Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/154

 128 BATTLE 01-' THE ALMA. XXIII. CH A r. WhoiG were the supports i ' The right of the 1st Division was lorined Ity riicGu,ird3. the brigade of 'Guards.' In its origin, the appel- lation given to the regiments called 'the Guards' imported that the personal safety of the sovereign was peculiarly connnitted to their charge. Princes have imagined that, by specially ascribing this duty to a particular portion of their armed forces rather than to the whole, and by granting some privileges to troops specially distinguished as their chosen defenders, they secure to themselves good means of safety in time of trouble ; and that still, upon the whole, they do more good tlian harm to their military .system, by establishing a healthy spirit of rivalry between the favoured body and the rest of the army. The danger i.s, that a corps thus set apart will come to be considered as a great reserve of military strength, an<l that, tor that very reason, any disaster which it may sus- tain will be looked upon as more ruinous than a disaster of equal proportions occurring to other regiments. With us, the corps of Guards numbers only seven battalions, distributed into three regiments, called the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream, and the Scots Fusilier Guards; and each of these three regiments had sent one battalion to Ibrm the brigade of Guards now serving in tlio 1st Division. The oHicers of the corps enjoy some privileges tending to accelerate their advancement