shelter, and food. Shiploads of food were sent, which never reached the men. A cargo of boots did reach the half-shod men, but the boots were found to be all for one foot. These are but illustrations of the management of the war. The soldiers fell sick and could not be properly nursed and cared for. The result was that many died whose lives might have been saved under proper care. At last, Miss Florence Nightingale and a band of devoted women went out to nurse the sick and wounded. Very soon there was a marked change for the better in the condition of the patients, and from that time the value of women in army hospitals has been fully recognized. As time passed the war was better managed; there was less sickness among the soldiers, and better means were found of providing them with the necessary food, clothing, and shelter. In England, the discontent with the way things were going on led to Lord Aberdeen resigning, and to Lord Palmerston becoming Prime Minister. The siege of Sebastopol still went on, and at length attempts were made to carry it by storm. The first assault failed; the second was more successful. The French carried the Malakoff Tower, and although the English were repulsed at the Redan, the Russians blew up the forts, and left Sebastopol to the Allies, September, 1855. Soon after, in March, 1856, peace was made, and Russia, in the Treaty of Paris, agreed not to rebuild the fortifications of Sebastopol, and not to keep a fleet on the Black Sea.
11. The Indian Mutiny.—Scarcely was the Russian war ended, when a more serious trouble arose in India. The natives of India were not kindly treated by the English, and the discontent aroused was such that some fresh grievance was all that was needed to cause an outbreak. This grievance was found in the introduction of greased cartridges for the rifles of the Sepoys or native soldiers. The Sepoys thought it a great sin to use grease in any way, and when the Government found how much they were excited, they changed the greased for smooth paper. It was of no avail, the feeling grew that the Hneglish sought to make the soldiers lose their caste. Gradually the discontent increased, until three Sepoy regiments mutinied at Meerut near Delhi, and marched to Delhi, where an aged native king lived. Him they took out of his palace and made emperor. The rebellion now spread rapidly through Upper India, and the few thousand Englishmen in the country had to defend themselves against a host of enraged natives., Lord Canning, the
