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force, while of the two other generals one was dead and the other wounded.

At length the gate of the Residency was reached. A little time was spent in 'removing the barricades, during which the bleeding column rested, while the moon looked coldly down on the ruins by which they were surrounded. When the passage was cleared, the soldiers, forgetting their weariness, gave three loud cheers, and rushed forward.

Cheers without and cheers within, cheers on every side, betokened the joy and excitement that prevailed, while over all arose the shrill pipes of the Highlanders. The "column of relief" and the garrison rushed into each other's arms, and then the officers passed from house to house to greet the women and children. The stern Highlanders snatched up the children and kissed them, with tears streaming down their faces, thanking God they were in time to save them.

appall'ing, ter'rifying. arrest'ed, checked; pre

vent'ed. av'enue, pas'sage; al'ley. barricades', bar'riers; de

fen'ces. beleaguered, besieged'. cannonāde', firing of great guns.

J. T. HEADLEY.
composedly, collect'edly. | peculiar, siñ'gular.
concen'trate, bring to-
gether.

conversation, con'ference.
deliv'erance, relief'; res'cue
determined, resolved'.
excitement, agita'tion.
impatient, fret'ful.
inces'sant, unbroken.

The anxiously-waiting garrison. The mutiny broke out at Luck'now, the chief town in Oude (Ood), on the 30th of May 1857. As many of the English as could reach it, took refuge in the Residency, which the rebels began to besiege on 1st of July. The garrison was relieved by Outram and Havelock, as described in this lesson, on the 26th of September. Havelock then retired, leaving Outram in command, and the siege by the rebels recommenced. Sir Colin Campbell (b) (Lord Clyde), accompanied by Havelock, attacked the rebels in Lucknow on the 18th of October, and, after a week's fighting, succeeded in finally rescuing the garrison. Havelock died of dysentery at a suburb of Lucknow on October 25th, aged 62.

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perilous, dān'gerous. prevailed', exist'ed. refused', declined'. remöv'ing, clear'ing away. restrained', pent-up; repressed'.

sensation, commo'tion. survive, outlive'.

Havelock's superior officer, and was entitled to take the command of the relieving force; but, with true generosity and nobleness of character, he waived his claim, in consideration of the strenuous exertions Havelock had already made to reach the garrison. He therefore accompanied the force as a civilian, and fought under Havelock as a volunteer!

3 The Sikhs-natives of the Punjab, Northern India, who were conquered by the British in 1849. During the mutiny of 1857 they remained faithful to the British, and helped materially to subdue the rebellion.

The gallant Neill-General Neill, who had in June suppressed the mutiny at Benä'res, and afterwards gained many successes over the rebels.

2 Outram and Havelock.-Outram was QUESTIONS.-How far had Havelock's force fought its way to rescue the garrison of Lucknow? By what signs did the garrison know that relief was approaching? When did their excitement burst forth in cheers? What was Outram's opinion of what should be done? Why did Havelock differ from him? What was at last agreed upon? What general was shot in the advance? How had the rebels obstructed the passage through the streets? What proportion of his force did Havelock lose before he reached the Residency? What took place when the "column of relief" got inside? 16

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SPEECH OF HENRY V. AT THE SIEGE OF
HARFLEUR.

ONCE more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!

In peace, there's nothing so 'becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then 'imitate the action of the tiger-
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
'Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage:
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect';

Let it pry through the 'portage of the head,
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it,
As fearfully as doth a galled rock

O'erhang and 'jutty his 'confounded base,
'Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean.

Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide;
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his1 full height !-On! on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders,

Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought,
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument.--
Dishonour not your mothers: now 'attest

That those whom you called fathers did beget you!
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

And teach them how to war!-And you, good 'yeomen,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That you are worth your breeding: which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,2
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and, upon this charge,

Cry-"Heaven for Harry! England! and St. George !"

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AFTER their 'repulse in the plain of Balaclava by the Highlanders, two deep," that thin red streak topped by a line of steel," -and by the heavy brigade, the Russian cavalry retired. Their infantry at the same time fell back towards the head of the valley, leaving men in three of the redoubts they had taken, and abandoning the fourth. They had also placed some guns on the heights over their position on the left of the gorge. Their cavalry joined the reserves, and drew up in six solid divisions, in an oblique line, across the entrance to the gorge. Six battalions of infantry were placed behind them, and about thirty guns were drawn up along their line, while masses of infantry were also collected on the hills behind the 'redoubts on our right. Our cavalry had moved up to the ridge across the valley on our left, and had halted there, as the ground was broken in front.

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And now occurred the melancholy 'catastrophe which fills us all with sorrow. It appears that the Quartermaster-General,1 Brigadier Airey, thinking that the light cavalry had not gone far enough in front when the enemy's horse had fled, gave an order in writing to Captain Nolan, 15th Hussars, to take to Lord Lucan, directing his lordship "to advance his cavalry nearer to the enemy. A braver soldier than Captain Nolan the army did not possess. He rode off with the order to Lord Lucan. (He is now dead and gone: God forbid that I should cast a shade on the brightness of his honour, but I am bound to state what I am told occurred when he reached his lordship.)

