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Cornell University Library DA 565.B63B63 1896 Some records of the life of Stevensori Ar 1924 028 291 692 3 STEVENSON AETHUE BLACKWOOD KC.B. Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028291692 T!ei)f nli.iai i. Goiili Bournpnihutli cJ^aClrTa Willc.T*Br,ytfllLI'h5c. SOME RECORDS OF THE LIFE OF STEVENSON ARTHUR BLACKWOOD K.C.B. COMPILED BY A FEIEND EDITED BY HIS WIDOW ^ ^^^ X^J^ HODDBE AND STOUGHTON 27 PATEBNOSTEB ROW MDOCCXCVI w \_All rights reserved] ^ (- (. U^.j(l: 1^, I. liKM-Vi-'I^U. I I Y X 7<7 / A ^'K 9S0^3^4> ABERDEEN UNIVEBSITT PRESS. TO THE PRAISE OF THE GLOBT OF THE GRACE OF GOD THESE RECORDS ARE DEDICATED. This volume does not aspire to be a Biography. It only seeks to give some Eecords of Sir Arthur Blackwood's life from his own Letters and Notes, from what his Friends said of him, and from the impressions received by those who had to do with him, whether in official, or religious, or social hfe. Except in the case of those who are gone, none who formed the inner circle of home life have been brought into the story ; and so far as was possible, this principle has been studiously maintained. Letters, of which many must exist, have not, except in a few instances, been attainable. Under these hmitations, much which could not thus be gathered up, has of necessity been left untold. It is hoped that those to whom Sir Arthur's memory is dear will feel that in these pages they again hold converse with him ; and that many others, to whom he was a stranger, may recognize in this volume — with all its imperfections — the true picture of a hfe nobly hved for the service of God, and for the good of his fellow-men. S. M. Mwch, 1896. CONTENTS. I. ' PAQE [1832] BAELY LIFE. 1 Childhood. Sandfoed Geange and Eton. Peoseken. Cambeidge and London. II. [1854] THE WAE IN THE CEIMEA. 37 The Bosphoeus. Bdlgaeia. Alma. WiNTEE BBFOEE SeBASTOPOL. SUMMEE IN THE CeIMEA. The Fall op Sbbastopol. III. [1856] " THE DAY-SPEING FEOM ON HIGH." 107 The Awakening. " Cbcl" "Feom Death unto Life." [1857] [1858] CONTENTS IV. " NEWNESS OF LIFE." PAOE 135 Sbevice and Suffbeing. Italy. COBBBSPONDENCB. V. MAEEIED LIFE. 203 HuNTLY Lodge and Fibst Home. Stbbatham. Fbom Place to Place. VI. AT HOME AND ABEOAD. 279 [1868] Shooteeb' Hill. Constantinople . Cbayeobd. Ibeland, Wiesbaden and Eagatz. Oakham. VII. [1878] SEVEN YEAES OF PLENTY AND THEIE SEQUEL. 325 Vabious Lbttbes, fbom 1878-80. The Mildmay Confbebncbs. Cambeidqb, and Wobk amongst Young Men. The Pen of a Ebady Weitbe. Total Abstinence, and otheb Social AND PhILANTHBOPIC WoEK. Pbotestantism and Pateiotism. CONTENTS XI VIII. FAQE [1880] ST. MAETIN'S-LB-GEAND. 389 The Seceetaet. The Postal Sbevice. "Foe the Gloey of God and the Good of the Seevicb." IX. [1880] MIDDLE LIFE. 409 Paeis. Shoetlands. Lettees, peom 1880-1884. Lisbon and Spain. coeebspondence in 1885-6-7. Ebminiscences and Lettees. X. [1890J LAST YEAES. 485 Januaey 1890— Mat 1891. Vienna. Peoseken Again. Gee AT Am WELL and Shootees' Hill. XL [1893] " TOWAEDS EVENING." 533 Speing and Summee, 1893. Camppee and Ems. Home. "IN SUEE AND CEETAIN HOPE." 575 I. EAELY LIFE. Childhood. Sandfobd Geanqb and Eton. Peosekbn. Gambbidge and London. CHILDHOOD. Stevenson Aethue Blackwood was the only son of Mr. Arthur Johnstone Blackwood and Cecilia Georgiana, widow of Mr. John Wright, of Lenton Hall, Notts. He was born on the 22nd May, 1832, at Eosslyn Lodge, Hampstead, where his Eather, who was Gentleman Usher to William IV., and subsequently to Her Majesty the Queen, and who held an appointment in the Colonial Office, was then living. The family was of Scotch extraction. One branch, now extinct in the male line, migrated to IVance. Of this branch was the celebrated Adam Blackwood, Privy Councillor to Mary, Queen of Scots. A member of the Fife branch, born in Scotland in 1591, was possessed of considerable landed property in Ireland, and settled there, becoming the founder of the family now represented by the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava. His son and grandson were both attainted by James II. The great-grandson, Eobert Blackwood of Ballyleidy, was created a baronet of Ireland in 1763. His son, Sir John. Blackwood, married Dorcas Stevenson, who was created Baroness Dufferin and Clandeboye iu: her own right in 1800. This lady's seventh and youngest son, the Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood, K.C.B., grandfather of Stevenson Arthur Black- wood, acquired great distinction in the Navy, and is remembered not only for the gallant services he thus rendered to his country, but for his close connection with Nelson. He was bearer of the despatches from Trafalgar, and brought his body home. The family records contain several letters from Nelson. In one of these he says : — 1 "My dear Blackwood, — Is there a sympathy which ties men together in the bonds of friendship without having a personal know- ledge of each other ? If so (and I believe it was so to you) I was your friend and acquaintance before I saw you." (3) 6 LIFE OF SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD in her life, until the day when they became to her not merely solemn and restraining external truths, but her own accepted and joyful portion. "How can they know," she wrote some forty years afterwards, when tracing the mercies of God in her own and her son's life, and commenting upon some statements which had been made, "that in God's abounding love I was led to Ker after having rejected her from her deafness? " By whatever means this rejection was overruled, Kempster was eventually installed as the children's nurse; and apparently her chiefest desire was for their spiritual good. Night and morning she gathered them round her, each child in its own accustomed place, to tell them " that sweet story of old," and to teach them how to pray. In a small note-book, full of the little childish stories which mothers love to record, Mrs. Blackwood chronicles the boyish "preaching" on Sundays, when he would choose for his text the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and bid his sisters, " While you are walking, think about Christ and how He died for you." However fleeting were these impressionSj or however buried for a time under frivolity and sin were the truths thus learned, their memory never wholly died away. "I believe I loved the Bible even then," he said long afterwards in reference to this period ; and to the close of his life, Sir Arthur would speak of his old nurse as one of the first links in that chain of love whereby God drew him to Himself. After his marriage until her death in 1879, she usually lived in the village near his home, constantly spending weeks in his house. To her infinite pleasure on these occasions he made her sit by him at family prayers, and would read and pray into her trumpet. When he was between three and four years old, a constitutional weakness manifested itself in the right arm, and for years he suf- fered greatly from a succession of aibscesses in the elbow. The arm, which he was unable to straighten, was confined in a splint and leather sling; and the use of his left arm was, through life, as natural to him for many things, as that of the right. " He is the same dear patient boy as ever," wrote his Mother, " never complaining, only sometimes crying." It was not until eight years had passed, that, to his parents' unbounded joy, the delicacy seemed to be finally overcome. CHILDHOOD 7 Soon after its first appearance he was taken, under the advice of Sir Benjamin Brodie, to Walmer, with his sisters and their nurse. Eventually his Father built a small house on the beach, and in Sir Arthur's own words : — "Oh! what happy days and years we children spent at Walmer! In another year, we were all quartered there, my Father coming down from the Colonial Office, whenever he could, by the steamer to Deal." On one of these occasions, to quote from the Notes, " an incident happened which always remained as a cause of family pride. "When the heavily-laden steamer touched at Margate, a tipsy porter, trying to jump from the quay to the paddle-box, missed his footing, and fell into the sea. In the confusion which prevailed, the cry of 'Man overboard' was not heard. My Father and Mother were on deck, and he at once saw that if the man was to be saved, there was no time to lose. Divesting himself of his coat, and asking a friend to hold my Mother — who otherwise would certainly have followed him — he jumped overboard. This caused a rush of passengers to that side of the ship, nearly swamping it. My Father dived, and brought the man up feet foremost. ' Let him go ! ' they shouted. ' The man's drowning. Get him by the head I ' Down went the man again, and my Father after him. This time he got his head between his legs, and both were hauled on board amidst the cheers of all on deck." For this rescue, Mr. A. Blackwood received the Eoyal Humane Society's medal. Notes. "The people remaining most clearly in my mind are Captain Fisher, a superannuated R.N., full of fun with us children ; and a family with whose boys, specially with one of them, I was destined to make a life-long friendship. This was the family of Mr. and Lady Maria West. The eldest boys, Henry and Richard, were at Eton ; and Algernon, the third, was about my age. Then came the bathing machines and Reading Room, where Bob Sharp lived and wrought — a hard-working chap, of a very rubicund countenance, who gave me my first dips. Then came a house standing by itself, where lived Lord Mahon, afterwards Lord Stanhope, the historian : and then, separated by but a few fields and a long bit of beach, came Walmer Castle, where the Duke of Wellington was then resident, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. His principal officer and Captain of the Castle was Captain Watts, who used to walk about in a Windsor uniform, with a red collar. 8 LIFE OF SIK AETHUR BLACKWOOD " The Duke was of course a personage whom we were taught to hold in the highest estimation. We used to see him every Sunday morning, in his large square pew at Old Walmer Church, with its beautiful Saxon arch ; and as we generally walked home by the Castle, he used to be kind to us. Once I remember, when in white frock and trousers, I was rushing past him down the hill, he told me that if he were as young as I was, he would run a race with me. " As time went on, we children spent even the winters at Walmer. There was often a tremendous gale, and the thundering billows roared upon the beach just below our house — a glorious sound in my ears. In one of these gales, a Mecklenburg brig, the Hermann, was stranded, and great were the efiorta of my Father and others to bring the crew to land by baskets and ropes." A chair made from the wood of this wreck, together with water- colour sketches of the scene, was afterwards given to his Father, and is still in the possession of his family. " The grassy Downs, covered with shaking grass, that stretched from Walmer Castle to King's Down, were our happy playing-ground ; and on calm days I launched my various wooden ships in the sea just beneath us. Alas ! Those pleasant years sped only too quickly I " SANDFOED GRANGE AND ETON. Notes. " When about ten years old, it became of course necessary to improve my education. My sister's governess and a Latin master, Mr. Everard, who used to come two or three times a week, had hitherto taught me. A very pleasant place of education was now found for me in Essex. " In the summer of 1843, my Father took me down, for the first time away from home alone, to stay with a very old friend of his, the Eev. W. Tower, of How Hatch, Brentwood. There were three girls, my seniors, all very pretty ; and when after a week at How Hatch, I left, having enjoyed myself as I had never done before, it was without any of my heart, having fallen in love with them all. " During this visit however my Father ascertained that Harvey Tower was preparing for Eton in the neighbourhood of his uncle, Sir William Eustace, at the Rectory of Old Sandford, where the Rev. J. W. Carver received pupils. Arrangements were, I suppose, soon made ; for Mr. Carver came up to London to see my anxious Mother, whose darling I was, and who, so far as she could, never let me out of her sight, and had shielded me, as a delicate child, from every wind that blew. "Accordingly in September, 1843, I was despatched by train to Bishop's Stortf ord, thence by coach to Finching Field, and then somehow or other to Sandford Grange ; where of course I was promptly miserable, and bedewed my pillow for many a night. But the novelty of the circumstances, Mr. Carver's kindness — he was not then married, — and the society of my companions, soon made the misery wear off, though my dearest Mother kept it alive by her constant and overwhelmingly affectionate letters." Several of these letters remain, together with the boyish answers, written with the perfect freedom and confidence which seem always to have so happily existed between this son and his parents. Surely no child was ever better loved. (9) 10 LIFE OF SIE ARTHUB BLACKWOOD "You well know, my own love," writes the mother, on the day after the parting, " that I thought Of you without ceasing. Do you know poor Mother went to bed too, and just at nine o'clock, that I might have the melancholy Satisfaction of doing the same thing as you 1 Write to me, my own child, and if you feel disposed to cry, do not keep it in. It would only make you ill. I can tell you," she adds diplo- matically, " Harvey cries when he first returns to Mr. Carver's." Even in this first letter, Mrs. Blackwood pours forth, with intense eagerness, the religious exhortations which appear in many of her subsequent letters, often almost jostled, as it were, as time went on, by the language of the most complete worldliness. Her own spiritual impressions appear now to have been more powerful than at any subsequent period until the date when they were re- awakened by the risks and anxieties of the Crimean War. " May God bless you, watch over you, and help you in all your endeavours I " she writes in this first letter. " But recollect, my darling Boy, He must be sought ; He must be asked. You have that precious promise, ' Ask, and ye shall receive ' — ' shall receive.' Ask then, my child, from your heart of hearts." One remarkable sentence is added from a later letter of this period : — "As I have often told you, my Boy, I could part with you to- morrow, and lose the joy of seeing your dear face, if I knew your soul was safe." " Do not tell this to anybody," writes the lad to his mother, " I put your letter next my heart, and kept it there all day." The Notes continue : — " So far as I can recollect, my early instruction under dear old Carver consisted, as might be expected, of Xenophon and the Greek Testament, Ovid and Csesar. He taught me very well, and was certainly the kindest and most aflEectionate preceptor that any boy could possibly wish for." Within a very few weeks, however, the household at home was thrown into considerable agitation by hearing, through a certain " Julia," that Arthur — as he was then called — ^had been caned three times. That such punishment should have overtaken their cherished boy seems to have been almost beyond their belief. The mother writes to make inquiries. SANDFORD GRANGE AND ETON 11 "And now, my love, if it was a joke on your part, you will be sorry to hear what concern your saying to Julia that you had been caned three times has occasioned us. Your Papa bids me say it is not your being caned he cares for, but that you should have deserved it. . . . Papa begs you will write as soon as you possibly can, and tell us truly what were the causes of your three separate punishments." Promptly — indeed, by return of post — the answer came back : — "My very dear Mama, — The causes of my three canings were, viz. : 1st, We went to Sandford Hall in the evening, and as we were not home at the time he appointed, so we were caned for that ; 2nd, for not behaving well at dinner ; and 3rd, for not knowing my lessons. I am not caned half so often as the others, because I learn my lessons faster and better than the others. I am very, very sorry it has made you ill ; for if I had known that Julia would tell you, I would not have told her. I have only had two lessons turned since I have been here." Notes. " In the afternoon of week-days, as a change to our regular games, we used to honour the neighbouring wealthy farmers, when the good housewives would bring out their sponge cakes, and currant and goose- berry wines for Mr. Carver's ' young gentjemen,' with great hospitality and delight. But our most frequent resort was Sandford Hall, a fine old Elizabethan house, at about a mile's distance from the Grange, over meandering brooks and through pretty copses to the hill where it stood, and where Sir William, the old general, and Lady Eustace (Harvey Tower's aunt) were ever genial hosts to us. So the terms sped most pleasantly along. In about a year and a half, Harvey Tower left for Eton ; and in two years' time, in December, 1844, it was decided that I should follow," His tutor's letters report well of his work. " 21st Oct., 1844. " Stevenson is quite well and very industrious, and gives me great satisfaction. He is a delightful boy. I really shall grieve when he leaves me. " Uth Dec, 1844. " I assure you I am not a little sorry to part with him, for he has been so well-behaved, and so studious of my happiness in his whole conduct. I don't hesitate to say he is a boy of brilliant parts. . . . Nature has given him a ready apprehension and a power of application beyond what I have witnessed in any of my former pupils. I am 12 LIFE OP SIB AETHUB BLACKWOOD extremely anxious that these advantages should not be lost; for I assure you his best interests, as regards this world and the next, are very dewr to my heart." '"ETON COLLEGE " ' Surveyed after leaving a son at school for the first time. " ' How often have I fixed a stranger's gaze On yon famed turrets, clad in light as fair As this sweet evening lends, and felt the air Of learning that from calm of ancient days Breathes round them ever ! Now to me they wear Hues drawn from dearer thought. . . . for in yon retreat One little student's heart expectant beats With blood of mine. O God I vouchsafe him power, When I am dust, to stand on this sweet place, And, thro' the vista of long years, embrace With cloudless soul this first Etonian hour.' "Such, dear Boy," writes his Father, on sending him Talfourd's sonnet, " will be my feelings when first I leave you at Eton." It was in January, 1845, that this took place. " That was a new life indeed," says Sir Arthur in his Notes. " My tutor was the Kev. Henry Mildred Birch, who ere long was selected as tutor to the Prince of Wales. I was placed ' Middle 4th ' without any difiSculty ; not a very grand beginning, but still not dis- reputable. My Dame was Angelo, an old lady of about sixty, who boarded some forty boys in a big red-brick house, in a yard leading down to the east of the School-buildings. " There were two fellows whom I knew, Bichard and Algie West, my old Walmer friends. Kichard was a Sixth Form boy, and Captain of the house, where he was followed by Spencer, and Talfourd, the son of the Judge. West's first home attention to me was a good licking. I hadn't been chosen as any one's fag ; but the practice of calling ' lower boy ' by any Sixth or Fifth Form boy, was a prerogative which all lower boys had to obey. No sooner was that dreaded cry heard, generally at night, than from every corner of the house the lower boys all congregated in a furious rush. All cried ' Fuge ! ' and the one who uttered the word last had to answer, probably to do some little bit of household work for the boy who called. I forget whose fag I became that half. It wasn't a happy one, I know that. I was doubled up for three months with a SANDFORD GRANGE AND ETON 13 big fellow named , a bully and a brute. I never heard of him again. " On going back to Eton next half, I was emancipated from my room-fellow, and got a jolly little room, right away from everybody, at the bottom of some crooked stairs, and looking over my Dame's garden and fields towards Slough. I inhabited this for the next three years, and made it very pretty with sporting pictures and bookcases, etc. Oh, how snug were the winter evenings there, when at six o'clock I got out my ' order ' of pretty china, and metal teapot, and the rolls and muffins, and either asked a friend, or else alone, regaled myself ; and then set to work at lessons for the next day. Supper was at eight ; and we all went down into the big hall, and were fed. Then we ran up the tall corkscrew stone staircase, each to his different room, and got to work again, till the boys' maids came round at ten to put our lights out. That half I joined a breakfast mess, to which I adhered till I left Eton, consisting of Algie West, Lubbock (now Sir John, M.P.), who being more handy at verses than I was, often lent me a kindly hand when I was hard up for a copy. The fourth was Crawley, now for many years Vicar of North Pockenden in Essex, where I saw him not long ago. " I worked steadily on through the next two years ; hockey and football and steeplechases in the Autumn and Easter terms, and swimming and boating in the summer. The Easter half of 1848 proved to me the most eventful of all my time at Eton ; for I was not only highly gratified but greatly surprised at being asked by Suttie, the captain of the Britannia, the first of the lower boats, to row third in her during that and the ensuing half. This was a great and sudden step. My friend West was at the same time asked to row in the Thetis, which was the boat below the Britannia. We were to have crimson-striped shirts, and hat-ribbons with silver ornaments, and of course our blue jackets with brass buttons. On St. David's Day therefore I took my place for the first time with conscious pride as number three in the Britannia, and rowed up to Surley Hall. "The seven long boats took precedence of everything else on the river, the cry of 'The long boats are coming' sweeping all the small craft out of the way. Few were the adventurous ' funnies,' or punts or outriggers, unless perhaps belonging to some big fellow in the Sixth Form or Eleven, who did not care to be in the boats, that ventured into the lock when the long boats were in. How we swept down, past Upper and Lower Hope, on flowing stream at a rattling pace ; and then as the shades of evening set in, all the crews marched down High Street to College arm in arm, as the ' big levie.' It has been often said that there is no prouder position in any man's life than when he gets into the 'big levie' at Eton. The influence which he wields, the respect 14 LIFE OF SIE AETHTJE BLACKWOOD and awe with which all the rest of the school look up to him and his mates, and the conscious kingship of men which he exercises, is some- thing which is rivalled by no after-position in life. West and I, then, were inihe 'big lev&e ' that term, as big fellows, and we let our weight be felt. For one thing, he, Suttie and I started an innovation in Eton dress, which has never died out. Swallow-tail coats had up to that time been as much de rigueur as part of the school-uniform as top hats and white ties — the latter however, at that time, had been changed from double into single, by general consent. The change we adopted was that of cut-away coats ; and it electrified the whole school, which quickly, where it dared, followed our example. Strange to say, the masters never took any notice of it ; and we had all the glory of intro- ducing the first novelty in Eton dress for many a long year. " West and I at that time became rather