Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/264

 234 HIS DEFKNCK OF SEBASTOPOL. CI! A P. VIII. Inferences tu be drawn from the early de- fence of Se- ba> topol. Defence of Bebastopol after the 17th of October Codleben; and men, applied it body and soul, to the work of fighting on shore ; When at dawn on the 10th of October the joy of the defenders rose high, because they saw that the enemy had been opening trenches, and learnt that, far from seizing the place, he was goi] instead to besiege it ; and next, eight days later, when having bombarded Sebastopol with their ileets and their land-service batteries, the Allies proved content to abstain from completing their work by assault, — to know, I say, if but a little, of this stirring epoch of only some twenty-eight days, is to have an idea of the perils which Korniloff and Todleben faced, is to see that the Prussian people, if ennobled by a training like that received by their sailors instead of being crushed by excessive land-service drill, may prove themselves greater in war than they have seemed to be under their Czars ; is to learn that, although he had remained undiscovered by their Govern- ment, and was only a volunteer officer, they knew when they had in their midst a born com- mander of men, and hastened to make him their Leader. After the 17th of October, when Todleben's great undertaking had passed its desperate epoch, and the fortress every day growing stronger be- came and for some time remained an at least equal match for its foes, he who still carried on the defence under new conditions, who op- pressed, almost mocked the besiegers with his counter - approaches ; who still pursued month