The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
of biscuit per day.
Bills posted in every street for "parties desirous of joining the
commissariat department, under the orders of Commissary-General Filder,
about to proceed with the force to the East, as temporary clerks,
assistant store-keepers, interpreters," to "freely apply to Assistant
Commissary-General Strickland;" had this significant addition,--"those
conversant with English, Italian, modern Greek, and Turkish languages,
or the Lingua-Franca of the East will be preferred." Warlike mechanics,
armourers, farriers, wheelwrights, waggon-equipment and harness-makers,
were in request.
[Sidenote: WARNINGS.]
As might naturally be expected where so great a demand, horses were
scarcely to be obtained. To Tunis the contagion of high prices spread
from Malta, and the Moors asked £25 and £30 for the veriest bundles of
skin and bone that were ever fastened together by muscle and pluck. Our
allies began to show themselves. The _Christophe Colomb_, steam-sloop,
towing the _Mistral_, a small sailing transport, laden with 27 soldiers'
and 40 officers' horses arrived in Malta Harbour on the night of the
7th, and ran into the Grand Harbour at six A.M. the following morning.
On board were Lieutenant-General Canrobert, and his Chef d'État; Major
Lieutenant-General Martimprey, 45 officers, 800 soldiers, 150 horses.
Their reception was most enthusiastic. The French Generals were lodged
at the Palace, and their soldiers were fêted in every tavern. Reviews
were held in their honour, and the air rang with the friendly shouts and
answering cheers of "natural enemies".
In a few days after the arrival of the Guards, it became plain that the
Allies were to proceed to Turkey, and that hostilities were inevitable.
On the 28th March war was declared, but the preparations for it showed
that the Government had looked upon war as certain some time previously.
Every exertion was made by the authorities to enable the expedition to
take the field. General Ferguson and Admiral Houston Stewart received
the expression of the Duke of Newcastle's satisfaction at the manner in
which they co-operated in making "the extensive preparations for the
reception of the expeditionary force, which could only have been
successfully carried on by the absence of needless departmental
etiquette,"--a virtue which has been expected to become more common
after this official laudation. This expression of satisfaction was well
deserved by both these gallant officers, and Sir W. Reid emulated them
in his exertions to secure the comfort of the troops. The Admiral early
and late worked with his usual energy. He had a _modus operandi_ of
making the conditional mood mean the imperative. Soldiers were stowed
away in sailors' barracks and penned up in hammocks under its potent
influence; and ships were cleared of their freight, or laden with a
fresh one, with extraordinary facility.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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