Part 34

In South Africa, the difficulties of administering the recalcitrant communities of the Boers in the Orange River territory proved such that during this year the struggle was abandoned as hopeless by the British authorities. The Orange River Free State, organized as an independent republic of Dutch settlers, was recognized as such.

On June 28, another military insurrection broke out near Madrid. General Espartero assumed charge of the movement. It found favor in Madrid and Barcelona. Within a fortnight the Ministry was overthrown. On July 19, Baldomero Espartero was welcomed with great enthusiasm on his return to power. On the last day of the month the Queen had to present herself on the balcony of her palace in Madrid while 3,000 revolutionists from the barricades paraded before her. Espartero on his return to power forthwith convoked the Cortes to frame a new liberal constitution, a task which was accomplished before the close of the year.

In Mexico, the celebrated operatic singer Henriette Sontag died of cholera. Born at Coblenz in 1805, she made an early début, and appeared with brilliant success in all the capitals of Europe, where she was recognized as a worthy rival of Malibran. In 1829 she married Count Rossi, and in the following year retired from the stage. Twenty years later, in consequence of the loss of her fortune, she returned to the stage, and it was found that her voice had lost none of its power and charm.

In the Balkans, the Servians, Bulgarians and the Bosnians, in view of the meagre success of Russian arms so far, were disinclined to rise against Turkey. In Greece, on the other hand, Russian partisans succeeded in inciting the populace to revolt. From all sides volunteers rushed to the northern frontier. There was even some talk of establishing a new Byzantine Empire. King Otto, partly from lack of sympathy, but more through fear of the Western Powers, whose ships suddenly appeared at the Piræus, opposed the movement. The Greek volunteers who had gathered at the frontier were ordered to disperse.

The war had so far not fulfilled the expectations of Russia. Not only had the Czar's troops been repulsed at Kalafat, despite their greater numbers, but they had also been surprised and beaten at Cetate. The respect which Russia commanded as a great Power had been engendered largely by her supposed inexhaustible resources. The Czar was therefore forced to maintain the old appearance of strength by recruiting troops throughout his empire and by intrusting the command of all his men to Prince Paskievitch, regarded, despite his great age, as the best general of Russia. Operations were shifted further to the east, partly to still the apprehensions of Austria, partly in the hope that more Slavic Christians would join the Russian army. In the middle of March, Paskievitch crossed the Danube not far from the mouth of the Pruth, despite the promises made by the Czar to Prussia and Austria. The Czar's rejection of a second pacific note from Vienna, together with the breach of the promise given to his fellow sovereigns, was followed, on March 28, by a formal declaration of war on the part of France and England.

Without effective resistance on the part of the Turks, General Lueders seized the Dobrudsha and joined General Schilder before the walls of Silistria, while Omar Pasha, in the face of a superior Russian force, was compelled to retire to the fortress of Shumla. These energetic Russian movements spurred the Western Powers to greater activity.

In April, an English army of 20,000 men under Lord Raglan, together with a French force more than twice as large under the command of Marshal St. Arnaud, distinguished for his deeds in Africa and for his part in Louis Napoleon's coup d'état, landed at Gallipolis. The allies bombarded Odessa on April 22, taking good care, however, not to destroy English property in the city.

The crossing of the Danube by the Russians led Austria and Prussia to form an offensive and defensive alliance, both agreeing to wage war on the Czar if he sent his armies across the Balkans or incorporated the Danube principalities. But how little Prussia intended to engage in a struggle with the Czar was indicated by the retirement of Bonin, the Minister of War, and of Bunsen, the Ambassador to London. Even a tentative offer of Schleswig and Holstein made by England could not tempt Prussia to forsake her old confederate. A joint note was sent to St. Petersburg by Austria and Prussia, demanding the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the invaded territory of the Danube. Austria concluded a treaty with the Porte, by the terms of which she was to seize the Danube principalities, on the borders of which she had mobilized her troops. Paskievitch's efforts to reduce Silistria proved fruitless. The courageous example of Mussa Pasha and the skill of Grach, a Prussian officer of artillery, were more than a match for the strategy of the Russian commanding general. The hostile attitude of the Austrian troops on the frontier of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the landing of French and English expeditions at Varna, caused Paskievitch, on June 21, to withdraw his weakened force across the Danube and the Pruth. In the attempt to reduce Silistria the lives of many Russian soldiers had been sacrificed. Paskievitch himself was slightly wounded. Eighteen months after his defeat he died in Warsaw. Schilder, Mussa and Grach, all mortally wounded, had been carried off before him. The losses of the allies were also serious. An ill-considered march of the French from Varna into the Dobrudsha resulted in the loss of 2,000 men, most of whom succumbed to the insufferable heat. In the camp at Varna cholera wrought terrible havoc.

