Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/272

 242 GENERAL PEL1SSIKR. C H A P. IX. His resolve; and brought to bear with effect. tances of unsheltered ground ; and accordingly, as Bosquet had counselled, he determined, at the cost of huge sacrifices, to sap up almost close to the opposite counterscarps, before he again would confront them with his infantry columns. Against a heap of adverse conditions which, if only the whole rugged truth had been known at St Cloud, must have seemed almost too hard to face, the undaunted Norman maintained himself in the confidence of Marshal Vaillant, War Min- ister, and still fended off' the dictation attempted by Louis Napoleon.* If I part from the interesting subject thus touched in only two sentences, it is because the pursuing it home would be passing the bounds of a narrative that professes to have a fixed limit. Danger of the strife bel ween Louis Na- poleon and Pelissier. The happily oxei tea Kept alive by the presence — the irritating presence — of Niel at the French Headquarters, the angry conflict maintained between Louis Napoleon and Pelissier was long a source of grave danger to the cause of the Allies ; and I must not omit to acknowledge that the all-im- portant duty of labouring to keep the strife within limits was discharged by a Minister of State with sound wisdom, good feeling, and skill. Marshal Vaillant, the Minister of War, had The 'whole rugged truth' would have comprised that 'escapade' of the 17th of June which was the proximate, aud quite sufficing cause of the discomfiture Pelissier had suffered.