Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/189

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 167 engaged; and although the commander of the chap. Light Brigade, in giving vent to his mortification, '—l. used one of those cavalry forms of speech which express approval or endearment in words of im- precation, it is not for that the less true that the sentiment which really blended with his natural vexation was one of admiring and generous envy. Lord Cardigan was himself the public informant andofLoni ° K m Cardigan. who adduced in a court of justice this picturesque proof of his feelings — ' We were spectators,' says one of his witnesses, ' of that encounter ; and ' those who heard and saw Lord Cardigan during • the time that was going on, will not easily for- ' get the chagrin and disappointment he evinced ' when riding up and down our line. He con- ' stantly repeated, " Damn those Heavies, they 1 " have the laugh of us this day." ' As may well be supposed, this abstention of our The surprise, , , t, . with which Light Cavalry was observed by the Kussians with tueneu- ° J J tralityof surprise and thankfulness, by the Headquarters the Light x "* A Brigade was Staff of the English with surprise and vexation, observed, by the French with surprise and curiosity. If Canrobert and those of his people who looked down upon the plain of Balaclava grew warm and enthusiastic in their admiration of Scarlett's ex- ploit, they were all the more ready with questions, surmises, and reasonings when they saw that, during the fight thus maintained by one of our two cavalry brigades against a largely outnum- bering force, the other brigade remained motion- less — nay, even in part dismounted. The impres- sions of the French in regard to the English lie