Upon the sea the allies were no more successful. An English and French fleet, under Sir Charles Napier, proceeded to the Baltic Sea for the purpose of persuading Sweden to join France and England, of reducing the fortress of Kronstadt, the key to the Russian capital, and of attacking St. Petersburg itself. Sweden, despite the efforts of the Powers, held aloof like Prussia. The walls of Kronstadt defied the ships. Besides the capture of Bomarsund on August 16, nothing was accomplished.

In Varna, a council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued against the Russians. Among others, General Stein, or Ferhat Pasha, as he was called after his conversion to Mohammedanism, proposed the landing of troops in Asia in order to drive the enemy from the Caucasus. But St. Arnaud, who felt that he had not long to live, and, therefore, wished to end his career as gloriously as he could, voted for an attack on Sebastopol, the naval port of the Crimea. He was supported by Lord Raglan, who desired nothing more fervently than the destruction of the Russian fleet. So far no less than 15,000 men had perished in the campaign. The remaining force, composed of 56,000 soldiers, of whom 6,000 were Turks, was landed, on September 14, at Eupatoria on the west coast of the peninsula. To the south of Eupatoria the sea forms a bay which receives the waters of the River Tchernaya, flowing past the ruins of Inkermann. Upon the southern side is the fortified city of Sebastopol. On the northern side fortifications had been built to protect the fleet anchored in the bay. Upon the heights overlooking the river Alma, Prince Menzikov, Governor of the Crimea, had stationed his army of 39,000 men with 106 guns. Although the heights overhanging the Alma are more than five miles long, the Russian troops by which they were defended formed a front of but three miles. This left the extreme left of the Russians open to an attack by a ford opposite the village of Almatack. Against Menzikov, Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan could oppose 63,000 men and 128 guns. The weakness of the undefended left flank of the Russian army was discovered from the French ships. St. Arnaud laid his plans accordingly. On the morning of September 20, the attack was begun. The warships steamed up the river and opened fire on the enemy. Bosquet, in command of a French division and a Turkish contingent, was assigned to attack Menzikov's left. He pushed his way through the village of Almatack and forded the river. His Zouaves nimbly climbed the heights and reached the feebly defended plateau. Menzikov, busily engaged in resisting the advance of the English against his right, at first refused to believe the unwelcome tidings. He endeavored to shift a part of his force from right to left. Meantime the English, under Lord Raglan, were subjected to so fierce a fire from the Russian main position that they could make no headway. They lay passive upon the ground waiting for the French under Canrobert and Louis Napoleon to begin the attack in front, and thus divert the attention of Menzikov. Weary of their long delay, Lord Raglan took matters into his own hands. The English infantry rose from the field, advanced upon the Russian main position, and, under a hot fire, stormed the Russian redoubt with dreadful loss. Attacked on the one side by the English and on the other by the French, Menzikov was compelled to beat a retreat.

The battle of the Alma was one of the first modern engagements described by special war correspondents in the field. The news of the victory was despatched to London with a rapidity prophetic of the feats performed by latter-day correspondents. Besides the war correspondents, several artists of note followed the armies of the allies. Among the French painters who have perpetuated some of the well-known episodes of the Crimean War were Horace Vernet, who painted a "Battle of Alma," and Paul Alexandre Protais, a pupil of Desmoulins, who first came into note about that time. Another artist who made his early reputation in the war of the Crimea was Adolphe Schreyer.

On the Russian side, Count Lyof Tolstoi served at the front, together with his namesake and fellow writer, Count Alexander Tolstoi. There he gathered impressions for his stories on the siege of Sebastopol, and for his subsequent great novel of the Napoleonic invasion, "War and Peace."

Besides the news of victory, the Crimean War correspondents told of the sore plight of the English army, of the ravages of cholera, and of the wretchedly organized hospital system. No preparations had been made for a very long campaign. The taking of Sebastopol, it was thought by the English, would present no grave difficulties.

But Sebastopol was better prepared to meet an attack than England knew. True it is that early in the war the city might have been taken by a dash from the land and sea. But the chance was now gone. Three days after the defeat of Alma, Menzikov sank seven vessels of the Russian Black Sea fleet in the mouth of the harbor. On all sides the city was strongly fortified in accordance with the suggestion of Todleben, an ingenious artillery officer.

