Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/365

 riKLD OF THE ALMA. 339 In order to give effect to his desiie lor an ad- cilAP. vance on the morrow, and to concert the move- ' ment with the naval chiefs, the English Connnan- der liad, on the day which folIoM'ed the battle, sent a note to Sir Edmund Lyons, requesting him to come up to the English Headquarters at eight o'clock the next morning;* but the peremptory orders of Admiral Duiidas prevented Sir Edmund's compliance with the lequest until after mid-day ij and before Lord JIaglan and Lyons weic destined to have their interview, counsels opposite to those they judged right had not only prevented that immediate resumption of the forward march which they both deemed to be of great moment, but had brought into question and seeming jeopardy the M'hole plan and fate of the expedition. ^Marshal St Arnaud and Lord Eaglan had met ; and the purport of what passed between them, as conveyed by Lord Eaglan to Sir Edmund Lyons, was this: Convinced of the policy of an immediate advance, and an attack of the Northern Eorts, Lord IJaglan pressed his o})inion upon the Erench jNfar- shal, and 'proposed to him at once to advance on ' the Belbec, cross that river, and then assault the ' forts.' t cumstances at a time one day earlier than that which I assign to them ; but his notes to Lord Kaglan, now lying before me, sliow that he must have been mistaken. + These were orders founded on the report— a false report — tliat seven Russian men-of-war had slipped out of Sebastopol and sailed (apparently) for Odessa. Lyons with the steam squ.idron was ordered to pursue. t The]IS. memorandum mentioned in note. a7i(c, p. 8G8.
 * Sir Ediimnd'.s recollection seems to have placed these cir-