of artillery, were more than a match for
the strategy of the Russian commanding general. The hostile attitude of the
Austrian troops on the frontier of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the landing
of French and English expeditions at Varna, caused Paskievitch, on June 21,
to withdraw his weakened force across the Danube and the Pruth. In the
attempt to reduce Silistria the lives of many Russian soldiers had been
sacrificed. Paskievitch himself was slightly wounded. Eighteen months after
his defeat he died in Warsaw. Schilder, Mussa and Grach, all mortally
wounded, had been carried off before him. The losses of the allies were
also serious. An ill-considered march of the French from Varna into the
Dobrudsha resulted in the loss of 2,000 men, most of whom succumbed to the
insufferable heat. In the camp at Varna cholera wrought terrible havoc.

[Sidenote: Ineffectual naval operations]

Upon the sea the allies were no more successful. An English and French
fleet, under Sir Charles Napier, proceeded to the Baltic Sea for the
purpose of persuading Sweden to join France and England, of reducing the
fortress of Kronstadt, the key to the Russian capital, and of attacking St.
Petersburg itself. Sweden, despite the efforts of the Powers, held aloof
like Prussia. The walls of Kronstadt defied the ships. Besides the capture
of Bomarsund on August 16, nothing was accomplished.

[Sidenote: A council of war]

[Sidenote: Before Sebastopol]

[Sidenote: Battle of the Alma]

In Varna, a council of war was held to decide upon the course to be pursued
against the Russians. Among others, General Stein, or Ferhat Pasha, as he
was called after his conversion to Mohammedanism, proposed the landing of
troops in Asia in order to drive the enemy from the Caucasus. But St.
Arnaud, who felt that he had not long to live, and, therefore, wished to
end his career as gloriously as he could, voted for an attack on
Sebastopol, the naval port of the Crimea. He was supported by Lord Raglan,
who desired nothing more fervently than the destruction of the Russian
fleet. So far no less than 15,000 men had perished in the campaign. The
remaining force, composed of 56,000 soldiers, of whom 6,000 were Turks, was
landed, on September 14, at Eupatoria on the west coast of the peninsula.
To the south of Eupatoria the sea forms a bay which receives the waters of
the River Tchernaya, flowing past the ruins of Inkermann. Upon the southern
side is the fortified city of S