Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/448

 126 APPENDIX. When I received it, 1 placed it in the hands of Brigadier- General Airey, the Quartermaster-General, and requested him to suggest to his lordship to withdraw the communi- cation, considering that it would not lead to his advantage in the slightest degree ; hut Lord Lucan having declined to take the step recommended, I have but one course to pursue — that of laying the letter before your Grace, and submitting to you such observations upon it as I am bound, in justice to myself, to put you in possession of. Lieutenant-General the Earl of Lucan complains that, in my despatch to your Grace of the 28th of October I stated that, ' from some misconception of the instruction to ad- ' vance, the Lieutenant - General considered that he was ' bound to attack at all hazards.' His lordship conceives this statement to be a grave charge, and an imputation reflecting seriously on his professional character, and he deems it incumbent upon him to state those facts which he cannot doubt must clear him from what he respectfully submits as altogether unmerited. I have referred to my despatch, and, far from being willing to recall one word of it, I am prepared to declare, that not only did the Lieutenant-General misconceive the written instruction that was sent him, but that there was nothing in that instruction which called upon him to attack at all hazards, or to undertake the operation which led to such a brilliant display of gallantry on the part of the Light Brigade, and unhappily, at the same time, occa- sioned such lamentable casualties in every regiment com- posing it. Tn his lordship's letter, he is wholly silent with respect to a previous order which had been sent, him. He merely says that the cavalry was formed to support an intended movement of the infantry. This previous order was in the following words : — ' The ' cavalry to advance and take advantage of any oppor-