Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/460

 434 AITKNDIX. cmild not understand this; that lie, Admiral Dundas, ought to have better information on the subject than the Turkish Admiral ; that he, Admiral Dundas, was himself 13'ing within twelve niilos of the harbour j that doubt- less he had been watching it narrowly by means of the numerous steamers at his command, and therefore that it was not likely that such a squadron could have put to sea without his knowledge ; that even if they had, it was extremely unlikely they would go to Odessa, which was a cul de sac' (He found afterwards that the Ad- liral had kept no watch whatever on the harbour.) ' Before, however, this matter was cleared up, the time for going to Lord Raglan had passed, and it was between twelve and one before he got to Headquarters. On go- ing in, after explaining the eause of his being late, Lord Raglan showed him a memorandum made by Sir John Burgoyne, in which he suggested the movement round the head of the harbour to the Sebastopol side. He, Sir Edmund, at once urged strong reasons against this. He said that the character of the whole expedition was that of a surprise ; that it was undertaken without ac- curate knowledge of the strength of the enemy, or their resources, and that in great measure they still remained ignorant on these points ; that all they knew positively was that the victory at Alma had been a heavy blow to them, and that the best chance of continued success was to follow it up rapidly, and to try and take tlic northern forts by a coup de main. Lord Raglan said that he con- curred in these views ; that he had already made repre- sentations to St Arnaud on the subject ; that he proposed to him at once to advance on the Belbec, cross that river, and then assault the forts, but that St Arnaud had told him his troops were tired, and that it could not be done ; that he, Lord Raglan, was disajipointed by this answer, and could not understand it, for ho knew the