Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/142

 110 VARIOUS OCCUKRKNCKs. CHAP. IV. Sinking of more Rus- sian ships. Deatli of Nicholas imparted to the Se- bastopol garrison. Change of Russian com- manders. Prince M. Gortcha- kofT; wliat made this a supremely constitute a secure barrier, and towards the end ot February they sank six more of their ships.* In Sebastopol, the death of the Emperor Nicholas was concealed with much care for some time;t but afterwards, there came in a Eescript from the new Czar which brought both condolence and greeting to the valiant garrison. With none of the misty grandeur which veils like conceptions in the poems of Ossian, and rather indeed with the air of a flat — though celes- tial — 'Court Circular' describing the movements of princes, the garrison were informed that ' trans- ' lated to eternal life the supreme chief of the ' orthodox warriors ' (that is, the late Emperor Nicholas) 'was blessing from on high their un- ' equalled firmness and intrepidity.' J In the command of the Russian forces Prince Mentschikoff was succeeded by Prince Michael Gortchakoff; and General Osten-Sacken was placed at the head of the Sebastopol garrison. Prince Michael Gortchakoff was a man of intel- lect and ripe cultivation, with some theoretical knowledge of the art of war ; but what rendered the choice of this general supremely advantageous t Ibid., pp. 45, 46. The Russians are a poetic people, and I cannot doubt that in that true Muscovy of which Moscow is the centre, people might have been found who could express a thought of this kind with dignity and genuine enthu.sia.sm ; but to get such a task performed worthily by a cold-blooded clerk at St Petersburg was beyond the range of things possible.
 * Todleben, vol. ii. p. 40. + Ibid., p. 45.