Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/197

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 17-") Heavy Dragoons, and adhering to that hapless cn a. P. construction of Lord Lucan's order, which con- ! — deinned him, as he thought, to a state of neutral- ity, he had at his side an officer, comparatively young, and with only the rank of a captain, who still was well able to give him that guidance which, by reason of his want of experience in war, he grievously, though unconsciously, needed. Captain Morris, commanding the 17th Lancers, by bringing x ° into public one of the regiments of the Light Brigade, and then contrast th< " ° ° qualifica- in his thirty-fourth year, was a man richly gifted £ on |°£ r with the natural qualities which tend to make a diganand •■ Captain leader of cavalry, but strengthened also by intel- M lectual cultivation well applied to the business of arms, and clothed above all with that priceless ex- perience which soldiers acquire in war. After having first armed himself with a portion at least of the education which Cambridge bestows, he had served with glory in India. In 1843 he had been present at the battle of Maharajpore. In 1846 he fought at the battle of Buddiwal. At the battle of Aliwal in the same year he was wounded whilst charging with his regiment into a mass of Sikh infantry. He was in the battle of Sobraon ; he crossed the Sutlej, and entered Lahore with the army. When opportunities of gaining war- like experience were no longer open to him, he returned to the labour of military study, and carried away from Sandhurst ample evidences of his proficiency in higher departments of military learning. Captain Morris was one of those who might have been wisely entrusted with an ex-