In one case, at least, I know for a fact that a General of Division, with many of the oaths which he lavished in enforcing professions of earnestness and sincerity, declared to the principal{386} medical officer of his division that he had intended to mention him specially to Lord Raglan, for his zeal and devotion after the battle of the Alma, but that he had unfortunately forgotten to do so in his despatch. "However, he would. He would, by — —, do so at once — write a despatch," and so on. Did he? If he did, Lord Raglan never paid the least attention to it. The wretched jealousies of our system were contagious. The instant a civilian became connected with the army he was caught at once, and became involved with A, B, or C. The military surgeons were jealous of — well, they did not like — the civil surgeons. The latter thought the former assumed too many airs, and that they despised the civil element, which was fresher from the hospitals, and knew a great deal more about the theories of the day than besworded and bespurred fogies who swore by Lawrence or Larrey. There was an internecine battle of "corps," which was chiefly developed in brisk affairs of outposts. What man of the Line or Guards was not "down" on the Engineers? What Engineer had recovered the mortal wounds inflicted on him by lazy soldiers who would not work in the trenches? Was not that "confounded Naval Brigade, that gets all the praise," an eyesore and a stumbling-block to the ill-used Siege Train? Were not the Infantry tickled with ironical mirth at the notion that the Cavalry had done anything? Were not the Cavalry wroth that they should have been turned into draymen, porters, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Infantry during the winter? The Royal Horse Artillery had similar grievances. As to the contests between Commissariat officers and Land Transport officers, if smothered by official forms, they blazed below the paper. The Navvies waged horrida bella with the Commissariat department. The Quartermaster-General's department tried to do as little as it could in the way of complying with the requests of the Army Works Corps. The Railway and the Road-making interest were by no means on the best possible terms. The Ambulance Corps, while it still existed in the body, was savagely tickled up, probed, walked into, reported upon, and attacked by the doctors; and as to higher quarters —
In the first week of October the army was in excellent health. It was almost as numerous as that with which the Duke fought the battle of Vittoria. The infantry numbered 27,000; the cavalry 3,500; the artillery 9,000 — in fine, General Simpson had under his command not less than 38,000 effective men. There were few matters of complaint; but an army is insatiable, and its providers must be as thoughtful and foreseeing as ants. Vast piles of stores disappeared in a day. To all commissariat officers at Balaklava it might be well said — "Nulla fronti fides," — "Have no faith in the front."
Of the condition of the Russian army encamped on the Belbek{387} nothing certain could be known, but now and then one got a glimpse of the world beyond the adverse sentries. There were many races in the Russian army, but none seemed willing to desert except the Poles, and the number of disaffected soldiers who came over to us was very small indeed. The pickets now and then brought in some footsore, ragged, emaciated, sickly-looking deserter, who told a sad tale of want and suffering. Was he a Dolon or not? The last two who arrived at General Simpson's, a Pole and a Russian, were in such a condition as to excite the liveliest compassion among our soldiers. Their clothes were in rags, and the fragments of their boots scarcely clung to their feet. They came from the army near Baidar, and stated that all the men were in the same condition; that all they had to eat was bread or biscuit and barley, that they got no meat, and had only occasional issues of quarter rations of vodka, or spirits; and these two men were observed to laugh and throw up their hands in surprise as they passed the great piles of provisions accumulated at our depôt on the Col. They said they were laughing at the lies which had been told to them. Their officers said that the Allies were starving, and had no forage for their horses. Colonel Blane sent down Sergeant Gillespie, of the Provost Marshal's department, under whose immediate control all prisoners were placed, to the Russian stores of Sebastopol, to get them greatcoats and clothing, but he could not find any boots; it was observed that there were no boots in store when the place was taken, and that the sixty-two prisoners, who were found drunk and asleep amid the ruins, were badly dressed and ill provided with shoes or boots.