Chapter II: Preface (2)

At the summit of the hill a brief stand was made, and it seemed as if the contest were about to be renewed; but the Highlanders, levelling their bayonets, advanced at a rapid pace, and the enemy, dashing down their accoutrements and arms, fled, like frightened sheep, down the declivity.

Meantime the French had driven back the Russian left wing upon the main body, and now brought to bear, with deadly effect, their guns upon the retreating foe; and the second and third divisions of our army arrived upon the scene. The victory was complete: a great army, in a position of immense strength, had been ignominiously defeated, in less than three hours, by the sheer valour of English and French soldiers. True, we had paid dearly for our victory; but the annals of the British army do not record a nobler achievement.

We were unable to pursue the fugitives--our cavalry was too weak in numbers to be detached from the main body of the army: had we been stronger in that branch of the service, the victory of the Alma might have been equivalent to the conquest of the Crimea. We afterwards ascertained that Sebastopol was emptied of its garrison to strengthen the army, and had we been in a position to follow the retreating forces, we might have inflicted a blow on Russian strength from which it would not in all probability have soon recovered; as it was, the Allies remained masters of the field, and the defeated Menschikoff fled towards Baktchi-Serai, leaving behind him, according to his own admission, 1,762 dead, and 2,720 wounded. Russian assertions are not the most trustworthy, especially when the circumstances are unfavourable to themselves, and the probability is that the loss was really much greater. The English had 353 killed, and 1,612 wounded, many of whom afterwards died of their injuries. Our allies lost 256 killed, and 1,087 wounded.

On the bloody field reposed the victors when that day’s dreadful work was done: amid the dead and dying--the lifebreath painfully passing from the lips of wounded friend and foe--some of our bravo fellows, pillowed on their knapsacks, slept a fitful sleep; some crept among the heaps of dying, searching for friend or brother, and some supported the drooping head and administered a draught of water to the fevered lips of wounded comrade or dying enemy. The fight was over, the lust of blood satisfied, and all the better qualities of manhood, mercy and forgiveness, appeared beneath that setting sun. Sometimes, as they stooped to assist a dying enemy, the Muscovite, trained to treachery, with a final effort, would discharge a pistol at their heads; and then the old war spirit was once more aroused, and with clubbed musket, or deadly bayonet, the malevolent Russian was sent to his account. The sailors, who had watched the progress of the battle from the ships, when they saw that victory was ours, swarmed ashore, and hurried to the scene of strife. There they bore the wounded to the surgeon’s quarters, and to the ships, with the tenderness of women. Little drummer-boys might be seen among the prostrate heroes, comforting and rendering assistance with a care and zeal beyond their years. A fatigue party was ordered on service to bury the dead; and the surgeons, with bare arms and splashed with blood, strove by their skill and energy to alleviate the sufferings and save the lives of the poor fellows brought to them.

A frightful spectacle was that hill-side of the Alma, on the evening of the renowned 20th of September, 1854. England’s best and bravest lay dead, their pale faces lit by the setting sun: some retained the expression of that intense energy which bore them fearlessly to the mouths of the Russian guns; some, with faces calm and beautiful as an infant’s, seemed peacefully sleeping, and smiling as they slept: others, with limbs contracted, and features frightfully distorted, bore witness to the fierce agonies of the death-struggle. Russian and English and French lay commingled, as they fell in the deadly struggle; and among the heaps of corpses, many in whom the spark of life yet lingered, lay miserably groaning, or faintly crawled with shattered limbs, in search of help. Some of the bodies were headless, the brains scattered around the bloody trunk: and others were so frightfully mutilated that it was difficult to recognize any trace of humanity. While some of our men helped to bear the wounded from the field, and bury the corpses of the slain, others hovered about, and plundered the dead of clothes, arms and such matters as could be carried away; the sailors especially were active in securing trophies of war. Russian orders and crosses, Russian arms, and even the black bread from the soldiers’ knapsacks, were eagerly sought; the boots were real prizes, and the seamen, who would heartily lend a hand to succour a wounded comrade, or even a foe, had no delicacy in appropriating the clothing of the dead. An expeditious mode of measurement, by which they secured the articles which would best fit, caused some amusement, even at such a time. Jack, seating himself at the feet of a dead Russian, placed the sole of his foot against that of the corpse; if they agreed in size, the boots were at once appropriated; if otherwise, the critical mariner proceeded to another selection.

For two days the armies remained upon the field; had they marched at once, it is more than probable, nay, almost certain, they might have entered Sebastopol with but little resistance. Marshal St. Arnaud wished to make an immediate advance; but Lord Raglan refused to leave his wounded untended on the field. Though possibly we ultimately lost by this delay, we can scarcely blame a general who showed such a fine humanity even among the horrors of warfare. Our English courage is of the old chivalric sort--we fight as men, for great principles, not for the lust of conquest: our soldiers are every one a treasure of immense value, rightly used, not to be cast away to perish when their first use is passed. Human life is to Englishmen intensely sacred: we cheerfully lay it down when demanded, and in proportion do we honour and cherish those who have perilled it in our cause. A single life wilfully sacrificed for a mere strategical advantage would have been a stain on our English honour, which we should not speedily have forgiven.

