Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/248

 218 DISCOURAGEMENT OF THE GAURISON. chap, there are might well betray a want of content- !_ ment when doomed — not to fight, as brave men would be ready to do, but — to stand — standing idle — under the fire of siege-batteries, upon one chosen pittance of ground, and there submit to be turn by round-shot and shell, lest their presence by chance should be needed in order to repel some assault. This necessity of keeping troops ready for imagined contingencies under the lire of siege- batteries, without any shelter from casemates or other appliances, was of course a weak point in the plan of defence. It brought wounds or death to several thousands of men, and on all the troops so employed inflicted the moral torture of having to stand simply passive under the fire of great guns without being able themselves to strike a blow in return. However, if nut with good grace, and not with- out signs that the endurance of the brave Russian soldiery had been strained to nearly its utmost, the torture of the Fourth Bombardment was borne by the Army in Sebastopol on the 17th of June; and Pelissier's infatuation prevented its being renewed in the earlier hours of the following day ; but, when after the baffled assaults of the 18th of June, our siege-guns opened once more, and the Russians again underwent a havoc and slaughter renewing their yesterday's trial of fortitude, the feeling that appears to have seized on a part of the garrison was one of bitter, angry discouragement approaching with some to despair