Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/195

 WIIEX ABANDONED BY THE AKMY. 1G5 otherwise. The arniv had stolen away in the guap. " VI night-time, and for days was not to be heard of. 1_ The fleet, so to speak, was aground. AVhat re- mained attempting defence was a scant number of people — militiamen, sailors, and workmen — men unused, for the most part, to the duties of fighting on shore. But then all these men were parcel of one people, obeying one monarch, pro- fessing one faith, speaking all one tongue, and being all instinct with the life, the passion, the will, which belong to a mighty nation. Therefore it was that the default and retreat of the mere army at the moment of the enemy's approach did not cause, as a natural result, the instant fall of the place. That which remained at the post abandoned by the Commander-in-Chief and his army was a steadfast people. The showy fa9ade had come down, but behind it there stood walls of granite. Korniloff could not tell his people with truth that there was either an army which would stand by them in the hour of danger, or a fleet which would be suffered to go to sea ; but, with hand- fuls of men of various callings, yet having a com- mon country, he could and did say, There shall be ' a Eussian defence. ' * Although the chiefs knew that a determined resistance to a determined assault must needs result in the slaughter of the garrison, they still sion ; but I infer that he had hcen using it in tjieaking to the gan'ison and inhabitants.
 * It is in KornilofTs Private Journal that I find tliis expres-