While with immense difficulty the English and French engineers were levelling the naval and military buildings to the ground, and shattering the docks beyond all hope of restoration, the diplomatists of Europe were doing their utmost to bring hostilities to an end; late in February an armistice was arranged, and on the 30th of March, 1856, the world was gladdened by the news that peace had been proclaimed. The effort to save Constantinople from the Russians, though successful, had cost England dear, as these grim figures show-- ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+------- | | | | | | Killed.| Died of| Died of | Wounded.| Total. | | Wounds.| Disease.| | ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+------- Officers | 157 | 86 | 147 | 515 | 905 | | | | | Non-Commissioned | | | | | Officers | 161 | 85 | 574 | 579 | 1,399 | | | | | Privates | 2,437 | 1,848 | 15,320 | 10,782 | 30,387 ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+------- | 2,755 | 2,019 | 16,041 | 11,876 | 32,691 ----------------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+------- Though our Allies also suffered severely, the losses of the Western Powers and of the Ottoman Empire pale into insignificance before those of the Russians. During the last six months of the siege 81,000 soldiers were killed or wounded in or around Sebastopol; the whole campaign in the Crimea cost the Czar 153,000 troops; while the reinforcements from the interior of Russia endured such terrible hardships on the march to the Black Sea that hundreds of thousands of men broke down on the way. It is believed that Russia’s total loss during the war was not less than half a million of men. The casualties in the XVIIIth Royal Irish regiment were-- _Officers_-- Killed Lieutenant J. W. Meurant. Died of disease Lieutenant E. D. Ricard. Wounded Major J. C. Kennedy. Captains J. Cormick, A. W. S. F. Armstrong, M. Hayman, H. F. Stephenson, J. Wilkinson. Lieutenants W. O’B. Taylor, W. Kemp, F. Fearnley, C. Hotham. In the other ranks, 41 were killed, 44 died of wounds, 70 died from accident or disease, and 275 were wounded. Their names will be found in Appendix 2 (I).[178]