At early morning, on the 23rd of September, the Allies turned their backs on the memorable heights. Two men, strong and unwounded, remained upon the field, and watched their departure; and in all that proud array, flushed with victory, there were none who bore more heroic hearts. Upwards of 200 wounded Russians still lay upon the field; and Dr. Thompson, surgeon of the 44th regiment, and his servant, volunteered to remain, and administer to their wants. Every moment increased their loneliness and their danger; for predatory bands of Cossack horsemen still hovered around the scene, against whose revengeful lances the plea of mercy and Christian charity would have been but an ineffectual shield; and yet these two brave men quailed not in their mission, and many a dying foe had his last pangs soothed, and parting agonies alleviated, by the ministrations of these good Samaritans of peace.”

ALMANZA.--This battle was fought, April 4th, 1707, between the confederate forces under the Earl of Galway, and the French and Spaniards, commanded by James Fitzjames, Duke of Berwick, the illegitimate son of James II of England, when most of the English were killed or made prisoners of war, having been abandoned by the Portuguese at the first charge.

ALMEIDA.--This was an important position, as a frontier town of Portugal, in the Peninsular war. Massena laid siege to it August 15th, 1810, and the governor capitulated August 27th following. The French crossed into Spain, leaving a garrison at Almeida, blockaded by the British, April 6th, 1811. It was evacuated by the French, May 11th, of the same year. In the end Wellington compelled Massena to retire from Portugal, but the route of the French was tracked by horrid desolation.

ALNEY.--This was rather a single combat than a battle, between Edmund Ironside and Canute the Great, in sight of their armies. The latter was wounded, when he proposed a division of the kingdom, the south part falling to Edmund, A.D. 1016; but this prince having been murdered at Oxford, shortly after the treaty, according to some by the treachery of Aldric Streon, Canute was left in the peaceable possession of the whole kingdom, A.D. 1017.

AMBOYNA.--This place is celebrated for the memorable massacre of the English factors by the Dutch, February 17th, 1623; they were cruelly tortured and put to death on an accusation of a conspiracy to expel the Dutch from the island, where the two nations resided and jointly shared in the pepper trade of Java. Amboyna was seized by the English, February 16th, 1796, but was restored by the treaty of Amiens in 1802. It was again seized by the British, February 17th, 1810, and was restored at the peace of 1814.

AMHERSTBURG.--Fought between the Canadians and Americans. In July, 1812, the American General Hull, with a force of 2500 men, crossed over from Detroit, and entered the Western district, where he issued a proclamation inviting the inhabitants to join his standard. At this time the British force on the frontier was merely nominal, and could offer little resistance. As soon as General Brock heard of this invasion, he prorogued the Parliament, then sitting at Toronto, and proceeded westward. He arrived on the 12th of August at Amherstburg, where he mustered about 330 regulars, and 400 militia and six hundred Indians. Hull, whose force, weakened by sickness and sending away two detachments, is said at this time not to have exceeded 800 effective men, retreated across the river, withdrawing the cannon prepared for the siege of Amherstburg, and shut himself up in Detroit. General Brock, instantly crossing over, advanced upon the fort and prepared for an immediate assault. A white flag, however, appeared from the walls, and a capitulation was signed, by which the whole American force, including the detachments, were made prisoners and sent to Montreal. Loud and just complaints were made by the Americans against the conduct of Hull, who was afterwards tried and condemned to be shot, but was spared on account of his age and former services.

AMIENS, PEACE OF.--Between Great Britain, Holland, France and Spain, signed March 27th, 1801.

AMSTERDAM.--Capital of Holland, surrendered to the King of Prussia, when he invaded Holland in favor of the Stadtholder in 1737. The French were admitted, without resistance, January 18th, 1795. The ancient government restored in November, 1813.

ANDRÉ, MAJOR.--An adjutant general of the British army, taken prisoner by the Americans whilst returning in disguise from a secret expedition to the American General Arnold; hanged October 2nd, 1780.

ANGRIA.--A pirate’s fort on the coast of Malabar, invested by Admiral Watson, and destroyed 1756.

ANHOLT, ISLAND OF.--Owing to the injury done by the Danish cruisers to British commerce, this island was taken possession of by England. The Danes made an attempt to regain it with a force of 4000, but were gallantly repulsed. The British force opposed to them did not amount to more than 150 men, yet triumphed in a close and desperate engagement, March 14th, 1811.

ANJOU, OR BLAUGÉ.--This battle was fought between the English and French armies April 3rd, 1421. The French were commanded by the Dauphin of France, who defeated the English, on whose side the Duke of Clarence and 1500 men perished on the field; the Duke was slain by Sir Allan Swinton, a Scotch knight, who commanded a company at arms; and the earls of Somerset, Dorset, and Huntingdon were taken prisoners. This was the first battle that turned the tide of success against the English in their first wars with France.

ANTOIGN.--This battle was fought between the central army of the French and the Allies, August 13th, 1792, in which 4500 Austrians and Prussians were killed, 3,500 taken prisoners, and 600 emigrants shut up in Longwy; 900 French were killed in the action; 30 pieces of battering cannon and howitzers, with all the baggage of the combined army, were captured.

AQUILEIA.--In the first battle fought there, Constantine II was slain by Constans towards the close of March, A.D. 340. In the second, Maximus was defeated and slain by Theodosius, July 28th. A.D. 388. In the third, Theodosius defeated Eugenius and Arbogastes, the Gaul, and remained sole emperor of the Roman world, September 6th, A.D. 394. Eugenius was put to death, and Arbogastes died by his own hand, mortified by his overthrow.

