Had they possessed mortars with which to reply to our vertical fire, they say they would have held out for another year at least, " but the army of defence, with a deep seaway m its rear, with one flank menaced by a fleet and the other by the works at Inkermann, so that in reality its centre only was efiective, could not strategically resist an army of attack which had such advantages of position." Our neglected siege-train and Artillery and Naval Brigade, according to the Russians, took the town, as by their fire they made its defence impossible. During the last two bombardments from French and English, the garrison "lived in holes like rats," and the telling-oflf of reliefs and moving of reserves were always attended with danger and certain loss.
It is to be hoped that our men in camp at Aldershott and the Curragh will not be merely drilled and manoeuvi'ed, but that they will be taught " to work" above all things. As labourers, our soldiers are not equal to the French, and are far inferior to the Russians. Our Engineers complain that the only regiments which work well are the Guards and some of the Rifle Brigade, and that the Irish and Scotch regiments do not know how to handle the tools used in military works. In fact, only those soldiers who were originally agricultural labourers, and were 24:6 PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXPEDITION. tlierefore used to the spade and pick, can get througli tlie labours usually required for the construction of approaches or defences.
Herdsmen, gillies, sword-dancers, huntsmen, deerstalkers, mowers, hodmen, mechanics, and town labourers, however strong, active, and willing, and wherever they come fi-om, cannot use the implements which are put into their hands by the Sappers and Miners, and it would be exceedingly desirable to teach men who may be employed in such works how to work, and what to do with the tools. Was it old Turenne who said, " more battles wei-e won by the spade than by the musket"? We win all ours by the bayonet and musket alone, and we certainly suffered great loss and were exposed to much disadvantage from not being able to approach within 200 yards of the Redan, whereas the French got up to the abattis of the Malakhoff, and within 25 metres of the parapet.
Our gallant allies could, indeed, spare more men to work, and could afford to lose more in the approaches, than we could. That their labom-s were not light, or their casualties trifling, we may infer from the fact that they lost no less than 64 officers of Engineers in the siege, of whom 30 were killed. And here I may say that some feeling of chagrin has been created among those noble and trusty allies of ours who came to our aid at Inkermann, that they have not received the clasp for that great action. This acknowledgment of their services on the occasion they were somehow or other led to expect. I have often heard their officers declare what satisfaction and pride they should feel in exhibiting an English decoration on their breasts.
Their order of the Legion of Honour is filled by selection, and not by a wholesale pitchforking of classes; every man of equal rank, no matter what his merit or demerit, gets the same reward as his neighbour. There is no doubt that immense satisfaction would be caused in both armies if an intercliange of honours could be arranged between the two nations. A strong hope and often-expressed belief that such an arrangement would be effected will meet a painful disappointment should it not be carried into effect. General Simpson's despatch respecting the operations on the 8th of September has given considerable satisfaction to the army. It is said to be judicious and well written, though very concise, and it afibrds evidence that the Commander-in-Chief can rise above the very dead level of the uninteresting General Orders which will make the records of this army intolerable to the patience and not easy to the dig^estion of tlie most resolute and hardy antiquarian in times to come.
Who will venture to publish our past despatches? And yet we have notable penmen at head-quarters, who are at their vocation night and day, and who injure their temper and manners by incessant scrivenery, the results of wliich are buried in the pigeon-holes of Whitehall, never to be seen even in the lively pages of a blue-book. The French authorities enter less into detail and exhibit less penmanship, and are, perhaps, therefore, more polite and affable to strangers than our own good gentleman. If an Englishman presents himself at the French head-quarters, or makes any application in writing for passes to the trenches, or such slight facilities, he is presented with them at once, in a manner which enhances the value of the obligation.