ringleaders in advanced movements, and for the first time in our lives, though such big fellows, succeeded in bringing ourselves under the notice of the Head Master, Dr. Hawtrey, and getting well swished. West was the Captain of my Dame's. Mrs. Angelo had died or retired, and had been succeeded by a Mrs. , a meek and humble kind of body. We chose, very improperly, in our new fledged dignity, to be impertinent to her. . ., . We were both sixteen, I think, and rather big fellows to be swished. All we could do was to gulp down our emotions, which were much severer than we expected they would be. And I think on the whole we were both of us glad that we did not leave Eton without having been swished once, and not for lessons. "One other exploit was the result of West's and my larkishness that half; We took it into our heads to go to London for the night. And certainly we planned our arrangements on modern principles. All our money was gone ; so with the quietest assurance, we went to my Dame, the person who was responsible to the Head Master for the safe custody of all the boys under her roof, and coolly said, we were going to London, and she must give us some money to go with. What induced the good lady to yield to our demands we never knew ; but she complied, and forked out the cash. One of our chief friends, Talfourd, was great in stage matters, and was supposed to have vast experience behind the scenes. About nine o'clock, I forget how, we escaped from some window, (so far as I recollect all were barred,) and hastened across the two miles to Slough Station. There we found we had just missed the train; and like boys, always ready for eating, we incontinently spent a considerable portion of our ill-gotten gains in a sumptuous meal of chops and porter. At last another train came up, and fancying we were heroes of noblest character, or villains of deepest dye, we got up to London. There we instantly went off, according to SANDFOED GRANGE AND ETON 15 Talfourd's directions, to some very second-rate theatre — we did not care which ; we were so excited that anything would have done. Then we retired quietly to bed at some very inferior ' public ' in the Edgware Boad. " What was our horror, at six o'clock in the morning, on being awoke, to behold the visage of old Atlee, my Dame's butler, at the foot of our bed 1 " We at once thought we were ruined ; and visions of expulsion and disgrace at home stared us in the face. The fact was, the evening before. Dr. Hawtrey had sent to ask West, who was the Captain of the house, to breakfast with him next morning at nine o'clock. We had arranged to be back at nine ; but our friends were too much alarmed to leave our safety to chance ; so with great sagacity, they decided, as their only resource, to take Atlee, the old ' Cerberus,' into their confidence ; and clubbing together the money, they sent him up to London, where we fortunately had told them our address. We got back to school in plenty of time ; and little did the worthy Head Master think of the deed of which one of his guests had been guilty that night. " But we suffered for it in mind for a considerable time to come." " Went to S. Hawtrey's," says the boy's Diary. " There I was told by Suttie that his tutor had asked ' If he knew anything about those boys at Angelo's ? ' Was in an awful funk all night, as also West. Went to bed in such a funk that I could not sleep. " Wednesday, 15th. — Woke in a funk. Went in to school in a funk. Eat my breakfast in a funk. Did everything in a funk." Notes. " To have performed such a feat, and not to have let it be known, would have been to rob us of all our glory. So we told a few leading spirits in the school, with the result that they worked upon our guilty consciences by innuendoes that they had heard it talked about among the Masters, and declared that the thing was known. For some weeks we never went into school without the apprehension of finding our names on the ominous slip of paper which the prsepostor carried round to the different forms each school time, and which bore the names of criminals sentenced to the block ; and we knew that in our case it would be to something far worse. With the days however our fears passed, and the rest of the half went along as happily as possible." Alongside of this flowing stream of prosperous school-life ran the current of home happiness. During one holidays his Father, 16 LIFE OP SIE ABTHUB BLACKWOOD who was a keen sportsman and a splendid rider, had taken a house for the hunting season at Buckland, near Faringdon. " He bought for me a little chestnut mare called ' the Pet,' about fifteen hands, high. On her I really learned to ride; and under the tuition of such a first-rate sportsman as my Father, it was impossible for me to do otherwise than acquire the keenest taste for the sport he so loved and excelled in." Together they hunted with the Old Berkshire, the Vale of White Horse, and the Heythorpe. Another winter was spent at Appleton, near Abingdon, "in an old ivy-covered, haunted-looking gahled Manor house, some three htmdred years old." The boyish Diary, kept vrith great regularity and a praiseworthy attention to detail, from the beginning of 1848, gives particulars of many of these pleasant days, in which he made friendships with the Throck- mortons, a Boman Catholic family of the old school, and others. It also records many juvenile experiences, such as the writing of a tragedy upon Schiller's ghost scene, which was duly acted with the aid of one of his Eton friends. Only a few letters of this period have been preserved. " I hope," he writes to his Father, "that you will not screw the money for my boat together ; for I had fifty times rather go without it, than you should deprive yourself of anything, or any pleasure, just to give me that little enjoyment for a month or two, and which, when those two months are past, I shall not feel any happier for having had it." In a letter to his Mother in May, 1845, endorsed by her with the words, " Begins to write a nice hand," he says : — "There is immense lots of betting here during the time of the Races, but I have not bet at all." Probably this abstinence was of but short continuance. Of any serious thought no traces remain. He chronicles one journey to Eton as follows : — " Came with Carter, the Fellow, and a young lady who gave me a tract." The last letter is not of a particularly edifying nature : " My deakest Father,— We have had very good fun these three last days in seeing the people come back from Ascot. To-night after eight o'clock absence, we all went and looked at them. There were a SANDFOED GBANGB AND ETON 17 good many rows, the first of which was, we were all standing on the wall outside the school yard, and a drunken blackguard came up, and knocked a fellow called Watkins off, in order to get on himself. Then John Watkins, who is very strong, got up and hit him in the face, upon which he knocked him down again. Then MacNiven, a great big Sixth Form, came up with Carew, and knocked the man down, and gave him a bloody nose. Fourteen horses fell down dead, a fellow was run over, carriages ran foul of each other, all the men were drunk, and altogether it was the best fun we have had for some time." The Notes continue : — "Election Saturday drew on, when there was a repetition of all the festivities of 4th June. My people had come down to the former, and my Father came down to the latter. But before that day, I received an intimation from him that I was to leave. This was very unexpected, but there was good cause. I certainly had not been getting any good to myself, and my tutor wrote to my Father that he thought it would be to my advantage if I were not to remain any longer at Eton. There was plenty of time however for all my friends to present me with tokens of their regard, at their parents' expense, in the form of sets of handsomely bound volumes, chosen without reference to their contents, and solely with regard to their ornamental appearance. It has happened however that not a few of those books have proved useful to me in later life. " So ended my Eton career. " If I knew as much Latin and Greek as when I came, I certainly don't think I knew much more ; but I knew that the one great desire of my Father had been to send me where I should be happy ; and in gratifying myself, I knew I gratified him. " Eton has certainly been of immense advantage to me during my whole life. Never have I been in any scenes or circumstances, or in any parts of the world, where I have not met old Etonians, whom either I knew, or who knew me ; and this is a great help in rubbing through life. One after result is certainly remarkable. Amongst my most intimate friends were West, Lubbock, Rivers Wilson, Fremantle, and Ryan, who sat next above me in school, and Welby who was in the form above. After some years, we each of us entered the Civil Service of the State ; each of us has risen to be the head of one of the largest and most important Departments of the Government, — Sir Reginald Welby being Secretary to the Treasury ; Sir Algernon West, Chairman of the Inland Revenue ; Sir Rivers Wilson, Controller of the National Debt ; Sir Charles Ryan, Controller General of Exchequer ; Hon. Sir Charles Fremantle, Deputy Master of the Mint, while Sir John Lubbock is 2 18 LIFE OF SIB ARTHUR BLACKWOOD not only well known as a politician, but also as a literary man. This circumstance, as may well be conceived, has contributed in no small degree to the pleasure, and lightened the labours of a long career in the public service. One other circumstance in connection with the set I have just mentioned is also remarkable. We were each of us made a K.C.B. (except Lubbock) within a few years of each other. " That half had a very happy ending, when West, Rivers Wilson, myself and two others went home from Eton to Putney in a four-oar. Flokeat EtonaI" PROSEKBN. Notes. " No one can ever have had a life of greater happiness than I. Each successive stage of my boyhood had been an increase of pleasure upon the former ; but behind and above all was there the supreme delight of the most intense family affection. No son, I am sure, was ever loved more devotedly by Father or Mother, or returned it more truly. My sisters and I were wrapped up in each other. What a blessing has this been to me all my days ! " The next stage of existence proved no exception to those which had preceded it. " It had been decided that I was to go to Cambridge in two years' time ; and besides keeping up the very small modicum of classics with which I had furnished myself at Eton, my Father judged — and judged rightly, for it has been of immense advantage to me during my whole life — that I should know at least one foreign language well. Of French I already had a smattering. "A friend of his. Miss Blake, of Danesbury, Herts, had married Baron de Biel, the possessor of large estates in Mecklenburg, on the Baltic Sea ; and by their advice he was induced to place me with their parish clergyman, Mr. Brockmann. " Accordingly, in October, 1848, I embarked at midnight at London Bridge, in the John Bull, for Hamburg. My only companion was my little dog Tiger. My Father and Mother came to see me off, and sad indeed were the good-byes on both sides." " My dearest dearest Mother," he writes in a Httle private scrap enclosed in the first letter home, " I love you most dearly, and will try to repay your kind loving affection by all the means in my power, by working hard, and doing all I can to please you." And then, amongst the packet of letters, comes a thin crumpled envelope, enclosing a little tan glove, with the single button of those (19) 20 LIFE OP SIB ABTHTJR BLACKWOOD days; and written on the outside are the words, "With this glove I shook hands with my loved Boy, Tuesday night, on board the John Bull, 17th October, 1848, since which I have kept it sacred." Mrs. Blackwood's love for her son, it may be said once for all, was of a most intense description — a fact which, in estimating the influences of his life, cannot be left out of account. He never knew what it was not to be surrounded by love and sunshine. Then follow in letters, and later in the Notes, full details of the voyage — a bad one, lasting four days and nights, instead of two, and he a " wretched sailor " ; of his journey next day to Wismar, where "a portly kindly-looking man of about forty, talking very broken English, received me with great heartiness " ; of his arrival at Proseken, and kind reception by the Frau Pastorin, whose English was " a httle better than the Pastor's." " Tiger was allowed to go up to my room, where once more my thoughts turned homewards with inexpressible home-sickness." Full descriptions of his rooms, furniture, meals, and hours are given in these letters home. Notes. "Very soon I was cheered up by the Baroness de Biel's cordial invitation to spend an afternoon at Zierow. This was about two miles off, through some very pretty woods ; and it was indeed with gladness that I found myself in what, to all intents and purposes, was an English country house in both talk and ways of living. The Baron, who was noted for having introduced horse-racing into Germany, was a most high-bred gentleman of the old school. There were four sons : one, Wilhelm, exactly my own age ; and Thomson, Charles and Kudolph. Also four daughters. " During the two years of my stay in Mecklenburg, Zierow was my never-failing resort. Constantly did I spend my Sundays there, besides weeks at Christmas time ; and the shooting expeditions, when, to my horror as an English sportsman, I had to shoot foxes, were occasions of great enjoyment. But above all was the riding. The Baron had a fine stud of thoroughbreds at Zierow. I had had pretty good practice in the hunting field in England, but it needed all I knew to stick on when I galloped round in the riding-school in the winter, with the Baron and the four lads, all of them first-rate horsemen. " It was a succession of such tricks as I hkd never experienced in my life. In the autumn we used to go across country for two or three PROSEKEN 21 hours ; but as it was very open, the jumping was nothing like what I had been used to. " I soon settled down to work at German, and then at classics and mathematics with Mr. Brockmann ; and being anxious to make a good impression with a man who I saw was a scholar, and who had heard of the renown of Eton, I put my best leg foremost. How I came out in Greek play and Livy certainly surprised me, for I was not aware that I knew so much ; and Mr. Brockmann was evidently surprised to find how far I had advanced. I soon picked up German, amusing them much by my mistakes. The name by which I was soon known was that of ' Misterchen ' (the little Mister), though I was then six foot two inches. " Often I would go o£E with Tiger to breakfast with Herr Fischer, a young farmer, one of the Baron's tenants ; or to the Wiesch, where lived a dear old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jenssen. Once in the week, perhaps, we either paid or received Besuche (visits). This was always without notice. On our side, the Wienerwagen, or close carriage, was brought out about three o'clock, and along miles of flats that could not be called roads, of hard clay in summer, and fearful mire and snow in winter, we jogged and creaked to some neighbouring friendly farmer's house. A hospitable welcome always awaited us ; kaffee was instantly forthcoming, and the parlour was soon filled with tobacco smoke. I had not at that time myself acquired the habit. Soon perhaps, equally accidentally, dropped in some other family. In one room the men all began playing whist and other games of cards for pence ; while the wives and daughters of course knitted, and kept up a pretty good flow of talk. As I did not smoke, I preferred the ladies' society as a rule, where I learned a good deal of German in conversation, and spent pleasant evenings. At nine o'clock we all went in to supper, where, while there was profusion, there was no variety from our ordinary home fare. The life was so simple and easy-going among them all. It had a peculiar and lasting charm. "The winter perhaps was the most enjoyable. Heavy snow fell early; and then we had sleighing across the country, or skating at Zierow, or for miles and miles on the long extent of hummocky ice which reached far out into the Baltic. Oh I how weird it was as we stayed on the ice and down on the desolate shore till dusk, and one fancied one could see to the North Pole itself as the night fell ! " In summer I kept up my music, which I had not neglected even at Eton, walking into Wismar once a week, in the very early morning, and having lessons at eight o'clock; in winter playing duets with the Frau Pastorin. My small acquirements on the piano were very accept- able in the difierent houses. 22 LIFE OF SIB AETHUB BLACKWOOD "Then too came the Eeading-teas, when the ladies and younger gentlemen of the country round met at different houses from time to time, to read Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, Byron, etc.; whilst the older men shut themselves up with their penny games of cards and nights of smoke. "The Brockmanns had two boys. In the long evenings Wilhelm and I used to play Belaguerung Spiel, a tin-soldier game of attack and defence. " Christmas, much as the Zierow people pressed me, I could not spend away from Proseken, though I went there immediately after- wards. There was always a family gathering; of course there was a fine Christmas tree. Such was the general tenour of the Proseken life." Through all this time the strong feelings of home-love were kept alive by a constant interchange of long pleasant chatty letters on either hand. " If I had written to you every time I had thought of you, you would have had a letter reaching from Tuesday night to Friday morning," says his sister Lucy in her share of the large foreign sheet, upon which the whole family poured out their affection and regret on his first departure from England. Full and descriptive letter-writing was highly esteemed by Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood; and the exercise trained him to an ease in expressing himself which must have been of no small value in after life. " I daresay," he says, " I could write more fluently and better if I took more time. I think you will not complain of the shortness of this letter. It is the longest I ever wrote. It is one hundred and thirty lines. " The other day we went into Wismar, and dined with a friend of Pastor Brockmann's, and as the dinner-things were being laid, I saw a bottle of English porter placed on the table. My heart rejoiced within me, as I had not seen such a thing since I had been in Germany. When, what was my dismay when we sat down to dinner, to see it poured into wine-glasses, mixed with pounded sugar, and spoons to stir it I ! ! " I think the Germans must be lazy, as they were all quite astonished at my walking from here to Vogsthagen, about fifteen miles." PEOSEKEN 23 Notes. "During that summer a most unexpected pleasure was suddenly announced from home. My Father had decided to take my Mother and sisters to Switzerland ; and to my intense delight, he wrote to me, telling me I was to meet them at Antwerp, thus giving me two more days of their company. " Oh, the pleasure of that trip, with those I so loved, and had not seen for ten months I Cologne, Coblenz, Wiesbaden, B&le, and then Vevay, Geneva, Chamounix, Martigni, Baden, are the principal places that I remember. Often as I have betravelled Switzerland since, never has the charm of that journey been excelled. At last we had to part at Cologne." At Proseken the old happy life was now resumed. His letters are filled with accounts of the sport which he so greatly enjoyed. "Yesterday, I went with Willy Biel to a battiie in one of the Grand Ducal forests. One has to pay a fine if one misses, doesn't shoot when one can, doesn't hold the gun properly, i.e., with the muzzle in the air, which among so many shooters is for the sake of safety. I had not to pay once, and Willy had to pay six for missing. "I shot every day at Zierow with Willy Biel at hawks in the following manner. We had an immense owl, called an Uhu or Sohubut, which was fastened to a stake about twenty paces from a hut in which Willy and I were concealed, and in which there was a window out of which to shoot. The owl attracts the hawks by screaming, and they come one after another and swoop at him ; while they are hovering, before the swoop, we shoot them. They generally measure between five and six feet from wing to wing. One had however generally to wait a good long time before they came, which was rather freezing work in 12° cold. You wonder at my wanting another great-coat 1 I should like you to be in a sledge with 18° to 24° cold, and a wind like a knife, and see if you would not freeze in three great-coats like mine ! " Fxova the time of his arrival in Germany he was much struck by the absence of the religious observances to which he had always been accustomed at home. "Mr. and Mrs. Brockmann are gone to spend the evening at Mr. Jenssen's, whither I also was asked : but as I think that if I go to one person's house on Sunday, I cannot refuse to go to another when asked, I have refused to go to-night. After church is over, they spend the Sunday going to the opera, playing cards, and anything else they like. 24 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD "The swearing here, — at least, not swearing, but using God's name, — is quite dreadful, ladies and children using it more than men ; the favourite expression is Herr Oott and Herr Jesus." His Mother's answer is very touching : — " I hope I am beginning to think more seriously of my responsi- bility. ... I tremble at the desecration of the Sabbath. It is so pleasant to our sinful natures to pass it in pastime, and even worse, cards. But recollect, dear love, that God so hallowed it, that He Him- self observed it. Oh I my child, I remember with tears, and with groans — yes, I have heard myself audibly groan, when I recollect that I have helped by my example to make you think lightly of Sunday. . . . But I will hope it may have served as a warning instead of an example. I know it is pleasant to pass Sunday according to the way of the world ; but I read only this morning Mark viii. 34, which so plainly shows that those who wish to follow the Saviour must take up their cross, deny themselves, and do what is not according to our sinful desires." Notes. " During these years I underwent a curious phase of spiritual ex- perience. The religious emotions which I had passed through when a boy at Walmer had been quite deadened by school-life ; and I do not remember having any tendency whatever towards the things of God when I arrived in Mecklenburg. But a peculiar effect was produced upon me by the way in which the Sunday was observed there. Ac- cording to general Lutheran ways, the afternoon is treated as lawfully devoted to secular amusements ; and cards, visits, and the theatre were all looked upon as quite legitimate occupations. This, somehow or other, offended my sense of propriety ; and I determined, careless as I had been of Sunday observance in England, to act differently. I therefore regularly shut myself up in my room on Sundays, with my Bible and Prayer Book, and diligently pursued a course of Doddridge's 'Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.' This had been given to me some years before by my dear godmother, Charlotte Wright of Lenton, who was afterwards, by another book, to convey a yet gladder message to my soul. These studies produced a very great impression upon me ; and I sought to conform my life to the lines prescribed by good Dr. Doddridge, and