“I saw the fight at Tracktir Bridge,
The Russians pouring down the ridge,
And also o’er Tchernaya’s plain,
Whence many ne’er got back again;
Whilst to that fight Sardinia came,
Her young sword flashed and won a name,
And France came, too, inured to war,
And slew the soldiers of the Czar.
They fought like heroes, great and small,
But I have seen what crowns it all,
The taking of Sebastopol.
For I was there; yes, I was there,
At taking of Sebastopol.
“I saw the great Pellissier –
The marshal whom the French obey –
And Bosquet, too, a mighty name,
Borne on the role of deathless fame
Before whose firm, resistless power
Fell Malakoff’s proud threatening tower
And when I saw that fortress fall,
Then fell the doom’d Sebastopol.
They fought like heroes, great and small,
But I have seen what crowns it all,
The taking of Sebastopol.
For I was there; yes, I was there,
At taking of Sebastopol.
“Now that Sebastopol is won,
This soldier’s song is well nigh done;
But still I pause to shed a tear
O’er many a lifeless warrior bier;
Nor doth my sorrow cease to flow
E’en over that of St. Arnaud;
While heaves the heart of bitter sighs
Where the devoted Raglan dies.
For they were valiant warriors all
Though seeing not the greatest fall
When taken was Sebastopol.
For I was there; yes, I was there,
At taking of Sebastopol.”
DIARY OF GENERAL EVENTS.
SEPTEMBER 25.
Old Salis is visited by two frigates of the Baltic fleet, by which ten Russian ships are burnt.
SEPTEMBER 28.
Riga is bombarded by four liners, one frigate, and three corvettes, for a short time, but without any important result. Subsequently, the same force bombards Bullen, with greater effect.
OCTOBER 2.
Russian Vessels, to the number of eleven have been captured at Biornabord, in the Gulf of Bothnia, by a French Corvette, and two English steamers. The prizes are of the aggregate burden of 2,600 tons.
Russian Losses, as reported in the Invalide Russe, of this date, during the final attack of the alljes on Sebastopol, and the twenty days preceding it, amount to not less than 50,000 men, killed and wounded.
OCTOBER 4.
Seven Fires occur in the Metropolis, in one night, which occasions the loss of an immense amount of property. .
The failure of De Lisle & Co., a London Firm of long standing and good repute, whose liabilities are said to be 300,000l., creates an immense sensation in the City.
Two accidents, occur in London, occasioning the death of Henry Dunbar and James Elliott, the former falling from a window, and the latter from a cart. These fatalities, fires, and failures point to the date as one of London’s dark days.
OCTOBER 8.
Odessa is menaced by an allied squadron, consisting of 9 line-of-battle ships, 23 steamers, 9 gun-boats, and 3 floating batteries.
A Boiler explosion occurs at Newcastle-on-tyne, by which five men and two boys are killed. and several other persons injured.
Sardinian Soldiers, to the number of about 3000 embark at-Genoa, in the Hymalaya(sic), to reinforce the Crimean army.
