The good feeling wliich existed between the Sardinians and their allies was never marred for one moment by any untoward jealousies or circumstances of rivalry, and more especially were they ever on terms of friendship with the English, although their knowledge of Fi'ench gave them greater facilities for coummuicatin-j: with our allies than are DEPARTURE OF THE SARDINIANS. 4G3 possessed by our men. Their position at Fedukhino brought them into constant contact with the French and HighUmders, and they have left behind them many kindly remembrances, not readily to be forgotten. In all my rambles I have rarely, if ever, seen a drunken Sardinian; their behaviour in camp, in the canteens, at Kadikoi, imd on the roads was exemplary, and T understand, that in the absence of crime, social or military, they claim to rank with the best disciplined army in the world.
On the occasion of his Excellency's departure, the English Commander-in-Chief issued the following General AfterOrder: — " IIead-Quakteus, Sebastopol, May 17th, 185G. "No. 1. The greater part of the Sardinian army has quitted the Crimea, and General della Marmora himself will soon embark. "A guard of honour, with artillery, will be held in readiness for the:departure of the Sardinian Commander-in-Chief " The Commander of the Forces trusts that General della Slarmora will himself receive, and convey to those whom he has commanded in the Crimea, the good wishes of the English army for their future prosperity. " With steadiness, with discipline, with resource, the Sardinian army has long maintained and eiliciently guarded the advanced position entrusted to it; and ii; bore its honourable share with the troops of France in the battle of the Tchernaya. " In our intercourse there has been neither difficulty nor difference, and this good feeling between all the armies of tlie alliance has had a very important influence in determining the peace of Europe. " By order, C.
A. Windiiaji, Chief of the Staff." The attempts to repair the Russian cemeteries have been tolerably successful, and our labour's on those where our own dead lie are nearly brought to a close. As we are about to part for ever, our anxiety to learn more of our late foes increases. The Russians survey our camps, we visit their hospitals, study their commissariat, inquire into their military system, and inspect their positions; our engineers, also, minutely examine the siege-works of our allies, with which they were necessarily but slightly acquainted during the progress of the attack. Our approaches to the defences of the place afforded no opportunity to our engineers of developing the use of mines against the enemy, and were not assailable by the same agency on their side for the same reason, as it is obvious that where mines can be used by the attacking force they can also be adopted by the defenders.
The French had not the same sort of ground, and the system of French mines in front of the Bastion du Mat presents the most astonishing instance of labour and skill ever wit- 4G CRIMEA. nessed in any siege. To the Eussians, however, belongs the credit of the most imijortant and extensive operations of this nature. Oar engineers have in their possession plans of both the French and Kussian mines and galleries, and tlie tracings resemble a section of a honeycomb. The enemy's mines consisted of two series of shafts or galleries and magazines, the first beinotwenty-seven feet below the surface, the second being no less than forty feet below the first. The workmen were supplied with air by means of force pumps, and in one magazine at the end of one of these galleries there was found no less than 85001b. of powder, all tamped in and ready for firing by electric wires.
This magazine would have formed an ctonnoir far in the rear of the French advance, and its probable effects may be estimated when it is considered that the destruction of the docks was eflected by a smaller quantity of gunpowder than was contained in this one mine. Many of the shafts spring out of the counterscarp, and there are numerous chambers cut into the same portion of the ditch of the bastion, which were used as bombproofs by a portion of the garrison. It has also been discovered that the Russians had cut a subterranean gallery from inside the parapet, under the ditch, to an advanced Work which they used as a place d'armes in making a sortie, and hitherto it had puzzled the French to understand how the men used to collect in this work without being seen.
The eff"ect produced by the French mines in their saps can only be conceived by those who have looked down into the yawning craters of the etonnoirs, after stumbling over the wild chaos of rocks cast up all round by the explosion, just as though the Titans and the Gods had met there in deadly combat. Some of these gulfs resemble the pits of volcanoes. The Russians only intended to fire some of these mines in case of an assault on the Bastion being repulsed under circumstances which gave them a chance of occupying the enemy's advanced saps; others would have been fired only in case of a retreat from the city, in order to destroy as many of the enemy as possible, and to check pursuit; and the explosion was intended to destroy not only the French parallels, but the works of the Bastion itself, so as to prevent the French turning the guns.
There were two or three mines inside the Redan, and there Avere some extensive galleries and mines in front of the Malakhoff", but it was at the Bastion du Mat, or Flagstaff Battery, that the French and Russians put forth their strength in mine and counter-mine. The galleries are pushed for fiftj'