Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/288

 255 C H A P. XI. THE TART TO BE TAKEN a diversion of that Idnd is not, it seems, what the Generals desire. They wish that the attack by the fleets should be one more closely in uni- son with that to be delivered by the land forces. Let us see, then, what the fleets can do in the way of direct attack upon Sebastopol. MVe determined, some time ago, that in the face of this barrier of sunken ships, and of the forts, north and south, which arm the jaws of the roadstead, we would not attempt to break in. Is that decision to be reconsidered ? ' No ? Then it follows that, in the way of direct attack upon Sebastopol, we can do nothing more than cannonade the sea-forts. Well, but with what result can we hope to engage our wooden ships against casemated forts of stone, the work of a quarter of a century ? Amongst those who have weighed the question of what ships can do against masonry, some perhaps still imagine that, with water enough to admit of close quarters, a ileet having no other charge than to batter down a stone fortress, or else be sunk in the attempt, might possibly come off victorious. But whether that be so or not we need hardly consider, for the soundings do not offer us any such opportunity, and from our Governments we have no such mission. We have it in charge to defend the existence of the land forces by maintaining the dominion of the sea. With such a task weighing upon him, no naval commander would be warranted in crippling his fleet for the sake of attempting