake of a captain, who bore away instead of forcing his passage to the place of his destina- tion, has prevented the face of the world from being totally changed," said Napoleon. " Acre," continued he, " would otherwise have fallen : I would have flown to Da- mascus and Aleppo ; and in the twinkling of an eye, would have been at the Euphrates. I would have reached Constantinople and the Indies, and would have changed the face of the world." It was thus in the assembly of the Notables, called by the intelligent, brilliant, and care- less Calonne, then minister of state, that a member, com- plaining of the prodigality of the court, demanded a statement of the expenses. Another member, punning on the word, exclaimed, " It is not statements, but States General that we want." This single random expression struck every one with astonishment, and seized by the people was immediately acted upon ; the States General were called, and the public mind was filled with the wild- est fermentation : France and Europe were to be immedi- ately regenerated ; visionary schemes without number were formed ; and that general unhinging of opinions took place, which is the surest prelude of revolution. That revolu tion now came, and in its tumults and convulsions the An- cient French Monarchy rapidly approached its extinction. DECLAEATION OF WAB, 1788-92. 5 Amid frightful disorders, famine appeared ; the elements seemed to partake of the savagery of the times ; and the severity of the tempests of summer which destroyed the harvests, was succeeded by a winter, 1TSS-9, of unparal- leled rigor. Soon began that vast emigration of the nobili- ty, which was afterwards succeeded by the attempted flight of the king ; while all authority but that of the Sans Culottes seemed abolished. Foreign affairs became daily more menacing ; the young Emperor, Francis II. of Aus- tria, was gathering his armies, and soon demanded the re- establishment of the monarchy on its ancient footing. All classes in France now anxiously desired war; the aristocracy hoped to regain their lost privileges with the assistance of Germany ; the democracy hoped, amid the tumult of victorious campaigns, to establish their princi- ples. At length, on the 20th of April, 1792, oppressed with the solemnity and grandeur of the occasion, the declara- tion of war against Austria was received by the National Assembly of France in solemn silence. Thus commenced the greatest, the most bloody, and the most interesting war which has agitated mankind since the fall of the Roman Empire. Eising from feeble beginnings, it at length involved the world in its conflagration; rousing the passions of every class, it brought unheard of armies into the field ; and it was carried on with a degree of ex- asperation unknown in modern times. " A revolution in France," says Xapoleon, " is always followed, sooner or later, by a revolution in Europe." Situated in the centre of modern civilization, it has in every age communicated the impulse of its own changes to the adjoining states D EUROPE AKT> THE ALLIES. Thus, the great changes which had taken place in France had excited all Europe, and spread the utmost alarm in all her monarchies. Austria, Russia, Prussia, and England were at that period, as now, the great powers of Em-ope, and they were the principal actors in the desperate struggle which ensued. They were in a situation capable of great exertion ; years of repose had fitted them, to enter upon a gigantic war. England, although she had lost one empire in the west, had gained another in the east ; and the wealth of India began to pour into her bosom. The public funds had risen from 57, at the close of the American War, to 99. Her army consisted of 32,000 men in the British Isles, be sides an equal force in the East and West Indies ; but these forces were rapidly augmented after the commencement of the war, and before 1796, the regular force amounted to 206,000 men, including 42,000 militia. Yet experience proves that Britain could never collect above 40,000 men upon any one point of the continent of Europe. But her real strength consisted in her great wealth, in the pub- lic spirit and energy of her people, and in a fleet of 150 ships of the line, which commanded the seas. England, like other monarchies, had slumbered on con- tented and prosperous, and for the most part inglorious, during the eighteenth century. A great writer ob- served, that while America was doubling her population every twenty-five years, Europe was lumbering on with an increase, which would hardly arrive at the same result in five hundred ; and Gibbon lamented that the age of interesting incidents was past, and that the modern histo- rian would never again have to record the moving events, AUSTRIAN EMPIRE, 1792. 7 and dismal catastrophes of ancient story. Such were the anticipations of the greatest men on the verge of a period that was to usher in a new Caesar, and to be illustrated by an Austerlitz and a Trafalgar, a "Wellington and a Waterloo ; and the human race, mowed down by unpa- ralleled wars, was to spring up again with an elasticity before unknown. William Pitt was the great Prime Minister of England at this time, and modern history can- not exhibit a statesman more fertile in resources, and whose expedients seemed as exhaustless as his great abilities. Fox and Burke, each distinguished by a high order of in- tellect, filled the British Parliament with their reasoning and eloquence. The great Austrian empire contained at that time near- ly 25,000,000 of inhabitants, with a revenue of 95,000,000 florins, and numbered the richest and most fertile districts of Europe among its provinces. The wealth of Flanders, the riches of Lombardy, and the valor of the Hungarians added to the strength of the Empire. Her armies had acquired immortal renown in the wars of Maria Theresa. At the commencement of the war, her force amounted to 240,000 infantry, 35,000 cavalry, and 100,000 artillery. Her court, the most aristocratic in Europe, was strongly attached to old institutions, and the marriage of Maria Antoinette to Louis XYI. gave the Austrian court a family interest in the affairs which preceded and followed the French Revolution. The military strength of Prussia, raised to the highest pitch by the genius of Frederic the Great, had rendered her one of the first powers of Europe ; her army of 165,- 000 strong was in the highest state of discipline and equip- 8 EUBOPE AND THE ALLIES. ment, and by a system of organization the whole youth of the kingdom were compelled to serve a limited number of years in the army, so that she had within herself an in- exhaustible reserve of men trained to arms. Her cavalry was the finest in Europe. The majesty and power of Russia was beginning to fill the north with its greatness, and in her struggles and bat- tles from the time of Peter the Great, through her wars with Sweden, with Frederic and with the Turks, she had constantly advanced with gigantic strides towards the Orient and the West. Her immense dominions compre- hended nearly the half of Europe and Asia ; while she was secure from invasion by her position, and by the severity of her climate. The Empress Catharine, endowed with masculine energy and ambition, had waged a bloody war with Turkey, in which the zeal of a religious crusade was directed by motives of policy and desire for the acquisition of new territory which should pave the way for that future expected conquest of the whole of Euro- pean Turkey, and which should give Russia the shores ot the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmora as her southern boundary, and should make Constantinople, the seat of her commerce and her power over the Mediterranean and the East, the centre through which she might command the world. The infantry of Russia has long been celebra- ted for its invincible firmness, and the cavalry, though greatly inferior to its present state of discipline and equipment, was formidable. The artillery, now so splen- did, was then only remarkable for its cumbrous carriages and the obstinate valor of its men. Inured to hardship from infancy, the Russian soldier is better able to bear MILITARY STRENGTH OF RUSSIA, 1788-92. D the fatigues of war than any in Europe ; he knows no duty so sacred as obedience to his officers. Submissive to his discipline as to his religion, no privation or fatigue makes him forget his obligations. The whole of the energies of the Empire are turned to the army. Com- merce, the law, and civil employment are held in no esteem. Immense military schools, in different parts of the Empire, annually send forth the flower of the popula- tion to this dazzling career. Precedence depends entirely upon military rank, and the heirs of the greatest families are compelled to enter the army at the lowest grade. Promotion is open equally to all, and the greater part of the officers have risen from inferior stations of society. The military strength of France, which was destined to oppose and triumph over these immense forces, consisted at the commencement of the struggle of 165,000 infantry, 35,000, cavalry and 10,000 artillery. But her troops had relaxed their discipline during the revolution, and her sol- diers had been so accustomed to political discussion, that it had introduced a license unfavorable to discipline. At first they lacked steadiness and organization, but these defects were speedily remedied by the pressure of necessity, and by the talent which emerged from the lower classes of society. Such was the state of the principal European powers at the commencement of the war. The celebrated 10th of August, 1792, came, and the throne was overturned, the royal family put in captivity, while the massacres of Sep- tember drenched Paris with blood. The victories of Dumourier rolled back the tide off oreign invasion to the "Rhine. War was declared against Sardinia, 15th Sep- 1* 10 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. tember, and Savoj and Nice were seized and united to the Frencli Republic. "The die is thrown, we have rushed into the career; all governments are our enemies, all people are our friends ; we must be destroyed or they shall be free," exclaimed the orator of the convention. Geneva surren- dered to the French without a blow, and > the Convention declared it would grant its assistance to all people who wished to recover their liberty. Flanders was overrun by the French in a fortnight, and they committed an aggression on the Dutch by opening the Scheldt, and by pursuing the fugitive Austrians into Dutch territorv. While the tide of Austrian and Prussian invasion was rolled back to the Rhine, the great frontier city of Ger- many was wrested from Austria almost under the eyes of' the imperial armies; and although the campaign com- menced only in August, under the greatest apparent dis- advantage to the French, yet before the close of Decem- ber all this had been accomplished. The execution of Louis XYI. on the 21st Jan., 1793, completed the destruc- tion of the French monarchy, accelerated the Reign of Terror, and brought the accession of England to the league of the Allied Sovereigns y Chauvelin, the French Ambassador, received orders immediately to quit London ; and this was succeeded in a few days by a declaration of war, l"3t February, 1793, by France against England, Spain, and Holland. The audacity of the Convention, which thus threw down the gauntlet to nearly all of Europe, excited universal astonishment. The feeling of national honor, in all ages so powerful among the French, was awakened to its highest pitch. Every species of CONGRESS OF THE ALLIES, 1793. 11 requisition was cheerfully furnished under the pressure of impending calamity ; and in the dread of foreign subju- gation the loss of fortune and employment was forgotten only one path, that of honor, was open to the brave. The Jacobins, the ruling power in France, were no longer despised but feared by the European powers, and terror prompts more vigorous efforts than contempt. Ko sooner did the news of the execution of Louis reach St. Peters- burg than the Empress Catharine took the most decisive measures, and all Frenchmen who did not renounce the principles of the revolution were ordered to quit her territory; the most intimate relations were established between the courts of London and St. Petersburg ; and a treaty between them, which laid the basis of the Grand Alliance, was signed, 25th March, in which they engaged to carry on the war against France, and not to lay down their arms without restitution of all the conquests which France had made from either of them, or such states and allies to whom the benefit of the treaty should extend. Treaties of the same nature were made w T ith Sardinia and Portugal, and thus all Europe was arrayed against France. A congress of the allies assembled at Antwerp, which came to the resolution of totally altering the objects of the war; and it was openly announced there that the object was to provide indemnities and securities for the allied powers by partitioning the frontier territories of France among the invading states. Soon after, when Valen- ciennes and Conde were taken, the Austrian flag, and not that of the Allies, was hoisted on the walls. The Prussians and Austrians, numbering 100,000, were on the Rhine early in the spring, and the King of Prussia crossed in 12 EUBOPE AND THE ALLIES. great force. The French, army, inferior in numbers and discipline, retreated. Mentz capitulated to the Allies aftei a long and dreadful siege, and the French continued tc retreat in disorder. But the Allies wasted their splendid opportunity. The French retreated to their entrenched camp before Arras, after which there was no place capa- ble of defence on the road to Paris. The Republican authorities took to flight, the utmost consternation pre- vailed, and a rapid advance of the Allies would have changed the history of Europe. But from this time dis- sension began among them; and from this period may be dated a series of disasters to them, which went on con- stantly increasing until the French arms were planted on the Kremlin, and all Europe, from Gibraltar to the North Cape: had yielded to their arms. The mighty genius of Carnot, who, in the energetic lan- guage of Napoleon, " organized victory" soon appeared at the head of the military department of France. Austere in character, unbending in discipline, and of indefatigable energy, he resembled the great patriots of antiquity more that any other statesman of modern times, and in the midst of peril and disaster he infused his unparalleled vigor into his department, and France became one vast workshop of arms, resounding with the note of military preparation. The roads were covered with conscripts hastening to their destination ; and fourteen armies, and 1,200,000 men, were soon under arms. The siege of Dunkirk, undertaken by the English, was raised, and the Austrian and Prussian armies were driven back to the Rhine. The siege of Toulon, whose inhabitants had revolted from the horrors of the Reign of Terror, was remarkable REPUBLICAN ARMIES OF FRANCE, 1794. 13 for the horrible carnage with which it was accompanied, as well as for the appearance of a young officer of artillery, then chief of battalion, Napoleon Bonaparte. Its capture, which was owing to his genius, was accompanied by the destruction of nearly the whole French fleet in its harbor by the retreating English. At eight in the evening a fire- ship was towed into the harbor ; soon the flames arose in every quarter, and fifteen ships of the line and eight frigates were consumed. The volume of smoke which filled the sky, the flames which burst as it were out of the sea, the red light which illuminated the most distant moun- tains, and the awful explosions of the magazines formed, says Napoleon, "a grand and terrible spectacle." The arms of France, on the frontiers of Flanders and elsewhere, now began to be successful, while the dubious conduct or evident defection of Prussia paralysed all operations on the Rhine ; and before the close of 179-i the Republican armies, in a winter campaign, invaded Holland and sub- dued almost the whole of that rich country without a battle. Amsterdam, which had defied the whole powet of Louis XIV., was conquered ; these successes were fol lowed by others still more marvellous. On the same day on which General Dandels entered Amsterdam, the left wing of the army made themselves masters of Dordrecht, containing six hundred pieces of cannon, ten thousand muskets, and immense stores of ammunition. The same division passed through Rotterdam and took possession of the Hague, where the States General were assembled ; and to complete the wonders of the campaign, a body of cavalry and flying artillery crossed the Zuyder Zee on the ice, and summoned the fleet lying frozen up at the Texel j 14 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. \ and the commander, confounded at the hardihood of the enterprise, surrendered his ships to this novel species of assailant ; and at the conclusion of the campaign, the Span- iards, defeated, were suing for peace. The Piedmontese were driven over the Alps ; the Allies had everywhere crossed the Rhine; Flanders and Holland were subju- gated ; La Vendee pacificated ; and the English fled for refuge to Hanover ; 1,700,000 men had combated under the banners of France ; and peace was concluded soon after between France, Spain, and Prussia. Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, in Corsica, on the 15th of August, 1769. Corsica is essentially Italian, and to this day a state of society prevails which differs from that' of any other part of Europe. The wildest and most deadly feuds are common among its principal families. The people are turbulent and excita- ble. Napoleon was too great a man to derive distinction from any adventitious advantages, and when the Emperor of Austria, after he became his son-in-law, endeavored to trace his connexion with the obscure Dukes of Treviso, he answered that he was the Rudolph of Hapsburg of his family, and that his patent of nobility dated from the bat- tle of Montenotte. His mother, a woman of no common beauty, being at the festival of the Assumption on the day of his birth, was seized with her pains during high mass. She was brought home and hastily laid upon a couch covered with tapestry representing the heroes of the Iliad, and there the future conqueror was brought into the world. The winter residence of his father was usually at Ajaccio; but in summer the family retired to a villa near the isle of Sanguinere, once the residence of a rela- YOUTH OF NAPOLEON, 1783-5- lo tion of Ills mother's, situated on a romantic spot near the sea shore. The house is approached by an avenue over- hung- by the cactus, acacia, and other shrubs, which grow luxuriantly in a southern climate. It has a garden and lawn showing vestiges of neglected beauty, and sur- rounded by a shrubbery permitted to run to a wilderness. There, enclosed by the cactus, the clematis, and the wild olive, is a singular and isolated granite rock, beneath which the remains of a small summer-house are still visi- ble. This was the favorite retreat of young Napoleon, who early showed a love of solitary meditation, during the period when his school vacations permitted him to return home. And it may be supposed, perhaps, that here the magnificence of his oriental imagination formed those visions of ambition and high resolves, for which the limits of the world were, ere long, felt to be insufficient. At an early age he was sent to the military school at Brienne ; his character there underwent a rapid alteration ; he became thoughtful, studious, and diligent in the extreme. On one occasion, while the youths were playing the death of Cresar in their theatre, the wife of the porter, well known to the boys, presented herself at the door, and being refused admittance made some disturbance ; the matter was referred to the young Xapoleon, who was the officer in command on the occasion. " Remove that wo- man who brings here the license of camps !" said the future ruler of the revolution. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the military school at Paris, and at sixteen he received a commission in a regiment of artillery. "When the revolu- tion broke out he adhered to the popular side. After the 16 EUROPE AND THE ALLD3S. siege of Toulon, Dugommier, the general in command, wrote to the Convention, " Kewarcl and promote that young man, for if you are ungrateful to him he will raise himself alone." He commanded the artillery in 1791 during the campaign in Italy. Dumbion, in command, of the army, who was old, submitted the direction of affairs principally to Bonaparte. His intimacy with the younger Robes- pierre, and his refusal of a command in La Yendee in the civil insurrection, led to his being deprived of his rank as a general officer, and he was reduced to private life. But his talents being known led to his being called to the com- mand of the forces in Paris, which triumphed over the sections ; his decision saved, the Convention. The story of his introduction to and marriage of Josephine is too well known to need repetition. In 1796 Bonaparte took command of the forces destined to operate against Italy. "With an army destitute of almost every thing, he, in a short time, overran Piedmont, con- quered a peace with Sardinia, passed the Po and crossed the Adda at the Bridge of Lodi. The nervous eloquence of Napoleon, in his address to his soldiers, and the splen- dor of his success, intoxicated Paris with joy. The first day, they heard that the gates of the Alps were opened ; the next, that the Austrians were separated from the Pied- montese army : the third that the Piedmontese army was destroyed and the fortresses surrendered. The rapidity of this success, the number of prisoners, exceeded all that had yet been witnessed. Every one asked, who was this young conqueror whose fame had burst forth so suddenly, and whose proclamations breathed the spirit of ancient glory ? RAPID VICTORIES, 1796. 17 " The 13th of Yendemiaire and the victory of Monte notte," said Napoleon, "did not induce me to think myself a superior character. It was after the passage of Lodi that the idea shot across my mind' that I might become a decisive actor on the political theatre ; then arose for the first time the spark of great ambition." With pomp and splendor Napoleon made his triumphal entry into Milan, to the sound of military music and the acclamations of an immense concourse of spectators. The rapidity of the French victories in Italy, and the destruc- tion of the Austrian armies, sent to oppose them, crowned Napoleon as the greatest chieftain of his time. The marshes of Areola, the heights of Montebello, and the plain of Rivoli witnessed his successive glories. But while the arms of Eepublican France were conquering in Italy, they suffered reverse and defeat under Moreau on the frontiers and the Khine ; and the Archduke Charles drove back the French legions who had dared to pene- trate Germany. At the close of the year the death of the great Empress, Catharine of Russia, and the accession of Paul to the throne, changed, in many important respects, the fate of the war. In the midst of threatened invasion from France, a general panic seized England, and while the public funds had fallen from 99 to 51, a run commenced on the Bank of England, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. This caused those orders in Council in February, 1797 — sus- pending specie payments, which, although only considered temporary at the time, continued a quarter of a century. The defeat of the Spanish fleet at St. Vincent, by Nelson and Collingwood, soon quelled the fear of invasion in England. 18 EUE0PE AND THE ALLIES. The army of Napoleon in Italy opened the campaign of 1797 by attacking, early in March, the Archduke Charles before he had received his reinforcements. Na- poleon arrived -by rapid marches, with his army in front of the Austrians, who had chosen, on the line of the Julian Alps, the river Tagliamento on which to oppose the French. By a feint, Napoleon deceived the Austrians, crossed the river, charged them with fury, and drove them back with considerable loss. They retreated by the blue and glittering waters of the Isonza, and in twenty days the army of Charles was driven over the Julian Alps, and the French were within sixty leagues of Vienna ; pushing forward, they came within sight of its steeples. But unsupported, and with Italy in insurrection behind his back, Napoleon proposed peace to Austria. Delay after delay occurring in the negotiation, Napoleon de- clared if the ultimatum of the Directory was not accepted in twelve hours, he would commence hostilities. The time having expired, he entered the presence of the Austrian ambassador, and taking up a porcelain vase of great value, and which had been presented by the Empress Catharine to the ambassador, he declared energetically, "The die is cast, the truce is broken, war is declared. But mark my words, before the end of autumn I will break in pieces your monarchy, as I now destroy this porcelain ;" and with that he clashed it in pieces on the ground. Bowing, he retired, mounted his carriage, and despatched a courier to the Archduke, to- announce that hostilities would commence in twenty-four hours. The Austrian plenipotentiary, thunderstruck, forthwith agreed to the ultimatum, and the celebrated treaty of Campo NAPOLEON FIRST CONSUL, 1797. 19 Formio "was signed the next day ; and thus terminated the Italian campaign of Napoleon, the most memorable in his military career. Returning to Paris, Napoleon was soon anxious to resume those schemes of ambition which continually occupied his mind. The expedition for the conquest of Egypt sailed with pomp from Toulon, and after occupying Malta, and narrowly escaping the English fleet under Nelson, the French army landed at Alexandria. Victory after victory soon completed the subjugation of the Land of the Pharaohs, while at the battle of the Nile the French fleet was almost entirely destroyed by Nelson. Cut off by this disaster from Europe, Napoleon pro- jected that expedition to Syria, which, unsuccessful at Acre, returned to Egypt in time to destroy the Turkish army, which had landed at Aboukir. Reverses in the Alps, the loss of Italy, the retreat of the French to Zurich, and the capture of Corfu by the Russians and English, determined Napoleon to return to France, which he accomplished in a small frigate, which escaped the English cruisers. Arrived in Paris, he found the government in disorder, and without a head, and, while disaster sur- rounded the country, its armies had been beaten, and its finances were in hopeless confusion. On the celebrated 18th Brumaire (Sth November), Napoleon having command of the troops in Paris, accom- plished that sudden revolution which placed him at the head of affairs. His schemes of ambition began now to ripen, and France soon felt in all her departments the energy of his mighty genius. One of his first acts was to propose peace with England. Disregarding the ordinary 20 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. rules of negotiation, Napoleon addressed a letter person- ally to George III., proposing peace. This letter was replied to by Lord Grenville, tlie Prime Minister, who declined the proposition. Disappointed in his hopes of negotiating peace, Napo- leon prepared with renewed vigor for war. The cam- paign was the most important of his life. Its daring and success are almost unparalleled in history. Crossing the Alps, the highest chain of mountains in Europe, without roads, his artillery had to be dragged over narrow foot-paths, up the rugged sides of frown- ing mountains, and on the brink of awful precipices cov- ered with snow ; while provisions and stores for a whole army had to be carried by sheep-paths on the backs of men. Arrived at Geneva, having deceived the Austrians as to his intentions, he asked General Marescot, whom he had despatched to survey Mont St. Bernard, " Is the route practicable?" " It is barely possible," replied the engineer. " Let us press forward then," said Napoleon. Arrived at the little village of St. Pierre, everything resembling a road ended. An immense and apparently inaccessible mountain reared its head amidst general desolation and eternal frost, while precipices, glaciers, and ravines ap- peared to forbid access to all living things. Yet, sur- mounting every obstacle, the passage was accomplished ; and a French army of 30,000 men precipitated themselves, apparently from the clouds, on the plains of Italy, and appeared to the thunderstruck Austrians, cutting off their retreat from Genoa, and completely dividing their forces ; speedily marching upon Milan, leaving the Austrian army under Melas, behind him, he returned to attack them, NAPOLEON PROCLAIMED EMPEROR, 1804. 21 and at the battle of Marengo gained the most important of his victories. By the close of 1S01 the continental states had all concluded peace with France, leaving her with the most enormous aggrandizements of territory. A short interval of peace occurred with England in 1802, which was broken by a declaration of war in June, 1803, and all the English residents between the ages of eighteen and sixt}' were detained as hostages. Hanover was seized by the French, and the English retaliated by blockading the Elbe and the Weser. The war with Great Britain, and a conspiracy to over throw the authority of the First Consul, which was disco- vered, served as a ladder for Xapoleon to mount from the Consulate to the Imperial Dignity ; and on the 3d May, 1804, the senate communicated to Napoleon this address : " We think it of the last importance to the French people to confide the government of the Republic to Xapoleon Bonaparte — Hereditary Emperor." The Empire was proclaimed at St. Cloud, lSth May, 1S01 ; and Xapoleon was crowned by Pope Pius TIL, on the 2d December, in the church of Notre Dame. War was declared by Spain against England, after she had un- warrantably attacked and seized four large Spanish frigates filled with cargoes of immense value. The rising hostility of Russia and Sweden at this moment incensed the French government still more against England, to whose influence she attributed their conduct. All appearances foretold the beginning of another general eruption. On the 11th of April, 1805, a treaty offensive and de- fensive was formed between Russia and England, the object of which was to put a stop to what they considered 22 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. the encroachments of the French government, and to form a general league of the states of Europe. The accession of Austria was finally obtained to the alliance, after great difficulty and delay : the deplorable state of her finances, and the vacillating policy of her government, being (then as now) stumbling-blocks in the way of negotiation. On the 31st of August, Sweden was also included. But notwithstanding all the efforts oi England and Kussia, it was found impossible to overcome the scruples of Prussia, who inclined towards the French in hopes of obtaining Hanover, promised her by France as a reward for her neutrality. For ten years Prussia had flattered herself that by keeping aloof she would avoid the storm, that she would succeed in turning the desperate strife between France and Austria to her own benefit by enlarging her territory, and augmenting her consideration in the North of Germany ; but at once all her prospects vanished, and it became apparent, even to her own minis- ters, that this vacillating policy was ultimately to be as dangerous as it had already been discreditable. On the 25th of Oct., the Emperor Alexander arrived at Berlin, and employed the whole weight of his great authority, and all the charms of his captivating manners, to induce the King to embrace a more manly and courageous poli- cy ; and on the 3rd of November a secret convention was signed between the two monarchs for the regulation of the affairs of Europe, and the erection of a barrier against the ambition of the French Emperor. The conclusion of the Convention was followed by a scene as remarkable as it was romantic. Inspired with a full sense of the dangers of the war, the ardent and chivalrous mind of the Queen TOMB OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, 1805. 23 conceived the idea of uniting the two sovereigns by a bond more likely to be durable than the mere alliances of cabinets with each other. This was, to bring them together at the tomb of the great Frederick. The Empe- ror who was desirous of visiting the mausoleum of that illustrious hero, accordingly repaired to the church at Potsdam, where his remains are deposited. And at midnight the two monarchs proceeded togetner by torchlight to the hallowed grave. Uncovering when he approached the spot, the Emperor kissed the pall, and taking the hand of the King of Prussia, as it lay on the tomb, they swore an eternal friendship to each other, and bound themselves by the most solemn oaths to maintain their engagements inviolate in the great contest for European independence in which they were engaged. It would have been well for the Allies, if, when Prussia had thus taken her part, her cabinet had possessed suffi- cient resolution to have taken the held instead of continu- ing in her old habit of temporizing, and thus permitting Napoleon to continue without interruption his advance on Yienna. But her long indecision had been her ruin. Her territory had been violated by France, who, while apparently her ally, was reserving for her only the melan- choly privilege of being last destroyed. In the meantime, a combined force of English, Russians, and Swedes, thirty thousand strong, had been landed in Hanover, and the Prussian troops occupying that Electo- rate had offered no resistance — a sure proof to Napoleon of a secret understanding between the Cabinet of Berlin and that of London. While she was thus giving daily proofs of her indecision 24 EUROPE AXD THE ALLIES. and treachery, the ever-vigilant Bonaparte was pouring his armies through Bavaria into Austria and concentrating his divisions for the sweeping victory which was so soon afterwards destined to scatter to the winds the opposing allies. We now come to the campaign of Austerlitz ; the most remarkable, in a military point of view? which the history of the war afforded. In the beginning of August the French army was cantoned on the heights of Boulogne ; and by the first week of December, Vienna was taken, and the strength of Austria and Russia prostrated. The allied armies presented a total of 80,000 men, in- cluding a division of the imperial guard under the Grand Duke Constantino, brother of the Emperor of Russia. The forces which Napoleon had to resist this great array hardly amounted to 70,000 combatants. On the 30th November, 1805, the light troops of the Allies were seen from the French outposts marching across their position towards the right of the army. Na- poleon spent the whole of both days on horseback at the advanced posts watching their movements. At length on the morning of the 1st Dec. the intentions of the enemy were clearly manifested, and Napoleon beheld with " in- expressible delight" their whole columns dark, and massy, moving across his position at so short a distance as ren- dered it apparent a general action was at hand. Care- fully avoiding the slightest interruption to their move- ment, he merely watched with intense anxiety their march, and when it became evident that the resolution to turn the right flank of the French army had been BATTLE OF AUSTEKLITZ, 1805. 25 decided upon, he exclaimed, prophetically — " To-morrow, before night-fall, that army is mine." At four in the morning the Emperor was on horseback. All was still among the immense multitude concentrated in the French lines. Buried in sleep the soldiers forgot alike their triumphs and the dangers they were about to undergo. Gradually, however, a confused murmur arose from the Russian host, and all the reports from the out- posts announced that the advance had already commenced alone: the whole line. Gradually the stars which throughout the night had shone clear and bright began to disappear, and the ruddy glow of the east announced the approach of day. At last, the " Sun of Austerlitz " rose in unclouded brilliancy on that field of blood. The French army occupied an interior position, from whence their columns started like rays from a centre, while the allies were toiling in a wide semicircle round their outer extremity. His marshals, burning with impatience, stood around Napoleon, awaiting the signal for attack. At last the word was given, and on they rushed to the onslaught. The results of the conflict in different sections of the battle-field were various, the Russians and French al- ternately being victorious, till Napoleon, seeing there was not a moment to be lost, ordered Marshal Bessieres with the cavalry of the guard to arrest a terrible on- slaught of Russian cuirassiers of the guard, two thou- sand strong, which had already trampled under foot three battalions of the French. Instantly spurring their char- gers, the French precipitated themselves upon the enemy. 2 26 ETTKOPE AND THE ALLIES. The Russians were broken and driven back over tb.€ dead bodies of the square they had destroyed. Rallying, however, they returned to the charge, and both imperial guards met in full career ! The shock waa terrible ! and the most desperate cavalry action that had taken place during the war ensued. The infantry on both sides advanced to support their comrades. The resolution and vigor of the combatants were equal. Squadron to squadron, company to company, man to man, fought with invincible firmness. At length, how- ever, the stern obstinacy of the Russian yielded to the enthusiastic valor of the French. The cavalry and in- fantry of the guard gave way, and after losing their artil- lery and standards, were driven back in confusion almost to the walls of Austerlitz, while from a neighboring emi- nence the Emperors of Russia and Germany beheld the irretrievable rout of the flower of their army. This desperate encounter was decisive of the fate of the day. The Russians no longer fought for victory, but for existence. Great numbers sought to save themselves by crossing with their artillery and cavalry a frozen lake adjoining their line of march. The ice was already be- ginning to yield under the enormous weight, when the shells from the French batteries bursting below the sur- face, caused it to crack with a loud explosion. A frightful yell arose from the perishing multitude, and above two thousand brave men were swallowed up in the waves. At noon the allies gave way, and commenced their retreat in the direction of Austerlitz. Those who escaped being made prisoners succeeded before nightfall in reaching Austerlitz, already filled with ALLIANCE. PRUSSIA WITH FRANCE, 1805. 27 the -wounded, the fugitives and the stragglers from every part of the army. Thus terminated the battle of Austerlitz. The loss of the allies was immense. Thirty thousand (30,000) men were killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Of the latter were 19,000 Russians, and 6,000 Austrians, most of whom were wounded. Almost the whole of their baggage fell into the hands of the victors. One hundred and eighty pieces of cannon, four hundred covered wagons, and forty-five standards, were taken, and the disorganization of the combined forces was complete. Twelve thousand French had been killed and wounded, making the frightful sum total of that dreadful day's car- nage, 42,000 men. On the 6th of Dec. an armistice was concluded at Aus- terlitz, and Alexander sent to Berlin the Grand Duke Constantine to ascertain if the Prussian King was pre- pared to join with him, according to the principles which he had sworn to adhere to at the tomb of the great Frede- rick, in the vigorous prosecution of the war. But the disaster of Austerlitz had wrought a perfidious change in the policy of the Prussian Cabinet. An ambassador was sent to Napoleon to congratulate him upon his success, and to propose a treaty. Napoleon broke out into a vehement declamation against the policy of the Prussian Cabinet, and expressed his determination now to turn his whole forces against them ; but at last yielding, the treaty was concluded, and a new alliance entered into between Prussia and France, the former receiving as a reward Hanover, with all the other conti- nental dominions of his Britannic Majesty. 28 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES. During the year 1807, disagreements sprang up between France and Prussia, which resulted at the battle of Jena, (Oct. 14th) in the total discomfiture of the latter, and triumph of Napoleon, who now became master of the whole country from the Rhine to the Yistula. Passing the sanguinary contests of Eylau and Friedland, we come to the treaty of Tilsit, the arrangement of which took place under circumstances eminently calculated to impress the imagination of mankind. Certain misunderstandings having arisen between Eng- land and Russia, and the latter power being somewhat crippled for the moment by numerous defeats, an armis- tice was proposed by Alexander, and accepted by Napo- leon, on the 22d of June, which ended in the treaty of Tilsit. There was little difficulty in coming to an understand- ing, for Prance had nothing to demand of Russia, except that she should close her ports against England ! Russia nothing to ask of France but that she should withdraw her armies from Poland, and permit the Emperor to pursue his long cherished projects of conquest in Turkey. The armistice having been concluded, it was agreed that the two Emperors should meet, to arrange, in a pri- vate conference, the destinies of the world. It took place accordingly on the 25th June. On the river Niemen, which separated the two armies, a raft of great dimensions was constructed. It was moored in the centre of the stream, and on its surface a wooden apart- ment surmounted by the eagles of France and Russia, was framed with all the magnificence which the time and circumstances would admit. TREATY OF TILSIT, 1807. 29 This was destined for the reception of the Emperors alone ; at a little distance was stationed another raft less sumptuously adorned, for their respective suites. The shore on either side was covered with the Imperial Guard of the two monarchs, drawn up in triple lines. At one o'clock precisely, amid the thunder of artillery, each Emperor stepped into a boat on his own side of the river, accompanied by a few of his principal officers. The splendid suite of each monarch followed in another boat immediately after. The bark of Napoleon advanced with greater rapidity than that of Alexander. He arrived first at the raft, entered the apartment, and himself opened the door on the opposite side to receive the Czar ; while the shouts ot the soldiers drowned even the roar of the artillery. In a few seconds Alexander arrived, and was received by the Conqueror at the door on his own side. Their meeting was friendly, and Alexander expressed his dis- satisfaction with his ally, the Government of Great Britain. " I hate the English," said he, " as much as you do, and am ready to second you in all your enterprises against them." " In that case," replied Napoleon, " everything will be easily arranged, and peace is already made." And peace was made. A treaty was concluded between France and Russia, also between France and Prussia, by which the latter ceded to Napoleon about half her domi- nions, and Alexander and Napoleon, deeply impressed with the genius of each other, became, for the time being, intimate friends. By the provisions of this celebrated treaty, Russia was assigned the Empire of the East, while France acquired absolute sway in the Eangdoms of the 30 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. "West, and both united in cordial hostility against Great Britain. France being the ally of Turkey, Napoleon could do no less than arrange for the evacuation of Moldavia and Wallachia (at that time occupied by Russian troops) ; but it is supposed there was a secret understanding be- tween the two Emperors, that ultimately, "Wallachia, Moldavia, and Bulgaria were to fall into the possession of Russia, while France was to arrange to her liking, the affairs of Greece and the Spanish Peninsula. But the sagacity of 1ST apoleon would not permit him to agree to the cession of Constantinople and Boumelia, and rivalry for the possession of that Capitol was one of the principal causes which afterwards brought about the disastrous campaign of Moscow. As a consequence of the downfall of Prussia, the neu- trality of Austria, and the accession to the confederacy of Alexander at Tilsit, Napoleon was emboldened to attempt the carrying out of his long cherished " Continental Sys- tem" of combining all the Continental States into one great alliance against England, and to compel them to exclude the British Flag and British merchandise from their harbors. It was at this time that he promulgated the famous Berlin Decree, which declared the British Islands in a state of blockade, and subjected all goods of British pro- duce or manufacture, to confiscation within his dominions, or those of the countries subject to his control, and pro- hibited all vessels from entering any harbor, which had touched at any British port. As a retaliatory measure the celebrated Orders in ORDERS IN COUNCIL, 1S07. 