Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/33

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 1 1 of Lord Lucan's services as commander of our CHAP, cavalry in the Crimea ; but I have sought to pre- _ pare for ray account of the action in the plain of Balaclava, by conveying beforehand some impres- sion of the officer who there commanded our cavalry. Some such glance was the more to be desired because Lord Lucan's abilities were evi- dently of a higher order than those he found means to disclose by the part he took in the battle. It should be understood that Lord Lucan did not thrust himself into the command of our divi- sion of horse. All he had asked for was to have charge of a single infantry brigade. The English division of horse numbered two brigades, one of which comprised the Light Ca- valry, the other our Heavy Dragoons. The Light Brigade, as we know, was commanded by the Earl of Cardigan. Lord Cardigan, when appointed to this com- LordCw digau. mand, was about fifty-seven years old, and had never seen war service. From his early days he had eagerly longed for the profession of arms, and although prevented by his father's objections from entering the army at the usual period of life, he afterwards — that is, at about twenty-seven years of age — was made a cornet in a cavalry regiment. He pursued his profession with diligence, absent- ing himself much from the House of Commons (of which he was at that time a member) for the purpose of doing orderly duty as a subaltern in the 8th Hussars. Aided partly by fortune, but