Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/207

 THE COUNSELS OE THE ALLIES. 177 that the loss resiiltiiiii- from an assault must now chaf. . . VII be much greater than that which might have been '_. expected to follow from such an enterprise if ven- tured some two days earlier ; for in the interval, both by day and by night, the garrison and the people of Sebastopol had been incessantly busied at the works ; but, notwithstanding his perception of the now increased peril of the undertaking, he submitted to Lord Eaglan the expediency of an assault. Lord Eaolan was willing ; and asked Loni Lyons how he would proceed. Lyons answered to this effect : ' The llussians must think by this ' time that we are going to lay regular siege to ' the place. Let them be encouraged in this ' belief. Send numbers of men to the front with ' pickaxes, or something that will look like pick- ' axes, and make a feint of turning up the ground, ' and then when the enen)y, deceived by the sight, ' shall be least expecting an attack, rush in.' Whether Lord ]Jaglan approved the stratagem of feigning the commencement of siege- works, I am unable to say. What has been recorded is, that lie shared with Lyons in his desire to proceed by assault.* In the course of the conversation which elicited Side. — MS. post, in Appeuilix, Note I. Those words would seem to point to the 29th as the day ; and a nolo from Sir Edmund, which will be afterward.s quoted, fixes the 29th as the day on which Lord Kaglaii was to submit the proposal to Canrobert. Raglan's desire for an immediate assault, ha.s been fully con- firmed to me by one who enjoyed tho close conrukixc of hia VOL. IV. M
 * The testimony of Sir Edmund Lyons in regard to Lord