Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/106

 80 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, enemy's formed battalions. The only ground ' gained was that occupied by Bosquet ; but, Bos- quet's achievement not having been followed up, his very success now threatened to bring disaster upon the Allies. When a Prench soldier is one of a body placed in a false position, he knows it, and comments on the fact ; and the very force and vivacity of his nature make it difficult to keep him long upon ground to which he feels a A (lesi.oiid- scientific objection. A French aide-de-camp came iiil; account, . of uosquL'fs ill haste to Lord Eaguin, and represented that un- condition . is iiruugiit less something could be done to support or relieve to L(jrd ^ -•- ^ Hngiaii. Bosquet's column it would be 'compromised.'* French Marshal to Sir Dc Lacy Evans. In his published letter of the 28th of June 1855, Evans writes : ' On the arrival of the ' 2d Division in front of the village of Bourliouk, which, having ' been prepared for conflagration by the Russians, became ' suddenly for some hundred yards an impenetrable blaze, ' JIajor Claremont came to me in great haste, to say from the ' ilarshal, that a part of the French arm}', having ascended the ' heights on the south of the river, became threatened by large ' bodies of Russians, and might become compromif-ed unless ' the attention of the enemy were immediately drawn away by ' pressing them in our front. I made instant dispositions to ' conform to this wish, sending at the same time, as was my ' duty, an officer of my Staft' (Colonel Herbert) to Lord Eaglan, ' who was then a short distance in our rear, for his Lordship's ' approval, which was instantly granted.' From the recurrence of the word 'compromised,' and from the coincidence in point of time, one is led to infer that the message given in the text and the message conveyed to Lord Raglan through General Evans may have been one and the same. There is nothing that I know of to interfere with this conclusion, if it be sup- posed that Major Claremont was accompanied ])y a French aide-de-camp, who rode first to General Evans, and from him to Lord Raglan. — Note to 4:th Edition.
 * Exactly the same pressure had just been applied by the