which he escaped by leaping his horse from | defence of Sebastopol and the other emera bastion of the citadel into the town gencies which arose. But his uneasiness below. and depression continued to increase, and This defeat of his troops by the Turks on the 1st of March, soon after hearing of seems to have been the last drop which the unsuccessful attack of the Russians made the Czar's cup of anxiety and disap-upon the Turks at Eupatoria, he became pointment run over. He had for some time been unwell, though no danger was apprehended. In spite of the rigours of the winter, which was almost insupportable at St. Petersburg, he persisted in reviewing his troops, going on the ice to inspect the fortifications of Cronstadt, and exerting himself in every way to the utmost in developing the means of carrying on the war. The influenza had for some weeks been raging with fatal effect at St. Petersburg, and on the 14th of February the Czar was attacked by the prevailing epidemic. His physicians wished him to abandon his out-of-door labours, but to all their remonstrances he merely replied that he had something else to do than to take care of himself. He was persuaded, however, to keep his bed on the 19th, but his state grew daily worse; he no longer slept, his cough was incessant, though still repose was intolerable to him. A review of a corps of infantry of the Guard, which was about to proceed to Lithuania, had for some time been announced; in spite of the intense frost, he persisted in his intention of holding the review on the 22nd. Sire,' said one of his physicians, 'there is not in the whole army a military surgeon who would permit a common soldier to quit his hospital in the state in which you are.' "Tis well, gentlemen,' answered the Emperor; 'you have done your duty, now I am going to do mine,' and upon this he entered his sledge. In passing along the ranks of the soldiers his air of suffering and continual cough betrayed his condition, and on his return he said, 'I am bathed in perspiration.' The imprudence and self-will of the Emperor brought on a severe relapse, and from that time he remained in his little working cabinet, whence for some days he continued to issue orders respecting the

slightly delirious. In answer to a question which he put to his physician, Dr. Mandt made him aware of his danger. The Czar then requested that his confessor might be called, and on completing his confession he received the communion. He then sent for his children and grandchildren, and took a separate leave of each, and gave them his blessing. He afterwards bade farewell to the Minister of War, the Comptroller of his Household, and Count Orloff, thanking them for their faithful services and tried devotion. He next wished to see his domestic servants and the old Grenadiers of the palace, and addressed words of consolation and encouragement to each of them. He gave minute directions respecting his obsequies and the position of his tomb in the Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and ordered that his funeral should be conducted with the least possible display, in order to avoid an expenditure which could ill be spared from the requirements of the war. The son of Prince Mentschikoff arrived at this stage with letters from his father, but he refused to have them read to him. He kept his eldest son for several hours alone near his bed to give him his last directions. On the 2nd of March, about noon, he told him to thank the garrison of Sebastopol in his name for their heroic defence. Nearly the last words he articulated showed his supreme anxiety to secure the continuance of Prussia in the discreditable policy which that Power had pursued. Tell Fritz (his brother-in-law the King of Prussia) to remain the same for Russia, and not to forget the words of papa." He still retained his consciousness,

* The 'favourable neutrality' of 'Fritz' in this war enabled the Prussians to carry on a most profitable trade in supplying the Russians with munitions of war, and all other articles required by them in the critical state of their affairs.

and began to repeat after his confessor the prayers for the dying, but soon lost the power of speech, and calmly expired a few minutes after noon. He was in the fiftyninth year of his age.

The unexpected death of the man whose boundless pride, ambitiou, and extravagant vanity had led to so much bloodshed and misery, produced a profound sensation throughout Europe. In our own country the announcement of the event was received with something like awe. Perhaps the most striking delineation of the termination of the career of the Russian Autocrat was the cartoon of John Leech, entitled General Février turned Traitor,' referring to the boast of the Czar that Russia had two generals on whom she could always rely, General Janvier and and General General Février. The sketch of the gifted artist represented General February, a skeleton in Russian uniform, while the snow is falling thick around, laying his bony ice-cold hand on the heart of the sovereign, and betraying him to the tomb. The unexpected death of this powerful monarch, the victim of his own vaulting ambition, which had overleaped itself,' and of the bitter mortification and despair produced by broken hopes, and the destruction of his reputation for invincibility and infallibilty, is fitted to remind the world of the vivid picture which the Hebrew prophet has drawn of the downfall of the King of Babylon-'the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners,' and whose overthrow made the earth at rest and quiet.

position, it is questionable whether the new Emperor would have been able, if he had been willing, to renounce his father's policy and to show himself to his subjects in a less patriotic light than his predecessor. It soon became evident that the contest was, meanwhile at least, to proceed with undiminished bitterness.

