Bay, has been severely visited; and so has a part of the
Cavalry Division. In the general hospital, the deaths
have lately much decreased; but a fearful proportion of
those attacked by cholera has been conveyed to the
grave. Strange to say, patients have for the most part
struggled through the first stage, and died from the
fever."

At a late date (the 19th of August) the correspondent
of the Times writes thus. "So completely
exhausted on last Thursday was the brigade of Guards,
these 3000 of the flower of England, that they had to
make two marches in order to get over the distance
from Aladyn to Varna, which is not more than ten
miles. But that is not all; their packs were carried for
them. Just think of this, good people of England, who
are sitting anxiously in your homes, day after day,
expecting every morning to gladden your eyes with the
sight of the announcement, in large type, of 'Fall of
Sebastopol,' your Guards, your corps d'élite, the pride
of your hearts, the delight of your eyes—these Anakim,
whose stature, strength, and massive bulk you exhibit
to kingly visitors as no inapt symbols of your nature—
have been so reduced by sickness, disease, and a depressing
climate, that it was judged inexpedient to allow
them to carry their own packs, or to permit them to
march more than five miles a day, even though these
packs were carried for them! Think of this, and then
judge whether these men are fit in their present state
to go to Sebastopol, or to attempt any great operation of
war. The Highland brigade is in better condition; but
even the three noble regiments which compose it are far
from being in good health or in the spirits in which they
set out for Varna. The Duke's division has lost 160
men; of these nearly 100 belong to the Guards. In
the brigade of Guards there were before the march
to Varna upwards of 600 men sick. The Light Division
has lost 110 or 112 men. Sir de L. Evans has lost 100
men or thereabouts. The little cavalry force has been
sadly reduced by death; and the Third (Sir R.
England's) Division, which has been encamped to the
north-west of Varna, close outside the town, has lost
upwards of 100 men also; the fiftieth Regiment, who
were much worked, being particularly cut up. The
Ambulance Corps has been completely crippled by
the death of the drivers and men belonging to it, and
the medical officers have been called upon to make a
special report on the mortality among them."

Previous to the embarkation, the health of the
troops had much improved, but many British officers
had died of fever and cholera. The Honourable Colonel
Boyle, of the Coldstream Guards, and Member for
Frome, died of fever on the 3rd; and on the same day
Captain Longmore of the Eighth Hussars, and
Lieutenant A. Saltmarshe, of the Eleventh Hussars, died of
cholera. Major Mackay of the Eighty-eighth, died
on the march of his regiment from Aladyn to Varna.
Beloved by the men, they bore his body with them so
that it might be decently buried. The body of Colonel
Boyle was committed to the sea, by direction of his
relative Admiral Dundas.

Lamentable accounts are given of the ravages of
disease on board the combined fleet in the Baltschik
Bay. A correspondent of the Times, writing on the
19th of August, states that the English squadron, fearing
the approach of cholera, sailed on a cruise on the
12th, but that, nevertheless, the disease broke out
simultaneously in several ships. "In twenty hours
fifty men died in the Britannia, and thirty in the next
twenty hours. Those who have only witnessed the
effects of this fatal pest on land can hardly imagine
the additional horror which accompanies its progress
at sea. Let them imagine a thousand men narrowly caged
in a floating box: a heavy sea obliges them to close all
the ports; so that, notwithstanding all the appliances
of air-sails, &c, the air at night becomes abominably
tainted below. Fifty or sixty robust men, in the prime
of life, are suddenly, almost in an instant, struck with
death-agony; raving, perhaps, or convulsed, in the
midst of this dense mass of sleepers. Who can tell the
horror of such a scene? It was enough to quell the
bravest spirit, or to destroy the balance of even a well-
poised brain. But in each of the ships both men and
officers did their duty most nobly in these trying hours.
The generous self-devotion of the men to their dying
comrades, was to the last degree touching. They nursed
them, cheered them, and waited on them indefatigably,
and with all the gentleness and tact of women; while
the officers divided themselves into watches, and
generally superintended and aided the doctors in their
arduous duties. No man shrank from the disagreeable,
but manfully went through his dreadful duty. Some
of the men nursed three sets of sick, and at length sank
themselves. As for the poor sailmakers—whose trying
task it was to sew up the bodies in hammocks hour after
hour, without rest—some died, and others were fairly
worn out. Every man and officer was so weakened and
debilitated that the ordinary duties of working the sails
of these ponderous ships could scarcely be carried
on..... The Britannia has suffered most (about 100);
which is singular, as she has been most remarkably
healthy hitherto during her entire commission. Furious
(about 17), Albion (50), and Trafalgar (35), are among
the next sufferers. All the ships which were lying at
Besika Bay have suffered, while those which have
joined since have comparatively escaped. However,
things are evidently steadily mending, and fortunately
there are men here ready to fill up the gaps. At this
instant we have sound ships enough to perform any
duties required of them, and to give the 'Muscov' a
very handsome thrashing should he venture out of his
kennel. The Agamemnon, Bellerophon, Sanspareil,
and Leander, now at Varna, have almost escaped all
sickness. Courage! let us hope that the worst is passed,
and that we shall soon look back upon this as a terrible
dream." The French loss has been far more severe
than the English. It is stated that 200 men had died
in the Ville de Paris, and 200 in the Montebello.

A most destructive fire broke out at Varna on the
10th of August. Soon after sunset, a column of black
smoke was seen rising above the town near to the French
commissariat stores; and shortly after there arose the
shrieking cries of the Turkish fire-alarm, the deep beat
of the muffled drums from the French quarters, the
shrill whistle of the boatswain from the ships in the
harbour, and the bugle from the camps outside the town.
Varna is a town mostly built of wood; the broadest
street no broader than Shoe Lane in London before it
was improved, and the other streets mere lanes and
alleys of the smallest dimensions. The combustible
nature of the town was increased a thousand times by
the vast military stores—the oil, the spirits, the pitch,
and tar—packed away in the houses. It is supposed
that the fire originated in a Greek conspiracy; it is
already called "the gunpowder plot" of Varna. Everybody
seems to have calculated on an explosion; many
of the inhabitants fled, and some soldiers also—but
these were few. The troops in general, the Engineers
especially, and the ships' crews, acting under General
Tylden of the Engineers, exerted themselves to the
utmost to save the French powder-magazine, which was
in greatest danger. The walls grew so hot that they
could not be touched by the hand; General Tylden and
Corporal Grieg stuck to their post until the heat singed
their hair. But the courage and labour of the men at
length saved the magazine, and of course the town.
Many houses were destroyed, several canteens, and a
great quantity of stores. Perhaps the most serious loss,
as affecting the war, was that of the fascines constructed
by the French for the expedition to the Crimea.

The correspondent of the Times gives a most
unfavourable description of the Turkish irregular troops,
the Bashi-Bazouks. "The Bashi-Bazouks (he says)
may be taken as completely hors de combat. Yusuf had
failed in drilling those disorderly scum into soldiers.
Colonel Beatson was not more successful. The rascals
ran whenever they could, and carried with them all
they could lay their hands on. Captain Green has
returned to Varna, and gives striking anecdotes of his
men, their morals and demeanour. The French Bashis
in an encounter with some Cossacks near Kostendje,
about a fortnight ago, left their Colonel (Dupreuil) to
fight almost single-handed, and he received no less than
seven lance thrusts before they came to the front to