The news of victory caused a great revulsion of feeling in England. People had become impatient during the summer months of inaction at Varna, and disheartened by the failure of Sir Charles Napier to carry all before him in the Baltic. Bomarsund, it is true, had been taken, but Cronstadt and Sweaborg had proved impregnable. Complaints were general about the want of vigour displayed in carrying on the war, and dissatisfaction not only prevailed among the uninformed public, but even found expression from the lips of Cabinet Ministers.
[Illustration: _Chevalier L. W. Desanges._} { _In the Victoria Cross Gallery, Crystal Palace._
COL. LLOYD LINDSAY, OF THE SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS
(now Lord Wantage, K.C.B.), seized the colours and rallied his men when thrown into disorder in the Battle of the Alma. For this act, and for gallantry at Inkermann, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.]
[Illustration: _From a Photograph_} { _by Elliott & Fry._
The first of War Correspondents. Born in 1821; joined the staff of the _Times_ in 1843, and has represented that paper in all the considerable wars which have occurred since.]
A novel feature in the Expedition to the Black Sea was the presence with the army of war correspondents, representing the leading daily papers. This was a symptom of that growth of journalistic enterprise which was to receive such notable impetus in the following year by the abolition of the newspaper stamp duty. The name of Mr. W. H. Russell, representing the _Times_, will be long remembered as that of the pioneer in this new and exciting form of literature. The vivid descriptions sent home of the splendid conduct of British troops in the field, and the excellent relations established between them and their ancient foes the French, were eagerly perused in England, and sent up the enthusiasm to fever heat.
But if the war letters in the newspapers were of good service in allaying public impatience by reporting valorous exploits and heroic endurance, they tended to intensify the anxiety when the campaign became prolonged towards winter, without any decisive result. It had been expected that Sebastopol would be carried by a _coup-de-main_; so it might have been, perhaps, had the victory of Alma been followed up, even on the day after the action. But the views of Maréchal Saint-Arnaud prevailed again; the project of assaulting Sebastopol on the north side was abandoned; and the Allies undertook the terribly hazardous, though, as it happened, successful flank march upon Balaklava, which, with its convenient harbour, was selected as the English base and depôt, while the French chose Kamiesch Bay.