On the 15th of March a conference of the plenipotentiaries of the five Great Powers was opened at Vienna, with a view to peace on the basis of the four points which had been communicated the previous year through Austria to the Russian Government, but had then been peremptorily rejected. It was alleged, however, that Russia was now willing to enter into negotiations on the basis of these preliminaries, which referred to the Russian protectorate over the Principalities, the free navigation of the Danube, the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea, and her claim to an official protectorate over the Greek subjects of the Porte. It speedily appeared, however, that the negotiations were about to prove abortive, as Russia would listen to no proposals for neutralizing the Black Sea or limiting her own naval force there. This decision was formally intimated to the Conference on the 21st of April. Lord John Russell and M. Drouyn de Lhuys, the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and France, declared their powers exhausted, and left Vienna. Austria, anxious to escape if possible from taking an active part in the war, which she was bound now to do under the treaty concluded with the Western Powers on 2nd December, 1854, made another proposition for the settlement of the point in dispute, which, as Lord Palmerston remarked, 'could not It was expected in some quarters that be more accurately described than in the the death of Nicholas would tend to bring concise terms' of a Memorandum prepared the war to a speedy conclusion, and that by the Prince Consort, namely, that inhis successor Alexander, whose character stead of making to cease the preponderance was supposed to be less imperious and in- of Russia in the Black Sea it would perflexible than his father's, would be more petuate and legalize that preponderance, anxious to make peace. But, notwith- and that instead of establishing a secure standing the difference of character and and permanent peace it would only establish

a prospective case for war.' Through some | placed by a railway, which conveyed reguunaccountable misconception of the true larly and rapidly the ammunition required meaning of the proposal, the British and for the operations in front of Sebastopol, French plenipotentiaries expressed them- and supplies for the troops. The soldiers selves favourable to the agreement. It engaged in carrying on the siege were in met, however, with the decided disapproval consequence now well fed, well clad, and well of their Governments. M. Drouyn de sheltered, and in a high state of efficiency. Lhuys immediately retired from office, and Reinforcements too were rapidly pouring Lord John Russell's first conclusion was that that statesman's resignation involved his own. It would have been well for his own reputation had he acted upon this impression. The fact of his concurrence in the views of the French plenipotentiary was dragged to light by the adversaries of the Government; and a vote of censure having been threatened, he was compelled to resign his seat in the Cabinet on the 16th of July. The result of the Vienna Conference made it evident that Russia must be defeated and humbled before her pride would allow her to submit to the terms on which alone the Western Powers could honourably make peace. There is every reason to believe that if the German Powers had gone heartily with France and Britain in resisting the ambitious and sinister projects of the Czar, all the carnage and sufferings of this terrible war would have been prevented. But the timid shuffling policy of Austria, and the cordial though not avowed friendship of Prussia, induced him to persevere in a course which cost the lives of vast numbers of his subjects, to say nothing of the desolation which it caused in many a French and British home, and brought himself prematurely to the grave.

While the Conferences were proceeding at Vienna the allied forces were actively prosecuting the siege of Sebastopol. The old and almost impassable track-road from Balaklava to the camp had now been re

'I have here a statement,' said Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, made on the very highest authority, from which it appears that a few days before the death of the Czar a return was made up, stating that 170,000 Russians had died, and according to a supplementary return made up a few days later,

70,000 were added to the list, making a total loss of 240,000 men.'

