Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/366

 344 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, the soldier, whether English, French, Eussian, or ' Turk, as to have a distinct present bearing on the warlike repute of each nation engaged, and there- fore, of course, on its strength, and therefore, again, on its welfare. Under that kind of aspect the glory of fights which sprang out of sheer chance or mistake may come to be of higher moment to England than the objects and the vicissitudes of a somewhat fanciful war long since at an end. What are now the ' four points of Vienna ' when compared with the achievement of Scarlett's dra- goons and Cardigan's Light Cavalry charge ? summary of Told more shortly, the story is this : Marching the battle. , ., by two unconnected routes in the early mornmg, a portion of Liprandi's forces established batteries with which they cannonaded the Turkish redoubt on Canrobert's Hill. Upon being apprised of this movement, Lord Eaglan at once sent down two divisions of foot; but time must necessarily elapse before the troops thus despatched could come into action ; and, in the meanwhile, there were no English forces with which to support the Turks in their defence except our division of cavalry and its attendant troop of horse- artillery. The question was, whether Lord Lucan, with the cavalry arm alone, could and would aid the Turks in warding off for a few hours the impend- ing attack ? With the approval of Sir Colin Campbell, he abstained from launching any of his squadrons in arrest of the enemy's progress ; and our horsemen, though compelled to be spec-