Although the Russians have been justly praised for their endvu'ance of pain, I must say I never beheld them submit to such tortm-es as our men experienced. As I looked upon the shattered frames before me in which such noble spirits were enshrined, I could but remember the howls of a Russian corporal, at Kinburn, who had been wounded in the heel. He probably wished to excite compassion, for on finding that he was to be placed on a French cacolet, by the orders of Dr. Gordon, Lis cries w^ere frightful. The surgeons displayed the greatest courage and kmdness, and every man was at his post in the midst of fire and shell. Drs. Alexander, Mure, Watt, Mouatt, and Longraore, particularly distinguished themselves, and the first mentioned brought up the ambulances to the spot while shell were bursting in all directions.
S\'ovember 16. Sir W. Codrington visited the scene of the calamity soon after dawn this morning, and gave dii'ections respecting the care of the wounded and the safety of the park. The French are busy in clearing away the ruins. Xovember 17, 11 a.m. There is a considerable movement among the Russian troops on the heights about Mackenzie's Farm. Three large columns of infantry, about a mile apart, are advancing towards the Western Belbek, through the brushwood, and their arms can be seen flasHng in the sun all over the dark surface of the plateau. About eight o'clock this mornhig, an explosion was observed in the Eussian camp behind Mackenzie's Farm, but it was of no great magnitude. I saw the smoke distinctlj^ but I could not hear any noise, and therefore mixch mischief could not have been done, for the morning was calm, and the explosion not quite five miles distant.
The Trench batteries in the city preserve silence, and the Russians seem to be gettmg tu-ed of wasting shot and shell on such contemptuous foes. I regret to say that several of the sufferers from the explosion have succumbed in our hospitals. Many of those who have undergone amputations and severe operations are doing well; but the sudden shock of the explosion and its frightful effects have so shaken the nervous system that it is very difficult to establish a reaction. The wounded officers are doing well. Marshal Pelissier has named a commission of inquiry to report on the cause of the disastrous accident. Our men declare, of course, that it was the work of an incendiary. General Codrington seemed to give credence to the report inasmuch as he ordered the army to turn out an hoiubefore daybreak, to be prepared for the Russians if they really had anj'thing to do with the act, and calculated on crippling us so far that they might attack us with better chance of success than before.
The embark ation of our cavalry still continues, and in a few days the 11th Hussars will be the only regiment of English horse left in the Crimea. It woidd have been much more economical in the end, and in the opinion of most cavalry officers far more judicious, if the regiments had been left in the Crimea for the winter. The horses and men could have been drilled and might have worked together whenever it was fine, and young animals of both kinds might have been broken in to curb and discipline. Several of the regiments had already provided excellent stabling for the winter, and had ample cover for their horses. The men in vaany instances were hutted, the roads up to their camps are in fair order, and there is no fear that either the men or the horses would be required to undergo the hard work or the privations of the last winter, when they were obliged to go to Balaklava, knee deep in mud, every day to draw their rations, fodder, and fuel.
The commanding officers fear that in Scutari or the Greek villages, where thej may be quartered, the men will have only too many opportunities of obtaining ardent spirits, and that they will be far less fit for active service in the field — both man and horse — than if they had remained encamped and liuttod near Karanyi. The cost of carrying the cavalry to and fro will be very heavy, but that is, of course, not to be considered if the operation itself be necessary or desirable. It certainly would have taken less money to provide huts and stablini,^ for those regiments that required them than to carrj' them from the Crimea and back again. However, the thing is now done. The pressure on the narrow harbour of Balaklava will certainly be much lessened by sending the cavalry awaj'', for an immense reduction will necessarily take place in the quantity of corn, hay, straw, and rations to be carried to it from the various parts of the Black Sea and from Constantinople.