ARBELA.--The third and decisive battle fought between Alexander the Great and Darius Codomanus, king of Persia, which decided the fate of Persia, B.C. 331. The army of Darius consisted of 1,000,000 of foot and 100,000 horse; the Macedonian army amounted to only 40,000 foot and 7,000 horse. The gold and silver found in the cities of Susa, Babylon, and Persepolis, which fell into the hands of Alexander, after this victory, amounted to £30,000,000, and the jewels and other precious spoil, belonging to Darius, sufficed to load 20,000 mules and 5,000 camels. At the battle of Arbela, the Persians lost 300,000, or as some, with greater probability, say 40,000, whilst the Macedonians had only 500 slain. Darius betook himself to flight, and was slain by Bessus, Governor of Bactria, who was punished for his perfidy in the following manner:--He was taken and bound naked, hand and foot, and four trees having been by main force bent down to the ground, and one of the criminal’s limbs tied to each of them, the trees, as they were suffered to return to their natural position, flew back with prodigious violence, each carrying with it one of the limbs.

ARCOLA.--This battle was fought between the French, under General Bonaparte, and the Austrians, under Field-Marshal Alvinzy, November 19th, 1796. The result of this bloody conflict, which was fought for eight successive days, was the loss on the part of the Austrians of 12,000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, with 4 flags and 18 guns.

ARGENTARIA.--This battle was one of the most renowned of its times. It was fought A.D. 378, in Alsace, between the Allemanni and the Romans, the former being defeated by the latter, with the loss of more than 35,000 men, out of their whole army of 40,000.

ARKLOW.--This battle was fought June 10th, 1798, between the insurgent Irish, amounting to 31,000, and a small regular force of British, which signally defeated them.

ARMADA.--Philip, king of Spain, after some years of preparation in all the ports of his extensive dominions, had assembled in the river Tagus a fleet of 130 large vessels, carrying nearly 30,000 men, and the Prince of Parma had collected, in the ports of the Netherlands, ships and boats for the embarkation of an equal number of his veteran troops. To resist these formidable preparations, Elizabeth had only a navy of 34 ships, but the nobility and the seaports fitted out such a number of vessels at their own expense, that there soon was at sea a fleet of 180 vessels of all kinds, large and small. The chief command was committed to Howard of Effingham, Lord High-Admiral of England, and Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher held commands under him. The fleet was stationed at Plymouth. A land army of 30,000 men was posted at Tilbury, in Essex, under the command of Lord Leicester, for the protection of the city of London, while another of equal strength was destined for the guard of the Queen’s person.

On the 29th of May, 1588, the Invincible Armada (i.e. _Fleet_), as it was proudly styled, sailed from the Tagus, but owing to a storm which it encountered, it did not appear off the coast of England till the 19th of July. On that day it was descried near the Lizard point, in Cornwall, by a Scottish pirate, who made all the sail he could to convey the intelligence to Plymouth, and the Admiral got his fleet out to sea with as little delay as possible.

As the Spanish Admiral had orders not to engage in hostilities till he should have seen the Prince of Parma’s army landed in England, he took no notice of the English fleet, but steadily directed his course up the Channel. The Armada sailed in the form of a crescent, of which the horns were seven miles asunder. Its motion was slow, though every sail was spread; “The winds,” says the historian, “being as it were tired with carrying the ships, and the ocean groaning beneath their weight.” The English ships, which were smaller and more active than those of the Armada, followed to harass it and cut off stragglers, and during the six days which it took to reach Calais, it suffered considerably from their persevering attacks. At Calais the Admiral learned that the Prince could not embark his troops for want of stores and sailors, and while he waited, the Armada narrowly escaped destruction from fire-ships sent into it by the English. A violent tempest succeeded, which drove it among the shoals on the coast of Zealand; and a council of war determined that, as it was now in too shattered a condition to attempt anything against the enemy, it were best to return to Spain without delay; but as the passage down the Channel was so full of hazard, it was resolved to sail round Scotland and Ireland. The Armada, therefore, set sail; the English pursued it as far as Flamborough-head, where want of ammunition forced them to give over the chase. Storms, however, assailed the Armada, and several of the vessels were cast away on the coast of Ireland, where the crews were butchered by the barbarous natives. The total loss was 30 large ships and 10,000 men. Philip received the intelligence with great tranquillity, and ordered public thanks to God and the saints for the calamity not having been greater.

In this great danger of herself and kingdom, Elizabeth had shown the spirit of a heroine. She visited the camp at Tilbury, rode along the lines mounted on a white palfrey, and cheered the soldiers by her animated language. When the danger was over she went in state to St. Paul’s, and publicly returned thanks to Heaven. She granted pensions to the disabled seamen, created the Admiral, Earl of Nottingham, and bestowed honours and rewards on his officers. The sudden death of Leicester, shortly after he had disbanded his army, intercepted the favours she might have designed for him.

ARMED NEUTRALITY.--A confederacy of the Northern powers against England, commenced by the Empress of Russia, in 1780. It resulted in the destruction of the Danish fleet before Copenhagen, April, 1801. This gave England the acknowledged claim to the empire of the sea. The neutrality was soon after dissolved.

ARMAGH.--This battle was fought A.D. 1318, against Edward Bruce, who was defeated, taken, and beheaded at Dundalk, and with him 6200 Scots lost their lives.

