isolated hills, upon four of which entrenchments had been thrown up, armed by artillery and garrisoned by Turks. These were in reality the outposts of the Allied camp, in the front of Balaklava. Against these the Russians concentrated their force, on the 25th of October, and the Turks fled from Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, redoubts, successively. Although they were at the time of the occurrence much censured for their somewhat precipitate retreat, military men who really understand the case admit that a prolonged defence was impossible. Some batteries on an eminence, as well as the field-pieces in the valley, opened out upon these outworks, and the gallant Turks, attacked on all sides, were unable to offer any effectual resistance to the masses of horse and foot that the Russian generals brought against them.

The First Division, and part of the Light Division, had in the meantime turned out in the English camp; and on the heights to the right of the valley, a little in advance of the town of Balaklava, Sir Colin Campbell had drawn up the 93rd Highlanders. The Turks, hotly pursued by the Russian horse, took refuge with the Highlanders, and formed upon their flanks. Thither they were pursued by the Russians; and the 93rd did not condescend to alter their formation to receive the charge. Sir Colin Campbell said, "I did not think it worth while to form them even four deep." Their commander was right. As the Russians approached, they were received with a volley from the Minié muskets; and when within one hundred and fifty yards, another volley was fired, with unerring aim. The Russians turned and retreated; baffled by a mere handful of British infantry.

The English cavalry had now reached the scene of action, and prepared to take a glorious part in the contest. The hills were crowded with eager spectators, anxiously watching the issue of that splendid passage of arms. The Russians having recovered from the effects of their panic, and being joined by large reinforcements, caught sight of our small cavalry force, drawn up in battle array. Probably they imagined that in the immense superiority of numbers they possessed, the favourable moment had come for wiping out past defeats. Be that as it may, they advanced against the English horse, their first line extending double the length of ours, and being quite three times as deep. Brigadier-general Scarlett at this moment put the Scotch Greys and the Ennis

LL

killen Dragoons to the charge, and with a wild shout they burst like a storm-cloud upon the very centre of the Muscovite masses. Valiantly, after a struggle of a few moments' duration, they cut their way through those serried ranks, and emerged only to make a fierce onslaught upon the second line, now rapidly advancing to the encounter. Again to the numerous spectators that lined the hills, and held their breath in painful anxiety, did the handful of English seem to be surrounded and swallowed up by their numerous assailants; yet again did they reappear, and, gathering their scattered forces for one last charge, burst upon the Russians, and drive them in disorder down the valley.

The heavy cavalry had brilliantly sustained their reputation, in utterly routing a body of the enemy's horse three times. more numerous than themselves.

The temporary repulse of the Turks had been gallantly redeemed, and the attempt of the Russian generals to force their way into the rear of our position completely frustrated, when an action occurred which, while it enhances the glory of the British arms, was attended with consequences that will ever invest it with the character of a deplorable sacrifice. Although beaten by our gallant horsemen, and hurled in confusion down the valley, the Russians still held three of the redoubts captured from the Turks, and had succeeded in carrying off some guns. Their cavalry had retreated down the valley towards a narrow gorge that formed its outlet. Here six battalions of infantry took their stand, protected by thirty guns in position; while on the neighbouring hills masses of infantry were collected, and in some parts guns had been brought up. To attack such a force as this, even with greatly superior numbers, would have been a deed of no ordinary daring; and what shall we say, then, of the 600 gallant fellows, who undertook that which an army might have hesitated to essay? This small cavalry force had advanced nearer to the enemy in obedience to instructions sent by Lord Raglan, when Captain Nolan, as brave a soldier as ever grasped a sword, brought. Lord Lucan, the commander, an order which he did not clearly understand. Imagining that Lord Raglan never could have intended him to charge an army in position, he inquired of Captain Nolan where he was to advance? "There are the enemy, and there are the guns; it is your duty to take them!" was the reply which he received. In spite

of this, Lord Lucan hesitated before he gave Lord Cardigan the order to lead forth the Light Brigade to what seemed certain destruction; but Captain Nolan volunteered to join the charge, and the order was issued.

