Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/264

 232 TIinri.LKI) COUNSELS. CHAP. VIII. Niel writing to the Km- peror at the same time. The Em- peror's ac- count of the two letters. Morning of 25th. Canrobert resolved to put off the assault; even shadowed out an intention — then already appearing half formed — to abandon the accepted agreement, and supplant it by other designs. Niel also wrote to his sovereign by the same mail, and the Emperor thus cites the two letters : — ' A letter from General Canrobert of the 24th ' of April, and another from General Niel an- ' nounce to me that in accord with Lord Eaglan ' they have decided that the assault should be ' delivered on the 28th or 29th of April, that ' the enterprise is hazardous, and that perhaps 1 they will make up their minds to attack the ' enemy * and to invest the place, if the army of ' reserve receives orders to proceed to the Crimea. . . . ' Canrobert himself says that on the 24th ' the situation was so strained that it could not ' last more than fifteen days.' J With his mind in the state thus disclosed, General Canrobert might perhaps be expected to appreciate a newly found reason for abandoning the warlike agreement he had made on the pre- vious day, and this he accordingly did — did even within a few hours. On the morning of the 25th, Niel came to the English Headquarters, bringing with him a letter — a letter not very new (dated Paris, the 7th of appear to be wanting ; but, if the sentence be without them imperfect, it can hardly be called obscure. f The Emperor of the French to Lord Cowley, dated Palace of the Tuileries, 7th May 1855. t Ibid.
 * I received these two letters on the 5th of May.' t
 * Some such words as 'in the field,' or 'on the north side,'