| Description | Glad to know that people at home think of them - glad to hear views at home" but unfortunately everybody sees the thing in the same light now it is too late - the difficulty is to remedy it. The papers are indeed inveterate against Lord Raglan. A great deal of blame is not so much attributable to him as to those under him who have proved obstinate and quite incompetent but he is led by their advice too much & of course as the head man all the blame will be justly laid upon him. The Times articles have already done good. Things make their appearance with greater ease & despatch than before & Quarter Master Generals who have only before been known by name are to be seen riding through the snow. Lord Raglan paid one hospital a visit the other day but I am afraid his visit did not do much good. The soldiers do not know him & the officers are disgusted altogether. It is quite impossible he can know the suffering of his men or he never would have allowed it to get to the pitch it has without attempting to stop the evil. We are indeed a sad wreck of a first army. You would be astonished & shocked to see a regiment turn out now. I assume you can have no idea to what a pitch of wretchedness a man can be brought to before he gives in altogether. The living are very little better than the dead. A set of half-starved worn-out doubled up looking wretches you would think they could hardly carry a firelock. All recruits & drafts that are sent out dig immediately & are more than useless. The old hands only can keep up & when one thinks that by common forethought all this might have been avoided it is enough to make the English people angry particularly after what they have paid & done for us". His box has been lost - "I am so angry because boots & flannels are expensive things to buy & to lose all within five miles of their destination all through the irregularity of Balaklava is too bad .. We have great hopes here of a peace or something. I am afraid no such luck. As long as Sebastopol remains as it is the Czar can give in with dignity & cry quits. The failing of taking this place will counter-balance the other two victories on our side. If we take the place he must fight it out to save his honour. These are our opinions here & the slow way in which we go on seems to favour the idea. We have had the most dreadful weather lately and men are frequently sent home dead from the trenches. They fall down from weakness, get frost bite & never live again. Many a man I have had to run up & down to save his life, to their great disgust." A thaw has come now & tho'much warmer of course makes the place up to one's knees in mud. Boots are what the men want, one pair always wet is quite enough to account for Dysentry ... None of the things that are supposed to have started, sent by the Patriotic Fund have yet made their appearance. When they do I suppose the staff & those who happen to be on the spot will get all the things" - Horses belonging to wounded being sold off as baggage horses fetch 3 times the price purchased at beginning of campaign - "everyone here has a pulled down appearance owing to the sort of life we lead ... I must say I have a great liking to see the inside of Sebastopol after having been looking at the outside every day for so many months. The next time that we open fire and begin the siege again it will be in earnest & we shall soon be in it, but I am afraid at a fearful cost of life ... "I was glad to get my company as you may suppose particularly as it cost nothing". |