Colonel Lj^sons got close to the ditch at the re-entering angle, and Avas shot by a Eussian from the parapet above so that the ball passed down into the thigh, where it still remains. There were then close to the Colonel only Captain Dunne, Lieutenant DjTieley, Corporal Shields, and about twenty-five men, the ground in the rear being covered with the killed and wounded. Captain Dunne w^as ordered by the Colonel to collect the stragglers who were comingup, to form them together, and charge across the ditch and up the parapet, and some of them got on the top of the parapet in this pUice, and were found dead there in the morning, and 200 out of 282 men were wounded. As Colonel Lysons crawled back to the salient he was shot through the skii'ts of the coat.
Before Sebastopol, November 20. The army is getting into better shape and form every day. Excellent warm clothing has been issued to the men, and so uniform is it in style that no one can distinguish officers from men, unless by the difi'erence of style and bearing. Our allies are astonished at the profuseness of our military wardrobe, which not only contains a waterproof suit, helmet and all, but fm* coats and caps, cowhide boots, tweed coats lined with cat or rabbit skin, &c., and for the officers, suits of sealskin, sold at moderate prices. The French only receive from theiiGovernment an ordinai-y cloth capote, and must buy any waterproofs or furs which they may find necessary. The sheepskin coats of last year are not in Bauch favoiu'; they have a very high odour, and are found to be extremely sought after as residences by objectionable insects of predatory habits.
The huts blown down by the explosion are nearly rebuilt, but the extent of canvas-covering which is still visible over the camp would astonish those who imagine all the:roops to be within wooden walls. However, a good double:ent well pitched and dug out is more comfortable for one man:han most huts wo aid be, as it is extremely difficult to stanch;he latter, and the former is always sure to be air and watertight. For a sergeant's guard, however, a tent is very uncomfortable, because there can be no fii-eplace in it which would not expose some of the inmates to be roasted, and stoves are found to smoke with wood and coal, and to be dangerous with charcoal. The cookhouses offer guarantees for the liealth of the men, and with the blessing of Heaven the army will not suffer any serious detriment from the severities of this climate, although it would be too much to expect entire freedom from some kind of privations on the part of an army cantoned on the open ground during a Crimean winter.
The roads, indeed, even now, when we have no trenches, no prospects of an attack, no want of labour — the roads are even now objects of much interest to us all. The whistling locomotives on the railway — the " Alliance," the " Victory" — which recal to us the familiar sounds of Wolverhampton or of Didcot, and make iis believe for the moment that we are in a civilized countrj', are not to be taken as material guarantees for the possession of material comforts in the coming winter. Trains may be snowed up in the Crimea as in England, and, despite the efforts of Land Transport and Commissariat, supplies of certain articles cannot be accumulated at the divisional dejjofs in any large proportion to tlie wants of the army.
What do you think of 319 sheep being killed in one day for a single division of the army, and of that division requiring 100 more sheep to be sacrificed before they had " their pound of flesh" and their full allowance of meat rations? But these roads are very good, and give no just ground for apprehension of failure, although it is the habit of some persons either to sneer at them as being too Eomanesque in grandeur and solidity, or to prophes}'^ their dissolution in the winter. Mr. Beatty, with small means at his command, has placed the raih way on an excellent basis, as far as wood, iron, and stone can secure it. The soundness of his judgment in lajdngout the line is confirmed by Mr.
Doyne's adoption of a course very nearly parallel to it throughout for the grand main road between Balaklava and the camp — a tribute which has not been, however, unattended by evils, inasmuch as the parallelism has given rise to fears that the proximity of the one may interfere with the safe working of the other. Mr. Beatty goes home immediately, if, indeed, he has not already gone, and I much regret that he has been obliged to retire from a post in which he rendered services not only to the army collectively, but to many individuals in it, who will always retain a deep sense of his kindness and friendly assistance in times of domestic difiiculty about huts and transports. Ah'eady the mud is beginning to tell upon our animals.