Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/266

 23G HIS DEFENCE OF SEBASTOPOL. C II A P. VIII. Confined as it was to one narrow tract of ground, the strife involved nevertheless a trial of strength between great powers — powers no more sparing of blood or of treasure than if the war thus compressed were raging over vast territories. The maxim twice over refuted by the early defenders of Sebas- topol. One may say of Todleben, and the sailors, and the other brave men acting with them, that by maintaining the defence of Sebastopol, not only long after the 20th of September, but also long after the 5 th of November, they twice over van- quished a moral obstacle, till then regarded as one that no man could well overcome. ' If a battle undertaken in defence of a fortress ' is fought and lost, the place will fall.' This, be- fore the exploit of the great volunteer, was a say- ing enounced with authority as though it were al- most an axiom that Science had deigned to lay down ; yet after the defeat of their army on the banks of the Alma, after even its actual evasion from the neighbourhood of Sebastopol, he along with the glorious sailors and the rest of the people there left to their fate proved to be of such quality that, far from consenting to let the place ' fall,' as experience declared that it must, he and they — under the eyes of the enemy — began to create, and created that vast chain of fortress defence which, after more than eight months, we saw him still holding intact. And again, when — in sight of the Fortress it strove to relieve — an Army gathered in strength fought and lost with great slaughter the battle of Inkerman, sending into