an officer of "his staff wrote : " I fear it has affected Lord Raglan's health, he looks far from well, and has grown very much aged latterly." He wrote to tell Pelissier he was unwell, "but nothing serious." On the 26th he spent the morning in his correspondence, which he always conducted most industriously ; but when he concluded it that day, he had written his last letter. Cholera, not in its cruel or violent form, declared itself ; he sank gradually away, and, on the 28th, died peacefully in the presence of his military household. Next day his colleagues came to take a farewell look of him, when the stern Peliss^Jf, who had always evinced a great regard and even affection for his English colleague, showed a new side of his character. " General Pelissier," says an officer who was present, " stood by the bedside for upwards of an hour, crying like a child." And the tribute he paid him in a general order was highly appreciated in all the camps, and is so evidently genuine in expression, that it may well serve to show in what estimation the deceased commander was held by his colleagues.
"ARMY OF THE EAST, No. 15, GENERAL ORDER.
"Death has suddenly taken away, while in full exercise of his command, the Field-Marshal Lord Raglan, and has plunged the British in mourning.
" We all share the sorrow of our brave allies. Those who knew Lord Raglan, who know the history of his
266 His Funeral.
life, so pure, so noble, so replete with service rendered to his country, those who witnessed his fearless demeanour at the Alma and Inkerman, who recall the calm and stoic greatness of his character throughout this rude and memorable campaign, every generous heart, indeed, will deplore the loss of such a man. The sentiments here expressed by the General-in-Chief are those of the whole Army. He has himself been cruelly struck by this unlooked-for blow.
" The public grief only increases his sorrow at being for ever separated from a companion-in-arms whose genial spirit he loved, whose virtues he admired, and from whom he has always received the most loyal and hearty co-operation.
"A. PELISSIER,
Commander-in- Chief. " HEADQUARTERS, BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, igthjune 1855."
The funeral was a very striking spectacle. Covered with a white flag, showing the red cross of St George, and borne on a gun carriage, the coffin journeyed slowly, from the farmhouse which had been the English headquarters, across the plains. The generals and staffs of the four Armies, English, French, Turkish, and Sardinian accompanied it, as it moved between saluting batteries and lines of troops extending to Kazatch Bay, the place of embarkation. Crowds of boats, with naval officers, there awaited its transfer to the Caradoc, the steamer in which Lord Raglan had come from England,
Sufferings of the Defenders. 267
and which was now to take home his remains. His destined successsor, General Simpson, was already on the spot, and at once assumed the command of the army.
On the loth July Admiral Nakimoff, who had commanded the Russian Squadron at Sinope, and had been one of the foremost chiefs of the defence, was mortally wounded in the Malakoff. He was buried, with imposing ceremonies, on the City heights, near the tombs of his colleagues, Admirals Lazareff, Korniloff, and Istomine, all slain in defending the fortress.