Our army will always preserve its high character in the field. The sobriety, the good conduct, and the discipline which it is our duty to maintain are the best sureties of future success, and I trust to the efibrts and assistance of all ranks in thus keeping the army to be an instrument of honour, of power, and of credit to England. " W. J. CODKINGTON, " General Commander of the Forces." General Simpson's farewell appeared last night, and is as follows: — " General Sir James Simpson announces to the army that the Queen has been graciously pleased to permit him to resign the command of this army, and to appoint General Sir William Codrington, K.C.B., to be his successor. " On resigning his command, the General desires to express to the troops the high sense he entertains of the admirable conduct of the officers and men of this army during the time he has had tlie honour to serve witli them. In talcing leave of them, he tenders his hest thanks to all ranlcs, and offers his earnest wishes for their success and honour in all the future operations of this noble army. " General Sir William Codrington will be pleased to assume the command of the army to-morrow, the 11th instant. " By order, " H. W. Baknaed, Chief of the Staff." CHAPTER XXXVI. A CATASTEOPIIE. A catastrophe unparalleled in the annals of war — Casualties in the Light Division from tlie explosion — Loss experienced by tlie right siege-train — Friglitfui appearance of the dead — Agony of the wounded — Their heroic fortitude — Courage and kindness of the surgeons — Visit of Sir W. Codrington to the scene of the calamity — An explosion heliind Mackenzie's farm — The explosion supposed to be the work of an incendiary— Embarkation of English cavalry — The Czar believed by some to be with the army of the Tchernaya — An interesting conversation.
Before Sebastopol, Kovemher 17. This month of November would seem to be ruled by some genius unfavourable to our arms. If it gave to us the glorious remembrance of a profitless and bloody victory, it also brought with it a day of disaster and gloom — the beginning of a long series of calamities. The first anniversary of that day had passed away amid mutual congratulations and reminiscences, rendered all the more joyous by the contrast between the present and the past. Next day we beheld a spectacle of unusual splendour and grandeur, one indeed which no native of these isles has ever yet ■witnessed, so far as I am aware. Again those feelings of congratulation found utterance; the purity of the air — the health of the troops — the abundance of stores — the excellence of the roads — the quantity of hutting — the hospital accommodation — the fineness of the day — the beauty of the sky — the dryness ol' the soil — the prospects of the army — the bright hued future: all these were contrasted by a myriad tongues in endless difference of phrase, coloured by many a recollection of personal sufi'ering.
There was no sorrow, no calamity could reach us now, and of all things which fate could grant us, most of all were we desirous of meeting that alone with which fate seemed to threaten us — an assault by tlie enemy. But, sudclt'nly, up from the very centre of our Ciunp, so that every ear should hear and every eye shoidd see, rushes with such a crash as may forewarn the world of its doom, and with such a burst of ilame and smoke as may never yet have been seen by man, except in the throes of some primeval eruption, a ghastly pillar of sulphureous vapour. It spreads as it rises, bearing aloft for hundreds of yards men, horses, fragments of limbs, rocks, shells, and cannon shot, and then raining them down again as it extends its folds in writhing involutions, as though it were tortured by the fire within, over the astounded soldiery below!
For a moment the boldest lost heart, and " the bravest held his breath." There was no safety in flight — the wings of the wind could not have left that dreadful shower of iron behind; and as one of the most collected and cool soldiers in the army said to me, " I had only presence of mind to throw myself on the ground and ask the forgiveness of God, and I received His mercy!" My reading in military matters is not sufficient to enable me to say, with any confidence, that there never was so terrible an explosion; but having witnessed, and heard the explosions at Paulovskaia and Kertch, at Oczakotf, of the French magazines on the 17th of October last, and of the Eussian forts on the 9th of September, I must say that, in volume of sound, in appalling effect, they were fiir exceeded in vehemence and grandeur by this tremendously abrupt and startling catastrophe.