Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/141

 "VVIIEX ABANDONED BY THE ARMY. Ill his imagination. He recommended Colonel dc chap. Todleben to quit the Crimea. Coming from the !. Commander-in-Chief, this recommendation was almost a mandate; but, for a time at least, com- pliance might be evaded. Todleben contrived to avoid or defer the necessity of departing for some days, and then, the armada appearing, he re- mained and defended Sebastopol. It is certain, however, that even during the three weeks which elapsed between the arrival of Prince Mentschikoff's visitor, and the appear- ance of the armada on the coast, Colonel de Todleben was not only making himself minutely acquainted with the field of the approaching con- flict, but also beginning to earn that rare confi- dence which afterwards enabled him to guide into a right direction the valour and strength of the garrison. The momentous charge entrusted to him on the evening which followed the battle of the Alma shows that even at that early time his genius had obtained great ascendant.* Towards the creation of all this confidence, both his manner and his expression of feature were con- ducing. For although, as might be expected from his race and his Courlaud birthplace, he had that Northern, that North German conformation of head and countenance which denote a man fitted for violent bodily conflict lasting out to the deatli, and although he even seemed to be one to whom the very labours of fighting, and of exterminating the weaker breeds of men, must be an easy and
 * The task so entrusted to him i.s stated ante, chap, iv.