ARMISTICES, CELEBRATED.--The most celebrated armistices recorded in Modern History are the following:--That of Leobon, in 1797, was signed a few days after the victory of Tagliamento, gained by Napoleon I over Prince Charles. It was Bonaparte himself who proposed it. This armistice was followed by the preliminaries of Leobon and the treaty of Campo-Formio. The armistice of Stayer, concluded on the 25th December, 1800, took place after the battle of Hohenlinden. It was signed by Moreau, on the 16th January, 1801. Brune signed the armistice of Treviso, which delivered into the hands of the French the fortified places of Ferrara, Peschiera and Porto-Legnano. He was reproached with not having demanded Mantua. In 1805, Murat concluded an armistice at Hollebrun, which saved the Russian army, and was the cause of a severe letter written to him by the Emperor. On the very evening of the battle of Austerlitz, the Emperor of Austria demanded and obtained an armistice, which was preliminary to the peace of Presburg. Another armistice, also celebrated, was signed after the battle of Friedland, and led to the peace of Tilsit. At Wagram took place the armistice of Zoaim, which was the prelude to the peace of Vienna, 1809. Lastly, on the 4th of June, 1813, after Bautzen, was signed the armistice of Pleiswitz, which the Emperor Napoleon I himself considered a fault.

ARTILLERY.--The first piece was invented by Schwartz, a German Cordelier monk, soon after the invention of gunpowder, in 1330. First used by the English by Edward III at the battle of Crecy, in 1346, when that king had 4 pieces of cannon, which greatly aided in his gaining the battle. Brass cannon, first used 1635--improvements made by Browne in 1728, and have continued ever since.

ASCALON.--This battle was fought A.D. 1192. Richard I of England, commanding the Christian army, met and defeated the Sultan Saladin’s army of 300,000 Saracens and other infidels. No less than 40,000 of the enemy were left dead on the field of battle, and the victorious Richard marched to Jerusalem.

ASPERNE.--This battle was fought between the Austrian army under the archduke Charles, and the French, on the 21st of May, 1809, and two following days. In this most sanguinary fight the loss of the former army exceeded 20,000 men, and the loss of the French was more than 30,000; it ended in the defeat of Bonaparte, who commanded in person, and was the severest check he had yet received. The bridge of the Danube was destroyed and his retreat endangered; but the success of the Austrians had no beneficial effect on the subsequent prosecution of the war.

ASSAYE.--Fought September 23rd, 1803, between the Duke of Wellington (then General Arthur Wellesley) and Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar. This was Wellington’s _first_ great battle in which he opposed a force fully ten times greater than his own. In Stocqueler’s Life of the “Iron Duke” we have the following account of this battle: “Scindiah’s army having changed its position, occupied the whole space between the Kaitna and Assaye, with a great number of guns in front, and commenced a murderous cannonade. The small number of British guns was quite incapable of coping with this vast battery. General Wellesley, therefore, directed his infantry to advance with the bayonet.

With the determined courage which had given them victory at Seringapatam, in the actions with Dhoondia Waugh, and on the walls of Ahmednuggur, the line dashed forward, carried the guns on the right, and approached Assaye. At this moment a cloud of Mahratta horse had stolen round the village, and fell upon them--sabre to bayonet--with characteristic fury. The 74th regiment wavered--the charge was too much for them.

Colonel Maxwell of the 19th Light Dragoons saw that the critical moment had arrived, _Forward!_ was the word. Falling upon the Mahratta cavalry, the Dragoons gave the British infantry time to rally, cut up the Mahratta horse, pushed through the Scindiah’s left, and threw the whole of that part of the army into confusion. In the meantime the enemy’s centre, which had remained untouched, closed in upon the ground before occupied by their left wing, and uniting with such of their infantry and artillery as had been passed over unhurt by the British cavalry, formed itself into a kind of crescent, with its right horn resting on the river Jouah, and its left on the village of Assaye; thus presenting themselves in a fresh position on the flank of our infantry, on which, having collected a considerable number of guns, they recommenced a heavy fire. The battle was now to be fought over again, with this difference, that the contending forces had changed sides, and had the enemy’s horse behaved with the least spirit, while our cavalry was absent in pursuit of their broken battalions, there is no guessing what the consequences might have been; but, happily for General Wellesley, they kept aloof. To oppose the enemy in their new position, the Sepoy battalion on the right was immediately advanced against them, but without effect, being obliged to retire. Another was brought forward and equally repulsed. The cavalry, having by this time returned from the pursuit, and formed on the left, and the enemy’s horse having disappeared before them, the General ordered the 78th regiment and the 7th cavalry up, to head a fresh attack against the enemy’s infantry and guns, which still defended their position with obstinacy. No sooner, however, had he formed the 78th regiment in line, in directing which his horse’s leg was carried off by a cannon shot, than the enemy without waiting an attack, commenced their retreat across the Jouah, which they passed in tolerable order before our troops could come up with them. Previously to this last attack Colonel Maxwell had requested and obtained permission to charge a considerable body of infantry and guns, which having formed part of the reserve, were seen retiring in good order, along the right bank of the Jouah.

The 19th Dragoons were not long in coming up with the enemy, who having formed with their left to the Jouah, steadily waited their approach. The charge was sounded. The Dragoons advanced with rapidity, amidst a shower of musketry and grape, and had already got almost within reach of the bayonets of the enemy, who still gallantly stood their ground.

