The proceedings were inaugurated by the delivery by the Ambassador of a dignified and eloquent address, in which, after a sketch of the character and history of the Most Honourable Order, he remarked upon the unprecedented nature of the investiture, occurring, as it did, almost on the ground c c
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where the services had heen rendered and the exploits achieved, for which the honour was conferred, and nearly under fire of the enemy's guns. Sir Colin Campbell and Sir Edmund Lyons each spoke a few words in reply. The several knights were then respectively invested with the insignia of their class; the troops presented arms; the band played " God save the Queen "; the artillery fired a royal salute; and the assembled force, amounting to about 1,000 men, filed ofif.
The day was singularly propitious; and the brilliant spectacle, which derived a deep significance from the circumstances referred to by Lord Stratford, and which was calculated to make a strong impression on the spectators no less than on the actors in the scene, passed off with all jjossible kiat.
PLATE LXIV.
THE NOETH SIDE OF THE HAEBOUE OF SEBASTOPOL. From the Top of the Harbour, 22nd June, 1855.
This view is taken from a spur of one of the hills in rear of the field of Inkermann, where the French have a picquet posted; and it may be considered as a pendant to the one which shows the head of the harbour. On the crest of the hill on this side of the bay are the embrasures of some of the French batteries; at its base runs the Inkermann Eoad, crossing at this point the Aqueduct, which, at the period when the drawing was made, had been so long dry that its channel was choked up with weeds, grass, and bushes. In the foreground two or three French riflemen are crouching behind some loose fragments of rock, anxiously watching for the chance of a shot at any unwary Eussian who may show himself within range. Not a ripple disturbs the calm surface of the water on this bright summer's day, and its clear expanse would be unbroken, but that here and there portions of the wrecks of sunken ships emerge into sight. The opposite shore from Fort Constantine at the entrance to the harbour to the work on the right, where the Inkermann West Lighthouse formerly stood, bristles with batteries constructed on an enormous scale and finished with the most elaborate care. These vast preparations for defence were carried on pari passu with those on the South Side, and prove how long the Eussians must have contemplated the probability of their being compelled to retreat across the harbour.
There is very little information as to the precise names of these different batteries, and, so unimportant is the role to which the course of events has reduced them, that the deficiency will scarcely be regretted. Since the Allies occupied the South Side, even those forts from which it was supposed to be commanded have been utterly impotent for mischief, and the casualties caused by them have been absurdly incommensurate with the vast expenditure of ammunition wasted in their abortive fire. Amongst them, however, are two which must not be omitted to be noticed. These are the Wasp and Telegraph o o
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batteries, which caused so much annoyance to the fleets in their attack on the sea-ward forts on the 17th October, 1854. They are the dark line which will be perceived against the sea a little above Fort Constantine.
The three Capes at the upper end of the harbour are of limestone, of such a brilliant whiteness as to be dazzling and painful to the eye.
PLATE Lxr. DITCH OF THE BASTION DU MAT.