Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/40

 10 I'ELISSIER'S RESOLVES. CHAP, though gathered and ready for battle, would . — . still bo so circumstanced on the Chersonese and the neighbouring plain as to be able to do little or nothing towards bringing the strife to a close. V. paiissier'g Yet, with all its repulsiveness Pelissier pre- ferred this last plan. He declined to undertake operations against the Kussian field army, whether hazarded (as the Emperor urged) by effecting an advance from Aloushta, or attacking from ground further west, or again (as Lord Kaglan had coun- selled) by directing a movement from Eupatoria against the enemy's rear. He determined to go on waging war against the south side of Sebas- topol by the simple, though bloody expedient of resolutely pressing the siege ; and, finally, he meant or desired that, till after the end of this sie^e, the bulk of the four Allied armies should remain held together like one. It is true that (in concert with Lord Eaglan) Pelissier deter- mined to resume the Kertch expedition, and (for many good reasons) agreed that — employing for the purpose their cavalry, and other bodies of troops not engaged in the work of the siege — the Allies should take ground to their right in the valley of the Tchernaya; but the first of these operations was to be one of only brief duration, and the other one harmonised perfectly with that part of Pelissier's design which required — how- ever anomalously — that, although so placed and