General De la Marmora, who has had the satisfaction of seeing the splendid army he organized tested in the field, and coming out of the ordeal triumphantly, can only comprehend the system as the emanation of a national worship of gold; and it certainly must be a disagreeable reflection to its advocates that it sprang up in the most disgraceful period ot our national histoiy, when the King was a paid vassal of France, and luxury and licentiousness had made our Court and aristocracy corrupt, venal, and un-English. Let us honour and reward this army for its toils, its services, its victories, its sufferings; and let us ih€7i show our gratitude hy liberating those gi-and legions Irom the degi'ading intiuences of the purse, and by permitting the commoner and the noble in their ranks to fight on equal terms for the land they love so well, and to '" start fair" in the race of glory and honour.
Individual heroism has been so often exhibited by officers and men that we do not signalize and reward it as our allies take every opportunity of doing; but I hope to be able to present you with many authentic instances of it when the immediate pressure of affairs has been removed, and I will take the present opportunity of satisfying your able correspondent, " Jacob Omnium," on a point respecting which he expressed a desire for information in one of his invaluable letters. I wish you could insei't the story. It is some time since, with equal simplicity and feeling, he told you how, in the midst of a furious and deadl}' fire, two men of the 68th rushed into a riile-pit which had been occupied by an officer and a party of the Rifles, most of whom were wounded by the enemy, and carried oil" the man who was most injured to the rear; but he was misinformed when he stated that one of these fine fellows v>'as killed.
The man is still alive; he was only knocked over by a shot, which hit him in the heels. The scene of the story so graphically told was between the second and third parallels of the Green-hill trenches, and the time was the 22nd or 23rd of November, 1854. The name of the man who was wounded is James Sims; he is now serving in the band of the gallant 68th. The name of his brave comrade is Samuel Biu-rows; he was in the band of the same regiment at the time, but he is now doing duty in the rank and file. The Rifle officer sought to find the man to reward him with a couple of pounds, but what the true soldier looks for is honour, and not money; and I am assured that Sims and Burrows Avould be prouder of a medal, or some such honorary mark of distinction, than of a full iiurse.
Let me add this fact: — Sims was one of the men who aided in carrying off General Torrcns from the field of Inkermann. The artillery were falling back for want of ammunition. A portion of the 68th, torn by a tremendous fire, to which they could not reply, were slowly and sternly retiring, and the Russians advanced on the litter-bearers with a loud yell. General ToiTcns ordered the men to leave him. Tliey refused, and continued to carry him through the fire. ]le took down the name of Sims, and promised to do something for him, but most likely the gallant General forgot it. The friends of the deceased olficers whose bones lie in the Crimea have read the observations which were made by Lord Palmerstou, in reply to Sir J.
Fergusson, with the deepest interest, and it must be confessed that the treatment of tlie burial-grounds of tlie enemy by the Turks at Balaklava and Kertch might ailbrd tlie allies some uneasiness, lest, in their undiscriminating revenge, the llussians might destroy tlie few memorials that aifection has been able to erect to friends and relatives departed in our scattered grave-yards. Neither in our attack on the Cemetery, nor in the French assault on and seizure of the Quarantine Church and Cemetery, was any damage done to the tombs, except by the shot and shell of the Russians, and we have sought to preserve respect to the remains of their dead by every means in our power. On most of the tombstones on Cathcart'shill, and in the other divisional grave-yards, a few words in Russian and a cross have been engraved, to propitiate, as it were, the enemy, and to ask for their forbearance.