Through the freezing winter and the wasting summer, for 337 days the Sappers carried on their work before Sebastopol. The trenches they made were nine miles long; twenty-two batteries were on the right, and twenty batteries on the left; in the formation of the works there were no less than 20,000 gabions, 4000 fascines, 340,000 sand bags, 7413 bread bags, and a hundred different extemporaneous expedients to give shape and solidity to the works. They witnessed the triumphant end of their work; and they received no small share of honour and reward, for the work they had done was unsurpassed in ancient or in modern history. During the Indian mutiny the services of the Engineers were of great advantage, and the bravery and determination of the men both in defence and attack were worthy of the highest commendation. In India there are, we believe, still employed in the engineering arm of our service no less than twelve companies of native Sappers and Miners. We are all justly proud of our army, proud of its station among the armies of Europe; its appearance, discipline, drill; proud of the history of its achievements ⸺“of most disastrous chances; Of moving accidents by flood and field; Of hair-breadth ’scapes i’ th’ imminent deadly breach;”— but there is no division of our army of which we should be more justly proud than of the Sappers and Miners. It toils for us wherever our flag is unfurled to the winds; it explores unknown regions; surveys and maps new and old regions; it makes roads where no roads were, and iron roads in place of common roads; it blasts rocks; heaves up drowned treasures from the deep; it serves as the pioneer of civilization abroad, and extends and consolidates civilization at home; it labours as hard in peace as in war—labour often unseen and unsuspected, but none the less worthy of the respect, honour, and admiration due to the brave sons of a brave people. The Engineer corps of officers now consists of about four hundred of all grades, partly employed in building and repairing our defences, while the rest are more immediately attached to the Sappers and Miners, a body of some three or four thousand men, which now forms a constituent part of the Royal Engineers; indeed, the Sappers and Miners are now to be regarded as the main body of this arm of our service. [Illustration] CHAPTER IV. THE ROYAL WELSH. [Illustration]