been received, and is in course of issue; and the men
are most grateful to her Majesty's government for
having provided for them what conduces so essentially
to their comfort.

"I have the honour to transmit returns of the
casualties between the 11th and 16th."

December 23:—"A great deal of rain has fallen in the
last forty-eight hours, and the weather has again
become very inclement.

"The only occurrence in the siege operations has
been a sortie made by the enemy on both our right and
left attack, during the night of the 20th, the one being
conducted silently, the other with drums beating, and
shouting; the first being probably the real object of the
advance, as nearer to the Inkermann heights.

"Owing to the extreme darkness of the night the
enemy were enabled to come very near the right attack
without being perceived, and having made a sudden
rush upon the most forward parallel, they compelled
the men occupying it to withdraw, until reinforced by
a party under Major Welsford, of the 97th Regiment,
when it was regained possession of, and the Russians
retired, not however without occasioning some loss in
both killed, wounded, and missing, Lieutenant Byron, of
the 34th Regiment, being amongst the latter.

"On the left attack the enemy were met with great
gallantry by Lieutenant Gordon, of the 38th Regiment,
who, when supported by the covering party of the
trenches, under Lieutenant-Colonel Waddy, of the
50th, succeeded in at once driving them back. But
here, too, I regret to say, the loss was still more severe,
Major Moller, of the 50th, fell mortally wounded, and,
I am concerned to add, is since dead; and Captain
Frampton and Lieutenant Clarke, both of the 50th
Regiment, are missing. Sir Richard England speaks
in high terms of the gallantry and vigilance of these
troops, and of the distinguished conduct of Lieutenant-
Colonel Waddy.

"I enclose the return of casualties to the 20th inclusive.

"Two regiments of French cavalry, under General
D'Allonville, made a reconnaissance on the 20th,
towards the ground recently occupied by the enemy in
front of Balaklava, while the 42nd Regiment, a detachment
of the Rifle Brigade, under Colonel Cameron, 42nd
Regiment, and a battalion of Zouaves, made a
corresponding movement on the extreme right. The latter
saw only a picket of Cossacks, which retired upon their
approach; the former exchanged shots with the enemy,
and ascertained that they had scarcely any troops on
the left bank of the Tchernaya."

December 26th:—"The rain which prevailed on
Saturday was succeeded by snow on Sunday, and it was
almost the worst day I ever saw. At night it froze,
and the frost has continued ever since, without being
severe; but it has not as yet tended to dry the ground,
still in a lamentable state.

"Every effort is making that the state of the roads
will permit to bring up ammunition and the materials
of siege, and General Canrobert is in this respect
affording us every possible assistance.

"The garrison keeps up a heavy fire upon our
trenches, particularly at night, and your Grace will
regret to see by the returns which I inclose, that we
daily sustain some casualties."

December 30:—"Since I wrote on the 26th the
weather has been somewhat more propitious, but the
state of the ground is hardly more satisfactory. The
18th Regiment has arrived; and I have likewise the
honour to inform you that we are daily receiving vast
supplies of ammunition, warm clothing, and huts for
the army. The utmost efforts will be made to
disembark all those stores; but the difficulty of effecting
this desirable object is very great, owing to the very
limited extent of the harbour, its crowded state, and
the narrow entrance to the town, and want of space on
the beach, the racks on the north side rising directly
out of the water, and there being, consequently, an
accommodation but on one side. The Russians continue
to withdraw from the Valley of the Tchernaya, whilst
they have constructed defensive works on the heights
above, which would imply a difficulty of maintaining
their troops in the field. A reconnaissance was sent out
this morning, by General Canrobert towards the river,
in co-operation with a portion of Major-General Sir
Colin Campbell's force on the extreme right of
Balaklava, the result of which is not yet known."

The following dispatch from General Canrobert to the
Minister of War has been published in the Moniteur,
December 22:—

"The bad weather has continued, with rare and short
intervals of improvement. We nevertheless continue,
as much as possible, to encircle the place with our
trenches; and all the siege operations become perfect
and solid, notwithstanding the rainy season, which
renders the transport very difficult.

"The two armies mutually assist each other. I am
indebted to the English army for the transport of nearly
all the cavalry I have under my orders in the Crimea;
and on my part, I have placed at the disposal of Lord
Raglan my mules to convey his sick to Balaklava, and
teams to convey his ammunition. These exchanges
contribute to keep up excellent relations and perfect
cordiality between the two armies.

"There scarcely passes a night without some points
of our lines being attacked by sorties, which generally
cost dear to the assailants.

"Yesterday, at 2 A.M., the Russians, after having
made a sortie on the third parallel of the English, who
vigorously repulsed them, made also a demonstration
upon the centre and left of our works. Received by a
very brisk and well-directed fire, they withdrew before
our soldiers, who pursued them at the point of the
bayonet. The enemy left a great number of dead upon
the ground.

"To make the guard of our trenches more efficacious,
I have organised a corps of volunteers, whose duty it is
to keep the approaches of our works clear of the enemy
at night. I expect good results from this institution,
which completes that of the francs-tireurs, organised
since the commencement of the siege, and who do duty
by day in the trenches. They have already done much
injury to the enemy.

"As I have already informed you, our works extend
actually to the bottom of the Quarantine Bay. The
enemy's attention is drawn to the efforts we are making
on that side, and his artillery sharply disputes the
ground with us; where, as nearly everywhere, we are
obliged to hollow out the rock; but our progress is not
the less real, and we remain in possession.

"I have informed you that the enemy had withdrawn
his left, and evacuated the portions of the valley of
Balaklava, where we formerly saw them in considerable
numbers. I was desirous of ascertaining their exact
position in that direction, and the day before yesterday
I pushed forward a reconnaissance to the vicinity of the
village of Tchergoun, consisting of a brigade of cavalry
under the orders of General d'Allonville. They came
upon some hundred riflemen behind the village of
Camara, and drove them back into the ravines.
Detachments of cavalry, accompanied by their artillery and
some battalions of infantry, appeared on the flanks of the
reconnaissance, but did not attempt to interrupt its
operations, which were happily accomplished.

"At the same time, 1000 infantry, Highlanders and
Zouaves, left Balaklava, on the right of our position,
and explored the heights which extend towards the
valley of Baidar. They only met a post of Cossacks.

"To resume, I am of opinion that on the left bank of
the Tchernaya there are only pickets of the enemy
observing our positions from a distance. A movement has
evidently taken place in the Russian army, caused
probably by the landing of the Turkish troops, which
continues at Eupatoria. I shall soon know the real state of
the case.

"Although the number of the sick has somewhat
increased in consequence of the perpetual wet in which
we live, the sanitary condition of the army is satisfactory,
and its moral condition perfect.

"If the troops have suffered much from the rain, it
has not yet been cold; the snow, which for some time
has covered the tops of the mountains inland, has not
yet fallen upon the plain which we occupy, and the
thermometer has not yet in a single instance been below
zero. These general conditions are rendered better by
the care taken of our men; and, thanks to the wise foresight
of the Emperor and his government, the army