“At this moment,” writes an officer engaged in the charge, “instead of dashing among their ranks, I suddenly found my horse swept round as it were by an eddy torrent. Away we galloped right shoulders forward, along the whole of the enemy’s line, receiving their fire as we passed, till having turned our backs on them, we took to our heels manfully; every one called out _Halt! Halt!_ while nobody would set the example! till at last a trumpet having sounded, we pulled up, but in complete disorder, dragoons and native cavalry, pell-mell. On this occasion Colonel Maxwell fell, pierced by a grape-shot. He was gallantly leading the charge when he received his death blow. Having involuntarily checked his horse and thrown his arm back, when he received his wound, the soldiers immediately behind him, not knowing the cause, mistook the gesture for a signal to retire, and did so accordingly. At least this was the reason afterwards assigned for the failure, and if true, shows how the fate of armies, and even of nations, may depend on the direction of a single shot.” Recovering from their disorder, the Dragoons renewed the charge with terrible effect, and the enemy gave way in every direction.

Thus closed this memorable battle, one of the most bloody on record to the victors. Out of about 4500 men in action, upwards of 2000 were either killed or wounded, the former amounting to more than one-third of the whole number.”

ASSYRIANS AND JEWS.--the Battles, &c., between--B.C. 710. These battles resulted in the total destruction of the army of Sennacharib, so graphically described by the Sacred penman--and afterwards in the destruction of Jerusalem, the overthrow of Solomon’s Temple, and the exile of the Jews to Babylon, for 70 years.

ATHLONE.--The English army under General Ginckel stormed Athlone, then a town of prodigious strength--crossing the Shannon in the face of the Irish army, yet not losing more than 50 men. This bold and successful enterprise procured for Ginckel the title of Earl of Athlone, 1691. _See Aughrim._

ATTILA.--Surnamed _The Scourge of God_, ravaged all Europe, A.D. 447. He invaded the Roman empire with an army of 500,000 Huns, and laid waste all the provinces at Chalons-sur-Marne. Aetius, the Roman prefect, met him, and defeated him with the loss of 200,000 men. Afterwards he was as signally defeated by Thorismond, King of the Goths, and died in the midst of his career.

AUERSTADT, BATTLE OF.--In this most sanguinary conflict, between the French and Prussian armies, October 14th, 1806, the Prussians were routed on every side, having lost 200 pieces of cannon, 30 standards, and 28,000 prisoners, and leaving 30,000 slain on the battle field. Both the King of Prussia and Napoleon commanded at this engagement. The French Emperor immediately afterwards entered Berlin, from which city he issued his memorable Berlin Decrees.

AUGHRIM, BATTLE OF.--Near Athlone, in Ireland. This battle was fought, July 12th, 1691, between the Irish, headed by the French General St. Ruth, and the English under General Ginckel, when the former lost 7000 men; the latter only 600 killed and 960 wounded. St. Ruth was slain. This engagement proved decisively fatal to the interests of James II in Ireland, Ginckel was immediately created Earl of Athlone; the ball by which St. Ruth was killed is still preserved suspended in the choir of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.

AUGSBURG, BATTLE OF.--Fought between the Imperialists and the French army, the latter commanded by Moreau; who obtained so complete a victory, that Augsburg and Munich were opened to him. It was fought August 26th, 1796; Moreau, September 2nd following, again defeated the Austrians on the Jun, and again, September 7th, at Mainburg.

AUSTERLITZ, BATTLE OF.--Fought December 2nd, 1805, between the French and Austrian armies; gained by the former. Three Emperors commanded at this battle, Alexander of Russia, Francis of Austria, and Napoleon of France. The killed and wounded exceeded 40,000 on the side of the Allies, who lost besides, 40 standards, 150 pieces of cannon, and many thousands of prisoners. This decisive victory of the French led to the treaty of Presburg, which was signed December 26th same year.

B.

BABYLON.--This city was first taken by Ninus, B.C. 2059, then by Esar-haddon, B.C. 680. Both Darius and Cyrus took the city, the first through the fidelity of his officer Zopyrus, who having cut off his nose and ears fled to the Babylonians, and was admitted within the walls, and found means shortly afterwards to betray the city--the other by turning the course of the river Euphrates, and marching his soldiers up the dry bed into the city.

BADAJOS, SIEGE OF.--This important frontier fortress had surrendered to the French, March 11th, 1811, and was invested by the British under Lord Wellington, on March 16th, 1812; and stormed and taken on April following. The siege is one of the most important in the annals of warfare; for the victory was not only a glorious military achievement in itself, but it obliged the French, who had entered Portugal for the purpose of plunder, to commence a precipitate retreat from that kingdom. For particulars, see Life of Wellington, and Napier’s Peninsular War.

BADEN, TREATY OF.--Between France and the Emperor, September 7th, 1814. It was erected into a grand duchy of the Rhenish Confederation in 1806. Its territorial acquisitions, by its alliance with France, was guaranteed by the Vienna Congress of 1815.

BALAKLAVA, BATTLE OF.--Fought October 25th, 1854. If the exhibition of the most brilliant valour, of the excess of courage, and of a daring which would have reflected lustre on the best days of chivalry can afford full consolation for the disaster of to-day, we can have no reason to regret the melancholy loss which we sustained in a contest with a savage and barbarous enemy.