31 Council were issued by the British Government (on the 11th Xov. 1807), which proclaimed France and all the Continental States in a state of blockade, and declared all vessels good prize, which should be bound for any of their harbors, excepting such as had previously cleared oxxt from or touched at a British harbor. This was followed on the 17th December, by the Milan Decree, which declared that any vessel, of whatever nation, which shall have submitted to be searched by British cruisers, shall be considered and dealt with as English vessels, and every vessel of whatever nation, coming from or bound to any British harbor, shall be declared good prize. England, being mistress of the seas, enforced with unfeeling rigor her orders in council, entailing immense losses upon the commerce of neutral States, but moi particularly upon America, which ultimately brought about the war between herself and the great Republic ; while France, comparatively powerless on the ocean, invoked the aid of privateers and seized upon all British persons and property within her grasp. Since the defeat of Austria at Austerlitz, in 1805, the Cabinet of Yienna had adhered with cautious prudence to a system of neutrality. Still the Imperial Government had been successfully at work to fill up the ranks of their decimated armies, and to place themselves again in a position of strength. Napoleon was no sooner informed of these military preparations than he demanded an explanation of their import. Austria made professions of pacific intentions, but stil 32 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. continued to arm herself ; the war in Spain, which Na- j^oleon had at this time on his hands, leading her to sup- pose that he would not for so slight a cause undertake another contest. In the meantime, the wily Metternich, Austrian Am- bassador at Paris, was endeavoring to maintain apparently amicable relations with the French government, while every effort was made to induce Alexander to join with Austria ; but the Czar had pledged his word to Napoleon, and was not inclined to break a personal engagement of such importance. The French ambassador left Vienna finally, on the 28th Feb., 1809, and in April active hostilities broke out thus kindling again the names of war. "Warsaw, garrisoned by the French, was taken by the Austrians, at which time occurred an event of significant importance. In pursuing the Austrians, a courier was taken with despatches from the Russian General Gortchakoff to the Austrian Arch-Duke, congratulating him on the capture of Warsaw, and breathing a wish that he might soon join his armies to the Austrian Eagles. This letter was immediately forwarded to Napoleon, who remarked, " I see, after all, I must make war upon Alexander." The Czar disavowed the letter, and attempted explana- tions, but a breach was opened which was never again healed. Austria endeavored to win Prussia to her side after the battle of Aspern (unfavorable to Napoleon), and secret negotiations were carried on. But the Prussian govern- BATTLE OF WAGRAM, 1809. 33 ment replied to Austria's overtures, that they had every disposition to assist her, but could not take part in the contest till the views of Russia in regard to it were known. In the meantime the struggle continued, and after a great number of contests, in some of which Napoleon's chances were desperate, finally, on the 5th of July, 1809, was fought the celebrated battle of Wagram, under the walls of Yienna, which resulted in victory to Napoleon, though at so dear a price as almost to equal a defeat. 50,000 men were killed and wounded. The peace of Yienna followed on the 14th of October, and was of so humiliating a nature that it was received with marked disapprobation by the Cabinet of St. Peters- burgh, and was attended with a most important effect in widening the breach which was already formed between the two Emperors. The Turkish empire at this time was in a state of decay, and the people, from the inefficiency of the government, and the constantly recurring insurrections, in a state of misery. But amid the general decay, the matchless situation of Constantinople still attracted a vast concourse of inhabit- ants, and veiled under a robe of beauty the decline of the Queen of the East. This celebrated capital, the incomparable excellence of whose situation attracted the eagle eye of Alexander, had long formed the real object of discord between the Courts of Paris and St. Petersburg. "War had been formally declared by Russia against Turkey, in Jan., 1807, in consequence of a dispute about 2* 34 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. the hospodars, or governors, of Wallachia and Moldavia. Soon after, the consjriracy of the Janizaries broke out against the reforms of the Sultan, assisting materially Russia's designs. In the beginning of the year 1810 an Imperial Ukase appeared, annexing Moldavia and Wallachia, which for three years had been occupied by their troops, to the Russian Empire, and declaring the Danube, from the Austrian frontier to the Black Sea, the southern European boundary of their mighty dominion. A bloody war was the consequence, in which both parties made prodigious efforts, and neither gained de* cisive success, until the peace of Bucharest was concluded on the 28th of May, 1812. Russia was as anxious as Turkey for the cessation of hostilities, being desirous of withdrawing her armies from the "Danube to engage in the formidable contest which was impending over them with Napoleon. ANNEXATION OF FINLAND. Sweden was summoned to join in the alliance against Great Britain, to which the Swedish monarch did not accede. Alexander consequently declared war, and on the 28th of March, 1808, the following Imperial Ukase appeared at St. Petersburg : " We unite Finland, conquered by our arms, for ever to our Empire, and command its inhabitants forthwith to take the oath of allegiance to our throne" DIFFICULTY BETWEEN FRANCE AND BU88IA, 1810. 3o The Swedish Monarch, however, not being willing to surrender so important a portion of his dominions, was forced to abdicate ; and his successor endeavored to con elude a peace with Eussia, and to retain Finland through appeals to Napoleon. The latter was, however, bound to Alexander by the treaty of Tilsit, and refused to interfere. The Czar, de- termined to retain his conquest, marched an army across the gulf of Bothnia, on the ice, in March, 1809, and ar- rived by the middle of that month on the Swedish side, en route for Stockholm. This had the effect to intimidate the court of Stock- holm, who therefore ceded Finland, and peace was con- cluded Sept. 17, 1809. On the 13th Dec, 1810, Napoleon formally annexed to the French Empire the Hanse towns and the Duchy of Oldenburg. This measure irritated Alexander, who now grew apprehensive lest some of his ill-gotten gains should be wrested from him, and that the restoration of Poland might next be thought of. A convention was drawn up at St. Petersburg, and signed by the representatives of France and Eussia, by which it was stipulated, that " The kingdom, of Poland shall never he reestablished ; and the name of Poland and. Poles shall never in future be applied to any of the dis- tricts, or inhabitants ; and shall be effaced for ever from every public and official act." Napoleon, however, refused to ratify it, and thus again exasperated the Czar, who commenced to place Poland in a state of defence, which, in its turn, excited the jea- lousy of the French Emperor. 3b ECKOPE AND THE ALLIES. Alexander, therefore, published, on the 31st of Dec, 1810, an order, containing a material relaxation of the rigour of the decrees hitherto in force in the Russian Em- pire against English commerce. On the 24th Feb., 1812, the Cabinet of Prussia conclu- ded a treaty offensive and defensive with France ; and a rojal edict appeared prohibiting the introduction of colo- nial produce, on any pretence, from the Russian into the Prussian territory. Austria being at this time in close alliance with France, another treaty was concluded March 14, 1812, between them, placing a considerable part of her resources at Napoleon's command. In consequence of the overbearing demands of Napoleon, the Swedish Government allied itself with Russia on the oth of April (1812), and with Great Britain on the 12th of July following. The differences between Alexander and Napoleon had now become so serious, that war was inevitable. But Napoleon knew the foe he had to grapple with, and pro- posed terms of peace to Great Britain on the 17th of April, hoping to be left to meet the Russians single-handed, and thus humble the overweening pride of the Czar. His pro- posals were, however, rejected. Down to the very commencement of hostilities, notes continued to be interchanged between the representatives of the two Emperors, which did little more than recapitu- late the mutual grounds of complaint of the two cabinets against each other. Finally, on the 24th of April, Alex- ander sent to Napoleon his ultimatum, offering an accom- modation on condition that France would evacuate Prussia, and come to an arrangement with the king of Sweden INVASION OF RUSSIA, 1812. 37 which remained without any answer, on the part of the French Government. Both prepared for the worst, and on the 23d of June, "Napoleon arrived on the banks of the iSTiemen, with his countless hosts, for the invasion of Russia. The armies at his command, at this time, amounted in the aggregate, to the enormous sum of 1.250,000 men ; and the force which entered Russia, during the year 1812, was 617,158 men — 187,111 horses, and 1372 cannon. The regular forces of the Russians amounted, at the close of 1S11, to 517,000 men, 70,000 of whom were in garrison, and the remainder dispersed over an immense surface. To oppose the invasion of the French, the Russians had collected about 200,000 men, and upwards of 800 pieces of cannon. The forces of the French, therefore, exceeded those of the Russians, by nearly 300,000 men ; but the former were at an immense distance from their resources, and had no means of recruiting their losses ; whereas the latter were in their own country, and supported by the devotion of a fanatical and patriotic people. The face of the country on the Western frontier of Rus- sia is in general fiat, and in many places marshy ; vast woods of pine cover the plains, and the rivers flow in some places through steep banks, in others stagnate over exten- sive swamps, which often present the most serious obstacles to military operations. The villages are few and miserable. The wants of such a prodigious accumulation of troops speedily exhausted all the means of subsistence which the country afforded, and the stores they could convey with them. Forced requisitions from the peasantry became, therefore, necessary, and so great was the subsequent misery 38 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. that the richest families in Warsaw were literally in danger of starving, and the interest of money rose to 80 per cent. Napoleon reached Wilna on the 28th of June, the Rus sians receding as he advanced, and destroying everything before them. On the 15th of August, the starving army reached the city of Smolensko, which was burned by the Russians, and abandoned on the 18th. The losses in the meantime by battle, exposure, want, and sickness, were fast decimating the French ranks. The soldiers were seized with disquietude as they contrast- ed their miserable quarters amid the ruins of Smolensko, with the smiling villages they had abandoned in their native land ; but amid the universal gloom, their Emperor was ever present, and by words and deeds of kindness, sustained their drooping spirits. Leaving Smolensko, Napoleon pressed forward, and on the 5th of September, arrived at Borodino where the Rus- sians had made a stand to oppose their march upon Mos- cow. On the 7th, two days subsequently, was fought the bloody battle of Borodino, the most murderous and obstinately contested of which history has preserved a record. The Russian force was 132,000 men, with 640 pieces of artillery. The French consisted of 133,000 men, with 590 pieces of cannon. There were killed 15,000 Russians and 12,000 French, besides upwards of 70,000 wounded on both sides, making a total loss of 100,000 men in this one battle. The French were, however, victorious, and reached Moscow on the 14th. The Holy City was found to be ENTRY OF MOSCOW, 1812. 89 evacuated, not only by the Russian army, but by the inhabitants, and as the French hosts defiled through the silent streets, it was like entering a city of the dead. Not a sound was to be heard in its vast circumference ' the dwellings of three hundred thousand persons seemed as silent as the wilderness. Evening came on ! With increasing wonder the French troops traversed the central parts of the city, recently so crowded with passengers, but not a living creature was to be seen to explain the universal desolation. Night ap- proached ! an unclouded moon illuminated those beauti- ful palaces, those vast hotels, those deserted streets — all was still ! The officers broke open the doors of some of the prin- cipal mansions in search of sleeping quarters. They found every thing in perfect order : the bedrooms were fully furnished as if guests were expected; the drawing- rooms bore the marks of having been recently inhabited ; even the work of the ladies was on the tables, the keys in the wardrobes — but still not an- inmate was to be seen. By degrees a few of the lowest slaves emerged pale and trembling from the cellars, and showed the way to the sleeping apartments, and laid open every thing which these sumptuous mansions contained ; but the only account they could give was that the whole of the inhabitants had tied, and that they alone were left. The persons intrusted with the duty of setting fire to the city, only awaited the retreat of their countrymen to commence the work of destruction. The terrible catastrophe soon commenced. On the night of the 13th a fire broke out in the bourse, and spread to the streets in the vicinity. At midnight, on 4:0 EUROPE JlN t D THE ALLIES. the loth, a bright light was seen to illuminate the northern and western parts of the city ; fresh fires were then seen breaking out every instant in all directions, and Moscow soon exhibited the spectacle of a sea of flame agitated by the wind. But it was chiefly during the nights of the 18th and 19th that the conflagration attained its greatest violence. At that time the whole city was wrapped in flames, and volumes of fire of various colors ascended to the heavens in many places, diffusing a prodigious light on all sides, and attended by an intolerable heat. These balloons of flame were accompanied in their ascent by a frightful hissing noise, and loud explosions, the result of the vast stores of oil, tar, rosin, spirits, and other combus- tible materials, with which the greater part of the shops were filled. The wind, naturally high, was raised by the sudden rarefaction of the air to a perfect hurricane. The howling of the tempest drowned even the roar of the conflagration ; the whole heavens were filled with the whirl of the burning volumes of smoke, which rose on all sides, and made midnight as bright as day, while even the bravest hearts, subdued by the sublimity of the scene, and the feeling of human impotence in the midst of such elemental strife, sank and trembled in silence. Imagina- tion cannot conceive the horrors into which the remnant of the people who could not abandon their homes were plunged. Bereft of every thing, they wandered amid the ruins eagerly searching for a parent or a child : pillage became universal, and the wrecks of former magnificence were ransacked alike by the licentious soldiery and the suffering multitude. In addition to the whole French army, numbers flocked THE BURNING OF MOSCOW, 1812. 11 in from tlie country to share in the general license ; furni- ture of the most precious description, splendid jewellery, Indian and Turkish stuffs, stores of wine and brandy, gold and silver plate, rich furs, gorgeous trappings of silk and satin were spread about in promiscuous confusion, and became the prey of the least intoxicated among the mul- titude. A frightful tumult succeeded to the stillness which had reigned in the city when the troops first entered. The French soldiers, tormented by hunger and thirst, and loosened from all discipline by the horrors which surrounded them, often rushed headlong into the burning edifices to ransack their cellars for wines and spirits, and beneath the ruins great numbers miserably perished, the victims of intemperance and the surrounding fire. Napoleon abandoned the Kremlin on the evening of the 16th. Early on the following morning, casting a melancholy look to the burning city, which now filled half the heavens with its flames, he exclaimed after a long silence, " This sad event is the presage of a long train of disasters." Thus vanished the hopes of those indefatigable soldiers who had endured so much, and fought so well. To reach the fabulous city whose domes and minarets were now fallen — had been the dream of their ambition — the goal which once attained, would give rest and food to their weariness and hunger. Thus Napoleon found himself possessed of a heap of burning ruins without food for his famishing soldiers and horses. All negotiations with the Russian authorities having failed, a retreat was decided upon, and the Emperor left 42 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Moscow on the 19th of October, at the head of 105,000 combatants. The disasters of that retreat are too well known to require recapitulation. Suffice it to say that the survivors of the French army, who entered Russia 500,000 strong, were but 20,000. The total loss of the campaign, in killed, prisoners, died from cold, fatigue, and famine, was over 450,000. And on the 13th of December, the wretched remnant of the French army passed the bridge of the Niemen. The losses of the Russians were also so great that at the end of the campaign not above 30,000 men could be assembled around the head-quarters of the Emperor Alexander. On the 10th Dec, early in the morning, a travelling- carriage in great haste drove into the Hotel d'Angleterre, at Warsaw. It was a small travelling britschka placed without wheels on a coarse sledge, made of four pieces of rough fir-wood, which had been almost dashed to picees in entering the gateway. The travellers were ushered into a small dark apartment, with the windows half-shut, and in a corner of which a servant girl strove in vain to light a fire with green damp billets of wood, which, after kindling for a moment, gradually went out, leaving those in the apartment to shiver with cold during three hours of earnest conversation. The travellers were Napoleon and his friend Caulain- court, who five days previously had bidden the remnant of his retreating army, in Russia, an affectionate farewell, and started for Paris. At length, it being announced that the carriage was ready, they mounted the sledge, and were soon lost in the gloom of a Polish winter. Outstripping his couriers THE GKAND ALLIANCE, 1813. 4:3 in speed, on the 18th Dec., at 11 at night, the Emperor arrived at the Tnileries, before the Imperial government was even aware that he had quitted the army. And early next morning, while the streets of Paris were yet vacant, he was buried in state papers, investigating and arranging the disorganized affairs of the empire. THE GRAND ALLIANCE. Napoleon's power being no longer dreaded, Prussia be- came disaffected, and on the 28th of February, 1813, entered into an alliance offensive and defensive with Russia, called, the treaty of Kalisch, which was the foundation stone of that grand alliance which finally overthrew the French Emperor. Great efforts were made to induce Saxony to join the league ; but she re- mained permanently attached to the fortunes of- Na- poleon. Meanwhile Alexander despatched a confidential agent to Yienna, in order to sound the Imperial Cabinet on the prospect of a European alliance against France, and it was soon after discovered that, notwithstanding Austria's professed friendship for Napoleon, there was a secret un- derstanding existing between the Cabinets of St. Peters- burg and Vienna, as also with the King of Prussia. The accession of Sweden was received on the 3d of March. During the month of April a convention took place be- tween Great Britain, Russia, and Prussia, when England, in addition to the immense supplies of arms and military 44 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. stores which she was furnishing, agreed to advance two millions sterling ($10,000,000) to sustain the operations of the Prince Royal of Sweden in the north of Germany, and a like sum to enable Russia and Prussia to keep up their vast armaments in Saxony. On the 14th of June another treaty was signed stipu- lating that England should pay to Prussia, for the six remaining months of the year, about £700,000, in con- sideration of which, the latter was to keep in the field an army of 80,000 men. By another treaty, signed the day after, between Russia and Great Britain, it was stipulated that Great Britain should pay to its Emperor, till January, 1814, £1,333,334 in monthly instalments, by which he was to maintain 160,000 men in the field, independent of the garrisons of strong places. On the 27th of July Austria joined the alliance (against their Emperor's son-in-law), England agreeing to pay her equal to one million sterling, in the event of her taking part in the war ; thus completing the formidable alliance of Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden. While the accession of new and formidable powers to the league was taking place, the energy of Napoleon seemed to rise with the difficulties against which he had to contend, and to acquire an almost supernatural degree of vigor. His shattered armies were reinforced, and, undis- couraged by the recollection of Moscow, he prepared again to make his power felt against the formidable odds which the energies of five empires were concentrating for his destruction. BATTLE OF LEIPSIC, 1813. 45 Already again in the month of April was he in the field, and in May occupied Dresden, driving his enemies before him. In August, however, the allies having been strongly reinforced, made their first attack upon that city. Through August and September there were constantly recurring battles, by which the French were so harassed that Na- poleon at length resolved to retreat in the direction of Leipsic, and on the 15th of October his army, consist- ing of 175,000 men and 720 pieces of cannon, occupied that city, and encamped around it. The allies followed with 290,000 men and above 1300 guns. The 18th dawned, and the last hour of the French Empire began to toll. The celebrated battle of Leipsic was fought. The conflict of such masses was terrible, and was so disastrous to the French, that a retreat was resolved upon, which commenced the next morning, the allies entering the city as the French retired across the river. The battle of Leipsic was, perhaps, the most unfortunate in its results which Napoleon ever experienced ; and the subsequent retreat of his army to the Rhine partook, in a measure, of the horrors of that from Moscow. "W*hile the discomfited French were retiring across the Rhine at Mayence, the allied troops followed closely on their footsteps, and Alexander entered Frankfort on the 5th of November. Napoleon had left on the 1st, remain- ing six days with his army on the opposite shores of the rivev ; and reached Paris on the 9th. The day after, in the council of state, he unfolded the danger of his situation with manly sincerity, and with nervous eloquence referred to the invasion by Wellington 46 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. of his southern frontiers, while the allies menaced the north. A levy by conscription was made of 600,000 men, and preparations to resist the invasion were im- mediately ordered. On the 1st of Dec. the allied sovereigns published a declaration from Frankfort, offering peace to France on condition that she would confine her limits between the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. But the negotiation was protracted by Napoleon to gain time, until the impatient allies crossed the Rhine, and Denmark, Naples, and the Rhenish Confederation, joined the alliance. The allies had now accumulated forces so prodigious, for the invasion of France, that nothing in ancient or modern times had ever approached to their magnitude. Including 80,000 Austrians, destined to act in the north of Italy, and a hundred and forty thousand British, Portu- guese, and Spaniards, who, under the guidance of Welling- ton, were assailing the south, the whole force of the allies formed a mass . of a million and twenty-eight thousand ?nen, which was prepared to act against the French empire. The French army was so reduced, that the Emperor could not, with the utmost exertion, reckon upon more than 350,000 men to defend the frontiers of his wide- spread dominions. Of these, 100,000 were blockaded in Hamburg and on the Oder, 50,000 were maintaining a painful defensive against the Austrians in the north of Italy, and 100,000 were struggling against the superior armies of Wellington on the Spanish frontiers. So that the real army which the Emperor had at his disposal to resist the invasion on the Rhine did not exceed 110,000. ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON, 1814. 47 On the 31st of Dec, 1813, the united and victorious- allies crossed that river. Numerous battles ensued. At length a conference was held, and the allied sovereigns offered to conclude peace, and recognize Napoleon as Emperor of France, on certain conditions, which would have left him an empire greater than that over which his nephew now reigns. This did not, however, satisfy his "ambition. The overtures were refused, and on the 30th of March, 1814, after numerous sanguinary engagements, and the storming of the city, the allies entered Paris, which had been forced to capitulate. On the 11th of April Napoleon signed his abdication at Fontainbleau, and on the 28th of the same month, at eight at night, set sail from Frejus for the island of Elba, on board the English frigate " The Undaunted" On the 1st of March, 1815, having escaped from Elba, he again entered France, with a few hundred men, and was everywhere received with acclamation and shouts of joy, which resounding throughout the land, were echoed to the Tuileries, and caused such consternation, that the court became alarmed, and at midnight, on the 19th, Louis XYIII. and the royal family, left Paris, and escaped into Belgium, while at nine o'clock in the even- ing of the next day Napoleon entered the vacated palace. The allies became alarmed, and on the 25th of March, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain, concluded a treaty, engaging to unite their forces against Bonaparte, with a secret stipulation that the high contracting parties should not lay down their arms till the complete destruc- tion of Napoleon had been effected. Such, however, was the poverty at this time of the Continental powers, that 48 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. they were unable to put their armies in motion without pecuniary assistance. And a treaty was entered into at Yienna on the 30th of April, by which England agreed to furnish Austria, Russia, and Prussia, the necessary means for the prosecution of the war, and actually paid to foreign powers during the year above £11,000,000 ($55,000,000). Napoleon left Paris on the morning of the 12th of June, and joined his army, which had been concentrated near the frontiers of Belgium, on the 13th. The returns on the evening of the 14th, gave 122,100 men under arms, and at day-break on the 15th his army crossed the frontier. Yarious conflicts ensued between different portions of his forces, directed to different points, and those of the allies, who, under Wellington, were in occupation of Brussels. At length, the morning of the 18th dawned upon the battle field of Waterloo, and its evening witnessed the annihilation of the French army, and flight of Napoleon. On the 17th of July, the victorious allies, headed by Wellington, a second time entered Paris ; and on the following day, Louis XYIIL made his public entry into that gay capital, escorted by the national guard. On the 29th of June, Napoleon had left Malmaison (the home of his lost Josephine) for Pochefort, arriving at that harbor on the 3d of July, from whence he was anxious to embark for America. But the blockade of English cruisers was so vigilant that there was no possible chance of avoiding them. Under these circumstances, he at length adopted the ■ i ■ v/ '/' P^W! ■ KAFOLEON AND JOSEPHINE NAPOLEON ON THE BELLEROPHON. 49 resolution of throwing himself upon the generosity of the British government ; and on the 14th of July embarked on board the " Bellerophon," which set sail immediately for England, — and Xapoleon looked for the last time upon the receding shores of that land which had beep the home of his greatness. CHAPTER II. Origin of the War in the Peninsula. — Siege of Saragossa. — Murderous Character of the War. — Success of the French in Portugal. — Battle of Rolica. — Battle of Vimiero. — Convention of Cintra. — The French evacuate Portugal. — Preparations of Napoleon for another Campaign. — He subdues the Country, and enters Madrid. — Address to the Span- ish People. — Napoleon recalled by the War -with Austria. — Soult and Ney intrusted with the Command of the French Army in Spain. — Retreat of Sir John Moore. — Battle of Corunna. — Peath of Sir John Moore. — The British Army sail for England. Before entering into a particular account of the battles in which I was myself an actor, it might not be uninteresting to my readers to take a hasty survey of the war which was now raging in the Peninsula, and the causes which led to British intervention. In doing this, I can, of course, in so small a work, only allude to its principal events, and relate some anec- dotes, interesting, as well from their authenticity, as from the patriotism of which they were such bright examples. Charles IV., a descendant of the Spanish Bour- bons, in 1807, occupied the throne of Spain. He was feeble in mind, impotent in action, and extremely dissolute in his habits. Writing to Napoleon, he gives an account of himself which must have filled with contempt the mind of the hard-working emperor for the imbecile king who thus disgraced a throne. "Every day," says he, "winter as well as summer, I go out to shoot, from morning till noon. I then dine, and return to the chase, which I continue till ORIGIN OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 51 sunset. Manuel Godoy then gives me a brief account of what is going on, and I go to bed, to recommence the same life on the morrow." His wife, Louisa, was a shameless profligate. She had selected, from the body-guard of the king, a young soldier, named Godoy, as her principal favorite ; and had freely lav- ished on him both wealth and honors. He was known as the Prince of Peace. A favorite of the king, as well as queen, the realm was, in reality, governed by him. Ferdinand, Prince of the Asturias, and heir to the throne, hated this favorite. Weak, unprinci- pled, and ambitious, unwilling to wait until the crown should become his by inheritance, it is said that he concerted a scheme to remove both his parents by poison. He was arrested, and imprisoned. Natural affection was entirely extinct in the bosoms of his parents. Louisa, speaking of her son, said that " he had a mule's head and a tiger's heart;" and history informs us that if injustice is clone here, it is only to the tiger and mule. Both king and queen did all they could to cover his name with obloquy, and pre- pare the nation for his execution. But the popular voice was with Ferdinand. The rule of the base-born favorite could not be tolerated by the Spanish hidal- gos; and the nation, groaning under the burdens that the vices and misrule of Charles had brought upon them, looked with hope to the youth, whose very abandonment had excited an interest in his favor. From the depths of his prison he wrote to Napoleon, imploring his aid, and requesting an alii- 52 EUKOPE A1STD THE ALLIES, 1808. ance with his family. Charles, too, invoked the as- sistance " of the hero destined by Providence to save Europe and support thrones." A secret treaty was concluded between the emperor and Charles, whose object was nominally the conquest of Portugal; and thus French troops were brought to Madrid. A judicial investigation was held on the charge against Ferdinand, which ended in the submission of that prince to his parents. But the intrigues of the two parties still continued. In March, 1808, hatred of Gocloy, and contempt of the king, had increased to such a degree, that the populace of Madrid could no longer be controlled. The palace of the Prince of Peace was broken open and sacked. The miserable favorite, allowed scarcely a moment's warning of the coming storm, had barely time to conceal himself beneath a pile of old mats, in his garret. Here, for thirty-six hours, he lay, shivering with terror and suffering. Unable longer to endure the pangs of thirst, he crept down from his hiding-place, was seen, and dragged out by the mob. A few select troops of the king rushed to his rescue ; and, half dead with fright and bruises, he was thrown into prison. The populace, enraged by the loss of their victim, now threatened to attack the palace. Charles, alarmed for his own safety, abdicated in favor of Ferdinand, and that prince was proclaimed king, amid the greatest rejoicings. But Charles wrote to Napo- leon that his abdication was a forced one, and again implored his aid. Soon after, determined to advo- ORIGIN OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 53 cate his cause in person, he went to Bayonne to meet the emperor, accompanied by Louisa and Godoy, and, with them, his two younger sons. Ferdinand, jealous of his father's influence with Napoleon, determined to confront him there. Ilis people everywhere declared against this measure. They cut the traces of his carriage ; they threw themselves before the horses, imploring him, with prayers and tears, not to desert his people. But Ferdinand went on. The emperor received them all with kindness. In a pri- vate interview with him, Charles, Louisa, and Godoy, willingly exchanged their rights to the uneasy crown of Spain for a luxurious home in Italy, where money for the gratification of all their voluptuous desires should be at their command. Ferdinand and his two brothers, Carlos and Francisco, were not so easily persuaded to surrender the crown of their ancestors. But Napoleon's iron will at length prevailed, and the three brothers remained not unwilling prisoners in the castle of Valencey. The throne of Spain was now vacant. The right to fill it was assumed by the emperor, in virtue of the cession to him, by Charles, of his rights. The council of Castile, the municipal- ity of Madrid, and the governing junta, in obedience to Napoleon's dictate, declared that their choice had fallen upon Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples. He was already on his way to Bayonne. On the 20th of July he entered Madrid; and, on the 24th, he wns proclaimed King of Spain and the Indies. But, if the rulers of Spain, and a few of her pusil- 54 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. laniinous nobles, had agreed to accept a king of Na- poleon's choice, not so decided the great body of the people. They everywhere flew to arms. To ac- knowledge the authority of the self- constituted gov- ernment, was to declare one's self an enemy to the nation. Assassinations at Cadiz and Seville were imitated in every part of Spain. Grenada had its murders ; Carthagena rivalled Cadiz in ruthless cru- elty ; and Valencia reeked with blood. In Gallicia, the people assembled and endeavored to oblige their governor to declare war against France. Prompted by prudence, he advised them to delay. Enraged at this, the ferocious soldiers seized him, and, planting their weapons in the earth, tossed him on their points, and left him to die. In Asturias, two noble- men were selected, and sent to implore the assistance of England. In England, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. The universal rising of the Spanish na- tion was regarded as a pledge of their patriotism, and aid and assistance was immediately promised and given. Napoleon, with his usual promptness, poured his troops into Spain. They were successful in many places ; but the enemy, always forming in small num- bers, if easily defeated, soon appeared in another place. The first permanent stand was made at Sara- gossa. Palafox had, with some hastily gathered fol- lowers, disputed the passage of the Ebro, and, routed by superior force, had fallen back upon this city, whose heroic defence presents acts of daring courage of which the world's history scarcely furnishes a par- SIEGE OF SARAGOSSA. 55 allel. It was regularly invested by the French, under Lefebre Desnouttes. The city had no regular defences, but the houses were very strong, being vaulted so as to be nearly fire-proof, and the massy walls of the convents afforded security to the rifle- men who filled them. The French troops had at one time nearly gained possession of the town, but, for some unknown reasons, they fell back. This gave confidence to the besieged. They redoubled their exertions. All shared the labor,- — women, children, priests and friars, labored for the common cause, — and in twenty-four hours the defences were so strength- ened that the place was prepared to stand a siege. But the next morning Palafox imprudently left the city, and offered battle to the French. He was, of course, quickly beaten ; but succeeded in escaping, with a few of his troops, into the city. A small hill rises close to the convent of St. Joseph's, called Monte Torrero. Some stone houses on this hill were strongly fortified, and occupied by twelve hundred men. This place was attacked by Lefebre, and taken by assault, on the 27th of June, 1808. The convents of St. Joseph's and the Capuchins were next attacked by the French, and, after a long resistance, taken bystunn. The command of the besiegers was now transferred to General Verdier. He continued the siege during the whole of July, making several assaults on the gates, from which he was repulsed, with great loss. Tho Spaniards, having received a reinforcement, made a sortie to retake Monte Torrero ; but were defeated, 5Q EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. their commander killed, and most of their number left dead. On the 2d of August, the enemy opened a dreadful fire on the town. One of their shells lighted upon the powder magazine, which was in the most secure part of the city, and blew it up, de- stroying many houses and killing numbers of the besieged. The carnage, during this siege, was truly terrible. Six hundred women and children perished, and above forty thousand men were killed. It was at this place' that the act of female heroism so beautifully celebrated by Byron was performed. An assault had been made upon one of the gates, which was withstood with great courage by the be- sieged. At the battery of the Portillo, their fire had been so fatal, that but one artillery-man remained able to serve the gun. He seemed to bear a charmed life. Though shot and shell fell thick and fast around him, he still stood unharmed, and rapidly loaded and discharged his gun. At length, worn out by his own exertions, his strength seemed about to fail. There was little time, in a contest like this, to watch for the safety of others ; but there was one eye near which not for a moment lost sight of him. Augustina, a girl twenty-two years of age, had followed her dar- ing lover to his post. She would not leave him there alone, although every moment exposed her to share his death. When she saw his strength begin to fail, she seized a cordial, and held it to his lips. In the very act of receiving it, the fatal death-stroke came, and he fell dead at her feet. Not for a mo- THE MAID OF SARAGOSSA. 57 ment paused the daring maid. No tear fell for the slain. She lived to do what he had done. Snatch- ing a match from the hand of a dead artillery-man, she fired off the gun, and swore never to quit it alive, during the siege. The soldiers and citizens, who had begun to retire, stimulated by so heroic an example, rushed to the battery a second time, and again opened a tremendous fire upon the enemy. For this daring act, Augustina received a small shield of honor, and had the word "Saragossa" embroi- dered on the sleeve of her dress, with the pay of an artillery-man. Byron thus commemorates this her- oism, in his own transcendent manner : " The Spanish maid, aroused, Hangs on the willow her unstrung guitar, And, all unsexed, the anlace hath espoused, Sung the loud song, and dared the deeds of war. And she, whom once the semblance of a scar Appalled, an owlet's 'larum filled with dread, Now views the column-scattering bayonet jar, The falchion flash, and o'er the yet warm dead Stalks with Minerva's step, where Mars might quake to tread. Ye who shall marvel when you hear her tale, ! had you known her in the softer hour, — • Marked her black eye, that mocks her coal-black veil, — Heard her light, lively tones in lady's bower, — Seen her long locks, that foil the painter's power, — Her fairy form, with more than female grace, — Scarce would you deem that Saragossa's tower Beheld her smile in danger's Gorgon face, Thin the closed ranks, and lead in glory's fearful chase ! Her lover sinks — she sheds no ill-timed tear ; Her chief is slain — she fills his fatal post ; Her fellows flee — she checks their base career ; The foe retires — she heads the sallying host, 58 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. Who can appease like her a lover's ghost ? Who can avenge so 'well a leader's fall ? "What maid retrieve, when man's flushed hope is lost? "Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul, Foiled by a woman's hand, before the battered wall ! On the 4th of August, the French stormed the city, and penetrated as far as the Corso, or public square. Here a terrible conflict was maintained. Every inch of ground was manfully contested ; but the enemy's cavalry was irresistible, and the be- sieged began to give way. All appeared lost. The French, thinking the victory gained, began to plun- der. Seeing this, the besieged rallied, and attacked them. They succeeded in driving the enemy back to the Corso. They also set fire to the convent of Francisco, and many perished in its conflagration. Night now came, to add its horrors to the scene. The fierce contest still raged on. The lunatic asylum was invaded, and soon the dread cry of "Fire" mingled with the incoherent ravings of its inmates. " Here," says one writer, " were to be seen grinning maniacs, shouting with hideous joy, and mocking the cries of the wounded ; there, others, with seeming delight, were dabbling in the crimson fluid of many a brave heart, winch had scarcely ceased to beat. On one side, young and lovely women, dressed in the fantastic rigging of a mind diseased, were bearing away headless trunks and mutilated limbs, which lay scattered around them, while the unearthly cries of the idiot kept up a hideous concert with the shouts of the infuriated combatants. In short, it was a DESPERATE CONFLICT. 