Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/262

 232 HIS DEFENCE OF SEBASTOrOL. en a p. their overthrow in every battle attempted against '_ the invaders, was, after all, rather traceable to their system of government, than to any inherent defect in the quality of their race. That, of course, was a kind of discovery which their rulers might desire to avert. wordsre- To know, if only a little, of that strange time eariyie- e in Sebastopol when the guns on the Alma were bastopoL e * heard ; when, with what seemed mysterious sud- denness, the sounds of battle all ceased; when afterwards — met riding southwards, alone or al- most alone, bent down by fatigue and misfortune, Prince Mentschikoff gave from his saddle the order — perhaps well conceived, but hideous nevertheless — the order to sink men - of - war across the mouth of the lloadstead ; When he and his army retreated into Sebas- topol ; when— in secrecy and at night — with his army the Prince retreated again, retreating, this time, into what was nothing less than sheer exile from the then narrowed seat of war ; When Prince Mentschikoff' not only ceased to know anything of the enemy from whom he was Hying, but even for several days gave up inter- course with the 18,000 sailors of the now land- locked fleet under Admiral Korniloff, and all the other brave men he had left to their fate in Sebas- topol ; When suddenly officers gazing from the Bel- vedere top of the Naval Library saw our red- coats in march for the road which descends from