Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/214

 184 TIIK COUNSELS 0I< TIIK ALLIES. CHAP, 'force now constituting the garrison consists of ^^^' ' sailors. We do well to take it for granted that ' these men will work the guns perfectly well, ' and line the entrenchments, where needed, with ' a diligent fire of musketry ; but it is a perverse ' use of the imagination to picture these crews ' from the ships as battalions of infantry coming ' out to manoeuvre on the open })lateau, and driv- ' incf into the sea a hitherto victorious army of ' 50,000 prime troops. ' In truth, it is certain that, however efficient ' this sailor garrison may be in defending the ' ramparts, it cannot be capable of engaging in ' offensive operations against us on the open ' ground; and if we bear this in mind, we hardly ' need shrink from the necessity of having to ' operate upon an arc more extended than that ' which the enemy holds. Besides, what is th(3re ' in this peril of what you call an " extended cir- ' "cumference" which time will help to remove? ' Bnt now to come rather more close to the '■ task which lies before us. Sebastopol, on this, ' its land side, is not a fortress.* The enemy is • in an entrenched position — a hnstily entrenched ' position — four miles in extent. To defend such '■ ground as that, the oiui thing needed is an army. • but an army entrcnclied on a very strong position, along a 'line of moderate extent, with its flanks perfectly secure' ('Military Opinions,' p. 197). In that .sentence Sir John well describes the position, but niisdcscribes its defenders. Tlic i sailors, and the 5000 'reserve,' or ' militiamen,' at that time left in Sebastopol, were not an 'aimy.'
 * Sir John Bui'^oyne say.s, ' It was, in fact, not a rortrcss,