Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/410

 ;i84 COUNSELS ENDING IN THE CHAP, clence brought with it ; but the phui now proposed __J was nothing less than that, in the presence of a Eussiau army understood to be concentrated in Sebastopol, the Allies should break into a slender column, with a depth of many miles, and in that state defile for two whole days or more (through a forest unknown save by maps) round the eastern side of Sebastopol. It would seem at first sight that an army undertaking such a task would lay itself open to the danger of being cut into two or more pieces at the pleasure of the Eussian Com- mander. Some reckoned, indeed, that the defeat which the enemy had suffered might be expected to render him so tolerant that he would suffer the flank march to go on under his eyes without daring to undertake the seemingly easy task of bringing it to ruin ; but to hope this was to found a great deal upon the moral effect of a victory ; for the condition of troops and waggon-trains defiling through forest and mountain roads is ex- actly such as to give to a defeated army on their fiank an occasion to recover its boldness and self- respect by effecting successful though petty at- tacks upon the more helpless portions of the long, trailing column. Besides, it is obvious that if the enemy's prostration was so complete as to make him capable of suffering the Allies to defile by their left and march round him, it was still more likely that, in the event of a prompt attack upon the Star Fort, that same prostration of spirit would bring about the fall of tlio Work. Indeed,