entered into covenants with God, which I trusted would eventually secure my salvation. But these impressions, like those of earlier years, were soon quenched by other scenes. The goodness of God however did not abandon me." Powerful as these impressions and good resolutions may have been while they lasted, and often as they may have been PBOSEKBN 25 re-awakened from time to time, they appear from his Diary — a mere record of events — to have been but short-lived on each occasion, and to have been of a curiously mingled nature. On the Sunday following his arrival at Proseken, he says, " Went to opera. Saw Eagle's Nest. Very pretty girl acted Eose." That day week was the first on which the new resolutions took effect. " Sunday, 5th Nov., 1848. — Bead prayers in my room. Mr. and Mrs. B. and H. F. went to the Jenssens'. I stayed at home, and wrote to West and Mother. Finished the ' Morne au Liable ' — capital book." By Sunday, 12th November, the entry has become : — " Wrote letters. Read prayers. Went to opera. Saw Huguenots. Mile. Lachenwitz Is very pretty, and acted very nicely." This however was the only occasion on which he broke his resolutions so far as regarded Sunday theatres. With several ex- ceptions, the usual entry is, " Eead prayers," accompanied by such variations as the following : — " Sunday, 3rd Deo. — Read prayers in my own room. . . . Played whist in the evening, I'm ashamed to say." "Sunday, 1th Jan. 1849. — Read prayers. ... In evening went to Bahr's for Lottery. I had three lots, but lost them all." ^^ Sunday, 21si Jan. — Read prayers in my room. Mr. Brockmann went to Schwellar's. I wouldn't go. Herr Pastorr evidently doesn't like my refusing to go out on Sunday." "Sunday, l\th March. — Read prayers in morning. . . . Played vingtet un! ! which I am sorry for. Gob forgive me! won four schelllng." The entry of 25th March, 1849, has a slight, but very significant variation upon the formal " Eead prayers." " Read and prayed in the morning." A comparison of dates shows that it must have been on this day that the following letter was written : — " Pbosbkbn, 1849, Sunday, 25th. " My deaeest Sister Lucy, — I have for some time been wishing to write to you alone about myself, but could never determine myself to open my mind fully to you. " There is nobody here to whom I can talk about religious matters. ... I have lately been thinking more about my sinful state than I have ever done ; and though I feel that I am not the least improved, still I can't help feeling a sort of self-sufficiency when I see all the 26 LIFE OF SIR ABTHUB BLACKWOOD people here breaking the Sabbath day, and taking God's name in vain in the way they do. This I know is wrong, because I am as sinful, I daresay more sinful, than they ; because, though I don't do those very sins openly, I profane the Sunday with unholy thoughts as much as they do with their parties and cards. " I read and pray every morning and evening, and often pray very fervently ; but the moment that is over, the thoughts of the world and all its pleasures come pouring back into my mind, and entirely drive out holier thoughts. I pray for strength against temptation ; but the moment temptation comes, however small, I yield to it. When I am praying, and reading the Bible, or Doddridge's 'Rise and Progress' (which I like exceedingly), I feel very happy, when I think that by really be- lieving on Jesus Christ, I shall be saved; but the moment I cease reading or prayer, I feel quite in despair of salvation, or else a sort of relying on my own strength to resist temptation and do good works, which I cannot get rid of. Sundays I read and pray more than other days, but that past, the week goes by in the same routine of sin and negligence of God ; and when the next Sunday comes, I feel myself sinfuller than ever, and still faster in the bonds of Satan. This morn- ing I have been praying more earnestly than I have ever done, and have immediately sat down to write this to you, in the hopes that you will give me some good advice. " I hope that the Holy Spirit has really moved me to think more of Eternal Salvation and the necessity of preparing for another world, and that it is not a false delusion of my own mind." In April, 1849, the Diary ceases. Of the remaining tvrelve months at Proseken no record exists, except in letters. In the spring of 1850 a correspondence passed betvreen himself and his Father, with reference to the prospect of his going to Cambridge in the autumn of that year. Parts of his own letters are worth giving as an indication of character : — " Pboseken, 19th Jan., 1850. " I have been thinking for some time past about your plans con- cerning me ; and after having asked several people who are fit judges of it, have come to the conclusion that it would be advisable for me to go to a German University, instead of an English one. " I will give you my reasons in proper order. " 1. I have been learning Latin and Greek for seven or eight years, and in my opinion know enough of them both to go through the world with. What does W. K.'s Latin help him ? He has the reputa- tion of being a good Latin scholar, and that is all ! I have enough of Latin to be able to read most authors with facility ; and that I have PEOSBKEN 27 read a great deal of Sophocles and Euripides is a proof of my Greek knowledge. At Cambridge and Oxford, Latin, Greek and mathematics are the things which one must learn, and without which one cannot take a degree ; and are therefore rendered the principal and most im- portant studies. " Now, in Germany, one may study what one likes ; Statistics, History, Astronomy, Geology, Painting; every language, and in fact every branch of knowledge is open to one. Modern languages and history educate a man much more than Latin and Greek. What am I to do in society with Latin and Greek ? . . . Whereas the afore-mentioned things would help me on in every society. " 2. At Cambridge or Oxford I should cost you at least £260 or £300 a year. In Germany, at the best University, either Berlin or Bonn, . . . £150 would be more than enough. " 3. In the holidays I could make the journeys which you intend me to make now, viz., to the Duke of Augustenburg, Vienna, Dresden, Munich, etc. At Bonn, as you know, I am two days from London ; at Berlin, five or six. " The only reason I have against it is, that I should at Oxford or Cambridge make acquaintances, which would be useful to me in after life. " If you were by good luck to get an appointment for me while at the University, I could leave it directly ; but at Cambridge I could not well leave without taking a degree. " I have been speaking with Mr. Brockmann a great deal about this lately. His opinion is the following : that I am in Latin, Greek, and mathematics very well grounded. (I have heard that he has spoken to other people in great praise of my attainments in those languages, etc.) But that I am very deficient in geographical and historical knowledge, which is quite true ; and that that deficiency would be better filled up in a German university than in any English one. He expressed at the same time a wish that I should stay here the summer, in order to study these two things ; and I could certainly wish for no better teacher than he is. He has the knack of teaching and explaining everything clearer and easier than anybody I know. None of the masters at Eton has the method and convincing way of explaining that he has. He also says that I have resolution, and that if I make up my mind to work, I can do it ; and I hope that you have reliance enough on my promise to believe me, if I say that I will work hard. I end by saying that I should like it exceedingly, if you have nothing against it. And do not think that this wish and letter are the work of a moment, for I have been thinking about it a good long time." The correspondence thus closes :— 28 LIFE OP SIR AETHUB BLACKWOOD "15th February, 1850. — The reasons which you produce against a German university are such as I should expect from a person who had never been in Germany . . . and who has very naturally prejudices in favour of England ; but as I see you are decidedly against it, I will not urge it again." The Notes take up the narrative again at this point. " Once again my Father, who never ceased, though by no means a rich man, to gratify my every desire and to do all that he thought for my advantage, sent me a remittance with authority to travel so far as the money would carry me, keeping north of the Alps. The sad day of leaving Proseken arrived. Mournful indeed it was to us all ; for somehow or other those kind people had conceived a very strong affection for the English lad who had come among them eighteen months before in the way I have described. The love engendered in those years has lasted all my life. "Several times, at long intervals, I have revisited the scenes of those happy days. The circle of loved ones has of course diminished. The good and kind Pastor lies in his churchyard. The Baron and Baroness have long since also died ; and their son Wilhelm, who had been my greatest friend, a magnificent young man of six foot four, and as handsome as he was tall, to the great grief of all who loved him, shot himself accidentally three years after I left. Standing beside a little covert, where we had often shot together, and loading his gun, it exploded, and he was killed on the spot. " By his death Charles became the inheritor of the Zierow property. "My journey was very enjoyable. Having despatched dear old Tiger from Hamburg, I proceeded first to Berlin, where the pleasure of my stay was enhanced by the kindness of the British ambassador, Lord Westmorland. Thence to Dresden, where I found an Eton friend, in whose company I met with a young Englishman, named Gordon Weld. We made friends directly^, and travelling through Saxon Switzerland, by way of Prague, reached Vienna. Then, after a pleasant fortnight, we went to the Austrian Tyrol, Ischl, Wolfgangsee, and Salzburg. Then on foot, a three days' walk to Bad-Gastein, at that time a quiet little village, consisting of a few primitive chalets. "After that to Munich, where Weld had to leave me, and where I spent perhaps the pleasantest fortnight of all in the society of a cousin of the Von Biels, young Baron Von Maltzahn, an ofiicer in the Bavarian army. "Thence to Homburg, and after a final Week of pleasure there, went down the Bhine to Kotterdam. "Another few hours, and I was at Albert Terrace, Eegent's Park, where my parents then lived. In about a year's time we removed to Upper Brook Street, Grosvenor Square." CAMBEIDGE AND LONDON. Notes. " On 12th October, 1850, 1 went up to Cambridge, where I matriculated at Trinity, and was installed in lodgings at 14 Kose Crescent. "I at once found myself amongst a number of old Eton friends, and within a few weeks was elected a member of the Atheneum. This is a club just opposite Trinity Gate, whose character of course varies with that of the different sets of men who come up to Cambridge. At that time it was very quiet, consisting of only about thirty men, fellow commoners and gentlemen commoners, and a few others like myself. Philip Currie, Christopher Sykes, John Bridgeman, John Harbord, Francis Leveson Gower, (who, alas ! died within a year or so in the Bulgarian Rifles), Alexander Dennistoun, Heatheote, now Lord An- caster, and a few others are those whom I recollect most vividly. " But I had a number of other friends also, and besides rowing in the 2nd Trinity in summer, my principal pursuit was that of riding across country, where it is a wonder that I did not break my neck over the Cambridgeshire five-barred gates, every one of which I think I must have jumped during the two winters that I was up. " I have never ceased to regret that I did not avail myself more assiduously of the educational opportunities within my reach. I am ashamed to say that, beyond what was absolutely necessary to pass muster at lectures, I neglected reading in the whole of my Univer- sity career." Constantly in after life Sir Arthur would refer to his Cambridge career, grieving over the lost time and wasted opportunities for reading — a loss which in his subsequent busy life he found it so impossible to repair. The letters of this, as of one or two other periods, were accident- ally destroyed. One only remains. (29) 30 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD " Trinitt College, Tuesday, llth. "My deaeest Mother, — I received your letter this morning. . . . You accuse me of being wanting in the duty of a son to a mother, be- cause I have not written since Sunday, 2nd (I think I wrote home then). Tell me how often you wish to hear from me, and I will write the requisite number of times ; but it will only be to send a blank envelope to let you know I am well, as everything goes on here so regularly that I can have nothing to say ; if you will however let me write whenever I can fill up a letter, and give you some account of my goinga- on, I shall enjoy it. " I am sure it is from no wish to be wanting in my duty to you that I do not write oftener, but solely from having nothing to say. " Dearest Mummy, do tell me what is weighing on your spirits ; . . . you must be sure that I shall sympathise with you. Bo write to me the day you receive this, . . . and you shall have no cause to complain of my not writing to you oftener. " I am, dearest Mother, " Your loving Son. " I heard from Granny this morning." It can have been only a few weeks later that his grandmother, Lady Blackwood, died. She had filled a certain place in his life, and had regarded him with affection and pride. On the fly-leaf of a little old worn book of " Prayers," her son, Mr. Arthur Blackwood, made the following record : — " On Monday, the 5th May, 1861, at half-past ten, a.m., in the pre- sence of her children, and in perfect reliance on the intercession of her Redeemer, my dear Mother resigned, after a short illness, and without pain, her spirit to her Maker. " God be praised for all His mercies, and for this happy transition to everlasting peace. " The last words on my Mother's lips were : ' Oh 1 lift my soul to heaven,' and ' Pray the Lord to receive my soul.' " Notes. " My Cambridge life went on very pleasantly till March, 1852. At that time the Government of Lord John Eussell resigned. My Mother, who had been a great favourite in early years, thought this an oppor- tunity not to be lost for advancing her son's interests. She therefore hurried to Downing Street, and asked him, before leaving office, to give me an appointment. It so happened that there were three vacancies at the Treasury. One of these Lord John gave to me, and another to Ryan, who a few years before had sat next me in school at Eton." CAMBRIDGE AND LONDON 31 The graceful little note in which Lord John Russell acknow- ledged the thanks which this appointment drew forth, still remains. " Ohesham PtAOK, 13th March, 1852. " Dear Mrs. Blackwood,— I am very happy to find that my patron- age has fallen on one so deserving, and who will I hope always make you a happy mother. " I remain, yours truly, " J. Russell." Notes. " This was of course a first-rate opening to a public career. As I was in some trepidation as to my prospects at the examination for my degree, and had begun to feel the necessity for reading, it was not without great relief that I felt that this would not now be required ; and though I was sorry to leave my Cambridge friends, the thought of a start in life and all the pleasures of London made up for any disappointment. I had also just at that moment got into some scrapes with the College authorities. I therefore said good-bye to Cambridge without a very heavy heart ; and going home, was at once presented by my Father to Sir Charles Trevelyan, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, thus commencing my public service in March, 1862. " My formal introduction to the Service of Her Majesty was com- pleted by having to give proof of my powers of composition and knowledge of arithmetic in the Private Secretary's room of Sir Charles Trevelyan, then Secretary to the Treasury. My Eton, German, and Cambridge education fortunately bore this severe strain. Entrance into the service of the State, in those happy days, depended upon the result of no examination, but at all events in the case of the Treasury, upon the will of the Prime Minister. Nor was the labour which the State then exacted of us of a too exhausting character. It consisted in copying letters into a big book ; and then, at the close of the day, folding the said letters, enclosing them in large envelopes, addressing them, and sealing them, regardless of cost, with an enormous weight of red sealing wax. This tremendous work, which began at half-past ten, concluded at four. It was relieved by an excellent luncheon ; and the afternoon was often mirthfully enlivened by Herbert Murray, now Chairman of the Customs, Wynne, an Eton friend, who after- wards left for the Coldstream Guards, and myself, in games of stump and ball. " We occupied a long low room, the highest in the building, look- ing over St. James' Park to the west, and the Treasury passage into Downing Street on the south. There we were secluded from the rest of 32 LIFE OP SIB ARTHUB BLACKWOOD the office, being at the top of a long stone corkscrew staircase, up which no one ever came, except friends to join in our sport, either from inside the building or from other Departments of the Government outside. . . . One day a catastrophe occurred. Being unable to obtain in the ordinary way sufficient supplies of drinkables for our friends and ourselves, we resorted to the expedient of hoisting up a cask of beer from the aforesaid Treasury passage. In a few minutes orders reached me to wait upon Sir Charles Trevelyan. A Bobby had witnessed the proceedings, and Supposing something was wrong, had given notice indoors. Sir Charles asked for an explanation. I en- deavoured to state, as clearly as I could, that an enterprising firm of West-end brewers had resorted to that method of extending their custom. Sir Charles, whose experience of simple Indian ways had not prepared him, any more than his acquaintance with London life, for so remarkable a development of trade enterprise, apparently did not quite credit my representations. This was of course too much for my Eton and Cambridge spirit, and I was very impertinent. I can see now the air of surprised and outraged authority which shaded the good man's features as he exclaimed : ' Ha I ha ! this is contumacy. Sir 1 Leave the room I ' I left, not feeling at all sure what condign punishment, perhaps even the loss of my new appointment, the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, functionaries who sat in the Board room, and included the new Prime Minister himself, might inflict upon so grievous an offender. I was not without a resource ; and going to William Stevenson, who was next in rank to Trevelyan, and was an old friend of my Father, I sought his friendly intervention. This he promised ; and by a timely apology to my offended chief, I succeeded in establishing peace. "Within a couple of years Sir Charles published in the Times extracts of letters from myself to him, in which I stated facts which had occurred within my own knowledge in the Crimea. . . . " Our official day, as I said, ended at four. Then, arm in arm with Stewart Hobhouse, of the Home Office, from whom I was inseparable for the next few years, I sallied forth, generally to Eotten Kow. Often my Father lent me a horse. This enabled me to enjoy the Society of my partners of the previous evening. . . " London Society was then very different from what I understand it is now. ... Almack's was then on its last legs. This was a series of balls held at Willis's Rooms, to which nobody could be admitted except on vouchers signed by a certain number of the great ladies of Society, of whom the famous Lady Jersey was the acknowledged head. Speak- ing generally, everybody knew everybody. Day after day, and night after night, one met the same circle of friends ; yet of course with CAMBRIDGE AND LONDON 33 more or less of variety. To such young people as myself, the season came to an end amidst intense regret. But then followed other agreeable occupations. Visits to country houses in the summer, shooting parties in the autumn, hunting in the winter, so far as one's leave would allow. " A fortnight was spent about Christmas at my friend Dungarvan's, in Somersetshire, where, with my Father's invariable desire to contri- bute in every way to my happiness, he sent me one of his best hunters, with a groom. Dungarvan had a pack of harriers, and we had some rare sport day after day, till my leave was up. " Last there came, late in February (1854), a large party at Percy Barrington's, in Oxford shire, for some tableaux vivants. His sister. Lady Strathmore, was Medora, and I had to enact the Corsair, which, having fitted myself out with a Greek costume, I believe I did satisfactorily. " Little did I think how near I was to the end for ever of this my London life. But so it was." Through all these years there was one spot from which prayer — earnest believing prevailing prayer — " Rose like a fountain for him, night and day." This was the home of the three " Aunts," to whom reference has been made. Many years before, when evangelical religion was not common, the four daughters of Mr. John Wright, of Lenton Hall, Nottingham (sisters of Mrs. Blackwood's first husband), had been converted to God. Through years of difficulty, and even opposition, the sisters pursued their way. One married ; the others remained imder their father's roof, "rich in good works," until his death. Then, to be near their work in the village, they built themselves a house — The Lodge, Lenton — where they lived, till, each at a very advanced age, they " departed for Zion," as Mr. Blackwood pleasantly said, when speaking of another's happy death. Deep in their knowledge of their Bibles, reverential and matured, to them it was given to know God with none of that flippant and shallow faith " which stands in the wisdom of men." Their affection for Mrs. Blackwood and her family was abounding. In her daughters they were already seeing the fulfilment of their hopes ; but in her son every early sign of grace had disappeared. Miss Charlotte Wright was his godmother; and when, in 1886, she died at the age of ninety years, he wrote to a friend, " I owe her more than any one else in the world as regards my spiritual life." 8 34 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD To this " Aunt " he wrote in 1852 :— "Many, many thanks, my dear Aunt Charlotte, for your kind letter, and the great interest you take, both in my spiritual and temporal welfare. The latter is, I think, satisfactory enough. I wish sincerely I could say so of the former ; for although I know perfectly that I am living in a state of sin, and very great sin, hardly ever giving a thought to God, yet I wholly want the resolution and strength of mind necessary to give up the pleasures of the world, which I feel are of course wholly incompatible with the service of God. The most I can boast is, that I say some short prayer every night ; but that I do merely as a duty, and not because I feel any pleasure in it. Of course I say to myself that I mean to devote my time to religion and God some day, when I have had my turn of balls and gaieties ; but I know that it will be just as difficult then as it is now, and probably a great deal more so. You see I am perfectly aware of my state, and know that if I continue in it, I cannot hope for salvation. I very often make good resolutions, and say one day that I will not commit the sin I have that day committed again ; and I ask God for assistance to