two pieces, which had the most marked effect in deciding the fate of the day, was such as to elicit the admiration of the army, and as to deserve the thanks of every man engaged in that bloody fray.

The close of the battle is thus forcibly described:-"About ten o'clock, a body of French infantry appeared on our right, a joyful sight to our struggling regiments. The Zouaves came on at the pas de charge. The French artillery had already begun to play with deadly effect on the right wing of the Russians. Three battalions of the Chasseurs d'Orleans (I believe they had No. 6 on their buttons) rushed by, the light of battle on their faces. They were accompanied by a battalion of Chasseurs Indigènes-the Arab Sepoys of Algiers. Their trumpets sounded above the din of battle, and when we watched their eager advance right on the flank of the enemy we knew the day was won. Assailed in front by our men, broken in several places by the impetuosity of our charge, renewed again and again, attacked by the French infantry on the right, and by artillery 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 all covered by their artillery. They left mounds of dead behind them. Long ere they fled, the Chasseurs d'Afrique charged them most brilliantly over the ground, difficult and broken as it was, and inflicted great loss on them, while the effect of this rapid attack, aided by the advance of our troops, secured our guns, which were only spiked with wood, and were soon rendered fit for service. Our own cavalry, the remnant of the Light Brigade, were moved into a position where it was hoped they might be of service, but they were too few to attempt anything, and whilst they were drawn up they lost several horses and some men. One officer, Cornet Cleveland, was struck by a piece of shell in the side, and has since expired. There are now only two officers left with the fragment of the 17th Lancers-Captain Godfrey Morgan and Cornet George Wombwell. At twelve o'clock the battle of Inkerman seemed to have been won, but the day, which had cleared up for an hour previously so as to enable us to see the enemy and meet him, again became obscured. Rain and fog set in, and as we could not pursue the Russians, who were retiring under the shelter of their artillery, we had formed in front of our lines and were holding the battlefield so stoutly contested, when the enemy, taking advantage of our quietude, again advanced, while their guns pushed forward and opened a tremendous fire upon us. 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 efforts he was most ably seconded by General Bosquet, whose devotion was noble. Nearly all his mounted escort were down beside and behind him. General Canrobert was slightly wounded. His immediate attendants suffered severely. The renewed assault was so admirably managed that the Russians sullenly retired, still protected by their crushing artillery. The Russians,

about ten o'clock, made a sortie on the French lines, and traversed two parallels before they could be resisted. They were driven back at last with great loss, and as they retired they blew up some mines inside the Flag-staff Fort, evidently afraid that the French would enter pell-mell

after them. At one o'clock the Russians were again retiring. At 1.40 Dickson's two guns smashed up their artillery, and they limbered up, leaving five tumbrels and one gun-carriage on the field."

H. R. H. the Duke of Cambridge always kept at the head of the Guards; his escapes were miraculous. He had a horse killed under him.

In the redoubt, where the most fearful struggle took place, two guns, with their ammunition wagons, fell into the hands of the enemy. Some of the artillerymen clung round the guns, and fought the Russians for them hand to hand. One sergeant in particular was seen defending himself with his sword alone, amid a hundred enemies, for fully five minutes. When the battle was over, his body was found with seventeen bayonet and bullet wounds on it, and two Russians, killed by his sword, lay on the ground beside him.

Shortly after the noble Cathcart fell, Brigadier Goldie was mortally wounded, and Torrens shot through the chest. About the same time, Brigadier-General Bentinck was wounded through the arm; Sir George Brown through the arm; and Captain Butler, brother of the hero of Silistria, was shot through the brain.

When Sir George Cathcart fell, Colonel Seymour, who was with him, instantly dismounted, and was endeavouring 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 bayonetted him, and cut him to pieces as he lay helpless. General Cathcart's corpse was also bayonetted in five or six places. The enemy treated all the wounded who fell into their hands with cold-blooded cruelty. In not one solitary instance, as far as can yet be ascertained, was a man spared.

The conduct of the Coldstream Guards will immortalise their name. They fought literally to the death. They charged the enemy at the point of the bayonet eleven times. At each time the Russians crossed bayonets and fought fiercely, but were slaughtered like sheep by our gallant fellows.

The three battalions of Guards now barely muster 1,000 men.

The opinion very generally prevails, that the Russian soldiers had orders to give no quarter.

A Russian major was captured at the close of the battle. He had been observed on many occasions stabbing and hacking our unfortunate wounded with his sword, and directions were given to a party of the Guards to take him alive, if possible. This they effected, after a slight resistance on his part, and after his having offered in vain a bribe of some gold pieces to our men to allow him to escape. He was to be tried by court-martial on the 6th November, and the depositions and sentence forwarded to whoever of the many generals in Sebastopol is the commander-in-chief. If they consented to punish him he was to be given up to them. If they declined to interfere, he was to be shot, as the laws of civilised warfare denounce the killing of defenceless wounded as murder.

A flag of truce was sent into Sebastopol. The bearer of it carried a letter from the Allied Commanders to the Commander-in-Chief of the

Russian forces. It stated that General Canrobert and Lord Raglan had seen with detestation and disgust the merciless cruelty with which the enemy bayonetted our wounded on the field, and requested to know if the war was to be carried on in this barbarous and exterminating manner, as then the allies would know how to act.

The letter also contained a hint that, in case of our prisoners being. ill-treated, the Russians would do well to remember that many of their countrymen were in our hands, whose treatment would be regulated by that which our men received from them. It is generally believed that it will be war to the knife now, and no quarter for either side.

