32 SIR WILLIAM FLOWER chap. 



circumstance that tends to an opposite result appears insurmount- 

 able. The reinforcements that are sent from England go a very 

 little way even towards keeping up the present effective state. 

 These continued rains (it is pouring now, and nearly always, as 

 hard as it can) are most trying to the men, and their work 

 becomes harder as their numbers diminish by sickness. They 

 have to be out all night in the trenches, often two nights out of 

 three, and very seldom get two clear nights in camp ; their food 

 and grog is served out very irregularly now when it is wanted 

 most, and as the bad weather continues we are always in dread 

 of a total cessation of supplies. To show how little the nominal 

 force has to do with the real effective condition of an army, this 

 regiment which brought out over looo men could scarcely 

 number 300 now fit for action, and I believe it is the same with 

 all the others.^ 



The horses suffer as much as the men ; it is miserable to see 

 the poor animals picketed outside the tents with nothing to 

 protect them from the wind and rain, and sometimes no forage 

 for three days on end ; I can see a group of ponies from my tent- 

 door standing with their backs to the wind and their feet all 

 gathered together, surrounded by a sea of mud, looking images 

 of resignation and misery. That reminds me of your inquiries 

 after the fate of my rough little Cossack ; it was the common one 

 of them here ; he was stolen one night while I was on board ship, 

 and I daresay he has changed hands a dozen times since. 



I suppose the Russians, who are in the field in our rear, are 

 as, badly off as ourselves, or worse, as they have further to convey 

 their provisions, etc. ; it is a consolation to think that this may 

 be the case. I hope our alliance with the French will last ; they 

 are fine fellows, true soldiers every inch, so active, intelligent, 

 and quick and always cheerful ; very different to the stupid, 

 hulking-looking creatures many of ours, especially the recruits, 

 are ; but the courage of the English before the enemy is quite 

 astonishing. I do not think it so much courage exactly as sense 

 of duty which causes a most total disregard of life and everything 



1 The total number of officers and men of the 63rd Regiment who were 

 killed, died of wounds, or were invalided home during the Crimean campaign 

 was 947. See History of the 6jrd West Suffolk Regiment^ p. 167. 



