Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/403

 FLAN OF ATTACKING THE NORTH SIDE. 377 could not persuade liim to resume the idea of chap. marcliinix acraiust the Star Eort. At first — and this was the cause of Lord Rag- Lord lan's dejection — the wliole enterprise seemed to peTuUar be threatened with ruin by the refusal of Marshal foriessln- St Arnaud to go on in the execution of the plan evusofa of campaign with which the Allies had set sail, command But the English General was by nature so con- stituted that no man could be better qualified than he was to lessen to the very utmost the acknowledged evil of a divided command; for, besides that his devotion to the public service was so entire as to exclude all thought of self, he was free from the vanity (if vanity it be) which makes a man desire that a great event should be traceable to his own conception : and he was not accustomed to ponder over warlike devices in such a way as to be likely to conceive a violent pre- dilection for one plan, or a violent dislike of another. He plainly believed that, for an army endued with the strength which a victory always gives, an inferior or even rash plan, carried through with good will by each of the com- manders, would serve the cause better than any other plan (liowever good in itself) which failed to win the cordial approval of both the chiefs. He was, therefore, well qualified to deal with the emergency in which the Allies would find them- selves placed if the French should persist in their unwillingness to assail the Star Fort. The evil was occasioned by the fact that, at a moment when (from causes which will be