Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/186

 1G4 TT1E BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, tached from his first line — hi other words, without ' any ' supports.' 2d, For his halt. 3d, For attempting and continuing the wheel- ing movement of his deployed wings in the face of the English ' supports.' Anterior to the actual bodily fighting, there was a phase of the engagement which seems to be deserving of remembrance. I speak of the moments when the Kussian column of horse, with all its vast weight, was moving down the hillside against Scarlett's few horsemen, then suddenly caught in their march, and hastening under great stress of time to prepare a front for the enemy. The admirable composure then evinced by our people of all ranks must have been seen by the enemy, and perhaps may have governed the issue, by inducing him to come to a halt. A commander of horse, in general, is accus- tomed to seek his victory by gathering a great momentum, and directing the force of his onset against some object more or less fragile — as, for example, against a body of infantry drawn up in a hollow square ; but these were not the conditions under which Scarlett had to attack ; and accordingly, his feat has hardly supplied a good instance of what men commonly mean when they speak of a cavalry charge. On the contrary, the physical impossibility of overthrowing the enemy by the mere shock of a cavalry charge was the very circumstance which gave to this