[95] Report of Inspector-General of Recruiting, 1887.
[96] Report of Lord Wantage's Committee, pp. 11 and 18.
[97] An important reform carried out by Lord Cardwell was that of the abolition of purchase; but I do not propose to enter into the question, as it had been virtually decided before I entered the War Office.
[98] One of his works is entitled A New System of Field Artillery, by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1854.
[CHAPTER XXV]
VISIT TO THE CRIMEA WITH CHARLES GORDON. REPORT ON THE CEMETERIES
In the autumn of 1872 I was sent by the Government to the Crimea, to report on the condition of the British cemeteries and monuments, and also as to their restoration and care for the future. Colonel Charles Gordon (of Khartoum), an old friend of mine, was associated with me in the work. He was at that time a member of the International Commission for improving the navigation at the mouth of the Danube. Travelling rapidly through Europe, I met him at Galatz at the end of August; and we embarked on board H.M.S. 'Antelope,' which had been sent from Constantinople to convey us across the Black Sea. Gordon's views about the work of the Danube Commission were, as usual, rather peculiar. He explained to me that, as the river had been adequately dredged and buoyed, and as the lighthouse at its mouth was completed, there was really nothing more to do; and that the Commission was practically useless. As I understood, he had written to the Foreign Office to that effect, adding also that his salary was too large. In the ordinary concerns of life he was actuated by one principle which is rare—namely, a contempt for the accumulation of money. In fact, he gave it away almost as fast as he received it. His experience in Eastern countries, also, had given him a distrust of pashas and men in high places; and all his sympathies were for the poor and friendless. Soon after our visit to the Crimea he was appointed Governor-General of the Soudan, and it is said that at an interview with Ismail Pasha before starting for Khartoum he objected to the large amount of his salary, as being more than necessary; and when he left, the Khedive remarked: 'What an extraordinary Englishman! He doesn't want money!'
On leaving Galatz, we went first of all to Odessa, to call on General Kotzebue, the Governor-General of Southern Russia, who, however, was unfortunately absent; but we had an opportunity of meeting, and of receiving assistance from him later on. Indeed, during the whole of our visit to the Crimea, every attention was paid to us by the authorities; and two Russian officers were specially detailed to accompany and assist us in our investigations. We arrived at Sebastopol on August 29, and found the city in ruins, and almost exactly in the same condition as when the allied armies had left it seventeen years before. The churches, barracks, theatres, and store-houses were all roofless; and the Malakoff, Redan, and other defences mere crumbling earthworks. All was so quiet and still, and such a contrast to the stirring times of the years gone by, in the hardships and vicissitudes of which Gordon and myself had shared. We seemed to know every inch of the ground, and for many days wandered about, taking notes of the various cemeteries, great and small, scattered over the country.
Although comparatively few officers and men remain of all those who took part in the great Crimean war of forty years ago, its reminiscences will still, no doubt, be of interest to many in the present day; and I will therefore quote some extracts from the report made by Gordon and myself on our return home:[99] 'From the day of our arrival until September 9, we were engaged many hours each day in making a careful inspection of every cemetery and memorial of the British Army in the vicinity of Sebastopol.' 'It will be remembered that after the battle of the Alma the Allies marched on Sebastopol, and in consequence of their long detention before that city the great body of the British Army did not move again during the war, but remained encamped on the plateau on the south side; consequently, with the exception of a few monuments at the Alma and at Kertch, the whole of the cemeteries, one hundred and thirty in number, are to be found on the ground which extends from Sebastopol to Balaclava, and from Kamiesch to the Tchernaya.' 'The cemeteries vary much both in their position and size. Some are in the rocky ravines leading down to the trenches, whilst others are on the hills and downs which surround Balaclava. Some lie in the sheltered valleys about Kadikoi and Karani; but by far the greater number extend along the bare plateau in front of the city, upon which the army so long remained encamped; and pre-eminent among them is that on Cathcart's Hill, distinguished alike by its commanding central position and by the numerous monuments it contains, many of them to officers of high rank and distinction.'[100]
'The cemeteries also differ considerably in the number of graves and monuments which they relatively contain. Some are large, with hundreds of graves, and many inscribed tablets and crosses; others in isolated spots with only a few. A considerable number contain no monuments whatever. The majority are those to officers; but there are also many to soldiers, and a few to women, nurses, or the wives of soldiers.' 'A small proportion of the monuments have been erected since the termination of the war. Some are of marble, but as a rule they are of the soft stone found upon the spot. They were for the most part hurriedly erected toward the end of the campaign, often by unskilful hands, without sufficient foundations, and with slightly cut inscriptions. Originally there were also a considerable number of wooden crosses. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that, exposed to the vicissitudes of climate, especially to the rigour of Crimean winters, a large number of them have perished, and almost all of those remaining show signs of weather and decay.' 'The walls which enclose the cemeteries were in the first instance roughly built, without mortar or foundations, and of the loose uncut stones in the neighbourhood. Time and weather have led to their rapid decay, and the shepherds have occasionally hastened the destruction by making entrances for their flocks.' 'We endeavoured to visit every cemetery and memorial of which we could find a record; the total number in the neighbourhood of Sebastopol and Balaclava amounting to 130.[101] The farm-house which was so long the head-quarters of the British Army is well cared for, and in good preservation; and in the room in which Lord Raglan died a marble slab has been inserted in the wall, with the following inscription: "In this room died Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, G.C.B., Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in the Crimea, June 28, 1855."'