Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/385

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 363 after all, essential to a due comprehension of the chap battle ; because all agree that at the time of his. retiring Lord Cardigan had become personally isolated, and was giving no orders. Still dwell- ing now upon the memory of the man who led the Light Cavalry charge — he has died since the last sentence was in type — I am unwilling to with- hold all acknowledgment of what — as contra- distinguished from a rigorously deduced conclu- sion — I will call the strong personal bias which my mind has received. I cannot, I do not believe that Lord Cardigan, when he retreated, met and saw his supports advancing * Down to the time of his extricating himself from the Cossacks, Lord Cardigan's leadership of this extraordinary charge was so perfect as to be all but proof against even minute criticism. And to say this of his exploit is to say a great deal ; for in the first place, his actions on the 25th of October have been subjected to a piercing scru- tiny ; and next, it is evident that his obedience had more the character of a soldier's martyrdom than of what men call ' desperate service.' Whilst he rode down the valley at the head of his splendid brigade with something like a foreknow- ledge of the fate to which he was leading it, he so placed in the field as to be highly capable of forming a cor- rect judgment of the effect of the smoke and other baffling causes, that whilst the three supporting regiments were advanc- ing, it woidd have been quite possible for Lord Cardigan to ride back between two of those regiments without seeing either of them.
 * It is the opinion of an officer of great authority who was