Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/404

 ;;7 1: THE CA^'XOXADE OF CHAP. tliis was the heaviest sea cannonade that, up to •'^"^" that time, had been known, it was also, in propor- tion to its greatness, the most harmless one ever delivered. The continuance of the fire from these 1100 guns added notliing to the advantages already obtained by the Allied fleets.* Such a result could not but be mortifying ; and some may judge that, in yicdding to the dictation Avhich caused this impuissant display, Dundas was so abandoning his freedom of action as to be guilty of making an extravagant sacrifice to the exigencies of the French alliance; but, at all events, it is only by argument in that direction that the fitness of the position taken up by the English Admiral and the ships which followed him can be rightfully challenged ; for when once Dundas had submitted to act upon the plan which the French forced upon him that morning, he had nothing to do but to place one of his ships near the Jupiter or the Napoleon, and thence prolong the array in a north-easterly direction. Ships of And, after'all, it was only in part that the division" strength of the main division lau to waste in this impuissant array ; for out of the six lighting ships which constituted that part of our fleet at the opening of its fire, no less than three, as we shall by-and-by find, were sooner or later sent off to reinforce the detached squadron; and a fourth — • • For the results which had Wen oLtaincd by the French fleet and the English fleet respectively, see ante, p. 352, and pi>,
 * ]G6 3G7.