But there are others to whom life, and with it hope, yet remain, and for whom the tender sympathy and ready succour of their more fortunate comrades bring solace and alleviation even amidst the torture of wounds and the agonies of thirst.
Not theirs at least to lie uncared for and untended through the long Lours of the burning day and the gloomy darkness of the weary night; to feel the dread apprehension, fast ripening into certainty, that they are forgotten and desei'ted in their utmost need; that the life-blood which is ebbing fast away will not be stanched; that the cooling draught of water for which they yearn with longings unutterable will never be pressed to their parched and fevered lips; and that, with help almost within call, they are left to perish without one look of sympathy, one word of consolation, in a place which the festering bodies of those who have outstripped them in the race.of death are fast changing into a pest-house. Yet this is but a feeble shadowing forth of what was even then occurring within one short mile of this very spot; hundreds of wounded Russians were in their last extremity, and groping in the blackness of despair for aid, which, had their wretched position but been known, would have been as freely lavished by their generous enemies on them as on their own suffering comrades.
The wounded then are cared for, and the dead carried with sorrow and with reverence to their long liome: but the strong and healthy and un-- scathed, they also are here gathered in groups about the interior of the work, or seen in vivid relief against the wild red sky as they stand upon the parapet. And what the aspect of these, the heroes of the hour, the victors in a strife of giants, in the flush of their long-deferred and hardlyearned success? Where are the voice of exultation and the song of triumph?
Silently and gravely they watch the ravages of the fierce element, and
,
listen to the earthquake shocks which tell of shattered forts and crumbling palaces, or, gazing on the scene of desolation and destruction around them, take to their hearts the terrible lesson of war, the stern moral of victory. For the peculiar fate of Sebastopol gave no scope for the wild crimes which mostly attend the capture of a place by storm; and, fortunately for humanity, the excited passions of the soldiery, deprived of aught to feed their unholy flame, were soon replaced by the gentle feelings of brotherhood and pity, and the calmer moods of reflection which arise in the lull of action.
This view gives only a portion of the interior of the Malakoff. The extent of the work, and its vast accumulation of parapets and traverses in all directions for the purposes of shelter, each alone rendered it impossible to embrace the whole in one drawing. The Round Tower, so conspicuous an object at the commencement of the siege, is here still visible; but it was cut down lower and lower by each bombardment, till at last nothing of it was visible above the level of the earthen defences.
KAMIESCH.
Kamiesch was to the French at once the Balaklava and the Kadikoi of the English. Here they had established their base of operations; and within this deep and sheltered bay was assembled the vast crowd of transports required to supply the ever-growing wants of an immense army, in the several branches of provisions, clothing, siege-train, and munitions of war. Here also was the town, consisting of interminable rows of wooden houses, in which the suttlers of the army retailed their wares. Cabarets, cafes, and restaurants, occurred at frequent intervals, interspersed with shops rejoicing in the high-sounding titles of Bazaar de VArmee, Grande Maison, and a hundred others equally inviting and no less sonorous. Less favoured by nature than Balaklava in the advantages of surrounding scenery and actual position, Kamiesch atoned for the absence of the picturesque by presenting a scene of animation and gaiety in striking contrast with the sober, business-like aspect of its rival port, which, from a very early period of the siege, was monopolised for government purposes. Amidst its slim, fragile houses, which looked as if the fii'st puff of wind would blow them into the sea, a motley population, gathered from the four corners of the earth, swarmed and flitted and buzzed and settled like a cloud of flies on a hot summer's day. Turks, Greeks, Jews, Italians,
French, and English; soldiers, sailors, and marines; Zouaves and vivandieres; officers on horseback and on foot; transport captains and amateurs; generals and privates, met here on common ground, and realised for a brief space the true spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity.