Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/383

 RETURNING STRENGTPI. 339 fore the close of the period embraced by this CH a p. history, our army had means of land-transport 1 wMch, if not even then so extensive as to be sufficient for all contingencies, may still be deemed great, because every mule, every waggon- liorse had been brought to the Crimea on ship- board from more or less distant lands ; and — allowing the glance for a moment to trespass beyond my set bounds — I may say that before the war ended, M'Murdo had under him a body of some 17,000 drivers, of whom 10,000 were Britisli soldiers — men not only competent to their more special tasks, but armed and trained for fighting ; whilst of horses, mules, camels, and dromedaries, he had more than 28,000 ; and that, when the operations of both completing and working the railway had been put upon a mili- tary footing and entrusted to his cliarge, he wielded a land-transport power completely suf- ficing for the great exigencies of our army in the then state of the campaign, with besides means of raising it promptly to the yet greater strength required for any campaign undertaken against the Eussian field army. Our cruelly-overtasked army had long been our army bitterly needing a little remission of labour ; and lieved by" we saw the kind of resistance which the Englisli from some commander encountered when pressing the Frencli its toii. to relieve his harassed soldiery from a portion of their toil."'* In his grievous extremity, Lord Raglan one day declared that, unless he could have his troops relieved from some portion of '^ Ante, chapters vi. .and viiL