Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/509

 APPENDIX. 465 broke up ; but the number required to effect so extensive and ' serious a work would liave been very great, and I had not an ' English soldier to apply to such a purpose, however important. ' Some time before the bad weather set in, a survey of the road ' were available were employed in its repair ; but their labour ' was not very efficient, and it was not possible to employ them ' beyond Kadikoi, from whence it has been carried on by the ' French troops under General Vinoy, nearly to the heights. ' No time has been lost in pi'oviding the troops with warm ' clothing, since any poi'tion of it an-ived at Balaclava ; and the ' moment I learnt that the Prince was wrecked, I sent a most ' intelligent officer to Constantinople to obtam all he could pro- ' cure, and his mission was successfully fulfilled. The men ' received the clothing as soon as it could be brought up, and ' they are now, and have been for some time, most abundantly ' lias been issued since the 17th November. Winter boots are ' the only deficiencies, and they are issued as they arrive. ' I have called for a statement of the want of medical stores, ' and I will transmit to you Dr Hall's report upon that point as ' soon as I receive it. ' I have obtained fresh vegetables from almost every quarter. ' I have visited the camps as frequently as the constant busi- ' ness in which I am engaged, and which occupies me throughout ' the day and a part of the night, will permit ; and though I ' have made no note of those visits, I find from one of my aides- ' de-camp, who keeps a journal, and who frequently, though not ' always, attends me, that he has accompanied me in my rides ' above forty times in the last two mouths.* ' A ride is not taken for pleasure on this ridge and in this ' weather, and I have not had tinae to visit the monastery, the ' only spot worth seeing in the whole of the position. ' Your lordship has not hesitated to apply to me the charge ' that I know nothing of the condition of the army, and that the ' reproach, and, in justice to myself, I have to request you to be ' so good as to name the person who has uttered the slander. ' The Staff are equally innocent of it. In my despatch of the ' 30th January, I have fully stated my opinion of Major-General ' Airey. I adhere to that opinion, and in expressing my sense of ' his services, I deem it due to him to state that they were con- ' tinned when lie was suffering under severe illness, which he ' caught in the execution of his duty on a wet and tempestuous ' night. Kingscote. VOL. VII. 2 G
 * was ordered leading from Balaclava, and as many Turks as
 * supplied. I have already sent your lordship a return of what
 * Staff is equally ignorant of it. My lord, I do not deserve this
 * The aiJe-df-caiup referred to hy liOrd Raglan was Colonel Nigel