Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/190

146 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP. Eesolute and the Prince, with also complete VII . . . . .1 ' returns of the ammunition remaining in the magazine-ships, and of the warm clothing stUl safe on board the Jura ; (•^^) and he not only prayed the Home Government to send out fresh supplies with the utmost possible speed, but even went on to distinguish those portions of the re- quired stores for which the swiftest and most powerful steamers should be chosen. (^^) Yet whilst thus both invoking and guiding the activity of the Government at home, he likewise made haste to obtain all the help that could be drawn from the resources of countries less distant, and despatched forthwith to Constantinople an officer of the Quartermaster-General's department, with orders to purchase all the blankets and watch-coats, and other warm clothing that could there be obtained. (^^) It was also at Constan- tinople that the Commissary-General made his earliest efforts to replace the lost stores of pro- visions and forage.(2-^) The disastrous 14th of November was followed by a brief interval of fine weather; -and so early as the 18th, the camps, as Lord Raglan expressed it, were ' wearing a less desolate appearance.'(2'^) But already the sufferings and privations which Lasting the storm had iniiicted on our troops were re- etlect of the , . . . n . i /0Q i hunicane sultmg in an mcreasc oi sickness : ('^^) and the upon the , . t t c i condition of horscs, too, lu great numbers soon died trom the our troops. i i t i t. i enect or exposure. Nov could Lord Laglan yet venture to ask that fresh horses should be sent to liim in the Crimea ; for, considering the loss of the ' twenty days' hay,' he apprehended —