Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/78

 56 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, was already in the North Valley, and supporting i. the advance of the columns. Theemer- Whilst the Russians were marching upon the cc ncv in i ox which Lord heights which they now occupied, and whilst they Lucau had ° ,•,.,. , ., . to act: were there establishing their thirty guns in bat- tery, Lord Lucan, as we see, was present with a superb division of cavalry, and this upon fine ground, which, although, it is true uneven, was still upon the whole very free from formidable obstructions ; but, except his six light pieces of horse-artillery, he was wanting in the ordnance arm, and of infantry forces he had none. Thus, then, by a somewhat rare concurrence of circum- stances, there was brought about an emergency which enforced, and enforced most cogently, the decision of a question involving more or less the general usefulness of the cavalry arm. Some are chary, it seems, of acknowledging a condition of things in which cavalry can be used for the repression of the ordnance arm. Others fully agreeing that a body of horse, with its great extent of vulnerable surface, must beware of com- ing, or at all events of remaining, under the fire of artillery, are yet of opinion that cavalry, after all, is the very arm which, in many contingencies, can best be exerted against the power of ordnance. They say that artillery in march, or engaged in unlimbering, is good prey for horsemen ; that artillery established in ,battery is assailable by horsemen at its flanks ; and that, in general, where the country is at all open, a powerful and well-handled cavalry ought to be able to challenge the dominion of artillery by harassing it inces-