I shall proceed to describe, to the best of my power, what occurred under my own eyes, and to state the facts which I have heard from men whose veracity is unimpeachable, reserving to myself the exercise of the right of private judgment in making public and in suppressing the details of what occurred on this memorable day. Before I proceed to my narrative, I must premise that a certain feeling existed in some quarters that our cavalry had not been properly handled since they landed in the Crimea, and that they had lost golden opportunities from the indecision and excessive caution of their leaders. It was said that our cavalry ought to have been manœuvred at Bouljanak in one way or in another, according to the fancy of the critic. It was affirmed, too, that the Light Cavalry were utterly useless in the performance of one of their most important duties--the collection of supplies for the army--that they were “above their business, and too fine gentlemen for their work;” that our horse should have pushed on after the flying enemy after the battle of the Alma, to their utter confusion, and with the certainty of taking many guns and prisoners; and, above all, that at Mackenzie’s farm first, and at the gorge near Inkermann, subsequently, they had been improperly restrained from charging, and had failed in gaining great successes, which would have entitled them to a full share of the laurels of the campaign, solely owing to the timidity of the officer in command. The existence of this feeling was known to many of our cavalry, and they were indignant and exasperated that the faintest shade of suspicion should rest on any of their corps. With the justice of these aspersions they seemed to think they had nothing to do, and perhaps the prominent thought in their minds was that they would give such an example of courage to the world, if the chance offered itself, as would shame their detractors for ever.

In my last I mentioned that several battalions of Russian infantry had crossed the Tchernaya, and that they threatened the rear of our position and our communication with Balaklava. Their bands could be heard playing at night by the travellers along the Balaklava road to the camp, but they “showed” but little during the day, and kept up among the gorges and mountain passes through which the roads to Inkermann, Simpheropol, and the south-east, of the Crimea wind towards the interior. The position we occupied, in reference to Balaklava was supposed by most people to be very strong--even impregnable. Our lines were formed by natural mountain slopes in the rear, along which the French had made very formidable entrenchments. Below those entrenchments, and very nearly in a right line across the valley beneath, are four conical hillocks, one rising above the other as they recede from our lines; the furthest, which joins the chain of mountains opposite to our ridges being named Canrobert’s Hill, from the meeting there of that General with Lord Raglan after the march to Balaklava. On the top of each of these hills the Turks had thrown up earthen redoubts, defended by 250 men each, and armed with two or three guns--some heavy ship guns--lent by us to them, with one artilleryman in each redoubt to look after them. These hills cross the valley of Balaklava at the distance of about two and a half miles from the town. Supposing the spectator, then, to take his stand on one of the heights forming the rear of our camp before Sebastopol, he would see the town of Balaklava, with its scanty shipping, its narrow strip of water, and its old forts on his right hand; immediately below he would behold the valley and plain of coarse meadow land, occupied by our cavalry tents, and stretching from the base of the ridge on which he stood to the foot of the formidable heights at the other side; he would see the French trenches lined with Zouaves a few feet beneath, and distant from him, on the slope of the hill; a Turkish redoubt lower down, then another in the valley, then, in a line with it, some angular earthworks, then, in succession, the other two redoubts up to Canrobert’s Hill. At the distance of two or two and a half miles across the valley there is an abrupt rocky mountain range of most irregular and picturesque formation, covered with scanty brushwood here and there, or rising into barren pinnacles and _plateaux_ of rock. In outline and appearance this portion of the landscape is wonderfully like the Trosachs. A patch of blue sea is caught in between the overhanging cliff’s of Balaklava as they close in the entrance to the harbour on the right. The camp of the Marines, pitched on the hill sides more than 1000 feet above the level of the sea, is opposite to you as your back is turned to Sebastopol and your right side towards Balaklava. On the road leading up the valley, close to the entrance of the town, and beneath these hills, is the encampment of the 93rd Highlanders.

The cavalry lines are nearer to you below, and are some way in advance of the Highlanders, but nearer to the town than the Turkish redoubts. The valley is crossed here and there by small waves of land. On your left the hills and rocky mountain ranges gradually close in towards the course of the Tchernaya, till at three or four miles’ distance from Balaklava, the valley is swallowed up in a mountain gorge and deep ravines, above which rise tiers after tiers of desolate whitish rock, garnished now and then by bits of scanty herbage, and spreading away towards the east and south, where they attain the Alpine dimensions of the Tschatir Dugh. It is very easy for an enemy at the Belbek, or in command of the road of Mackenzies’s farm, Inkermann, Simpheropol, or Bakshiserai, to debouch through these gorges at any time upon this plain from the neck of the valley, or to march from Sebastopol by the Tchernaya, and to advance along it towards Balaklava, till checked by the Turkish redoubts on the southern side, or by the fire from the French works on the northern side--_i.e._, the side which, in relation to the valley to Balaklava, forms the rear of our position. It was evident enough that Menschikoff and Gortschakoff had been feeling their way along this route for several days past, and very probably at night the Cossacks had crept up close to our picquets, which are not always as watchful as might be desired, and had observed the weakness of a position far too extended for our army to defend, and occupied by their despised enemy, the Turks.

At half-past seven o’clock this morning, an orderly came galloping in to the head-quarters camp from Balaklava, with the news, that at dawn a strong corps of Russian horse, supported by guns and battalions of infantry had marched into the valley, and had already nearly dispossessed the Turks of the redoubt No 1, (that on Canrobert’ Hill, which is farthest from our lines), and that they were opening fire on the redoubts Nos. 2, 3, and 4, which would speedily be in their hands unless the Turks offered a stouter resistance than they had done already.

