We left the military portion of the force at the moment of their disembarcation; that night they bivouacked on the ground occupied by them, and meanwhile the landing of horses, guns, and materiel went on without intermission until morning, when the whole force marched off in the direction of Kertch. All opposition of course was at an end; the troops, who suffered much from the heat and from want of water, reached the town in a few hours, and, marching through it in perfect order, and without the slightest excess, arrived at Yenikale at 1 p.m. Here they found a large squadron of steamers and gun -boats, ready to proceed into the Sea of Azoff, under the command *of Captain Lyons of the Miranda. Unfortunately, no sooner was the restraining presence of the English force removed, than the ill-fated town of Kertch became the scene of acts of plunder, cruelty, and violence, such as are, alas! the inevitable accompaniments of the capture by assault of a fortified place, but which are happily rare in cases where no opposition has been offered to the entry of the conqueror. Parties of English merchant sailors, Turkish soldiers, and Tartars, urged respectively by cupidity, fanaticism, and revenge, as well as by the darker and more debasing passions of our fallen nature, spread themselves in every direction through the streets of the devoted city. Houses were broken into and stripped of every valuable they contained; the museum, comprising one of the most curious and interesting collections in the world, the spoils of the immemorial tumuli of the surrounding country, was rifled, and the objects which were either incapable of removal, or which possessed no marketable value, destroyed from sheer wantonness; and even these excesses paled in the hateful presence of violation and murder. A lurid glow illumined this scene of desolation and horror, as sheet after sheet of flame rose fiercely to the sky, wrapping in a fatal embrace the stores, the magazines, and the
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government buildings whicli lined the quay. Kertch was not completely destroyed; but her glory was departed, her beauty marred, and long years of peace and prosperity will not efface the terrible traces of the spoiler's hand. The results attained by the operations of the 24th and 25th are summed up by Sir George Brown as follows: — The opening of the passage into the Sea of Azoff, the destruction of the enemy's works, and the capture of upwards of fifty of his guns, many of them of the largest calibre and of the best construction; to which may be added the possession of the two important strategical positions of Kertch and Yenikale. " This success," adds Sir George Brown, "is mainly to be attributed to the judicious arrangements of Admirals Bruat and Sir Edmund Lyons, and to their in^ defatigable attention in carrying them out, as well as to the able and willing assistance they have received from the captains and other ofl&cers of the French and British navy under their respective commands." This testimony was warmly echoed by Lord Raglan, and, in reference especially to Sir Edmund Lyons, has long been confirmed by the unanimous suffrages of the profession, and the universal voice of the nation. Nothing, in fact, could have been more skilfully devised than the plan of the expedition; nothing more energetically carried out than its execution: and the rare and happy combination of coolness, daring, and judgment displayed by the English Admiral on this occasion, proved him the fit successor of the long line of naval worthies of which England may well boast, as it established for him a still stronger claim on the affections and gratitude of a people, to whom he was already endeared by his reputation for the highest gallantry,* and by the winning kindliness of his disposition and manners. But, in paying a merited tribute of admiration to conduct so distinguished and qualities so eminent, it may not be out of place to recall for a moment the name of another officer, who, in command of our fleet at an earlier period of the war, rendered services to his country of scarcely inferior importance, though of a homelier and less dazzling description.