Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/99

 HIS DIRECTION TO KORXILOFF. G9 enioiueJ Koniiloff to close the inoutli of tlio chap. IV Sebastopol roadstead (wlieie the Black Sea fleet [ lay at anchor) ; and it was understood, if it was ^Schi- not expressed in words, that this was to Le done {"^KoniUuff. by sinking some of the ships. The import of this oi-der was, that the Czar's famous navy of the Black Sea, — the result of patient energy con- tinued from generation to generation, the long- cherished instrument of conquest, the terror of the jNIoslems, the hope of the Cliristians in the East, — was to abdicate its warlike mission upon the approach of danger, and shut itself in for ever — a fleet foregoing the sea. And the officer in- structed to execute this ruthless order was the virtual commander of this same fleet, the man who had toiled during years and years to fit it ibr the business of war. The emotion with which KomiiofTs rt^cGPlioii of Korniloff heard the words addressed to him ma}' the order, be inferred from their mere purport, as well as from the spirit of resistance which he made bold to show on the following day ; but it seems that, at the time, he spoke little. He could not say he thought well of this measure of desperation, and he did not, he could not, reply that he would obey the command ; but, on the other hand, he respected the anguish of a defeated commander, and indulged his chiefs bodily weariness by re- fraininsT, for the time, from words of dispute and remonstrance. When first Prince Mentschikofl" found himself Prince . - . Mentsclii- in full retreat from the Alma, he conceived the kotrrenoua- ^ ting tlic idea of attempting a stand on the left bank ol the iueaoia