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RETURNING STRENGTH. 337 Newcastle with admirable vigour, and at one chap. time he thought the design could be executed __J with singular promptitude.(*) But so late as the 3d of February 1855, the materials for the railway were only in course of arriving, and it was found that the engineer (Mr Beattie) required for his purpose more labour than our army at that time could furnish. However, by the 20th of March, a part of the railway had been not only constructed, but brought into use ; (^) and during the ten days that followed, the work made great progress, was carried up the hillside to a point not far from the top, and already proved largely serviceable for the carriage of ammuni- tion and stores. (^) The formation of a Land-transport Corps to xi.e Land- be organised on a military footing was initiated, Train under though not in good time, by the Duke of New- castle, and completed after long efforts by his successor. Lord Panmure. The corps was en- trusted to Colonel M'Murdo, an oSicer of com- manding power, and endowed with that kind of energy — so precious in time of war — which grants no rest to obstructors. As we saw, the great waggon- train organised by the Duke of Wellington at the time of the Peninsular war had been broken up after the peace ; and, when England flew to arms against Eussia, she was not only without a land-trans- port corps, but even without adequate knowledge of the huge operations required for enabling a modern army to live and to move. M'Murdo, however, saw plainly that, if England stood chal- VOL. vn. Y