FOREIGN ENLISTMENT-SARDINIAN CONTINGENT. of his instructions. He afterwards went to the camp, where he introduced a new cooking stove, by which rations for 300 men could be prepared at one time, and hot meals could be served in the trenches, the fire by which the stove was heated being completely concealed. The allied armies then, were preparing for a protracted siege, or rather they hoped by the concentration of their efforts, and by the large accession of men and the material of war before Sebastopol, to force the Russians to surrender. Our intrenchments, and still more those of the French, were pushed forward towards the enemy's works, and the entire position was developed into a form of attack. The month of May opened with beautiful weather, and the scene was a remarkable one. Again quoting the description in a letter from the camp: "A gentle breeze fanned the fluttering canvas of the wide-spread streets of tents, here pitched on swelling mounds covered with fresh grass, there sunk in valleys of black mould, trodden up by innumerable feet and hoofs, and scattered broadcast over the vast plateau of the Chersonese;-it is enough to make one credulous of peace, and to listen to the pleasant whispers of home, notwithstanding the rude interruption of the cannon before Sebastopol. This bright sun, however, develops fever and malaria. The reeking earth, saturated with dew and rain, pours forth poisonous vapours, and the sad rows of mounds covered with long dank grass, which rise in all directions above the soil, impregnate the air with disease. As the atmosphere is purged of clouds and vapour the reports of the cannon and of the rifles become more distinct. The white houses, green roofs, and the domes and cupolas of Sebastopol stand out with tantalizing distinctness against the sky, and the ruined suburbs and masses of rubbish inside the Russian batteries seem almost incorporated with the French intrenchments. The French on the left are indeed too near the enemy's lines; they are exposed to constant annoyance and loss by frequent volleys of hand-grenades and cohorns, and their works are interrupted by little sorties of a few yards-out and back again. On the extreme right, however, the English works towards the Round Tower are 131 in advance of the French works towards the The mention of the race-course at once sug gests that the entourage had changed indeed. At Karain, not far distant, the "spring meeting" of the camp attested that the national sport of the English had been observed even under these apparently unpropitious conditions. The spirits of the men as well as those of the officers had recovered, the camp had been victualled, and supplies were constantly arriving not only of food, but of forage for the horses, most of which were now in good condition, though it may be easily supposed that "the field" upon the race-course was of rather a mixed character, to say nothing of the steeds ridden by some of the spectators. On the 1st of May the advance of the position of the allies had enabled them to make a sharp and sudden attack by which they took possession of the whole of the Russian riflepits and captured 200 prisoners. The investment of Sebastopol had begun in earnest. The enlistment bounty had been raised to £8 per man in the previous year, and recruiting had been going on briskly in Scotland, and especially in Glasgow, whence a large body of fine young men had entered the service. It appeared from the returns that in Scotland recruiting had been going on at the rate of above 6000 per annum, and it was computed that should the same rate be maintained throughout the kingdom a total of upwards of 60,000 would be added to her majesty's forces. But in addition to the home recruiting the Foreign Enlistment Act had resulted in the engagement of a foreign legion enlisted in British America-a measure which caused considerable suspicion and ill feeling on the part of the government of the United States. A large number of Swiss volunteers were recruited, and also some Poles and Germans, who were quartered and disciplined at Heligoland, not altogether to the satisfaction of some Prussian politicians. It was at this time that the camp at Aldershott was formed; and although so many troops were in the Crimea, it was estimated that about 9000 men occupied the ground there on the occasion of the camp being opened by her majesty and Prince Albert, when battalions were brought from all parts of the kingdom, including about 1100 cavalry, 2500 guards and infantry of the line, and about 4800 militia; which, added to 500 artillery and 150 sappers and miners, constitute a force exceeding 9000 men. These were to be relieved occasionally until the whole force quartered in England had received a month's instruction in field evolutions. The foreign enlistment yielded after all but a comparatively small force for actual service in the Crimea. Of far greater importanceand indeed of very considerable importance