Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/504

 4 7 1 APPENDIX. R'lJiitatioii of Bnlisli infautiy liiglier than ever, and our cavaliy at Balaclava extorted the admiration of the world. 29. So far from the Russians proving themselves to be our masters in the art of war, as attempted to be shown by contemporary writers, the reverse was the case. During the greater part of the peiiod over which the operations extended, the Russians were sujierior to us in absolute force, and the extraordinary spectacle was witnessed of the bi;sieged being acutally stronger tlian the besiegers. Our enemy beat us in numbers, but in nothing else. They produced no novelties in the art of war : all the science and modern appliances of warfare which date from the Crimea were introduced by the Allies. 30. I feel confident that, when the mists of prejudice have passed away, men will see the events of the Crimean campaign in a diiferent light, and that the verdict of posterity will be more favourable to us than that of our contemporaries. The English people have no reason to be ashamed of the part played by their countrymen in the Crimea. — I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. F. BURGOYNE. London, Aun. 4. With mucli of what is urged in the first ten i)aragraph3 of the letter I am able to concur ; hut I cannot accept the notion that when the ' British public ' ventured to criticise unfavourably a course of action recommended by an officer of engineers placed high in authority, they are chargeable for 'depreciating the military operations of their own ' countrymen ' generally. It seems to me that the oppo- site view is the true one. If miscarriage results from the erroneous decision of a scientific adviser, it surely is better to make this evident than to allow the imputation of failure to rest indiscriminately upon the armed forces engaged. I would also deprecate the unconditional acceptance of a statement put forward in the 7th paragraph of the letter. Sir John Burgoyne there says, ' Our means were totally ' inadequate to our task.' Now Sir John's opponents agree — nay, they strenuously insist — that, fur the task