Instead of moving directly upon Sebastopol the allies first marched to Balaklava, further to the south, where they would be in constant communication with the ships and could establish a base of supplies. On October 17, an unsuccessful attack was made on Sebastopol.

At dawn on October 25, the Russians crossed the Tchernaya and stole rapidly on until their vanguard had reached a position from which they could cannonade Canrobert's Hill, the post most distant from the forces of the allies and nearest the village of Kamara. The main Russian army under Liprandi soon came up and began to fire upon Canrobert's Hill and the adjacent works. The English replied with the assistance of a troop of horse artillery and of a field battery. Two English divisions and two French brigades were sent to the aid of the garrison on the hills. The Russians succeeded in storming Canrobert's Hill and in capturing the next and smaller fortification. Threatened by overwhelming numbers, the troops on the remaining hills withdrew.

Two English cavalry brigades--the Light and the Heavy--commanded by Lord Lucan, had been manoeuvring to protect Balaklava. The Light Brigade, under Lord Cardigan, faced the Tchernaya; the Heavy Brigade, under Scarlett, was on the Balaklava side of the ridge. A great body of Russian cavalry swept down the slope upon the Heavy Brigade, and for a moment threw it into disorder. But Scarlett's men charged the Russians. The two opposing bodies of cavalry clashed and seemed to melt one within the other. Then the Russian horsemen yielded, and fled over the ridge whence they had first appeared five minutes before.

A disposition on the Russian side to carry off the captured guns induced Lord Raglan to send Lord Lucan an order "to advance rapidly to the front and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns." The order was carried by Captain Nolan, who found Lucan between his two brigades, with the Light Brigade beyond Woronzov road. Whose "front" was meant Lucan did not know. Nolan conjectured that "the guns" in question were those which had retired with the retreating Russian cavalry. Already the Russian cavalry had taken protection behind its works toward the Tchernaya, and was supported by Liprandi's troops posted along the Woronzov road, and by Russian guns bearing on the valley from the ridge and from Fedioukin heights. Nolan, Lord Lucan reported later, insisted that these very guns must be regained. Although Lord Cardigan of the Light Brigade shared Lucan's misgivings he obeyed the command. With the order, "The Brigade will advance!" the famous charge of the Six Hundred began. Nolan galloped obliquely across the Brigade as it started. He was killed by the first shell fired from a Russian gun. Into the thick of the Russians Cardigan rode with his men. The forlorn exploit has been immortalized by Alfred Tennyson:

Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.

The whole Brigade would have been wiped out after the repulse, when the Russian cavalry rode in pursuit, had not several squadrons of French cuirassiers ridden to the rescue. The fact that the Russians retained the hills which they had captured justified Liprandi in claiming the victory.

In November, the French infantry in the Crimea numbered 81,000, the British 16,000, and the Turkish 11,000. Brave as the Moslems undoubtedly were, they were not permitted to demonstrate their value in subsequent encounters. While the allies strengthened their batteries and replenished their magazines, the Russians likewise fortified their position and gathered reinforcements. It was a race on both sides for the first delivery of the attack. On November 4, the allied commanders definitely arranged for a cannonade and an assault which was to place Sebastopol at their mercy. The Russians, recognizing their peril, completed the assembly of their forces to attack the allies and forestall them. In all, Menzikov could oppose 115,000 soldiers to the 65,000 available men of the allies. The Russian commander assigned the main attack to General Soimonov with 19,000 infantry and 38 guns and to General Paulov with 16,000 infantry and 96 guns. The regiments in the valley of the Tchernaya, formerly commanded by Liprandi, but now led by Gortschakov, were "to support the general attack by drawing the enemy's forces toward them." The garrison of Sebastopol was to cover with its artillery fire the right flank of the attacking force. After effecting their junction, the two divisions were to place themselves under General Danneberg's command.

Soimonov issued under cover of a thick fog from the fortress before dawn on November 5, and to the surprise of the allies began the attack on the English left. The timely arrival of reinforcements under Buller enabled the British to repel the Russians. Soimonov was left dead on the field. The attack of Paulov on the right was no more successful. The Russians were here repulsed with frightful loss. When Danneberg arrived on the scene he found that, with Paulov's battalions on Mount Inkermann and with those of Soimonov, he could recommence the battle with 19,000 men and 90 guns. Ten thousand of these men were hurled against the English centre and right by Danneberg. The carnage was frightful. Between the hostile lines rose a rampart of fallen men. The Russians would probably have swept away the British by the sheer force of greater numbers, had they not been taken in the flank and repulsed by a French regiment which arrived just in time to save their English comrades.

