was, however, made, and in less than three hours the Russians were defeated, and driven from their position. The left division of the British army under H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge suffered heavily. Sir Colin Campbell commanded the Highland brigade in the same division. When the Fusilier Guards were received by the tremendous fire of the Russian guns, Sir Colin was desired to halt his men, in order to allow the Fusiliers to re-form and make a simultaneous attack; but he saw that by pressing on at once he had an advantage which in a few minutes would be lost, and which could not be known to his royal highness. The Russian guns were pointed too high, and the balls only disfigured the feathers of the Celtic bonnets. He pressed forward before the guns could be lowered, and, when near enough, ordered a steady volley to be fired, and an attack to be made at the point of the bayonet. This was done as no other troops could do it, and the battle was gained. The Fusilier Guards had by this time re-formed, and ably supported their Highland brethren. The rest of the army performed their duty well, and the French also added to their well-earned fame. The setting sun found the enemy retreating in haste to their fortress, and the allies rejoicing at their good fortune. Why the victors did not hasten upon Sebastopol before the enemy could throw up his formidable earthworks, cannot be explained. They did not do it; and so good a use did the enemy make of his time, that they found the attack by land and sea, on the 17th October, of no avail. Nothing remained but to throw up entrenchments and begin a siege in regular form. Much labour and suffering was before them that they knew not of; and when they at length saw the magnitude of their task, they redoubled their efforts to accomplish their end. So strong was the Russian army in Sebastopol, that it sallied forth several times and attacked the besiegers. The first of these was directed against the British army at Balaclava, in order to cut them off from their stores which lay in the harbour there. This action was fought on the 25th October, and the Russians were nobly repulsed with great loss. Some of the most memorable incidents of the war took place here. During the battle, the 93rd Highlanders were drawn up in line, that is, in two long rows, commanded by Sir Colin in person. In the distance, to the onlooker, the regiment looked like a "thin red line." Fifteen hundred Muscovite cavalry came careering on to cut them down ere they had time to form in square. The ground reechoed beneath their horses' feet as they thundered on, their sabres glittering in the sun. The Highlanders stood firm and fired. The Russians still advanced. A second volley was fired as steadily as on parade, upon which the enemy recoiled, turned, and fled, and that too, from infantry not in square. Every volunteer well understands the gallantry of this incident, and how undaunted must have been the hearts which could stand unquailed before such a terrible charge. Brilliant was the gallant charge of 600 British cavalry upon the same day. From a misunderstanding of an order, this handful of men, under the Earl of Cardigan, rushed upon 5000 Russian cavalry protected by thirty guns, and with such right good will, that it was almost incredible. They sabred the gunners, and rode at an army drawn up in line behind. Their danger now stared them in the face. They turned, rode back, but scarcely two hundred were left to tell the tale. This spirited but useless attack will always be remembered. It has been the talk and the admiration of the world. Poems have been written upon it, and songs sung in its honour in every home in the land. No poem is better known than that of Tennyson's "Into the jaws of death, Rode the six hundred." A very severe battle was fought at Inkermann on the 5th November, when the Russians again attempted to force our position. Their numbers were overwhelming, but with French aid they were driven off with great loss, leaving nearly one-fourth of their number upon the field. Although ships laden with abundant stores of all kinds lay in Balaclava harbour, they could not, from some mismanagement, be discharged and have their contents sent to the camp, and the brave troops suffered severely in the winter of 1855 from want of food, clothing, and shelter. This aroused the feelings of the nation. The matter was brought up in parliament, Aberdeen resigned, and Palmerston became premier. He soon infused somewhat of his promptness and energy into matters. A tramway or temporary railway was run up from Balaclava to the camp, and the astonished natives saw a locomotive puffing along with a train laden with bread and beef at one time, and with the deadly ammunition at another. The army put on quite a different appearance, and abundance was seen where semistarvation had been before. The Czar died on the 2nd of March, 1855, and it was hoped that as the stubborn spirit which induced the war had departed, it would soon cease; but his son Alexander determined to carry it on. Shortly after the death of Nicholas, an expedition was sent to destroy Kertch, then a flourishing town on the straits of Yenikale, which form the entrance to the sea of Azof. The Russians retired, after destroying all the government stores in the town, and the place was dismantled by the allies. The next event of importance was the battle of the Tchernaya, August 16, 1855, in which the French, aided by the Sardinians, who had joined the alliance of the western powers against Russia, repulsed about 50,000 Russians, under Prince Gortschakoff, who had attacked the lines of the allied army. The Sardinians, under the command of General Della Marmora, behaved with conspicuous gallantry. In September, a terrific bombardment of Sebastopol took place, after which the French carried the Malakhoff, one of the chief protecting works by assault. The Redan was taken by the British, but they were forced to retire, so fatal was the effect of the shot poured into it from batteries in the rear that commanded its interior. The Russian commander saw that further resistance was useless, and evacuated the town, which was immediately occupied by the allies. When the news of the fall of Sebastopol reached London and Paris, the rejoicing was great. The war lingered now but for a short time, for in December, 1855, Austria, with the consent of the allies, induced the Czar to treat for the cessation of hostilities, and peace was confirmed by the signing of the treaty of Paris, in March, 1856. EXERCISE.-69. PARSING, ETC. 1. Write out the verbs in the last forty lines, and say whether they are transitive or intransitive, regular or irregular. 2. Parse and analyse the first and third paragraph. 3. Write out the prepositions used as adverbs in the last forty lines. 4. What are the words derived from the Latin in the last fifteen lines? 5. Give the derivations of :-sagacious, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, succession, possession, Catholic, exploits, reconnoitred, artillery, September, November, sabred, premier. THE WARDEN OF THE CINQUE PORTS.(1) HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. dri-ving [A.-S. drifan, to drive], pushing forward with force and haste, guiding horses. couch-ant [Fr. coucher, to lie down], lying down with the head raised. de-fi-ance [F. défler, from L. dis, apart; fido, to trust], daring, a challenge to fight. A MIST was driving down the British Channel, And through the window-panes, on floor and panel, It glanced on flowing flag and rippling pennon, And, from the frowning rampart, the black cannon Sandwich and Romney, Hastings, Hythe, and Dover,(9) To see the French war-steamers speeding over, When the fog cleared away. Sullen and silent, and like couchant lions, Their cannon, through the night, Holding their breath, had watched, in grim defiance, And now they roared at drum-beat from their stations (1) This poem is written on the death of the Duke of Wellington, who held the office of Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1828 till his death in 1852. (2) These were the five ports that originally formed the Cinque Ports. Winchelsea and Rye were afterwards added. Each answered each, with morning salutations, And down the coast, all taking up the burden, As if to summon from his sleep the Warden Him shall no sunshine from the fields of azure, No morning gun from the black fort's embrasure, No more, surveying with an eye impartial Shall the gaunt figure of the old Field Marshal For in the night, unseen, a single warrior, Dreaded of man, and surnamed the Destroyer, He passed into the chamber of the sleeper, And as he entered, darker grew, and deeper, He did not pause to parley or dissemble, Ah! what a blow! that made all England tremble Meanwhile, without, the surly cannon waited, The sun rose bright o'erhead; EXERCISE.-70. MEANINGS OF WORDS. 1. Give the meaning of the following:-warden, panel, pennon, rampart, couchant, citadel, salutations, azure, embrasure, sombre, impartial. 2. Distinguish between :-sails, sales; mist, missed; mail, male; cannon, canon; him, hymn; panes, pains. 3. Illustrate the different meanings of ;-intimate, waits, sleeper, blow, post. |