-or

When Lord Lucan received the order from Captain Nolan, and had read it, he asked, we are told, "Where are we to advance to?" Captain Nolan pointed with his finger to the line of the Russians, and said, "There are the enemy, and there are the guns, sir, before them; it is your duty to take them," words to that effect. Lord Lucan, with reluctance, gave the order to Lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, conceiving that his orders compelled him to do so. The noble earl, though he did not shrink, also saw the fearful odds against them. Don Quixote,2 in his tilt against the windmill, was not nearly so rash and reckless as the gallant fellows who prepared without a thought to rush on almost certain death.

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It is a maxim of war, that "cavalry never act without a support ;" that infantry should be close at hand when cavalry

carry guns, as the effect is only instantaneous;" and that it is necessary to have on the flank of a line of cavalry some squadrons in column, the attack on the flank being most dangerous. The only support our light cavalry had was the reserve of heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry and guns being far in the rear. There were no 'squadrons in column at all, and there was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's guns could be reached, of a mile and a half in length !

At ten minutes past eleven our light cavalry brigade advanced. The whole brigade scarcely made one 'effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies, and yet it was more than we could spare. As they rushed towards the front, the Russians opened on them, from the guns in the redoubt on the right, with volleys of musketry and rifles. They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. We could scarcely believe the 'evidence of our senses. Surely that handful of men are not going to charge an army in position? Alas! it was but too true. Their desperate valour knew no bounds, and far indeed was it removed from its so-called better part-discretion.3 They advanced in two lines, quickening their pace as they closed upon the enemy. A more fearful 'spectacle was never witnessed than by those who beheld these heroes rushing to the arms of Death.

At the distance of twelve hundred yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth from thirty iron mouths a flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. The first line is broken-it is joined by the second-they never halt, or check their speed an instant. With diminished ranks, thinned by those thirty guns, which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy; with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries: but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies, and with the carcasses of horses.

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They were exposed to an oblique fire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to a direct fire of musketry. Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing, as they rode up to the guns and dashed into their midst, cutting down the gunners where they stood. We saw them riding through the guns, as I have said: to our delight we saw them returning after breaking through a column of Russian infantry,

and scattering it like chaff, when the flank fire of the battery on the hill swept them down, scattered and broken as they were. Wounded men and riderless horses flying towards us told the sad tale. Demi-gods could not have done what they had failed to do.

At the very moment when they were about to retreat, an 'enormous mass of Lancers was hurled on their flank. Colonel Shewell, of the 8th Hussars, saw the danger, and rode his few men straight at them, cutting his way through with fearful loss. The other regiments turned, and engaged in a desperate 'encounter. With courage too great almost for credence, they were breaking their way through the columns which enveloped them, when there took place an act of atrocity without 'parallel in the modern warfare of civilized nations.

The Russian gunners, when the storm of cavalry passed, returned to their guns. They saw their own cavalry mingled with the troopers who had just ridden over them; and, to the eternal disgrace of the Russian name, the 'miscreants poured a murderous volley of grape and canister on the mass of struggling men and horses, mingling friend and foe in one common ruin!

It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of the band of heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted. At thirtyfive minutes past eleven not a British soldier, except the dead and the dying, was left in front of those guns.

aban'doning, reliñ'quish- diminished, reduced'.

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effective, efficient; com-
plete'.

encoun'ter, con' flict.
enormous, very great.
evidence, tes'timony.
in'fantry, foot soldiers.
instantaneous, mo'ment-

ary.
mis creants, wretch'es.

W. H. RUSSELL, (b)

oblique', slant'ing.
occurred', happened.

parallel, match.

redoubts', out'works.

reluctance, unwillingness. rem'nants, survivors. repulse', defeat'. spectacle, sight. squad'rons,

troops.

bod'ies of

1 Quartermaster-General, the chief of | against a windmill, has become proverbial

that department of an army which provides
quarters for it, and all that that implies,
as provisions, clothing, transport, &c.

Don Quixote, the hero of a famous Spanish mock-romance by Cervantes; one of whose exploits, that of running a tilt

for hare-brained folly. Hence 'Quixotic' as a synonym for rash, precipitate.

3 Discretion, a reference to the wellknown proverb, "The better part of valour is discretion." (See Shakespeare,1 Henry IV. Act v. Scene 4.)

QUESTIONS.-What position did the Russian cavalry take up after retiring? How many guns were drawn up along their line? What order did Airey send to Lucan? How did Nolan explain it? To whom did Lucan give the order to advance? What maxim of war was violated in this? What took place at the distance of twelve hundred yards from the enemy? Where did the light cavalry then make their way? To what were they exposed on their way back? Of what act of atrocity were the Russian gunners guilty?

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