aharajah, who has now been twice our guest, we can only
speak in terms of praise. He promises to be a bright example to
all Indian Princes, for he is thoroughly good and amiable, and most
anxious to improve himself.

[Footnote 63: A few years earlier, while still holding his
ancestral creed, Dhuleep Singh, had made overtures to the
ex-Rajah of Coorg with a view to his betrothal to the eldest
daughter of the latter; but at that time the matter was
dropped. After becoming a Christian, and having also heard of
the baptism of the Princess of Coorg, the Maharajah renewed
his proposal, which, however, was not eventually accepted. The
Princess married an English officer, and died in 1864, aged
twenty-four.]

[Pageheading: BATTLE OF INKERMAN]

_Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar[64] to Queen Victoria._

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, _28th November 1854._

MADAM,--Your Majesty's very kind letter reached me by the last mail. I
avail myself of your permission to write to you again, although there
is not much to say since I last wrote to Prince Albert on the 7th or
8th of this month. I wrote to him soon after the battle of Inkerman,
when I was still under the excitement of that fearful scene, and I am
afraid that I made use of expressions that I was afterwards sorry that
I had done. I believe I made some reflections on our Commanders, which
are at all times wrong. By this time your Majesty will, of course,
be in possession of all the details of that fearful day, on which our
loss was so very great.[65] I made a mistake in stating the number of
dead in the Grenadiers; it was much larger than I stated. I think we
must have suffered more than any other Corps, for, on the following
day, when the roll was called, two hundred and twenty-five men
were absent; of these one hundred and one were killed, and the rest
wounded. There cannot be any doubt that we allowed ourselves to be
surprised, for the first notice we had of the Russians was receiving
their heavy shot in the camp of the 2nd Division. Nearly all their
tents were torn by round shot. It is even said that a shell lodged
in an officer's portmanteau, burst, and, of course, scattered all his
goods to the winds. Experience has made us wise, or rather Lord Raglan
wise, for since that day the French and ourselves have been busy in
entrenching our right; it is now so strong that no enemy can attack us
there with the slightest chance of success; it is