Such were the objections started by those who never believe in the possibility of success until after its achievement, and who are then sure to wonder that any doubts could ever be entertained of results, which from the first were palpable to tliein. If, as is well known to have been the case, the expedition itself was judged in this unfair spirit, it can scarcely be matter of surprise that the projected I'ailway should have been criticised in a similar strain. The then Government, however, wisely closed its ears to these lugubrious croakings and sinister predictions; and, appreciating at a glance the immense importance of the advantages which would accrue both in the comfort of the army and the more vigorous prosecution of the siege from so vast an increase in the means of transport, it closed gladly and at once with the proposals of Messrs. Peto, Betts, and Brassey. These gentlemen, who were already widely known from the gigantic scale on which they had contracted for works of a
THE EAST.
similar nature in various parts of the world, offered to construct a double line of rails from Balaklava to head-quarters, and to such other points in the front as might the most facilitate the operations of the Commissariat. In the most liberal and patriotic spirit, they declined to derive any pecuniary benefit from the transaction, demanding only to be reimbursed the expenses they should actually incur. They were to engage the whole of the staff, including a large body of the herculean labourers technically known as " Navvies," for whom they established a separate Commissariat, totally independent of the Government; and were to convey to Balaklava in ships freighted by themselves all the necessary materiel, including rails, sleepers, stationary engines, &c., &c.
How well and how rapidly they redeemed all their pledges it is unnecessary to dwell on; suffice it to saj', that, within three short months from the sailing of the first of their ships, the railway was in full operation in conveying to the front enormous quantities of clothes, provisions, and munitions of war. It has been frequently supposed that the trucks were drawn by locomotive engines, but this is an error; the great steepness of the gradients not rendering this mode of traction desirable. At first the huge cart-horses, which may be seen similarly employed in England on railways in the course of construction, were alone used to drag the trains up — but it was soon found from experience that mules were easily taught the peculiar kind of action necessary to clear the sleepers and to get the train into motion, and they were consequently very extensively used in the service. Where the incline was beyond the powers of these animals, stationary engines, fitted with a sort of endless rope, supplied their place. In returning, the trucks descended merely propelled by their own momentum, and the peculiar rapid rattle of the wheels thus induced used to recall irresistibly the memory of home, and of scenes to which sounds like these were a familiar accompaniment.
The point of view selected by - the artist is where the railway leaves the town of Balaklava, and passes the thickly-crowded harbour. The turbaned figures in the foreground to the left of the picture are Croats; those on the right are of the native Tartar population.
PLATE XXIX.
THE NEW WORKS AT THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL ON THE
RIGHT ATTACK, From the Mortar Battery on the Right of Gordon's Battery.
In the foreground of this picture are seen a 13-inch and a 10-inch mortar; the former is just being "laid" for throwing a shell into the enemy's defences. Two artillerymen are carrying the ponderous missile to its destination, and further to the left another is engaged in filling a shell to be ready for the next discharge.
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IX.
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■ A CHRISTMAS DINNER ON THE HEIGHTS BEFORE SEIiASTOPOL. 155
The ground is strewed with carcasses, or empty shells, with ammunition barrels, and with the various implements employed in loading these vast engines of destruction.