A correspondent thus graphically describes the night after the battle:"On the evening of the battle I went over the field. All our wounded had been removed, and the wounded of our enemy were being gathered in. The kindness and attention of our fellows to their helpless enemies were beyond all praise. There is nothing so awful as the spectacle of the bodies of those who have been struck down by round shot or shell. One poor fellow of the 95th had been struck by two 24-pounders in the head and body. A shell afterwards burst on him and tore him to pieces, and it was only by the fragments of cloth, with the regimental buttons adhering, that you could tell that the bloody mass which lay in the road had ever been a human being. Some had their heads taken off at the neck, as with an axe; others, their legs gone from the hips; others, their arms; and others again, who were hit in the chest or stomach, were literally as smashed as if they had been crushed in a machine. Passing up to Sebastopol over heaps of Russian dead, I came to the spot where the Guards had been compelled to retire from the defence of the wall above Inkerman valley. Here our dead were nearly as numerous as the enemy's. Across the path, side by side, lay five Guardsmen, who were all killed by one round shot as they advanced to charge the enemy. They lay on their faces in the same attitude, with their muskets tightly grasped in both hands, and all had the same grim painful frown upon their features, like men who were struck down in the act of closing with their foes. Beyond this the Russian 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-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. The moon was at its full, and showed every object as if by the light of day. Facing me was the valley of Inkerman, with the Chernaya 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 loathing and horror; for round the spot from which I surveyed the scene, lay upwards of 5,000 bodies. Many badly wounded also lay there; and their low dull moans of mortal agony struck with terrible distinctness upon the ear, or worse still, the hoarse gurgling cry and vehement struggles of those who were convulsed before they passed away.

Round the hill small groups of men with hospital

stretchers were searching out for those who still survived; and others again, with lanterns, busily turning over the dead, looking for the bodies of officers who were known to be killed, but who had not been found. Here also were English women, whose husbands had not returned, hurrying about with loud lamentations, turning the faces of our dead to the moonlight, and eagerly seeking for what they feared to find. These latter were far more to be pitied than the inanimate forms of those who lay slaughtered around. The ambulances, as fast as they came up, received their load of sufferers, and even blankets were employed to convey the wounded to the rear. Outside the battery the Russians lay two and three deep. Inside the place was literally full with bodies of Russian Guardsmen, 55th and 20th.

Some lay as if prepared for burial, and as though 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 mingled fear and hatred as if indeed they died despairing. The moonlight imparted an aspect of unnatural paleness to their forms, and as the cold damp 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 day after the battle the Russians despatched a working party with a flag of truce to bury their dead. Our poor fellows were chiefly interred the same day. Eleven officers of the Guards, including eight of the Coldstream, sleep together.

On the 6th November a great many Russian prisoners were brought into the allied camp, many badly wounded. The whole of the 6th November was devoted to burying the dead. At 4 P.M., Lord Raglan attended the funerals of General Sir G. Cathcart, Brigadier Goldie, and General Strangways. They were buried together with eleven other officers on Cathcart's Hill.

We have here only given the prominent features of this great battle; the official despatches with the killed and wounded will be found elsewhere.

A council of war was held after the battle, presided over by Lord Raglan, when it was determined to winter in the Crimea.

Considerable reinforcements reached the Allies after the battle, and more are on their way. It is also stated that two French divisions will immediately enter the Danubian Principalities to occupy the Russians in that quarter.

Meantime the siege of Sebastopol continues.

THE CAMPAIGN ON THE DANUBE.

CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE TO THE RUSSO-TURKISH OPERATIONS ON THE DANUBE IN 1853-54.

THE attention of Europe continues to be wholly absorbed by the contest between Russia and Turkey; and though now directed to the Crimea, has watched with great anxiety and interest the events on the Danube, where the contending forces of the belligerent powers first faced each other, having their position as early as in the summer of 1853, separated only by that mighty river on the banks of which the first and hardest contests were expected to be fought. The principal operations during the first-in its results not a little surprising— period of that war took place in the valley of the Danube; they may be considered as constituting a complete campaign, and some observations concerning it are the subject of the present article, which will not contain detailed narratives of the events, but will be confined to viewing the operations in their principal character, to considering the causes and reasons influencing the proceedings of both the commanders-inchief, and to discussing the really executed and other probable operations, with the view of contributing to a correct conception of the causes of the failure on one side, and of the successes on the other. It may be observed, that the article presupposes an acquaintance with the scene of operations.

The Turkish government, bound by treaties not to maintain any troops in the Principalities, except in certain eventualities, which did. not occur, was compelled to abandon them to the Russian invasion; thus the Turks were deprived of their first line of defence on the Sereth. Had the strength and material of both the armies been nearly equal, the abandoning of the first line of defence would have been a disadvantage to the Turks; but, owing to the circumstances then prevailing, the results proved not unfavourable to them. In the plains of Moldavia and Wallachia, the Turkish forces would have succumbed in all probability to the Russian forces, not yet disheartened at that time, but on the contrary highly animated. Defeats of the Turks at the beginning of the campaign might have depressed their courage and spirit, deprived them of confidence in their leaders, their new organisation, and force, and finally occasioned political alliances to their disadvantage. Moreover, the position along the Sereth is precarious, it requires the secured possession of the Danube passages at Matschin and Hirsova, and its abandonment is easily enforced for strategical reasons by the debouching of the Russian army from Reni and Galatz, threatening Fokshany, and thus to cut off the troops posted along the Sereth. The Turks assuming a position along the Pruth, would be in a higher degree exposed to that danger; for the Pruth, though the frontier, and a larger river than the Sereth, deserves scarcely to be called a line of defence.

It may also be observed, that owing to the evacuation of the Principalities, the Turks were not obliged to make requisitions for the suste