I was not going to stand that. I am not the man to put
up with an insult. I remonstrated most strongly; but,
after all my remonstrances, the Admiralty persisted still
in saying that I had led them astray. What could I do?
I was not going to be driven into all this, particularly
as Sir James Graham, during the whole time I was in
the Baltic, had written to me calling upon me to beware
of stone walls—not to risk her Majesty's fleet—that
these stone walls were not to be trusted, and saying,
'When you were going to the Baltic, you were generally
accused of want of discretion, but now you have
proved yourself a consummate Commander–in–Chief.'
After that came the most insulting and degrading
letters ever addressed to an officer: and I mention this
particularly, and I hope it will go throughout the world,
and that Sir James Graham will be prevented from
ever sitting again in the administration as first
lord of the Admiralty. I state it to the public,
and I wish it to be known, that, had I followed the
advice of Sir James Graham, I should most inevitably
have left the fleet behind me in the Baltic. I will
prove it before all the world; and if Sir James Graham
has one single bit of honour in him, he will never take
his seat at the Admiralty until this matter is cleared up;
and I have no right ever to be employed again, and I
ought to be scratched off the navy list, if I am not
telling the truth. I am taking the first opportunity,
and perhaps the only one I may have, of making this
statement publicly as I now do; and I am perfectly
ready to answer for my conduct before the House of
Commons, whenever they choose to call upon me to do
so." The Earl of Cardigan's health was drunk with
"three times three." In commencing a most interesting
address, he spoke of his embarrassing position—many
things weighed heavily on his mind. He not only
recollected that he was there on account of a recent
engagement in the Crimea; but he felt that it would be
difficult to say anything about the war without touching
upon some of those subjects now occupying the public
mind and parliament. "I think you must clearly see
that it would be by no means fitting or proper for me,
in the situation which I hold—that of a high staff
position in the army—to enter into that subject." He
then gave an account of how he had been employed at
the seat of war. "It was my good fortune, in the first
instance, to be sent forward by the commander of the
forces to the outposts with the light cavalry in the
direction of the Danube. It was not well known where
the Russians were at the time when the siege of
Silistria was being carried on, and I was ordered to
ascertain the position of their army and outposts. I had
to patrol the whole of the country by detachments of
troops under my command. I received a very peremptory
order from head–quarters, by no means unsatisfactory to
me, immediately to proceed with a strong body of
cavalry to ascertain what had become of the Russian
army; for the siege of Silistria had been raised, and the
commander–in–chief was totally ignorant of whether the
Russians were about to advance towards Varna, and
attack our position, or retreat towards their own
country. You can easily imagine that this was a
somewhat anxious undertaking, and one that required
considerable caution. We might have come at
any moment upon the Russian army or its outposts.
We travelled over the country, which I may call a perfectly
wild desert, for three hundred miles. My orders
were to proceed as far as Trajan's Wall or the confines
of the Dobrutscha. We marched a hundred and twenty
miles without ever seeing a human being, nor saw a
single house in a state of repair, or inhabited, and not an
animal to be seen except those which inhabit the wildest
regions. Having ascertained that the Russian army had
retreated by Babadagh, and having given the information
to the commander–in–chief by means of my aide–
de–camp, Captain Maxse, whom I sent back, I proceeded
on a very interesting march, patrolling along the banks
of the Danube to Rutschuk and Silistria, and returned
from thence by that grand fortress Schumla, which has
been often attacked, but never taken, it being in fact
impregnable. Returning from those parts to Varna,
then came the order to proceed to the Crimea. And
here I must say that was a grand object, a noble
undertaking, and worthy of the ambition of two great and
powerful nations. Immediately after lauding in the
Crimea, the person who has now the honour of addressing
you was employed with a strong body of cavalry,
artillery, and infantry, in endeavouring to cut off some
Russian cavalry supposed to be marching to Simpheropol.
I am sorry to say I did not succeed, for I never
could find the Russians. A few days afterwards came
that glorious affair, the battle of the Alma. And here
I must say that nothing, according to my humble judgment,
could be so perfect as the preparations which were
made by a great army for that attack. There was to be
seen the advantage of the preparation that had been
made for the attack. The columns of our infantry,
which had previously marched in perfect order, instantly
deployed into three lines and advanced down the hill,
crossing and fording the river, and ascending the
opposite side marched straight into the batteries on the
heights, which appeared to be impregnable, and drove
out at the point of the bayonet the Russian army of
forty–five thousand men in the short space of two hours
and a half. The arm of the force in which I served had
not the honour of being engaged on that occasion in
anything of importance. We had the advantage of
sitting on our horses under a heavy fire for a long period,
and in that position, witnessed the glorious exploits of
our brother soldiers. Soon after this was fought the
battle of Balaklava; and, unfortunately, at the
commencement of that battle, our allies the Turks
disappeared from their position in a very short time, without
carrying on any contest with the enemy. It was late in
the afternoon when I received an order to attack the
Russian forces in the valley, consisting of a long line of
guns drawn up in the form of batteries. I received that
order and I obeyed it. I delivered that order myself to
the brigade under my command—I ordered it to march
—I ordered it to advance—I ordered it to attack the
Russians in the valley. But, my Lord, I must say this,
that I should upon that occasion—it being my duty to
give the order to the brigade, I did it, though I deeply
regretted it at the time—I am sure, I say, I should have
much more deeply regretted it afterwards, if anything
had prevented my performing the rest of my duty,
which was to share the danger with those brave men.
Whatever danger those troops incurred, I shared it with
them. We proceeded down and along a gradual descent
of more than three–quarters of a mile, with the batteries
vomiting forth shell, round and grape shot—a battery
on the right, and a battery on the left flank, and all the
intermediate ground covered with Russian riflemen; so
that when we came down within a distance of fifty yards
of the mouths of the artillery, we were truly and in fact
surrounded and encircled by a blaze of fire, in addition
to the fire from the riflemen upon our flanks. As we
ascended the hill, the oblique fire of the artillery was
brought to bear upon our rear. We had therefore a
strong fire upon our front, our flanks, and our rear. We
entered the battery—we went through the battery—the
two leading regiments cutting down a great number of
the Russian gunners. In two regiments which I had
the honour to lead, every officer, with one exception,
was either killed or wounded, or had his horse shot or
wounded under him. Those regiments proceeded,
followed by the second line, consisting of two more cavalry
regiments, which continued to perform the duty of
cutting down the Russian artillerymen. Then came the
third line, formed of another regiment, which was also
employed in carrying out the duty assigned to the
brigade. The result was that this body of about six
hundred and seventy men succeeded in passing through the
mass of Russian cavalry, which, as we have learned since,
was five thousand two hundred strong, and having
broken through that mass, they went, according to our
technical expression, 'threes about,' and retired in the
same way, doing as much execution in their course as
they possibly could. Upon returning up the hill which
we had descended in the attack, we had to run the
same gauntlet, and to incur the same risk, from the
flank fire of the tirailleurs which we had encountered in
commencing the advance. Numbers of our men were
shot down, men and horses were lulled, and many of
those brave soldiers who had lost their horses were shot
down when endeavouring to make their escape. But
what was the feeling, and what the bearing, of those