5 ( J scene of unmingled horror, too fearful for the mind to dwell upon." After a severe contest and dreadful carnage, the French forced their way into the Corso, in the very centre of the city, and before night were in possession of one-half of it. Lefebre now be lievcd that he had effected his purpose, and required Palafox to surrender, in a note containing only these words: "Headquarters, St. Engrucia, — Capitula- tion." Equally laconic the brave Spaniard's an- swer was : "Headquarters, Saragossa, — War to the knife's point." The contest which was now carried on stands unparalleled. One side of the Corso was held by the French soldiery ; the opposite was in possession of the Arragonese, who erected batteries at the end of the cross-streets, within a few paces of those the French had thrown up. The space between these was covered with the dead. Next clay, the powder of the besieged began to fail ; but even this dis- mayed them not. One cry broke from the people, whenever Palafox came among them, " War to the knife! — no capitulation." The night was coming on, and still the French continued their impetuous onsets. But now the brother of Palafox entered the city with a convoy of arms and ammunition, and a reinforcement of three thousand men. This succor was as unexpected as it was welcome, and raised the desperate courage of the citizens to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. The war was now carried on from street to street, and even from room to room- A G 60 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. priest, by the name of Santiago Suss, displayed the most undaunted bravery, fighting at the head of the besieged, and cheering and consoling the wounded and the dying. At the head of forty chosen men, he succeeded in procuring a supply of powder for the town, and, by united stratagem and courage, effected its entrance, even through the French lines. This murderous contest was continued for eleven success- ive days and nights, — more, indeed, by night than by day, for it was almost certain death to appear by daylight within reach of houses occupied by the other party. But, concealed by the darkness of the night, they frequently dashed across the street, to attack each other's batteries ; and the battle, commenced there, was often carried into the houses beyond, from room to room, and from floor to floor. As if not enough of suffering had accompanied this memorable siege, a new scourge came to add its horrors to the scene. Pestilence, with all its accumulated terrors, burst upon the doomed city. Numbers of putrescent bodies, in various stages of decomposition,were strewed thickly around the spot where the death-struggle was still going on. The air was impregnated with the pestiferous miasm of festering mortality ; and this, too, in a climate like Spain, and in the month of August! This evil must be removed, — but how ? Certain death would have been the penalty of any Arragonese who should attempt it. The only rem- edy was to tie ropes to the French prisoners, and, pushing them forward amid the dead and dying ANECDOTE. 61 compel them to remove the bodies, and bring them away for interment. Even for this office, as neces- sary to .one party as the other, there was no truce ; only the prisoners were better secured, by the com- passion of their countrymen, from the fire. From day to day, this heroic defence was kept up, with unremitting obstinacy. In vain breaches were made and stormed ; the besiegers were constantly repulsed. At last Verdier received orders to retire; and the French, after reducing the city almost to ashes, were compelled to abandon their attacks, and retreat. Meanwhile, all over Spain the contest was contin- ued, and everywhere with the most unsparing cru- elty. Her purest and noblest sons often fell victims to private malice. " No one's life," says one au- thor, " was worth a week's purchase." One anec- dote may serve as an example to illustrate the spirit of the times. It was night. The rays of the full moon shed their beautiful light on the hills of the Sierra Morena. On one of these hills lay a small division of the pa- triotic army. Its chief was a dark, fierce-looking man, in whose bosom the spirit of human kindness seemed extinct forever. A brigand, who had long dealt in deeds of death, he had placed himself with- out the pale even of the laws of Spain. But, when the war commenced, he had offered his own services and that of his men against the French, and had been accepted. On this night he sat, wrapped in Ins huge 62 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. cloak, beside the decaying watch-fire, seemingly deep in thought. Near him lay a prisoner on the grass, with the knotted cords so firmly hound around his limbs that the black blood seemed every moment ready to burst from its enclosure. He might have groaned aloud in his agony, had not the pride of his nation, — for he, too, was a Spaniard, — and his own deep courage, prevented. His crime was, that, yield- ing to the promptings of humanity, he had shown kindness to a wounded French officer, and had thus drawn upon himself suspicion of favoring their cause. Short trial was needed, in those days, to doom a man to death ; and, with the morning's dawn, the brave Murillo was informed that he must die. With closed eyes and a calm countenance, his heart was jet filled with agony, as he remembered his desolated home and his defenceless little ones. Suddenly, a light footstep was heard in the wood adjoining. The sentinel sprang to his feet, and demanded, " Who goes there ? " A boy, over whose youthful brow scarce twelve summers could have passed, answered the summons. "I would speak with your chief," he said. The ruthless man raised his head as the boy spoke this ; and, not waiting for an answer, he sprang forward and stood before him " What is your errand here, boy ? " asked the brig- and. " I come a suppliant for my father's life," he said, pointing to the prisoner on the grass. "He dies with the morrow's sun," was the unmoved reply. " Nay, chieftain, spare him, for my mother's sake, ANECDOTE. 63 and for her children. Let him live, and, if yon must have blood, I \vill die for him;" and the noble boy threw himself at the feet of the chief, and looked up imploringly in his face. ' ' He is so good ! — Yon smile : yon will save his life ! " "Yon speak lightly of life," said the stern man, " and yon know little of death. Are yon willing to lose one of your ears, for your father's sake?" "I am," said the boy, and he lemoved his cap, and fixed his eyes on his father's face. Not a single tear fell, as the severed member, struck off by the chief's hand, lay at his feet. " You bear it bravely, boy ; are you willing to lose the other?" "If it will save my father's life," was the unfaltering response. A moment more, and the second one lay beside its fellow, while yet not a groan, or word expressive of suffering, passed the lip- of the noble child. " Will you now release my father?" he asked, as he turned to the prostrate man, whose tears, which his own pain had no power to bring forth, fell thick and fast, as he witnessed the bravery of his unoffending son. For a moment it seemed that a feeling of compassion had penetrated the flinty soul of the man of blood. But, if the spark had Mien, it glimmered but a moment on the cold iron of that heart, and then went out forever. " Before I release him, tell me who taught you thus to endure suffering." "My father," answered the boy. " Then that father must die ; for Spain is not safe while he lives to rear such children." And 6* 64 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. before the morning dawned father and son slept theil last sleep. "While Lefebre and Verdier were prosecuting the fatal siege of Saragossa, Marshal Bessieres was pur- suing his victorious course in Castile, compelling one force after another to acknowledge the authority of Joseph. General Duhesme and Marshal Moncey, in Catalonia, met with varied success; — repulsed at Valencia and at Gerona, they yet met with enough good fortune to maintain their reputation as general*. In Andalusia, the French army, under Dupont, met with serious reverses. At Baylen, eighteen thousand men laid down their arms, only stipulating that they should be sent to France. This capitulation, dis- graceful in itself to the French, was shamefully broken. Eighty of the officers were murdered, at Lebrixa, in cold blood ; armed only with their swords, they kept their assassins some time at bay, and succeeded in retreating into an open space in the town, where they endeavored to defend themselves ; but, a fire being opened upon them from the surround- ing houses, the last of these unfortunate men were destroyed. The rest of the troops were marched to Cadiz, and many died on the road. Those who survived the march were treated with the greatest indignity, and cast into the hulks, at that port. Two years afterwards, a few hundreds of them escaped, by cutting the cables of their prison-ship, and drift- ing in a storm upon a lee shore. The remainder were sent to the desert island of Cabrera, without FRENCH SUCCESSES IN PORTUGAL. 65 clothing, without provisions, with scarcely any water, and there died by hundreds. It is related that some of them dug several feet into the solid stone with a single knife, in search of water. They had no shelter, nor was there any means of providing it. At the close of the war, when returning peace caused an exchange of prisoners, only a few hundred of all those thousands remained alive. This victory at Baylen greatly encouraged the Spanish troops, whose ardor was beginning to fail, before the con- quering career of Bessieres, and the disgust and ter- ror occasioned by the murders and excesses of the populace. When the news of the capitulation reached Madrid, Joseph called a council of war, and it was decided that the French should abandon Madrid, and retire behind the Ebro. But if the French arms had met with a reverse in Spain, it was compensated by their success in Portu- gal. Junot, at the head of twenty-five thousand men, marched from Alcantara to Lisbon. At an unfavorable season of the year, and encountering fatigue, and want, and tempests, that daily thinned his ranks, until of his whole force only two thousand remained, he yet entered Lisbon victorious. This city contained three hundred thousand inhabitants, and fourteen thousand regular troops were collected there. A powerful British fleet was at the mouth of the harbor, and its commander, Sir Sidney Smith, offered his powerful aid, in resisting the French ; yet such was the terror that Napoleon's name excited, 66 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. and such the hatred of their rulers, that the people of Lisbon yielded, almost without a struggle. When Napoleon, in his Moniteur, made the startling an- nouncement that " the house of Braganza had ceased to reign," the feeble prince-regent, alarmed for his own safety, embarked, with his whole court, and sailed for the Brazils. Junot himself was created Duke of Abrantes, and made governor-general of the king- dom. He exerted himself to give an efficient government to Portugal ; and met with such success, that a strong French interest was created, and steps were actually taken to have Prince Eugene declared King of Portugal. The people themselves, and the literary men, were in favor of this step ; but it met with the strongest opposition from the priests, and this was nurtured and fanned into a flame by persons in the pay of the English, whose whole influence was exerted in making Napoleon's name and nation as odious to the people as possible. Among a people so superstitious as the Portuguese, the monks would, of course, exert great influence ; and many were the prodigies which appeared, to prove that their cause was under the protection of Heaven. Among others, was that of an egg, marked by some chemical process, with certain letters, which were interpreted to indicate the coining of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal. This adventurous monarch, years before, earnestly desirous of promoting the interests of his country, and of the Christian religion, had raised a large army, consisting of the flower of his STATE OF AFFAIRS IN PORTUGAL. 67 nobility, and the choicest troops of his kingdom, and crossed the Straits into Africa, for the purpose of waging war with the Moorish king. Young, ardent and inexperienced, he violated every dictate of pru- dence, liy marching into the enemy's country to meet an army compared with which his own was a mere handful. The whole of his army perished, and his own fate was never known. But, as his body was not found among the dead, the peasantry of Portu- gal, ardently attached to their king, believed that he would some time return, and deliver his country from all their woes. He was supposed to be concealed in a secret island, waiting the destined period, in immortal youth. The prophecy of the o^g: was, therefore, believed ; and people, even of the higher classes, were often seen on the highest points of the hills, looking towards the sea with earnest gaze, for the appearance of the island Avhere their long-lost hero was detained. The constant efforts of the English and the priests at length had their effect, in arousing the Portuguese peasantry into action ; and the news of the insurrec- tion in Spain added new fuel to the flame. The Spaniards in Portugal immediately rose against the French ; and their situation would have become dan- gerous in the extreme, had not the promptness and dexterity of Junot succeeded in averting the danger for the present. Such was the state of affairs in the Peninsula, when the English troops made their descent into Spain. It has often been said that 68 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. England was moved by pure patriotism, or by a strong desire to relieve the Spanish nation, in being thus prodigal of her soldiers and treasures ; but her hatred to Napoleon, and her determination, at all hazards, to put a stop to his growing power, was, in all probability, the real motive that in- fluenced her to bestow aid upon that people. The English collected their army of nine thousand in Cork, in June, 1808. Sir Hugh Dalrymple had, nominally the chief command of the army, and Sir Harry Burrard the second ; but the really acting officers were, Sir Arthur Wellesley and Sir John Moore. These troops disembarked at the Monclego river on the first of August, and marching along the coast, proceeded to Rolica, where they determined to give battle to the French. Junot, having left in Lisbon a sufficient force to hold the revolutionary movement in check, placed himself at the head of his army, and advanced to the contest. He was not, however, present at the battle of Rolico. The French troops were under the command of Generals Loison and Laborde. Nearly in the centre of the heights of Rolica stands an old Moorish castle.. This, and every favorable post on the high ground, was occupied by detachments of the French army. It was a strong position ; but Sir Arthur, anxious to give battle before the two divisions of the French army should effect a junction, decided upon an im- mediate attack. It was morning, and a calm and quiet beauty BATTLE OF ROLICA. 69 seemed to linger on the scene of the impending conflict. The heights of Rolica, though steep and difficult of access, possess few of the sterner and more imposing features of mountain scenery. The heat of summer had deprived them of much of that bright- ness of verdure common in a colder climate. Here and there the face of the heights was indented by deep ravines, worn by the winter torrents, the pre- cipitous banks of which were occasionally covered with wood, and below extended groves of the cork- tree and olive ; while Obidas, with its ancient walls and fortress, and stupendous aqueduct, rose in the middle distance. In the east Mount Junto reared its lofty summit, while on the west lay the broad Atlantic. And this was the battle-ground that was to witness the first outpouring of that blood which flowed so profusely, on both sides, during the progress of this long and desolating war. Sir Arthur had divided his army into three columns, of which he himself commanded the centre, Colonel Trant the right, while the left, directed against Loison, was under General Ferguson. The centre marched against Laborde, who was posted on the elevated plain. This general, perceiving, at a glance, that his position was an unfavorable one, evaded the danger by falling rapidly back to the heights of Zambugeria, where he could only be approached by narrow paths, leading through deep ravines. A swarm of skirmishers, starting forward, soon plunged into the passes ; and, spreading to the right and left, won their way among 70 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. the rocks and tangled evergreens that overspread the steep ascent, and impeded their progress. With still greater difficulty the supporting column followed, their formation being disordered in the confined and rugged passes, while the hollows echoed with the continual roar of musketry, and the shouts of the advancing troops were loudly answered by the enemy, while the curling smoke, breaking out from the side of the mountain, marked the progress of the assailants, and showed how stoutly the defence was maintained. The right of the 29th arrived first at the top; and, ere it could form, Col. Lake w T as killed, and a French company, falling on their flanks, broke through, carrying with them fifty or sixty prisoners. Thus pressed, this regiment fell back, and, re-forming under the hill, again advanced to the charge. At the same time, General Ferguson poured his troops upon the other side of the devoted army. Laborde, seeing it impossible to effect a junction with Loison, or to maintain his present position, fell back, — commencing his retreat by alternate masses, and protecting his movements by vigorous charges of cavalry, — and halted at the Quinta de Bugagleira. where his scattered detachments rejoined him. From this place he marched all night, to gain the position of Montechique, leaving three guns on the field of battle, and the road to Torres Vedras open to the victors. The French lost six hundred men, killed and wounded, among the latter of which was the gallant Laborde himself. Although the English were BATTLE OF VIMIERO. 71 victors in this strife, the heroic defence of the French served to show them that they had no mean enemy to contend with. The personal enmity to Napoleon, and the violent party prejudices in England, were so great, that the most absurd stories as to the want of order and valor in his troops gained immediate cre- dence there ; and many of the English army believed that they had but to show themselves, and the French would fly. The bravery with which their attack was met was, of course, a matter of great surprise, and served as an efficient check to that rashness which this erroneous belief had engendered. Instead of pursuing this victory, as Wellesley would have done, he was obliged to go to the seashore, to protect the landing of General Anstruthers and his troops. After having effected a junction with this general, he marched to Vimiero, where the French, under Junot, arrived on the 21st of August. The following brief and vivid sketch of this combat is taken from Alexander's Life of Wellington : "Vimiero is a village, pleasantly situated in a gentle and quiet valley, through which flows the small river of Maceria. Beyond, and to the westward and northward of this village, rises a mountain, of which the western point reaches the sea; the eastern is separated by a deep ravine from the height, over which passes the road that leads from Lourinha and the northward to Vimiero. On this mountain were posted the chief part of the infantry, with eight pieces of artillery. General Hill's brigade 72 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. was on the right, and Ferguson's on the left, having one battalion on the heights, separated from them by the mountain. Towards the east and south of the town lay a mill, wholly commanded by the mountain on the west side, and commanding, also, the sur- rounding ground to the south and east, on which General Fane was posted, with his riflemen, and the 50th regiment, and General Anstruthers' brigade, with the artillery, which had been ordered to that position during the night. "About eight o'clock a picket of the enemy's horse was first seen on the heights, toward Lourinha ; and, after pushing forward his scouts, soon appeared in full force, with the evident object of attacking the British. "Immediately four brigades, from the mountains on the east, moved across the ravine to the heights on the road to Lourinha, with three pieces of cannon. They were formed with their right resting upon these heights, and their left upon a ravine which separates the heights from a range at Maceria. On these heights were the Portuguese troops, and they were supported by General Crawford's brigade. " The enemy opened his attack, in strong columns, against the entire body of troops on this height. On the left they advanced, through the fire of the rifle- men, close up to the 50th regiment, until they were checked and driven back by that regiment, at the point of the bayonet. The French infantry, in these divisions, was commanded by Laborde, Loison, and BATTLE OF VIMIERO. 73 Kellerman, and the horse by General Margaron. Their attack was simultaneous, and like that of a man determined to conquer or to perish. Besides the con- flict on the heights, the battle raged with equal fury on every part of the field. The possession of the road leading into Vimiero was disputed with perse- vering resolution, and especially where a strong body had been posted in the church-yard, to prevent the enemy forcing an entrance into the town. Up to this period of the battle the British had received and repulsed the attacks of the enemy, acting altogether on the defensive. But now they were attacked in flank by General Ackland's brigade, as it advanced to its position on the height to the left, while a brisk cannonade was kept up by the artillery on those heights. "The brunt of the attack was continued on the brigade of General Fane, but was bravely repulsed at all points. Once, as the French retired in confusion, a regiment of light dragoons pursued them with so little precaution, that they were suddenly set upon by the heavy cavalry of Margaron, and cut to pieces, with their gallant colonel at their head. "No less desperate was the encounter between Kellerman' s column of reserve and the gallant 43d, in their conflict for the vineyard adjoining the church. The advanced companies were at first driven back, with great slaughter; but, again rallying upon the next ranks, they threw themselves upon the head of a French column in a ravine, and, charging with the 74 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. bayonet, put them to the rout. At length the vigor of the enemy's attack ceased. They, pressed on all sides by the British, had lost thirteen cannons and a great number of prisoners ; but were still enabled to retire without confusion, owing to the protection of their numerous cavalry. An incident occurred in this battle, so highly characteristic of Highland cour- age, that I cannot refrain from quoting it. It is very common for the wounded to cheer their more fortunate comrades, as they pass on to the attack. A man named Stewart, the piper of the 71st regiment, was wounded in the thigh, very severely, at an early period of the action, and refused to be removed. He sat upon a bank, playing martial airs, during the remainder of the battle. As a party of his comrades were passing, he acldfessed them thus : ' Weel, my brave lads, I can gang na langer wi' ye a fightin', but ye shall na want music.' On his return home, the Highland Society voted him a handsome set of pipes, with a flattering inscription engraved on them." The total loss of the French was estimated at three thousand. Soon after the battle, General Kel- lerman presented himself, with a strong body of cavalry, at the outposts, and demanded an interview with the English general. The result of this inter- view was the famous convention of Cintra. By it, it was stipulated that Portugal should be delivered up to the British army, and the French should evacuate it, with arms and baggage, but not as prisoners of war ; that the French should be transported, by the THE FRENCH EVACUATE PORTUGAL. 75 British, into their own country; that the army should carry with it all its artillery, cavalry, arms, and am- munition, and the soldiers all their private property. It also provided that the Portuguese who had favored the French party should not be punished. According to the terms of this convention, Junot, on the 2d of September, yielded the government of the capital. This suspension of military rule was followed by a wild scene of anarchy and confusion. The police disbanded of their own accord, and crime stalked abroad on every side. Lisbon was illumin- ated with thousands of little lamps, at their depart- ure ; and such was the state of the public mind, that Sir John Hope was obliged to make many and severe examples, before he succeeded in restoring order. On the 13th, the Duke of Abrantes embarked, with his staff; and by the 30th of September only the garrisons of Elvas and Almeida remained in Por- tugal. This convention was very unpopular in Eng- land. The whole voice of the press was against it ; and such was the state of feeling, that Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hugh Dalrymple were both recalled, to present themselves before a court of inquiry, insti- tuted for the occasion. After a minute investigation, these generals were declared innocent, but it was judged best to detain them at home. Having seen Portugal under the control of the English, let us return to the affairs of Spain. Im- mediately after the battle of Baylen, which induced the retreat of Joseph from Madrid, Ferdinand was 7* *76 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. again declared king, and the pomp and rejoicings attendant on this event pnt an end to all business, except that of intrigue. The French were every- where looked upon by the Spanish as a conquered foe, and they spent their time in the pageant of military triumphs and rejoicings, as though the enemy had already fled. From this dream of fancied secu- rity Palafox was at length awakened by the appear- ance of a French corps, which retook Tudela, and pushed on almost to Saragossa. He appealed to the governing junta for aid and assistance. Much time was lost in intrigue and disputes, but at length the army was organized by appointing La Pena and Llamas to the charge. To supply the place usually occupied by the commander-in-chief, a board of general officers was projected, of which Castanos should be chief; but when some difficulty arose as to who the other members should be, this plan was deferred, with the remark, that "when the enemy was driven across the frontier, Castanos would have leisure to take his seat." Of the state of the Span- ish forces at this time, Napier says, " The idea of a defeat, the possibility of a failure, had never entered their minds. The government, evincing neither ap- prehension, nor activity, nor foresight, were con- tented if the people believed the daily falsehoods propagated relative to the enemy; and the people were content to be so deceived. The armies were neglected, even to nakedness; the soldier's constancy under privations cruelly abused ; disunion, cupidity, ENERGY OF THE FRENCH. 77 incapacity, prevailed in the higher orders , patriotic ardor was visibly abating among the lower classes ; the rulers were grasping, improvident, and boasting ; the enemy powerful, the people insubordinate. Such were the allies whom the British found on their arrival in Spain. ' ' Sir Arthur Wellesley had returned to Ireland, and the chief command was now given to Sir John Moore. This general, with the greatest celerity, marched his troops to the Spanish frontier, by the way of Almieda, having overcome almost insurmountable obstacles, arising from the state of affairs in Spain. Sir David Baird, with a force of ten thousand men, landed at Corunna, and also ad- vanced to the contest ; but they soon found that they were to meet an enemy with whom they were little able to cope. Napoleon, with that energy so often displayed by him, when the greatness of the occasion required its exercise, collected, in an incredibly short space of time, an immense army of two hundred thousand men, most of them veterans who had partaken of the glories of Jena, Austerlitz, and Friedland. These were divided by the emperor into eight parts, called " corps d'armee." At the head of each of them was placed one of his old and tried generals, — veterans on whom he could rely. The very names of Victor, Bessieres, Moncey, Lefebre, Mortier, Ney, St. Cyr, and Junot, speak volumes for the character of the army. These troops were excited to the highest pitch of T8 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES, 1808. enthusiasm, by the emperor's address, as he passed through Paris, promising that he would head them in person, to drive the hideous leopard into the sea. What were the scattered and divided troops of the Spaniards, to contend with such a force ? The grand French army reached Yittoria almost without an in- terruption. Blake was in position at Villarcayo, the Asturians were close at hand, Romana at Bilboa, and the Estremadurans at Burgos. With more valor than discretion, Blake made an attack upon Tornosa. The enemy pretended to retreat. Blake, flushed with his apparent success, pursued them with avid- ity, when he suddenly came before twenty-five thou- sand men, under the Duke of Dantzic, and was furiously assailed. Blake, after a gallant defence, was obliged to retreat, in great confusion, upon Bil- boa. He rallied, however, and was again in the field in a few days, fought a brave action with Villate, and was this time successful. With the vain-glory of his nation, he next attacked the strong city of Bilboa. Here, Marshal Victor gained a signal success, Blake losing two of his generals, and many of his men. Romana, who had joined Blake, renewed the action, with his veterans. They were made prisoners, but their brave chief escaped to the mountains. Napo- leon himself now left Bayonne, and directed his course into Spain. Only one day sufficed for his arrival into Yittoria. At the gates of the city, a large procession, headed by the civil and military chiefs, met him, and wished to escort him to a splen THE PAS (Russians 49,000,000) i™' h < Bulgarians and Illyrians, . 5.000,000 > 56,000,000 branch ( Poleg 6,500,000 ) 58,000,000 Germans, ......... 650.000 Dacian Romans, ....... 750,000 Tshuds, ......... 3,400.000 Tartars, ......... 2,150,000 Mongols, ......... 250,000 Munshus, ......... 100,000 Hyperborean Races, ........ 200,000 Caucasian Tribes, ....... 2,750,000 Greeks, ......... 70.000 Jews, ......... 1,600.000 Gipsies, ......... 30,800 Miscellaneous, ........ 50,000 12,000,000 Total, ........ 70,000,000 In respect to religion, there are probably in the Russian Empire 50,000,000 belonging to the so- called Greek Church (i. e. Byzantine Catholics) ; about 7.000.000 Raman Catholics (chiefly Poles) ; and upwards of 3.000,000 Protestants (Germans and Tshuds). Relative proportion of the dominant race to the olher races in the Russian dominions :— Slav* to Don Slavs, as 29 to 6, or 4 8 to 1 : Russians to non-Russians, as 7 to 3, or 2'3 to 1. 248 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The whole interior is inhabited by one sole race, that of the Russians proper. The Russian race alone consists of about 50,000,000 souls, whilst all the other tribes of the empire put together do not exceed 15,000,000. ~No other state in Europe possesses so numerous a population belonging to one nation. Even France con- tains but 32,000,000 of Frenchmen out of 35,000,000 or 36,000,000 of inhabitants ; and Great Britain about 19,000,000 of Englishmen out of 30,000,000 of inhabit- ants. The 36,000,000 inhabitants of Great Russia speak identically the same language, from the highest classes to the lowest, from the Emperor to the peasant. The dia- lects of the White Russians and of 7,000,000 of Little Russians are slightly different, but still comprehensible. To this complete unity of language must be added, among the Great Russians, the most surprising uniformity of manners and customs. Another still more important element of political strength is the unity of the Russian Church. This, unity is complete amongst the Little Russians and Ruthenians, a few of the latter only being in communion with the Church of Rome. The Great Russians are divided by a schism, but the Staroverzi (or members of the old faith) have seceded from the Established Church, not on the grounds of doctrine, but of ceremonial usages. Although the first Russian empire, which was governed by Rurik, was founded by Kormans (the Yarangians), who must have introduced into Russia the fundamental Germanic institutions and the principles of the feudal system, this system never took root amongst the Sclavo- nian population. On the contrary, all the popular insti- RUSSIAN EMPIKE, 1855. 249 tutions of Russia assumed the patriarchal character, which is peculiarly adapted to the Sclavonian race, and espe- cially to the Russian people, which in this respect closely resembles the ancient nations of the East. The social organization of Russia forms in all its relations and degrees an uninterrupted scale of hierarchy, every step of which rests on some patriarchal power. The father is the absolute sovereign of the family, which cannot exist with- out him. If the father dies, the eldest son takes his place and exercises the full paternal authority. The property of the family is common to all the males belonging to it, but the father or his representative can alone dispose of it. Next comes the village or township, which is like an enlarged family, governed by an elected father or starost. This starost is elected for three years. His power is abso- lute, and he is obeyed without restriction. All the inha- bited and cultivated lands of the village are held in common as undivided property. jSTo portion is ceded as private property. The starost divides the fruits or profits of the whole amongst them. So, again, all these villages or townships form the nation ; a nation of men equal among themselves, and equally subject to the chief of the empire and the race — the Czar. The authority of the Czar is absolute, like the obedience of his subjects. Any restriction on the authority of the Czar appears to a true Russian as a monstrous contradiction. "Who can limit the power or the rights of a father ?" says the Russian ; " he holds them, not from us, who are his children, nor from any man, but from God, to whom he will one day answer for them." The mere form of words, " It is ordered," has a magical effect on the Russians. They pav 250 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. the same respect to the agents of the government, whom they regard as the servants of the Czar, and to all their superiors. A Russian calls batiouschka — little papa — not only his father or ah old man, but the starost, or any 01 his superiors. The Emperor himself is never addressed by the people by any other name. An old serf will call his master " little papa," even though he should be a child of ten years old. In Russia there is no national or domestic association which has not its centre, its unity, its chief, its father, its master. A chief is absolutely indispensable to the existence of Russians. They choose another father when they lose their own. The starost is elected to be uncon- ditionally obeyed. This must be well understood in order to comprehend the true position of the Czar. The Russian nation is like a hive of bees, which absolutely require a queen-bee. In Russia the Czar is not the dele- gate of the people, nor the first servant of the state, nor the legal owner of the soil, nor even a sovereign by the grace of God. He is at once the unity, the chief, and the father of his people. He does not govern by right of office, but, as it were, by the ties of blood, recognised by the whole nation. This feeling is as natural to the whole population as that of their own existence, insomuch that the Czar can never do wrong. Whatever happens, the people always think him right. Any restriction on his power, even to the extent of one of the German Diets, would be considered in Russia an absurd chimera. The Czar Ivan IY. committed the most cruel actions, but the people remained faithful to him, and loved him all the more. To this day he is the hero of the popular ballads THE RUSSIANS, 1855. 251 and legends of the country. When the Czar Ivan the Terrible, weary of governing, sought to abdicate, the Rus- sians flung themselves at his feet to entreat him to remain on the throne. The feeling of the Russians is not so much one of deep attachment to their country as of ardent patriotism. Their country, the country of their ancestors, the Holy Russia, the people fraternally united under the sceptre of the Czar, the communion of faith, the ancient and sacred monu- ments of the realm, the tombs of their forefathers — all form a whole which excites and enraptures the mind of the Russians. They consider their country as a sort of kinsmanship to which they address the terms of familiar endearment. God, the Czar, and the priest, are all called " Father," — the Church is their " Mother," and the empire is always called " Holy Mother Russia." The capital of the empire is " Holy Mother Moscow," and the Yolga " Mother Yolga." Even the high road from Moscow to Vladimir is called " our dear mother the high road to Yladimir." But above all, Moscow, the holy mother of the land, is the centre of Russian history and tradition, to which all the inhabitants of the empire devote their love and veneration. Every Russian entertains all his life long the desire to visit one day the great city, to see the towers of its holy churches, and to pray on the tombs of the patron saints of Russia. " Mother Moscow" has already suffered and given her blood for Russia, as all the Russian people are ready to do for her. There is not in Europe any nobility which possesses such large fortunes, (?) such vast personal privileges, such liber- ties, (? ?) such political rights in tL e internal administration 252 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. of the empire, (? ? ?) or so much physical power as the Russian aristocracy. The nobles possess in absolute pro- perty more than one-half of the lands under tillage. More than half the population of Russia Proper, that is, more than 12,000,000 of souls, which means more than 24,- 000,000 of heads, are not only their subjects, but their serfs. It must be understood that in Russian rent-rolls the term " souls" means exclusively the males on an estate. In every valuation of the agricultural population, however, the unity taken is the Tieglo of two souls, or, more exactly, five persons; the women and younger children being included. The class of Russian serfs, or mougiks, represents, accord- ing to M. Leouzon le Due, no less than one-twentieth. part of mankind. It exceeds the whole population of France or Austria, and is computed to amount to no less than forty millions of human beings. The condition of these serfs differs in no material respect from that of the negro slaves of the United States, for the law holds them to be abso- lutely disqualified from possessing property ; all they may earn or hold is really the property of their lord, and at his mercy. The Russian landlord is armed with a power which even the American planter does not possess. He is bound to feed the terrible conscription of the arm}'-, year by year, with an aliquot part of his own peasants. The rule of the Russian army is twenty-five years' duty. The power of drafting off particular men into the army amounts to an absolute control over their existence. The body of the serf is equally subject to every caprice of the master, and the use of the whip is universal. The virtue PETEK THE GREAT, 1689. 253 of the female serf is m his power, and it is considered an honor among the Russian peasantry to reckon the adulte- rous offspring of their master amongst their own. The law itself precludes all redress, for the Swod expressly enacts that, " if any serf, forgetting the obedience he owes to his lord, presents a denunciation against him, and espe- cially if he presents such a denunciation to the Emperor, he shall be handed over to justice, and treated with all the rigor of the laws — he, and the scribe who may have drawn up his memorial." We cannot conceive in any country or any age a more complete annihilation of human inde- pendence, or a more total degradation of human society. The pay of the Russian army in all ranks is wretchedly small. The common soldier receives about $7 50 a year ; a lieutenant-general about $850 ; a colonel, $500 ; a cap- tain from $250 to $300. THE PROGRESS OF RUSSIA/ There is something really grand and imposing in the steady march of Russian dominion, since Peter the Great first consolidated his empire into a substantive state. On his accession, in 1689, its western boundary was in longitude 30 degrees, and its southern in latitude 42 de- grees ; these have now been pushed to longitude 18 de- grees and latitude 39 degrees respectively. Russia had then no access to any European sea ; her only ports were Archangel in the Frozen Ocean, and Astrakhan on the Caspian : she has now access both to the Baltic and the 254 ETTKOPE AND THE ALLIES. Euxine. Her population, mainly arising from increase of territory, has augmented thus : — At the accession of Peter the Great, in 1689, it was 15,000,000 ; at the accession of Catharine the Second, in 1752, it was 25,000,000 ; at the accession of Paul, in 1796, it was 86,000,000 ; at the accession of Nicholas, in 1825, it was 58,000,000. By the treaty of JSTeustadt in 1721, and by a subse- quent treaty in 1809, she acquired more than the king- dom of Sweden, and the command of the Gulf of Finland, from which before she was excluded. By the three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, and by the arrangements of 1815, she acquired territory nearly equal in extent to the whole Austrian Empire. By various wars and treaties with Turkey, in 1794, 1783, and 1812, she robbed her of territories equal in extent to all that remains of her European dominions, and acquired the command of the Black Sea. Between 1800 and 1814, she acquired from Persia districts at least as large as the whole of England ; from Tartary, a territory which ranges over thirty degrees of longitude. During this period of 150 years, she has advanced her frontier 500 miles towards Constantinople, 630 miles towards Stockholm, 700 miles towards Berlin and Vienna, and 1000 miles towards Teheran, Cabool, and Calcutta. One only acquisition she has not yet made, though steadily pushing towards it, earnestly desir- ing it, and feeling it to be essential to the completion of her vast designs and the satisfaction of her natural and consistent ambition, namely, — the possession of Constanti- nople and Roumelia, — which would give her the most NICHOLAS, THE CZAK, 1S55. 