Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/318

 292 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, 'stopped on the left wing, in the centre* and ' particulars of that part of the battle, being fully ' occupied by doing my own duty, and I could ' not observe as well the events on my right ; ' but thus far I could see, that the enemy had ' taken up a strong position on the left bank of ' the Alma.' This, at the moment of his success against Canrobert, had been Kiriakoff's percep- tion of the course which events were taking in his convic- the English part of the field ; and now, when he tilatiiart'" lookcd oucc morc to where the red-coats were the Kiit,'iish moving, he saw that in that part of the field the iie battle: battle was lost to the Czar. He saw not only that the Causeway batteries had been withdrawn, and that upon their site English regiments were established (apparently he had seen that before •!•), but that Mentschikoff' s infantry reserves were in retreat ; and that, looking eastward along the Eussian side of the river as far as his eye could reach, he was unable to see the end of the slender red line which marked the advance of the Eng- lish. Even if he did not observe or understand the ominous silence of the Great Eedoubt, he could not fail to see that the withdrawal of the Causeway batteries, and of the infantry reserves, was not only an abandonment of the great ' position to the English. t "When he said that the English 'had taken up a strong ' position on the left' [i. e., the Russian] 'bank of the river.'
 * ' the right wing * the turn of affairs was begiu-
 * ning to be against us. I cannot judge the
 * i.e., those portions of the Bussian army which were opposed