help those resolutions : but when the temptation comes, I yield just as readily as I did before. " I feel I am much too fond of balls and operas, etc. to give up the world without a great struggle: and I am quite sure that it is im- possible to serve God truly, and to frequent those places. But in the meantime it is necessary for me to go into society in order to make my way in the world ; and I don't think my parents would like my giving it up, even if I felt equal to it myself. . . . " I feel, in short, that I am going on in a far from satisfactory way j and though I wish sincerely enough to abandon it, yet I cannot. " I shun religion, and fly from it as a bore ; and though serious, thoughts sometimes come over me, yet I banish them as quickly as possible. Twenty years of my life have been spent in worse than unprofitableness, and I might die any day, and it is dreadful to think how little I am prepared. " Believe me, my dear Aunt Charlotte, " Your affectionate godson, "S. A. B. " Monday, 12th April, 1852." In the summer of 1853, he again went abroad, with his friend Stewart Hobhouse. In a pocket memorandum-book, he kept a. diary of this tour with his accustomed regularity. It is a record of journeying and sight-seeing, varied by meetings with friends and. scrimmages with hotel keepers, games of vingt et un, losses and CAMBRIDGE AND LONDON 36 gains, brewing of claret cup, etc. In the midst of the frivolous entries comes a page in German characters. The friends had suffered so severely from scorched faces after a mountaineering expedition, that they rested at Chamounix, July 8th, " sitting in a room almost dark, with shutters shut." Translation. "While H. rested, I went Into the pretty little village church, which was close by. . . . There I knelt down and prayed to God to forgive me my sins, and to give me time for repentance. Afterwards I went round the little churchyard; and whilst I admired the great works of His hand, I asked Him to make me more grateful for all His benefits, and not to give me up, but to send me the Holy Ghost, and to bring me at last into His own Kingdom. Oh ! if only the good resolutions which are now in my heart would remain firm I May God, in His great mercy, grant that they do 1 " Years afterwards, when living at Orayford [1871-79], Mr. Black- wood was looking over some old books and papers, and came upon the little pocket-book ; the German characters caught his eye, and he showed the page to his Wife, remarking on God's wonderful dealings with him. He had entirely forgotten the entry. It was probably at the time when this incident in his life had thus been brought vividly to his memory, that he spoke of it in the meeting alluded to in the following letter, dated March 23rd, 1894, which gives the recollections, lasting to the present day, of one who was there. " I am going now to give you what I remember about Sir Arthur. " He came down to speak at the Chatham Soldiers' Home the week it was opened. His night was Thursday, 15th June, 1876. "His text was, 'Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,' which he spoke of as an underlined text, repeated three times in Scripture. In speaking of the certainty of God answering all who call, he told us of a young man who, after the gaieties of a London season, had gone to Switzerland with some friends. One morning, on which the party had arranged some expedition, he had a headache, and stayed behind ; and then, later in the day, went out alone for a walk, and wandered up on to the mountains. He found himself alone, out of sight of human habitation. A sense of awe came over him, of his own smallness and sin, and God's Majesty ; and he stood up and said, ' O God, help me to turn over a new leaf.' 36 LIFE OF SIB AETHTTE BLACKWOOD " The whole thing so impressed him, that he made a memorandum of the fact in a note-book, in some foreign language, for fear of any one seeing it. Then Sir Arthur told us that this was himself, and that he was a living testimony to the truth of the text." But the impressions passed away, not to be revived apparently for many months ; and a life of godlessness followed. Like another young man, of whom it is vrritten that " Jesus, beholding him, loved him," " he went away sorrowful." Still, he " went away." And Jesus let Mm go I " His time " had " not yet full come." II. THE WAE IN THE CEIMEA. The Bosphoeus. bulgabia. Alma. Winter befoee Sebastopol. SUMMEE IN THE CbIMBA. The Pall op Sebastopol. THE BOSPHOEUS. Notes. "In the spring of 1854, war having broken out between Kussia and Turkey, England and France, with the object of maintaining the European balance of power and of defending their own interests, entered into an alliance with Turkey. "An Expeditionary Force was despatched to Gallipoli in the Dar- danelles, and the Brigade of Guards was sent out to Malta. England had been at peace for forty years, and some of the administrative branches of the Army had got uncommonly rusty. Amongst these was the Commissariat Staff, at that time a Branch of the Treasury, and the very life of an army in the field, since its functions were to provide funds for the pay, and food for the support of the troops. The number of officers had been reduced to a peace footing, and there were only just enough for the supply of the various garrisons. "Thus arose a great emergency. The Commissary-in-Chief re- quiring that his Department should be efiiciently supplied with officers, and the Treasury having none whom it could send out, the Government determined to call for volunteers. It was decided to offer to us Treasury clerks commissions as officers of the Commissariat Staff, with excellent pay and allowances, our places at home being kept open for us whilst we were absent. " We did not in the least know what was in store for us, but thought a trip to Malta and Constantinople, with military rank, would not be at all bad fun ; and Herbert Murray and myself jumped at the offer. My Mother was in dismay ; but my Father, having gone to Sir Charles Yorke, then Adjutant-General, ascertained all about the position, con- ditions of service and so on, and the whole thing was settled." His Father's letters leave no doubt that he had gladly hailed this prospect of active service as a break in the desultory London life, and a valuable opportunity, not only of acquiring credit, but of developing and strengthening his son's character. (39) 40 life of sir arthur blackwood Notes. "The next fortnight was occupied with getting uniforms, saddle- bags, pistols, camp-equipage, and everything that one was told was necessary ; and on the 20th March, in company with my Father and Mother, I left Upper Brook Street, saying good-bye there to my beloved and distressed sisters, Lucy and Ceci. Alas ! it was the last sight I ever had of the latter, as I looked at her sweet face at the dining-room window of our house. " I embarked at Southampton in the P. & 0. steamer IndAis, in sleet and snow." It is of this, — the commencement of the most solemnly critical period of his life — that the fullest records remain. The journal- letters written to his family throughout the whole term of his service in the East were copied by his Mother into three large volumes. On the other hand, many letters from herself and his Father have been preserved ; also packets of letters from his sisters and many of his own answers, besides a Peivate Jouenal, which, beginning with the start from Southampton, is carried on steadily till it ceases abruptly on 2nd March, 1855. Thesej together with his own recent autobiographical Notes, and a Diaet of Dates of the chief events of each year, supply a mass of material in itself complete and interesting enough to form several volumes. The difficulty has lain in selection and arrangement. In the preface to a recently published volume of Letters from the Crimea, the following observations are made by Field-Marshal Lord Wolseley : — "Waterloo, as a victory, was so stupendous in its far-reaching results that ... it is no wonder that we continue to read with eager interest every new book and pamphlet which adds to our knowledge of that day's eventful proceedings. " Of all that has been published about it from time to time, I think the private letters and diaries of the regimental officers and others who took part in it are by far the most interesting. They are impressed with a local colouring which we so often miss in the stately volumes of history. . . . " Our War with Russia in 1854 and 1855 cannot be compared in any way with that which was ended by . . . Waterloo. But still it must always have a living interest for the true lovers of England. "The glory of its triumphs we can never forget; and even when THE BOSPHOETJS 41 all who fought in the trenches before Sebastopol have disappeared from this world, the story of those dark days of trial, of physical sufiering, and utter misery, will always be read by our countrymen with deep sympathy and admiration." Mr. Blackwood's letters and journal naturally dwell upon the vexed question of the Commissariat supply in the Crimea. The conspicuous fairness which distinguished him throughout life is already manifest ; and the facts which he was in a position to know, are such as to throw a not-unneeded light upon many circum- stances. PeIVATB JOUENAIi. " Weighed anchor at three, and at twenty past three saw the last wave of my Mother's handkerchief from the quay." Notes. "My fellow-travellers were principally officers going out to join their regiments, and amongst them were several of the superior officers of my own Stafi. . . . " On reaching Malta, I found myself amongst a number of London friends. Guardsmen and others, one in particular being Bob Anstruther,* of the Grenadiers, with whom ere long I was to come into very close connection." Here he found letters from home, containing news, amongst other things, of the death of his uncle, Francis Blackwood, whom hf had seen two days before leaving England, then evidently in a dying state. Feom his Father. " CoLOOTAr. Office, 24*7;, March, 1854. " My very dear Boy, — I won't dwell upon the regrets I feel at your departure from home, because I desire to think that your ex- cursion will be advantageous and also agreeable to you ; and therefore I will only look at the bright side. " To make it however advantageous, pray observe that you can only accomplish that end by carefully and energetically obeying the orders you will receive. Let your superior officers see that you really do intend to make yourself useful, and not play the London swell ; and above all, keep your temper as much under command as possible, * Afterwards Sir Robert Anstruther, Bart., M.P., of Baloaskie, Fife. 42 LIFE OF SIB ARTHUR BLACKWOOD for I fancy it will be sorely tried. Avoid disputes ; but if unfortunately you get into any, conduct yourself like a man of sense and spirit ; for you are in an atmosphere of which honour is the principal ingredient, and if that be impaired, your position with your associates is done for, and you become contemptible. But on this point I have no fears for you, though I give the caution — applicable to all young men. " Do your best to acquire the language of the country, and to learn its history, past and present. The knowledge of it will open your mind. . . . Commend yourself daily to the protection of the Almighty, Whom we all pray to for you, and your actions will be pure and up- right, and I trust successful. ... I have followed you with my heart and good wishes." His Mother writes with the extraordinary power which she possessed of pouring out her whole soul in passionate affection even upon paper : — " Thwrsday, 23rd. " My very precious Darling,— You are not one minute out of my thoughts . . . and it is quite impossible to describe the desolation of my heart. . . . We have done nothing since your departure but moan over it. . . . "... I would be the last to put a spoke in the business which you are gone out to fulfil, and which must be your_^r«< thought. You have led for the last two years such a life of pleasure that it will be hard for you to put it aside, and begin labouring in good truth ; but I hope you will bear in mind that this is an opening which, if turned to account, may give you a substantial lift in life. . . . There was a lovely bright sunbeam glanced upon your ship just when you turned out of sight. I prayed it might be a token that God would bless your undertaking." The approach of danger seems now to have re-awakened in Mrs. Blackwood's soul the religious sentiments and apprehensions which had apparently been slumbering for some time past. Under the pressure of grief and anxiety, she resumes the strain which had marked many of her earlier letters. " Seek Him in prayer, my love ; He likes to be entreated. Ask His support. His guidance, and He will never forsake you. Remember Him, I pray you, whilst you are young. It may be if you only devote your last days to Him, He will hide His face. Or it may be worse ; you may have no last days at all. Give Him all your early life. He has given you all things." And then the letter rambles off into the concerns of daily life, and the further expression of her intense grief at his departure. THE BOSPHOBUS 43 In private Notes she pours forth a pathetic record of her feelings, with a natural freedom which forbids all criticism, though much is of too personal a nature for insertion here. " Poor ?jie / He is amidst new faces, quite a new life ; whereas I return to everything to remind me of him. It is a bitter blowing wind. Oh, how I dread going upstairs, and opposite his room, which will know him no more for so long ! My heart sinks as though it would die within me. No more sitting in my darling Boy's room ; no more calling him in the morning. . . . "Oh, oh, oh I my eyes will melt away with crying. . . . What is to become of me till I see his blessed face again ? I thank God my eye- sight never failed to distinguish his loved form standing on the vessel to the very last. Oh, that we may meet again in health and number as we are. . . . " I wish I knew which chair he sat in last in the drawing-room. If I could have anticipated this painful separation I . . alas 1 alas 1 but I do congratulate myself I have had no finger in this bitter separation. My reproaches would kill me." And then, after much more of the same nature, comes the char- acteristic little touch : — "Had the satisfaction of scolding Tessier." To her son she writes again : — " I never was so impressed with death as when I saw Uncle Francis' corpse ; his head towards the window, and his fine handsome face as white as linen. It has made me go to my God in greater earnestness than I ever did before, to give me new life ; to be able in my heart to cast off this world, the flesh, and the devil ; and I pray as only a mother can pray for you, my child. ... I assure you in truth, when I think it possible you or I may be taken in our present state, it seems to congeal the blood in my veins with terror." But not terror — something mightier — even "the love of God in Christ made known " — was to work the real change in Mother and Son. At Malta there was a week's delay. PeIVATE JOTJENAIi. " Malta. "Uh April, Tuesday. — Was going to bed when Potgieter came in, and said we were to go off in the Banshee. Went with him in a boat to 44 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD her ; were told we must be ready with our traps in an hour. Bushed back therefore. Shoved my things into portmanteaux and bags, pro- cured a cart by a great deal of bullying, paid the bill, went off for Pot- gieter, and marched down to the wharf. Had a row with the Smeitches as usual, and got on board in three quarters of an hour. Had to use our own beds, and sleep in the saloon." Notes. "The Banshee was the little despatch boat which ran between Constantinople and Malta, which Captain Reynolds pushed through the water at highest possible speed ; and as the Mediterranean hap- pened to be rather stormy those three days, I had a very unpleasant time of it ; but at last we got amongst the Isles of Greece." To HIS Mother. "We entered the Dardanelles by moonlight, could just see the castles of Europe and Asia, and were I believe very near being fired at for not hoisting our proper lights in time. They fire great granite balls, about two feet in diameter, and one shot would have done for us ! Stopped opposite Gallipoli to leave letters for Sir G. Brown, who was there with the Kifles; and then went on again as fast as ever, going really a tremendous pace, the spray from the bow forming a jet deau about four feet in height, and the ship dipping her nose every time. Woke in the Sea of Marmora on Saturday morning in quite smooth water. Entered the Bosphorus at one p.m. " The next day I reported myself. After a short time we were joined by the Commissary-General-in-Chief, Mr. Filder, a thin spare little man of about sixty, who had been all through the Peninsular War with the Duke of Wellington forty years before, and was an officer of great experience. He had been out for some time making contracts with the Greek merchants for the supply of everything that an army could require." The Journal and Letters here give full accounts of his experiences at Pera, of visits to the Sultan's new Palace, the Seraglio, the Mosque of St. Sophia, and of dinners at the Embassy and visits to the Opera. But this easy-going life was very soon brought to an end. On Friday, 14th April, Mr. Blackwood was detached with some other officers to Scutari, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. THE BOSPHOEUS 45 To HIS Parents. " Satv/rday, Ibth April. " I am in a great hurry, but do not like the post to go without a word from me, so send you what little I can. Yesterday in hurricane and snow-storm, Strickland, Potgieter, an interpreter and self, were sent over to Scutari to receive the Barracks destined for the English troops, as the Himalaya had just arrived with 41st and 33rd regiments. With the greatest difficulty and danger we reached the other side of the Bosphorus in a little caique, rode some hacks up to the Barracks, and immediately commenced surveying them, and arranging for the immediate reception of the troops. We were going about in the snow and rain and a bitter cold wind the whole day, varied by occasional visits to the Colonel, who always produced pipes and cofEee, and was most hospitable. About six we set out for the landing-place, but the storm was so tremendous that no boat would take us over. We were therefore obliged to retrace our steps through snow and mud two miles to the Barracks, and ask for a night's shelter there, the building being occupied by Turkish troops until to-day. They gave us an empty room and two mattresses, where, after some half-dozen pipes, and relays of coffee, and squatting cross-legged on a divan for three or four hours, we made ourselves pretty snug for the night, sleeping in our clothes, and wrapped up in our cloaks. We were up at five this morning, and after a dry rub, went off to the Himalaya to commence the disembarkation. Winter has set in again, and it is bitterly cold." Notes. " A very large four-towered Turkish Barracks had been vacated to make room for our troops. Amongst the officers were Assistant Com. Gen. Potgieter, and D.A.C.G. Barlee, with whom I soon struck up a fast friendship. We were quartered in the basement of one of the towers, looking over towards Constantinople and the Golden Horn, and then in the southern direction across the Sea of Marmora, and to Mount Olympus in the far distance. I don't think I ever saw any tenement so full of big and black fleas as that Turkish Barracks ; the white trousers which formed part of our uniform sometimes looking perfectly black with them. " We had a jolly mess amongst ourselves, for which I catered ; and one of the accomplishments my Mother had taught me for my Eton days being that of making an omelette, I was in great request as a cook." 46 life of sie aethdr blackwood Private Journal. "16th April, Easter Sunday. — Up at five. Can give no regular or circumstantial account of this day; for from five o'clock in the morning till seven in the evening, not even having time for luncheon, it was spent in issuing wood, beef, pork, candles, suet, raisins, flour and biscuits ; seeing the weights correct ; preventing the thieves of soldiers prigging the biscuits, which they invariably did when my back was turned. They also evinced a very natural and decided partiality for raisins, which it was also my duty to check. Ramsay came over ac- companied by Smith, who was much surprised to see me performing the duties of an Issuer, and blamed Strickland for it. It however could not be helped, as we had no subordinate ofBcers. " 19th April, Wednesday. — On board the Cambria, disembarking 47th from 6.30 till three. Bitterly cold, and hardly anything to eat. Then had to stand at the Pier, and transport arms for four hours, because Strickland had officiously undertaken the conveyance of things that were not at all in his Department. Sent off again in the middle of dinner to do ditto again. 47th and 88th landed to-day. "20th April, Thursday. — Turned out at five, and issued bread till 6.30. Six hundred loaves short. Had to issue biscuit instead. Went with Strickland to see the meat, and found them slaughtering the wrong animals. A tremendous row. Meat refused by Strickland, and the devil to pay. The contractor told a lot of lies. Dined at seven, and smoked all night. " 21st April, Friday. — An easy day's work, compared with the pre- ceding ones. Was up nevertheless at five, and down at the meat. Then washed and dressed. " 27th April, Tuesday. — Was going over to Galata for the bread, when Eamsay stopped me, and sent me with Harrison to Scutari to receive oats. . . . Went on at it till five in the evening. Kowed stroke of the caique coming home ; and a heavy storm coming on, was drenched to the skin, and without any respite was sent down to the landing-place to disembark the Guards. "30i/i April, Sunday.