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 306 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. iiece.ssity of returning to where the knapsacks had ' been hiid was once more used as the reason which Question forbade all forward movement. Men may i'airly aiiouier sumiisc that a sterner method than that which method with T,-r,,, tit it- tiie French J^ord I'agian took would have served his purpose answered better, and that if he had simply ordered his better. ' ... cavalry and Sir Richard England's Division to ad- vance, M. St Arnaud would have been compelled to follow. But to act upon such a speculation as that would have been hardly consistent with the duties imposed upon the English General. Lord Eaglan, it is true, was a soldier acting against an enemy in the field ; but he was something more : he was a diplomatist specially charged with the care of that fragile structure on which the war was resting ; he was charged with the care of the French alliance. Except on grounds of paramount cogency, he had no right to break loose from the fetters by which his Queen's Government had thought fit to bind their country. XLIV. nie close of Lord Eaglan watched the advance of the Rus- sian cavalry until he saw it come to a halt. Then it seemed — he was used of old to read such signs — it seemed that he regarded this movement and this halt of the enemy's horse as a kind of fare- well gesture which marked the end of the battle ; for, turning his horse's head, he slowly rode back to the ground where his infantry stood. When our soldiers observed the approach of the