Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/346

 320 BATTI.E OF THE ALMA. CHAP, liave tried to do careful justice to those who were • tlien our allies by ruarkiiig and coinnieiiding- the v/arlike quality which was displayed by their artilleryiueii, as well as by their keen, bold, active skirmishers. Of my own countrymen I have hardly once suffered myself to speak in words of praise. I liave only told what they did. It was thus that, during three sunny hours, a French and an English army fought side by side on the Alma ; but in comparing the conduct iu battle of the two allied forces, it ought to be always remembered that the French were under a ban. Cause tend- It would bc uujust to look upou thc action be- l"urtho"' tween Marshal St Arnaud and the Russian left oiuie Wing as a Ian- sample or what a iuencii army can army*^' do. That glaucc at the things done in Paris which helped us to understand the origin of the Anglo-French alliance, will now serve to teach us the cause of any shortcomings which may be attributed to the army commanded by Marshal St English army by the fact that Marslial St Arnaud had not ' kejtt ' moving on after he had turned the enemy's left,' he adds, ' 1 ' have reason to believe that the same feeling is prevalent ' amongst the officers of the French army.' See extract m the Appeudi.x, No. X. For any one who was not in the Crimea during the month which followed the battle of the Alma, it would be difficult to form a conception of the state into which the repute of the Frencli army had fiiUen. Later events (and the first of these was the brilliant charge of two squadrons of thc Chasseurs d'Afri([ue at Balaclava) showed tli;it the warlike spirit of Frauce was not extinct iu her army.