in the sports of the day, and their friends, dined at the restaurant of the Third Division, Colonel Daubeny in the chair, and the foundation was laid for an army jockey club, with a permanent fund for races wherever the troops may be encamped. The dinner would have astonished those who knew the camp this time twelvemonth. The tables, the room itself, the lights, the songs, would seem to him the efi'ect of enchantment, and more than once one shut one's eyes as one thought of last year, and asked, could it all be a dream? The night was pitch dark, and the rain fell in torrents; as the camp is intersected by deep drains, and full of all kinds of unpleasant irons de loup, many of the company bivouacked on the floor of the shed, and only left at dawn.
The sacks are often badly tied, or rotten and full of holes. It is no imcommon thing to see a Croat or Turkish labourer waddling slowly along with a sack on his back, from which the corn is descending in streams against his heels, till he arrives from the ship at the store, and then to behold him depositing the collapsed and flaccid bag on the heap Avitli the greatest gravity and satisfaction at his success in diminishing his load at every step. In the various Divisional Commissariat depots an enormous loss of grain also occurs from similar causes, and from shifting the sacks and the distribution of the rations. But it seems to be impossible to prevent these losses, which are regarded as incidental to a state of war.
The other day, a man came to me and begged of me to take care of thirty sovereigns for him, as " he did not know what to do with it till he could get leave to purchase his discharge, and it was not sale to carry it about with him." Would it not be practicable to establish ambulatory regimental savings-banks in the field at trifling trouble and small expense? As to our own authorities, they are waging a war ol' extermination against spirit vendors, and, above all, against rakce importers. This villanous spirit inflames men's brains and sets them mad; it has all the abominable properties of Ircsh-run rum or new whisky, but it afl'ects the nervous system more mischievously, and produces prostration, wdiich frequently ends in death.
It is dreadfully cheap, colom-less, like gin, with a taste of bad anisette and a fiery burning smack on the tongue, and is alcohol all but pure, with the exception of the adulteration, which contributes the flavour. Captain Shervmton, the ProvostIMarshal at Balaklava, has a wonderful knack of following out the concealed depots of this by the smell, and the process of punishment is simple. The o^vners are compelled to start the poison into the sea, and they are then ordered to leave the Crimea instanter. Canteen-keepers who keep it are fined heavily, their canteens are shut up, and themselves deported, at their own expense, to Constantinople. Xo less than three native vessels were seized the other day by Captain Shervinton fidl of rakee; the cargoes were confiscated, and the ships sent awaj-, never to be let into Balaklava again.
Every canteen-keeper or storekeeper on whose premises a drunken soldier is seen, no matter what the excuse may be, is fined 5^. for each, and the Provost-Marshal has more money than he knows what to do with from this som'ce alone. But they are a wealthy race, these social vultures — many of them king vultures — respectable birds of prey, with kempt plumage and decent demeanour — others mere " adjutants," dirty and predacious. The sutlers of Kadikoi care little for 51. fines while they can get Gd. a-dozen for tacks, and 2*. a-pound for lard sub nomine butter, and they pay their taxes like lords, or rather much more willingly, now that the income-tax is pressing on people at home. Taxes! — what is the man talking about?
It is quite true, nevertheless. There is an unchartered corporation in the town of Kadikoi, with a Mayor and Aldermen, or Town Councillors, and a vigorous administrative staif that would astonish the elder brethren about Guildhall. They have a machinery of scavengers and sewermen, and they pay about 120/. a-raonth for keeping their city in order. This weather, however, does not contribute to their comfort, whilst it diminishes their profits, and the condition of the roads makes their chariot wheels drive heavily. As to tliese roads, on which so much depends, it is not possible to express an opinion yet; but a portion of the section below the Col is in a very bad state, as I can attest; and I am told that the portion in question is just the very part where the military engineers interfered with the civil engineer.