255 admirable harbors and the command of the Levant, and would enable her to overlap, surround, menace, and embarrass all the rest of Europe. NICHOLAS, THE REIGXIXG CZAR. Nicholas Paulovitch, the son of Paul the First and Maria Feodorowna, is the fifteenth sovereign of the Romanoff dynasty. He is of a great height, and is very proud of it. His air is serious, his glance wild, even a little savage ; his entire physiognomy has something hard and stern in it. The Emperor never shows himself but in the military costume, the stiffness of which is in perfect keeping with his tastes, and which makes his great height still more conspicuous. His face and whole deportment are noble and commanding. He speaks with vivacity, with simplicity, and the most perfect propriety ; all he says is full of point and meaning, — no idle pleasantry, not a word out of its place. There is nothing in the tone of his voice or the arrangement of his phrases that indicates haughtiness or dissimulation, and yet every one feels that his heart is closed, and its deep secrets studiously con- cealed. Nicholas has a boundless delight in seeing his soldiers, and in reviewing them. He is unsurpassed for the skill and despatch with which he passes numerous regiments in review, in the Place of Arms, at St. Petersburg. Woe to the poor soldier who shall be convicted of a button badly fastened, or a buckle out of its place ! The eagle 256 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. eye of the Emperor will search in the very thickest part of the ranks, for infractions of this description, and his inflexibility is known. He is, nevertheless, a timid rider, and travels by drosky or sledge, in preference to horseback. The Emperor leads a life of restless and incessant activity. Morning, noon, and night, he is engaged in the public business brought beneath his notice from the dif- ferent ^sections of the various departments. In private life he is free from immoralities, and sets a worthy example of conjugal fidelity to all his subjects. The Emperor has a Grecian profile, the forehead high, but receding ; the nose straight, and perfectly formed ; the mouth very finely cut ; the face, which in shape is rather a long oval, is noble : the whole air military, and rather German than Sclavonic. His carriage and his attitude are naturally imposing. He expects always to be gazed at, and never for a moment forgets that he is so. In Poland, as well as Siberia, incredible cruelties have been committed in the name of Nicholas and his com- mand. The way in which he is striving to Russianize that once free country, will appear from the following extract from the " Russian Catechism of Poland," taught to Polish children. " Question 1. — How is the authority of the Emperor to be considered, in reference to the spirit of Christianity ? " Answer. — As proceeding immediately from God. " Question 17. — What are the supernaturally revealed motives for this worship (?'. e. of the Emperor) ? " Answer. — The supernaturally revealed motives are, that the Emperor is the vice-gerent and minister of God to execute the divine commands, and, consequently, EMPRESS OF RUSSIA, 1855. 257 disobedience to the Emperor is identical with disobedience to God himself ; that God will reward us in the world to come, for the worship and obedience we render the Em- peror, and punish us severely to all eternity should we disobey or neglect to worship him. Moreover, God com- mands us to love and obey from the inmost recesses of the heart every authority, and particularly the Emperor, not from worldly considerations, but from apprehensions of the final judgment." The Empress of Bussia, Alexandra, is the daughter of Louisa, the queen of Prussia, and sister to the now reign- ing King of Prussia. She was born July 13th, 1798. Ever since the accession of Nicholas she has been suffering from an ill state of health, necessitating frequent travel- ling and change of air. She is said to have always exercised a beneficial influence over her husband, by tempering his passion and his excesses. Though she does not possess any superior qualities, the atmosphere in which she lives has not been able to efface the good principles which she imbibed in the Court of Prussia. The counte- nance of the Empress is represented to be mild, radiant, and benignant, resembling in its sweetness of expression that of a ministering angel. The late Marquis of London deny, in his " Tour in the North of Europe," says — " The indescribable majesty of deportment and fascinating grace that mark this illustrious personage are very peculiar. Celebrated as are all the females connected with tho lamented and beautiful Queen of Prussia, there is none of them more bewitching in manner than the Empress of Russia ; nor is there existing, according to all reports, sc excellent and perfect a being." 258 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. HISTORY OF THE WAR. Arrival of Menschikoff at Constantinople — Demands of the Czar — The Sultan — Occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia — Conference of Vienna — Protest of the Porte — Turkish forces — Commencement of hostilities. On the 28th of February, 1853, the Russian ambassador Prince Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople, an event celebrated with more than eastern pomp, for he was escorted from the quay to his hotel by upwards of 7000 Greeks, whose services had been previously retained. Bearing the highest dignities that the Czar can confer, imperious in his demeanor, impetuous and overbearing in his language, he was well qualified, notwithstanding his advanced age, to deal with Orientals, and to execute the commission entrusted to him, though he perhaps scarcely anticipated the amount of energy latent in the Sultan's apparently languid character. On the 2d March the Russian Prince, attired in the plainest manner without a decoration of any kind, had an interview with the Grand Vizier, and was by him referred to Fuad Effendi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Fuad Effendi had, however, uniformly distinguished himself by his determined opposition to the advances of Russia: Prince Menschikoff, therefore, haughtily declined to hold communication with him. As was expected, Fuad sent in his resignation, and great was the consequent delight experienced at the Russian embassy. Nor was that satis- 1'RINCE MENSCHIKOFF, 1853. 259 faction altogether unfounded, for Fuad Effendi was un doubtedly one of the ablest men in Turkey. He was succeeded by Rifaat Pacha, a man of considera- ble talent, but by no means competent to cope with the daring policy of the Czar. Prince Menschikoff, indeed, now regarded the game as in his own hands, for he was provided with an autograph letter from the Czar, authoriz- ing him to treat as a personal insult to Nicholas himself, any hesitation on the part of the Sultan or his advisers to accept the propositions submitted by him. It is evident enough that Russia was at this time ill- informed as to the feeling both of England and France on the subject of the "Eastern question," or she would hardly have ventured to commit herself so far as she did in the demands addressed to Rifaat Pacha by Prince Menschikoff, on the 19th April, 1853, of which the follow- ing is an abstract : " 1. A definite firman securing to the Greek Church the custody of the key of the Church of Bethlehem ; of the silver star pertaining to the altar of the Nativity ; of the grotto of Gethsemane (with the admission of the Latin priests thereto for the celebration of their rites) ; the joint possession by the Greeks and the Latins of the gar- dens of Bethlehem. " 2. An immediate order on the part of the government for the thorough repair of the cupola of the temple of the Holy Sepulchre to the satisfaction of the Greek Patriarch. " 3. A guarantee for the maintenance of the privileges of the Greek Church in the East, and of those sanctuaries already in the exclusive possession of that Church, or shared by it with others." 260 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The note containing these demands, and some others of minor importance, was couched in rather menacing if not insolent language, while the reply of the Porte was firm? temperate and dignified ; expressive of its readiness to do all that could be fairly demanded of it, and concluding with a declaration of its inability to accede to such viola- tion of its independence and national rights as was implied in the Russian note ; appealing at the same time to the emperor's own sense of justice and honor. It would be quite superfluous to introduce here all the voluminous correspondence that ensued between the two Powers. Suffice it to observe, that whatever might have been the concessions on the side of the Porte, they would evidently have been met by further and still more exorbi- tant demands on the part of Russia, as the intention of that Power, from the first, was evidently to bring matters to an open rupture. Surely for no other purpose could the ruler of a vast territory have been suddenly called upon, as he had been not long before at five days' notice, to divest himself of all authority over many millions of his subjects, and to admit, in fact, of a partition of his empire. "What the precise designs of Russia were, are clearly shown in the following extract of a letter from Prince Lieven to Count ISTesselrode : " Our policy," said he, " must be to maintain a reserved and prudent attitude, until the moment arrives for Russia to vindicate her rights, and for the rapid action which she will be obliged to adopt. The war ought to take Europe oy surjprise (/) Our movements must be prompt, so that the other powers should find it impossible to be prepared for THE BLOW THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO STRIKE." ABDUL J1EDJLD, 185S. 261 The Cabinets of London and Paris having received early intimation of what was going on, and being well satisfied that the Greek inhabitants of Turkey needed no additional protection, speedily concerted measures for the defence of the Ottoman empire and of their own interests. The political correspondence now became still more involved and prolix ; but as more than mere verbal assur- ances were required to satisfy the Porte of the material support of the two great Western Powers, the combined fleets were directed to anchor in Besika Bay. On the 4th June, the Sultan, still desirous of avoiding the responsibility of plunging his people into war, ad- dressed to all the governments of Europe a notification of the necessity he felt himself under, of assuming a defen- sive attitude. This is known as the. memorable Hatti- sheriff of Gulhany, a document drawn up with much ability, evincing considerable firmness and moderation of tone, and reflecting great credit on Abdul-Medjicl and his advisers. For several years past, indeed, the Sultan has been quietly but steadily introducing a series of reforms into every department of his government, for which he has received little credit from Europe. The strong instinct of his predecessor, Mahmoud, had already marked out the career to be followed. It was only necessary for Abdul- Medjid to wait till he felt himself sufficiently strong to advance. As soon as he did, he established a sound sys- tem of national education, took measures for guaranteeing the security of property, organized an uniform dispensa- tion of justice to all classes, not only at Constantinople, but in the remotest districts, reserving exclusively in his own hands the power of life and death. The taxes, more- 262 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. over, were assessed and levied far more equitably than before, and the abuses which had for a long time been accumulating in numerous offices may be now considered to be in process of abolition. Abdul-Medjid being alive to the importance of his mission as the regenerator of a vast empire, the moment his independence as a sovereign potentate was menaced, he appealed to England and France, assuring them of his readiness for immediate war in the defence of a principle. The occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia, which took place in the course of the summer, was preceded by a specious proclamation announcing that it was " but a pro- visional measure, and that the sole object of the Russian government was efficacious protection in consequence of the unforeseen conduct of the Porte, unmindful of the earnest desire for a sincere alliance manifested by the Imperial Court since the treaty of Adrianople, and of its most strenuous efforts to maintain, on the present occa- sion, the peace of Europe. This proclamation promptly called forth energetic ex- planations, both from M. Drouyn de Lhuys and from Lord Clarendon (loth and 16th July, 1853). They both clearly set out the true history of the Czar's aggression, and make no concealment of their resolution to resist it. The inva- sion of the Sultan's dominions they maintained to be a just cause for the declaration of war ; but as the great Powers of the West had already shown the necessity of avoiding bloodshed, unless as a last resource, the Sultan felt bound to transmit to St. Petersburg a simple protest against the insult passed upon him. Russia perhaps mis took this moderation for feebleness. AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT, 1853. 263 Late in 1853 came the tedious conference of Vienna, with its notes, its projects of notes, its despatches, its ultima turns and its ultimatissimums. The result was, the con- sumption of a vast amount of time, foolscap, post-horses, and government messengers, the concession to Austria of much more importance and consideration than she was in any way entitled to, and the retention at Besika, till the end of November, of the allied fleets, which ought to have passed through the Bosphorus more than four months before, — on the day, indeed, that the Russians crossed the Pruth. The " occupation" which ensued amounted, in fact, to the tyrannical assumption by Russia of the government of two of the finest provinces in Europe, accompanied by such atrocious acts of tyranny, that the English and French consuls found it incumbent upon them at once to withdraw. Some time after the conclusion of the treaty of Adrian- ople, in 1828, Count Nesselrode, writing to the Grand Duke Constantine, thus gave expression to the feelings of the government of Russia on this subject: — " The Turkish monarchy," said he, " is reduced to such a state as to exist only under the protection of Russia, and must comply in future with her wishes." Then, adverting to the Principalities, he says, " The possession of these Principalities is of the less importance to us, as without maintaining troops there, which would be attended with considerable expense, we shall dispose of them at our pleasure, as well during peace as in time of war. We shall hold the keys of a position from which it will he easy to keep the Turkish government in cheek, and the Sultan will feel that any attempt to brave us again must end in his certain ruin." 264 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The protest of the Porte against the invasion of these provinces bears date the 14th July: from that day till the end of September, the conference at Yienna, urged chiefly by Austria, had been making strenuous efforts to induce the Turkish government to yield to the arrogant pretensions of Russia. l$o enviable position, indeed, was that of the Sultan: "beset on one side by the friendly persuasives of Francis Joseph, and on the other by the imperious summons of Nicholas, who was actively in- triguing in every direction, through numberless astute emissaries, to give rise to a belief that the presence of his troops in the Principalities was in conformity to the wishes of the population themselves. On the 8th Octo- ber, the Grand Vizier (Mustapha Pacha) issued a pro- clamation to the inhabitants of Constantinople, highly characteristic of the spirit of tolerance which now ani- mates the people of the Sultan, and indicative of a degree of watchfulness and preparation on the part of the govern- ment which could scarcely have been anticipated. This proclamation was hailed with enthusiasm, and the whole nation, animated by one will, were only too eager to be led against their aggressors, or to aid in suppressing all attempts, on the part of the Greek population, to adopt the inflammatory counsels of the paid emissaries of Russia. Equal praise is due to the priests of the Greek Church, and to the Ulemas, who turned a deaf ear to every attempt made to appeal to the fanaticism of their several congre- gations. Had they acted differently, the internecine war that would have ensued, must have inundated every threshold with blood. 10KKISH FORCES; 1853. 265 On the eve of the commencement of hostilities, the effective Turkish forces on the Danube may be computed as follows : Infantry 103,000 Egyptian contingent 13,000 Regular cavalry . . . . 12 regiments Albanians and other irregulars . . 20,000 Artillery (guns of different calibre), . 40 batteries. Omar Pacha, the commander-in-chief,, established his head-quarters at Shumla with 50,000 troops. Alim Pacha, at Baba-Dagh, in the Dobruscha, headed 25,000. Mustapha Pacha, with 30,000, guarded the line of country between Sistow and Rustuck ; and Ismail Pacha, with a like number, the district between Sistow and Widdin. Thirty-five thousand men, besides, were distributed among the garrisons of Yarna, Tirnova, Pravardin, and different small fortresses along the grim range of the Balkan. A reserve of 50,000 was assigned to Rifaat Pacha, who was stationed at Sophia, an important town in Bulgaria, on the road from Belgrade to Constantinople. The whole of Europe — and no country more than Russia — had strangely erred in its estimate of the Turkish army. Any man who could have been found rash enough to have hinted at the possibility of the Sultan's troops stand- ing before the " stalwart warriors " from the Don, would have been laughed to scorn : yet almost every engage- ment, has shown them uniformly triumphant. The Turkish army is divided into sections, commanded by generals of division, each of whom has under his orders three generals of brigade. The division consists of eleven regiments, six of infantry, four of cavalry, and one of artil- 266 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES. lery. The available force of a division comprises 20,980 men ; i. e., 16,800 infantry, 2,880 cavalry, and 1,300 artil- lery-men. The infantry regiments are divided into batta- lions, and the battalions into companies. The cavalry regiments are divided into squadrons. The artillery regiments each comprise three horse and nine foot batte- ries, numbering altogether seventy-two heavy and four " grasshopper guns," about of the same calibre as those used at the battle of Buena Yista by General Taylor. The Russian army has, for a long time past, been adopt- ing from other powers every improvement that could advantageously be introduced into those docile but stolid ranks, and it was universally supposed to be in the highest state of efficiency. Numerically, it was about equal to the Turkish army immediately opposed to it. At the time to which we allude, Nicholas had, in Georgia and Circas- sia, at least 148,000 men, commanded by the venerable Prince Woronzow, who does not enjoy a brilliant military reputation, but still is considered an experienced soldier, and one of the few trustworthy men in the Czar's service. Had this large army not been engaged in holding in check the hardy and active hordes of Schamyl, it might possibly have been available to threaten Constantinople ; but danger from the quarter we allude to was never very imminent, for the Turks had stationed 148,000 men, in two separate armies, on the Asiatic shore of the Black Sea, to cooperate with Schamyl, and to observe, at the same time, the movements of the enemy. The Turks and the Russians had, consequently, about an equal number of troops, both upon the Danube and in Asia. The first cartridge burnt in anger, was at the affair of FIKST SKIRMISH, 1853. 267 Issatcha, scarcely more than a skirmish between a handful of Egyptians and Russians, and leading to no important results. The Russian general would fain have confined operations — for a time at least — to such skirmishes, from his unwillingness to risk the prestige with which the Rus- sians had continued hitherto to surround their arms ; but this policy accorded not with the views of Omar Pacha, who was anxious to elevate the morale of his men, and to prove to them, by the most conclusive of all arguments, their capability to contend with those whom they had been led to regard with so much respect. 268 EUROPE AND THE ATJ.TE3. CHAPTER IX. OMEK PACHA. Anecdote — His birth — Reforms — Sultan Mahnrud — Enlistment in the Turkish army — His application — Expeditions among the wild tribes — Appointed Generalissimo — Present high position — Domestic life — Mar- riage — Personal habits — Kossuth and Hungarian refugees — War on the Danube — Battle of Oltenitza. The life of Omer Pacha is connected with perhaps the most important j3eriod in the history of Turkey — an epoch of transition from the old state of things to the new. About twenty-five years ago a young man arrived at "Widdin, and asked to see Hussein Pasha, the commander of the place. His personal appearance was unusually pre- possessing, being at once handsome and majestic. His complexion was fair and clear, his eyes soft and penetrat- ing, and his limbs pliant and athletic. The Turks, who have a superstitious veneration for a fine physiognomy, and to whom, therefore, good looks are pre-eminently, as Queen Elizabeth said, an excellent letter of recommenda- tion, received him with great cordiality and respect. Hussein was at this time encamped before "Widdin, and living in a superb tent, to which the young stranger was directed. He happened unfortunately to get there just as Hussein was waking up in no very good humor. " "What do you want ?" said he, impatiently, to the intruder. " To enter your excellency's service," was the reply. OMER PACHA. OMEIi PACHA, 1830. 269 " I have too many attendants already. Go away." In Turkey it is allowable for people in the humblest condition to oiler presents to a distinguished personage without any offence. Accordingly, the young man pulled a small parcel, carefully done up, out of his pocket, and presented it to the pasha, begging him to accept it. " What is this ?" said the pasha, when he had opened the parcel. " Gloves, your excellency ?" " And what use are they ?" ""When you go out in the sun, they will preserve the color of your hands (the pasha's were very white), and when you are riding, they will prevent them from being blistered by the bridle." " But how do you put them on ?" The young man answered by putting one on the pasha's hand. " Now the other." This also was put on. Hussein then clapped his hands three times, and raised them above his head, just as the officers of his suite were entering the tent. Thanks to this pair of gloves, which were the admiration of the pasha and his staff the stranger was admitted into Hussein's service. Now this stranger was no other than Latkes, now Omer Pasha. Of his early life but little is known. His origin is Croa- tian ; his native place Ylaski, a village in the district of Ogulini, thirteen leagues from Fiume, on the Adriatic Sea. He was born in 1801 ; the religion of his forefathers, and of his youthful years, was the Greek united faith, namely, that branch of the Greek worship subject to the 270 EUJROPE AND THE ALLIES. Roman Pontiff. He received a liberal education. His father enjoyed the important charge of Lieutenant-Admi- nistrator of the district, and his uncle was invested with ecclesiastical functions. His instruction in mathematics and military engineering he received at the military school of Thurm, near Carlstadt, in Transylvania ; and in 1822, when 21 years of age, after having distinguished himself in his studies, he entered the corps of Ponts et C'haussees in the Austrian service, with the rank of lieu- tenant, that body having just been organized by the government. At twenty- nine he left the Austrian service; but the true cause of his taking this step has always remained a mystery. Many attributed it to a family misfortune ; some to a quarrel lie had with his superiors, followed by acts that would have subjected him to a court-martial. Having made his escape, he passed into Bosnia in 1830, where he arrived wholly unknown, and it was only with difficulty he was able to engage himself as a servant in Kosrew Pacha's house, who was then at Bosna-Serai. The second reforming Sultan had of late organized his troops on a principle of reform, not only as to discipline, but also as to the mode of equipment. Only a year, the wide and overflowing dress, the majestic turbans, the silken shawls and rich furs had given way to the more simple fez and to the European pantaloon. He began himself to assume that costume. The Ehatti Sherif order- ing this change was only promulgated on the 3d of March, 1829, and the sensation which the new dress occasioned among the people did not fail, according to eye-witnesses, to draw forth tears and public mourning. OMEE PACHA, 1831. 27 1 All the regular troops of the army he had formed aban- doned, whether they liked it or not, the picturesque and rich costume, adopted the new uniform, and accepted the command of foreign officers. An indispensable condition to the advancement of a foreigner in the Turkish service was conversion to Islamism, and Latkes became a Mus- sulman, under the cognomen of Omer. Meanwhile Old Turkey was clamorous in its protests against the progress of reform ; nor was it long before its indignation broke out into acts of violence and bloodshed. Popular fury was often directed against Europeans, who were regarded as abetters of reform ; and in August, 1831, ten thousand houses belonging to Europeans were a prey to the flames. It was full time that these seditious demonstrations, and the sanguinary scenes enacted under former Sultans, should teach prudence to the fortunate, but daring and impetuous Mahmud. He felt the necessity of surrounding himself with faithful and vigorous-minded friends. He chose men qualified both as intelligent advisers and men of action. He invited to a great banquet in his palace his great state functionaries, the teachers of the law, the professors, the officers, the seven generals of the empire, the mag- nates of the nation, and the warmest partisans of his reforms. With glowing confidence and enthusiasm he spoke in the name of the national interest and the public cause, and called upon all to sacrifice personal feelings, party spirit, and internal divisions, to the fortune and the destinies of the empire. Mahmud's unusual familiarity astonished the greater number of the bystanders. It was an innovation at variance with the dignity of the " Shade 272 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. of Allah on earth" but all felt themselves individually flattered by it. "When the salams that Oriental courtesy prescribes had been multiplied to a countless number, at a hint given to the Great Master of the Ceremonies, a large piece of tapestry was raised, a gate was thrown open, and the Sultan invited all to enter. It was a vast hall, magnificently lighted. A large number of splendid en- signs covered a table inlaid with amber, and upon it lay the Prophet's mantle. Al] prostrated themselves before the holy ensign ; and by order of Mahmud, the Grand Seraskier pronounced a formula, and the sovereign, with his own hands, put on his minister's breast the great deco- ration of the civil and military order. The ceremony was a kind of Masonic inauguration ; the ribbons of the several degrees were distributed to all present, who were invited to pledge themselves to the Sultan and to each other. The mystery attending the meeting had given it a more solemn character. All repeated the Grand Seraskier's formula ; and the work of the regeneration of the empire had commenced. This happened in October, 1831. That Grand Seraskier was Kosrew Pacha, in whose ser- vice the Croat fugitive Latkes, now Mussulman Omer, had lived for the last year. Eight years afterwards, on the 3d of ISTovember, 1839, the same hall was opened in broad day, and there, with all the solemnity of a national ceremony, the warmest supporters of Old Turkey, Sheik-ul-Islam, (the chief of the faith,) and the members of the body of Ulemas, who before the same holy shrine were sworn on the hands of the Mufti (ecclesiastical president) to observe the Tanzimat, were NATIONAL CEREMONY. 1889. 273 assembled. The ashes of Mali urn d were still warm: it was the first act of the reign of Abdul Medjid. The vic- tory had been rapid : Young Turkey had. on that day, triumphed over Old Turkey. In the gardens called Gul-hane, near the kiosks of the palace, Rescind Pacha proclaimed the new organization of the empire, granting concessions " to all subjects, of whatever sect or religion." That act so celebrated, vir- tually abolished capital punishment, by reserving the right of pronouncing it to the Sultan alone, who has never had recourse to it. The political, civil, and moral cha- racter of the Turks was raised by this memorable charter to a high standard. "Well aware of obstacles which they would have to encounter, Mahnrad's friends determined to select the proper moment for action. Ivosrew Pacha, who was more earnest than any other in the cause, did not miss the opportunity of availing himself of Omer-Aga, whose ardent and restless character appeared to have no ambi- tion but to have a field open to his energetic activity. In Turkey, nobility is not the result of birth, but mostly the gift of favor, sometimes of riches, seldom of merit. One of the most remarkable examples of ennobled Turks was Kosrew Pacha himself, who had been bought in the slave-bazaar. The manners of the highest personages do .not differ from those of the lowest, and their family life is distinguished by great simplicity and benevolence, even towards the slaves. Moreover, the curiosity which a foreigner awakens everywhere, and more than anywhere else in Turkey, made the Pacha desirous of having fre- quent interviews with the l^nk convert, who by his wit, 274 ETJB0PE AND THE ALLIES. the originality of his manners, and the singularity of his position, had become the subject of daily talk. The interviews with the Pacha succeeded each other ; Omer's military knowledge made itself manifest ; his independent character, his talent, his boldness of conception, and power of carrying out his plans, forcibly attracted the attention of the Pacha. Omer made his former position and misfortune known; he interested, he pleased; the Pacha's protection was insured to him, and he enlisted in the army of Turkish Regeneration. Favored by the protection of Sultan Mahmud, to whom Kosrew Pacha had introduced him, after having been aide- de-camp to the Pacha, then aide-de-camp and interpreter to General Chzarnowsky, lastly an officer of the Imperial Guard; dissatisfied with the slow progress of his party, which was continually thwarted by provincial insurrec- tions, he asked to be permitted to try his fortune in some of the expeditions which were continually being made, and began his military career in 1836. Bosnia, Servia, and Bulgaria were successively the theatres of his exploits. From that day he applied himself to improving the efficiency of his army, paying attention not only to the discipline, but also to the education, of the soldier. The Mussulman, good and meek-hearted by nature, never ferocious but in individual cases, was raised by him to the self-consciousness of human dignity, by regulations, ordi- nances, and laws, calculated to make him cognisant of the rights, and conversant with the duties that belong to every one, in every state of life. Self-esteem — a feeling that, being once awakened from a long lethargy, soon endears itself to every man — discipline, and Omer's benevolent OMER PACHA, 1839. 275 disposition even towards the lowest of his soldiers, caused him to be loved by them more as a father than as a general. After Mahmud's decease, his expeditions continued under the new Sultan. In Albania, in Bosnia once more, in Syria, in the Kurdistan, among the wild tribes of the Eavendus, Romelia, in the Moldo-Wallachian Princi- palities, and in Montenegro, he was distinguished in both a military and civil capacity. Having adopted Turkey as a second country, he loved and loves her, not as a war- rior merely, but as the member of a family which power- ful enemies are attempting to disorganize and destroy. Before lighting, he always tried to conciliate ; com- pelled to employ force, he never abused victory, to assuage either the resentment or • the cupidity of his troops. In a work so difficult as the regeneration of an entire nation, he had many fellow-laborers. Amongst them the h'rst undoubtedly was an eminent man, whose talents as a diplomatist London and Paris have had occasion to notice, and whom they have since been able to appre- ciate as a statesman : we mean Rescind Pacha. We call him a companion, and not the chief of the enterprise ; for Rescind Pacha, indeed, tried to transplant European civi- lization to the empire, though by measures which would have had no immediate utility without the activity of Omer Pacha. In the midst of many labors, he ran through all the degrees of the army, till he obtained the rank of the highest in the Ottoman service. Invested with the great decoration of the Nichani-Iftikhar by Sultan Mahmud ; 270 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. with that of the Mejidie* by Sultan Abdul Medjid; and, lastly, presented at Shumla with a sword of honor, he could not avoid making bitter enemies. Old Turkey was continually "watching him with envious rancor; but he shrewdly flattered its apostles when he thought it proper for his purpose ; overpowered them with generosity, when an exchange of hostilities would have injured his cause ; and openly set them at defiance when dissembling would have been weakness, and silence an act of cowardice. At this hour he is the first general of the Ottoman army, and millions of eyes are anxiously turned towards him. If the past may afford a clue to judge of the future, the fortune of Omer Pacha has been constant for so many years as to leave no doubt of his ability. So brilliant, so important and high a position is not reached from the lowest condition, without one's being possessed of merit, and that in an eminent degree. His domestic life is very far from being tainted with the debauchery that is generally attributed, and often falsely, to the private conduct of the Moslems. He has had no more than two wives ; and although he was allowed to have them contemporaneously, he did not marry the second until after his divorce from the former. This was a Turkish woman, daughter of an Aga of the Janissaries, who died in 182S, and was a pupil of his pro- tector, Kosrew Pacha. Emancipated from the severe restraint of the harem to the liberty ^f European customs, she abused it, and forced her husband to a separation. * This is a decoration instituted by Abdul-TSfedjid after his father's example. It is of simple enamelled gold, divided into five classes, aud bearing an inscription, engraved in Turkish -words — Ghairet, Sadakat, Hamiet (Courage, Fidelity, Zeal). OMER PACHA, 1865. 277 The second is a European, and was a very young maid, of a mild and virtuous character, when he saw her first, and married her at Bucharest, where she was exercising, at fourteen years of age, the profession of a teacher of the pianoforte. She is from Oronstadt in Transylvania, and her name is Anna Sinionich. lie has no offspring but a natural daughter, born of an Arabian slave in Syria. A male child, the fruit of his new marriage, died at four months of age, crushed under a carriage upset in the passage from Travnich to Saraievo. He has, therefore, as yet, no probability of being remembered in his adopted country but by his deeds. In Omer Pacha may be traced many of the essentials of a great general. He takes a warm interest in the wel- fare of his men, and knows how to earn their goodwill ; at the same time that he treats them with a degree of severity bordering upon harshness. Like Buonaparte, he is fond of those short, quick, terse addresses, which, in a moment, electrify an entire army, and is consequently regarded with veneration by his troops, who yield him the most implicit obedience. His habits are simple and frugal ; he is active and indefatigable in business ; of an upright, benevolent, and gentle character, with a somewhat nervous and excitable temperament ; often generous, sometimes prodigal, always absolute, and little accustomed to being contradicted in his opinions. He is fifty-three years of age ; he is tall and thin, has a martial bearing, an expressive and marked physiognomy, a quick and penetrating eye, a nose a little compressed, a thick and grey beard, a large head — a perfectly Croatian type. 278 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Engaged in all the struggles of the two parties during the most important period of their existence, the principal instrument of progress and of Young Turkey, he always regretted the necessity of drawing the sword against his fellow-subjects. It was farthest from his wish to tinge it with blood, even to impose what was, if not the common desire, the common advantage, namely, the improvement of society in all its developments. But of these ill-omened seditions, Turkish subjects were the arms, while the head was invisible, and kept itself in security from his blows, beyond the frontiers. Often, even far from the noise of arms, he baffled the plots of the insidious enemies of Turkey. The most enviable of his bloodless victories was the cause of Kossuth and the Hungarian refugees, whom he met at Shumla, whither he had purposely repaired. He espoused their cause before the Sultan and the ministers of the Porte. The Sultan's sentiments regarding them were not less noble than his own ; but his protection had for its object to neutralize the effect of foreign threats, lest, by the Sultan's yielding to them, the cause of progress should be deprived of the most valuable accession of material and intellectual forces which the new-comers might confer on it. His wishes, owing especially to the inter- vention of the English fleet, were crowned with success, and he succeeded in taking many of them under his com- mand. The immigration, indeed, of Italians, Hungarians, and Poles, has been no inconsiderable help to the progress of Turkey in late years. The popular sentiment hailed them, because they were the enemies of its enemies ; and the accession of elements so free, so ardent, and enthusi- OiTER PACHA, 1855. 279 astic for the cause that drew them to exile, added an immense and rapid impetus to the reform party. They caused no little uneasiness to Russia and Austria, who, in every negotiation with Turkey, even in the last question, always insisted on the banishment of the political refu- gees to Asia. Russia fears only civilized men, and there- fore she must be met by civilization dressed up in its full armor. Turkish civilization would give her the greatest annoyance : not to thwart it by every possible means would be an eternal remorse ; and not to succeed in crush- ing it in the bud would be followed by the bitterest regrets. The internal contest has now disappeared before the external, and Omer Pacha beholds united under his banner both old and young Turkey. Long and difficult was the line of country he had to defend along the Danube, but his preparations were well taken, aud the Russians could scarcely have crossed at any point without encountering a well-served battery, and, had they even succeeded in penetrating to the Bal- kan, they would have found every height bristling with fortifications, every defile in the possession of an intrepid foe. The successes of the Russians in 1S28-29 depended mainly upon causes which no longer exist. They had then the undisputed mastery of the Black Sea ; the Turkish navy had just been annihilated ; and the Mussul- man army was wholly without organization. The reverse of this was now the case, and the battle of Oltenitza was an earnest of many reverses they were doomed subse- quently to sustain. The Ottoman general, alive to the impolicy of allowing Russian and Austrian intrigue free scope for action during 280 EUKOPE AND the allies. the winter, and aware that his own men could not but become, to a great extent, demoralized by remaining for five months in sight of an arrogant foe, boldly determined to take the initiative, and to attempt, by force of arms, that which diplomacy had been unable to achieve. Observing at a glance the immense importance of as- suming a strong position before Kalafat (in Lesser "VValla- chia, opposite Widdin), whence he could effectually exclude the Russians from Servia, he adopted a plan for dividing simultaneously the attention and the forces of his adversary. While, therefore, a hostile division advanced, in Lesser Wallachia, upon Crajowa and Slatina, Omer Pacha prepared to land a large body of troops at Giur- gevo, and a still larger detachment at Oltenitza. The attempt on Giurgevo, possibly intended only as a feint, was unsuccessful, but at Oltenitza the manoeuvre was brilliantly accomplished. Early on the morning of the 2d November, 1853, the Turks, to the number of 9000, crossed the Danube, between Turtukai and Oltenitza, a small village occupied by the Russians, who, as soon as they perceived the design of the Mussulmans, made a vigorous but futile resistance. Omer Pacha's troops, eager for the fray, leaped from the boats, long before they touched the bank, fought hand to hand with their antagonists in the water, soon carried the quarantine building, and fortified it with fascines. The precision with which these various movements were effected, sufficiently attested the presence of the Turkish commander-in-chief. The Russian General Danenberg, having been informed of this movement by the Turks, arrived, to direct in per THE SKIRMISH AT OLTENITZA, 1853. 