Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/193

 unprepared for such a conflict as she was now entering upon. Lord Aberdeen, the Prime Minister, was a lover of peace, and not fitted to manage affairs at such a time. The chief seat of the war was the Crimea, on the Black Sea, although the Baltic, the White Sea, and Russian Armenia were the scenes of strife. Kars, a fortress in Armenia, was bravely defended by the Turks under General Williams (afterwards the commander of the British troops in Canada), but at last surrendered with honorable terms near the close of the war.

It was the beginning of September when the Allies reached the Crimea, and not long after, September 20, they defeated the Russians at the River Alma. The Russians now retreated to Sebastopol, a strong fortress in the Crimea, and the delay of the Allies gave them time to strengthen its defences. The French were commanded by Marshal St. Arnaud, and the English by Lord Raglan. Both commanders died before the war ended, and were replaced by General Pélissier and General Simpson. The siege of Sebastopol began, but it was found that the Russian engineer, Todleben, had done his work well, and the Allies were for nearly a year held at bay. At times the Russians strove to drive the Allies back, and at Balaclava a fierce contest took place, which served to bring out the heroic qualities of the British soldier. Lord Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, was ordered to charge the enemy and retake some guns which had fallen into their hands, but he mistook the order, and, instead, commanded his men to charge the main body of the Russian army. His men knew it was almost certain death, but not a man hesitated. Six hundred men rode head-long into the midst of the Russian army, cutting down the Russian gunners on their way, and then rode back amid a deadly hail from Russian muskets and artillery. Six hundred went into that “valley of death,” less than two hundred returned to the ranks of the British army. This was on the 25th October, and on the 5th November a bloody battle was fought at Inkermann, in which the British private showed that his intelligence was more than a match for the brute force of the brave but ignorant Russian soldiery.

The siege of Sebastopol went on throughout the winter in spite of the terrible sufferings of the British soldiers. Mismanagement at home and in the Crimea left the soldiers without proper clothing