It was only a few minutes after eleven when, in all the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war," the Light Brigade moved forward in that field of fame. When still 1,300 yards from the foe, they were assailed on every side by a furious discharge from the batteries; and, although they rode with all speed, many a bold horseman had bit the dust before a blow could be struck in return. Each gap made by the murderous cannonade in their first rank was supplied from the second, until at length they reached the Russian masses, and sabred the artillery-men at their guns. In the fearful medley that ensued, the English horsemen amply redeemed the time they had lost in traversing the plain in order to reach the enemy. Encircled by hosts, they turned to regain their comrades, when a body of Russian Lancers descended upon their flank. Struggling hand to hand with these new assailants, and fearfully outnumbered, though not daunted nor overwhelmed, the fate of the Light Brigade appeared to be sealed. At this moment the Russian gunners returned to their pieces; and, to their eternal shame, opened a fierce fire upon both friend and foe. Fortunately, the Heavy Brigade now advanced to cover the retreat of that heroic band, which had ridden fearlessly to almost certain destruction, and the French cavalry at the same time executed a brilliant charge upon a battery at the left, and thus the remnant of the Light Brigade was saved.

The Light Cavalry suffered terribly in that dreadful shock of arms. Captain Nolan was among the first that fell. Lord Cardigan, who led the charge, and was the first man into the battery, escaped with a slight wound. Ten officers and 147 men were killed, and 11 officers and 110 men wounded. Their names are written in the grateful remembrance of their country; and not a man who rode forth on that heroic mission, whether with life he paid the penalty of his courage, or survived to tell over the marvels of his hair-breadth escapes, but occupies a place in the roll of England's best and bravest sons.

THE BATTLE OF INKERMANN;

THE SOLDIERS' BATTLE.

THERE was a spot on the extreme right of the English lines, which had not been properly strengthened, and here the Russians made an attack the day after the battle of Balaklava. This weak part of our defences was approached from the ravines of the Tchernaya, and it overlooked the valley and the caverns of Inkermann. But Sir De Lacy Evans and his Division were on the alert; as the Russians found to their cost. They commenced the attack about one, and in less than an hour from that time were utterly routed. The English artillery made some splendid practice, and the 1st, 3rd, the 4th, and the Light Divisions, had all turned out to assist in the conflict, which was, however, brought to so glorious a termination by Sir De Lacy Evans's Division, without other aid. That gallant officer, fully impressed with the insecurity cf this extremity of the English lines, insisted upon the urgent necessity of having it strengthened, and made forcible representations at head-quarters on the subject. Steps were taken to remedy the evil; but, owing as much, perhaps, to the inadequacy of the force at the disposal of Lord Raglan, as to any other cause, enough was not done, and the results soon became apparent, in the sudden attack of the Russians upon this weak point, and the danger to which the allied armies were exposed therefrom.

The Muscovite hordes could not be easily induced to face those troops who had already snatched victory from them, in spite of numerous obstacles, so that new levies were brought into Sebastopol. It appears from information obtained after the battle, that the Grand Dukes Michael and Nicholas joined the army in the Crimea, and that 50,000 Russian troops from the banks of the Danube and the interior of Russia reached the beleaguered city, via Perekop and Odessa, during the first week of November. On the night of the fourth, a solemn military and religious festival was held in Sebastopol;

and the soldiers were addressed, not only by the sons of the Emperor, and their own commanders, but also by the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the Greek Church. The men were told that the joys of heaven and a crown of glory awaited those who fell in battle; that the Emperor would liberally reward those who survived; and that, in exterminating the English, they were fulfilling their duty both to God and to their Emperor. Every means was used to excite their enthusiasm, and a liberal supply of raki, their favourite stimulant, was distributed to them, just before they set out, in the early morning of that cold and dismal 5th of November, for the purpose of driving the English into the sea.

The English camp was dark and cheerless. The rain had fallen, almost without intermission, for four-and-twenty hours, and a thick impenetrable mist rendered the darkness of the night still more gloomy. The ringing of the bells in Sebastopol was heard plainly by the watchers in the camp, and one or two of the sentinels of the outlying pickets fancied that they could detect the noise of rumbling wheels; but, as this was supposed to proceed from ammunition carts or arabas entering the fortress, little heed was paid to it at the time.

Brigadier-General Codrington, according to his usual custom, visited the outlying pickets of his brigade about five in the morning; and, in the course of conversation with Captain Prettyman, remarked that "it would not be surprising if the Russians availed themselves of the favourable opportunity afforded by the gloom and the wet, to attempt a surprise." The words were scarcely out of this gallant soldier's mouth, when the noise of a rapid discharge of musketry resounded from the valley below, and General Codrington galloped back to arouse the sleeping troops. The camp was soon astir; and the men, many of them but half awake, scarcely understood the cause of the sudden alarm. The matter, however, turned out to be more serious than had been at first imagined; for the Russians were not only attacking in force, but had availed themselves of the darkness of the night to drag up artillery to every point which commanded the English lines. So complete was the surprise, and so numerous were the assailants, that the pickets of the Second and Light Divisions were speedily driven in, although they contested the ground inch by inch. Field artillery, and even guns in position, were immediately raised on the evacuated.