281 son measures for driving them back into the Danube. Eleven thousand Russians, under the command of PaulofF, were accordingly hastily collected, and, early on the 4th November, they commenced their attack. A brisk can- nonade took place for some time on both sides. The Turks, quitting their entrenchments, threw out swarms of sharpshooters, and compelled a hussar regiment to take shelter in the rear of the infantry. The sharpshooters then formed into battalions, made several smart bayonet charges, and reentered their entrenchments. General Danenberg, astonished to find that an enemy he had held in such utter contempt should display so much courage and such knowledge of tactics, was desirous of bringing matters to a crisis ; but, by an unlucky manoeuvre, he got entangled in difficult ground between two fires, which occasioned considerable slaughter among his ranks. After four hours' hard fighting he was compelled to retreat, with the loss of a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and twenty- four other officers, besides 370 rank and file killed, and 857 wounded. Omer Pacha held the position thus acquired till the 11th of November, when, without any further molestation from the enemy, he voluntarily retired to the right bank of the Danube ; the Turks having meanwhile strengthened and fortified their camp at Kalafat. The affair at Oltenitza produced a surprising effect at Constantinople, and indeed throughout the whole Turkish empire. After a century of reverses, the Turks had achieved a victory over a nation which had long treated them with disdain, and had always ridiculed their achieve- ments in the field. The printing-office of the official 282 EUKOPB AND THE ALLIES. Gazette, and all the streets leading to it, were crowded with eager thousands, anxious to obtain copies of the sup- plement containing the details of the light. By a curious concidence, on the same day and at the very hour that the battle of Oltenitza was being fought, the Sultan, who had announced his intention of heading the army in the spring, was being invested, at the mosque of the Sultan Mohamed, according to the Turkish ritual, with the title of Ghazi, or warrior, a dignity conferred on those Sultans who go forth for the first time to battle. At Petersburg the dismay occasioned by the action of Oltenitza was so great, that the Czar gave immediate orders for those measures which resulted in the foul mas- sacre of Sinope, as though he were desirous, by a deeper stain, to efface the dishonor his arms had already incurred. Some days before the period fixed upon for the com- mencement of hostilities between Turkey and Russia, the Circassians had already matured their plans, and were prepared to take up arms vigorousl} 7- against the troops of the Czar. But in Asia the enemies of Russia have scarcely been as successful as might have been antici- pated, when their natural prowess, continued exercise in arms, and indomitable character, is taken into account. ~No deficiency of military ardor can, however, be imputed to men, who for upwards of fifty years have successfully resisted all attempts at subj ligation, and have baffled the strategy of Russia's ablest generals. The chief reason why, in the present instance, they have not achieved any very signal success, has been the difficulty they have encountered in communicating with the sea-board, and in obtaining an adequate supply of ammunition and arms. CHAPTER X. SCHAMTL, THE PROPHET- WARRIOR OF THE CAUCASUS. Caucasus — Character of the Tribes — Circassian Slave Trade — Birth of Schamyl — Personal Appearance — Form of Government — His Army and Body-Guard — Financial Rule — Struggles with Russia — Personal Habits — Legend — Circassian Women in Battle — Escape from the Russians. The valleys of the Caucasus afford abundance of detached rocks and overhanging cliffs, bathed by the foaming moun- tain torrents. On these or other almost inaccessible spots, are perched, like eagles' nests, the aouls or villages of the natives. Each consists of a number of saklias — houses built of loose fragments of rocks without mortar, and arranged in an amphitheatrical form. Those of the chiefs are larger, and are distinguished by the addition of high towers ; the last refuge of the inhabitants in case of attack. The hardy and frugal mountaineers support them- selves by pasturage, and by the cultivation of barley, wheat, and maize, making the best of the scanty soil by carefully terracing and irrigating it. In the more favored districts, the vine is grown with success ; and cherry, apple, and pear orchards form no inconsiderable part of the wealth of the inhabitants. Some villages are cele- brated for the manufacture of weapons and mail-shirts ; and throughout the mountains the greatest attention is paid to the breed of the horses, hardy, sure-footed animals, 284 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. as much valued by their active enemies, the Cossacks, as bj the Caucasians themselves. The Caucasian character has all the good and all the evil features common among semi-savage mountaineers. Possessed of the most daring courage, and capable of self-devotion to their chiefs altogether without parallel ; chivalrous in open warfare, and true to the last to any en- gagement by which they consider themselves fairly pledged; frugal and temperate in their ordinary habits; honorable and affectionate in their domestic relations ; they are, nevertheless, to an enemy, or, indeed, to an outsider of any kind, both ruthless and bloodthirsty, seeming to be actuated by but two motives — love of bloodshed and love of gain. A story of Wagner's well illustrates this. A Tcherkess made his appearance before the commandant of one of the forts on the Black Sea, and stated that, for a consideration, he was willing to give some important information. This turned out to be, that an attack on the fort had been arranged by a large body of his country- men to take place on an appointed day ; and as it was totally unexpected by the Russians, it would probably have resulted in their destruction. The commandant agreed to pay the reward, but detained the Tcherkess until his statements were verified. Sure enough, on the very day a large body of mountaineers attacked the fort, but found their enemies on the %lert, and were repulsed with loss. The Tcherkess received his reward the day after, and was dismissed with thanks. Not many yards from the fort, a Russian soldier, unarmed, was busied in some occupation. The Tcherkess could not resist the opportunity, but shot him, and bounded away into the hills ! CIRCASSIAN SLAVE-TKAFFIC, 1855. 285 In mind as in feature, there are considerable differences between the Eastern and "Western Caucasians. The Western is distinguished by the beauty of his form and features, the fairness of his complexion, the open, dash- ing, careless, European cast of his character. The Asiatic element, on the other hand, predominates in the Eastern tribes. Darker in skin, the eagle eye is deeper set, and its uncertain glitter suggests the suspicion that the passions of a fierce fanatic lie beneath the imagination of a mystic. The well-known Circassian slave-traffic is carried on by the western tribes only ; but it is very different from the slave dealing with which England and America have been polluted. Among the Circassians themselves, matri- mony is an affair of traffic, and the lover buys his wife of her respectable parents. With the Circassian girls, there- fore, it is a question whether they are bought to work hard and live miserably at home, or whether they are bought to have an " establishment" at the expense of some Turkish Pasha. They are not sold to slave or to be ill-treated ; and it is said that they almost invariably look forward to their Turkish prospects with great delight, and for that end brave the miseries of the Black Sea passage with pleasure. Schamyl, the devoted Murid, became Imam and Sultan of the Eastern Caucasus, " the second prophet of Allah." in the year 1834:, and, from that time till the present, has baffled the whole forces of Russia. Born in 1797, Schamyl grew up amidst all those influences which would best fit him to be the future leader of his people. From his earliest childhood, his silent earnest ways, intense 286 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. determination and love of knowledge, distinguished him among his fellows, and Spartan habits and a strong will compensated the natural defects of a delicate physical organization. He is of middle stature, has fair hair, gray eyes overshadowed by thick, well-marked eyebrows, a regular, well-formed nose, and a small mouth. A pecu- liar fairness and delicacy of skin distinguishes his countenance from that of his fellow-countrymen, and his feet and hands are singularly well shaped. The apparent immovability of his arms in walking indicates the deter- mination of his character. His manner is noble and dignified. Perfectly master of himself, he exercises a silent influence over all who come into contact with him. A stern impassivity, which is undisturbed even in mo- ments of the greatest danger, is his characteristic expres- sion. A condemnation to death falls from his lips with the same calmness as he shows in conferring on a brave Murid the sabre of honor won in some sanguinary fight. "With traitors or other offenders, whose death he has once determined upon, he converses without manifesting a shade of angry or vengeful feeling. He regards himself as simply the instrument in the hands of a higher power, and holds that all his thoughts and decisions are the immediate inspiration of God. His eloquence is as fiery and persuasive as his ordinary manner is calm and com- manding. Of a mob of scattered tribes, divided by innumerable feuds, he has made a nation capable of the most complete unity of action, and animated by one faith; and his genius as a lawgiver is as preeminent as his religious enthusiasm. With a strong hand he has swept away all BUflAMYL THE PEOPHET WAEEIOK, 1S55. 287 the old boundaries of race and tribe, however consecrated by tradition, and has completely reorganized the country over which he rules. It is divided into twenty districts, each of which is governed by an officer termed a Naib, whose business it is to preserve order ; to superintend the proper raising of taxes and recruits ; to limit and control disputes and blood-feuds ; and to see that the Scharyat is strictly fulfilled. Every five of these districts, again, are under the superintendence of a Governor, uniting within himself the spiritual and temporal power, and answerable to Schamyl alone, who allows to certain of his favorites only, absolute power over life and death ; while the others must refer to himself in such cases. Each Naib has a deputy or coadjutor. In every village there is a Cadi or Elder, whose duty it is to make regular reports to his Naib of all important occurrences, and to carry out the orders which he may receive from him, while the local Mollah has the spiritual care of the village. Every man capable cf bearing arms has right of access to his Cadi or Naib at a fixed time of the day, when audiences are held and business transacted. Rapid communication through all parts of the country is insured by a sort of flying post. In each village several swift horses are kept saddled and bridled, and when a state messenger arrives, bearing a passport sealed by the ISTaib of the district, it is the busi- ness of the Cadi to furnish him instantly with a fresh horse and a guide to the next post. In this way Schamyl's messages and orders are transmitted with incredible swiftness. The standing army of five or six thousand men is thus kept up ; every ten houses of a village must maintain a 288 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. warrior, one house providing the man, and the other nine his horse, accoutrements, and support. The family to which he belongs is, so long as he is alive, free of all taxes, but he must never be without his arms, and must be ready, day and night, to march at a moment's notice. Furthermore, every male from fifteen to fifty is liable to be called out for the defence of his village, or, in extra- ordinary cases, to the general army ; and in the latter case, each horseman of ten houses commands the men of those houses. Schamyl's body-guard is composed of a selection from the Murids, and its members are called Murtosigators. Only the hottest enthusiasts among the Murids, men of whose entire devotion Schamyl is well assured, are chosen for this post, which is considered among the Caucasians to be in the highest degree honorable. The prophet puts the most implicit confidence in those whom he ha3 once selected, and they on the other hand renounce every tie, and place their lives in his hand. If unmarried, they must remain so ; and if married, they must strictly avoid their families during their period of service. Like Schamyl himself, they must live frugally, and carry out the Schar- yat to the very letter. They wear peculiar insignia, and receive regular pay, with a share of all spoils ; there are usually about one thousand of them, five hundred of whom always surround Schamyl's person, access to which is very difficult. In time of peace, the Murtosigators are Scha- nfyl's apostles, and considerable sums are placed at their disposal for the carrying out of their propaganda. At the same time, they form a most efficient body of police, whose accusations might at once destroy the most pow- SCHAMYL THE PROPHET WAEEIOE, 1855. 289 erful Naib. In war, they constitute the heart of Schamyl's troops and the terror of the Russians, who have never yet succeeded in taking one alive. At first, Schamyl had no revenue but what was derived from his razzias ; but, at present, all the tribes pay a yearly tithe, and if any slain warrior leaves no direct heir, his property goes to the state. Schamyl's financial rule is ordinarily distinguished by extreme economy, and he is said to possess large con- cealed treasures : but if a valorous action is to be rewarded, or a hostile tribe won over, he will expend great sums. He has instituted a regular system of decorations, con- sisting of medals, epaulettes, and stars ; while, on the other hand, his criminal code contains a no less exactly propor- tioned series of punishments, from the rag tied round the right arm, which is the stigma affixed to the coward — to decapitation, shooting, and stabbing to death. A stern and even-handed justice characterizes all Schamyrs judg- ments, and he would long since have fallen a victim to the blood-feuds thus created against himself, were it not for the watchful devotion of his body-guard, the Murto- sigators, who constantly surround him in public. The Imam gave once in his own person a frightful earnest of his determination to know no distinction of persons among the violators of his laws. Early in his career, he made a solemn vow that he would put to death whoever, under any circumstances, proposed to him submission to the Giaour. The people of Tchetchenia were well acquainted with the Imam's oath; but in 1843, finding themselves threatened on all sides by the Russians, and at the same time left without aid by Schamyl, who was otherwise 290 EUROPE AND THE AELIES. occupied, they in despair sent messengers to the latter, begging him either to help them, or to allow them to submit. The office of the envoys was regarded as so hazardous, that their selection was made by the lot. It fell upon four men of the village Gunoi, who accordingly set out upon their mission. Before reaching Dargo, Schamyl's residence, however, the prospect of success appeared so slight, and the consequences of failure so appalling, that they determined to " eke the lion's with the fox's skin," and without making any direct proposition to Schamyl himself, to endeavour to influence him through his aged mother, the Khaness, who was known to possess great influence over her son, and at the same time to be, like all the mountaineers, by no means insensible to money. A large bribe engaged the Khaness to undertake the dangerous task ; and in a private interview she opened the matter to the Imam. What occurred between mother and son is unknown, but when the men of Gunoi anx- iously inquired the result of the negotiation, the Khaness, pale and trembling, could only tell them that her son had determined to inquire of Allah concerning their request — and even as they spoke, it was proclaimed that the Imam had shut himself in the mosque, and had commanded that all the people should gather about it and remain fasting and praying till he reappeared. Three days and nights, it is said, did Schamyl remain invisible, the prostrate mul- titude without rising higher and higher in fanatical exal- tation, as their bodily frames became exhausted. On the fourth morning, Schamyl appeared on the flat roof of the mosque, surrounded by his Murids. All viewed with dismay his usually impassive countenance, distorted and SCHAMYl's MOTHER, 1836. 291 changed by the traces of some past inward agon) 7 . After an interval of profound silence, he directed the nearest Muriels to bring his mother into his presence, and when she had arrived, he thus addressed the people : " The will of the Prophet of Allah be done ! People of Dargo, the Tchetchenes have dared to think of yielding to the Giaour, and have even ventured to send messengers, hoping for my consent. The messengers, conscious of their sin, dared not appear before my face, but have tempted the weakness of my unhappy mother to be their mediator. For her sake, I have ventured, aided by your prayers, to ask the will of Mohammed the Prophet of Allah ; and that will is, that the first who spoke to me of this matter shall be punished with a hundred blows of the heavy whip. It was my mother !" With these words, Schamyl signed to his Murids, who seized the venerable old Khaness, and bound her to one of the pillars of the mosque. At the fifth blow, she sank dead. Schamyl, with a wild outburst of grief, threw him- self at her feet ; but suddenly rising again, cried solemnly — " God is great, and Mohammed is his prophet ! he hath heard my prayer, and I may take upon myself the re- mainder of my mother's expiation I" With that, stripping off his upper garments, he commanded the Murids to inflict the remaining ninety -five blows upon his own back. The punishment fulfilled, Schamyl gave orders that the envoys of the Tchetchenes, terror-stricken witnesses of the preceding scene, should be brought into his presence. The ready Murids half drew their schaskas ; but Schamyl, raising the men of Gunoi from the ground on which they had cast themselves in an agony of fear, said only, in his 292 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. calm, impassive way, " Go back to your people ; and for my answer, tell them what you have seen to-day." Schamyl is simple and abstemious in the extreme in hi? personal habits. Contenting himself with a few hours sleep, he sometimes spends night after night in prayer and watching without showing the least symptoms of wea- riness. JSTot yet sixty, he is full of life and vigor ; though at present he takes an active share in the war only rarely, and on great occasions. He lives in Dargo, where he has caused the enemy's deserters to build him a two- storied house in the Kussian fashion, and is said to have three wives, the chief of whom is an Armenian of great beauty. Once, or at most twice, in the year, the Imam retires to some remote cave, or shuts himself up in his most private apartments, and a strong cordon of watchful Murtosigators prevents any person whatever from having access to him. In this solitude he spends three weeks— fasting, praying, and reading the Koran. On the evening of the last day of his seclusion, the principal Mollahs and Murids, accom- panied by a host of pilgrims, gathered in high expectation about the holy place, are summoned to meet him. He tells them that Mohammed has appeared to him in the form of a dove, revealing the mysteries of the faith, laying upon him such and such commands, and encouraging him to persevere in the holy war. Then showing himself to the throng without, he addresses them with the eloquence for which he is famed, rousing to the highest pitch their religious devotion and their hatred against the Muscovites. The whole assembly now joins in a solemn hymn. The men draw their schaskas, renew their oath to defend the CAUCASIANS AND RUSSIANS, 1839. 203 faith and to destroy the Russians, and then disperse, shouting, " God is great ! Mohammed is his first prophet, and Sehamyl his second !" The total population of the Caucasus does not exceed a million and a half, and Schamyl's rule does not extend over mcfre than six hundred thousand souls. The force under his command at any time, even taking the Russian accounts, has never surpassed twenty thousand men. In the last ten years the Russian army of the Caucasus lias consisted of more than one hundred and fifty thousand men, provided with every appliance of modern warfare, flanked right and left by sea-coasts commanded by their own cruisers, and directed by a government utterly regard- less of human life. Fevers and Caucasian bullets are said to cost the Russians twenty thousand men yearly ; and when the Czar sends a political offender into the ranks of the recruits for the Caucasus, he does not expect to see him again. The Russian ordnance accounts for the year 1840, show an expenditure of 11,344 artillery cartridges, and 1,206,575 musket cartridges! The people of the Caucasus are said to have a legend that some day a powerful Sultan will arise in the West, and finally deliver them from the hands of the Muscovite padischah. In 1839, the severest conflicts which had yet occurred between the Caucasians and their enemies the Russians took place. General Grabbe, an active officer, had suc- ceeded to the command of the left flank of the arm\ of the Caucasus, and determining to strike a decisive blow, concentrated a force of nine battalions, with seven- teen pieces of artillery, and marched to attack Akhulgo. 294 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The assault took place on the 17th of August, when the Russians succeeded in obtaining possession of the outworks of the fortress. For the ensuing four days, Akhulgo was a scene of horror. In a succession of attacks, the Russiar. soldiers displayed that ferocious bravery which they evince whenever sufficient blood has been shed to wash the serf out of their hearts — while the mountaineers, mad with rage and despair, and hopeless of life, made their last aim the destruction of as many as possible of the accursed Muscovites — the very women fighting like tigresses. A Russian eye-witness says : Shortly before the end of the fight, following Captain (now Colonel) Schultz, the boldest among the brave, at the head of the remains of my battalion, I climbed a steep ascent. The firing from above had ceased; the wind dispersed the dense clouds of smoke which, like a curtain, hung between us and the fortress, and over my head I saw a number of Circassian women standing on a little flat platform in the face of the rock. The closer and closer approach of our troops showed them too surely their fate, but, determined not to fall alive into our hands, they spent their last strength in destroying their enemies. Surrounded by the smoke, which grew clearer as we approached, they looked like avenging spirits born of the clouds, and scattering fear and destruction from the mountain side. In the heat of the fight, they had thrown off their upper garments, and their long thick hair streamed in wild disorder over their half-bared necks and bosoms. With superhuman exertion, four of these women contrived to roll down a vast stone, which came thundering towards us. passing within a few feet of me, and crushing several ESCAPE OF SCHAMYL, 1839. 295 of my soldiers. I saw a young woman who till then had been, with fixed eyes, a quiet spectator of the bloody tragedy, suddenly grasp the little child that clung to her garments ; I saw her dash its head to pieces against a pro- jecting rock, and hurling it, with a wild shriek, down the abyss, leap after it. Many of the other women followed her example. Akhulgo was taken, but Schamyl was not to be found in it, dead or alive. The Russian officers, however, had seen him, surrounded by his Murids, in the thickest of the fight, and knew he must be there. After awhile, intelli- gence was received that he and two or three of his Murids were concealed in a cave excavated in a face of the cliff overlooking the Koissu, permitting of access only by a ladder, which they had drawn after them. A considera- ble body of men, horse and foot, was immediately set to watch the mouth of the cave, whence, on the first dark night, the guard observed a small raft of planks being very carefully lowered by a rope into the Koissu ; a Murid followed, who, after appearing to look carefully in all directions, made a signal ; then followed another ; and at last came a third in the white garb of Schamyl. The raft was cut adrift, and the whole party dashed down the stream of the Koissu. In an instant, the Russians, who had carefully watched the whole proceedings, rushed upon them. The infantry fired from the bank, and the Cossack cavalry waded and swam their horses into the Koissu. The little crew of the raft, after defending itself with tenacity, was soon cut and shot down ; but when the Russians examined their corpses, Schamyl was not there. While everv one's attention had been drawn from the 296 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. cave, he had lowered himself by the rope, and swimming the Koissu, had plunged into the forests of the opposite hank. The devotion of his Murids had saved the life and the cause of the prophet. Fifteen hundred dead lay in the ruins of Akhulgo, and six hundred prisoners, mostly wounded, were taken by the Russians. The taking of Akhulgo was the crisis of Schamyl's fate. But an event which seemed utterly to annihilate his party, in reality served only to consolidate his power, and to ren- der its foundation secure. The fifteen hundred slain in Akhulgo were the seeds of so many blood-feuds between the Russians and every tribe in the Caucasus — the pledges of an unquenchable personal hatred on the part of the mountaineers to the Muscovites, for ever. The wanton brutality of the soldiers to the inhabitants, in their line of march, disgusted even those tribes who would have been willing to remain friendly ; and all learned unmistakably what they had to expect from Russian rule. On the other hand, the skill and courage shown by Schamyl and his followers in the defence, and the severe losses which they inflicted upon the invaders, appealed to the inmost sym- pathies of the gallant Caucasians ; while the escape of the Imam, the details of which he carefully kept secret, appeared, for the third time, to be due to nothing but the miraculous interference of Allah. Schamyl himself, find- ing that no courage could resist the " Czar's pistols," as his people called the field-pieces, learned to change his tactics, and henceforward to confine himself to the guerilla warfare for which the country seems made. His wonder- ful energy soon revived the spirit of his people, and early in 1840, all Tchetclieuia was in revolt again. RUSSIANS AND CIRCASSIANS, 1855. 297 The storming of Akhulgo, is the last real advantage of which the Russians have to boast. Schamyl, hencefor- ward avoiding fortifications in the European style, set up his head-quarters at Dargo. Here he organized a scheme of government, which converted the whole of Lesghistan and the greater part of Tchetchenia into a vast military colony, and gave him the power of concentrating his forces upon a given point with the utmost ease. His system has been to avoid as much as possible coming into contact with the Russians in open ground. If the Rus- sians make an expedition against him, he never opposes their entrance into the passes — no sign of life is, for the first day or two, to be seen in the mountains ; but as the gorges narrow and the ground becomes more difficult, dropping shots from invisible enemies pick off the Russian officers. By degrees the dropping shots increase into a hot fire, and clouds of wild Lesghians and Tschetchenians, agile and surefooted as goats, hover behind trees and stones. 298 EUEOrE AND THE ALLIES. CHAPTER XI. SINOPE. Town of Sinope — Osman Pacha — The Mussulmans — The Black Sea Squadron — Exploit of Captain Druminond — Sebastopol Harbor — Achniet Pacha— Citate— The Battle— Turkey, as a Military Power— Christian Population — War in Asia — England and France — Declaration of War — Embarkation of Troops. We have alluded to the affair of Sinope, but not in terms sufficiently strong to stigmatize its atrocity. The fleet under the command of Osman Pasha was not cruiz- ing in the Black Sea with any intention of provoking hostilities on the part of the Kussians : its sole mission was to keep up communication between Constantinople and the army of Anatolia, the Turks, while thus engaged, relying upon the good faith of the Czar, who had under- taken to act only upon the defensive so long as the negotiations with the Western Powers were pending. Nor had Osman Pacha any reason for suspecting that so flagrant a breach of faith would be committed, although three Russian men of war had been observed on the 27th November reconnoitring off the post. Fatal, however, was this reliance on the honor of Nicholas ; for, on the 30th November, about mid-day, and under cover of a dense fog, a Russian squadron, consisting of three three- deckers, three two-deckers, two frigates, and three steamers, entered the bay of Sinope, while several frigates MASSACKE OF SINOPE, 1853. 299 and corvettes cruised at some distance, for the purpose of cutting off all assistance from Constantinople. Sinope is a town of some little importance, about one hundred miles from the Bosphorus, and nearly facing Sebastopol ; its dockyards and arsenal, covering a con- siderable extent of ground, were ill protected by a few insignificant batteries. Kesistance on the part of the Turks was almost hopeless, as their entire squadron mounted altogether only 406 guns, while the Russian ships carried no less than 760, and those mostly of very heavy calibre. As soon as he had entered the bay, the Russian admiral brought his ships deliberately to an anchor, sending at the same time an officer to demand the unconditional surrender of Osman Pacha's fleet. He scarcely awaited the delivery of this message, but immediately opened fire on the enemy, whose force, if duly estimated, was at least three times greater than his own. So unequal was the contest, that it can only be regarded as a massacre : in three hours and a half the Turkish squadron was annihilated. The courage displayed by the Mussulmans in this affair cannot be too highly lauded. Most of the captains were killed, or blown up with their ships : out of 4,575 men composing their crews, 4,155 were killed in the engage- ment, 120 were taken prisoners, and 300 were wantonly slaughtered in the conflagration of the defenceless town, ■ — a worthy consummation to this disgraceful act of piracy, the details of which aroused the universal execration of the world. The Emperor, on the other hand, was unable to dis- semble his delight, and readily accepted this massacre aa 300 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. a glorious set-off against the rout of his troops at Olte- nitza. An officer, despatched with the welcome intelli- gence by Prince Menschikoff to the Czar, appeared in the august presence covered with mud, and so exhausted with fatigue that he actually fell asleep while the Emperor was reading the despatches. The Czar roused him with the announcement that "his horses were ready to convey him to the south," and that, from the rank of captain, he had risen to that of lieutenant-colonel. The news of the disaster occasioned great consternation at Constantinople. The crews of the allied squadron began naturally enough to inquire among themselves whether they had been summoned to the Bosphorus to be passive spectators of deeds such as we have detailed. At six o'clock on the morning of the 3d January, 1854, the Anglo-Gallic squadron entered the Black Sea. The English squadron was composed of nineteen ships, carrying 1,030 guns. The French, fifteen ships and 962 guns. They were accompanied by a few Turkish steamers, each carrying about 1000 troops, and a large supply of ammunition and provisions for the army in Asia. At this time the Russian force in the Black Sea was composed of six ships each of 120 guns, eight of 80 guns, and eight each of 50 or 60 guns, also three steamers, fifteen corvettes, and a few smaller vessels. At this conjuncture the representatives of the great Western Powers addressed a letter to the Governor of Sebastopol, announcing that the Anglo-Gallic fleet had been ordered to the Black Sea to protect the shores that fringe the Ottoman territory against any act of aggression : they, moreover, expressed a diplomatic hope that his EXPLOIT OF CAPTAIN DiJUMMOND, 1854. 301 Excellency would give such instructions to the Russian admirals as would prevent a hostile collision. This letter was deficient in one main essential, since it studiously avoided announcing that the combined fleet was engaged in convoying a Turkish squadron, laden with munitions of war, having, moreover, undertaken to defend it against any attack. There is something in this omission which might be cha- racterized by a stronger designation than excessive caution. One copy of the epistle, however — such as it was — signed by General Baraguay d'Hilliers, was intrusted to a French officer, commissioned to deliver it to Prince MenschikofF in person. That officer embarked on board H. M. S. Retribution, whose captain (Drummond), with the copy bearing Lord Redcliffe's signature, taking advan- tage of a dense fog, and without any pilot, boldly steamed into the very harbor of Sebastopol. Two shots were fired as a signal to bring to, but they were disregarded ; where- upon a Russian officer, in a state of considerable excite- ment, hailed the frigate from a boat, emphatically announcing that no vessel of war could be permitted to enter the harbor, and that consequently the Retribution must forthwith retire. This requisition Captain Drum- mond refused to comply with until the object of his mission had been accomplished. He was then informed that the Governor was not in Sebastopol. The commander of the Retribution inquired for the deputy-governor, to whom he delivered his despatches ; and it is said that this unfortunate officer was degraded to the ranks for permitting an English man-of-war to make her way with* out opposition into a port so jealously guarded. 309 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. While the parley between the English commander and the deputy-governor was going on, the officers of the lieiribution, by the aid of cameras and pencils, took a series of sketches of the works of Sebastopol, and thus made themselves masters of all the information which the Russians had any interest in concealing. On the 6th January, just as the allied fleets had taken possession of the Black Sea in order to retain a " material guarantee" equivalent to that of the Wallachian provinces, so unwarrantably seized by the Czar, the army of Abdul Medjid on the Danube was preparing to prove itself worthy of the important alliance he had just concluded. His soldiers had shown well enough at Sinope that they knew how to die : at Citate they satisfied Europe that they knew how to fight. Though, for the most part, inexperienced levies, they were more than a match for the veterans of the Czar, many of whom had for years past been inured to hard lighting in the Caucasus, while many more had seen some- thing of warfare in the Hungarian campaign. The Russians having determined to attack Kalafat, where Achmet Pacha had resolved to establish himself in force, began to manoeuvre so as to reduce within the nar- rowest limits the Ottoman position : they threw up also a considerable number of field-works, so as to command almost every approach. Achmet Pacha felt that the moment had arrived when it was incumbent upon him to act with vigor, if he did not wish to break the spirit or lower the morale of his men. Till the last moment, however, he divulged his plans to no one ; nor did he, till the hour had arrived, intimate his intention of THE VILLAGE OF CITATE, 1854. 303 giving battle at Citate, the nearest point to the enemy's lines. Citate is little more than a village, situate upon a gra- dual slope commanding the surrounding plain, which is bounded by two ravines. That on the eastern extremity is steep, abutting upon a lake, to the rear of which is a long level tract, extending to the Danube. The western gully is less abrupt, and inclines gradually towards a hill behind the village. The main road to Kalafat Lies in a north-westerly direction between these ravines. On a height above Citate, and to the left of the road, the Russians had thrown up a redoubt, which subse- quently had the effect of preserving them from absolute destruction. Achmet Pacha selected for this enterprise three regi- ments of cavalry, thirteen battalions of infantry (altogether 11,000 men), and twenty guns. At sunset on the evening of the 5th January, the chosen band silently quitted Kalafat, reaching the village of Maglovit at eio-ht o'clock. Some few found shelter in the deserted houses, but the greater part bivouacked without fire and without shelter. The ground was covered with half melted snow: the men were consequently compelled to keep on foot till daybreak, when the bugle summoned them to proceed to the scene of the impending action. Two Turkish battalions were posted, with two guns, on the road, one in the village of Maglovit, the other in that of Orenja, to keep up the communication with Kalafat. A reserve of seven battalions was stationed at the foot of the hill already alluded to, while the other four battalions, with six guns (under the command of Ismail Pacha, who 304 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. led the attack), were posted somewhat in advance. The day dawned fair, the air was clear and calm, and the sky cloudless. ISTot a Russian sentry was visible, from the Turkish position, along the whole valley of the Danube : from the unbroken silence it might have been imagined that they had evacuated Citate. Six companies of light infantry, headed by Teyfik Bey (the nephew of Omer Pacha), were pushed forward en tirailleurs. They were on the point rf occupying the hill, when a heavy discharge of grape and canister plainly enough revealed the presence of the enemy, as well as their intention of disputing the posi- tion. A well-directed fire of musketry ensued, but the Turkish sharpshooters, supported by four battalions of infantry and a field battery, opened a murderous fire on the Russians, whose artillery was miserably served in comparison with that of their antagonists. They fought, however, with desperation ; and as the Turks advanced, carrying house after house at the bayonet's point, the Russians disputed every inch with all the frenzy of despair. Quarter was neither asked nor given. Many of the Rus- sian officers, seeing their men give way, actually threw themselves on the swords of the Mussulmans. The des- perate struggle lasted more than four hours, occasioning a heavy loss on both sides. At noon every dwelling in the village had been cap- tured, and the Russians were retreating in tolerable order along the road ; but they there found themselves con- fronted by two fresh regiments of Turkish cavalry, which had advanced unperceived along the ravine to the right of the village. Thus situated, the Russians had no alter- native but to take shelter with their guns behind their re- THE BATTLE AT CITATE, 1854. 305 doubt. They thus obtained a partial shelter from the Turk- ish cavalry. At this moment Ismail Pacha, who had had two horses killed under him, and had been badly wounded, yielded the command to Mustapha, and he, with two bat- talions that had not yet been engaged, and with four field- pieces, hastened to attack the redoubt, in conjunction with four additional battalions, each flanked by five guns. In half an hour more the destruction of the Kussians would have been complete ; but at this moment the attention of the combatants was arrested by an occurrence in another part of the plain. As might have been expected, the intelligence of this engagement had already reached the Russians quartered in the surrounding villages, and reinforcements to the extent of 10,000 men and sixteen guns, might be seen rapidly advancing in various directions upon the Turkish reserve, which was well prepared to receive them. The Kussians were marching in the direction of Kalafat, so as to place the Turks between two fires. The Mussulman generals, however, though in a critical position, concerted measures well, and at the proper moment, after having again displayed the superiority of their artillery, led their gallant battalions against the enemy, who speedily took to flight, strewing the ground with an immense quantity of arms, accoutrements, and ammunition. The Turks had now been eight hours under arms, besides having bivouacked, in the depth of winter, without fire? on the muddy ground ; but they were still eager to attack the redoubt, where the Russians remained literally penned in like sheep. Achmet Pacha, however, sounded a retreat, which was executed in perfect order. The Turks left 338 306 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. killed on this hard fought field, and carried away 700 wounded ; while the Russian loss could not have been less than 1500 killed and 2000 wounded. At nightfall the redoubt was abandoned ; and the Russians, after burying their dead, completely evacuated Citate, and all the other villages which had served them as advanced posts. We have been thus particular in the details of this action, because it was, in fact, one of the most important of the campaign. The Ottoman troops, elated with so decisive a victory over a detested foe, were now only anxious to be led again to battle. On the 7th, Omer Pacha, who had hastened to the spot on hearing of the achievement of this division of his army, gratified their wishes, and on that and the three following days engage- ments took place, each terminating in results favorable to the cause of the Sultan. Turkey thus at once resumed her position as a military power, and gave earnest, that when the ten or twelve millions, constituting her Christian population, shall have accepted the offer of the Sultan to bear arms like their Mahometan fellow-subjects, she will be in a position to protect herself against any aggression. Time of course must elapse before this takes place ; but enough has been done to prove that the protection of England and France need not be always indispensable to the existence of the Turkish empire. It is unnecessary for our present purpose to follow the hostile armies on the Danube through all their operations. It will be sufficient to observe, that after the various engagements in the neighborhood of Kalafat, Omer Pacha resumed the plan on which he had previously proceeded DECLARATION OF WAR, 1854. 