Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/512

 482 APPENDIX. ' by a vigorous assault of the place, or an attack on the ' enemy's army in our rear as a preliminary to it, both of ' them arduous undertakings, and under arrangements that ' fronting in every direction.' The memorandum is not dated, but it is marked by Lord Eaglan in pencil with these words : ' This has no date, but it was previous to the ' battle of the 5th.' And in his memorandum of the 28th of November on General Bizot's project of attack Sir John Burgoyne writes : * This, as seems to be confessed by ' General Bizot, would not be the most methodical and ' safe course to pursue under ordinary circumstances of ' adequate means and a favourable season of the year ; but ' under the pressure of our present situation it would seem ' imperative to adopt a more short and enterprising process ' to accelerate our proceedings. . . . The circumstances ' under which the Allies are now placed before Sebastopol ' may in some degree be compared to those under which ' the Duke of Wellington considered it necessary at sieges ' in the Peninsula to adopt irregular and somewhat hazard- ' ous modes of attack for want of means and time for the ' more systematic course.' Is it possible to be reasoned into the belief that 'au- ' dacity ' and an ' enterprising process ' would have l)een more opportune in the closing days of November tlmn in the first or second of the weeks after the battle of the Ahna
 * will require energy and audacity on the part of the forces