Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/154

 124 IIKHOIC KESISTANCE OF SEBASTOPOL CHAP. VI. his removal 10 the South Siae: with eleven liattalioiis ol seaiaeii : meeting a his rooms measures there taken. generous a nature, that despite the straitening effect of the formalism then predominant in liussia, he was able to understand the occasion. The army, and the commander of all the forces both military and naval, had abandoned the place to its fate. The navy was prisoned. The peril which beset Sebastopol was great, was imminent. On the other hand, Korniluffs orders, if only they were to be obeyed, would prevent him from acting upon the scene of the a})proaching conflict, and rivet him fast to that North Side which was no longer threatened. Far from accepting the repose thus enjoined by his instructions, Korniloff at once turned away from the quarter whence the danger had passed, and went straight to where the danger was coining. Giving up the command of the North Side to Captain Bartenoff, and leav- ing orders for the transport of his eleven sailor Inittalious from the North to the South, he went on board the Twelve Apostles, in order to consult with Adniiral Nachimoff for the defence of the main town and Arsenal, now all at once threat- ened ; and for the same pnrpose Korniloff after- wards assembled at his lodgings Admiral Nachi- moff, General IMoller, and Colonel de Todleben. There, arrangements were made for distribut- ing what forces they had along the lines of defence on the South Side. But this was not all that the assembled chiefs diil. They came to a great resolve. Forgetting their mere rank in the army and the navy, and remembering only the welfare of