The closing days of April were chiefly remarkable for the gradual dying out of the second bombardment, for another sharp affair between the French and Russians in front of the Bastion du Mat, and for a review of the French troops on an extended scale held by General Canrobert, when he took occasion to impress in a very emphatic manner upon his officers the invincible resolution on the part of France and England to have Sebastopol sooner or later, and at whatever cost. On the 25th some curiosity and interest were excited in the camp by the arrival of Lord Stratford de Redclif?e, the English Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, who, with his family, remained for more than a week at the theatre of operations.
On the night of the 1st of May, the French attacked a counter-guard which the Russians had established in front of the Central Bastion, in which they were preparing to place guns, and in which they had already mounted nine hand mortars or cohorns, which caused considerable annoyance to our Allies. At ten o'clock at night, by the light of a bright moon, the French troops, formed into two columns of attack, under the orders of Generals Bazaine and De la Motterouge, issued from their parallels, rushed with irresistible vehemence and without firing a single shot on the right and front of the work, and attacked its defenders with the bayonet. The Russians
THE EAST.
soon brought a heavy fire of musketry and artillery to bear on the assailants, and a severe and protracted conflict ensued, ending by the French, after repeated charges with the bayonet, succeeding in driving the enemy from every part of the work, in which they captured eight of the cohorns. The engineers, ever I'eady to turn to the best account the successes of their comrades, at once set to work, turned the i^arapets, and amidst a heavy fire from the Russian batteries firmly established themselves in the work, which they connected without loss of time with the French parallel in its rear. At four o'clock on the following afternoon the Russians attempted to retake this outwork, but wei-e repulsed in a vigorous sortie which they made with this object, and suffered a severe loss from some guns which were brought to bear on them by the French, whose conduct in both affairs was exceedingly brilliant. Their casualties were heavy, but still could not have nearly equalled those inflicted on the Russians. This dashing affair advanced the French about 150 yards nearer to the Central Bastion.
On the 3rd of May, a secret expedition, which had for some days been in preparation, and whose destination was pretty generally known to be the Straits of Kertch, sailed from Balaklava and Kamiesch. It was composed of about forty-eight vessels, containing 8,000 French, 4,000 English, eighteen guns, and the proper complement of land transport and commissariat. It was admirably planned, equipped, and organised; the troops were in the highest spirits and the most splendid condition, and delighted with the novelty of the service; the Allied commanders were sanguine of success — all circumstances of time and place and weather seemed to combine in its favour, and yet to the astonishment and disgust of those who had gone and those who had remained behind, in a few days a report, at first indignantly repudiated, was at length undeniably confirmed by the return of the expeditionary forces. On the 6th of May they had reached the appointed rendezvous, and everything was in readiness for the expected disembarkation, when a French steamer arrived at full speed with positive orders from General Canrobert that the expedition was to return at once to Kamiesch.
It is impossible to describe the disappointment and annoyance of the Allied Commanders; one of them, it is asserted, who on more than one occasion has emulated the conduct of Nelson, cited as a precedent the course taken by him at the battle of Copenhagen, and proposed to ignore the obnoxious orders altogether. This suggestion, however, if it ever was made, was overruled by the stricter sense of discipline in his colleague, and the expedition returned. The extraordinary resolution thus adopted by the French Commander-in-Chief, was attributed to his having received a telegraphic message from the Empei-or directing him to concentrate his troops, and to despatch all the transports at his disposal to the Bosphorus, to convey the o Iin <
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