Orders were despatched to Sir George Cathcart, and to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, to put their respective divisions, the Fourth and the First, in motion for the scene of action; and intelligence of the advance of the Russians was also furnished to General Canrobert. Immediately on receipt of the news, the General commanded General Bosquet to get the Third Division under arms, and sent a strong body of artillery and some 200 Chasseurs d’Afrique to assist us in holding the valley. Sir Colin Campbell, who was in command of Balaklava, had drawn up the 93rd Highlanders a little in front of the road to the town, at the first news of the advance of the enemy. The Marines on the heights got under arms; the seamen’s batteries and Marines’ batteries, on the heights close to the town, were manned, and the French artillerymen and the Zouaves prepared for action along their lines. Lord Lucan’s little camp was the scene of great excitement. The men had not had time to water their horses; they had not broken their fast from the evening of the day before, and had barely saddled at the first blast of the trumpet, when they were drawn up on the slope behind the redoubts in front of their camp to operate on the enemy’s squadrons. It was soon evident that no reliance was to be placed on the Turkish infantry or artillerymen. All the stories we had heard about their bravery behind stone walls and earthworks proved how differently the same or similar people fight under different circumstances. When the Russians advanced, the Turks fired a few rounds at them, got frightened at the distance of their supports in the rear, looked round, received a few shots and shell, and then “bolted,” and fled with an agility quite at variance with common-place notions of Oriental deportment on the battle-field. But Turks on the Danube are very different beings from Turks in the Crimea, as it appears that the Russians of Sebastopol are not at all like the Russians of Silistria.

Soon after eight o’clock, Lord Raglan and his staff turned out and cantered towards the rear of our position. The booming of the artillery, the spattering roll of musketry, were heard rising from the valley, drowning the roar of the siege guns in front before Sebastopol. As I rode in the direction of the firing, over the thistles and large stones which cover the undulating plain that stretches away towards Balaklava, on a level with the summit of the ridges above it, I observed a French light infantry regiment (the 27th, I think) advancing with admirable care and celerity from our right towards the ridge near the telegraph-house, which was already lined by companies of French infantry, while mounted officers scampered along its broken outline in every direction.

General Bosquet, a stout soldierlike-looking man, who reminds one of the old _genre_ of French Generals as depicted at Versailles, followed, with his staff and a small escort of Hussars, at a gallop. Faint white clouds rose here and there above the hill from the cannonade below. Never did the painter’s eye rest on a more beautiful scene than I beheld from the ridge. The fleecy vapours still hung around the mountain tops, and mingled with the ascending volumes of smoke; the patch of sea sparkled freshly in the rays of the morning sun, but its light was eclipsed by the flashes which gleamed from the massess of armed men below.

