Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/112

 82 THE CIRCASSIAN FORTS HELD I?Y RUSSIA. CHAP. IV. Piilissier's determined resistance to the pro- hibition. Lord Rag- lan's cen- sure on the French Em- peror. Pdlissier with an imperial message, commanding him on no pretext whatever to allow an expedi- tion to Anapa.* Pelissier fiercely met the pro- hibition by determining that it should not be obeyed ; but he varied his plan of resistance. He showed Lord Raglan the draft of a letter from himself to Admiral Bruat in which, after stating the purport of the Emperor's order, he directed the admiral ' notwithstanding to pass ' by Anapa on his return and to take part in ' the naval bombardment of the place.' t The letter, Pelissier said, was afterwards modi- fied, and perhaps he, still later, determined to refrain altogether from sending it;( 7 ) but at all events Admiral Bruat — unassailed by any real countermand — went on with the planned ex- pedition. Lord Raglan was angered by this new attempt of the Emperor to interrupt the business of war. ' i fear,' wrote the English commander, ' that ' much inconvenience may arise if his Imperial ' Majesty pursue the system of forbidding opera- ' tions that may have been determined upon.' J "While thus running dead counter in action to Louis Napoleon's orders, Pelissier, it seems, was vouchsafing no other kind of reply to his sover- eign's imperious mandate ; ( 8 ) but fate meanwhile interposed with the magic touch of a fact. Per- ' a Anapa.' Lord Raglan to Secretary of State, Secret, 12th June 1855. t Ibid. X Lord Raglan to Secretary of State, 12th June (No 89).
 * 3d June: ' Sous aucun prdtexte ne permettez d'Expddition