Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/185

 ^V1I1:X ABANDOXED BY THE AU.MV. the uarrison of Scbastoixjl, at the time 1 am chap. . . VI speaking of", this, the main condition of a hopeful defence, was wanting; for their body of 16,000 but as yet loot, composed for the most part of sailors unused inatiit"; to the land service, could hardly in any sense be called an army, much less an army competent to join battle with the invaders upon a line four iniles in extent. It is true that, within a day's march, there was a Russian army, and one, too, which in point of numbers could hardly be thought too weak for the exigency ; but, nine da3'S before, this army had undergone a defeat, and its commander Avas persistently withholding it from the scene of the expected conflict. In this point of view, the very success with which the garrison had busied itself was calcu- lated to become an embarrassment to Prince Mentschikoff when appiised of what had been done ; for now that Sebastopol was covered by an entrenched position, it might seem hardly tolerable that the troops required to defend it should be refused by a general who was lying a few miles off with a disposable army of between 30,000 and 40,000 men. The growing strength of the works made it less and less (.'asy to uige that the task of concurring with the garrison Mentsdii- in defending the place was one too desperate to ciinghigto be undertaken by the field army. Be that as it oTwith'^" ,i-r>' -111 1-1- 0-1 lioliiilif; may, the i rince still clung to his design oi with- succour, holding from Sebastopol the succours re<[uired for defending it. On this 29th of September, nothing was heard