Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/39

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 17 digan carry the inference, that once, I see — even chai in writing — when maintaining his view as to the '_ extent of undisturbed authority which should be possessed by the commander of a brigade, he made bold to bracket himself, as it were, for the purpose of the discussion, with no less a man than Sir Colin Campbell, basing one of his argu- ments upon the tacit assumption, that because Sir Colin and he both commanded brigades, they were both of them, therefore, entitled to the same degree of latitude. It was hardly to be expected with confidence that officers appointed to high cavalry commands without having earned them by serving their country in the field would all at once show them- selves able to put sound constructions upon the orders which were to guide them in the presence of the enemy ; and the personal qualities of Lord Lucan and Lord Cardigan were not of such a kind as to supply in this point the absence of warlike experience. With Lord Lucan the danger was, that his fertile and vigorous mind might bring him into some elaborate and sub- versive process of reasoning. If, for instance, we should hear him informed he is to be supported by infantry, we must be prepared to find him convinced that the infantry is to be supported by him. On the other hand, Lord Cardigan's en- deavours at construing orders were sure to be characterised by an exceeding rigidity, which might be preposterous in one instance, in another superb. If ordered to hold a position, he might vol. v. R