Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/196

166 GROUNDS OF LORD RAGLAN'S DECISION. chap. Raglan would best have supported the French by ' acting upon his own military opinion, still there- fore pursuing the course which Pelissier, as well as himself, had — until the last evening — chosen, and accordingly expending some two or three hours in the preliminary task of bombardment, with a mind to assault, when the batteries of the Eedan should be quelled ; but Lord Eaglan well knew that nothing short of conformity with Pedissier's new plan — that is, an advance of British infantry — an advance not delayed by first making use of the siege-guns — would pass with the French as affording the loyal support they expected. Sir George Brown and the commander of our Engineers were united in the opinion that our troops should at once move forward. 'Of 'this,' wrote Lord Eaglan, 'I am quite certain, ' that, if the troops had remained in our trenches ' the French would have attributed their non- ' success to our refusal to participate in the ope- •' ration.'* It is easy enough to find fault with the painful decision to which Lord Eaglan was driven ; and indeed, if left free to determine on grounds strictly military, he himself would have flatly condemned it. 13ut no such freedom was his; and, to judge the question with fairness, a critic ought to be armed with not only extended know- ledge, but also an imagination so powerful as to be able to apprehend the grave consequences of withholding our infantry at a time when the
 * Private letter to Lord Pamhure, 19th June 1855.