Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/193

 SUFFERINGS OF THE AEMIES. 149 Ou the other liaiid, this Crimea was a distant, chap. outlying province on which the Western inva- ;_ sion had come in some sort by surprise ; so that, when great masses of troops were soon after thrown forward by Nicholas in passionate haste, they found at the end of their marches a dis- trict not prepared for their coming by lit com- missariat measures. Moreover, the roads broken uj) by floods upon floods of rain put obstruction not easily conquered in the way of Ijringing tor- ward supplies, and — increased by such troubles whilst also yet further increasing them — admin- istrative confusion was rife. Under stress of these hampering conditions, the subsistence of the army at one time appeared to have become insecure ; but the danger in its ugliest shape was by strenuous efforts averted, so that men did not anywhere die from want — from sheer want of bread ; though still they suffered priva- tions which — along with the rigours of winter — proved largely destructie of health, and destructive also of life. The Eussians, lying stricken with sickness or wounds, were at one time 25,000 ; and the hospital succours in readiness fell so hideously short of the need, that the number of j)rostrated sufferers exceeded by more than 9000 the number of hospital berths. (1) II. The poor Piussians, succumbing to cold and sufferings . ^. IP, 1 n of the Allied privation, may have felt pangs as sharp as those amies, suffered in the opposite camp ; yet because they