Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/201

 'the battle of BALACLAVA. 179 men look for in satire were forestalled and out- CHAP. done by the Horse Guards. _______ In its actual bearing upon events, the neutral- ity of the Light Cavalry proved less hurtful than at first it seemed likely to be ; because Scarlett's dragoons, after all, found means to achieve then- victory without help from the other brigade. If Scarlett's ' three hundred ' had been overwhelmed and destroyed, both the terms of Lord Lucan's instruction and the inaction maintained by Lord Cardigan would have been cruelly judged. As it was, the miscarriage, however pernicious in its other consequences, did at least bring glory upon our arms, because it withheld from Scarlett's dragoons that support which must have dimmed their victory by making it more easy of attain- ment. It is true that if the Light Brigade, al- though abstaining from the thick of the fight, had been suffered at the right moment to advance in pursuit, it might possibly have effected captures by a swift and skilled use of the moments during which such a work was practicable ; but any force pursuing the enemy beyond a short distance must have very soon come under fire from the guns on the Fedioukine Hills. Lord Lucan, as may well be supposed, was Lord bitterly vexed by the inaction of his Light Bri- message gade, and at the close of the combat he sent one to Lord _>.--i. • . . • . Cardigan. ot his aides-de-camp with a message which en- joined Lord Cardigan in future, whenever his Divisional General might be attacking in front, to lose no opportunity of making a flank attack.