both as regarded the war itself and much that was to follow in European politics-was the co-operation of the Sardinian contingent, which became one of the allied forces, and occupied a prominent position in the later operations of the war. The Sardinian prime minister, Count Cavour, probably the most astute statesman in Europe, was ready at once to enter into the proposed alliance. It has been said that the suggestion was first made by his niece, a quick-witted young lady, who foresaw the enormous advantage to the Piedmontese claim, in the coming condition of Italian affairs, if Sardinia were ranged with two great powers of Europe in a struggle which must eventually lead to a conference where Austria and Prussia would take a place, but not as having joined in armed opposition to Russia. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that Count Cavour would not have been slow to perceive the importance of bringing Sardinia to the front under the auspices of England and France. Comparatively few people were aware of the subtle and yet often bold (some said unscrupulous) manner in which Cavour often strove to accomplish the one great end which he had in view - the union and independence of the Italian states. For this object he made use of the revolutionary party so far as it suited his purpose, and events were favourable to the result which ensued, when, in 1860, after Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and the Papal Legations had united themselves to Piedmont, the successes of Garibaldi left the rest of Italy free to found a cohesive kingdom under the sovereign of Sardinia. But, as we shall see, in 1860 the cession of Savoy and Nice, as the price paid to France for helping Italy against Austria, CAVOUR AND THE DEMOCRATS-MAZZINI'S TEACHING. roused amongst the patriotic party an intense feeling against Cavour, who, by the by, was himself a Savoyard by descent. Camillo di Cavour was the younger son of an old family of Savoy, but was born in Turin, where he entered the military academy, obtained the rank of lieutenant of engineers, and was afterwards appointed one of the royal pages. He resigned this position that he might travel, and especially that he might visit England. With the benefits of English institutions, and especially with that of constitutional government, he was permanently impressed, and he did not stop at merely theoretical statecraft. Free-trade at once found in him an earnest advocate, and, being an advanced political economist, he was a reformer. It was not surprising, therefore, that on his return to Turin he should have taken part in the disturbances which compelled the King, Charles Albert, to grant the constitution of 1848. This of course connected Cavour with the reforming and patriotic party of Italy, but he was not for a republican but for a monarchical Italy, with a constitution like that of England. On the accession of Victor Emmanuel in 1849, after the disaster of his father at the battle of Novara, when the throne was surrounded with difficulties, and the financial condition of the country was most disheartening, Cavour began to take an active part in regular politics, and in 1850 was nominated minister of agriculture, commerce, marine, and finance. In 1852 he had resigned and again visited England. On his return the king sent for him to form a cabinet, and from that time he was foremost in guiding the political career of Italy until he died in 1861, amidst the general and deeply-felt sorrow of the nation. majority of his countrymen said he had saved and consolidated the state, while a number of those who were still in favour of a republic, declared that he had betrayed Italy and the cause for which her patriotic sons had fought and died. He was accused, and not without foundation, with alternately encouraging and suppressing the revolutionists for his own purposes and for the erection of a constitutional monarchy on behalf of Victor Emmanuel. The truth was that Ca The 133 vour was a consummate politician. It was impossible that he could co-operate with the republicans, and especially with a man so severely truthful and uncompromising as Mazzini. Mazzini stood on a pinnacle above most of his fellow "patriots." They could not follow him. It was scarcely likely that one who pursued statecraft, even with the best intentions and the highest principles, could permit a theoretical democracy to lead, even though he may have understood and secretly sympathized with aspirations like those of Mazzini. Those aspirations were thus expressed by the Italian patriot, "We desire that man may be enabled to develop himself in the plenitude of all his faculties, moral, intellectual, and physical; but we know that it can only be by placing before him for his object, as Carlyle says, not the highest happiness, but the highest nobleness possible; by elevating in him the idea of the dignity and of the mission of humanity; by rekindling in him, through faith and