178 TURKISH OFFICERS. to be now lying about the beach at Balaklava, for want of the proper means of getting them up to camp. [This evil has since been remedied; Messrs. Wheatley have established an office of their own at Galata. There are also army parcel offices in Constantinople and Balaklava, and parcels may be now sent out, without any risk of loss.] Suleiman Pasha and Halil Bey, who left the Turkish army, in the Crimea, without leave, under pretence of sickness, have been tried by a council of war, found guilty, degraded from their rank, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in the Island of Candia. The sentence was promulgated by the Seraskier with much ceremony. "This is Suleiman, once called Suleiman Pasha. This is Halil, once called Halil Bey," are among the words used by him on the occasion. The brass plate was taken off their fez-caps, and the buttons from the coat, and they were, what we should call, 'drummed out;' but it is by no means unlikely that they will be restored to rank and favour long before their FORTITUDE OF THE ARMY. 179 term of punishment has expired-for such is the custom of Turkey! There is one thing which has been ever present to my mind, from the first day I landed in the Crimea. I speak of the fortitude with which our army-officers as well as men-have sustained the great hardships and sufferings to which they have been exposed. I never heard a murmur; and they submitted with cheerfulness to the greatest privations whenever they knew they were necessary or unavoidable, but they justly and naturally complained of the imbecility of those through whose ignorance and obstinacy they have undergone so much unnecessary suffering. But amid all their distress their courage is unsubdued. I look back with pride upon the years I passed in the army, and am glad to feel, though having sold my commission in a time of profound peace, and now, contrary to my own wishes, unemployed, I am still, in spirit, a soldier. The deaths are now about fifty a day at Scutari alone. Numbers are brought down from the Crimea frost-bitten; some of the men have had both feet amputated. The casualties are so numerous, that the strength of the army is scarcely greater than it was two months ago, notwithstanding the numbers that have arrived during that time. CHAPTER XIV. THE CRIMEA. January 19th. I STARTED in the Oscar, screw-steamer, for Balaklava. She was laden with warm clothing, parcels for officers, iron for the coal mines at Kosloo in Asia Minor, and a thousand barrels of powder; however, she ran aground on a bank near Beicos Bay, called the 'Englishman's Shoal '— and well named, from the number of English ships which stick there. With some assistance from the French frigate, Belle Poule, anchored off the tail of the shoal, she was got afloat again, after ten tons of coal had been thrown overboard, and all the water started from the boilers. We then anchored for the night. The Belle Poule was moored in such a position as to decoy unwary captains on to the shoal; but, then, she rendered every assistance to get them off again! Next morning we proceeded, and, after a beautiful passage of thirty hours during which time the sea was as calm as a pond-arrived at Balaklava. change had taken place in the arrangements of the ships in the harbour, since I went away; and great credit is due to Admiral Boxer, and Captains Heath and Powell, for the improvements they had carried out. A 22nd. Started early, and walked up to the camp. Liprandi's corps having been withdrawn, the Woronzoff road is open, and I went that way, by the telegraph station. The road and plain were full of baggage animals and soldiers, carrying planks, &c., up to the point, and labouring' under their burdens through the deep mud. I, having nothing to carry, found it hard work to get along, and it must have been much worse for them. 6 Arrived at the Second Division in three |