Next year the regiment took part in the review held by the Queen in honour of the Czar of Russia. Another ten years was to see it fighting that Czar’s army, and helping to break his heart. The vicissitudes of a regiment’s life are strange, and the Seventeenth had its share thereof in the forties: first putting down rioters at Leeds; then marching past the Czar at Windsor; then rushing across to Ireland to maintain order there during the abortive insurrection headed by Smith O’Brien; and, [Sidenote: 1848.] finally, escorting Her Majesty Queen Victoria on her first entry into the city of Dublin. [Sidenote: 1850.] The year 1850 brought it back to England once more, where, after one bout of peace manœuvres at Chobham, it at last received orders, for the first time for thirty-four years, to hold itself in readiness for active service. The warning came in February 1854, and the scene of action was destined to be the Crimea. CHAPTER XII THE CRIMEA, 1854–1856 [Sidenote: 1854] On receiving the order to prepare for active service the regiment was formed into four service and two depôt troops of the following strength:-- +-------------------+---------+--------+-------+ | | Service | Depôt | Total | +-------------------+---------+--------+-------+ | Field Officers. | 2 | | 2 | | Captains. | 4 | 1 | 5 | | Subalterns. | 8 | 4 | 12 | | Staff. | 6 | | 6 | | Sergeants. | 18 | 7 | 25 | | Trumpeters. | 5 | 2 | 7 | | Farriers. | 4 | 2 | 6 | | Corporals. | 13 | 5 | 18 | | Privates. | 254 | 51 | 305 | +-------------------+---------+--------+-------+ | HORSES. Officers. | 48 | 8 | 56 | | R. & F. | 249 | 34 | 283 | +-------------------+---------+--------+-------+ [Sidenote: April] After the whole had been inspected by the Duke of Cambridge, the depôt troops marched to Brighton on the 10th May, where they formed part of the consolidated cavalry depôt under Colonel Bonham. Headquarters and the service troops embarked at Portsmouth on the 18th, 23rd, 24th, and 25th April in five sailing ships, thus:-- Headquarters, under Colonel Lawrenson, in the ship _Eveline_. One troop, under Major Willett, in the _Pride of the Ocean_. One troop in the _Ganges_. One troop in the _Blundell_. Remainder in the _Edmundsbury_. [Illustration: _G. Salisbury, 1832_ OFFICERS, 1829] [Sidenote: 1854. May.]