307 at Giurgevo and Oltenitza, the object of which was to constrain the Russians to detach a portion of their army in order to cover Bucharest. He had no desire to attempt any rash enterprise, but prudently kept watch, so as to avail himself of any favorable contingency ; his character presenting a happy combination of daring and prudence. While the events we have related were proceeding, the war was being carried on with vigor on the frontier of Asia : numerous conflicts took place, attended with much slaughter, but not with any very commensurate results. The most important battle was that of Akhaltzik, claimed by the Russian General, Prince Andronikoff, as a great victory. Like that of Sinope, it was celebrated at Peters- burg by a solemn Te Deam y "The most pious Czar," in the words of the Government organ, " thanking the Lord of lords for the success of the Russian arms in the sacred combat for the orthodox faith." (!) The allied squadron in the Black Sea, after having escorted a Turkish squadron freighted with supplies to Batoum, Trebizonde, and Checkvetil, reconnoitred the Russian fleet in Sebastopol, and returned to the Bosphorus. England and France having announced to the world :heir intention of affording to Turkey both moral and material support, but their moral aid having failed to avert the invasion of the Danubian provinces, the massacre of Sinope, or the treachery of Austria, masked as it was under the guise of friendship, it became incumbent on the two Western Powers to abandon at once all further dis- cussion, and to appeal to the stern but inevitable arbitra- ment of the sword. The Queen's declaration of war appeared in the Gazette 308 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. of the 28th of March: on the preceding day, at Paris, the Minister of State read to the Legislative corps a message from the Emperor, announcing " that the last resolution of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg had placed Russia in a state of war with respect to France — a war, the responsi bility of which belonged entirely to the Russian Govern ment." Great now was the activity displayed at the naval port , and arsenals of England and France. From Portsmouth and Southampton regiment after regiment were embarked — ships were commissioned faster almost than they could be got ready for sea — and additional reinforcements were despatched in all haste to Sir Charles Napier's magnificent Baltic fleet, which sailed from Spithead on the 11th of March. CHAPTER XII. TEEATY OF ALLIANCE. The Five Articles of the Treaty — "War on the Danube — General Luders— The Pestilence — Decree of the Czar — Governor of Moscow — Loss of the Frigate Tiger — Captain Gifford — Black Sea Fleet — Duke of Cambridge- Arrival at Varna — Captain Hall — Admiral Plumridge — General Bodisco — Silistria — The Siege — Mussa Pacha — Evacuation of the Principalities by the Russians. On the 12th of March, 1851, the treaty of alliance between England, France, and the Porte, was signed by the representatives of those powers. The treaty consists of five articles. By the first, France and England engage to support Turkey by force of arms until the conclusion of a peace which shall secure inde- pendence of the Ottoman empire, and the integrity of the rights of the Sultan. The two protecting Powers under- take not to derive from the actual crisis, or from the negotiations which may terminate it, any exclusive advan- tage. By the second article the Porte, on its side, pledges itself not to make peace under any circumstances without having previously obtained the consent, and solicited the participation of the two Powers, and also to employ all its resources to carry on the war with vigor. In the third article the two Powers promise to evacuate, immediately after the conclusion of the war, and on the demand of the Porte, all the points of the empire which their troops shall have occupied during the war. By the fourth article the treaty remains open for the signature of the 310 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. other Powers of Europe who may wish to become parties to it ; and the fifth and last article guarantees to all the subjects of the Porte, without distinction of religion, equality in the eye of the law, and admissibility into all employments. To this treaty are attached, as integral parts of it, several protocols. One relates to the institu- tion of mixed tribunals throughout the whole empire; a second is relative to an advance of 20,000,000fr. jointly by France and England ; and a third relates to the collec- tion of the taxes and the suppression of the haratch or poll-tax, which, having been considered for a long time past by the Turkish Government as only the jmrchase of exemption from military service, leads, by its abolition, to the entrance of Christians into the army. The Russians continued to prosecute the war eagerly on the banks of the Danube, but any temporary success was more than counterbalanced by subsequent and more bril- liant Turkish victories. General Luclers, at the head of 50,000 men, succeeded in crossing the Danube, and in occupying the Dobrudscha in force. A fatal step ! for a frightful pestilence, arising from the marshes of this unhealthy district, in a few weeks decimated his troops, and the survivors were so debilitated by sickness and scanty fare, that they might have been driven into the river almost without the power cf resistance. On the 5th of May the Invalide Russe published the following veracious decree of the Emperor of Russia, addressed to General Osten-Sacken : — " On the day when the inhabitants of Odessa, united in DECKEE OF THE CZAK, 1854. 311 their orthodox temples, were celebrating the death of the Son of God, crucified for the redemption of mankind, the allies of the enemies of His holy name attempted a crime against that city of peace and commerce, against that city where all Europe, in her years of dearth, has always found open granaries. The fleets of France and England bom- barded for twe±ve hours our batteries and the habitations of our peaceful citizens, as well as the merchant shipping in the harbor. But our brave troops, led by you in person, and penetrated by a profound faith in the supreme Pro- tector of justice, gloriously repelled the attack of the enemy against the soil which, in apostolic times, relieved the saintly precursor of the Christian religion in our holy country. The heroic firmness and devotion of our troops, inspired by your example, have been crowned with complete suc- cess, the city has been saved from destruction, and the enemies' fleets have disappeared. As a worthy recom- pense for so brilliant an action, we send you the order of St. Andrew." Nicholas. St. Petersburg, April 21 {May 3). The governor of Moscow had caused a Te Deum to be sung in honor of the victory (?) gained by the Russians at Odessa ; the fact being, that in consequence of the atro- cious conduct of the military authorities of Odessa, in firing upon an English flag of truce, a division of English and French steam frigates appeared before Odessa. On their arrival the greatest terror pervaded the city. The wealthy hired all the post-horses to remove to the interior, and the inhabitants sought refuge in the neighboring 312 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. country ; but the English and French steamers having withdrawn, after taking a survey of the roads, the alarm subsided, the population returned, and the shops were re- opened. On the 21st of April, however, the appearance of thirty-three sail on the horizon created still greater terror, for it was evident that they were coming to avenge the insult above alluded to, and which, even at Odessa, was the subject of universal reprobation. The next day nothing could exceed the consternation, everybody being in constant apprehension of a catastrophe. The fears redoubled when, after a bombardment of eight hours, the gunpowder magazine blew up, and the military stores were seen on lire. The sight of wounded soldiers brought in from the batteries, and the brutality of the governor and his forces towards the inhabitants, were not calculated to allay their terror. This affair produced great discourage- ment among the troops, and an excellent effect on the popu- lation, who perceived that the Russian army was unable to protect them ; and that, if the city were not reduced to ashes, it was solely owing to the generosity of the allied Powers. The satisfaction derived from the severe punishment thus administered to the Russians was more than coun- terbalanced by the total loss of an English frigate (the Tiger) of 1275 tons, and carrying sixteen guns. This sad disaster occurred near Odessa, on the 12th of May, in con- sequence of her taking the ground while in chase of two small Russian vessels. The wreck was attended with the death of her gallant captain (Giffard) and a midshipman, and the loss of her crew of 226 men ; for, being attacked while lying in an utterly defenceless condition, they had no choice but to surrender. BOMBARDMENT OF KEDOUT-KALEII, 1854. 313 A division of the Black Sea fleet, consisting of seventeen vessels, continued to watch the harbor of Sebastopol ; while the British cruisers speedily captured every vessel that carried the Russian flag. Another division, composed of nine steamers, was despatched to the Circassian coast, to aid in the destruction of the Russian forts, and to open a communication with Schamyl. Partly in consequence of this movement, the Russians were compelled to evacuate all their positions, from Batoum to Anapa, a distance of 200 leagues, and burning most of their forts, they retired into Kutais. The Circassians thereupon made a descent, and surprised and captured 15,000 prisoners in Sukkum- Kaleh. On the 18th May, the Charlemagne, Agamemnon, Mo- gador, Highflyer, and Sampson, bombarded Redout-Kaleh, sparing only the Custom-house and Quarantine establish- ment. They then returned to Chouroucksu, and landed 800 troops at Redout-Kaleh. These, supported by 30.0 English, and French, pursued the Russians, in number about 2000, who fell back on Kutais, which was speedily captured. On the 1st June, Admirals Dundas and Hamelin de- clared all the mouths of the Danube to be strictly blockad- ed, in order to cut off all supplies from the Russian army in the Dobrudscha. Shortly after, the English steam-fri- gates bombarded the forts at Sulina, and captured the commander, with all his men and guns. A sad loss was experienced by the British fleet, on this occasion, in the death of Captain Hyde Parker, of the Firebrand, who, while proceeding on an exploring expedition up the Da- nube, was fired upon from a stockade fort, thought to 314 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. have been abandoned. The gallant officer, landing with his men to storm it, fell — shot through the heart by a rifle-ball. While prize after prize continued to arrive, in rapid suc- cession, at Portsmouth and in the Thames, English troops, of all denominations, were " mustering in hot haste " at Gallipoli, Scutari, and Varna; Lord Raglan, as com- mander-in-chief, occupying in the first instance, the pa- lace so recently tenanted by the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople. On the 14th June, the Duke of Cambridge with his staff, the brigade of Guards, and the Highland brigade (42nd, Y9th, and 93d regiments), arrived at Yarna, where a numerous Anglo-French army was already encamped. It is probable that the unexpected and retrograde movement of the Russians upon the Pruth — intelligence of which reached the allied generals about this time — occasioned a deviation from the plan of operations originally contem- plated, as it obviated the necessity of any active co-opera- tion with Omer Pacha's army on the Danube. An expe- dition upon a gigantic scale was, however, planned, its destination being the Crimea and Sebastopol. It had been well, for many reasons, that so long a period had not been passed in inactivity at Yarna, for sickness was making sad havoc among the officers and in the ranks ; and the regi- ments which left England only a few weeks before in full health and vigor, now presented a pitiable contrast to their former condition. The French had suffered still more ; for, besides the loss of seven thousand men, during their brief but ill-advised encampment in the Dobrudscha, they were burying, for many weeks, more than 100 daily ; THE AEKOGANT AND HECLA, 1854. 315 and the effect of this visitation was telling fearfully upon the spirits of the survivors. Nor had the Baltic fleet, though in a much more tem- perate climate, escaped the scourge of cholera. "We may mention, as a curious fact, that the sailing vessels experi- enced a happy immunity from the pestilence. The result of the Baltic operations may be given in a few words. The fleet of the Czar, outnumbered by that of the allied powers, was detained in captivity at Helsingfors and Kronstadt, declining alike every offer of battle, and unable to stay the devastation that was effected along the Finnish shore of the Bothnian Gulf. Scarcely a Russian merchant vessel escaped the vigilance of the cruisers ; and the whole line of her coasts, up to the shoals of Kettle Island, were shown to be at the mercy of the allies. In a national point of view, there was not much to boast of in the achievements of so sti^endous a fleet. But there were individual acts of valor as bright as any that adorn the pages of naval history. Prominent among these was the exploit of the Arrogant and Ilecla. While the Arrogant was reconnoitring Hango Bay, she was joined by the Ilecla, six guns, commanded by Captain Hall, so well known for his services in the Chinese war. Early on the morning of the 20th May, they came within range of a battery, against which the Ilecla opened fire, which was quickly returned. The Arrogant aided the Ilecla, and dispersed the defenders of the fort, blowing gun-carriages to fragments and dismounting the guns. The town of Eckness was descried, and the ships having been joined by the Dauntless, the Arrogant ran up along- side of a bark, took her in tow, and steamed away with 316 ETTEOPE AND THE ALLIES. her. The ships were studded with Minie balls. The Arrogant had one man shot through the heart, and another, badly wounded, lived only till next day. The Hecla lost one man. Captain Hall landed with his marines, and hoisted an iron gun into his boat, which he placed on board the Hecla. They joined the fleet on the 21st. The commander-in-chief telegraphed, " Well done, Arrogant and Hecla? But these successes were followed by a reverse sufficient to cast a shade upon their career of triumph. Admiral Plumridge's flying squadron of paddle steam- ers, consisting of the Leopard, the Vulture, the Odin, and the Yalorous, had been up the Gulf of Finland, and had destroyed forty-five vessels, of from 1200 tons to 100 tons, and £300,000 worth of tar, timber, saltpetre, and tallow. On the 7th of June, the Vulture and Odin were sent to Gamla-Karleby (64.50 north), where they had to anchor five miles from the town. Their boats were sent in under the command of the first lieutenant (Mr. Charles Wise) of the Vultivre, who was surprised by a large force of regu- lar troops, armed with rifles and field guns, wholly concealed and protected by strong wood stores, so that not a man was seen. The consequence was, a murderous onslaught. The loss from the Vulture was one man killed and one wounded, and a paddle-box boat, with one master (Mr. Murphy), twenty-seven men, and the boat's Si-poun- der carronade, " missing, captured, or sunk." The loss from the Odin was three officers killed and three men. The first- lieutenant, one midshipman, and fifteen men were wounded. But the most important operation in this quarter was the attack, on the 15th August, upon Bomarsund. CAPTURE OF BOMARSUND, 1854. 317 The disembarkation of the troops took place on the morning of the 8th August. The landing-place chosen was a bay about three miles broad, to the south-west of the forts, and at a distance of 2500 yards from the western fort (called Fort Tzee). A Russian earthwork, canying six guns, had been placed on the eastern promontory of this bay ; but this battery was dismounted by the tire of the Amjpliion and JPhlegethon. Meantime, 11,000 men were landed in the space of three hours and a half. The Rnssians made no attempt to oppose the operation. The British and French marines, 600 of each flag, were con- veyed to the north of the forts, and landed behind them. The next four days were employed in preparing for the attack.. The positions of the batteries were selected, sand- bags and gabions were prepared, and the sailors brought up with great labor some long 32-pounders, which were placed 800 yards from the round fort. On the 13th, the fire of the French battery opened on Fort Tzee, and the bombardment was sustained in the most brilliant manner for twenty-six hours. A remarkable fact is, that this French battery consisted of only four 16-pounders and four mortars — a force quite inadequate to breach a granite tower : three of the enemy's guns were dismounted through the embrasures, and the fire of the French rifles on these apertures was so severe, that the Russians had difficulty in loading their guns, and suffered most severely. Eventu- ally this part of the work was taken by the French chas- seurs, on the morning of the 14th, by a coup cle main In the fort taken by the French, the P 11 sisted of fifty killed, twenty wonndt prisoners; on the side of the French, j 318 EUK0PE AJSfD THE ALLIES. and two chasseurs were killed ; 115 Russians were made prisoners. Hon. George Wrottesley, Lieutenant of the Royal Engineers, was killed. Captain Ramsay, of Her Majesty's ship ITogue, was slightly wounded. One of the English marines was also killed. Two screw guard-ships, the Ilogue and the Edinburgh, and steamers, bombarded the forts for five hours, throwing their shot with great effect from a distance of 3000 yards. The large fortress • did not surrender till the 16th. General Bodisco and the Yice-Governor Turuhielm, with the whole garrison of 2000 men (the 'materiel and provi- sions), became prisoners of war, and were sent on board the fleet. The two forts taken were blown up. The main fortress was much injured. The loss of the allies is put at 120 killed and wounded. The Russian officials are reported to have taken to flight, pursued by the peasantry. A proclamation was read in eleven parishes, by order of General Baraguay d'Hilliers, freeing the Aland Islands from Russian domi- nion, and placing them under the protection of the West- ern Powers. Our present sketch would be imperfect, did we refrain from alluding to the memorable defence of Silistria, a most brilliant incident of the war. The town of Silistria is situate on low ground, and is surrounded by a wall, and crowned with forts. In 1828 there was a height which commanded the town, and. which rendered its capture much less difficult. The Turks, how- ever, have taken the precaution to construct on it a con- siderable fortress. As the Russians did not carry on the SIEGE OF SILISTRJA, 1854. 319 siege in a regular manner, they required from 60,000 to 70,000 men to invest it. The attack commenced on the 11th of May. As they held a few small islands in the Danube, and, besides, as the side of the town which looks to the river is the weakest, they succeeded in establishing a bridge, by which they were enabled to throw on the right bank of the river 24,000 men. All their efforts were directed towards the fort Arab-tabia, which they unsuccessfully bombarded for nineteen days. Mussa Pacha, commander-in-chief, made a sortie, which com- pletely succeeded, and in which the Russians had a great number of men killed and wounded. The assault was attempted three times, but the Russians were always repulsed with loss. The amount of the killed is not accu- rately known. During the attack made on Siligtria, on the 29th, the Russians had 180 men killed and 380 wounded. Both parties displayed indescribable animosity. Lieutenant- General Sylvan fell at the head of his troops. Colonel Fostanda and Count Orloff, the son of the Adjutant-Gene- ral of the Emperor, were wounded. The latter was shot through the eye, and subsequently died. The Russian General of Infantry, Soltikoff, also died of his wounds ; and his aide-de-camp, who was wounded by his side, underwent the amputation of his right arm. On the evening of the 29th May, at six o'clock, a Rus- sian division made a still more vigorous assault upon the entrenchments. Three storming parties of 10,000 men each were formed, with a battalion of engineer-sappers, with fascines and scaling ladders, at their head. Before the men set to work 320 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. they were addressed by Prince Paskiewitch, who urged them to exertion, " as, if they did not succeed in taking the fortress, he should be obliged to keep back their rations " After this encouragement, two corps proceeded towards the forts of Arab-tabia and Yelanli : the third corps was to act as a reserve. After a terrific cannonade the storming parties advanced, but were received by the Turks with such a well-directed fire, that for a time they made but little progress. The Eussians, however, fought bravely, and having managed to scale the breastwork of one of the batteries, a regular hand-to-hand fight took place. At last the Turks were victorious, and the unfor- tunate besiegers were knocked into the ditch with the butt- ends of the Turkish muskets. The Eussians had evidently lost courage, and, when they returned to the attack, it was only because they were forced to do so by their officers. When there was literally no more fight in the men, a retreat was sounded, and the Eussians carried off as many of their dead and wounded as they could. The Turks, after their enemies had retired, picked up 1500 dead bodies, a great number of guns, swords, drums, musical instruments, and the colors of a battalion. Hussein Bey, the commander of the two forts, displayed the most daring courage, as did a Prussian and two English officers. Three mines were sprung before Silistria, without doing any damage to the walls. The Eussian storming columns were prepared to mount the expected breach, but were attacked on three sides by the Turks. A fearful slaughtei took place, and the Eussians fled in terrible disorder. Three Eussian Generals, one of whom was General Schil- SIEGE OF SILISTRIA, 1854. 321 ders, were severely wounded, and all the Russian siege works totally destroyed. The continued bombardment, besides demolishing every house in Silistria, had reduced the fort of Arab-tabia to such a mere heap of ruins, that it could not have h,eld out for four-and-twenty hours longer. Yet so discomfited were the enemy by their last repulse, that on the following day they raised the siege and beat a precipitate retreat. Mussa Pacha, the gallant defender, was unfortunately killed by the fragment of a shell, almost the last that was fired against the devoted town. This reverse at Silistria, coupled with the adverse issue of negotiations with Yienna, led to the evacuation of the Principalities by the Russian forces, who shortly after hastily abandoned Bucharest, and retreated, exhausted, dispirited, and demoralized, upon the line of the Pruth, retaining, however, the strongholds of Matchin, Isaktchi, and Tultcha. MAP OF THE SEAT OF AVAR IN THE CRIMEA. CRIMEAN EXPEDITION. The Crimea — The Fleet — Appearance in the Bay of Baltjik — Sail from Varna — Land at Eupatoria — March Inland — Battle of the Alma — Lord Raglan — Appearance of the Troops — Distance from Sebastopol — The Morning of Battle — Advance to the River Alma — Russian Position — The Zouaves — Storming the Heights — March to Sebastopol — Death of Marshal St. Arnaud — General Canrobert. Until the last twelvemonth opened a new page in history, it could not have been anticipated that the battle-field of Europe would be a little arid peninsula in the remotest corner of the Black Sea, and that the armies of Britain, France, Turkey and Russia would be concentrated in direct strife around a fortress, whose very name was hardly known in this country before the present war broke out. Connected with the barren steppes of the mainland of Southern Russia only by the narrow strip of fiat and sandy land, not five miles across, which constitutes the Isthmus of Perekop, the Crimea stretches out in a nearly northerly direction, in the form of a diamond -shaped peninsula, about one-third the size of Ireland. At its western point is Cape Tarkham ; at its eastern, Kirtch and KafTa, and in the south, the bay, town, and fortress of Sebastopol. At least one-third of the Crimea consists of vast water- less plains of sandy soil, rising only a few feet above the 324 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. level of the sea, and in many places impregnated with salt ; but all along the south-eastern side of the peninsula, from Sebastopol to Kertch and Kaffa, there extends a eiiain of limestone mountains. Beginning at Balaklava, nine miles east of Sebastopol, precipices fringe all this north-eastern coast ; but at foot of these limestone preci- pices extends a narrow strip of ground, seldom half a league in width, intervening between the hills and the shore. It is in this picturesque and delightful region that the Allied army established its base of operations. A luxuriant vegetation descends to the water's edge. Ches- nut trees, mulberries, almonds, laurels, olives, and cypresses grow along its whole extent. Is umbers of rivulets of the clearest water pour down from the cliffs, which effec- tually keep off cold and stormy winds. Thickly studded with villages, and adorned with the villas and palaces of the richest Russian nobles, this tract offers a most striking contrast to the remainder of the peninsula, or indeed to any part of Russia. The possession of the Crimea, and the construction of a maritime fortress of the first order in the magnificent harbour of Akhtiar (for such was the former name of Sebastopol) were prominent parts of that vast scheme of policy, by which the genius of the Czar Peter, and his successors, transformed Muscovy into the Russian Empire. The ever-memorable expedition of the Allies, designed to wrench this fortress and fleet from the possession of the Czar, set sail from Yarna in the first week of September, 1854. IMo naval expedition ever before ecmalled it. In the Bay of Baltjik, where the expedition first rendez- voused, the sea was literally covered for a space of eight TOE LANDING AT ETJPATORIA, 1854. 325 miles long with splendid shipping. .Thirty-seven sail of the line — ten English, sixteen French, and eleven Turkish, about a hundred frigates and lesser vessels of war, and nearly two hundred of the finest steam and sailing trans- ports in the world, lay at anchor, in one immense semi- circle, nine or ten deep. The great line of battle-ships, with lights gleaming from every port, looked like illu- minated towns afloat ; while the other vessels, with position-lights hoisted at the main and fore, shed a light upon the sea, twinkling away until lost in the distance. Each division of the army carried lights, corresponding to the number of their division, and at night, when every ship was lighted up, the scene was of the most extraordi- nary and interesting description. Constantinople, during the feast of Bairam, or the Feast of Lamps, described in Moore's poems, would have been a worthy illustration. On the 4th September, 1854, six hundred vessels sailed from Varna, bearing the combined army of 60,000 in the direction of Sebastopol : at the same time intelligence was received by the commanders of a signal victory obtained by Schamyl at Tiflis, over the Russians under Prince Bebutoff. They lost on this occasion many men and horses, seven guns, 3000 tents, all their ammunition, bag- gage, provisions, and retreated in some disorder from Kutais and Kars to Tiflis. On the 14th September, 58,000 men were landed at Eupatoria, about forty-five miles N.W. of Sebastopol. They subsequently advanced some distance inland without meeting with any opposition. The place of debarkation had many advantages. It is a small town, containing only 4,000 inhabitants, weakly 32 G EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. defended by a garrison of about 12,000 men, and in nc condition to resist an invasion such as this. The com- manders had intended, in the first place, to have thrown up entrenchments sufficiently strong to secure the place ; but having experienced no resistance, the troops marched at once towards their destination. In this march they proceeded for about eleven miles, along a slip of land, having on the left the salt lake Sasik, and the sea on their right. The country traversed is fertile, and well supplied with water by three rivers, the Alma, the Katcha, and the Bal- bek. On the left, or southern bank of the latter stream, the first obstacles encountered were the outworks recently thrown up by the Russians, and an old star fort. Having surmounted these, the Allies found themselves in possession of the high ground commanding the rear of the defences on the northern shore of the inlet, and they were scarcely adapted to resist a strong attack. As the Black Sea expedition was departing from Tama for the Crimea, the Baltic fleet, or the greater part of it, received orders to " bear up " for England. THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA. On the night of the 18th September, 1854, orders were given by Lord Raglan that the troops should strike tents at daybreak. An advance had been determined upon, and it was understood that the Russian light cavalry had BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 1854. 327 been sweeping the country of all supplies up to a short distance of the outlying pickets. At three o'clock next morning, the camp was roused by the reveille, and all the 30,000 sleepers woke into active life. Of Turkish infantry, 7,000, under Suleiman Pacha moved along by the sea side ; next came the divisions of Generals Bosquet, Canrobert, Forey, and Prince Napo- leon. The order of march of the English army was about four miles to the right of their left wing, and as many behind them. The right of the Allied forces was covered by the fleet, which moved along with it in magnificent order, darkening the air with innumerable columns of smoke, ready to shell the enemy should they attack the right, and commanding the land for nearly two miles from the shore. The troops presented a splendid appearance. The effect of these grand masses of soldiery descending the ridges of the hills, rank after rank, with the sun playing over forests of glittering steel, can never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Onward the torrent of war swept, wave after wave, huge stately billows of armed men ; while the rumbling of the artillery, and tramp of cavalry, accompanied their progress. A halt took place about three o'clock, at a muddy stream, of which the men drank with avidity. At this stage they passed the Impe- rial post-house, twenty miles from Sebastopol. Orders were given to halt and bivouac for the night, which was cold and damp, but the men were in excellent spirits, looking forward to the probability of an engage- ment with the enemy with perfect confidence as to the result. 328 EUBOPE A3TD THE AELIES. THE MORNING OF BATTLE. On the morning of the 20th, ere daybreak, the whole force was under arms. They were marshalled silently ; no bugles or drums broke the stillness ; but the hum of thousands of voices rose loudly from the ranks, and the watchfires lighted up the lines of the camp as though it were a great town. When dawn broke it was discovered that the Russians had retired from the heights. It was known that" the Russians had been busy fortifying the heights over the valley through which runs the little river Alma, and that they had resolved to try their strength with the allied army in a position giving them vast advantages of ground, which they had used every means in their power to improve to the utmost. The ad- vance of the armies this great day was a sight which must ever stand out like the landmark of the spectator's life. Early in the morning, the troops were ordered to get in readiness, and at half-past six o'clock they were in mo- tion. It was a lovely day ; the heat of the sun was tempered by a sea breeze. The fleet was visible at a distance of four miles, covering the ocean as it was seen between the hills, and steamers could be seen as close to the shore as possible. The Generals, St. Arnaud, Bosquet, and Forey, attended by their staff, rode along the lines, with Lord Raglan and his Generals at second halt, and were received with tremendous cheering. The order in which the army advanced was in columns of brigades in deploying distance ; the left protected by a line of skirmishers of cavalry and of horse artillery. The advantage of the formation was, that the army, in BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 1854. 329 case of a strong attack from cavalry and infantry on the left or rear, could assume the form of a hollow square, with the baggage in the centre. The great object was to gain the right of the position, so that the attacking parties could be sheltered by the vertical fire of the fleets. As soon as the position of the allies could be accurately ascer tained, the whole line, extending itself across the cham- paign country for some five or six miles, advanced. At the distance of two miles the English army halted to obtain a little time to gather up the rear ; and then the troops steadily advanced in grand lines, like the waves of the ocean. The French occupied the high road, nearest the beach, with the Turks ; and the English marched to the left. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the Light Division of the French army came in sight of the village of Almata- mak, and the British Light Division descried that of Burliuk, both situated on the right bank of the rivei Alma. At the place where the bulk of the British arm) crossed, the banks of the Alma are generally at the righ' side, and vary from two and three to six and eight feet in depth to the water ; where the French attacked, the banks are generally formed by the unvaried curve of the river on the left hand side. A village is approached from the north by a road winding through a plain nearly level till it comes near to the village, where the ground dips, so that at the distance of three hundred yards a man on horseback can hardly see the tops of the nearer and more elevated houses, and can only ascertain the position of the stream by the willows and verdure along its banks. At 330 EUEOPE AND THE ALLIES. the left or south side of the Alma the ground assumes a very different character — smooth where the bank is deep, and greatly elevated where the shelve of the bank occurs, it recedes for a few yards at a moderate height above the stream, pierced here and there by the course of the win- ter's torrents, so as to form small ravines, commanded, however, by the heights above. It was on these upper heights, and to the sea, that the Russian army, forty -five thousand strong, besides six or eight thousand cavalry, and. at least a hundred pieces of artillery, were posted. A remarkable ridge of mountain, varying in height from 500 to 700 feet, runs along the course of the Alma on the left or south side with the course of the stream, and as- suming the form of cliffs when close to the sea. At the top of the ridges, between the gullies, the Russians had erected earthwork batteries, mounted with 321b. and 241b. brass guns, supported by numerous field pieces and howitzers. These guns enfiladed the tops of the ravines parallel to them, or swept them to the base, while the whole of the sides up which an enemy, unable to stand the direct fire of the batteries, would be forced to ascend, were filled with masses of skirmishers, armed with an excellent two-groove rifle, throwing a large solid conical ball with force at 700 and 800 yards, as the French learnt to their cost. The principal battery consisted of an earth- work of the form of the two sides of a triangle, with the apex pointed towards the bridge, and the sides covering both sides of the stream, corresponding with the bend of the river below it, at the distance of 1000 yards ; while, with a fair elevation, the 32-pounders threw, very often, beyond the houses of the village to the distance of 140O BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 185-4. 331 and 1500 yards. This was constructed on the brow of a hill about 600 feet above the river, but the hill rose behind it for another 50 feet before it dipped away to- wards the road. The ascent of this hill was enfiladed by the fire of three batteries of earthwork on the right, and by another on the left, and these batteries were equally capable of covering the village, the stream, and the slopes which led up the hill to their position. In the first bat- tery were thirteen 32-pounder brass guns of exquisite workmanship, which only told too well. In the other batteries were some twenty-five guns in all. The force of the British was about 26,000, that of the French about 23,000. It had not escaped the observation of the Allied Com- manders that the Russian General had relied so confi- dently on the natural strength of his position towards the sea where the cliff rose steep and high above the gardens of an adjacent village, that he had neglected to defend this part of his works by masses of troops or by heavy guns. These military defences were, on the contrary, accumulated on his right and centre. The plan of the battle was therefore formed so as to enable the French, and a Turkish division, in the first instance, to turn the Russian left, and gain the plateau ; and, as soon as this operation was accomplished, so as to occupy a portion of the Russian army, the British troops and the French Third Division were to attack the key of the position on the right of the enemy, while the French completed his defeat on the upper ground. General Bosquet's division crossed the river Alma near the mouth about 11 30 ; the Turkish battalions crossing at 332 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. the same time close to the bar, and within musket-range of the beach. This movement was unopposed ; and, ZOUAVE. although a crowd of French skirmishers and light-in- fantry crossed the gardens and brushwood below the hill. UATTLE OF THE ALMA, 1864. 333 which might easily have been defended, not a shot was fired on them, and not a gun seemed to bear on the line of march they followed. It was afterwards ascertained from the Russian prisoners, that Prince Menschikoff had left this line unguarded, because he regarded it as absolutely impassable even for goats. He did not know the Zouaves. With inconceivable rapidity and agility they swarmed up the cliff, and it was not till they formed on the height, and deployed from behind a mound there, that the Russian batteries opened upon them. The fire was returned with great spirit, and a smart action ensued, during which General Bosquet's division was engaged for some time almost alone, until General Canrobert came to his sup- port. The Turkish division, which presented a very martial appearance, and was eager to fight, formed part of the army under the command of Marshal St. Arnaud ; and some regret was felt by these brave troops that they had no active part assigned to them in the struggle. While the French troops were scaling the heights, the French steamers ran in as close as they could to the bluff of the shore at the south side of the Alma, and com- menced shelling the Russians in splendid style ; the shells bursting over the enemy's squares and batteries, and finally driving them from their position on the right, within 3000 yards of the sea. The Russians answered the ships from the heights, but without effect. At 1 50 our line of skirmishers got within range of the battery on the hill, and immediately the Russians opened fire at 1200 yards, with effect, the shot ploughing through open lines of the Riflemen, and falling into the advanc- ing columns behind. Shortly ere this time, dense 334 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. volumes of smoke rose from the river, and drifted along to the eastward, interfering with the view of the enemy on the left. The Russians had set the village on fire. It was a fair exercise of military skill — was well executed — ■ took place at the right time, and succeeded in occasioning a good deal of annoyance. It is said the Russians had taken the range of all the principal points in their front, and placed twigs and sticks to mark them. In this they were assisted by the post sign-boards on the road. The Russians opened a furious fire on the whole English line. The round shot whizzed in every direction, dashing up the dirt and sand into the faces of the staff of Lord Rag- lan. Still he waited patiently for the development of the French attack. At length, an Aide-cle-Oamp came to him and reported the French had crossed the Alma, but they had not established themselves sufficiently to justify an attack. The infantry were, therefore, ordered to lie down, and the army for a short time was quite passive, only that the artillery poured forth an unceasing fire of shell, rockets, and round shot, which ploughed through the Russians, and caused them great loss. They did not waver, however, and replied to the artillery manfully, their shot falling among the men as they lay, and carry- ing off legs and arms at every round. CROSSING THE ALMA. Lord Raglan at last became weary of this inactivity, and gave orders for the whole line to advance, dp rose BATTLE OF THE ALMA, 1854. 335 these serried masses, and — passing through a fe'arful shower of round, case-shot and shell — they dashed into the Alma and " floundered" through its waters, which were literally torn into foam by the deadly hail. At the other side of the river were a number of vineyards, occupied by Russian riflemen. Three of the staff were here shot down.; but, led by Lord Raglan in person, they advanced, cheering on the men. And now came the turning point of the battle, in which Lord Raglan, by his sagacity, probably secured the victory at a smaller sacri- fice than would have been otherwise the case. He dashed over the bridge, followed by his staff. From the road over it, under the Russian guns, he saw the state of the action. The British line, which he had ordered to advance, was struggling through the river and up the heights in masses, firm indeed, but mowed down by the murderous fire of the batteries ; and by grape, round shot, shell, canister, case-shot, and musketry, from some of the guns in the central battery, and from an immense and compact mass of Russian infantry. Then commenced one of the most bloody and deter- mined struggles in the annals of war. The 2nd Division, led by Sir cle Lacy Evans in the most dashing manner, crossed the stream on the right. Brigadier Pennefather (who Avas in the thickest of the fight, cheering on his men), again and again was checked, but never drew back in liis onward progress, which was marked by a fierce roll of Minie musketry ; and Brigadier Adams bravely charged up the hill, and aided him in the battle. Sir George Brown, conspicuous on a grey horse, rode in front of his Light Division, urging them with voice and ges- 336 EUROPE AjSTD the allies. ture. Gallant fellows ! they were worthy of such a gallant chief. Down went Sir George in a cloud of dust in front of the battery. He was soon up, and led them on again ; but in the shock produced by the fall of their chief, the gillant regiment suffered terribly while paralysed for a moment. Meantime, the Guards on the right of the Light Division, and the brigade of Highlanders, were storming the heights on the left. Suddenly a tornado of round and grape rushed through from the terrible bat- tery, and a roar of musketry from behind it thinned their front ranks by dozens. It was evident that the troops were just able to contend against the Russians, favored as they were by a great position. At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry were seen moving down towards the battery. They halted. It was the crisis of the day. Sharp, angular, and solid, they looked as if they were cut out of the solid rock. Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of the situation. He asked, if it would be possible to get a couple of guns to bear on these masses. The reply was "Yes;" and an artillery officer brought up two guns to fire on the Russian squares. The first shot missed, but the next, and the next, and the next, cut through the ranks so cleanly, and so keenly, that a clear lane could be seen for a moment through the square. After a few rounds the columns of the square became broken, wavered to and fro, broke, and fled over the brow of the hill, leaving behind them six or seven distinct lines of dead, lying as close as possible to each other, marking txie passage of the fatal messengers. This act relieved the infantry of a deadly incubus, and they continued their magnificent and fearful progress up the hill. THE MARCH TO SEBA5TOPOL, 1354. 