26 THE ELEVENTH WAR : CRIMEAN WAR. 



of; and for this second blunder it is said the French commander, 

 Marshall St. Arnaud, was to blame. 



From the Alma the Allies moved forward to Balaclava, and 

 occupied the heights, and on Oct. 17th the first attack was made 

 on Sevastopol, but it was a month too late, and of course it failed. 



On Oct. 25th the Russians fiercely attacked the Allies, which is 

 memorable for the famous charge of the Light Brigade ; the charge 

 of the 600, of whom only 198 came back, and of which it may truly be 

 said, " C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas guerre." 



Then followed the great Battle of Inkermann, on the 5th November, 

 the soldiers' battle, which was the fiercest battle of the war. 



It would occupy too much space to follow all the dark days of the 

 Crimean campaign, the terrible winter during which more men died 

 by exposure and cold than by the bayonet and bullet ; but I cannot 

 forbear to mention the name of that great heroine of the war, 

 Florence Nightingale, who, in the midst of the horrors of that war, 

 like some " Angel of Mercy" touched by the piercing cry of men 

 perishing with cold, hunger, and disease, went forth to the East, 

 assisted by a little army of chivalrous women, and rendered splendid 

 service, and which laid the f oundation of the Geneva Convention 

 and the noble Army of the Red Cross. 



At this periodof the War, disaster followed disaster, which the death of 

 Lord Raglan, and the death of the Czar Nicholas of Russia, intensified. 



During the lull caused by the defeat of the Government by the 

 vote of censure moved by Mr. Roebuck, negotiations for peace were 

 set on foot, and a Conference met at Vienna, but it proved a failure, 

 and the operations in the Crimea were renewed with increased vigour. 



Desperate efforts were made by Russia to raise the siege of Sevas- 

 topol, but all was unavailing ; and the Allies, bracing themselves up to 

 a great effort, on September 5th, 1855, captured the Malakoff and 

 Redan, which was accompanied by a terrible bombardment from sea 

 and land ; and Sevastopol, after a memorable siege of twelve months, 

 fell, and " great was the fall thereof" 



With the fall of Sevastopol, the war was practically at an end; and 

 on the 25th February, 1856, a Congress of the Plenipotentiaries of 

 Europe assembled at Paris, and one month afterwards, the Treaty 

 of Peace was signed. 



Thus closed, as Mr. Bright declared, "that measureless calamity, 

 the Crimean War," a War that involved the death of 900,000 men, 

 and which cost the belligerents, Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy, 

 and Turkey, ;^34o,ooo,ooo sterling. 