the example of devotion, the expiring flame of self-sacrifice; by teaching him to appreciate and to love more and more the joint life of all his brothers in God-that we can approach more nearly to that condition. Remove this, or but make it subordinate in your plan, and you will do nothing. You may preach the well-being of all, but you will succeed only in creating egotists, who, as soon as they shall, by chance or by a greater aptitude in the chase, have snatched their quantum of happiness, will intrench themselves as in a fortress, ready to fire upon all those who would traverse the same path by which they arrived. You may achieve commercial liberty — the liberty of competition-but you will not prevent the crushing of the weak by the strong, of the labourer by the capitalist. You may found phalansteries; they may endure while they exist merely as model systems, and amongst you, whose inspirations unceasingly protest without your knowing against the theory; but they will fall the moment you seek to multiply them. You may glut your man with the good things of the earth-you may open to him every possible way of finding a recompense for his labour in the love of women; he will desire the good things due to his neighbour's share, and the woman who has vowed her love to another. You have spoken to him of the legitimacy of his instincts; and thither his instincts, excited by some inappreciable influence which your organization has been unable to see and prevent, compel him. You have told him to enjoy; you cannot now say to him, Thou shalt enjoy in such and such a manner; he chooses to enjoy after his own fashion-to satisfy his appetite, which is, in fact, his whole being. This for the many; the few chosen souls gifted with an exceptional power of love and sorrow will curse your happiness-which here below is but a bitter irony to every nature that aspires; they will go far from you into the solitude of concealment, to utter the long cry of suffering which burst from Byron at the beginning of our calculating and sceptical century, and which so few men have yet understood."1 What were political manœuvre and clever practical worldly statesmanship in face of such declarations as these? Cavour was, so to speak, only at the beginning of those achievements which in a short career made his name famous in Europe, and almost coupled it with those of the great Italian statesmen of former times. He was a man eminently capable of seizing an opportunity, and the proposal for Sardinia to become an ally of France and England in the Crimea was one of which he promptly availed himself. Sardinia thereby became a party to the treaty of April, 1854. "An alliance between England and Sardinia," thus wrote the English foreign minister to Sir James Hudson, the English ambassador at Turin, "will necessarily be for the essential advantage of both states. It will augment our resources by the addition of an admirable military force, and will assign to Sardinia that position amongst the peoples of Europe to which the king, the parliament, and the nation of that country have acquired an incontrovertible right. . . . You may assure Count Cavour that, on our side, this alliance is hailed with enthusiasm in all the towns, great and small, and is popular to a degree not easy to 1 Thoughts upon Democracy in Europe. conceive. Throughout the whole of England, which, in other instances, is wont to take no special interest in the affairs of foreign states, such great admiration prevails of the wisdom and courage which Sardinia has displayed in situations of difficulty, and such strong sympathy with the successful endeavours of that country to consolidate its reasonable liberty, that every measure directed towards a more intimate connection between us and Sardinia is received here with a feeling bordering on enthusiasm." In December, 1854, Count Cavour had entered into official negotiations with the cabinets of London and Paris, but not until he had previously ascertained the sentiments of the Sardinian army. All the superior officers assured the premier that the army was eager to take its place by the side of the veterans of England and France; but upon this condition, that the Sardinian auxiliary corps should be led by a commander belonging to their own nation, and should take part in the conflict as the allies, and not as the mercenaries, of the western powers. With this understanding the treaty of alliance between Piedmont on the one part and France and England on the other, was concluded on the 26th of January, 1855. Piedmont contributed a contingent of 15,000 men, which, however, in the course of the war, was increased to 25,000 men under the command of General Lamarmora. By a separate article England and France agreed to guarantee the integrity of the king's dominions. England undertook the charges of transporting the troops to and from the Crimea, and, under the treaty, a recommendation was to be made to parliament to advance