Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/215

 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. 189 Bendins afterwards more towards the novtli, chap. . I Kiriakoff advanced upon the right centre of the '. ground on which Canrobert had spread his bat- |"vano"s talions. Canrobert's troops did not long stand "j'g,',""'j^tre their ground ; for when Kiriakoff, advancing and bert's'nTvi- still advancing, was nearly at last within nnisket- ^'°" shot of his foe, the French no longer bore up under the weight that is laid upon the heart of a Continental soldier by the approach of a great column of infantry. Kiriakoff conceives that he inflicted a sheer defeat upon his foe. ' Canrobert's ' Division,' he writes, ' could not resist our charge. ' Hastily taking off their batteries, they began to ' descend the hilly bank.' * On the other hand, the French say nothing of this reverse. Per- haps the truth lies intermediately between the broad assertion of Kiriakoff and the unfaithful silence of the French ; for what seems the most likely is, that Canrobert, being still without his artillery, was for the moment resolved to decline the combat, and that with that view, and of his own free will, without waiting to be put under stress of actual fight, he drew his troops down to a steeper part of the hillside. Be this as it may, it is certain The head of . Canrobert'g that, under the pressure of Kiriakon s great colunni. Division -r^- • • p 11 1 1 I faUsback. the head of Canrobert s Division fell back.-f- ment clashes with the passage in which I say that Canrobert was without his guns. I have relied upon the detailed state- ments supplied to me from French sources ; and it' I am right in doing so, it follows that Kiriakoff must have been mistaken in sui)posing that he saw the French carrying olf their guns. t Upon tliis point Kiriakotf's narrative is confirmed by
 * Kiriakoff's narrative. It will be observed that his state-