Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/260

 228 TROUBLED COUNSELS. C HAP. VIII. ened at having to pass over 600 mttres of ground before getting from their parallel to the Redan had declared that they were ready to assault; but since, reflections have come, and yesterday evening, the three commanders determined that they would prolong and diminish their fire without stopping it. Sire, it is with lively regret that I see the confirmation of what I have always thought : the assault is so difficult, so dangerous for the army, that when the mo- ment comes, people shrink from before it. The truth is that in this (so-called) siege, people aim at an object which they yet do not ven- ture to grasp when they closely approach it, that there is no solution but in the investment of the Place after having beaten the enemy, and that consequently it is necessary to hasten as much as possible the arrival of the Army of Reserve which your Majesty is forming at Constantinople.' * Ki.ullition of warlike impatienco on the part of the French army III. When the Flagstaff Bastion, on the evening of the 21st of April, had been not only silenced and brought to ruin by overwhelming fire, but also laid under the pressure of a 4th Parallel then newly opened against it at less than a hundred yards' distance, the French army hitherto patient could no longer be prevented from judging that the time for final action was ripe ; and in the
 * Rousset, vol. ii. p. 146.