a million sterling to the King of Sardinia at 4 per cent. When the conclusion of the treaty became known so great was the enthusiasm diffused throughout the Sardinian army, which was burning to wipe away the disgrace of Novara, that hundreds of officers and subalterns, who were left out when the expeditionary corps was formed, petitioned the war minister to be allowed to take part in the campaign as common soldiers. The treaty was not so well received in the Italian parliament. The opposition; which in this important question was THE SARDINIAN CONTINGENT-PELISSIER. loudly seconded within the ranks of the ministerial majority itself, not only gave expression to serious political apprehensions, but also dislike of the treaty on account of the financial sacrifices and the disturbance of commerce involved in it. The alliance found warm and eloquent apologists in the persons of Luigi Torelli, Cesare Correnti, Giacomo Durando, Dr. Luigi Farini, and Antonia Gallenga, all members of the Chamber of Deputies. Count Cavour himself, in a speech of five hours, illustrated the question in all its aspects, with a degree of energy and courage which decided the hesitating opinion of parliament and people in favour of the treaty. The kind of national significance which he attached to the alliance may be gathered from the conclusion of his speech:-"The experience of late years and of bygone centuries has shown that Italy has never reaped any advantage from the conspiracies and revolutions with which she has been but too often visited. On the contrary they have always proved most unfortunate for us as a nation. They have been injurious, not only because they have entailed ruin upon countless families and countless individuals, and have furnished the excuse and opportunity for still worse oppressions, but also because, by their incessant repetition, they have robbed us of the respect, and to a certain extent of the sympathy, which the nations of Europe otherwise entertained for Italy. . . . The most indispensable condition of a better future for Italy consists, as I think, in raising the reputation of our country, and in endeavouring to secure the fair recognition of our good qualities by the governments and subjects of every nation. And for the attainment of this end two things are pre-eminently necessary. We must, in the first place, prove to Europe that Italy possesses a sufficiency of good sense to govern herself without foreign aid; that she is of age, and quite in a position to appropriate the freest forms of government under which the most civilized nations live and flourish. The second thing is to show that our worth as soldiers is still, at this day, the same which made the arms of our fathers respected and feared. As regards the former point we have now for seven years past given 135 a glorious demonstration to foreigners, how moderately, prudently, and loyally Italians can use their liberties. We have now the opportunity of rendering our country another, and perhaps a still greater service, viz., that of proving that our soldiers can fight as well on fields of glory as the bravest warriors; and I am convinced that the laurels which our army is about to win in the distant East will be more influential on the future destinies of Italy than all the declamations and all the books with which ardent and inexperienced patriots have endeavoured to bring about its regeneration." By the 18th of May upwards of 10,000 of the Sardinian army had landed in the Crimea under the command of General Lamarmora, who had married an English lady, Miss Bertie Matthew. The Sardinians were a light, active, and thoroughly military-looking body of men. They took their own ambulances, foragecarts, commissariat officers, and all other military equipments, and fetched their own rations, which were supplied to them by the English. Their cavalry were compact, light men, mounted on good and strong horses. Their infantry, composed of strong and serviceablelooking men, showed an amount of discipline highly satisfactory; but, above all, the most picturesque in dress and manner were their riflemen-dressed in green, with a kind of Swiss hat similar in shape to an ordinary stiff felt hat, and ornamented with a large bunch of green feathers. It was placed on the head in a most jaunty style. Their arms were Minié-rifles with 800 yards' range, and with sword-bayonets; and they were found to be clever shots. They marched at a remarkable pace, amounting almost to a trot, and looked very hardy; they all, upon landing, marched away, and camped in different places. They were cheered most lustily by our soldiers, who had a singular pleasure in welcoming them as brothers in arms to the Crimea and its sufferings; and this was responded to by both officers and men most cordially. General Canrobert, who had been wounded, and suffered much in the campaign, had resigned the command of the French army to General Pelissier, general of the First Corps |