— Vfeni to Pera for bread. Counted 10,600 loaves. Back at two." Notes. "Regiments kept arriving from England every day, and were quartered at Scutari in tents. The Army soon began to be formed into Brigades and Divisions ; and the first Division, which was commanded by the Duke of Cambridge, consisted of the Brigade of Guards, under Brigadier-General Sir Henry Bentinck, and the Highland Brigade, under Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde. THE BOSPHOEUS 47 " To my great joy, and why I know not, the Commissary-General appointed me to the charge of the Brigade of Guards, the very Brigade in which I Icnew almost everybody, either from Eton or London days. I was then gazetted as Acting-Deputy-Assistant-Commissary-General Blackwood, in charge of the Commissariat accounts of the Brigade of Guards. " We had a jolly ten weeks at Scutari during April, May, and part of June. We were uncommonly glad to get out of our filthy barracks, and to live in bell-tents. I had to get mounted, and purchased a good big English bay mare, for £25, at Constantinople, and a wiry little Turkish pony about fifteen hands high, as my bat or baggage-animal. For this scarecrow I gave £18, and never had a man a better steed than Old Tom. The little beast got fat and sleek, and though I rode full sixteen stone, he would do as long a day's journey under me as I ever wanted ; and when I came away in two years' time, I sold him to my old friend Gerald Goodlake of the Coldstreams, when, to his grief and mine, he dropped down dead of heart disease soon after. "At the same time I got a groom, and a little Syrian named Antoine as my servant. Later on, I was fortunate enough to get a soldier-servant from, the Coldstreams named Lockwood ; and a better cook, valet, and everything else that man could want, I am sure nobody ever had. "Of course, I was new to the Commissariat work. . . . The most unpleasant part was that of having to superintend the butchery for the Brigade, for which I had placed under my orders two butchers from each regiment. The contractors supplied the living animals, and wretched-looking creatures they were, though the sheep were rather better. It was not a pleasant job, in the steaming hot Eastern morn- ings, to have to ride down to the shambles and see some twenty oxen^ or a hundred sheep, killed, flayed, cut up, and weighed to a pound, for the three regiments. Oh, the flies ! the stench ! Every ounce of meat and other stores I had to account for with the utmost minuteness." To HIS Parents. " April 29th, 1854. " My dear Father, etc., etc., etc., — I am striving to write this letter to you in a dense cloud of dust, caused by the emptying out of sacks of oats into the granary where I am sitting. ... It is a most unoffieer- like duty ; and in fact everything I have had to do as yet has been very dirty work compared with what the Commissariat duties are and ought to be. The whole thing proceeds from the stinginess of the Treasury in not sending out a proper staff of subordinates, and consequently obliging us to do the duty of Storekeepers and Issuers. . . . They told 48 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD Filder, however, that I was not above the work ; and I hear the same thing has been written to Trevelyan. " The Guards disembarked yesterday ; but I have not seen any of my friends again yet, owing to having been in this beastly barn for the last two days. Our hours of work are generally from the moment we get out of bed till the moment we get into it again ; and everybody wonders how I find time to write such long letters, and keep up my journal. "The guns of all the ships in the harbour are just now celebrating the burning of Odessa, and the sound of the echoes reverberating along the banks of the Bosphorus is very fine. " They say Filder is sulky at not having a sufficient staff of men to carry on the work ; and indeed they have sent him here, as if it were one of the Colonies, where there is a regular established Commissariat Department, and everything on a proper footing, instead of Turkey, where the whole establishment must be organised from the very foundation, and where proper men cannot be found to fill inferior posts. He urged the importance of bringing them ready-made from home most earnestly upon the Government before he left England ; but they paid no attention to his recommendations, and I should not wonder if the whole thing were to go to smash in consequence. " ScuTABi, 5th May, 1854. " Several events of importance have taken place since I wrote to yon. The first of them is by far the most important, and has filled my breast with ' envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness,' towards Lord Eaglan, the author of it. However, to cut a long story short, (for I could dilate upon the atrocity of the deed for ever) in the little paper which accompanies this are the remains of my once fondly- loved moustache. It has fallen beneath the scissors, and I send you its beaux restes, to preserve it from entire oblivion. Put it in an urn, and don't burn it. Twenty-two years' growth has fallen in one short minute ! It was however inevitable, for Lord Kaglan sent for the different Generals of Divisions, and Heads of the various Staffs, and requested them to cause all their officers to shave the upper lip and chin, and obey the Queen's Kegulations. " The consequences are horrible in the extreme. . . . My miserable appearance is increased by the rest of my face being very much tanned, and the upper lip presenting a long white mark in the midst of it. I am sure of your sympathies, though, and will say no more about the dreadful loss, except that every now and then I find my fingers smoothing nothing, and trying to curl an empty space, which of course reminds me of my loss, and re-opens my wounds afresh. Requiescat in Pace — I mean the moustache. THE B0SPH0RU3 49 " Strickland of course did not at first like having only me attached to him, as ever since I had been here, I had been continually running about on the most various duties, and had no time to learn, in fact knew nothing about the office duties of the Commissariat, the whole of which, as his subaltern, would be under and performed by me ; and also because the other officer had a much more experienced officer of some seven or eight years' service attached to him. He accordingly went over to Filder's to remonstrate with him, saying that it was un- fair both to himself and to me to be placed in such a position, as I was expected to perform duties with which I was naturally totally un- acquainted, and if anything went wrong, the blame would of course fall upon him. Filder however said that 'he heard that Mr. Blackwood was a very efficient officer,' and 'had been very favourably reported upon to him, and that he saw no reason to alter the arrangements he had made.' I therefore employed the whole of Monday in learning as much as I could, and we began our work yesterday. I got through very well ; and Strickland said all my work was done, and everything as regularly and neatly arranged as if I were quite an old officer. It is tedious work, and I was at it from nine till six without once leaving the room. " ScnTABi, nth May, 1854. " Directly after dinner I dressed myself in ' gorgeous array,' there being a ball at the French Embassy, to which ' the Army ' was asked. Strickland and myself went from our corps. . . . Having made a bow to a person arrayed in gold and silver in the passage, I proceeded to the ballroom. . . . " Prince Jerome soon arrived, and was the centre of attraction. He is the image of the great Napoleon, only fatter, and with smaller eyes. Lord Eaglan with all his staff was also there, and Marshal St. Arnaud, covered with stars. " The supper was very good. The women were all admitted first, and the men were kept out by a sentry at the door. It was amusing to see the faces of all the hungry Englishmen and Frenchmen, who were trying in vain to obtain an entrance. At last we were let in. The brother-in-law of the Sultan was there, who was a Colossus of fat, and swallowed the largest mouthfuls I ever saw in my life. The people, even the natives, stood and stared at him. " We stayed till about four, and crossed the Bosphorus at sunrise. " Camp, Soutabi, 29th May. "The other day P., 'one of ours,' coming in very thirsty, took up a porter bottle, in which, for want of a better, we had made some ink, poured himself out a tumbler, frothing it up beautifully, and drank it off to the very dregs before he found out his mistake. We all recom- 4 50 LIFE OF SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD mended blotting-paper ; but he preferred medical advice, and was con- sequently very seedy for a couple of days. "And now for whatever news I can collect to tell you. First — as it concerns a Department which has the honour of counting me amongst its members, the Commissariat they say is going to the dogs. . . . Till five days ago, Non-commissioned officers have been doing the duty of Store-keepers and Issuers. Of course now every man is wanted in his Regiment, and a Government Order came out accordingly that at the end of a week, all these men were to return to their duty. The week elapsed, the men were taken away, and the Commissariat were without the most necessary subordinates. Horses had consequently to go without forage, men almost without food, and persons of an entirely inferior class were entrusted with the most important duties. Strickland, who, if you remember, advertised at Malta for Interpreters, Store- keepers, etc., etc., would, if his advice had been followed, have long ago collected an efficient staff of them ; but the Treasury would not allow it, and the result is evident. . . . This is however a most rottenly constructed Department. ... So much for the professional ; now for the private. . . . " The Light Division, under Sir G. Brown, consisting of the Rifle Brigade, 7th, 9th, 23rd, 33rd, 77th, and 88th, after numerous delays and counter orders, (having once had their horses embarked, and again landed) started this morning for Varna, and they say we, i.e. First Division, under Duke of Cambridge, are to follow next. They say we are to go on direct from Varna to Shumla, about five days' journey ; but nobody of course knows. I am glad you receive such good accounts of me ; it shall not be my fault if they do not continue." Private Journal. "30th May, Wednesday. — Sultan inspected the troops. Worked off my legs. Was to have dined with General Estcourt, but obliged to put him off, at the last moment. " 31si May, Thursday. — Similar work. Incessant. . . . " 2nd June, Friday. — Work. Work. Work. Which continued with very few intermissions till Sunday, Uth June, when with Forth and Green Wilkinson, I went over and dined with N. at a Caf^, where he gave us a capital dinner, and provided all sorts of amusements for us afterwards. " 12th June, Monday.— From five till eight at night employed in con- veying three days' stores from Barracks to the Jason. The devil's own work. " 13th Jume, Tuesday.— At it again at four, and had to leave the pack- ing up and despatching of all my traps to my two servants. . . . Only got the last sack on board, and myself and horse, when the Jason started." BULGARIA. The good advice given to Mr. Blackwood in his first letter from his Father did not fail to bear fruit. At the end of the Peivate JouENAL is an ' admirable precis, too long to quote, of information which he had gathered in readiness for the duties which would de- volve upon him on the arrival of the troops in Boumeha. On the Idth June, 1854, the First Division reached Varna. To HIS Parents. " Camp at Varna, Svmday Evening, 25th June, 1854. " The position of the army is thus — ^17th and 18th Cavalry at Devna, twenty miles from here ; the Light Division at Aladyn, and the First, Second, and Third here. "As soon as the Light Division can be supplied with enough trans- port to enable it to move on, we shall go up and occupy the site they are at present encamped on, — a most lovely spot, I hear, on the shores of the Devna Lake. Everybody compares it to an English park, filled with splendid trees, and sloping down to the water's edge. "This place I should enjoy very much, if I could only be sure of an hour or two a week, just to ride a couple of miles into the country with my gun ; or see a little more of the place than the store-houses of beef and barley, and piles of wood which are continually before my eyes ; but the work and anxiety is so incessant that one cannot be a moment away from one's duty. Owing to the badness of the Commissariat arrangements, the Army is living only from hand to mouth ; it is conse- quently a continual struggle between the Commissariat officers of the different Divisions and Brigades, which shall obtain or seize upon the supply of meat, bread, or wood before the others ; and after fagging all day, bullying contractors, ordering bullock-cart drivers (by far the most apathetic race of people in the world) and rushing here, there, and everywhere, in comes some Quartermaster to say that his meat is bad, or his men hadn't enough wood to cook their dinner ; and off one has to be again, and obtain somehow or other the requisite articles. The (51) 52 LIFE OF SIB ABTHUR BLACKWOOD plagues of fleas we have left behind us, and have in their place serpents, centipedes, and ants. The latter swarm here, some of them small, but others long black ones, one-third of an inch long. They are running over the table and everything else, and I have to brush them off this page in order to go on writing. " Aladyn, 8th July, 1854. " On Friday, at one p.m., we received notice that the Division was to march the next morning at five, which gave us all, as you may imagine, plenty to do. A hundred and sixty bullock-waggons had to be procured and laden before night with stores that were not yet supplied to us, which in the very deficient state of the transport was no easy task. Other stores had to be sent up to this place by water (Aladyn being at one end of the lake and Varna at the other), and arrangements made for provisioning the troops when they got here. I accordingly sent a great quantity of barley, biscuit, and salt-meat hither in the boats of the Simoom, which had been brought across the isthmus that separates the lake from the sea ; landed them at Aladyn, and returned to Varna, which I reached at half-past one, a.m., turned in for an hour, and was up again at 2.45. " In the meantime the carts, which had only been procured by eleven o'clock, P.M., had been loaded by fatigue-parties, and were placed under mine and Murray's charge. At four o'clock, just before sunrise, all the tents were struck, discovering men in all the different stages of dressing, packing, etc., etc. By five, the Division was under arms, and off. " The Commissariat train of course came last, I leading it, and Murray bringing up the rear (properly Conductor's duty). The start was great fun. Staff-officers galloping about in all directions to give orders, baggage-animals doing ditto without orders, and all their loads tumbling off in consequence; the regimental women everywhere in the way, some on donkeys, and some helping to carry part of their husbands' accoutrements ; unfortunate men, whose servants had de- serted them at the last moment, in a miserable state, having lost everything, and all in apparently great confusion. However off every- thing went, and we reached Aladyn at twelve o'clock — eleven miles in seven hours." The Peivatb Jouenal here says : — " Gave all the women lifts on the carts." The letter resumes : — " The heat and dust were most oppressive, and we had great difficulty in keeping our Araba train together ; however when any lagged behind to drink or replace the load, I made the leading ones halt till the string BULGABIA 63 was again unbroken, and so succeeded in bringing them all safe hither. They then had to be all unpacked, piled most carefully with trenches dug round them, and tarpaulins spread underneath and above them, a great deal of which, the sailors being dead tired, one had to do one's self. The moment that was done, the issues of provisions had to be commenced ; and you may imagine that I was very glad when the day was over, and I was in bed. " Since then the work has not been diminishing. We now slaughter our own cattle, and I have turned regular butcher! . . . There are a great deal more accounts than I like, which have to be most exactly and regularly kept up to the day ; and the ration stoppages are my bugbear. The authorities keep ordering and counter-ordering extra issues to the troops, and every time the ration stoppage has to be altered, and creates the most awful confusion in our books ; and when you think that the same have to be kept and made up in a tent hotter than anything you can imagine, with every now and then a gust of hot wind blowing all the papers off the table and out of the tent, not to mention being called out every five minutes to settle some dispute about the weight of a cask of meat or the quality of some biscuit, between a troublesome Quartermaster-sergeant and the Issuer, or to run after and bring back some refractory Araba driver, . . . keeping accounts is not so easy. "We have received orders never to leave the Camp without our swords, and then not to go far alone. The rascally Greeks or Turks, or whatever they are, have got a very bad habit of firing at one from behind the bushes as one rides along; and the correspondent of the Herald, when riding into Varna to-day, had a very narrow escape, the bullet going within an inch or two of him. He did not, I am sorry to say, make use of his revolver, except to threaten, and the man only got sixty lashes. " Fancy the very people we have come to fight for trying to take our lives ! " In the meantime the loving hearts at home had been stirring up his zeal by detailing vnth keen delight every favourable report which had reached their ears. His Father writes : — " 8th May. "Deakest Boy, — Trevelyan has just sent me this extract of a letter from Filder : — " ' All the officers here are doing well, exerting themselves in every way. . . . Mr. Blackwood in particular has distinguished himself by the manner in which he has performed some of the least pleasant parts of our business.' 54 LIFE OF SIB ABTHUR BLACKWOOD " 13th May. " I learn that Filder, who has remonstrated in the strongest possible terms on the deficiency of subordinates, has been permitted to add fifteen or twenty men to the Commissariat StaS ; therefore you will be spared further unpleasant duty. Meanwhile you have gained your- self more credit in a short month than you could have acquired here in twenty years. As I have before remarked : It is the gentleman makes the situation, and not the situation the gentleman. " It is a matter of infinite pride and satisfaction to us to hear how well you acquitted yourself, and that you ended by securing Strick- land's approval." But this pleasant letter, received on the very day of landing at Varna, did not end quite so agreeably. " In closing this letter I am grieved to have to advert to a circum- stance, with which you are connected, which has just reached me. I learn that you, and Mr. P and B have been imprudent enough to become security, you and P for the sum of £500, and B for £200 for ; that he has quitted the country without paying the additional war risk, and that his policy is consequently void. This avoidance renders the three joint securities liable for the amount in the event of 's death. I really would ask you what in the name of fortune can have induced you to become security for any one, and especially such a scamp as — — ? . . . I cannot express how concerned I shall be if what I suspect proves to be the case, that you have been borrowing money. ... For what purpose have you wanted more money ? ... If you wanted it for gambling, it will have been necessary to you . . . after your promise to me not to go into more hells — a, promise which I assure you I have felt satisfied you had faithfully kept, and which nothing but positive proof to the contrary will make me even now believe you have violated. ... I am informed that since you assured me, and told your friends you would not go any m^ore into the gambling-houses, they have taken the trouble to watch you, and that they found they were mistaken in their apprehensions that you did still go into them. I had more confidence in your word than your friends seem to have had. Take care of and keep clear of the Camp sharpers. There will be as many there, comparatively speaking, as in London." To Mr. Blackwood's explanations, his Father replied : — " June, 1854. "Your clear account of the transaction corresponds exactly with the information I am in possession of. I lamen't that the habit of BULGARIA 55 gambling, which is so sadly pernicious and discreditable, should have obliged you to have recourse to borrowing more money, and to mix yourself up with . The necessity for money, if you gamble, is obvious, as a gambler is sure to be fleeced in the end, though now and then he may have a lucky coup. But I must have misexpressed myself if I left you to infer that / doubted you going into any more hells, after assuring me you would not. I had myself no such doubt. Your friends however had, and followed you. I am happy to say they were disappointed. From what has now passed, you see how little your nominal ' friends ' are to be depended upon in pecuniary transactions. In future, never mix yourself up in such again with any friend, for they invariably end in disputes, out of which it is rare for both parties to come with clean hands ; and remember that you do not know whether a man is a gentleman and man of honour till he has been tried in the furnace of money. I hope, my darling Boy, your character will never suffer in that way ; and indeed, I am sure it will not. In this case, though it is inconvenient to me at a time when the Income Tax is doubled, you have acted so spiritedly in the Commissariat, that ... at whatever deprivation to myself, I will pay the interest on the money you have borrowed ; but I will not pay 's additional war risk, for I think he has acted like a blackguard. " ^rd June. "I was rejoiced to hear the following from Dufferin, whom I met at the Queen's Ball on Tuesday. He said he was dining the other night at some place where there were two Cabinet Ministers. Some- body chaffed them about the imperfect Commissariat arrangements, and sending out young London dandies, and you as one of them. On which Bessborough observed, and I am told warmly, that as regarded you, he knew that you were an excellent officer, that you worked ex- cessively hard, and that you had, in consequence, been most favourably reported upon. Dufferin supported what B. said, and in short, you got more nvhos. To us, at home, it is a gratification above what I can express." Notes. " Cholera had now set in violently, and for the first time in my life, I saw death — many of my native drivers died in the large tent close behind mine. . . . The camp soon became intolerable, both from heat and offensiveness, notwithstanding all care." Pbivate Jouenal. " 2Uh JmZi/. -^Cholera very bad. Our Arabadys falling sick one after the other and dying, had to physic them, pitch their tents, and do everything for them. Most helpless race. Several officers sick." 56 LIFE OP SIR AETHUR BLACKWOOD Some had been obliged to go home, or into Varna. A move to the hills was now ordered at a few hours' notice. Private Journal. "21th July, Thursday. — Up at 2.30. Struck tent and packed. On horseback at five. Had iixty-one Arabas loaded, and two hundred and four horses, and after the usual accidents of carts breaking down, loads tumbling off, etc., and lazy Turks, got off at nine o'clock. Colonel Cunynghame, A.Q.M.G.'s interpreter, acting as guide to the Arabas, who were to go by a more circuitous route, whilst I led the horses straight up the hill, following the troops. At twelve o'clock reached the en- campment, ' Gevrekli.' Got my cattle up, unloaded, and piled stores ; chose slaughtering place, and would have begun slaughtering, had not the Arabas been brought a wrong road by the guide, and forced up the steep hill, which the pack horses and infantry could only just climb. I learned this at five o'clock. Changed horses, and went after them, and by eight o'clock the greater part of them were safely brought up. ... A most disastrous march, which but for the inefficiency of the guide, whom I took care myself to see into the right road, might have been well managed. General Bentinck licked him next day, though, and serve him right too. Though not an oppressively hot day, the men fell out by dozens, and I carried about three hundred knapsacks on my horses for them. A Scots Fusilier was attacked by cholera on his animal, and died in an hour. " 29tfe July, Saturday. — Disease increasing. Had to go to Aladyn to see after Detachment left there with the sick. Continual work : a most inaccessible place to get provisions to ; and the work, which was not light before, is in consequence doubled; added to which, my clerk, Sergeant Humphreys, Grenadier Guards, fell sick just at the time when the month's accounts have to be made up, and throws me immensely behindhand. Numerous reports every day of our destina- tion for Sebastopol, Odessa, Anapa, Tiflis, in short, for everywhere. "31«<. — Our encampment the best in the place, just on the brow of the hill, overlooking the whole of the Devna Valley, Varna, and