The works on both sides are here shown as they existed at the end of last year, and the close proximity of the French advanced batteries on the extreme left of the picture to the Russian defences opposed to them, indicates forcibly how much had even then been accomplished. Next to these on the right, and skirting the ridge of the ravine which separated the English and the French, are the batteries of the English "left attack," generally known as the "Three-gun" and "Green-hill" batteries. Beneath these, and still further to the right, lies in fancied security the beleaguered city, in which, as yet, scarcely a trace of injury is visible, protected towards the centre of the picture by the terrible Redan, around, beneath, and within which the most precious blood of England has twice been poured forth like water. Across the calm unruffled surface of the great harbour, in whose waters the Russian fleet for a while contrived to postpone the just and inevitable chastisement of the Sinope massacre, the eye falls on Fort Constantine, and the other sea and harbour defences of the North side. On the right the works of the partially dismantled Malakoff Tower and the Gordon Battery of our right attack are interchanging messages, not such as
" Fly on wings of swift-heeled Mercuries,"
but which are couched in tones of thunder, and borne on the pinions of a sterner Bellona than the wildest myth could even faintly shadow forth.
Far away a cloud of smoke points out the position of the Diamond Battery, commanded by the dauntless Captain Peel, and manned by his gallant and ever cheery tars, whose ceaseless energy and reckless daring contributed so largely to the final success, and vindicated for the fleet their share in a triumph from wliich a recreant foe would fain have excluded them.
In the distance the Armadas of France and England, drawn up in proud array, observe the offing; and, like grim dogs of war, keep watch and ward, lest the destined prey escape from the dread embrace which is every day tightening around it, never again to be relaxed until its annihilation is accomplished.
CHARGE OF THE HEAVY CAVALRY BRIGADE,
OCTOBER 23, 1854.
In the background of this picture the eye, already familiar with the scene, recognises the crowded harbour of Balaklava, and the Genoese forts surmounting the heights which shut it in on the east; on the left the ground rises gradually to the bold and magnificent promontory of Cape Aia and the chain of hills which skirt the whole of the south-eastern extremity of the Crimea. In the middle distance on the right, on a hill overlooking Kadikoi, we observe a sailors' battery protecting our lines; beneath it are the church of that village, and the camp and intrenchments of Sir Colin Campbell's Highlanders, in front of which the 93d Regiment are drawn up in line. It is the moment when they have so successfully repulsed the Russian cavalry, who had been detached to attack them, and who are now flying, faster than they came, to the shelter of their position. The foreground is occupied by the camp of our Light Cavalry Brigade, which was shamefully plundered by the flying Turks, after tliey had abandoned the redoubts; and the squadrons of the Heavy Cavalry are seen sweeping down in admirable order, and at an irresistible pace, to encounter the dense masses of Russian horsemen who are advancing to meet them. We shall make no apology for introducing in this place Mr. Russell's account of this splendid feat of arms, which, as well as his description of the charge of the Light Cavalry brigade, we have ventured to borrow from his inimitable letters, in the conviction that no other pen, least of all our own, could do equal justice to these unparalleled acliievements. After narrating the flight of the Turks, and their re-formation on the flanks of the Highlanders, Mr. Russell thus pursues his story: —
" 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 waiting their approach. They halt, and squadi'on after squadron flies up from the rear, tiU they have a body of some 1500 men along the ridge — Lancers and Dragoons and Hussars. Then they move en echelon in two bodies, with another in reserve.