337 " Highlanders," said Sir C. Campbell, ere they came ta the charge, "don't pull a trigger till you re within a yard of the Russians !" They charged, and well the} 7 obeyed their chieftain's wish ; Sir Colin had his horse shot under him ; but he Avas up immediately, and at the head of his men. But the Guards pressed on abreast, and claimed, with the 33rd, the honor of capturing a cannon. The Second and Light Division crowned the heights. The French turned the guns on the hill against the flying masses, which the cavalry in vain tried to cover. A few faint struggles from the scattered infantry, a few rounds of cannon and musketry, and the enemy fled to the South-east, leaving three Generals, three guns, TOO prisoners, and 4000 killed and wounded, behind tliem. The loss on the part of the British was 2000 killed, wounded, and missing ; that of the French, about 1400. On the night after the battle the allied army bivouacked on the summit of the heights which they had so gloriously won ; the French Marshal pitching his tent on the very spot occupied by that of Prince Menschikoff the morning before. THE MARCH TO SEBASTOPOL. On the 23d the Allied armies left the Alma and pro- ceeded to cross the Katscha ; on the 2ith they crossed the Belbec, where it had been intended to effect the landing of the siege materiel with a view to an attack on the 338 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. north side of Sebastopol. It was found, however, that the enemy had placed a fortified work so as to prevent the vessels and transports from approaching this river ; and it was determined to advance at once by a flank march round the east of Sebastopol, to cross the valley of the Tchernaya, and seize Balaklava as the future basis of operations against the south side of the harbor at Sebas- topol. On leaving the high road from the Belbec to Sebas- topol, the army had to traverse a dense wood, in which there was but one road, that led in the direction necessary to take. The march was toilsome, and the troops suffered much from want of water. At length, about mid-day, Lord Raglan and his staff, preceding the light division, arrived, at the outskirts of the wood, in the neighbourhood of a place known as Mackenzie's Farm, and, no doubt to the surprise of both parties, found himself on the flank of a Russian division retreating from Sebastopol to Bakski- serai. The Russians only thought of making good their retreat, and before any of the British cavalry and horse artillery could be brought up, they had passed by the critical spot. A few men fell on the side of the Russians, and pome were taken prisoners. A vast quantity of am- munition and much valuable baggage, fell into the hands of the British. After resting for awhile at Mackenzie's Farm, where two wells afforded a scanty supply of water to the thirsty troops, the march was resumed down a steep and difficult defile, leading to the valley of the Tchernaya river, which they succeeded in reaching the same night. Next morning (the 26th) the army was again on the THE MARCH TO SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 339 march, and a few miles more sufficed to bring them to the end of their journey. The enemy did not hold Balaklava in any strength. After a few shots the little garrison surrendered, and as Sir E. Lyon's ship, the Agamemnon, reached the mouth of the harbour at the very time that the troops appeared on the heights, the British army was once more in full communication with the fleet. The march of the French army, which followed in the track of the British, was still more prolonged and fatiguing. They did not reach the Tchernaya river until the 26th, having passed the previous night at Mackenzie's Farm. It was on this day that the French marshal, at length succumbing to his fatal malady, issued his last order of the day, in which he took leave formally of his troops, and resigned the command into the hands of General Canrobert. " Soldiers !" said this memorable and touch- ing address, " Providence refuses to your chief the satis- faction of continuing to lead you in the glorious path which is open before you. Overcome by a cruel disease, with which he has vainly struggled, he regards with pro- found grief, the imperious duty which is imposed upon him by circumstances — that of resigning the command, the weight of which a health for ever destroyed will no longer permit him to bear. " Soldiers ! you will pity me, for the misfortune which falls on me is immense, irreparable, and perhaps unexampled." Next day (the 27th) the marshal was seen entering Balaklava, indulging, like every one around him, in eating some of the delicious grapes which abound in the vine- yards of this country. - French t — I ■ I li is in - GENERAL CAKBOBERT. GENERAL CANROBEKT, 1854 341 General-in-chief, prepared tliem by his perseverance in organizing the great operation which we execute, and by the brilliant victory of the Alma." There is often an epoch in the life of a man when every incident in his career is invested with a novel and exten- sive interest, when the present reflects a lustre on the past, and recollection gives confidence to hope. So is it with the commander of the French army in the Crimea. Francis Canrobert was born in 1809, in the department of Lot, some leagues from the village where Murat first saw the light. He entered the school of St. Cyr in the month of November, 1826, and obtained the highest honors in that establishment, after passing two years in laborious study. On the first of October, 1828, he was appointed to the sub-lieutenancy of the 47th regiment of the line, and was made lieutenant on the 20th of June, 1832. In 1835 he embarked for Africa, and arrived in the province of Oran, where the Emir, Abd-el-Kader, had held the French troops for some time in check. Soon after his arrival, he accompanied the expedition to Mur- cara, when he first distinguished himself. He followed with his regiment the movements of the generals Clausel, D'Arlanges, and Letang, in the province of Oran. The capture of Tlemcen, the expeditions to Chelif and Mina, the battles of Sidi, Yacoub, Tafua, and Sikkah, revealed his brilliant military qualities, and gained him the rank of captain on the 26th April, 1837. Captain Canrobert returned to France in 1839, with the decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1840 he was on duty at the camp of St. Omer, when he composed, in obedience to the com- mands of the Duke of Orleans, several chapters of a 342 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. Manual for the use of the light troops. In the month of October he was incorporated into the sixth battalion of Chasseurs-a-Pied, and returned to Africa in 1841. In this new campaign he signalised himself on all occasions. He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor for ten years, when Colonel St. Arnaud, who in the year 1845 succeeded Colonel Cavaignac in the government of Or- leansville, made use of his services against Bon Maga. He succeeded with two hundred and fifty bayonets in holding his own against more than three thousand men, who could make no impression on him ; consequent upon these transactions followed his appointment to a lieutenant- colonelcy on the 26th of October. It was in 1848, however, that Colonel Canrobert dis- played energies beyond all praise. Cholera was raging in the garrison of Aumale, but the events which were passing at Zaatcha summoned them before the walls of this oasis. "What courage and coolness did it require in the commander of the Zouaves to lead his soldiers in this manner through all the perils of an adventurous march ; soldiers constantly accompanied by the afflicting spectacle of misery. He, as it were, multiplied himself. He exhorted the sick, devoted himself to them ; threw a rein- forcement into the town of Bon Sada, the garrison of which was blockaded ; deceived the enemy, who opposed his passage, by announcing that he brought pestilence with him, and that he should communicate it to his assail- ants. On the 26th he led, with wondrous intrepidity, one of the attacking columns — but of four officers and sixteen soldiers who followed him to the breach, sixteen were killed or wounded at his side. In recompense for his con- GENERAL CANROBERT, 1854. 343 duct he was nominated Commander of the Legion of Honor on the 11th of December, 1849. Having distinguished himself at the battle of Narah, he was elevated to the rank of general of brigade on the 13th of January, 1852. He came then to Paris, and took the command of a brigade of infantry, and was attached as aide-de-camp to the Prince President of the Republic. On the 11th of January, 1853, he was appointed gene- ral of division, still preserving his functions as aide-de- camp to the Emperor. Three months afterwards he was called to the command of a division of infantry at the camp of Helfaut ; lastly, being placed at the head of the first division of the army of the East, he has played one of the most active parts since the commencement of the war, both in making pre- parations for the difficult operation cf the debarcation, and in contributing greatly to the success at Alma, where he received a wound. It is well known that Marshal St. Arnaud, who had learned his value, had absolute confidence in his talents and bravery, and it is certain that the young general had neglected nothing to make him worthy of this confidence. Before his departure he was known to be occupied at the military depot in profound studies, having for their object the knowledge of the theatre of war, as if he had a pre- sentiment of his future destiny. 344 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. CHAPTER XIV. SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Bay of Balaklava — Landing of the Siege Guns — Russian Guns — Sebastopol Its Appearance — Military Harbor — Fortifications — Vessels of War — ■ The Country around Sebastopol — Allies opening Trenches — Message of the Governor to Lord Raglan — Bombardment — Lancaster Guns — Ex- plosion in the French Batteries — Russian Powder Magazine Explodes — The Allied Fleet — The Cannonade — Riflemen — Battle of Balaklava —British and French Position— The Combat— The Turks— The High- landers — The Russian Cavalry — Captain Nolan — Lord Cardigan. Having swept the enemy from their path by the bloody triumph of Alma, the next step of the Allies was to lay siege to Sebastopol. The bay of Balaklava, which now became the principal base of their operations, is a place admirably suited for the landing of stores and materiel. As a port it is the most perfect of its size in the world. The entrance is between perpendicular cliffs, rising eight hundred feet high on either hand, and is only wide enough to allow the passage of one ship at a time ; but once in you find your- self in a land-locked tideless haven, still as a mountain- tarn, three quarters of a mile in length, by two hundred- and fifty yards wide, and nowhere less than six fathoms deep, so that every square foot of its surface is available for ships of the greatest burden. The bay of Balaklava was instantly adopted as the new base of operations of the British army, and never before did its waters mirror so many tall ships on their bosom. PORT OF BALAKLAVA* 1854. 345 From fifty to a hundred war-ships and transports were constantly at anchor, landing the siege-guns, stores, and provisions of all kinds. The only access to Balaklava from the land side is at the inner end of the bay, through a breach in the surrounding hills, which gradually opens out into an extensive valley, about three miles long by about two broad ; it was in this valley that the serious part of the combat of the 25th October took place. Through this valley runs the road to the Tchernaya and Mackenzie's Farm, by which the Allies advanced to Ba- laklava, and which on the other side of the Tchernaya enters deep gorges in the mountains. On the side next the sea this valley is bounded by a line of hills stretching from Balaklava to Inkerman, and along the summit of which runs the road to Sebastopol. Another road in the opposite direction conducts to the valley of Baider, the most fertile district of the Crimea. The port of Balaklava having been found barely large enough for the landing of the British stores and guns, the French selected as their base of operations the three deep bays lying between Cape Chersonesus and Sebastopol bay. The country between Balaklava and Sebastopol, upon which the Allied army encamped, is a barren hilly steppe, destitute of water, and covered with no better herbage than thistles. The French took up their position next the sea ; the British inland, next the Tchernaya. The front of the besieging force extended in a continuous line from the mouth of the Tchernaya to the sea at Strelitska bay, forming nearly a semicircle around Sebastopol, at a distance of about two miles from the enemy's works. This position was found to be close enough, as the Eussian 346 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. guns were found to throw shells to the distance of four thousand yards. A most unfortunate delay took place in landing and bringing up the siege guns and stores of the Allies ; a delay which was improved to the utmost by the Russians, who kept large bands of citizens, and even women, as Avell as the garrison, at work in relays both night and day, in throwing up a vast exterior line of earthen redoubts and entrenchments, and in covering the front of their stone-works with earth. The force disposable for the defence of Sebastopol was nearly equal in number to the besieging army ; and as, from the nature of its position, the place could only be invested upon one side, supplies of all kinds could be conveyed into the town, and the Russian generals could either man the works with their whole forces, or direct incessant attacks against the flank and rear of the allies. Never did any army ever undertake so vast and peril- ous an enterprise as that in which the allied commanders found themselves engaged. For three weeks after leaving Old Fort, the British troops were without tents, but on the 7th October the besieging army once more got under canvas. POET OF SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 347 SEBASTOPOL. Sebastopol is situated at the southern point of the Crimea, which puts out into the Black Sea, and is dis- tant from Odessa 192 miles. « Varna 295 " " Constantinople 343 " It is one of the most modern creations of the Czar, and stands, like an advanced post, near to Cape Chersonese — its site, until 1786, having been occupied by a few straggling huts. Catherine II., on her accession, perceived its natu- ral advantages as a naval port, the first stone was laid in 1780, and from that period it has rapidly increased in strength and importance. On doubling the Cape, bor- dered with a vast chain of rocks and breakers, Sebastopol appears about six and a half miles to the east — a remark- able picture, on account of its white cliffs, and the arnphi- theatrical appearance of the town. The port of Sebastopol consists of a bay running in a south-easterly direction, about four miles long, and a mile wide at the entrance, diminishing to 400 yards at the end, where the Tchernaya or Black Elver empties itself. On the southern coast of this bay are the commercial, military, and careening harbors, the quarantine harbor being outside the entrance — all these taking a southerly direction, and having deep water. The military harbor is the largest, being about a mile and a half long by 400 yards wide, and is completely land-locked on every side. Here it is that the Black Sea fleet is moored in the winter — die largest ships being able 348 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. to lie with all their stores on board close to the quays. The small harbor, which contains the naval arsenal and docks, is on the eastern side of the military harbor, near the entrance. The port is defended to the south by six principal bat- teries and fortresses, each mounting from 50 to 190 guns ; and the north by four, having from 18 to 120 pieces each ; and besides these, there are many smaller bat- teries. The fortresses are built on the casemate principle, three of them having three tiers of guns, and a fourth two tiers. Fort St. Nicholas is the largest, and mounts about 190 guns. It is built of white limestone ; a fine, sound stone, which becomes hard, and is very durable, the same material being used for all the other forts. Between every two casemates are furnaces for heating shot red hot. The calibre of the guns is eight inches, capable of throwing shells or 68-pound solid shot. Whether all the guns in the fortress are of the same size, it is impossible to say ; but the belief is, that most of the fortifications of Sebastopol are heavily armed. Sebastopol is admirably adapted by nature for a strong, position towards the sea, and has been fully taken advan- tage of to render it one of the most formidably fortified places in that direction which could be imagined. In speaking of the means of defence at Sebastopol, we have left the Russian fleet out of the question. This, however, is not to be treated either with indifference or contempt. There were in the military harbor of Sebastopol twelve line-of-battle ships, eight frigates, and seven corvettes, TOWN OF SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 349 comprising the Black Sea fleet, independent of steam- ers. The town of Sebastopol is situated on the point of land between the commercial and military harbors, which rises gradually from the water's edge to an elevation of 200 feet, and contains 31,500 inhabitants. Including the military and marines, the residents numbered 40,000. It is more than a mile in length, and its greatest width is about three-quarters of a mile — the streets entering the open steppe on the south. The streets are built in parallel lines from north to south, are intersected by others from east and west, and the houses, being of limestone, have a substantial appear- ance. The public buildings are fine. The library erected by the Emperor, for the use of naval and military officers, is of Grecian architecture, and is elegantly fitted up inter- nally. The books are principally confined to naval and military subjects and the sciences connected with them, history, and some li^ht reading. The club-house is handsome externally, and comfortable within ; it contains a large ball-room, which is its most striking feature, and billiard-rooms, which appear to be the great centre of attraction ; but one looks in vain for reading-rooms, filled with newspapers and journals. There are many good churches, and a fine landing-place of stone from the military harbor, approached on the side of the town, beneath an architrave supported by high columns. It also boasts an Italian opera-house. The eastern side of the town is so steep that the mast- heads of the ships cannot be seen until one gets close to them. Very beautiful views are obtained from some 350 EL'BOPE AND THE ALLIES. parts of the place, and it is altogether agreeably situated, A military band plays every Thursday evening in the public gardens, at which time the fashionables assemble in great numbers. As Sebastopol is held exclusively as a military and naval position, commerce does not exist ; the only articles imported by sea being those required for mate- rial of war, or as provisions for the inhabitants and garrison. On the eastern side of the military harbor, opposite to the town, is a line of buildings consisting of barracks, some store-houses, and a large naval hospital. The country around Sebastopol sinks gradually down, in a succession of ridges from the position occupied by the Allied army to the town ; but for nearly a third of a mile, immediately in front of the town, the ground is quite flat, the ridges there having been long ago levelled by the Russians in order to give no cover to an attacking force. We have said that there is a circuit of five or six hundred yards of level ground immediately around the town, and it was beyond this radius that the Russians threw up their new works, erecting strong redoubts on several elevated positions ; the Allies had to open their trenches at the distance of a mile from the body of the place, although within one hundred and twenty yards of the Russian bat- teries. The French were the first to break ground. At nine at night, on the 9th, the trenches were opened by one thousand six hundred workmen, divided into relief parties, and supported to defend the works. A land wind, and an almost entire absence of moonlight, favored the operations, and by break of day 1,014 yards in length OPENING OF TRENCHES, 1854. 351 were completed, without interruption from the enemy, of sufficient depth to cover the men. Next night the British broke ground ; but this time the garrison were on the alert, and kept up a very heavy but ineffectual fire. The British, who occupied much higher ground than the French, placed their batteries with great skill. The raised mounds or beds of earth, upon which the guns were placed, were erected precisely along the crest of the various ridges on which the batteries were planted, and, when finished, showed only the muzzle of the guns over the brow of the ridge, so as to present little to the direct fire of the enemy. The besiegers' batteries were now drawing near com- pletion ; and the governor of Sebastopol had sent a re- quest to Lord Raglan, that he would spare the inhabitants by not firing upon the civilian part of the city, to which he replied, that he would grant a safe-conduct to such of the inhabitants as were desirous of leaving, but would promise nothing as to his mode of attack, save that the buildings marked by the yellow flag should be respected as hospitals. Every means was adopted to keep up the spirits of the garrison, and balls even were given every other night. THE BOMBARDMENT. On the 17th of October the dreadful work began, and no one then present will ever forget that memorable 352 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. scene. The morning dawned slowly; a thick fog hung over the town, and spread far up the heights. Towards six o'clock the mist began to disperse, and the rich clear October sun every instant made objects more and more visible. In the Allied lines, all the artillerymen were at their pieces, and as the iron muzzles of the guns became visible through the fog in the now unmasked embrasures, a scat- tering and fast-increasing fire was opened upon them from the Russian lines. Soon the Russian works, crowded with grey figures, could be seen below, with, in rear, the large handsome white houses and dockyards of Sebastopol itself. Slowly, like the drawing back of a huge curtain, the mist moved off seaward, a cool morning breeze sprang up, and the atmosphere became clear and bright. Around were the wide-extending lines of the besiegers, sloping down from the elevated ridges held by the British to the low grounds on the coast occupied by the French. Facing them below was the continuous line of Russian intrenchments of earthwork, interspersed with redoubts and stone towers, and loop-holed walls, with the line-of- battle ships showing their heavy broadsides in the har- bor ; and beyond all, the open sea, bearing on its bosom, like a dark belt, the immense armada of the Allied fleet. At half-past six, the preconcerted signal of three shells went up, one after another, from a French battery, and the next instant the whole Allied batteries opened simultaneously. On the side of the British, seventy- three, and of the French, fifty-three, in all one hundred and twenty-six guns, one-half of which were of the very heaviest calibre, launched their thunders on the side of BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 353 the Allies ; while upwards of two hundred replied in one deafening roar from the Russian lines. Two long lines of belching flame and smoke appeared, and through the space between hurtled a shower of shot and shell, while the earth shook with the thunders of the deadly volleys. Distinctly amidst the din could be heard the immense Lancaster guns, which here, for the first time, gave evi- dence of their tremendous powers. Their sharp report, heard among the other heavy guns, was like the crack of a rifle among muskets. But the most singular thing was the sound of their ball, which rushed through the air with the noise and regular beat precisely like the passage of a rapid railway train at close distance — a peculiarity which, at first, excited shouts of laughter from the men, who nicknamed it the express-train. The effect of the shot was terrific ; from its deafening and peculiar noise, the ball could be distinetly traced by the ear to the spot where it struck, when stone or earth were seen to go down before it. The first few minutes' firing sufficed to show to each side, what neither had as yet accurately known, the actual strength of its opponents ; and it now appeared, that even in the extent of the earthwork batteries thrown up since the siege began, the Russians immensely surpassed their besiegers. Besides their stone forts, and a long line of intrenchments, guns of heavy calibre had been planted on every ridge and height ; and as fresh batteries were un- masked one after another, often in places totally unex- pected, the Allied generals were completely taken by surprise at the magnitude of the defences. Opposite to the French lines, the main strength of the 354 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Russians lay in the Flag-staff batteries, erected upon a hill commanding the French works. They consisted of two tiers of intrenchments, each mounting about twenty- five guns, the upper of which tier of cannon was unknown to the besiegers until it opened fire; with several large mortars placed on the summit of the hill. And on the ex- treme right of the Russian lines was a ten-gun battery, most commanclingly placed, so as to enfilade the French lines. In this quarter the Russians had not only a great advantage in point of position, but also their guns out- numbered those of the French, and it soon became evi- dent that the French were fighting at a disadvantage, and were dreadfully galled in flank by the ten-gun battery. Suddenly, a little after nine o'clock, there came a loud explosion, — a dense cloud of smoke was seen hanging over one of the French batteries, and the Russians were ob- served on the parapets of their works cheering vigorously. The flank fire of the ten-gun battery had blown up one of the French magazines, killing or wounding about fifty men, and blowing the earthwork to atoms. The British batteries were more successful. The princi- pal works opposed to them were on their right front, the Round fort, a Martello tower, which had been faced up with earth. A battery of twenty heavy guns- was planted on the top of this tower, and exterior earthwork intrench- ments had been thrown up around it, mounted with artil- lery of heavy calibre. Next, nearly opposite the British centre, was the three- decker, the Twelve Apostles, placed across the harbor creek; and facing their left was the Redan redoubt, carrying about forty cannon, likewise surrounded by BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 355 intrenchments armed with numerous guns. On the British side, the principal redoubts were, the Crown battery, of 27 guns, in the centre, fronting the Twelve Apostles, and the Green-Mound battery, opposite the Redan redoubt. At half-past three, a red-hot shot from the Russian three-decker, the Twelve Apostles, struck a powder wagon in the Crown battery, which exploded, killing one or two men, but leaving the works of the battery uninjured. The Russians cheered as before, imagining the same in- jury had been done, as previously to the French. Rut while they were still cheering, a shell from the Green Mound battery lodged in the powder magazine of the Redan redoubt, and blew it up with a tremendous explosion. A white livid flame suddenly shot high into the air, followed by a report that made the very earth tremble in the Allied lines, and the next minute its garri- son of hundreds, blown to atoms, were discovered strew- ing the around to a distance around. " In the midst of a dense volume of smoke and sparks," says an eye-witness, " which resembled a water-spout ascending to the clouds, were visible to the naked eye, arms, legs, trunks, and heads, of the Russian warriors, mingled with cannons, wheels, and every object of military warfare, and, indeed, every living thing it contained." So powerful was the effect which this explosion produced on the morale of the besiegers, which had been somewhat depressed by the misfortunes of the day, that the enthusiasm displayed was almost of a frantic nature. Both the English and French troops, as well as officers, doffed their caps, and threw them high into the air, at the same time giving a shout which might have been heard at Balaklava, a league off. "356 EUI10PE ASD THE ALLIES. The Russians, however, were nowise daunted, and re- sumed their fire with undiminished energy. While this terrific cannonade was going on by land, the Allied fleets were seen bearing down upon the strong forts which defend the mouth of the harbor. It had been arranged between the Admirals and Generals, that as soon as the attention of the Russians had been attracted to the landward attack, the fleets should move forward and take part in a general assault. The French took the Quaran- tine fort, and other works on the south side of the entrance to Sebastopol bay, and the British took Fort Constantino and the works on the north side. By half-past one o'clock, the action was fairly com- menced, and the conjoined roar from the guns of the fleet and in the forts, echoed by the thunders of the rival batteries on shore, baffled the imagination. Never before in the world's history was such a cannonade witnessed — even the tremendous cannonade of Leipsic and Trafalgar fades into insignificance before so gigantic a strife. The fleets advanced to the attack in two lines — the British from the north, the French from the south. Directly the vessels came within 2,000 yards, the forts opened fire, which the Allies never attempted to reply to until they took up their positions. The cannonade of the French was terrific and continuous ; enveloped in smoke, they kept up whole salvoes, which was terrific, the smoke being lit up by the volleys of flashes, and the roar of cannon continuous. The Turks followed the French in this, sometimes in whole broadsides, again their fire run- ning continuously along the line. There was less of this BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL, 1854. 357 with the English ships, whose style of firing appeared less awful, but more business-like. The Russians used red- hot shot, rockets, combustible shell, and bar-shot ; and the terrible effects of these soon made themselves apparent. The bar-shot cut the masts, spars, and rigging to pieces, and the rockets and red-hot shot raised conflagrations in many of the attacking vessels. The allied vessels met with but little success, and towards night stood out to sea, the Russians cheering vociferously, and redoubling their fire. Such were the incidents of this memorable opening day of the bombardment. On the 18th, the fleet did not renew the attack; and as the French batteries were wholly silenced for the time, the enemy were enabled to concentrate a terrific fire upon the British trenches. During the previous day's firing, the Russians had discovered the weak points of their opponents, as well as their own, and before morn- ing, had erected, with sand-bags, batteries on new and commanding positions. During the night of the 18th, the French worked incessantly, repaired al their batteries, and again open- ed fire on the morning of the 19th. Still they were unfortunate. About eleven o'clock a shell from the Rus- sian ten-gun battery once more blew up one of their magazines, killing most of the men in the battery, and dismounting most of the guns ; thus most of the French works were again silenced before two o'clock. The British lines kept up a hot fire throughout the whole day ; but though at times nearly one hundred shot and shell were thrown per minute, little or no effect was 358 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. produced upon the Kussiau intrenchments. The enemy were provided with a perfectly inexhaustible supply of all the material requisite for a desperate defence. The instant a shot or shell struck their works the hole was filled up with sand-bags ; so that the besieged built up as fast as the besiegers knocked down. The French had repaired their injuries during the night, and resumed their lire ; but they were still terribly overmatched ; and, for the third time, one of their maga- zines was blown up, doing much damage. During the following night the French not only repaired their works, but in order to fire with more destructive effect, advanced one 'strong battery about two hundred yards nearer the enemy. This new advanced battery not only enabled them to maintain their ground, but even to destroy and silence their inveterate assailant, the Russian ten-gun battery. During the 22d the cannonade from the French lines was incessant, and told with great effect ; but early in the day the British batteries received orders to fire only once in eight minutes — occasioned by a deficiency of ammuni- tion. The Russians worked their guns with great energy and. precision, even under the hottest fire, standing to their pieces as boldly as on the first day of the siege ; and they continued to repair each night the injury done, to their works in the previous day. The loss of the Allies up to this point of the siege was about twelve hundred men. One feature in the memorable siege was the great use made of riflemen by the besieging force, and the extreme gallantry displayed by these men when at work. EXPLOITS OF A SOLDIER, 1854. 359 Every day parties of skirmishers went out from the Allied lines, and lay under cover among the loose large stones about one thousand yards in advance of the batte- ries, and within two hundred yards of the Russian defences. This compelled the enemy to send out parties to dis- lodge them, and these, as they advanced for that purpose across the open ground, became exposed to the lire both of the skirmishers and of the trenches, and usually suffered severely. On one occasion a private in the British lines who had fired his last cartridge, was crouching along the ground to join the nearest covering-party, when two Russians sud- denly sprang from behind a rock, and seizing him by the collar, dragged him off towards Sebastopol. The Russian who escorted him on the left side held in his right hand his own firelock, and in his left the cap- tured Minie ; with a sudden spring the British soldier seized the Russian's firelock, shot its owner, clubbed his companion, and then, picking up his own Minie, made off in safety to his own lines. Another of these fellows resolved to do more work on his own account, got away from his compaiw, and crawled up close to a battery under shelter of a bridge. There he lay on his back, and loaded, turning over to fire; until, after killing eleven men, a party of Russians rushed out and he took to his heels ; but a volley fired after him levelled him with the earth, and his body was subsequently picked up by his comrades riddled with balls. Probably 100,000 shot and shell a-day, exclusive of night-firing, was the average amount of projectiles dis- charged by both parties in the extraordinary siege. 360 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The darkness of night was constantly interrupted by the bursting of shell or rockets. The passage of the shells through the air, thrown to an amazing height from the mortars, appeared like that of meteors. To the eye, the shell seems to rise and fall almost perpendicularly ; sometimes burning, as it turns on its axis, and the fuse disappears in the rotation, with an interrupted pale light ; sometimes with a steady light, not unlike- the calm luminosity of a planet. As it travels it can be heard, amid the general stillness, uttering in the distance its peculiar sound, like the cry of the cm-lew. The blue light in a battery announces the starting of a rocket, which pursues its more horizontal course, followed by a fiery train, and rushes through the air with a loud whizzing noise that gives an idea of irresistible energy. So went on, day and night, ceaselessly, this unparalleled bombardment — a cataract of war, a Niagara of all dread sounds, whose ceaseless booming was heard for long miles around. Ship after ship, nearing the Crimean shores, heard from afar that dull, heavy sound, and all eyes were strained to catch sight of the dread scene, of that valley where the battle of Europe was being fought, where the cannon were ever sounding, and "the fire was not quenched." BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA. While the operations were being carried on around the walls of Sebastopol, events of, if possible, still greater ADVANCE OF THE RUSSIANS. 361 importance were taking place a few miles off, upon the flanks and rear of the investing force. In truth, the Allies were as much besieged as besiegers. For about a fortnight after the affair at Mackenzie's Farm, on the 25th of September, nothing had been seen of the enemy, who had retired towards Bakshi-serai to await reinforcements. It was towards the end of the first week of October that the Russians began to assume the offensive. The Allies at first seem to have regarded their position as unassail- able ; but the enemy, thoroughly acquainted with every foot of the country, and consequently able to advance in the dark, soon showed them their mistake. At daybreak on the 6th, the Russians made an advance in force, for the purpose of reconnoitring, from the Tcher- naya into the valley or plain in rear of the heights occu- pied by the Allies ; and, after surprising, in the grey of the morning, a picket of the Fourth Dragoons, drew off again, having accomplished their object. During the fol- lowing night, a most daring reconnoissance was made, by a French officer and ten men, who, on their return to camp, reported that they had gone as far as the river Bel- bee, and had only seen the bivouac of the Russian troops who had made the reconnoissance the preceding day. In order to check further surprises from this quarter, parties of Zouaves and Foot Chasseurs were placed in ambuscade as outposts ; every evening at six o'clock four companies of them concealing themselves in a ravine through which the Russians would advance, and remaining there until daybreak next morning. The enemy, however, forsaking the line of attack by the road from Mackenzie's Farm, now began to appear 362 EUROPE ASTD THE AELIES. among the mountains directly in rear of the Allied lines, and also close to Balaklava, advancing by a road from Kansara, through the hills, which was at first deemed by the Allied generals impracticable for artillery, and, con- sequently, along which no serious attack was anticipated. One day, however, a force of 2000 Russian cavalry, and 8000 infantry, with nine or ten guns, made its appear- ance in this quarter, but withdrew without showing fight. As soon as it became evident that the principal attacks of the Russian relieving army would be directed against Balaklava, means were taken to put that place in a state of defence. One of the first, was to turn out the Greek and Russian inhabitants. The little bay, so narrow at its entrance that only one ship could get out at a time, was crowded with upwards of a hundred transports, in which, besides other stores, as well as in the buildings on shore, were large magazines of gunpowder ; and as it was re- ported that the Greek population, besides acting as spies, had actually concerted to aid the Russian attack by simultaneously setting fire to the town, Lord Raglan ordered every one of them to be ejected from the place. At the same time, a redoubt, armed with heavy guns and manned with 1200 marines from the fleet, was constructed upon the summit of a conical hill, on the further side of the bay, about 1000 feet high, and commanding the coast road approaching Balaklava from the east. Other redoubts were so placed as to command the road from the Tchernaya, and also from Kamara, through the mountains. Balaklava does not fall within the natural line of de- fence for besieging Sebastopol. It is held as a separate POSITION OF THE ALLIES. 353 post, three miles in advance of Sebastopol heights, which form the main position of the besieging force. The British occupied a convex line of heights, stretch- ing from the Tchernaya, near its month, to the sea-coast, midway between Cape Chersonese and Balaklava. On the north-east is a valley or plain, not level, bnt broken by little eminences, about three miles long by two in width. Towards the Tchernaya this valley is swallowed up in a mountain gorge and deep ravines, above which rise tier after tier of desolate whitish rocks. At its other ex- tremity the valley in a similar manner contracts into a gorge, through which the high road passes, leading down to Balaklava. On the crest of the Allied line of heights, overlooking this plain, the French had constructed very formidable intrenchments, mounted with a few guns and lined by Zouaves and artillerymen. Intersecting the plains, about two miles and a half from Balaklava, is a series of conical heights, the highest and farthest off of which joins the mountain range on the opposite side of the valley, while the nearest one was commanded by the French intrenchments. On these eminences earth-work redoubts had been constructed, each mounted with two or three pieces of heavy ship guns, and manned by 250 Turks. At the end of the plain next Balaklava, and stationed at the mouth of the gorge leading down to it, were tho 93d Highlanders. In the plain, about ten miles from Balaklava, were picketed the cavalry, commanded in chief by the Earl of 364 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Lucan, consisting of the Light Brigade, 607 strong, and the Heavy Brigade, mustering 1000 sabres. Such was the position of the rearward forces of the Allies on the morning of the 25th October, 1854, when the Russians, under General Liprandi, starting from Kamara about five o'clock, advanced to attack them. The cavalry pickets, riding in haste, soon brought intelligence of the attack to the Allied head-quarters, and measures were instantly taken to forward all the troops that could be spared from before Sebastopol to the menaced point. The Dnke of Cambridge and Sir George Cathcart were ordered to advance with the 1st and 4th divisions with all speed, while Bosquet's French division received similar orders from General Canrobert. • Soon after eight o'clock, Lord Raglan and his staff turned out, and cantered towards the rear. The booming of artillery, the spattering roll of musketry, were heard rising from the valley, drowning the roar of the siege guns in front before Sebastopol. General Bosquet, a stout, soldier-like looking man, followed with his staff and a small escort of hussars at a gallop. From their position on the summit of the heights, form- ing the rear of the British position, and overlooking the plain of Balaklava, the Allied generals beheld the aspect of the combat. Immediately below, in the plain, the British cavalry, under Lord Lucan, were seen rapidly forming into glittering masses, while the 93d Highlanders, under Sir Colin Campbell, drew up in line in front of the gorge leading to Balaklava. The main body of the Russians was by this time visible about two and a half miles off, advancing up the narrow BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA, 1S54. 