25,000 French troops: on the 6th, he reviewed the
Guards and Highland regiments under the Duke of
Cambridge, and then returned to Schumla. Thence he
appears to have started for the Danube, having reached
Oltenitza on the 10th.

The newspapers contain multitudes of details, in
the shape of private letters, &c., respecting the
condition and movements of the English and French
troops. There are graphic and interesting descriptions,
mingled with complaints of grievances. The
correspondent of the Daily News, writing from
Schumla on the 12th of June, describing his journey
from Varna to that place, says:—"We proceeded on
our road along the banks of the Dewna, and passed the
French and British camps, which extended far over the
hills. It was in the lazy hour of the noonday heat.
The little flags marking the encampment of each regiment
drooped lazily on the staffs; soldiers in undress
lay broiling in the sun; soldiers' wives, carrying heavy
jugs of water, came toiling up the hill, in attitudes of
the greatest dejection, and with words of complaint,
scarcely audible from their parched and blistered lips.
Sore was the havoc which their first days of real
campaigning had made with the proverbial neatness of the
British females. The bonnets were gone—Heaven
knows how long ago! Perhaps they got soaked in the
violent rains which drenched the camp at Scutari, and
then they were flung aside as worthless, half-rotten
things, which only heat the head, but cannot protect it
from sunshine, wind, or rain. These women, that
worked or loitered about the camp at Dewna, went with
their wretched, seedy-looking shawls drawn over their
heads, their faces were flushed with the sun, and
perhaps with strong drink, and their features wore that
settled expression of suffering, discomfort, and despair,
which at length, hardened and bronzed with depravity,
stamps the face of the confirmed camp-followers. And
what else can they become, these poor women, whom a
cruel kindness has allowed to attach themselves to the
baggage-train of the army? How they live and what
they live on is a mystery to the world, to the soldiers,
and perhaps to the women themselves, for it would
appear that after giving them a passage out, the War-
office has made no further provision for the support of
the regimental women. They really and truly wander
about, and know not where they shall lay their heads.
It appears that no tents are provided for them, and that
with the cavalry no provision is made for the transport
of the women from place to place. They are a burden
to themselves, to their husbands, and to the officers, and
in a great many instances the poor creatures are hated
and scouted by the soldiers generally. A great many of
them are even now heartily tired of the life they have
led, and the worse life which they foresee. It seems a
strange inconsistency in a manner to legalise the women
joining the expedition, to let them draw lots for the
privilege, to grant them a passage out, and then all at
once to treat them as strangers, and persons who have
no business to be where they are. I am convinced that
this matter need but be known in England, to receive
its immediate correction. Those who did so much for
the soldiers' wives that remained at home, will raise
their voices on behalf of those that have been permitted
to follow their husbands. If those women have no
business in the campaign, and most assuredly I am not
one of those who say they have, why then let them
be sent back; but do not, for God's sake, for your
mothers' and sisters' sake, who are women as well,
condemn them, your countrywomen, to a life of unspeakable
misery and vice!"

An officer of the Light Division, writing from the
camp near Varna on the 21st of June, says:—"Since
we came to this ground, we have seen nothing of the
French; with my glass I can just see some of their
tents on a very considerable height, apparently about
seven or eight miles off as the crow flies. They are
about the same distance from Varna as we, in a more
northerly direction; the head-quarters of each force is
at Varna. The Duke of Cambridge's division is now
encamped on our old ground near that town. An
officer who came in from Varna to-day told me that he
saw casks of porter going up to the Guards' camp. I
am sure the Duke will not let them be without while it
is to be got. We have not had a drop since we have
been here. What a treat it would be! and how
beneficial for the health of the men! We lost one man
from cholera three days ago—he died in seven hours,
and many others have been attending hospital yesterday
and to-day with diarrhœa, and I observe that the men
of my regiment generally are falling off in condition, and
becoming weak, which I attribute to their irregular
diet, and to their drinking the wine of the country upon
comparatively empty stomachs. Their dinner this day
consisted—as has been the case ever since our arrival
here—of meat boiled in water alone, without the
addition of rice, barley, meal, or any vegetable or
condiment whatever. No groceries have been issued for
the morning or evening meals since the 8th instant; and
yet, with all this, Sir George Brown refuses us the
porter as an unnecessary luxury. The health and
efficiency of this division will be materially affected if a
change do not speedily take place. Orders are issued
by the Commander-in-Chief, but not carried out from
the want of means. A long time ago Lord Raglan
issued orders for every regiment to have a tent for
the distribution of porter, grocery stores, &c., which
were to be obtained twice a week from the commissariat.
I dare say if the question were asked in parliament
if we got these good things, some official personage would
reply that we did, because he had seen a copy of Lord
Raglan's order, but to this day we have not had a drop
of porter, and only at rare intervals a very limited
supply of grocery, &c. The country is exceedingly
pretty, with plenty of mountain, wood, and water to
make it picturesque, but without a good house or any
mark of civilisation. Two villages are near us, but they
are nothing more than a wretched collection of hovels."

The correspondent of the Times, writing from the
same place on June 20, joins in the complaint of
insufficient supplies. "On Monday," he says, "the Rifles
had upwards of 60 men ill from diarrhœa, and the 19th
upwards of 40 men ill from the same cause. It is probable
the sickness in the other regiments was nearly in
the same proportion. Much of this increase of disease
must be attributed to the use of the red wine of the
country, sold at the canteens of the camp; but, as the
men can get nothing else, they think it is better to
drink than the water of the place. There are loud
complaints from officers and men on this score, and
especially on account of the porter and ale they were
promised not being dealt out to them, and the blame is
laid, as a matter of course, on the shoulders of Sir
George Brown. The subject is so difficult that I shall
not offer any observations on it, but merely content
myself by saying that I am certain Sir George Brown is a
man who would not deprive the soldiers of the division
which he commands so ably, and views with such just
pride, of a comfort provided for them by government, at
the expense of the people of England, without some
sound and all-powerful reasons best known to himself.
The real efficiency of this division must be the object
nearest to his heart: night and day he strives to secure
it by every means in his power, and there can be no
possible motive for his subjecting them to inconvenience
and physical suffering, amid all the evils of bad living,
poor meat, poor water, poor wine, and no vegetables.
A draught of good porter, with the thermometer at 93
or 95 degrees in the shade, would be a luxury which a
thirsty soul in London can never understand. There
must be some wholesome drink provided for the men, or
they will fall before the attacks of sickness in such a
climate, and with such feeding as they have at present;
and having expressed an opinion which is shared by the
most experienced medical men out here, I shall close the
subject, and leave the consideration of it to those most
concerned at home." The same writer describes an
inspection of the troops. "Sir George Brown and staff
were on the ground early in the day, and the Duke of
Cambridge and General Canrobert were also present,
having ridden out together from Varna. The inspection
merely consisted in a ride down the lines, and in a
march past, and as the day was fine, and the men in
excellent spirits, it passed off admirably. The Duke,
who seems in capital case, and was very simply
dressed, was very well received by the troops, who
were much pleased at his plain white cap cover;