A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE. 291 May the same all-sufficient Saviour, who has sustained you in peace in many a dark and trying hour, enable you now to glorify Him by trusting in His unchanging love. I send you Isa. xli. 14, compared with 2 Cor. xii. 9—' the worm' and the 'weakness.' .... We are borne out by Scripture, I think, in believing that a special providence watches over believers, else what is the meaning of Ps. xci.; Ps. cxxi.; Matt. x. 29, 30; 1 Tim. iv. 10. And how do the angels minister to the heirs of salvation, if not in temporal deliverances, or other little mercies? It was the 'angel of God' who stood before Paul before the shipwreck, promising that God would save them (Acts xxvii. 23, 24). And is it not reasonable to suppose that the angel directed the course of the tempest-tossed ship, and brought about all the circumstances which led to the safe landing of them all? So comfort yourself with the word of the Lord, if your heart is filled with anxiety and apprehension about coming events; and forget not that He, who in mercy hath delivered your husband from the pestilence, can equally deliver him from the sword. "It is believed that we shall embark on Thursday, so all doubt is now at an end about the grand expedition. 'I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.' The details are not fully known, but it is said that we shall embark some 60,000 or 70,000 men, including 10,000 Turks; effect a landing about five miles from Sebastopol; besiege Fort Constantine, which commands the town and batteries, and which, if taken, would put us in possession of the place. "It was a great comfort to be left in quietness on this holy day. The communion was celebrated. It was a hallowed season and my soul enjoyed some of the sweetness of that fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ which He so delights to impart. To Him I commend you." "VARNA HARBOUR, "ON BOARD THE 'PRIDE OF THE OCEAN,' "Scarcely had the letters left the camp, the day before yesterday, when an order arrived for the Rifle Brigade to move into Varna, and to embark next day. It is difficult to realise this, after all the doubts one has had on the subject. Varna is in a state of the most extraordinary confusion. Everywhere you see the material of war. The shore is strewed with gabions, fascines, rafts, carts in pieces, &c. &c. The large bay is filled with shipping, men-of-war, and transports. The Guards and Highlanders embarked yesterday, and the Artillery are all at Baltshik. More troops are going on board to-day. "I pray that you may be kept from sinking. Where the path of duty is so plainly marked out, we must do all we can not to give way. I was reading, this morning, Ps. lvii. The first verse came with special comfort to my heart-Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast."" THE HOSPITAL 293 CHAPTER XIX. The Hospital. "Fountain of life and living breath, Whose mercies cannot fail nor fade, Fill me with light that hath no shade; To see Thy power, and sing Thy praise." IN the first days of September 1854, took place that extraordinary scene in Baltshik Bay, the rendezvous of the allied armies. Swarming like midges upon the quiet surface of the Euxine, the transports poured in, and took up their positions; and above them all towered the mighty forms of the ships of war, bearing the flags of France and England. Suspense was at an end; and the troops, full of hope and excitement, were at last on the very eve of a mighty enterprise. But, while the fresh sea breeze brought health, and while excitement raised the spirits of the army, Captain Hammond fell ill. A fever, caught from the stagnant marshes of Devna, had stricken him down, at the very moment when health was most needed; and, by the time the expedition had reached Eupatoria, he was prostrated with a dangerous illness. He writes from on board the Pride of the Ocean, 2d September: "We have not yet left Varna Bay. I have not been quite well; but I think, however, that I am a little better to-day; and I trust that, by J * * * F * * *'s quinine and the sea air, I may be set up before the work begins. I began to feel unwell on the line of march, and since then have continued very weak. At this particular time, anything in the shape of illness is more than usually trying, when one wishes to be in full possession of all his bodily powers. But it is part of the discipline my heavenly Father sees fit to lay upon me; and I have been enabled to submit myself to His will, without doubting His wisdom or love." To his father he writes on September 3d; and at the close of the letter, in a tremulous hand, says: "I shall send this note, shaky though it is. The fact is, I have been far from well for some days, with slight remittent fever, and am very weak. I hope, however, to be set up by the time the work begins. The Lord teach us all to trust in Him at this anxious time.” When the troops reached their destination, and their disembarkation took place, Captain Hammond's accompanying them was impossible. He afterwards described his bodily sufferings as very great; but, he said, they were nothing to the intense anguish of mind he felt at being unable to accompany his men, when the hour for action had come. When visiting a friend, after his return to England in January 1855, he was congratulated on his having been prevented by fever from landing with his men; when he replied, with an earnestness never forgotten by the hearer, "Oh! don't say that. You don't FALLS ILL WITH FEVER. 295 know what it was to me not to be able to go with my men.' As his mind was wandering, under the effects of fever, he was not aware of his own weakness, and more than once insisted upon trying to dress, and to make preparations for the landing with the troops; and he was with difficulty prevailed upon to remain quiet in his berth. He was ordered to remain on board; and the next mail brought the following letter from the colonel of the battalion : "MY DEAR MR HAMMOND,-Maxy's last letter will have told you that he had not been feeling well. A fortnight ago, he was obliged to put himself into Dr F***'s hands. We have discouraged him from making the least effort; and it is necessary to keep him as quiet as possible; and, as he may not write for himself, I have thought it best to send a few lines. . . . . It is, indeed, a source of additional regret, that we are to lose the services of so good a soldier, when we are about to undertake so important an enterprise; and dear Maxy feels it as much as we do. But his landing is out of the question. Fortunately F✶✶✶ accompanied me; which gave Maxy not only a tender friend, but a skilful physician.” As soon as the army had disembarked, Captain Hammond was sent down to Scutari, on board the Kangaroo, with a large number of sick. During that voyage, the wretched condition of the unhappy men, who were crowded to suffocation, and most insufficiently provided with medical aid and necessaries of the most ordinary kind, excited his sympathy and indignation; and, when sufficiently recovered, he thought it his duty to make an official representation on the subject. |