Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/396

 364 APPENDIX. iiving, and entitled, of course, in all fairness, to command full attention if inclined to controvert the authorities on which I base my statements, or to show that in the interval of eleven days, bi tux-en the 30th of March (when Lord Raglan wrote) and the 10th of April (when Canrobert expressed himself as anxious to be attacked by the enemy), there had occurred such a change of circumstances as to account for the actual inversion of his opinions and feelings on the subject of 'another Inkerman.' It is true that in the interval, Omar Pasha, with from 15,000 to 18,000 men, had come up to the Chersonese, but it is hardly imaginable that the accession of that force alone would account for so enor- mous a change as the spring from despondency to a warlike long- ing for the advantage of being brought to battle by the enemy. Note 7. — With grossly inadequate means. — 'With most in- sanction of Sir John Burgoyne himself, if not with his own hand. — Journal of Royal Engineers, Part I., p. 87. Note 8. — Were 'postulates' rather than facts. — Sir John Burgoyne's military status in the Crimea was that of a Lieu- tenant-General on the Staff of Lord Raglan's army, with orders to advise respecting the conduct of engineering operations ; and, though not in terms constituted the Commander of the Engineer force, he was practically armed well enough with all a com- mander's authority. Accordingly the arrangement making him an adviser instead of a Commander did not stint him in -power ; but apparently it much influenced his habits of thought and action. There is, after all, something in words ; and plainly a request from the Chief saying, 'What do you advise V is not quite the same as one saying, ' What do you offer to do ? ' In the first case, the officer consulted would be almost led into the practice of treating the question of ' means ' hypothetically, saying virtually, 'If the army can afford strength enough for the purpose, I advise ' such and such a course ; ' whereas, if asked to say what, as a Commander of Engineers, he would offer to do, his mind would be turned more distinctly to the question of ' means.' I owe my perception of this difference to the tenor of Burgoyne's written counsels taken in conjunction with the afterwards disclosed want of means for giving effect to them. Thus, for instance, on the 23d of November he writes an elaborate and most able memor- andum, given in the Journal of the Royal Engineers (Appendix, No. 34), and after mentioning the suggestion, the Journal adds, ' The additional means that irmi/d l>< required for this operation • appeared to be the only impediment to its adoption.' This sample — and it is quite a fair sample — shows that, in Sir John Burgoyne's mind, the all-important question of ' means' was
 * efficient means in men and material ' — words written under the