the sea on the extreme left ; and mountain on mountain, lake on lake, and forest on forest, as far as the eye can reach. " 1st August. — Dreadful work with the transport. Arabadys desert- ing with their oxen, leaving the carts behind. Impossible to organise with only one interpreter, who only speaks Italian. Illness very bad ; five or six funerals go past every night, of Guards alone. Highlanders much healthier; but about seven hundred sick in the Division. Everybody very anxious. BULGAEIA 57 " ith August— IProvisions running short. Eequisitions not complied with. " 6th August. — Great many sick in Varna. French lose a hundred a day. Several Commissariat officers sick ; one officer and two store- keepers dead. One awfully sudden. Gave me my supplies one after- noon at five, and the next morning at five was dead. Great storm. Rogers' horse killed by lightning, and servant much injured. " 12th August— Vii at 2.30, as I suppose the fellows are in Scotland." To A Friend. " Camp, Gbvbbkli, August, 1854. "... Such is an average day's work here ; sometimes it is worse and seldom better. You can see by it that I have not too much leisure to devote to my friends, or indeed to anything else. Now and then, certainly, while looking at the blue sea in the distance, or the pretty Devna Valley at my feet, my thoughts wander far away from here, and transport me to some London ball-room, and I hear the rush of feet and forms and gauzy dresses, and Coote and Tinney's waltzes sound dis- tinctly in my ear ; when I am suddenly roused from the middle of a quadrille in which I am dancing, with Algy West and Miss for a vis-a-vis, by some gruff soldier, asking with hungry look and hungrier manner, ' When the rum and salt pork will be served out.' I wish you would write me a letter full of London gossip ; it would fetch any price, and I am sure you must have a large stock on hand. " 12th August. "I was suddenly interrupted yesterday by one of my Turkish dragoons, who had escorted twenty-six carts into Varna yesterday morning, rushing into my tent to report that Varna was burnt down, all the Commissariat stores destroyed, and his twenty-six carts irre- coverably lost in the confusion. This was startling indeed. We certainly had seen a fire the night before in the direction of Varna, but had no idea of its extent. Strickland was out ; the Division would be, if the soldier's tale were true, without provisions, excepting bread and meat, the next day; the only thing to be done therefore was to find out the truth. I accordingly jumped upon a horse, and hunting the Turk before me the whole way, in order to show me where he lost his Arabas, I galloped into Varna, about fourteen miles. On my arrival I found the town, with the exception of a small portion in which fortunately was situated the Commissariat Office and Treasure, a smouldering heap of ruins, the only buildings standing being a solitary 38 LIFE OF SIE ABTHUE BLACKWOOD mosque tower, a gateway, and the French powder magazine. The escape of the latter seems to have been most extraordinary and pro- vidential. Round it on every side were burning ruins, and the very walls were hot with the flames that had encircled it. The whole of the French ammunition, including shells, bombs, etc., etc., was stored in it,; and one spark falling into it would have sufficed to blow ten such towns as Varna, and every soul in them, into the air. At one moment, 1 hear, the panic was general ; the soldiers and sailors could hardly be induced by force even to work at the engines to preserve it. French ofHcers ran about crying, ' Sauve qui peut ! ' Our treasure was put into carts, and sent off into the fields ; and the whole population of French and English, soldiers and sailors, Turks and Greeks, made a rush to the gates of the town. Fortunately however the building was preserved, and the panic stopped. "The catastrophe has however nevertheless been very great. The whole of our biscuit and barley has been totally destroyed; and the Quartermaster-General's stores, containing tents, soldiers' clothing, and field equipage of every description, burnt to the ground. The French have, I hear, been still more unfortunate, and have lost all their stores of every description. " I spent the night in Varna, looking about for my missing transport (having however previously to send out some Arabas with just enough to keep the Division going), but without success. Everybody was drunk ; champagne was running in rivers. The part burnt happened to be just that where all the shops were from which one occasionally drew one's supplies of bacon, sherry, porter, and such like necessaries ; and those houses that were not gutted by the fire were instantly ransacked by the French Zouaves, who with a praiseworthy anxiety to secure what could be saved, ate and drank everything on the spot. " I went round the burning ruins at night, and the whole scene of desolation was extremely grand. Numerous reports as to the origin of the fire are afloat, the majority of which of course attribute it to Greek and Russian spies ; and there is a story of the Zouaves, seeing some Greeks throwing something or other into a house, having trans- fixed them with their bayonets and thrown them bodily into the flames. In the meantime, our great want is forage, all the barley having been burnt; and it is no easy matter to procure a quantity sufficient for 1500 horses, (the number in this Division) at a moment's notice, and in a country where the inhabitants, instead of helping, do all they can to hinder us. We are however getting on pretty well. The Bat animals have to forage for themselves, and for the Artillery horses and chargers of the Division, we get the standing crops of barley and oats." BULGAEIA 59 At last, on 18th August, the long-expected move took place. The camp of the First Division marched to Galata Bormia, a height on the south side of Varna Bay, looking over the Black Sea ; and on the 30th, after much hard work, Mr. Blackwood found himself on board the Wilson Kermedy, en route for the Crimea, the secret of their destination however being still carefully preserved. ALMA. The Fleet remained at sea until Wednesday, 13th September, 1854. "I do not exactly understand our undecided movements," wrote Mr. Blackwood, from on board the Wilson, Kennedy, on the 12th. " On leaving Baljick Bay, we steered straight for Odessa, went within forty or fifty miles of it, turned round, anchored in the middle of the Black Sea for two days, and have now come down here in sight of Sebastopol. The whole sea is covered with ships ; large transports, larger steamers, and huge men-of-war, and I think the whole thing is the finest sight I ever saw." A carefully drawn plan, giving the position of every vessel, accompanied this letter. On 13th September the disembarkation took place at Old Fort. To HIS Father. " Crimea, Monday, 18th September, 1854. " We landed here on the 13th, about twenty miles west of Sebastopol. They say a Russian army is not far off, and there are certainly a quantitj' of Cossacks hovering about, so that nobody is allowed to go beyond our outposts. The night before last there was a great alarm. I had been asleep about an hour. The camp was perfectly quiet, when I was suddenly awoke by the clangor armorum, the blowing of the trumpets, and a confused noise of men and voices. The Division turned out, and were under arms in three minutes ! the Artillery all harnessed, and guns ready. I jumped into my clothes quicker than I had ever done before, saddled and bridled my horse, and was ready to fight before my eyes were open. The idea was that the Cossacks were making a night attack, and as you may imagine, everybody was pretty lively. Murray jumped out of his tent in his shirt, and met a man with his drawn sword at the door of it, also in his shirt, who asked him, ' Who comes there ? ' No shots were however heard and (60) ALMA 61 in half an hour all was again quiet. The cause was not known ; but it is believed the French gave the alarm. "No obiection was made to our landing, and it was most easily efieeted. The inhabitants are wonderfully well disposed towards us, and bring in supplies of every description with the greatest readiness. We managed to seize a very large amount of transport and provisions that were ordered by, and all ready collected for, the Eussian Army (a great coup). The French do a great deal of harm, seizing without payment, and if they pay, it is only the tenth of the fair value. This does much damage to the whole of the Allied Army, as the inhabitants cannot distinguish between the two, and of course will withdraw their supplies at first. It will afterwards however, I fancy, facilitate our procuring supplies as much as it will retard the French, as we have paid most liberally for every article of whatever kind taken in the country. Though we have only been on shore three days, we already have a very large amount of transport, consisting of carts drawn by bullocks, dromedaries, and horses. Forage is plentiful, and cattle we have a sufficiency of for some days. A great mistake was made the first day in not landing the tents with the troops. The night happened to be wet ; and it would have been worth any money to have given the men a covering, even if they had landed one or two regiments less." THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA. "Heiohts above the Alma, 23rd September. " My DEAREST Mother, — As the papers have probably told you by this time, the Allied Forces have gained a great victory, though with considerable loss. On the 19th we left our position close to the point of disembarkation, and marched about twelve miles to a small stream, a mile beyond which was some rising ground, bounding a plain where were some squadrons of Cossacks and some Artillery. We instantly brought up our Artillery, and opened a fire on them, which after fifteen minutes caused them to retreat in disorder. I saw it all beautifully from a mound a hundred yards in rear of our guns. We lost three horses and three men wounded. They were too far for pursuit ; we therefore encamped on the river, and moved on the next morning at seven. Marched over the plain, where the skir- mish had taken place the day before, and found ourselves on the brow of a hill overlooking a village with gardens and vineyards, divided by a shallow river, and surmounted by some high hills, most strongly forti- fied by about 100 guns, and 40,000 Infantry, and a quantity of Cavalry. " No sooner did our Army form on the brow of the hill than their fire began from the whole line (two miles long) at once. They had been there for ten days or more, had ascertained the exact range of the 62 LIFE OP SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD ground we were on, and most of their shots told. Our Artillery was but of little use, as their metal was so much heavier. The French Army most gallantly stormed their extreme left, turned them, and silenced their fire at that end ; on their right however, opposed to us, it was as hot as ever. I went a little in the front once or twice, but the round shot and shells, not to mention the whistling of the Minie rifle balls, came so unpleasantly close, and dashed up the earth so frequently into my horse's face, that knowing I should only be called an ass for my pains if wounded, I determined to look after my own business, and watch the battle from the biscuit bags and salt-meat casks. " The dead and wounded were now frequently being brought back, and the wounds were sometimes sickening. " Our Rifles in extended line crossed the river, and walked as coolly up the heights as if taking a constitutional, lay down, loaded, fired, walked on again till the Infantry came up, when they fell back. The Light Division and First advanced simultaneously, the First being on the left. The slaughter in the village was dreadful, the vines retarding the men's progress, and keeping them back under the flre, when by advancing quicker they could have escaped the range. The gardens, road, and banks of the river were covered with dead and dying. " At last they crossed ; and the Highlanders, led by Sir Colin Camp- bell at least twenty yards in advance, stormed at a run the steepest part of the hill, which was surmounted by a Battery, and the flower of the Russian army. They, made a brave but unsuccessful sally, and when at last the Highlanders reached the summit, gave a thundering cheer, and fired an awful volley into them, they fairly ran. " The Grenadiers captured a gun. The enemy's left having, as I said, been previously turned, the French Artillery advanced, and fired volley after volley after them till the heights were completely cleared. The Baggage and Commissariat then came up. I found many friends wounded. Fitzgerald, of 7th, brother of one in the Treasury, wounded in both legs, bearing it like a hero. Oust, General Bentinck's A.D.C., had his horse killed, and leg awfully shattered by a round shot, has undergone amputation and is since dead. Ennismore, Chewton, Annesley, Hogarth, Percy Burgoyne, Dalrymple, C. Baring, and several others of the Guards wounded, the first four very dangerously, Errol lost a hand ; McDonald's horse shot under him, as was nearly every mounted officer's. Sir G. Campbell's conduct was perfectly heroic. The 23rd have suffered fearfully ; five officers only being fit for duty. Some wonderful escapes took place, which I will remember, but cannot detail. Leonard Currie (19th) was wounded in the foot. Multitudes of prisoners, amongst which are two Generals, have been taken. They calculated on keeping us at bay three weeks, and then driving us iato ALMA 63 the sea, instead of which it took not three hours. The dead alone on their side is supposed to be 6000. The English we think have lost 2000 killed and wounded. General Arnaud says our advance was the most gallant, and at the same time the most foolish thing he ever saw. We ought to have waited longer, when seeing their left completely turned, they must have retreated of their own accord. It made one's heart bleed to see the poor fellows on the ground, some quite unconscious, some killed on the spot, others in the last convulsions, and the most ghastly wounds. The Russians were all shot in the head, our men principally in the legs. Forth behaved capitally, carrying the colours, which were riddled again and again. Sir George Brown, and indeed all the old soldiers, say it was a position of the most extraordinary strength. They fully expected a signal victory, and half Sebastopol came out to see it. Women's bonnets were found. I have one in my tent. The Army has returned into Sebastopol. It is their garrison. We are fifteen miles off. We have halted for two days. The ships are of im- mense use in taking our sick off. The Russian wounded are also most kindly treated ; though when lying on the ground and spared by our troops, they turned round and fired at them. A Guardsman saw one of them do so. He coolly stopped ; said, ' Johnny,' (they call all foreigners 'Johnny,') 'that's not the way to do work,' and blew his brains out. I shall have lots to tell you when we meet, but I have lots to do. So good-bye, all of you. " Balaclava, 28th September. " On 23rd we marched again, and at about three o'clock reached the Katchka, a small river, but a position if anything stronger than the Alma, but which was not in the slightest degree defended, and over which the Russians had retreated so fast that they had not even broken down the bridge. " 24th, we halted on the Baalbec, the last valley before Sebastopol, equally undefended. The Crimean valleys are most beautifully fertile, containing every possible description of fruit and vegetables, which were a great treat ; but of which the soldiers partook rather too freely, as the cholera cases the next morning were much increased. There were two gentlemen's houses in the village, regular country villas, most beautifully furnished, with all the luxuries of a London house, novels, pianos, etc., etc. Everybody was plundering, so I determined to see what I could get, and accordingly galloped to the front, fastened up my horse, and went in. The French however had been beforehand, and what they had not taken, they had wantonly broken. Everything was smashed that could be smashed, and not a thing left. The first person I saw was the Commissary-General, who was coming downstairs, with both hands filled. I said, 'Is there anything left, Sir?' He 64 LIFE OF SIR ARTHUE BLACKWOOD replied, ' No, no ; I have got a brass figure of Minerva, and a few other things, and there's nothing but vermin upstairs ! ' . . . All I brought away was a wooden cup, and some manuscript music. I sat down and played a tune on the piano, or rather tried to play, for the French had broken nearly all the wires. The gardens were beautiful, and the peaches delicious. . . . Owing to there being only two bridges for the Army to cross over, our Train was very late ; and what with Arabas breaking down, and the darkness, I lost my Division ; but fortunately managed to tumble on my legs, and found a tent with dinner and bed, whose owner was lost, and whose share I therefore appropriated. There were two alarms in the night, but false ones. " The next morning, 25th, I was on horseback at four, looking after my lost carts ; found them, and having distributed the contents, set o£E with them again, with an escort of six Guardsmen to find my way to the beach, where the ships were supposed to be landing supplies. On reaching the beach, about four miles off, I found no Fleet, and was informed by a patrol of Cavalry, whom I happened to fall in with, that we were two hundred yards within range of Fort Oonstantine. I accordingly decamped with my carts as fast as possible, and skirted the beach to the westward for about three miles, where I found the Fleet, and got my supplies, sent them off, and galloped back as fast as I could. " On reaching the ground the Army had occupied in the morning, I found it no longer there, and therefore set off in search of it with another Commissariat oflBcer who had joined me. We went straight on for about four miles, through a thickly wooded country, but found no traces of it. At length on reaching the brow of a hill, we met two or three soldiers, stragglers, who said that if we went a hundred yards further we should be fired upon ; that an orderly, accompanying an aide-de-camp who went there by mistake, had been killed by a round shot, and that the Army had turned off to the left (N.) inland, through the wood. We therefore turned back, followed a bridle-path into the wood, which we found afterwards the whole of the Allied Army had taken, Artillery, Baggage, and everything ; and which eventually brought us up with the Turkish, French, and last of all, in advance, the English Army. Lord Eaglan and our advanced guard had had an engagement in the after- noon, coming quite unexpectedly upon a body of Russians, they say a Divisional Staff ; fired a few shots, routed them entirely, and took a large quantity of plunder. " Well, as there was only one road into the wood, so there was only one out of it. The troops advanced, and the Commissariat had to follow, as best they could. It was quite dark, and the descent into the valley most steep. How we got on, I don't know. Strickland was ill in his ALMA 65 cart ; Kolleston was left behind lost in the wood with the cattle, and Murray and I therefore had to bring the train on ; and most harassing it was. Every moment a cart broke down. Of course one cart delayed the passage of the whole train ; and therefore if irreparably broken, it had to be pushed over the precipice to let the rest come on. Public property was disregarded. Our object was to gain the Army, and to get up with a little, if ever so little, supplies. We had no guide, and had to find our way in the dark. At last we reached the plain, and wandered on slowly, and reached the Camp at 12.30, having been on horseback since four in the morning. We only went wrong once; but that was in taking a road that led under the Eussian Ports, from continuing which we were only prevented by Lord Raglan's interpreter, who had come out to look for his lordship's baggage, and who put us into the right road again. " When we got to the Camp, Murray went to ask for directions where we were to camp, and I went fast asleep on a stone by the roadside till he came back. We then got our carts in order, ate some cold pork and biscuit, swallowed some rum, and jumped into a cart. I wrapped my- self in my cloak, and went to sleep with my pipe in my mouth in two minutes. "Altogether it was a most wonderful and able march. Wo com- pletely deceived the enemy. From being on the west of theiu, v\ here they had prepared everything to receive us, we suddenly, by marching through an almost impracticable wood, cut, as they say, an Army of theirs completely in two ; and have appeared on their other flank with- out their having the slightest idea where we were. We neglected how- ever, in my idea, two things. First, they left nobody to show ofHcers, who they knew had been left behind, the path the Army had taken ; and secondly, there was no escort, except the daily one of twenty men, and no guide, to bring up the Commissariat and Baggage of the Army, in a dark night — an enemy's country — an unknown road — and one along which large bodies of Cossacks had been seen the greater part of the day. I only wish that, (excepting myself and my personal effects of course), the Baggage had been lost. It would have given them a lesson. The Commissariat is a Department they expect everything from. They give them no orders or directions of any kind, take not the slightest care of them, and then, if everything is not forthcoming at a moment's notice, they cannot be blamed too much. At any rate, they have had a lesson ; Lord Kaglan and the Duke's baggage never came up till late the next day, and put them to much inconveni- ence. ... At four, the next morning, the Duke pulled me out of my cart to give him some biscuit, and fill his flask with rum. I supplied almost every General OflBcer with cups of tea, and handfuls of biscuit, 5 66 LIFE OF SIR ARTHUE BLACKWOOD etc., etc. Most of thera would have gone without any breakfast but for us. " Though up so early, we did not start till nine ; marched till one, when we reached Balaclava. There was a slight opposition on the part of the Fort, a few shots being fired. But it soon surrendered, and our Head-quarters are now established there, and supplies are being landed, and we get lots of fowls, fruit and vegetables from the villages. The town has been in perfect order till this evening ; sentries had been posted everywhere; the inhabitants came back under promises of safety, and were being well treated, when those infernal French came in, pillaging the place, committing all sorts of atrocities, and cannot be restrained. Lord Raglan has gone forward this afternoon to Sebastopol, but the result is not known. " I shall never forget the battle of Alma. It was the most glorious thing to see our long unbroken line of Infantry advancing so steadily up those heights, never halting or wavering for an instant, though the Eussian Artillery were playing on them murderously the whole time. The Russians said they expected to have to fight with brave men, but not with red devils. And now good-bye. I am quite well." A letter, written when at home again, nearly two years later,, will find a fitting place on this page. " 22nd May [1856] "... As I have a few moments to spare, I'll just tell you a story I heard, which may amuse you. It shows that Commissariat oflBcers were not totally exempt from danger in the war. " One of them had been sent down to the ships two days after Alma,, with some carts to bring up