There were now upon the coasts of the Crimea some thirty-seven thousand French and Turks with sixty-eight pieces of artillery (all under the orders of Marshal Saint-Arnaud), and some twenty-seven thousand English with sixty guns,—­altogether about sixty-four thousand men and one hundred and twenty-eight guns.  It was intended that the fleets should follow the march of the armies, in order to furnish the necessary supplies.  The march was perilous, without a base of supplies on the coast itself, and without a definite knowledge of the number or resources of the enemy.  It required a high order of military genius to surmount the difficulties and keep up the spirits of the troops.  The French advanced in a line on the coast nearest the sea; the English took up their line of march towards the south, on the left, farther in the interior.  The French were protected by the fleets on the one hand and by the English on the other.  The English therefore were exposed to the greater danger, having their entire left flank open to the enemy’s fire.  The ground over which the Western armies marched was an undulating steppe.  They marched in closely massed columns, and they marched in weariness and silence, for they had not recovered from the fatal pestilence at Varna.  The men were weak, and suffered greatly from thirst.  At length they came to the Alma River, where the Russians were intrenched on the left bank.  The allies were of course compelled to cross the river under the fire of the enemies’ batteries, and then attack their fortified positions, and drive the Russians from their post.

All this was done successfully.  The battle of the Alma was gained by the invaders, but only with great losses.  Prince Mentchikof, who commanded the Russians, beheld with astonishment the defeat of the troops he had posted in positions believed to be secure from capture by assault.  The genius of Lord Raglan, of Saint-Arnaud, of General Bosquet, of Sir Colin Campbell, of Canrobert, of Sir de Lacy Evans, of Sir George Brown, had carried the day.  Both sides fought with equal bravery, but science was on the side of the allies.  In the battle, Sir Colin Campbell greatly distinguished himself leading a Highland brigade; also General Codrington, who stormed the great redoubt, which was supposed to be impregnable.  This probably decided the battle, the details of which it is not my object to present.  Its great peculiarity was that the Russians fought in solid column, and the allies in extended lines.

After the day was won, Lord Raglan pressed Saint-Arnaud to the pursuit of the enemy; but the French general was weakened by illness, and his energies failed.  Had Lord Raglan’s counsels been followed, the future disasters of the allied armies might have been averted.  The battle was fought on the 20th of September; but the allied armies halted on the Alma until the 23d, instead of pushing on directly to Sebastopol, twenty-five miles to the south.  This long halt