Looking to the left towards the gorge, we beheld six compact masses of Russian infantry, which had just debouched from the mountain passes near Tchernaya, and were slowly advancing with solemn stateliness up the valley. Immediately in their front was a regular line of artillery, of at least twenty pieces strong. Two batteries of light guns were already a mile in advance of them, and were playing with energy on the redoubts, from which feeble puffs of smoke came at long intervals. Behind these guns, in front of the infantry, were enormous bodies of cavalry. They were in six compact squares, three on each flank, moving down _en échelon_ towards us, and the valley was lit up with the blaze of their sabres, and lance points, and gay accoutrements. In their front, and extending along the intervals between each battery of guns, were clouds of mounted skirmishers, wheeling and whirling in the front of their march like autumn leaves tossed by the wind. The Zouaves close to us were lying like tigers at the spring, with ready rifles in hand, hidden chin deep by the earthworks which run along the line of these ridges on our rear, but the quick-eyed Russians were manœuvring on the other side of the valley, and did not expose their columns to attack. Below the Zouaves we could see the Turkish gunners in the redoubts, all in confusion as the shells burst over them. Just as I came up, the Russians had carried No. 1 redoubt, the farthest and most elevated of all, and their horsemen were chasing the Turks across the interval which lay between it and redoubt No. 2. At that moment the cavalry, under Lord Lucan, were formed in glittering masses--the Light Brigade, under Lord Cardigan, in advance; the Heavy Brigade, under Brigadier-General Scarlet, in reserve. They were drawn up just in front of their encampment, and were concealed from the view of the enemy by a slight “wave” in the plain. Considerably to the rear of their right, the 93rd Highlanders were drawn up in line, in front of the approach to Balaklava. Above and behind them, on the heights, the Marines were visible through the glass, drawn up under arms, and the gunners could be seen ready in the earthworks, in which were placed the heavy ships’ guns. The 93rd had originally been advanced somewhat more into the plain, but the instant the Russians got possession of the first redoubt they opened fire on them from our own guns which inflicted some injury, and Sir Colin Campbell “retired” his men to a better position. Meantime the enemy advanced his cavalry rapidly. To our inexpressible disgust we saw the Turks in redoubt No. 2 fly at their approach. They ran in scattered groups across towards redoubt No. 3, and towards Balaklava, 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 skirmishers 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 _peloton_ in a few moments became a solid column. Then up came their guns, in rushed their gunners to the abandoned redoubt, and the guns of No. 2 redoubt soon played with deadly effect upon the dispirited defenders of No. 3 redoubt. 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 they run. Again the solid column of cavalry opens like a fan, and resolves itself into a “Long spray” of skirmishers. It laps the flying Turks, steel flashes in the air, and down go 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. It is evident the Russians have been too quick for us. The Turks have been too quick also, for they have not held their redoubts long enough to enable us to bring them help. In vain the Turkish gunners in the earthen batteries which are placed along the French entrenchments strive to protect their flying countrymen; their shot fly wide and short of the swarming masses. The Turks betake themselves towards the Highlanders, where they check their flight and form into companies on the flanks of the Highlanders. As the Russian cavalry on the left of their line crown the hill across the valley, they perceive the Highlanders drawn up at the distance of some half mile, calmly awaiting their approach. They halt, and squadron after squadron flies up from the rear, till they have a body of some 1500 men along the ridge--Lancers, and Dragoons, and Hussars. Then they move _en échelon_ in two bodies, with another in reserve. The cavalry who have been pursuing the Turks on the right are coming up to the ridge beneath us, which conceals our cavalry from view. The heavy brigade in advance is drawn up in two lines. The first line consists of the Scots Greys, and of their old companions in glory, the Enniskillens; the second of the 4th Royal Irish, of the 5th Dragoon Guards, and of the 1st Royal Dragoons. The Light Cavalry Brigade is on their left, in two lines also. The silence is oppressive; between the cannon bursts one can hear the champing of bits and the clink of sabres in the valley below. The Russians on their left drew breath for a moment, and then in one grand line charged in towards Balaklava. The ground flies beneath their horses’ feet; gathering speed at every stride, they dash on towards that _thin red streak topped with a line of steel_. The Turks fire a volley at eight hundred yards and run. As the Russians come within six hundred yards, down goes that line of steel in front, and out rings a rolling volley of Minié musketry. The distance is too great; the Russians are not checked, but still sweep onwards through the smoke, with the whole force of horse and man, here and there knocked over by the shot of our batteries above. With breathless suspense every one awaits the bursting of the wave upon the line of Gaelic rock; but ere they come within two hundred and fifty yards, another deadly volley flashes from the levelled rifle, and carries terror into the Russians. They wheel about, open files right and left, and fly back faster than they came. “Bravo Highlanders! well done!” shout the excited spectators; but events thicken. The Highlanders and their splendid front are soon forgotten, men scarcely have a moment to think of this fact, that the 93rd never altered their formation to receive that tide of horsemen. “No,” said Sir Colin Campbell, “I did not think it worth while to form them even four deep!” The ordinary British line, two deep, was quite sufficient to repel the attack of these Muscovite cavaliers. Our eyes were, however, turned in a moment on our own cavalry. We saw Brigadier-General Scarlett ride along in front of his massive squadrons. The Russians--evidently _corps d’elite_--their light blue jackets embroidered with silver lace, were advancing on their left, at an easy gallop, towards the brow of the hill. A forest of lances glistened in their rear, and several squadrons of grey-coated dragoons moved up quickly to support them as they reached the summit. The instant they came in sight the trumpets of our cavalry gave out the warning blast which told us all that in another moment we should see the shock of battle beneath our very eyes. Lord Raglan, all his staff and escort, and groups of officers, the Zouaves, French generals and officers, and bodies of French infantry on the height, were spectators of the scene as though they were looking on the stage from the boxes of a theatre. Nearly every one dismounted and sat down, and not a word was said. The Russians advanced down the hill at a slow canter, which they changed to a trot, and at last nearly halted. Their first line was at least double the length of ours--it was three times as deep. Behind them was a similar line, equally strong and compact. They evidently despised their insignificant looking enemy, but their time was come. The trumpets rang out again through the valley, and the Greys and Enniskilleners went right at the centre of the Russian cavalry. The space between them was only a few hundred yards; it was scarce enough to let the horses “gather away,” nor had the men quite space sufficient for the full play of their sword arms. The Russian line brings forward each wing as our cavalry advance, and threatens to annihilate them as they pass on. Turning a little to their left, so as to meet the Russian right, the Greys rush on with a cheer that thrills to every heart--the wild shout of the Enniskilleners rises through the air at the same instant. As lightning flashes through a cloud, the Greys and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark masses of Russians. The shock was but for a moment. There was a clash of steel and a light play of swordblades in the air, and then the Greys and the redcoats disappear in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another moment we see them emerging and dashing on with diminished numbers, and in broken order, against the second line, which is advancing against them as fast as it can to retrieve the fortune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. “God help them! they are lost” was the exclamation of more than one man, and the thought of many. With unabated fire the noble hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a fight of heroes. The first line of Russians, which had been smashed utterly by our charge, and had fled off at one flank and towards the centre, were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer steel and sheer courage Enniskillener and Scot were winning their desperate way right through the enemy’s squadrons, and already grey horses and red coats had appeared right at the rear of the second mass, when, with irresistible force, like one bolt from a bow, the 1st Royals, the 4th Dragoon Guards, and the 5th Dragoon Guards rushed at the remnants of the first line of the enemy, went through it as though it were made of pasteboard, and dashing on the second body of Russians as they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys and their companions, put them to utter rout. The Russian Horse in less than five minutes after it met our dragoons was flying with all its speed before a force certainly not half its strength. A cheer burst from every lip--in the enthusiasm, officers and men took off their caps and shouted with delight, and thus keeping up the scenic character of their position, they clapped their hands again and again. Lord Raglan at once despatched Lieutenant Curzon, Aide-de-Camp, to convey his congratulations to Brigadier-General Scarlett, and to say “Well done.” The gallant old officer’s face beamed with pleasure when he received the message. “I beg to thank his Lordship very sincerely,” was his reply. The cavalry did not long pursue their enemy. Their loss was very slight, about thirty-five killed and wounded in both affairs. There were not more than four or five men killed outright, and our most material loss was from the cannon playing on our heavy dragoons afterwards, when covering the retreat of our light cavalry.