BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. xix 



roadside halting-places, and enduring the consequences, often leading to more serious illness 

 than he records, of the hurried ride on Tartar horses through the Provinces to the shore of the 

 Bosphorus. But, alas ! There is again a break in the narrative Arthur Hay wrote of his 

 journey ; and there is no record, accessible to me, of how far he went, or to what extent he 

 carried out the programme of an extensive exploration of Asia Minor, Palestine, Arabia, &c., 

 which I glean, from references here and there to his future, he had in his mind at the time 

 he penned his journal. However, he was destined soon to revisit the east of Europe under very 

 different circumstances, and to take a share in the great war with Russia which burst so 

 suddenly upon the world. 



One would have liked to know if such a close observer detected any symptoms of the coming 

 storm as he passed through the regions which were so speedily to feel its power ; but, so far as his 

 notes on Bulgaria extend, there is not a trace in them of any impression being made on his mind 

 that the Turks were treating the people with injustice or cruelty. However, a very short time 

 only could have elapsed between his return to England from the East in 1852 and the commence- 

 ment of the diplomatic agitation about the Holy Places and the oppression of the Christian 

 subjects of the Porte, which culminated a year later in the Russian invasion of the Principalities 

 and in the Crimean War. 



It must have been with profound regret that a keen soldier like Arthur Hay found himself 

 debarred by his regimental position from accompanying the battalions of the Brigade of Guards 

 which, in the hope that the news of their arrival at Malta would cause the Czar to hesitate 

 in his purposes of aggression, were dispatched from England, in February 1854; but it must 

 have been with keener feelings still that he and his brother officers at home heard of the 

 successive movements onwards and eastwards which brought the Guards from Malta to Scutari, 

 to Varna, to Bulgaria, and at last to the shores of the little-known peninsula, where they 

 were to make the words "Alma" and "Inkerman" famous for ever. The exultation with 

 which the news of the successful invasion of the Crimea, and the investment of Sebastopol 

 was received at home, tlie rapture with which men read of the chivalrous deeds of the 

 cavalry at Balaclava, and the mournful pride which filled the nation when they knew 

 how their soldiers fought at Inkerman, were soon merged in painful anxiety for the future. 

 Post after post, letter after letter, brought intelligence of delay, disease, and death, and all the 

 sickness of hope deferred fell upon the people. The contrast between the published reports of the 

 Commander-in-Chief on the spot, set forth in gazettes and dispatches, and the accounts in 

 unoflBcial and private letters was not long in producing a sentiment of irritation and disgust ; and 

 the public mind gave way to unjust exasperation against all those in authority, when it was found 

 that the worst features of the unauthorized and discredited narratives of irresponsible writers 



