Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/275

 THE OPENING OF THE SIEGE. 245 eiioiny's line of defences, they would complete chap, that severance of the town from the faubourg L_ which the very form and position of the Man-of- war Harbour with the deep ravine at its head had alone gone far to effect ; and they hoped that the mastery which might thus be attained would ensure, with but little delay, the fall of the ]M;da- koff itself, and all the other defences. It was by the eventual assault of the Flagstaff Bastion and the liedan that the French and the English expected to be able to carry them ; and, to prepare the w'ay for the enterprise, they were not only intent to get down the fire of those two works, as well as of all the intermediate batteries — whether planted on shore or on ship's decks — which helped the defence of the place on its land front, but also — for the enemy's works were disposed upon the principle of what is called ' mutual support,' each one giving strength to its neighbour — it was their object to do all they could towards silencing, on the one side, the Central Bastion, on the other, the Malakoff Tower. Ijut since, after all, it was mainly with earthen defences that the Allies had to deal, and not with those stone-work fortifications which oppose to the assailant along with other means of resistance a steep, inert, physical barrier, they did not hold it necessary to consume precious time in working on to what against masonry would be the right breaching distance by laborious, patient ap- proaches ; and their plan — the plan of both the French and the English — was to provide cover ;