Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/197

 TU)'; COUNSELS ui' XilE AI.LIES. 1G7 CHAPTER VII. Whoever lias learnt the condition in which chap. Sebastopol was left during those last days of ^"' September, will be ready to ask why it was that the invaders, now able to gaze at their ease on the domes of the coveted town, still did not move forward to seize it. On the 27th of September— the day the French srti. Sept. completed their flank march, and the second of recomiou- the days during which the deserted garrison had ""^' been left without tidings of Prince Mentschikoff's army — both the French and the English pushed forward some troops towards Sebastopol, and effected their first reconnaissance of its defences from the southern side of the place. They had little diflEiculty in finding spots of ground from which, in a general way, though not yet, of course, with minuteness, they could ex- amine Sebastopol on its southern side ; and the impression they were able to gather of the nature and strength of the defences was, upon the whole, a sound one.* Indeed, it may be said that when
 * It may seem at first sight that this could not have been tho