in, and large siege guns were being brought up to the trenches in readiness for the renewal of the bombardment. But the Russians had not relaxed in their exertions to add to the strength of the fortress, and were as diligently occupied as ever in throwing up fresh earthworks. The French unfortunately neglected to seize and fortify the Mamelon, a slight elevation in front of the Malakoff, while it was still free to them. to do so. It was suddenly taken possession of on the night of the 9th of March by the Russians, who sunk a number of pits before and on each side of their new acquisition, to serve as a cover for their riflemen. Their fire not only proved a great annoyance to our allies, but on a dark and windy night (22nd March) they made a sally from the Mamelon, drove out the French troops from their trenches, and then made a fierce assault on the flank of our position. They were ultimately repulsed by detachments of the 97th and 77th Regiments, but with a loss to the British of 13 officers (one of whom was Captain Hedley Vicars) and 169 men killed, 12 officers and 361 men wounded, and 2 officers and 54 men missing. At daybreak on the morning of the 9th April the second bombardment of Sebastopol commenced, and was kept up with great vigour for several days, but without any decisive result. An attempt on the part of the French to carry some new outworks and ambuscades of the Russians was repulsed with great slaughter, but another attempt made on the following night was successful. The Russians were driven out after a sanguinary struggle, and their gabionade was taken possession of by the French, and afforded them the means in future both of shelter and attack.

showed the correctness of this opinion; | Simpson, whose age and infirm health but the British commander yielded to rendered him unfit for such an onerous the urgent request of the French general and responsible position, and who, though and agreed that the attack on both a respectable officer, had no claims to it comshould be made at the same time. The pared with those of Sir Colin Campbell or result realized his worst anticipations. General Eyre. He was, however, confirmed Partly owing to a serious mistake on the in his command by the Home Government. part of General Meyren, who commanded one of the divisions of the French army, the advance of the troops who were to make the attack on the right was made prematurely, and was in consequence not promptly supported. The troops were assailed by an overwhelming shower of ball and grape, not only from the works, but also from the enemy's steamers in the harbour; and the English attack on the Redan having also failed, they were deprived of their simultaneous support, and were compelled to give way. General Eyre, however, at the head of a body of 2000 men forced his way into the town at the head of Dockyard Creek, and held his ground until the evening; but the other attacks having failed, his success was of no avail, and he withdrew his troops unmolested. Our loss in this unfortunate encounter amounted to 165 killed, including Major-General Sir John Campbell, Colonel Shadforth, Colonel Yea, and other 18 officers, while 1126 were wounded and 152 missing. The French had 1598 killed or missing, and 1740 wounded. The Russians, according to their own account, lost during the two days 787 killed and 4029 wounded. This unfortunate reverse had a most injurious effect upon the venerable commander-in-chief of the British army, already worn out by the severity of the winter and the anxieties of the siege. On the 24th he was seized with illness, which, however, did not assume a serious aspect until the evening of the 28th, and on the 29th he died. His death was deeply regretted by the whole army, who were warmly attached to him, and had the utmost confidence in his judgment and experience.

Lord Raglan was succeeded in his command, in right of seniority, by General

Since the repulse of the 18th of June before Sebastopol, the allied forces had been pushing forward their approaches with so much energy that it was obvious to the Russians that a decisive assault was imminent. On the 21st of July General Simpson telegraphed to Lord Panmure that his advanced trenches were within 200 yards of the Redan, and could not be pushed further owing to the rocky nature of the ground. The daily losses in the trenches were so heavy that the assault could not be much longer delayed. The Russians, who were quite aware how matters stood, had now concentrated the whole military resources of the empire in the Crimea, and were preparing for a supreme effort to compel the allied forces to raise the siege, in the full expectation that they would overwhelm them by their superior numbers. The threatened blow was struck on the 16th of August. In accordance with a plan formed at St. Petersburg, a body of between 50,000 and 60,000 infantry, with 160 pieces of artillery and 6000 cavalry, descended from the Mackenzie Heights and attacked the French and Sardinian lines on the right of the allied position, which were covered along their whole length by the river Tchernaya, and also by a canal or aqueduct. The main brunt of the battle was born by the French. The Russians, whose courage had been stimulated as usual by copious draughts of brandy, made repeated and most furious attacks upon the centre of the French position at the Traktir bridge across the Tchernaya, but were driven back with terrible slaughter, and compelled to retreat with a loss of 3000 killed and 5000 wounded. Four hundred prisoners were taken. On the bodies of the dead were