CHAP. The Allies Their state of prepara CHAPTER XXXII. Ar the time when the instructions from the Home Governments reached the of the Allies, the camp at Varna. Generals were preparing for an active campaign in Bulgaria, and Marshal St Arnaud had around him, tion in the in the neighbourhood of Varna or moving thither, middle of four strong divisions of infantry, with cavalry and field-artillery. He had no siege-train. July. Lord Raglan had around him four divisions of infantry, the greater part of a division of cavalry, and of his field-artillery seven batteries. He had also on board ship off Varna the half of a batteringtrain, and the other half of it was nearly ready to be despatched from England. The French Marshal was receiving and expecting constant additions to his force; and Lord Raglan had been apprised that a reserve division of infantry under Sir George Cathcart would speedily reach the Bosphorus. So long as the French and English forces remained camped in the neighbourhood of Varna, their command of the sea-communication insured to them the arrival of the supplies which were sent to them; but XXXII. the means of land-transport were not yet within CHAP. their reach. It was estimated that, in order to move effectively in the interior, the English army alone would require packhorses or mules to the number of 14,000. To obtain these was difficult, but not impossible; and at the time to which we point, about 5000 had been collected. By a continuance of these exertions in Bulgaria, and by due activity in forwarding munitions and stores from England, it is probable that the English force, after a further interval of about six weeks or two months, might have been prepared to move as an army carrying on regular operations; but of course this would only be true upon the supposition that the army should always march through countries yielding sufficient forage. The preparations of the French were not, perhaps, quite so far advanced as our own; but it is probable that the two armies would have been found ready at about the same time for an active campaign in Bulgaria. command The ships of the Allied Powers were at hand, and Their their fleets had dominion over all the Euxine home of the sea. to the Straits of Kertch. They had the command of the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, the Mediterranean, of the whole ocean; and of all the lesser seas, bays, gulfs, and straits, from the Gut of Gibraltar to within sight of St Petersburg. The Czar's Black Sea fleet existed, but existed in close durance, shut up under the guns of Sebastopol. CHAP. tion ob tained by the Foreign Office as to the of the Crimea. In the matter of gaining information respecting Informa- the enemy's resources, our Foreign Office had not been idle; and a great deal of material, bearing upon this vital business, had been carefully got together and collated. It resulted from these data, that, defences spread over vast space, Russia might nominally have under arms forces approaching to a million of men; but that the force in the Crim Chersonese, including the 17,000 men who formed the crews of the ships, did not, at the highest estimate, amount to more than 45,000; and that, although there were a few battalions which Russia might draw towards Sebastopol from her army of the Caucasus, she had no more speedy method of largely reinforcing the Crimea than by availing herself of the troops then in retreat from the country of the Danube, and marching them round to Perekop by the northern shores of the Euxine. No infor mation in the Levant. Neither the ambassadors of France and England obtained at Constantinople, nor any of their generals or admirals, had succeeded in obtaining for themselves any trustworthy information upon this vitally momentous business. For their failure in this respect more blame attaches upon the ambassadors than upon the military and naval commanders; because the ambassadors had been in the Levant during a period of many months, in which (since the war was impending, but not declared) they might have bought knowledge from Russian subjects without involving their informers in the perils of treason. The duty of gathering knowledge by clandestine XXXII. means is one so repulsive to the feelings of an English CHAP. gentleman, that there is always a danger of his neglecting it, or performing it ill. Perhaps no two men could be less fit for the business of employing spies than Lord Stratford and Lord Raglan. More diligence might have been expected from the French, but they also had failed. Marshal St Arnaud had heard a rumour that the force of the enemy in the Crimea was 70,000, and Vice-Admiral Dundas had even received a statement that it amounted to 120,000; but these accounts were fables. In point of fact, the information obtained by our Foreign Office approached to near the truth, and the Duke of Newcastle had the firmness it was a daring thing to do, but it turned out that he was right he had the firmness to press Lord Raglan to rely upon it. It was natural, however, that a General who was within a few hours' sail of the country which he was Lord Ragto invade, and was yet unable to obtain from it any, ceived even slight, glimmer of knowledge, should distrust that he information which had travelled round to him solutely (through the aid of the Home Government) along the any trustcircumference of a vast circle; and Lord Raglan formation. certainly considered that, in regard to the strength of the enemy in the Crimea and the land defences of Sebastopol, he was simply without knowledge. lan con was ab without worthy in CHAP. The in for the invasion of the Crimea reach the Allied camp. CHAPTER XXXIII. On the evening of the 13th of July Marshal St XXXIII. Arnaud received a telegraphic despatch from his structions. Government. The despatch had been forwarded by way of Belgrade, and was in cipher. The message came in an imperfect state. Part of it was intelligible, but the rest was beyond all the power of the decipherer; yet the interpreted symbols showed plainly that the whole message, if only it could be read, would prove to be one of deep import. It forbade Marshal St Arnaud from making any advance towards the Danube, and told him to look to the event of his army being conveyed from Varna by the fleet. This was all that could be deciphered. There were the mystic letters and figures which laid down, as was surmised, the destiny of the Allied armies, and no one could read. At night Colonel Trochu came to Lord Raglan's quarters, and communicated all that could be gathered from the telegraphic despatch. The English General had just received the Duke of Newcastle's letter of the 28th, but had not yet broken the seal of it. Now, however, Lord Raglan opened the letter, and in a few moments he was able to give M. Trochu the means |