Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/203

 THE COUNSELS OF THE ALLIES. 173 allies without bciiij-' in tenns a 'proposal.' * chap. VII General Canrobert, however, expressed his strong disapproval of the measure. He said that his dii^'ijjo'i^ai. men could not be restrained or kept together, and that from that cause alone, in the event of there occurring a check or reverse, the safety of the whole army would be imperilled, -f- So now the Allies took a measure, not in itself 27th St-pt. Deteniiin- decisive, but tending to govern their fate, by with- ationto ' <^ ^ '' land the drawing their minds from the all-vital question of siege trains time, and placing them, as it were, upon a path — smooth and ea.sy enough at first sight — which yet might lead into trouble. They requested the naval commanders to land the siege-trains. Their purpose was to open the way for an assault by (irst getting down the enemy's fire.J truth : ' No ; Lord Raglan never proposed to General Can ' robert to a.s.sailt immediately after the arrival of the Allies. ' before the place.' See the letter in the Appendix. + An officer who was present assures me (October 19, 1865' of the accuracy of this statement ; but, as the impressions OJ all men are liable to be varied by lapse of time, it is satisfactory to know how his words were noted in writing at a time much more near to the deliberations of which Ik; speaks AVriting in tl>e Crimea on the 31st of August 1855, Homaine, after naming the same officer, says : ' He told nie that the French refused to ' make an attempt upon Scbastopol the day after our arrival ' here. They said that their men could not be restrained, and if any check or reverse followed they could not be got to- ' gether, and the safety of the whole army would be compro- ' mi.sed. This was whilst St Arnaiui was alive.' The 27th of September 1851 would be the day designated by the words 'the • day after our arrival here,' the English having occupied Bal- aclava on the 2fJth. + See Burgoyne's 'Military Opinions,' p. 181.
 * So that JLarshal Canrobert in 1868 could write with litera'.