Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/187

 ' BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 161 'the Duke never lost a gun,' Nicholas gave his chaf. commanders to understand that the loss of a piece ' of ordnance would be likely to bring them into disgrace.* The result of such an intimation was just what a more sagacious prince would have easily foreseen. The commander who received the warning took good care to hand it down — to hand it all down the steps of the military hier- archy ; and every general of division, every bri- gadier, nay, every officer who commanded a bat- tery, was evidently made to understand that, happen what might, he must not lose a piece of artillery. In other words, every such officer was encouraged to deem the loss of a 'position' less calamitous than the loss of a gun, and thus brought into the mood for commencing a retreat, which perhaps under some conditions might carry with it the retreat of the whole army. It was therefore very natural that the anxiety which had seized upon the mind of Prince Ment- schikoff should not only extend to Prince Gort- schakofF and to General Kvetzinski, but also to the artillery officers who commanded the Cause- way batteries and the guns in the Great Redoubt, Now, from the moment when Prince Mentschikoff rode off towards the sea, he had never reappeared in the Pass, nor on the Kourgan^ Hill; he had superb and summary proof that his career was uncheckered by the loss of a battle ; but his avoidance of the loss of guns was not the cause, but the effect and the nroof, of his ascendancy in war. The Duke would have scorned the notion of risking the loss of a battle for the sake of keeping liis guns safe. VOL. IIL L
 * The fact of the Duke never having lost a gun in action is a