265 valley leading from the Yaeta pass. A mile in front of them were two batteries of light artillery, playing vigor- ously on the Turkish redoubts, and escorted by a cloud of mounted skirmishers, " wheeling and whirling like au- tumn leaves before the wind ;" following those were large, compact squares of cavalry ; and in rear of all came solid masses of infantry, with twenty pieces of artillery in row before them. The enemy rapidly advanced his cavalry and horse-artillery, so as to overpower the detached corps of Turks before any troops could be moved forward from the main body to support them. In this he perfectly succeeded, and the second redoubt was abandoned, as the first had been — its defenders being severely cut up in their flight by the Cossack horse. They ran in scattered groups across towards the next redoubt, and towards Bala- klava, but the horse-hoof of the Cossack was too quick for them, and sword and lance were busily plied among the retreating herd. The yells of the pursuers and pursued were plainly audible. As the lancers and light cavalry of the Russians advanced, they gathered up their skir- mishers with great speed, and in excellent order; the shifting trails of men, which played all over the valley, like moonlight on the water, contracted, gathered up, and the little pelotons in a few moments became a solid column. Then up came their guns, in rushed their gunners to the abandoned redoubts, and the guns of the second redoubt soon played with deadly effect upon the dispirited de- fenders of the third. Two or three shots in return from the earthworks, and all is silent. The Turks swarm over the earthworks, and run in confusion towards the town, firing their muskets at the enemy as thev run. 366 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Again the solid column of cavalry opens like a fan, and resolves itself into a long spray of skirmishers. It over- laps the flying Turks, steel-flashes in the air, and down gees the poor Moslem, quivering on the plain, split through fez and musket-guard to the chin and breast-belt. There is no support for them. The remnant of the Turks, flying towards Balaklava, took refuge behind the ranks of the 93d Highlanders, and were formed into line on the wings of the regiment. The Russians by this time had turned the guns of the captured redoubt against the Allied front, but with little effect, as Sir Colin withdrew his High- landers out of range, and the British Cavalry were hid from view by an undulating swell of the plain. Encouraged by this retiring movement, the whole mass of Russian cavalry, about 4,000 strong, now came sweep- ing into the plain, with the obvious intention of breaking through the Allied line before reinforcements could arrive from before Sebastopol. This was the crisis of the day, as the slightest reverse to the Allies in this quarter would have been attended with serious consequences. On came the foe in brilliant masses, pouring down at a canter into the plain and on to the high road. Here one body of horse, 1,500 strong, rapidly wheeling to their left, charged down the road towards Balaklava, against the single Highland regiment which there barred the way, and which awaited their approach in a line two deep. At 800 yards the Turks, drawn up on the wings of the regiment, discharged their muskets, and fled. " Highlanders !" exclaimed Sir Colin Campbell, as he saw his men wavering on being thus deserted, "if you don't stand firm, not a man of you will be left alive." BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA, 1854. 367 At 600 yards the regiment fired, but with little effect, upon the Russian squadrons now advancing at a gallop. The anxiety of the onlookers grew intense as they beheld that immense body of charging cavalry within 150 yards of their Highland line, when down again went the level line of Minie rifles, a steady volley rang out, and the next instant the attacking squadrons were seen wheeling off to the right and left in retreat. Meanwhile the main body of the Eussian cavalry swept on straight across the plain, apparently with the design of carrying the thinly-defended heights at a gallop. But a foe intervened of which they did not make sufficient account. The instant they topped the little eminence in front of the British cavalry, the trumpets of the Heavy Brigade sounded the charge, and away went the brigade in two lines, the Scots Greys and Enniskillens in front, led on by Brigadier-General Scarlett. The Russians were likewise in two lines, and more than twice as deep. The shock was terrific, but lasted only for a moment. The handful of red-coats broke through the enemy, scattering the first line right and left, and then charged the second line, which came spurring up to the rescue. It was a fight of heroes. The position of the Greys and Enniskil- leners quickly became one of imminent danger ; for while cutting their way in splendid style through their foes, the Russian first line rallied again, and bore down upon their rear. God help them, they are lost ! burst from the Allied generals and on-lookers: when, like a thunder-bolt, the 1st Royals and 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, forming the British second line, broke with one terrible assault upon the foe, cutting through the line of rallying Rus- 368 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. sians as if it were pasteboard, and then, falling upon the flank of the Russian line, disordered by the terrible assault, put it to utter rout. A cheer burst from every lip, and, in the enthusiasm, officers and men on the heights took off their caps and shouted with delight. The loss to the British in this splendid charge was very trifling. All danger to the Allied position was now past. The enemy had made their rush, and failed. The British and French divisions, arriving from before Sebastopol, began to take up a position in the plain, and the Russians drawing back and concentrating their forces, relinquished all the cap- tured redoubts save one. The fight seemed over ; when an unlucky mistake, the precise origin of which is still shrouded in mystery, gave rise to a most brilliant but disastrous feat of arms. The British cavalry had been advanced to the edge of the plain next the enemy, who were now slowly retiring up the narrow valley leading to the Yaeta Pass, from which they had debouched in the morning. In a gorge of this narrow valley, at about a mile and a half distant from the British horse, a battery of nine heavy Russian guns was posted, with infantry and a body of 2,000 cavalry in rear. Captain Nolan, of the Light Bri- gade, one of the best swordsmen and cavalry tacticians in the army, now came galloping up with an order from the Commander-in-chief to Lord Lucan to advance with the light cavalry, and, if possible, prevent the enemy from carrying off the guns which they had captured in the redoubts. The moment the Russians beheld the squadrons advancing, they covered the slopes of the valley with Minie riflemen, and quickly planted two batteries on the CHARGE OF THE LIGHT CAVALRY, 1854. 369 heights, one oh either side of the gorge. Formed in two lines, the British light cavalry advanced rapidly into the valley of death — not a man flinching, and Lord Cardigan leading on with a coolness and contempt of danger that was magnificent. When they arrived at about 1,200 yards from the enemy, thirty Russian cannons simulta- neously opened fire upon them, knocking over men and horses in numbers, and wounded or riderless steeds were seen flying over the field. Galloping on, they advanced up the valley, through this terrific cross-fire, towards the battery directly in front. The first line is broken, it is joined by the second, they never halt or check their speed an instant ; with diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, with a halo of flashing steel above their heads and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries, but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies, and with the carcases of horses. Lord Cardigan was almost unhorsed by a 32-pounder exploding within a foot of his charger, and a shell bursting at his side, struck Captain Nolan in the breast, and with an involuntary shriek, the gallant officer fell dead from his saddle. The Russian gunners stood to their pieces till the dragoons were within ten yards of them, and were sabred to a man. Without drawing bridle, the British horse next charged the mass of cavalry in front of them, routed it, and pursued it pell-mell. Whilst the pursuit was at its height, suddenly the order was shouted " Wheel about !" The enemy, instead of being broken by their own men flying, formed up four deep in front of the charging horse, 370 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. while a mass of lancers descended into their rear. But, nothing daunted, the heroic light horse, facing about, charged again through the gathering forces of the enemy, repassed the guns, and closed in desperate contest with the Russian lancers. At this moment the Russian artillerymen, returning to the guns behind, sent a deadly shower of grape into the lighting mass of horsemen, indiscriminately at friend and foe. The charge lasted barely half-an-honr, and but 198 out of 800 returned to the British lines. "Whilst the batteries were firing upon the retiring cavalry, a body of French chasseurs d'Afrique charged at the guns erected on the left of the valley, and forced them to retire. After sabering amongst the Russian skirmishers, the chasseurs retired. This closed the operations of the day. The Russians withdrew their forces from the heights, and did not carry out their menaced attack on Balaklava. The bombardment of the forts before Sebastopol con- tinued without cessation all day. Elated by their success against the Turks, and the cap- ture of the guns of the redoubts, the Russians attempted a sortie from Sebastopol on the following day, the 26th October, whose strength exceeded 9000 infantry, with a numerous artillery; but no sooner had they entered within range of the Allies' guns, which, eighteen in number, had taken up their position, than the word, "fire," was given, and a volley of shell tore open the ranks of the Russians, and checked their advance. The guns being reloaded, a second discharge, no less severe in its execution, caused the enemy to wheel round and retire. SOKTIE OF THE RUSSIANS, 1854. 37 1 A few rockets, dexterously discharged, transferred this retreat into a rout. Upwards of 200 Kussians were killed, and a large quantity of muskets and sabres taken. After this unsuccessful sortie of the Russians, the sie^e continued without any incident of particular interest to November 5th. 372 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Lord Raglan — His Life — Battle of Inkerman — Morning of Battle— Soo* of Emperor Nicholas — The Attack— Troops Engaged — Fierce Encounters — Sir George Cathcart — His Death — Russian Cruelty — French In- fantry — The Zouaves — Chasseurs — Russians Retire — Renewed Attack — Repulsed by the French — Defeat — Sorties — Night after Battle— « Treaty with Austria of 2d Dec. — Negotiations for Peace — The Four Points — Landing of Ome.r Pacha at Eupatoria. FIELD-MARSHAL LORD RAGLAN. Loed Raglan, Commander-in-Chief of the English army, is a descendant of the Somersets, the youngest son of the fifth Duke of Beaufort. Pie was born in Sept. 1788, and christened Fitzroy James Henry Somerset. He was a cornet in the 4th light dragoons at sixteen, and rose in military rank, as the boyish sons of Dukes do rise, over the heads of their seniors. He was a captain at twenty. He went with the troops to Portugal, and fought in the first great battle — that of Talavera, in which the French and English armies fairly and singly tried their strength against each other. Lord Fitzroy Somerset was then under one-and-twenty, and it was not the first battle he had seen since he landed in the Peninsula. He learned much of his military science within the lines of Torres Yedras, and was se- verely wounded at the battle of Busaco. By this time, the young soldier had won the notice and strong regard of Wellington, who had made him, first, his aide-de-camp, and then his military secretary, a singu- lar honor for a man under two-and-twenty. The duties LORD RAGLAN LORD RAGLAN, 1854. 373 of his various functions kept him diligently occupied during the whole of the Peninsular War. He was pre- sent and active in every one of the great Peninsular battles, and was, in the intervals, the medium of the Duke's commands and arrangements. The Duke's avowed opinion was, that the successes of that seven years' war were due, next to himself, to his military secre- tary. He became Major in 1811, and Lieutenant-Colonel the year after. He returned to England after Bonaparte's .abdication, in 1814. Lord Fitzroy Somerset married in the August of that year the second daughter of Lord Mornington, and thus became the nephew, by marriage, of the Duke of Wel- lington. None then dreamed what misfortune awaited the young bridegroom within the first year of his mar- riage. On Napoleon's return from Elba, the Secretary went out with the Commander-in-Chief, and as his aide, he was on the field during the three days of June, which ended the war. The Duke was wont to offer to bear the responsibility of an omission in the Battle of Waterloo — the neglecting to break an entrance in the back wall of the farmstead of La Haye Sainte, whereby the British occupants might have been reinforced and supplied with ammunition. It was the want of ammunition which gave the French tem- porary possession of the place, and that temporary pos- session cost many lives, and Lord Fitzroy Somerset his right arm. He came home to his bride thus maimed before he was twenty-seven, but with whatever compensation an abun- dance of honor could afford. For nearly forty years 374 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. afterwards it was supposed by himself and the world, that his wars were ended, and he devoted himself to official service at home. He entered Parliament in 1818. He was always in request for secretaryships at the Ordnance and to the Commander-in-Chief. He rose in military rank at inter- vals, and became a Lieutenant-General in the year 1838. When the Duke of Wellington died, and Lord Har- dinge was made Commander-in-Chief, Lord Fitzroy So- merset became Master-General of the Ordnance, and was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Raglan. It presently appeared that his wars were not over. During the long interval he had sent out his eldest son in the service of his country, and lost him in the field at Ferozeshah in 18-15. June years after this bereavement, the father went out himself once more, and this time in full command. When war with Russia was determined on, with Lord Raglan dwelt the traditions of the Iron Duke, and no one was so thoroughly versed in the wisdom which had for seven long and hard years won the successes of the Peninsular war. ~No one seemed so well to know the army and its administration, and no one else so effectually combined the military and practical official characters, a combination which, if always necessary to make a good general, is most emphatically so in the country which is the scene of the present war. To Turkey, therefore, he went, and after the battles of Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman, was raised to the rank of Field-Marshal. Public opinion is divided in this country as to his merits as a general ; but the sequel will show, should the BATTT/E OF INKERMAN, 1854. 375 war be continued, whether he is capable of occupying the place inherited from Wellington. BATTLE OF INKERMAN. On Sunday, the 5th of November, 1854, one of the most sanguinary battles ever fought within the memory of man, took place on the heights of Inkerman, under the walls of Sebastopol. It is a difficult task, in a few lines of prose, to render justice to a bravery which excels that sung by the blind and immortal bard of Greece. We might devote page after page to individual feats of heroic daring in this fear- ful struggle, when 8,000 British troops and 6,000 French- men defeated an army of 60,000 Russians, who left more killed and wounded upon the battle-field than the whole force the Allies brought against them. From the preceding pages, the position of the besieging forces is already familiar to our readers. On referring to the map of the Crimea, may be seen a road connecting Balaklava and Sebastopol. From this road to the heights which crown the valley of the Tchernaya, extended the British lines. These heights form a right angle nearly opposite the ruins of Inkerman, and there run parallel with the river from which the valley has derived its name. On the other side of the Tchernaya rise a succes- sion of hills above the ruins of Inkerman, where the Rus- sians had established themselves. 376 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The night between the 4th and 5th November was passed without apprehension by the allied troop's. It had rained almost incessantly, and the early morning gave no promise of any cessation of the heavy showers which had fallen for the previous four-and-twenty hours. Towards dawn a heavy fog settled down on the heights, and on the valley of the Inkerman. The fog, and vapors of drifting rain were so thick as morning broke, that one could scarcely see ten yards before him. At four o'clock the bells of the churches in Sebastopol were heard ringing drearily through the cold night air ; but the occurrence had been so usual that it excited no particular attention. No one suspected for a moment that enormous masses of Russians w,ere creeping up the rugged sides of the heights over the valley of Inkerman, on the undefended flank of the Second Division. There all was security and repose. Little did the slumbering troops in camp ima- gine that a subtle and indefatigable enemy were bringing into position an overwhelming artillery, ready to play upon their tents at the first glimpse of daylight. Yet such was the case. The arrival of the Grand Dukes Michael and Nicholas, sons of the Emperor, with large reinforcements, determined Prince Menschikoff to make the attempt to annihilate the besieging forces, and raise the siege. At daybreak (that is, at six o'clock), the alarm was given in the British camp that the Russians had surprised the advanced picquets, and were already in possession of all the heights commanding their position. The whole army stood to arms without delay. Presently a Russian BATTLE OF INKJEJKSiAN, 1854. 3f7 battery appeared upon the crest of the height known as Shell-hill, near Careening Bay, whilst columns of infantry were descried already descending the hills, or marching up the ravines, which faced the front of the British posi- tion. The most serious attack of the Russians was, how- ever, directed against the flank of the British army, along the heights running parallel to the valley of the Tcher- naya. The entire force which the British mustered to defend their vast front and flank lines, was confined to the follow- ing. The remainder of the army were in the trenches, prepared to oppose any attack upon the siege batteries : Guards, about - 1,000 Second Division .... 2,500 Light Division .... 1,000 Fourth Division .... 2,200 Third Division --'-.- 1,000 7,700 The odds were therefore, frightful, and it was only three hours later that General Bosquet opportunely arrived, with his splendid division, six thousand strong, the same which had fought at the Alma. The Russians in the front had now advanced to within five hundred yards of the encampment, and the action commenced. The musketry fire was awful, and the enemy, who had now guns upon every favorable position, hurled shell and round shot at the advancing lines. 378 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The enemy's columns continued to push forward, trying to overwhelm the British regiments with their superior numbers. " And now (to quote the words of an eye-wit- ness of the battle) commenced the bloodiest struggle ever witnessed since war cursed the earth. It has been doubted by military historians if any enemy have ever stood a charge with the bayonet, but here the bayonet was often the only weapon employed in conflicts of the most obstinate and deadly character. Not only did the English charge in vain, not only were desperate encounters between masses of men maintained with the bayonet alone, but they were obliged to resist bayonet to bayonet, with the Russian infantry again and again, as they charged the British with incredible fury and determina- tion." The battle of Inkerman admits of no description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, of sanguinary hand-to-hand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults, in glens and valleys, in brushwood glades and remote dells, hidden from all human eyes, and from which the conquerors, Russian or British, issued, only to engage fresh foes. It was essentially a struggle between pluck and confi- dence, against fearful odds and obstinate courage. No one, however placed, could have witnessed even a small portion of the doings of this eventful day, for the vapors, fog, and drizzling mist, obscured the ground where the struggle took place to such an extent, as to render it impossible to see what was going on at the distance of fifty yards. Besides this, the irregular nature of the ground, the rapid fall of the hill towards Inkerman, where BATTLE OF INKEEMAM", 1S54. 379 the deadliest fight took place, would have prevented one, under the most favorable circumstances, seeing more than a very insignificant and detailed piece of the terrible work below. It was six o'clock when all the Head-quarter camp was roused by roll after roll of musketry on the right, and by the sharp report of field-guns. Lord Raglan was informed that the enemy were advan- cing in force, and soon after seven o'clock lie rode towards the scene of action, followed by his staff, and accompanied by Sir John Burgoyne, Brigadier General Strangways, and several aides-de-camp. As they approached the volume of sound, the steady unceasing thunder of gun, and rifle, and musket, told that the engagement was at its height. The shell of the Rus- sians, thrown with great precision, burst so thickly among the troops that the noise resembled continuous discharges of cannon, and the massive fragments inflicted death on every side. Colonel Gambier was at once ordered to get up two heavy guns (eighteen pounders) on the rising ground, and to reply to a fire which the light guns were utterly inade- quate to meet As he was engaged in this duty he was severely wounded, and obliged to retire. His place was taken by Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, who, in directing the fire of these two pieces, which had the most marked effect in deciding the fate of the day, elicited the admira- tion of the army. But long ere these guns had been brought up, there had been a great slaughter of the enemy, and a heavy 380 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. loss of the British. The generals could not see where to go. The j could not tell where the enemy were— from what side they were coming, or where going. In dark- ness, gloom, and rain, they led the lines through thick scrubby bushes and thorny brakes, which broke the ranks, and irritated the men, while every place was marked by a corpse or man wounded from an enemy whose position was only indicated by the rattle of musketry, and the rush of ball and shell. Sir George Cathcart, seeing his men disordered by the fire of a large column of Russian infantry, which was out- flanking them, while portions of the various regiments composing his division were maintaining an unequal strug- gle with an overwhelming force, went down into a ravine in which they were engaged to rally them. He rode at their head encouraging them, and when a cry arose that the ammunition was failing, he said coolly, " Have you not got your bayonets ? " As he led on his men, it was observed that another body of men had gained the top of the hill behind them on the right, but it was impossible to tell whether they were friends or foes. A deadly vol- ley was poured into the scattered British regiments. Sir George cheered them, and led them back up the hill, but a flight of bullets passed where he rode, and he fell from his horse close to the Russian columns. His body was recovered mutilated with bayonet wounds. "When he fell, Colonel Seymour, who was with him, instantly dismounted, and was endeavoring to raise the body, when he himself received a ball which fractured his leg. He fell to the ground beside his general, and a Russian officer and five or six men running in, bayo- BATTLE OF INKEKMAN, 1554. 381 neted him, and cut him to pieces as he lay helpless. The Russians bayoneted the wounded in every part of the field, giving no quarter, and apparently determined to exterminate the Allies, or drive them into the sea. The conflict on the right was equally uncertain and equally bloody. To the extreme right a contest, the like of which, perhaps, never took place before, was going on between the guards and dense columns of Russian in- fantry of five times their number. The guards had charged them and driven them back, when they per- ceived that the Russians had outflanked them. They were out of ammunition, too, and were uncertain whether there were friends or foes in the rear. They had no sup- port, no reserve, were fighting with the bayonet against an enemy who stoutly contested every inch of ground, when the corps of another Russian column appeared on their right far to their rear. Then a fearful mitraiUe was poured into them, and volleys of rifle and musketry. The guards were broken ; they had lost twelve officers dead on the field ; they had left one-half of their number dead on the ground ; and they retired along the lower road of the valley ; but they were soon reinforced, and speedily avenged their loss. The French advance, about ten o'clock, turned the flank of the enemy. When the body of French infantry appeared on the right of the British position, it was a joyful sight to the struggling regiments. The 3d regiment of Zouaves, under the chiefs of battalion, supported in the most striking manner the ancient reputation of that force. The French artillery had already begun to play with 382 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. ZOUAVE CHIEF. BATTLE OF LNKJEKMAN, 1854. 383 deadly effect on trie right wing of the Russians, when three battalions of chasseurs d'Orleans rushed by, the light of battle on their faces. They were accompanied by a battalion of chasseurs Indigenes— the Arab Sepoys of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of battle. Assailed in front, broken in several places by the impetuosity of the charge, renewed again and again, attacked by the French infantry on the right, and by ar- tillery all along the line, the Russians began to retire, and at twelve o'clock they were driven pell-mell down the hill towards the valley, where pursuit would have been madness, as the roads were covered by their artil- lery. They left mounds of dead behind them. At twelve o'clock the battle of Inkerman seemed to tave been won ; but the day, which had cleared up for an hour previously, again became obscured. Rain and fog set in ; and as the Allies could not pursue the Russians, who were retiring under the shelter of their artillery, they had formed in front of the lines, and were holding the battle-field so stoutly contested, when the enemy, taking advantage of the Allies' quietude, again advanced, while their guns pushed forward and opened a tremendous fire. General Canrobert, who never quitted Lord Raglan for much of the early part of the day, at once directed the French to advance and outflank the enemy. In his ef- forts he was most nobly seconded by General Bosquet. General Canrobert was slightly wounded, and his imme- diate attendants suffered severely. The renewed assault was so admirably managed that the Russians sullenly retired, still protected by their crushing artillery. 384 EUB0PE AND THE ALLIES. The loss sustained by the English army was 2,400 killed or wounded : of the French, 1,726. The Eussians, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 15,000. THE NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE. An eye-witness thus describes the night after the battle : " On the evening of the battle I went over the field. All the wounded had been removed. There is nothing so awful as the spectacle of the bodies of those who have been struck down by round shot or shell. Some had their heads taken off by the neck, as with an axe ; others, their legs gone from their hips ; others their arms ; and others again, who were hit in the chest or stomach, were literally as mashed as if they had been crushed in a machine. Passing up to Sebastopol, over heaps of Eus- sian dead, I came to the spot where the Guards had been compelled to retire from the defence of the wall above Inkerman valley. Here the dead of the Allies were nearly as numerous as the enemy's. Beyond this the Eussian Guardsmen and line regiments lay as thick as leaves ; intermixed with dead and wounded horses. The path lay through thick brushwood, but it was slippery with blood, and the brushwood was broken down and encumbered with the dead. The scene from the battery was awful beyond description. I stood upon its parapet at about nine at night, and felt my heart sink as I gazed upon the scene of carnage around." NIGHT AFTER THE BATTLE, 1854. 385 " The moon was at its full, ana showed every object as if by the light of day. Facing me was the valley of Inkerman, with the Tchernaya, like a band of silver, flowing gracefully between the hills, which, for varied and picturesque beauty, might vie with any part of the world. Yet I shall never recall the memory of Inkerman valley with any but feelings of horror; for round the spot from which I surveyed the scene lay upwards of five thousand bodies. Some lay as if prepared for burial, and as though the hands of relatives had arranged their mangled limbs ; while others again were in almost startling positions, half standing or kneeling, clutching their weapons or drawing a cartridge. Many lay with both their hands extended towards the sky, as if to avert a blow or utter a prayer; while others had a malignant scowl of fear and hatred. The moonlight imparted an aspect of unnatural paleness to their forms, and as the cold, clamp wind swept round the hills and waved the boughs above their upturned faces, the shadows gave a horrible appearance of vitality ; and it seemed as if the dead were laughing, and about to rise. This was not the case on one spot, but all over the bloody field." The whole of the 6th (the day after the battle) was devoted to the sorry task of burying the dead. A council of war was held, presided over by Lord Raglan, at which it was determined to winter in the Crimea, and orders were issued accordingly. Large reinforcements were demanded both by Lord 386 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. Eaglan and General Canrobert, which, with considerable promptitude, have been despatched by their respective governments, and many of them are already on the spot. In the period which has elapsed since the battle of Inkerman no battle has been fought. ' The usual routine of siege operations has gone on ; sorties have taken place from the besieged city, both upon the French and English lines, which have, in every instance, been victoriously repulsed. But a more formidable enemy than the Czar of all the Russias has taken the field against the Allies. Winter, with his chilling aspect and freezing breath, accompanied by his suite of sleet and storm, and hurricane and snow, has made his appearance more terrible than for many a year past. At times all operations have been suspended ; the trenches filled with water, and many a shivering form has laid itself down without even the comfort of a plank between it and the dripping earth to dream of home and to die. The sufferings of such are known only to Him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. On the 14th November, one of the fiercest storms known within the memory of man burst over the Black Sea. Off Balaklava, where the cliffs are steep and abrupt, eight transports became total wrecks, and every soul on board but 30 perished. A magnificent new steamer, the " Prince," of 3,000 tons burden, having arrived but a few days previously from England, and landed in safety the 46th regiment, was obliged to anchor outside in consequence of the crowded state of the harbor. The hurricane took her STORM ON THE BLACK SEA, 1854. 387 unawares, and was so severe that her cables parted ; the roaring surf tossed her like an egg-shell upon the rocks, and the next instant nothing but a wreathing mist could be seen hanging over the spot where her noble timbers lay buried. Out of 150 souls on board, but six were saved. Her cargo was invaluable at that particular time, and con- sisted of a great portion of the winter clothing for the troops, including 40,000 suits of clothes, and large quan- tities of shot, shell, and medical stores. Altogether, 18 British and 12 French ships were lost at Balaklava. Off the Ivatscha, five English and eight French ships were cast ashore. At Eupatoria, the Henri IV., a French ship of the line, the French war-steamer, Pluton, seven French and five English transports, and a Turkish line-of-battle ship, were driven on shore. During the confusion of the storm, an attack was made on the town of Eupatoria by 4,000 Russian cavalry, with 14 pieces of artillery, but was gallantly repulsed by the cannon and rockets of the garrison. The continuance of unfavorable weather has rendered the camps almost untenable, and the roads impassable. The British government, to obviate the difficulty, have sent out all the materials necessary for the construction of a railroad from Balaklava to Sebastopol heights, with a sufficient number of navvies (or laborers) to com- plete the same at an early day. On the 2nd of December, a change took place in the views of the Austrian cabinet, which was interpreted as favorable to the Western Powers. . A treaty was signed at Vienna by the Earl of West- 388 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. moreland, the Baron de Bourgueney, and Count Buol, as representatives of their respective governments, of which the following are the principal conditions : — The high contracting parties engage not to enter into any engage- ment with Russia without deliberating in common. The Emperor of Austria engages to defend the Principalities against any attack by the Russians, and that nothing shall be done by his troops to interfere with the free action of the Allies against the Russian frontier. A commission, to consist of a plenipotentiary from each government, with the addition of a Turkish commissioner, is to sit at Vienna, to decide all questions arising out of the occupation. In case of hostilities arising between Austria and Russia, an offensive and defensive alliance is to be de facto esta- blished between the former and the "Western Powers, and no suspension of hostilities will be concluded without the agreement of all the three Powers. The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged on the 14th. The King of Prussia had played so vacillating a part that the influence of that cabinet had ceased to be felt, and she was neither consulted nor regarded. Negotiations for peace have been set on foot, with some hope of success, but as a basis for negotiation, Great Britain, France, and Austria, unanimously determined to insist upon, and abide by, the following four points : 1st. The abolition of the Protectorate over the Danu- hian Principalities, and the privileges of those provinces placed under the collective guarantee of the contracting powers. THE FOUR POINTS, 1854. 38 U 2d. The free navigation of the mouths of the Danube secured according to the principles established by the Con- gress of Vienna. od. The revision of the Treaty of 13th July, 1841, in the interest of the balance of power in Europe. 4th. The abandonment, by Russia, of her claim to exer- cise an official protectorate over the Christian subjects of the Porte {to whatever rite they might belong) in conside- ration of the Powers giving their mutual assistance to obtain from the Sultan a confirmation and observance of the religious privileges of all Christian communities. A period of fourteen days was given Prince Gortschakoff in which to communicate with his Imperial master. In less than eight days, instead of the fourteen allowed him, the Plenipotentiary of the Czar was instructed to negotiate a peace on the minimum proposed. No cessation of hostilities has taken place ; no armistice will be listened to, and the siege goes on. Enormous pre- parations have been made both by the French and English, for continuing their operations with increased vigor as soon as the weather will permit. Omer Pacha has been ordered, with his army of forty thousand men, to proceed to Eupatoria, where he has landed, and will be able to operate on the rear of the Russians, while the British and Erench attack in front, and if kept well supplied both with men and means, we may expect something brilliant from his well-earned prowess and reputation. Whether we are approaching the close of the war, or the beginning of it, is a question which no human fore- sight can, at the present moment, determine. 390 EUKOPE AND THE ALLIES. The question is one of deep importance to the world generally, for war brings so many evils in its train, is so exhausting in blood and treasure, interrupts the commer- cial transactions of nations so painfully, and retards civi- lization so seriously, that we cannot but hope that the year which thus commences with slaughter may close in peace. A winter campaign under the most favorable circum- stances is rife with suffering and death ; but much can be done to mitigate these evils by a system of thorough dis- cipline on the part of those in command. Every arrival, however, from the Crimea, brings tales of woe and misery coupled with additional confirmation of the gross mismanagement which has characterized the conduct of the British army since its first arrival in the East. In battle, British officers . and soldiers have proved themselves heroes, yet in the organization of the different departments, in eyerything which contributes to the com- fort and health both of officers and men, as well as in the commissariat, they have proved themselves lamentably deficient. In contrast with the admirable organization of the French army under similar circumstances, it would seem difficult to account for the comparative comfort in the one case, and the miserable lack of it in the other ; but upon a careful analysis of the two systems, the cause becomes at once apparent. The French army is essentially a demo- cratic institution, in which promotion depends entirely upon individual merit. Vigilance, activity, and energy is the price of position, and with a possibility of attaining CONDITION OF THE TEOOPS, 1855. 391 a higher rank, the common soldier as well as the officer, has an incentive for extra exertion, and something to hope for in the future. But with the British it is quite the reverse. Once in the ranks the soldier hopes for no higher position, because it is unattainable. Their officers are selected, not on the ground of merit, but because by chance born a " Somer- set " or in the shadow of a title. By education well fitted to shine at court, or amid the butterflies of fashion, prac- tical knowledge and business capacity are things of which they have never dreamed, and which so savors of the plebeian that they are led to believe themselves degraded by giving attention to details, or in the exhibition of that energy which is the secret of success in every calling. While the execution of these minor details renders the French comparatively comfortable on the heights of Se- bastopol, the British, for lack of them, are undergoing the horrors of the campaign of Moscow. "With a superabundance of everything on board ship ; with cargoes of furs and warm clothing at Balaklava, the soldiers on half rations are suffering famine, and in sum- mer garments are shivering and dying in the cold blasts of a Crimean winter. By the humanity of their allies, some have been protected from freezing by donations of the well known Algerine caban (heavy cloaks with hoods), from the French; and the British army presents the strange and humiliating spectacle of appearing in French habili- ments and sacrificing its identity. If the present disasters in the Crimea shall have the effect to cause a breaking down of that Feudal system in England, which recognises 392 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. one man as entitled to all privileges, and his neighbor to none ; which, regardless of capacity, places names rather than men in command of armies, and in cabinets : if this change shall be effected, then will more good have been accomplished than would result from the subjugation of Kussia and downfall of Sebastopol. NICHOLAS, LATE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. CHAPTER XVI. BIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL. Siege of Sebastopol continues — Sardinia joins the "Western Alliance — Battle of Eupatoria — Sudden death of Emperor Nicholas — His love and pride for his Army — His last Words — Alexander II. ascends the Throne — His Manifesto to his Subjects — A Sketch of him — Recall of Prince Menschikoff from command in the Crimea — His abilities and failings — His Successors — Gortschakoff 's Military Career. The conference at Yienna not having arrived at any definite terms of adjustment for Peace, the siege of Sebas- topol was continued, although the severity of the weather would not admit of active operations from the besiegers or the besieged ; the Allies were busied in drawing their lines closer to the walls, which provoked occasional sorties from the Russians, of small detachments of troops, which were quickly repulsed. The King of Sardinia notified France and England of his decision to join the Allied Powers, and placed at their disposal 10,000 troops, with transports and muni- tions of war. On the 17th of February, 1855, 25,000 Russians, with 80 pieces of artillery, under orders from Gen. Osten Sacken, commanded by Gen. Korff, attacked the town of Eupatoria, on the east side. The combat lasted from half-past five o'clock until ten o'clock in the morning ; under cover of a heavy fire from their artillery, the Russians made two or three attempts to carry the town by storm, but they were vigorously repulsed, and after a loss of 500 killed and 1300 wounded, retired towards Simpheropol. 394 EUROPE AND THE ALLIES. The steamers at anchor in the roadstead contributed energetically to the defence of the town, throwing shot and shells into the ranks of the enemy. The Turks had 88 killed and 250 wounded. Selim Pasha, General of the Egyptian Division, and Colonel Rustem Bey, were killed. Eighteen French were killed or wounded on shipboard. On the 2d of March, 1855, an event transpired which convulsed the public mind throughout Europe and the world, causing the reflection that all are in the immediate power of that Supreme Being who is King of Kings and Emperors, and that he it is who holds the destinies of nations in his hands. Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who had beeri indisposed for some time from an attack of influenza, but had neglected to take proper care, or to spare himself from his customary fatiguing duties in the inspection of his troops, grew alarmingly ill, and pulmo- nary apoplexy supervening, mortal aid was unavailing, and at one o'clock on the morning of the 2d he breathed his last. His last words were truly significant of the " ruling passion strong in death," Ms love and devotedness to his army — with whose unwavering support, his towering am- bition led him to believe, the world might be conquered : — "I thank the glorious loyal Guards who, in 1825, saved Russia ; and I also thank the brave army and fleet ; I pray God to maintain, however, the courage and spirit by which they have distinguished themselves under me. So long as this spirit remains upheld, Russia's tranquillity is secured both within and without. Then woe to her enemies ! I loved them as my own children, and strove as much as I could to improve their condition. If I was ALEXANDER II., EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSTAS. ALEXANDER n. ASCENDS THE THRONE, ISM. 3