The enemy did not hold Balaklava in any strength. After a few shots the little garrison surrendered, and as Sir E. Lyon’s ship, the Agamemnon, reached the mouth of the harbour at the very time that the troops appeared on the heights, the British army was once more in full communication with the fleet.
The march of the French army, which followed in the track of the British, was still more prolonged and fatiguing. They did not reach the Tchernaya river until the 26th, having passed the previous night at Mackenzie’s Farm. It was on this day that the French marshal, at length succumbing to his fatal malady, issued his last order of the day, in which he took leave formally of his troops, and resigned the command into the hands of General Canrobert. “Soldiers!” said this memorable and touching address, “Providence refuses to your chief the satisfaction of continuing to lead you in the glorious path which is open before you. Overcome by a cruel disease, with which he has vainly struggled, he regards with profound grief, the imperious duty which is imposed upon him by circumstances—that of resigning the command, the weight of which a health for ever destroyed will no longer permit him to bear.
“Soldiers! you will pity me, for the misfortune which falls on me is immense, irreparable, and perhaps unexampled.”
Next day (the 27th) the marshal was seen entering Balaklava, indulging, like every one around him, in eating some of the delicious grapes which abound in the vineyards of this country.
It is the last note we have of him; his task was done; he could no more lead his army, and he sank at once. He embarked on board ship on the morning of the 29th, and in a few hours afterwards expired, in the midst of the officers who accompanied him.
Thus closed the first part of the expedition.
GENERAL CANROBERT,
On assuming the command-in-chief of the French troops, addressed them thus:—