Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/404

 378 COUNSELS ENDING IN THE CHAP, afterwards spoken of*) the Frencli army was ^- temporarily disqualified for enterprise, that same Dilemma arniv cliaaccd to be the one which (by reason of in which •> tiic Allies its position on the right of the Allied forces, and were placed. '- " therefore opposite to the Star Fort and its out- works) was called upon to perform an arduous duty. This accident, if so one may call it, being the true root of the evil which threatened the fate of the invasion, it followed that a way of escape from it might be found, if the hitherto adopted plan of campaign could be replaced by one which, for the moment, would present the labouring oar to the English instead of the French. Blending a technical phrase with words of common parlance, a man might say that the condition of the Allied army was this : — If, as first intended, it were called upon to operate ' by ' its right,' it would still be under the palsy which affected the French Headquarters. If, on the other hand, the Allied army were to operate against the enemy ' by its left,' it w^ould instantly shake off all numbness deriving from Marshal St Arnaud, and would practically come under the leadership of the English General. The infer- It was possiblc to imagine a plan of campaign had b^en""^ which would work this change. Though custom Sectfi and foreseeing prudence have made it the practice defences of the great European Powers to obtain in peace- toK^i:^^" time full accounts and plans of the fortresses belonging to rival States, this (in common with many other of the warlike duties attaching upon
 * At the close of this chapter.