It was believed at the time, and it is now almost notorious, that General Simpson opposed his own appointment, and bore testimony to his own incapacity, but the Government, or Lord Hardinge and Lord Panmure insisted; and General Simpson became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. He was succeeded in his post as Chief of the Staff" by an intelligent officer, Major-General Barnard; who displayed great personal activity in his execution of its duties. The vacancy created in the AdjutantGeneral's Department by the lamented death of jMajor-General Estcourt was filled byColonel Pakenluini,who had been his second in command, and who was a good man of business, however defiOUR AR3 cient in that personal courtesy and politeness which tlistinguisli the officers of the corresponding department of the French Army.
The changes created by death or wounds on the 18th having thus been satisfactorily effected, tlie armjresumed its usual attitude of laborious watchfulness in the trenches and of expectation in the camp; and for many long weeks we were amused by confident announcements that our batteries would open in " n days, u being a very small number;" batteries were constructed by the English and the French on the commanding points in their possession to drive away the Russian shipping which covered the front of our trenches with a deadly fire on the occasion of an assarilt, and which were handled with skill and a great deal of boldness throughout the siege. All these batteries failed in their object. The ships \ip to the last continued to render able and energetic co-operation to the besieged.
On the 17th June, our armament consisted of thirty 13 -inch mortars, seventeen 10-inch mortars, and eight 8-inch mortars; of forty-nine 32-pounders, of forty-six 8-inch guns, of eight 10-inch, and eight 6S-pounder guns — an increase of thirty guns and mortars on the armament with which we opened fire on the 7th June; and 2286 13-inch bombs, 884 10-inch bombs, 9740 32-lb. shot, 6712 8-inch shot, 1706 10-inch shot, 1350 68 -pounder shot, were fired into the town, in the bombardment, previous to the assault. Still, this weight of metal, although it caused an enormous loss, did not crush the fire of the place, and the enemy were enabled to continue to reply, and to mount fresh guns, owing to the constant command of men from the armies outside the town.
The capture of Kertcli and Yonikale, the command of the Sea of Azov, the partial possession of the Spit of Arabat, had not produced the results we expected on the resom'ces of the garrison; and it was evident that they received supplies of men and food by Perekop and Tchongar — no matter by what exertions, or at what Bacrifices the communications might be effected. The Allies were unable in any way to intercept the supplies. They had advanced from Eupatoria towards Simpheropol on various occasions, but had invariably found the enemy in superior force, in strong positions, except on the single occasion of General d'AllonvIlle's brilliant affair with the Russian cavalry, under General Korte, near Sak, which ended in the utter rout of the latter, and the loss of a battery of field artillery.
The natui'e of the country, the difficulty of traugport, and tho distance of the base of operations, have all been pleaclcd as reasons for the failure of the attempts to advance from Eupatoria; but it seems ratlier strange that no effort was made to march, by either the Duljanak or the Alma, to the capital ol'the Crimea; and the troops of Omar Pasha, instead ol" being kept idle at Komara or Eupatoria, could have been employed with the French and English in making a serious diversion, which would have paralj'sed the energies of the enemy, and which might have led to the fall of Sebastopol, north and south, and the surrender or total flight of all the Kussian army. It was not till the 11th July that Omar Pasha, dispirited at the inactivity to which he and his arm}' were doomed, proposed to General Simpson to embark the Turks irom the Crimea, and to land near Kutais, in order to relieve Kars by a menacing march npon Tiflis.