Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/439

 APPENDIX. 4 1 3 of the brigade to the line of the Great Picdouljt, because, at the very moment of ascending the river's bank, they encountered a heavy Russian column, with which they remained long engaged ; that, at last, they defeated the column ; and that, Avhen they had done so, Sir Thomas Troubridge was sent to suggest that the enemy's retreat should be pressed by an advance of the Grenadier Guards. !Now, of these perfectly dissimilar accounts, which is the true one 1 "Without recurring to the means by which (as a sagacious reader will infer) I gathered my first impressions of what the battalion did, I must say, in the outset, that at the battle of the Alma Sir Thomas Troubridge was a field-offi- cer, on duty with the right wing of the regiment ; that, from the beginning to the end of the engagement between the 7th Fusiliers and the column, he, Sir Thomas Trou- bridge, was personally present ; that he witnessed the de- feat of the column with his own eyes ; that he himself carried the message which suggested that the Grenadier Guards should advance in pursuit ; that lie, Sir Thomas Troubridge, is living — is living in London and holding office at the Horse-Guards; and, finally, that he has over and over again assured me of the substantial truth of my narrative so far as it concerns what he saw of the opera- tions of the 7th Fusiliers. Colonel Yea did not live to hear it imputed to his 7th Fusiliers, — to hear it imputed to them by their divi- sional General, — that they had given way at the sight of an enemy's column, and had retreated in such a state that they ' would not attend to him ; ' but some of Lacy Yea's simple, truthful letters have been laid before me. In a letter addressed to Lord Yiviau, and dated the 27th of September, 1854, Lacy Yea describes the passage of the river at the Alma, and then writes : — ' I had to deal with