It is to be presumed that they expected to catch us napping, and, on finding themselves mistaken, thought proper to abandon their design. The enemy continues to throw shot at our camp, but they fall short or on the outskirts, and the damage they do is so trifling as not to be worth the ammunition expended. Yesterday evening, during the firing on the left, they threw up several to Cathcart's-hill. They are fired fi'om an immense distance (the Garden Battery, it is believed), and of course at a great elevation. The soldiers amuse themselves with digging them out of the ground, into which they plunge to a considerable depth. SIBGE OPERATIONS. CHAPTER X. Siege operations in the ascendant — Tlie Tchernaya an object of interest to curiosity Iiuntcrs — 'I'lieir perseverance in carrying olT relics — Tlie struggle on tlie Tchernaya — Its sanguinary character — The Kus.-ians lircd upon their own men — Three Russian general oiticers found upon tiie field — Operations of the Kussian army directed from St.
Petersljurg — The demonstration towards Baidar — Omar Pasha said to be going to Asia, and Erzeroum captured by the Russians — General commendation of the behaviour of the Sardinian troops in the recent battle — Their admirable coolness and self-possession — The note of preparation — Probable results of a Russian attack — Tlie capture of the south side would enable us to operate in the field — Splendid condition of the troops. Camp of the Allied Armies on the Tcheknata, August 21. Since the affair of the 16th we, on our part, have again relapsed into the former routine way. The Russians have vanished from all sides, and the siege operations have again monopolized, in great measure, the interest which the Tcheriiaj'a line had attracted for one moment.
There was, indeed, a report that the Russians had an intention of renewing their attack, but that the opening of the new batteries next morning upset their plans, as they apprehended some operation of the allies from that side. The Tchernaya has become, in consequence of the late attack, a point of attraction for all curiosity-seeking persons, whose name is legion, in the allied armies. Officers and soldiers, although numerous enough, are few in proportion to the merchant sailors, suttlers from Balaklava and Kamiesch, and other nondescript camp followers, who form a class of themselves, and are as sure to appear after an action is over as vultures are. Everything is acceptable. They have little chance of getting hold of medals, amulets, crosses, and other more valuable spoil, for these disappear marvellously; but they are not particular.
The greatest mania seems to prevail for muskets — nevertheless, cartridge boxes, riflemen's swords, bayonets, &c. are iiA^en faute de mieux. But the getting of the arms is not always the most difficult part of the business, it is the getting them away, for there are gendarmes pi'owling about who confiscate all arms, whether paid for or not, as, according to the regulations of the French army, they ought to be collected on the battle-field by the Artillery — a thing which is never done. There were some excellent rifles, with sword-bayonets, which were in gi'eat request; they were, as all valuable things usually are, picked up mostly by the Zouaves, who certainly had the best right to them, having won them by their bravery.
The Zouaves sold them, and the gendarmes took them away again, leaving the purchaser free to single out the Zouave who sold the rifle, and to get baclv his purchase-money. The more the particulars of this affair become known, the more it grows in importance. The ground where the attack took place being extended and very much broken up, one could not at first fully appreciate the amount of the loss of the Russians, but it is now officially known that the Pi-cnch alone have 2200 Russian womided and prisoners, the number of unwounded prisoners amounting to 400. The collecting of the wounded took nearly two days, and most likely there are still some of them not discovered, among the bushes in the neighbourhood of the river.
For the burial of the dead an armistice was concluded, during which the French buried all those on this side of the river, while the Russians buried those in the plain beyond. The number of the dead is not yet officially known, but the accounts which I have heard vary from 1500 to 1700. Of course the number of those buried by the Russians will never be ascertained, but it is certain that their ambulances were full of wounded. These must have fallen when the troops formed and when they retired, and their number must be prodigious, for you could see large spaces cleared in the dense columns by grape and shell; besides, the Russians fired with grape into their own people from behmd. I heard so from many people, and I saw it myself.