Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/223

SUFFERINGS OF THE AJiMlES. 179 of campaigning, it had only a small remnant chap. left.(^^) The Guards had received some strong _L draughts of men sent out fresh I'rom England ; yet, when January came to an end, the three bat- talions, which lately had constituted a splendid brigade, could only muster for duty some 312 men.(^2) The main body of the Scots Fusiliers, comprising at the time seven companies, was assembled one day with all its effective strength to greet the return of its colonel, and the whole force thus turned out to welcome him consisted of about 78 men.(63) ^he 63d Eegiment may almost be said to have disappeared.(^'^) Thus what seemed to be threatened was — not simply the weakening but — the virtual extinc- tion of our army. In proportion to numbers, the English army was undergoing at one time a fiercer havoc than that which ravaged London in the days of the great plague ; but no awe like the awe of a city that is silenced by plague possessed the English camp. The camp, it is true, was quiet, but the silence maintained by our soldiery was the silence of weariness, the silence of men bearing cold and hardships of all kinds with obstinate pride. The time would seem one when, if ever, the strains of martial nmsic might have had an unspeakable worth ; but — unless when now and then wafted towards them by a breeze from the lines of the Erench — it was long since any such sound had cheered the hearts of our people.(^^) Without extrane- ous aid men found strength, it would seem, in their own heroic qualities, found strength in