supplies, as usual without any escort, and quite unprotected, although in a hostile country, and marching in quite a different direction from the Army. The same day, young C , a lieutenant in the B , had gone on shore with his sailor servant, armed with Mini6 rifles, to try and shoot some Cossacks ; and seeing^ the string of Arabas coming along, driven by Tartars, thought they were a Russian Convoy going to Sebastopol. He accordingly hid himself behind a bush, and determined to shoot the ofiBcer, while the servant picked out somebody else. When they came within thirty yards, he took a deliberate aim at the ofBcer's heart ; and when he was twenty yards distant, had his finger on the trigger, and was in the act of pulling it, when his servant said, ' Stop, Sir, for heaven's sake ! . It's an English uniform!' And he fortunately did. stop, or you would not. now be receiving a letter from your very affectionate Son, " 8. Blackwood." WINTBE BBPOEB SEBASTOPOL. It would be impossible in these Eecords to foUow from day to day the course of the fifteen eventful months spent before Sebastopol. All that can be done is to select from the mass of material such extracts as describe the most momentous occurrences of the long siege, and the work in which Mr. Blackwood was personally engaged. The First Division left Balaclava on the 2nd October, 1854, and went into Camp before Sebastopol. THE CAVALRY ACTIONS OF BALACLAVA. To HIS Father. " Camp befobb Sebastopol, 27th Odoher, 1854. "There has been little to tell here up to the 25th. The cannonade has been incessant, except the last two days, when it has slackened on the Kussian side considerably, and on ours a little. As for the French attack, they seem to be doing nothing ; their guns are so few and far between. On the 25th however a Russian Force, very strong in Artillery and Cavalry, attacked our line of Redoubts defending the plain behind Balaclava, drove the rascally Turks out of them, took their guns, and threatened our position. Some people say the Turks had orders to fire until the enemy came quite close, then spike their guns, and abandon the Redoubts. Whether this be true or not, I know not. I am also ignorant whether they spiked their guns or not. I do know however that they abandoned the Redoubts in double quick time, and so quickly as considerably to endanger the small force we had down there, and the town. "The action then regularly commenced. The Russian Artillery opened their fire ; the cannon lining the precipitous heights in our rear did likewise, and the First and Fourth Divisions marched down as quickly as possible. In the meantime the Cossacks, after driving the Turks in, came in swarms over the plain, shouting and shrieking, and spearing the 'Bono Johnnies' as they ran away, till they came (67) 68 LIFE OF SIR ABTHUR BLACKWOOD upon our Cavalry, drawn up behind a slight hill. There they formed up, and stood still, about eighty or ninety yards in front of the Heavy Brigade, when suddenly the Scots Greys charged them at full gallop. The Cossacks charged too, and they came together with a crash. For a moment neither line yielded, though the Cossacks were double the number of the Greys. At last they wavered ; the Greys broke through them in two places, were followed by a charge of the 6th Dragoon Guards (I think), and seeing another Heavy Dragoon Regiment coming up, the enemy lost all order, and scampered back across the plain, leaving about forty or fifty dead, wounded or prisoners. We, I guess, lost about five or six killed and wounded, and as many horses. "The whole thing was beautifully seen from the heights in our rear, where the General Staff, etc., etc., were assembled. The French, at seeing the Greys' charge, which was magnificent, were quite delirious with excitement; and when the enemy turned and fled, a cry of 'Us se sauvent!' burst from them; and they jumped round, embracing each other, and every Englishman they could lay hands on. " So far we were victorious ; but the story was soon changed. The Russians had got possession of the Redoubt the Turks were driven from, had placed some guns there, and could do us much damage. They had to be dislodged, and Lord Lucan was ordered to tell his Light Cavalry to retake it. This order, it seems, was indistinctly conveyed by an Aide-de-Camp ; and the Light Brigade, consisting of the 4th, 8th, 11th, 13th, and 17th, charged, I believe, the wrong place. They were however most gallantly led by Lord Cardigan, who jumped into the Battery, at least twenty yards in advance ; the men were cut down at their guns, and the place taken. But on the other side, our Cavalry were sur- rounded by an immense force of Cossacks and a quantity of Infantry, were completely hemmed in, and out of the eight hundred horsemen who galloped out so bravely, but a hundred and eighty or a hundred and ninety returned. Most of them are believed to have been killed ; and the fate of many not known. The mail which conveys this will, I suppose, give a List of Casualties. Nolan, the Aide-de-Camp, who, as the story is, caused the disaster by giving an indefinite order to charge, was the first man killed. The 93rd and some Turks were engaged on the enemy's left, and repulsed them by a well-sustained fire. This ended the fighting for the day. The enemy retired to their original position ; the Highlanders remained at Balaclava, and the Guards marched up here. " Yesterday, the 26th, another affair, hardly an action, took place on our extreme left, a force of eight thousand men leaving Sebastopol to attack the Second Division. Our Artillery was however on the brow of a hill the moment our outposts were engaged, and made terrible havoc in the WINTEB BBPOEB SBBASTOPOL 69 enemy, as they advanced in skirmishing order through the brushwood. I stood behind one of the guns, and watched each shot as it left the cannon's mouth, till it landed amidst the enemy, striking them down right and left. Our Mini^ rifles in the hands of the 2nd Division did also tremendous execution ; and after a combat of about three-quarters of an hour, the enemy retired, leaving, I hear, not less than six hundred or seven hundred killed, wounded and- prisoners. We had not however quite done with them ; for as t^hey were returning in column to Sebasto- pol, a Lancaster Gun in one of our trenches cleverly got their range, and fired three or four shots into them, clearing a perfect road at every shot. The prisoners all concur in saying that the streets of Sebastopol are crowded with the dead, though their reports as to numbers differ. They say that Menschikoff headed the attack on Balaclava. " iSth October. "Since the 25th, stragglers have come in belonging to the Light Cavalry, reducing the loss to four hundred and eight out of eight hun- dred. Do not state the story about Nolan as a /aci. "Two companies of Russians were, I hear, taken prisoner this morning by our advanced outposts. Lord Raglan's despatch about Alma does not give universal satisfaction. " Balaclava, 26th October, 11 o'clock. "As I have a few moments to spare here, before the post goes out, I will give you what I hear is the true account of the cause of the disaster of the 25th. " Nolan, who had been sent by Lord Raglan to ascertain the exact position of the enemy, on his return was very excited, and described their position wrongly. This led to the order to Lord Cardigan to advance ; and when afterwards Lord Raglan was informed of the pre- cise place the Cavalry were charging, he said : ' Then the Light Brigade is sacrificed.' But it was too late to be remedied. " I saw George Wombwell, 17th Lancers, this morning. He is one of three oflBcers of that regiment left fit for duty; young Morgan (Sir C.'s son) commanding it. Wombwell gave me a full description of the affair. They charged right up to the mouth of the guns; Lord Cardigan was not three yards from one of them when it was fired. His horse swerved, thereby probably saving him, and in the smoke ran up against the gun itself. The men were cut down at the guns. They then charged right through two Cavalry Regiments, and with beaten horses met a third, which they could not break ; they therefore had to retire. All this took place under a flank fire from twelve to fifteen big guns, and musketry playing on them from every side. Wombwell had his horse shot ; he then jumped on another, but was surrounded by at 70 LIFE OF SIR AETHUE BLACKWOOD least a dozen Cossacks, who made threatening gestures to him to throw down his sword. He had no alternative but to do so, and was instantly pulled from his horse, disarmed, and marched off. An officer rode up to him, and told him in French to be in no alarm, for they would not hurt him. While going off, he looked round, and saw the 11th Hussars coming up at a trot ; and spying a trooper's loose horse galloping back, he broke away from his captors, fortunately succeeded in stopping the horse, jumped on him, and reached the 11th in safety. He describes it as the most awful fire, and wonders how anybody escaped. He could hardly hear himself speak." Extracts from the Peivatb Jouenal supply a few other details. "25th October, 1854, Wednesda/y. —Holleston started at eight to Balaclava, but cantered back to tell me there was fighting going on in the rear. Jumped up without eating or washing, and galloped to the brow of the hill. Russian Artillery on heights opposite the Turkish Redoubts and in the plain. Cavalry, etc., in distance. [Heavy Cavalry Charge Described.] "Horse Artillery then came up and fired into them, with what effect I could not see. Galloped down to the plain, and rode over the field. Dreadful sight. First Division and Fourth marched down. Very sharp cannonade and musketry : 93rd and Turks repulsed Cavalry charge. [Charge of the Light Brigade Described.] "French Cavalry then charged, and took some Russian guns on left, and did not suffer much. Russian Force then retreated to their original position, having succeeded however in obtaining two heights from the Turks, commanding Balaclava Plain. Fighting over for the day. Highland Brigade stayed there, but Guards came back. Mrs. , of 8th, looking on all day, disgusted me. Russians, in my idea, had the best of it. Everybody in Balaclava in a great funk. Com- missariat oflSice packing up. Ships getting under weigh." To HIS Father. " Camp before Sebastopod, Brd November, 1854. "Nothing has happened since I last wrote. The plain in rear of Balaclava, which was lately occupied by our Cavalry, Highlanders and Turks, is now completely abandoned ; and the Brigade of Highlanders, a French Brigade, 2000 Marines, and the Turks, are employed in de- fending Balaclava. The Russians are still in great force in the plain WINTER BEFORE SEBASTOPOL 71 behind us, but do nothing offensive. The French have employed their men in strongly entrenching our rear, and we need fear no attack there. There are still several accounts of the catastrophe of the 25th. There is no doubt that it rests between Lord Eaglan and Nolan ; and since he is dead, the blame, whether justly or not, will I suppose rest on him. ... By the by, do not circulate my edition of stories and events as correct, as everything here is founded on reports only ; and my version is not more likely to be the true one than others." Private Journal. " ith November, Saturday. — Russians in rear immovable. On riding into Balaclava, horse slipped up, falling heavily on my left leg. Ankle badly sprained. . . . Obliged to turn back, and lie up." THE BATTLE OP INKEBMANN. " 5th November, Sunday. — Woke by heavy musketry and cannonade on the right. Murray went to see it, and Rolleston. Firing also in the rear. Could not resist it at last, but jumping on my horse the wrong side, with a slipper on, went to see what it was. Large force of Artillery in the plain in our rear ; out of range however, and could do no damage. Ceased after about an hour. Dreadfully heavy fire on the right, like rolling thunder. French regiments moving up. Wounded coming back already in shoals. Was obliged to dismount and lie up again. Fellows came and told me news. Seems to have been a most fierce combat. Our men, entirely unsupported, and with damp ammunition, driven back. Enemy's guns on an eminence completely commanding 2nd Division, and throwing shell into it. Close hand to hand fighting all day in the brushwood, with various success. Enemy at last repulsed and heights taken, but with dreadful loss. Sir G. Cathcart, command- ing 4th Division, and A.D.C., etc., etc., killed ; Wynne, 68th, Thorold, 23rd, Pakenham, Nevill, and Newman (Grenadier Guards), Danson, Elliot, Cowell, Disbrowe, Greville, Ramsden, Bouverie, McKennion (Cold- streams), Malcolm (Rifles), Hunter Blair (Scots Fusilier Guards) all killed. General Bentinck, Duke of Cambridge, Sir George Brown, Field- ing, Seymour, Gipps, Drummond and many others wounded. Poor Butler killed. A sad day I Greater part of them butchered on the ground. Russian loss immense, some 7000. Ours 2000 casualties. . . . Shame- ful neglect not having the position fortified. Entirely attributable to that. "6th November, Monday.— Laid up all day, as also 7th November, Tuesday. — Burnaby came, and gave me an account of the day. Most dreadful struggle. . . . Cleveland in 17th killed." 72 LIFE OF SIE AETHUB BLACKWOOD To HIS Father. " Camp before Sbbastopol, 8th November, 1854. " Again a battle has taken place ; and though it may be called a victory, seeing that the Russians, three times the number of the force we opposed to them, were repulsed with enormous loss, still another such victory would annihilate our already sufficiently reduced Army. As, owing to a sprained ankle, ... I have been confined to my tent for the last three days, I was unable to view the action myself ; and having only heard scraps of news now and then, I can give you but a meagre account of it. "On 5th November, about six a.m., the Russians, who had been employed all night in getting up some very heavy guns to an eminence which commanded our right, attacked us with a force supposed to be about 30,000 strong. The 2nd Division, who were encamped on the extreme right, about 4000, and the Brigade of Guards, about 1500, were for some time the only troops opposed to them. They were however afterwards supported by the French, and by our 4th and Light Divisions. I can give you no account of the operations, as I only know the ground slightly. The semi-circular slope which forms our right, was attacked on all sides at once, at the same time that a feint was made in our rear by a numerous force of Artillery. The ground on which all the fighting took place prevented all manoeuvres, it being a dense brushwood, mingled with large pieces of rock which gave shelter to the enemy's sharp- shooters. The fight lasted, and all on the same ground, from six in the morning till four in the afternoon. The Brigade of Guards, when mus- tered at about three o'clock to get fresh ammunition, numbered two hundred, Burnaby's company consisting of nine rank and file. The difference between the fire at Alma and at Inkermann was as a handful of stones to a hailstorm. I could not have believed that such an inces- sant rolling thunder of musketry could be kept up. Positions, guns, and batteries were taken and retaken several times in the course of the day. Eventually the eminences occupied by the enemy were taken, and they retreated. " We have however suffered frightfully. I have lost several friends. In the 4th Division, General Sir G. Cathcart, Brigadier-General Goldie, and several of his Staff have been killed. Poor Wynne has lost a brother in the 68th. General Torrens wounded. Thorold, 33rd, killed. The Guards have lost I am afraid to say how many. The Duke wounded, very slightly. General Bentinck, I hear, severely. Poor Butler, brother of Silistria Butler, on the Duke's staff, killed. In the Grenadiers, Paken- ham, Nevill, and Sir R. Newman killed. In the Coldstreams they have nine officers killed, and I believe all the rest wounded. . . . Poor WINTBB BEFOEB SBBA8T0P0L 73 little Greville, quite a boy (a son of Algernon Greville's), had only been out about a fortnight. He dined with me the night before, and was in the highest spirits. He left me at ten, and was dead the next morning at seven. . . . Fitzroy shot in the cheek; Fielding badly wounded. Burnaby, who came up from Varna about a week ago, behaved very well. Men in the regiment who were his enemies said he had behaved nobly. The Duke thanked him twice. The Brigade, as soon as Sebastopol is taken, must, I should think, go home. It is almost destroyed. "A Council of War was held yesterday. " The men all say that, but for the assistance of the French, they must have yielded. Most of the officers were murdered. Newman, only slightly wounded, and unable to walk in consequence, was run through and through on the ground. Col. Carpenter, 41st, unhorsed and lying on the ground, had his brains beaten out with the butt-end of a musket. Our loss to-day is put at 1500 casualties ; ninety-six officers wounded, and twenty-five killed. " The shot and shell, thrown from the guns they had in position, came right into the Second Division camp. The Commissariat tents were riddled. Murray, who rode up to see what he could, had a narrow escape ; and Rolleston, who was talking to the Commissariat officer of the Second Division, had to lie down to escape a round shot which came between him and his horse. Perhaps it was lucky for me that I was laid up. ... I am not in the humour for writing to-day, and can never write unless I am. So no more from your affectionate Son. " 13 on the suhject of our children's praises, I will not apologise for troubling you with a few lines to tell you how well I have heard your son spoken of in the midst of all the abuse bestowed on the ill-managed, or unfortunate. Commissariat Department. I happened to sit next the Duke of Cambridge the other day at dinner ; and in answer to some inquiries of mine, he passed the highest encomiums on your son's conduct in the performance of his arduous and difficult duties. He found him a most zealous, active and intelligent man of business, devoted to his work, and doing it most usefully to others, and with great credit to himself. And up to the time that he left the Crimea, he was the only one who had never suffered at all in health, nor, I believe (which his mother will like to hear), in looks. No doubt you have heard plenty of good reports of him before, but it is a subject on which one can always bear repetition. It gave me pleasure to hear the praises of my son's friend, and I conclude you will not object to hear the same of your own son, coming as they did, from the person under whose immediate eye he had been acting." The delight of his Mother in all this was unbounded ; and she poured forth the happiness of her enthusiastic nature in the loving words which after all these years still seem to be instinct with the feelings of the hour. " Uppbe Beook Street, Thursday, 16th March, 1855. " I tread on air — no, on India-rubber, for my heart is so proud, the pavement seems to bound with me. Oh, what do you think? In Saturday's Times you are mentioned by the Rev. Mr. Parker in terms of approbation. Well, but in Tuesday's, the Duke of Cambridge men- tions you ; and still more ! Oh, I gasp so I can scarcely write, it is too ecstatic. Mr. Wilson in the House of Commons praises you ex- ceedingly, and the House says ' Hear.^ Ye gods and little fishes ! your Mother's heart will burst. I cannot contain myself. I went to Lady Ovefstone's party last night, and Sir Dennis le Marchant told your Father that it was not one single ' Hear,' but that several members got up, took off their hats, and cheered the praise. You must indeed have done wonders to gain such applause. ... Oh ! I am so happy. Think of how your Mother enters into your fame, far dearer than aught else in this world. "Friday, 23rd March. — Ceei spent yesterday morning with Blanche, and came home saying you were mentioned in the leading article of the Morning Chronicle. ... I will copy it out." WINTER BEFORE SBBASTOPOL 87 The extract was as follows : — " It appears from the evidence before the Committee, that there were good as well as bad Commissaries, and young as well as old. Lord Luean complained of the youth and inexperience of those attached to his Division, whilst the Duke of Cambridge expressed the most unquali- fied approval of the mode in which his brigade was served by a still younger man, Mr. Blackwood. But all were alike hampered by tech- nical observances, and have been most unjustly censured for attending to these." Sir Arthur Blackwood's remarks on the subject, in his Notes, are as follows : — " I had the unspeakable satisfaction of having it declared before the Committee of the House of Commons, which was appointed to investi- gate the causes of the disasters which befel our troops, that mine was the only Brigade in the whole of the British Army which was never short of one day's half-ration. This was not to my credit, however. I attribute it to nothing else than the supreme discipline of the Brigade of Guards, who were ever to the fore on Balaclava Beach, when the fatigue-parties of other Commissariat officers were seduced by the many temptations of the Camp and town. I only had to try one sergeant by court- martial, for being overcome. It was a necessity; however the poor fellow was soon restored to his rank. " The disasters which befel our troops raised a storm of indignation throughout England. Scapegoats were sought in every direction ; and the one least worthy of blame was the one who, I fear, received the most. That was our good little Commissary-General, Filder. . . . Sir George Maclean replaced him ; but by that time a railway was being made, the weather had improved, and so far as food and raiment were concerned, things were going better." SUMMBE IN THE CRIMEA. On 1st March, the Brigade of Guards, fearfully reduced in strength, moved down to Balaclava ; and towards the end of the month Mr. Blackwood started on an expedition to Asia Minor, where the purchase of cattle was to be combined with a little sport. As is shown by his letters, he greatly enjoyed the change. On 28th March he returned. " Balaclava, 13th April, 1855. "Our fire opened again early on the morning of the 9th pretty briskly, but has much decreased, and is very feeble now. The first day we shut up the Mamelon, Round Tower and Flag-staff Batteries, but they are now firing again. Still the scaling ladders have been taken down to the trenches, and an unheard-of quantity of fascines and gabions brought up, all of which looks like an assault. " 2lst Apnl. " Of the second failure of the Allied Armies to take Sebastopol you have, I suppose, by this time heard. Our guns have now almost en- tirely ceased firing ; and we are not a whit nearer than before. What the Generals are about I know not. ... " Omar Pasha seems to have infused a little life into them, for at his suggestion, they got up a reconnaissance the day before yesterday. I accompanied the Turks. . . . We ascertained that on a hill still further behind, they had five guns in position ; that they had about 500 cavalry and about 3000 or 4000 infantry scattered about. Whether they have more behind the mountain we don't know. "The funeral of General Bizot took place the other day. All the swells were there, and sprinkled him with holy water, Raglan and Omar Pasha included. His friends then made funeral orations. General Niel made a very straightforward honest English sort of speech. Pelissier spoke also, but was so much affected, that he forgot what he had to say, and was obliged to pull a paper out of his pocket, and read it off. Canrobert wound up with a very declamatory har- angue, all about ' La Patrie, I'honneur, la gloire, rien n'itait plus cher & oe (88) SUMMEB IN THE CEIMBA 89 cadmre' and ended by wiping away a tear, for he had worked himself into a great state of excitement, making a gesture as if shaking hands with the deceased, and exclaiming in a most theatrical manner as he turned away from the grave, 'Adieu, Bizot, que la terre te soit Ugh-e'U It was really splendid ; and if the occasion had not been so solemn, one could have roared with laughter. " Camp, Brigade of Guabdb, 2lst May, 1855. "I am very well, but dreadfully tired of the inaction. I really now have nothing to do. Get up at half-past eight, breakfast either alone or with some friend at nine. By that time it is intensely hot. " The whole of the m.orning one strolls about with very little more than a flannel shirt on, and altogether in the most summery costumes, from hut to hut, or tent to tent, smoking, chatting, and retailing news true or fabricated ; and then about three or four o'clock we ride out in a body to bathe, returning to dinner at seven, which is always a very elaborate affair. " 25th May. " To-day we seem to have made a forward step towards a summer campaign : 30,000 French, 15,000 Sardinians, and about 10,000 Turks have moved down, and occupied in three long lines the ground between Balaclava and the Tchernaya. I am not sure of the numbers, but that is supposed to be correct. " The small Russian force retired, and left our troops in possession. The breakfasts of the Russian officers were found upon their tables, which they had been obliged to desert in a hurry. I went out after my breakfast, with Dawkins and Burdett, and had great pleasure in seeing the ground again that we had marched over eight months ago, and particularly in finding out the exact spot where I had slept in an Araba the night of the flank march. We then pushed forward to try and get to the village of Tchorgoum, and rode rapidly along the road. As we were some way in advance of our outposts, a little circumspec- tion was necessary, and we naturally kept a sharp look-out, as the road lay between two steep hills, where Cossacks might easily have been concealed. On turning a corner of the road, Dawkins said, ' Oh, it's all right ; there are some of our fellows in the distance coming down the road, so we can go on.' 