Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/140

 no IIKROIC RESISTAN'CE OF SEBASTOmL CHAP, koff the letter with which he came cliai-f^ed. ITo VI - afterwards, it seems, said all that he appropriately could in support of the warnings contained in the letter; hut Prince INIentschikoff would not sec the coming invasion. From the first, he had withhehl his belief in the rumoui- which fore- shadowed the armada, and the lateness of the season was added now to the grounds on which he rested his disbelief. It was too late, he said, for an invasion that year, and before the next summer there would be peace. Prince Ments- chikoff, it is true, gave heed to that part of the letter which spoke of De Todleben's merits ; and the Lieutenant- Colonel was not only received with all courtesy and kindness at Headquarters, but was armed, it appears, with full power to examine the defensive resources of Sebastopol. Prince jMentschikoff, however, had been habit- ually a rigid economist of the public treasure, and he was still unwilling to incur expense in providing against a danger which he believed to be chimerical. Colonel de Todleben's inquiries elicited the want that there was of enfjineerino: tools ; but although there were Government fac- tories from which it would have been easy to get the required supjdy, the Prince did not yet see the need of obtaining them in the ample quantity which prudence seemed to demand. Nor was this all. As though to protect liis repose from farther assaults, Prince Mentschikoff took a step which, if he had had his way, M'ould ])ave produced consequences beyond the reach of