Balaklava, of which they took possession, together with the har bour of the same name. On the 25th of October was fought the battle of Balaklava, during which took place the brilliant charge called the "Death Ride." Lord Raglan had sent a written order to Lord Cardigan to advance with a regiment of light cavalry to take the Russian guns, but after this order was given, the panorama of the field of battle was altered, and the favourable moment had passed. It was impossible for Lord Raglan thus quickly to retract his order, or for Lord Cardigan to disobey; so after reading it, he took hold of his sword and called aloud, "Forward! the last of the Cardigans !" This cry echoed solemnly through the ranks, and the men prepared to follow their gallant leader, but feeling that they were indeed going to certain death. The danger indeed was great, for they had to traverse a ravine with mountains on either side, on which were placed the Russian cannon. The earl ordered his men to keep together in a close body, and put their horses to a full galop, which they did; but en route the Russians fired at them with such effect, that not a man who remained behind that was not either killed or wounded. The Zouave regiment, seeing the danger of the British, were seized with a chivalrous desire to save some of them, so spurring their horses forward, they attacked the Russians, drove them from their guns, thus rendering them powerless, so that when the English returned, they were enabled to pass quickly instead of receiving the attack which they had fully expected. Loud were the cheers which greeted the Zouaves on their return; but soon all was hushed, for when the English appeared, only 198 returned out of the 607 brave men who had left them but a 1854 short time before in health and strength.

On November 5, the battle of Inkermann was fought. On this occasion the British were surprised by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The Coldstream guards crossed bayonets no less than eleven times with fresh bands of the enemy, and the British infantry were even obliged to defend themselves with stones, and the butt end of their muskets, having used all their cartridges. It would have fared badly with them had not General Bosquet with a French division, come to their assistance, 1854 and the Russians were then repulsed with heavy loss.

The siege of Sebastopol progressed but slowly, and is remarkable for its length, the heroism and endurance displayed by all parties, and the dreadful sufferings of all who took part in it. Many wearisome months were spent by the English and French in the trenches, and a series of assaults and counter assaults took place, together with sallies, repulses, and hand to hand contests.

At last the allies were obliged to work like moles underground before they could make it vulnerable, The Russians in the meantime tried every means in their power to stop these operations, they attacked and fought the allies in the trenches and in the open field. In the spring of 1855, a railway was formed from Balaklava to the trenches, by which everything was conveyed to them by steam. About this time the allies were joined by a Sardinian army which was fiercely attacked by the Russians at Traktirbridge, and would have fared badly had not the French rushed in to their assistance, and the Sardinians gained the day.

During the time our soldiers were in the trenches, they suffered frightfully from the cold and insufficient food and clothing, which caused great mortality among our troops, especially among the new recruits and fresh regiments. When this news reached England, the hearts of all men burned with eagerness to send relief to their suffering brothers, warm clothing, nourishing food, and every comfort were speedily sent out in abundance, and Miss Florence Nightingale with a band of devoted ladies offered their services as military nurses. Oh! how the drooping hearts of our soldiers revived when they found what a chord of sympathy had been touched in England by this account of their sufferings, those who were only downhearted soon experienced relief in the warm clothing and good food, and the sick were cheered and in many cases restored to health and strength by the careful watching and self-denying care of the heroic nurses.

The allies worked as brothers, and after making sinuous trenches, they succeeded in opening a fire sufficiently powerful to make a breach in the walls of Sebastopol; but the defence was conducted with the utmost obstinacy. On September 8, 1855, however, the French, under the command of Marshal Pelissier, succeeded in taking the Malakoff Tower. At the same time our troops assaulted the Redan, and held it for two hours, but finding their numbers too few to permit them to advance further they were obliged to retreat. As the whole town was commanded by the Malakoff, the Russians fled during the night across the harbour to the north side of Sebastopol. At the beginning of the siege, the Russians had sunk the greater part of their fleet at the mouth of the harbour, to serve as a barrier to the entrance of the allied fleets. Thus ended the siege of Sebastopol, and the next day the victors took possession of the place. The English and French engineers were then employed in blowing up the docks and fortifications, and removing the cannons and military stores. The queen received the news of the fall of Sebastopol the 1855 same day, at Balmoral, for a Submarine Telegraph had been laid under the Black Sea, which brought the allied camp into immediate communication with London and Paris.

I must here tell you about the gallant "Defence of Kars," by General Williams. Kars is a town in Asiatic Turkey, and was defended by General Williams with 15,000 Turks, and with three months' provisions and three days' ammunition, against the Russian General Mouravieff, with an army of 40,000 infantry, and 10,000 cavalry. The sufferings of the garrison were very severe from cholera and want of food. The Russians made a grand assault on September 29, 1855, but were repulsed with the loss of above

6,000 men. The garrison was overcome by famine alone, and surrendered to General Mouravieff, who, on accepting General Williams's proposal for surrendering, said:-1855 "General Williams, you have made yourself a name in

history; and posterity will stand amazed at the endurance, the courage, and the discipline which this siege has called forth in the remains of an army. Let us arrange a capitulation, that will satisfy the demands of war, without outraging humanity." In 1856, the general was made a baronet, with the title of Sir Willian Fenwick Williams, of Kars, and granted a pension. During these eventful months, death had been busy, and called to their account hundreds of brave soldiers, many officers, and also the chief originator of the war, Nicholas I., who died, it is said, of a broken heart, on March 2, 1855, in his 57th year: Lord Raglan and Marshal St. Arnaud, the English and French generals, were now no more. The latter died soon after the battle of the Alma, and the former on June 28, 1855.

The throne of Russia was now occupied by the young emperor, Alexander II., who was crowned with great ostentation at Moscow, in the following year. The taking of Sebastopol was the turning point of the war, and notwithstanding some successes on the side of the Russians, especially the taking of Kars, Alexander saw that his power was weakened, and it would be good policy to accept the proffered terms of peace by which the security of Turkey was effected, and the navigation of the Black Sea is forbidden to ships of war of all nations. This treaty was signed at Paris, March 30, 1856, and on April 2, the proclamation of peace was made to the allied armies, in the Crimea, and July 9, 1856, they evacuated the Crimea and returned to their native homes. The English lost in the war about 22,000 men, 1856 of which number 4,000 were killed or died of their wounds, 15,000 of disease, and 3,000 disabled. The French lost 63,500, and the Russians half a million. The National Debt was increased during this war by £41,040,000.

This peace was celebrated in England by great rejoicings, and a day was set apart as a general holiday, when the grand peace festival took place. Time forbids me to enter more particularly into it, and suffice it to say, that public dinners and balls, also teas to the poor and their children. Fireworks and illuminations were among the chief signs of rejoicing, but the hearts of many were rendered sad when they thought of their husbands, fathers, brothers and friends, who were lying beneath the sod in a foreign land, still even they with the rest of their countrymen rejoiced that the Crimean War was ended.

In 1856, a war broke out with Persia, in consequence of that power seizing the city of Herat. Russia is sup- 1856 posed to have instigated the Persians to this act, but hap

pily, hostilities were soon brought to a close by the capture of Bushire, on the Persian Gulf, by a force which had been sent from Bombay, under General Outram. This war was in all probability one of the blessed means of saving our Indian Empire, for being at war with Persia, we made an alliance with our old enemy Dost Mahommed, for had we not done so, there is no telling what might have been the result of the formidable insurrection which broke out in India among the native troops 1857 called Sepoys, in 1857.

ARMS OF ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT.

The government of our Indian possessions, was then as it had been for many previous years, under the guidance of the East In