'Stop a minute,' said I. 'Are you sure they're our fellows ? ' ' Well,' he said, ' I'll take out my glass and see.' So he dismounted, and no sooner had he put his telescope to his eye, than he said : ' By Jove, you're right ; they're Cossacks, I can see their lances ; they are coming this way as hard as they can lay legs to ground.' Well, as we had nothing more offensive than sandwiches and sherry and water in our holsters, we thought it prudent to decamp, and so ' Old 90 ' LIFE OP SIE AETHUE BLACKWOOD Tom ' had to put his best leg foremost till we got within our own line of sentries again. When I say we had nothing more offensive than sandwiches, etc., we of course had our swords; but these, unless in the hands of a skilled swordsman, would be but little defence against a Cossack's lance. "After being cooped up for eight months in a certain number of square miles, and a very confined camp with 150,000 men, the liberty of riding over hill and dale, and wood and field, with sweet-smelling flowers instead of the nauseous smells of the Camp, is an immense treat." In his Notes Sir Arthur relates a somevyhat similar escape. " On one occasion I ran a very nasty risk of being taken prisoner. We had got out some ten miles beyond our outposts, and having picketed our nags, were bathing in a pleasant stream. Whilst in the water some one cried out that the Cossacks were coming ! How we got on to our horses, I do not know. All I do know is that we got away safely, but that I left two rings on the bank." " Balaclava, 1st Jwne, 1855. " The large force of French, Turks and Sardinians that has moved down into the field, has opened to us a large tract of country ; and the rides about Tchorgoum, and all the eastern side of Balaclava, are perfectly lovely. The scenery is of all descriptions, sometimes like Saxon Switzerland, with its hills covered with forests and reaching down to the very banks of some clear rippling stream ; sometimes re- sembling Switzerland itself in the rugged cliffs and impetuous torrents ; and at other times, amidst hedgerows and cultivated fields and villages, recalling parts of England forcibly to one's mind. It is a m^ost agree- able change from the dreadful monotony of our confined Camp to be able to ride over all this country, to bathe in the Tchernaya, and wander over the hills and valleys, and has dissipated much of the ennui which was becoming almost unbearable." THE STORMING OF THE MAMELON AND RIFLE PITS. " Balaclava Camp, 8th June, 1855. " I can only say a few words, as there is great excitement prevailing. I am staying up at the Front, only coming down here at full gallop in the middle of the day to see that things are all right in the Brigade. " Our fire opened at three p.m. on 6th, French firing very little, and continued all that night and the following day, sometimes increasing, sometimes diminishing. At six p.m. on 7th, the whole Army being under arms, the French, 15,000 strong, stormed the Mamelon, running SUMMER IN THE CRIMEA 91 up and over it like a lot of bees. The moment they were in possession of it, a flag was hoisted close to where Lord Kaglan stood with his Staff, and a rocket fired, which was the signal for our troops to attack the Stone Quarries and Kifle Pits in front of the Redan. This they did, and took them. "The French in the meantime having followed up their success too far, and having almost arrived at the Round Tower, were driven out of the Mamelon with great loss, but captured ii once more. The Russians must have resisted it most obstinately, for from 6 p.m. till 8.30, there was the most fearful lire of shell, shot, rockets and musketry raging, something most awful and deafening. The red sun was just Betting behind a dark bank of clouds, against which the flashes from the cannon and muskets shone vividly, and it was altogether a most wonderful scene. The English were driven out of the Rifle Pits three times during the night ; but both that position and the Mamelon were in our possession. There has been frightful slaughter. I don't know what is going to take place, and I am off again to see all I can. It is believed that in three days we shall be in the town. . . . " The foregoing, as you must perceive, was written in a dreadful hurry, for I wanted to get to the Front again in time to see anything that might be going on. On arriving there however I found there was so little chance of anything taking place to-night that I determined to return and finish my letter to you. " It is very probable that the Russians will try and retake the Rifle Pits and Mamelon to-night, in the latter of which two guns have already been placed, and it is hoped more will be there by morning. When I came away, our batteries were firing away vigorously. The Russians hardly at all, but some ships were throwing a great quantity of shell into the Mamelon. If we can get our guns without disturbance into the Mamelon, we shall command the shipping, to-morrow will see the downfall of the Round Tower and the Redan, and then the place is virtually ours. " I was stationed close to the Staff, and saw the whole thing splen- didly, i.e., as well as one could through the very dense smoke. The Stone Quarries were hidden from our view, but one could plainly see with a glass the French swarming up the slope of the Mamelon, then waving their flags at the top of the parapet, being driven back, then charging again, and finally capturing the Post. Everybody was in the greatest state of excitement, and it certainly was an awful and most ex- citing moment. We have lost 365 men killed and wounded, and thirty- five officers, of whom seventeen are killed. The French I believe about 1500. The Official Despatch and the Times Letter will give you longer and more authentic details. 92 LIFE OF SIE ARTHUR BLACKWOOD " Camp, Beigadb or Guabds, 15th June, 1855. " Our fire has not yet again opened ; and it is supposed it will not do so for some days. We are, I believe, strengthening ourselves as much as possible in the Mdmelon and Rifle Pits, and when a sufficient number of guns have been placed in the former, we shall make an attack, similar to the last, on the Round Tower and the Redan, and so take the place by degrees. But it is really so difficult to know, not only what is going to take place, but also what has happened, that I can tell you nothing for certain about either. We generally do not even know when we are going to open fire till after it has commenced, and our only certain knowledge about past events is derived from the news- papers and Lord Raglan's despatches. You must therefore not rely on what I sometimes tell you. All I can do will be to give you an account of what I have been doing personally during the last week. " On Saturday last, 9th, hearing about the middle of the day that there was a flag of truce to bury the dead in the Mamelon, I cantered up with T. and Thelusson in hopes we should be in time for it, and should be able to see the place without risk to our limbs. On getting up to the Front, however, we found that the half-hour gun had been fired, and that we should not have time to reach the Mamelon, much less to come away, before the firing recommenced. We therefore rode down the deep Ravine that leads from the Windmill to Sebastopol Harbour, hoping to meet the French returning. The Ravine, which is about a hundred feet in depth, with precipitous cavernous sides, winds about in all directions till it gets directly under the Mamelon, and between the Russian batteries and our own, and after a few more turns reaches the Harbour. When we arrived at the part directly under the Mamelon, we found there a French Reserve of three battalions, the officers of which most good-naturedly asked us to get off, and have some of their absinthe, though they must have had a very small stock of it, having been posted there for two nights and a day. " While we were standing chatting with them, the fire recommenced, and anything like the shot and shell whizzing from the batteries on either side of the Ravine over our heads, you cannot imagine ; it was deafening, and at first we thought that shells were exploding all around us. As we were talking to French officers, we could not immediately withdraw, although several of the Enemy's shot falling short, and striking the opposite wall of the Ravine, and rolling down to the bottom, rendered the situation anything but pleasant. However we were obliged to go on talking unconcernedly until the absinthe was finished, and all our views of the campaign, and the results of the siege, had been severally and deliberately discussed; when having effected a mutual interchange of cigars and good wishes, we again mounted and StTMMEE IN THE CRIMEA 93 nonchalantly rode ofE. I don't suppose there was any great danger, but we did not feel quite safe until we had got round the next corner or two. " Sunday, the next day, I again rode up to the Front, as an attack was generally expected; it did not however come off. We therefore, with about twenty or thirty other oflftcers, amused ourselves with watching the firing, which was very heavy, from a hill some hundred yards in advance of the Fourth Division. We seemed to be firing very heavily, whilst the Russians hardly returned one shot in twenty. They did not seem to approve of our watching their proceedings so closely for all of a sudden, above the booming of the Artillery, the very dis- agreeable hizzing whizzing sound of a shell was heard, and seemed by the rapid increase of the sound, to be directly approaching our position. Everybody hollaed ' Look out ! ' and instantly displayed most wonderful activity in tumbling off their horses anyhow, and lying flat on the ground. Myself and a few others contented ourselves with crouching down on our horses' necks, and watching for the explosion. In about half a second from the time the noise was first heard, a cloud of dust was knocked up about twenty yards in front of us, and the shell ricocheting past, burst with a sharp loud crack, a little to our left. You may guess that we did not await a second message. " That evening our fire ceased. " The next day, Monday, the 11th, we took a most delightful ride along the Woronzoff Road to the Valley of Baid^r. The road, made by Prince Woronzoff, winds up a defile formed by a mountain stream, and the sides of which, alternately rocky and wooded, offer a most pleasing variation of scenery. The French Cavalry are encamped in a little valley, about eight miles from here, and their outposts and videttes extended several miles further. We enjoyed the ride so much, that we determined to repeat it ; and accordingly four of us set out yester- day, taking lunch with us, and passing the French Cavalry Camp, went on about five miles, till we came to their last picket, which was stationed on a hill looking over the extensive plain of Baidar. A hundred yards from the road was a little shooting-box, supposed to belong to the Prince. In the verandah was a French sentry, and he told us that the villages in the plain were still inhabited, and that they occasionally patrolled into them, and that when they did not go there, the Cossacks did, so that the unfortunate inhabitants sufiered from both. Of course the French had plundered them, and committed all sorts of atrocities, as they always do; whereas, if the English had been in their place, a picket would have been placed in the villages, and the people would have been just as safe and pro- tected as if no war were going on. The little Chateau was completely 94 LIFE OP SIB AETHUE BLACKWOOD rifled, and the walls covered with ridiculous caricatures, and bombastic inscriptions in French. " More excursionists kept arriving, so we abandoned the Villa, and striking into the wood, reached in about a quarter of an hour a glade through which a little brook ran, the banks of which were covered with luxuriant grass and wide-spreading beech-trees. Divesting ourselves of jackets and swords, and flinging ourselves on the grass, we revelled in the air, the sky, the shady trees, the songs of birds, and the solitude, and everything in nature that is meant to be enjoyed. . . . What little did remain of our lunch we gave to a French soldier, who had lent us his canteen full of clear water, and had picked some strawberries for us. Cigars of course followed ; and at six o'clock, we re-saddled our horses, and started on our journey homewards. "An order has just arrived that the Brigade, carrying one day's pro- visions, is to march to-morrow. Whether it is that they are really to take a part in the storming, or whether Lord Eaglan thinks that, having done so much of the hard work during the winter, they ought to be allowed to participate in the glory of the capture, which by being under arms on the heights and in reserve, they would do, is un- known. "... Since writing the above, it is ascertained that we move up there for good. I shan't be sorry to have a little work to do, as our life here has been very inactive." THE ATTACK ON THE KEDAN. " Camp befobb Sbbastopod, Wednesday, 20th June, 1855. "The Electric Telegraph and the Times must have already com- municated to you the unfortunate result of our attack on Sebastopol on 18th. The Army is more disheartened than I can possibly describe, at least every person I have met within the last two days speaks in the same tone, and that the most dejected. Everybody seemed sure of success, and indulged in the most sanguine expectations of the capture of the place, the conclusion of the War, and our return to England ; and you miay imagine the effect that our repulse must have had. What our failure was attributed to I do not know ; but can only suppose the cause to be the ignorance of our Generals and Engi- neers of the places they were about to assault ; and from every account there seems to have been the most lamentable confusion am.ongst the troops, which can only result from want of arrangement. " The fact of our fixing on the 18th June shows how we counted on success, and there was a line of Cavalry posted along our whole front to prevent any one but the troops actually engaged from rushing into the SUMMEE IN THE CEIMEA 95 captured city. This was of. course a prudent precaution, but it shows our confidence. "The Russians, I hear, made a sortie on the French a short time before the hour fixed upon for our combined attaclc. They were driven bacl£, and this brought on the general engagement a little sooner than was intended. ... I can tell you nothing of the real events . . . and can only relate what has happened to myself within the last few days. " We marched up to the Front on 16th, and a great nuisance it was to leave one's cool comfortable hut on the heights of Balaclava, close to the sea, the lovely scenery of Tchorgoum and Baidar, to return to the hot dusty and foul-smelling ' Camp before Sebastopol,' and the scorch- ing heat of a bell tent, which at first is almost unbearable. " The heat during the last four days has been intense. " On the evening of 17th the Division was ordered to parade at 2.30 the next morning, and Sir Colin Campbell told us that the men could not carry their Rum, so we were to take it down after them. I there- fore thought that we might perhaps come in for a share of the scrim- mage, and accordingly loaded my pistol, and, provided with a certain quantity of cold chicken and sherry and water, followed the Brigade when they marched off the next morning at dawn, accompanied by four horses laden with Rum. The firing was tremendous, and the Division was moving up as quickly as possible, everybody expecting that we were to go into action in a few minutes. It proved however that the Division was to be in reserve, and they were accordingly drawn up in front of the Picket-house all the morning. The firing was kept up very heavily, and the wounded were being continually brought through our lines ; a dreadful sight, and the more so, as no result had been gained by the loss of so many lives. "At ten o'clock, the firing ceased; and the General's Staff, who had been the whole time in the 21 Gun Battery, came up looking most tremendously down-cast ; and Jervoise, on General Airey's Staff, on passing a knot of us, whispered, ' It's all up.' "Finding that the attack was abandoned, I communicated with Lord Rokeby, who ordered the issue of half a ration of Rum. I therefore, by a skilful manoeuvre, brought up the force under my command, throwing out two of the horses with Rum-kegs as skirmishers, whilst I formed the remaining two into a square on the two centre sub-divisions. On arriving within range, I deployed them into line, and giving the word of command, 'Spring the Bungs,' delivered a tremendous volley of Rum into the whole Brigade with wonderful effect. Forming them then quickly into close column with the empty kegs in the rear, I effected a masterly retreat, and arrived at the Camp without the loss 96 LIFE OP SIR ARTHUR BLACKWOOD of a single keg, one only having received a slight contusion. The Brigade soon followed. " That we were defeated there can be no doubt. ... "There are numerous conjectures as to what our course of proceed- ing will now be, whether another Assault will be made, and the place taken with great loss; or whether we shall regularly invest it, and reduce them by blockade. I suppose Lord Eaglan will wait for orders ; but that the Town must be taken at any sacrifice will not be doubted for an instant. " Camp, Brigade op Guabdb, bbfobb Sbbastopol, 30th Jvme, 1855. " The telegraph must have already announced to you the melancholy news of both Lord Raglan's and General Estcourt's deaths. The former died, I believe, very suddenly, as at six o'clock on the evening of the 28th, nobody anticipated a fatal termination to his illness, and at ten o'clock he was dead, purely they say from vexation of spirit, brought on by the failure of 18th. I am very sorry for him, poor old mian ; for though I believe that many of the disasters that have befallen our Army were partly attributable to him, yet I also as firmly believe that he always did his best, and for the best ; and if he was not equal to the emergency, it was not his fault. It must have been hard to die when in the command of such an Army, and when within a month, or perhaps less, of attaining success; and very hard to die without an opportunity of clearing himself from the many imputations that have been cast on him. Poor old man, I really grieve for him, and hope sincerely that his fame will be vindicated. . . . "You have no idea how wearisome life in Camp can become. It is something passing description ; something not to be imagined. " Camp bepobe SBBASiOPOii, 21si Jidy, 1855. "As we have been given to understand that the Division will remain in its present situation for some time, I have begun to make our little camp as comfortable as possible, and have built a Cook-house, Stable, etc., etc., and hollowed out the Mess-tent, which is now very snug. Having little to do now besides accounts and general superin- tendence of affairs, it is rather agreeable to work away at something ; and I accordingly pick, and shovel, and dig, and build until my hands are all over blisters. " Camp bepoee Sebastopol, 27iA JvXy, 1855. " The heat during the past week has really been something intense, so much so indeed that I hardly feel as if I had energy enough left in me to write my weekly letter. It is impossible to describe it. One wakes about six o'clock, the sun already high in the heavens, and SUMMEB IN THE CBIMBA 97 striking through the canvas tent with force sufficient to bake, roast or boil ; all the flies that ever were born, buzz, crawl, fly about, and bite one in a manner that effectually prevents any further thought of sleep. There is no wind: that only rises about nine or ten o'clock; and then, instead of a cool refreshing West wind, it is a sort of Sirocco, and one that, instead of cooling and refreshing one, really suffocates, and takes one's breath away with the intensity of its sultriness. It continues the wh(jle day ; and if it were not for the expectation of the afternoon bathe, which one tries to rouse one's self for, even though it cost one a ten miles' ride there and back, I hardly think one could live out the day. It is impossible to keep anything cool. "About once a fortnight however a cool rainy day comes, like an oasis in the desert, and lays the dust. Such an one came yesterday, and Hanbury and I took advantage of it to ride to Baidar, which I have already described to you, and even to a long way beyond it, to a place called the Gates of Baidar, where after ascending a long zig-zag road up a wooded mountain, we suddenly turned round a sharp corner, and came upon a massive archway, cut almost out of the rock, through which the road to Galta passed, and on the other side of which a precipitous cliff some 500 feet in depth went sheer down to the sea, which lay calmly and peacefully before us. It was a striking un- expected and lovely view, and the forms of some twenty or thirty of the 17th Lancers, with their horses grouped together under the arch- way (placed there at picket), the men lounging about or reclining on the benches, and their lances with the fluttering pennons stuck into the ground, did not render it the less picturesque. We had a charming ride, for we had come provided with everything, and we made two halts in the day, the first for breakfast, about ten o'clock, and the Second at four for dinner. We reached home again about ten, having been about fifty miles. " Camp, Cbimba, 12