Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/301

 SIEGE OPERATIONS. 271 to guard it by fire without being meanwhile ex- chap. posed to the countless guns of SebastopoL* The ! great efforts made by the enemy to recover the ground he had lost in this part of the field seemed to show that Eyre's conquest was a greater misfortune to the garrison than our people had supposed it to be. Towards the close of the ten and after- days that followed the 18th of June, our people ing it over handed over to Pelissier the charge of the ground of the" ', , , , , French. they had won.T From the days when the mining and counter- continuance mining began in the way we observed, and thence- ing and forth down to the time which at last has been mining , -, , , . ' . , , , operations reached by this narrative, the subterranean war- fare undertaken by the French and the Eussians was maintained on both sides with great bravery, devotion, and skill ; so that near me — pathetic, and teaching the vanity of human affairs — there stand or lie down (as they have stood or lain clown through long years), grand folios, and — ampler in number— grand quartos, achieved with mighty labour and skill, and not only laying be- fore me minute and authentic accounts of the battles that raged underground during several months, but elucidating the proffered lessons by numberless elaborate plans, and by illustrations —some of them coloured — so apt for their pur- 27th June 1855. t On the 27th of June. Ibid. ; and the answer to Pelissier despatched the same day by our Headquarters Staff.
 * As well shown by Pelissier in letter to Lord Raglan, dated