Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/140

 114 IIATTLK Ol' THE AL.MA. C H A I'. I. Aclvanrc of the Riglit- liand Kazan culumii. Two ol" these from their two respective positions on the flanks of the Iiedoubt now be^an to move down the hillside. The one descending from the eastern flank of the work,* marched against that part of our line which was formed by Lawrence's Piifles,-f" by the 19th Regiment, and by the 23d or Eoyal Welsh Fusiliers. Already, this right-hand Kazan column had advanced some way down the slope before any great number of the Englisli had clambered u) to the top of the bank ; and our soldiers, it woidd seem, at that time might have been forced back into the channel of the river by a continued and resolute advance of the descending force ; but when, one by one, and in knots and groups, our men gained the top of the bank, Avhen they saw the ground above spreading smooth and open before them, and the huge grey square-built mass gliding down to where they were, then, happily for England and for the freedom of Europe — for on this in no small measure the common weal seems to rest — it came to be seen that now, after near forty years of peace, our soldiery were still nient. This Kazan corps, of which we shall see a great deal, is more commonly called in Russian accounts the 'Grand Duke ' Michael's Regiment.' It was a regiment of 'chasseurs.' + Major Norcott's two right companies had been extended along the ridge above the river's bank, and were lying down, when Colonel Lawrence advancing in person with his wing of the Rille battalion, an intermixture took ]>lace ; and accord- ingly it must be understood that, both here and in subsequent pages, my mention of 'Lawrence's Rifles' includes some of the men belonging to Major Norcott's wing.
 * A doublu-battalion column, I believp, of the Kazan Kegi-