Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/384

 362 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, stands the solemn assertion of Lord Cardigan ; . there is the mass of counter-evidence which he has adduced ; * there is a question of mistaken identity ; -f- there is a difficulty in seeing how Lord Cardigan, after his eucounter with the Cos- sacks, could possibly have come back in time to be meeting the 4th Light Dragoons on the Eng- lish side of the battery : and it will not be for- gotten that the officer whose conduct at the time of his retreating has thus been brought into ques- tion, was the one who, a minute before, had been leading his brigade down the valley, and charging at its head through the guns with a firmness that was uever surpassed. Theques- The question is not ripe for conclusive de- tion not yet. . npe for cision. t Its issue is one of great moment to the decision. T ° military reputation of Lord Cardigan, but not, witnesses as tbeir solemn ' declarations,' and laid before me by Lord Cardigan. + Notwithstanding the great difference in the ages of the two men, an officer who was himself with the^4th Light Dragoons, and who could judge of the extent to which smoke and rapid movement might baffle the sight — I mean Captain E. W. Hunt — believed that Lieutenant Haughton of the 11th Hussars, who rode back mortally wounded, was mistaken for Lord Cardigan. From another source 1 have ascertained that Lieutenant Haugh- ton (who wore the same conspicuous uniform as the leader of the brigade) rode a chestnut horse very like Lord Cardigan's. X Some of those who, as is supposed, might throw much light on the question, have hitherto maintained silence. The proceeding in Cardigan v. Calthorpe was not one well calculated to probe the truth, for besides that the question was narrowed by technical rules, and that the evidence was not given orally, the disputants were without the means of obliging any witnesses to testify.
 * Not sworn and filed in a court of law, but verified by the