Although the Russian attacking force had been diminished to 6,000 men, it was once more resolutely launched against the enemy, this time against the centre and left of the allied armies. So impetuous was the assault, that for a time the Russians carried all before them. But a simultaneous, irresistible advance of the French and English not only repulsed the attacking force, but drove it off the field. Shortly before noon the battle was decided. The heavy losses suffered by the Russians enabled the allies to oppose greater numbers of men against Danneberg's broken battalions and his still unused reserve, and to make use of their guns, now for the first time superior in number to the Russian ordnance. The battle of Inkermann closed with no grand charge on the one side, nor wild flight on the other. When the Russians saw that success was hopeless, they withdrew gradually, with no attempt on the part of the wearied allies to convert the repulse into a rout. On both sides, men had been ruthlessly sacrificed.

Inkermann was followed by a gloomy winter. The Black Sea was swept by terrible storms which destroyed transport ships laden with stores for the army. The horses that charged at Balaklava became unfit for service; the men who had fought at Inkermann languished in field hospitals. In the wretchedly organized lazarets at Scutari the sick and wounded died by scores for lack of proper medical attendance. Shameful frauds were perpetrated in filling the contracts for preserved meats. With grim humor "Punch" exclaimed: "One man's preserved meat is another man's poison." After the harrowing misery that prevailed in camp had been pictured in the London newspapers, something like system was finally established in the hospitals by the energy of Miss Florence Nightingale.

Balaklava and Inkermann had a profound effect upon the diplomatic negotiation of the Powers. England and France attempted to induce Austria and Prussia to take arms against the Czar. But Prussia would do nothing without the Confederation; and Austria would do nothing without Prussia. Buol-Schauenstein, the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, would gladly have mediated; but the prospects of success were not rosy. To the annoyance of Austria, Piedmont, which had maintained its position in Italy despite Austria, offered to take part in the war. Austria saw that she must now act quickly if she wished to preserve her European prestige. On December 2, she signed a treaty with England and France binding herself not to negotiate separately with the Czar; to defend the principalities which she had occupied in accordance with her compact with Turkey, after their evacuation by the Russians; and to deliberate with the Powers as to the best course to be pursued if the war were not ended by January 1, 1855. The treaty was intended merely to thwart Piedmont.

1855

Complaints of neglect and maladministration in the Crimea waxed ever louder. The reports of the war correspondents at the front aroused indignation in London and Paris. Now the London "Times" came out with a leading article which produced a profound sensation throughout England. The burden of it was a bitter complaint that "the noblest army ever sent from our shores has been sacrificed to the grossest mismanagement. Incompetency, lethargy, aristocratic hauteur, official indifference, favor, routine, perverseness and stupidity reign, revel, and riot in the camp before Sebastopol, in the harbor of Balaklava, in the hospitals of Scutari, and how much nearer home we do not venture to say. We say it with extremest reluctance, no one sees or hears anything of the Commander-in-Chief. Officers who landed on the 14th of September, and have incessantly been engaged in all the operations of the siege, are not even acquainted with the face of their commander." The exposures of the "Times" were taken up in Parliament. Already Lord John Russell had urged upon the Earl of Aberdeen the necessity of having the War Minister in the House of Commons, and recommended that Lord Palmerston should be intrusted with the portfolio of war. The Prime Minister refused to recommend the proposed change to the Queen, on the ground that it would be unfair to the Duke of Newcastle, against whom, he said, no positive defect had been proved. As soon as Parliament assembled on January 25, the opposition moved for a commission of inquiry "into the condition of our army before Sebastopol, and into the conduct of those departments whose duty it has been to minister to the wants of that army." Lord John Russell at once wrote to Lord Aberdeen that since this motion could not be resisted, and was sure to involve a censure of the War Department, he preferred to tender his resignation. The retirement of the leaders of the House of Commons served to paralyze the government's resistance. After a debate of two nights the motion for an inquiry was accepted by 305 against 148 votes. As Mr. Molesworth, who was present, wrote:

"Never, perhaps, had a government been more decisively defeated. When the numbers were announced, the House seemed to be surprised, and almost stunned by its own act. There was no cheering; but for a few moments a dead silence, followed by a burst of derisive laughter. The Ministers of course resigned."