Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/43

 RESISTANCE OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. 13 law. '1 am Brmly determined/ he said, 'not to chap. i. ' launch into the unknown, to avoid adventures, ' and not to act without knowledge of what I am ' doing, or without the documents and the infor- ' mation necessary for the rational leadership of ' an army.' Speaking of the counter-approaches in tin; Faubourg still held by the Russians, he said in four words: 'We must have them'; and then, after giving his reasons for this decision, he said: 'AH this maybe painfully difficult, but it ' is possible, and to undertake it I am irrevocably ' determined. Such also is the opinion of the ' other Commanders-in-Chief.' * Here then was the will of Pelissier declared to be fixed as Fate. In words no less absolute — but these last, were they soundly prophetic of real achievements to come, or even indeed of the steadfastness of Pelissier's resolve? — the writer went on to an- nounce that ulterior autumn campaign which was to be brought within reach by first going through the siege ordeal. ' The South Side,' he wrote, ' of ' Sebastopol being once taken, its resources carried ' off, and parked in our fortified ports of Balaclava ' and Kamiesh, the arsenal, the stocks destroyed, ' and thrown into the sea, the remains of the ' Eussian fleet sunk, we shall leave on the Cher- ' sonese from 15,000 to 20,000 men, and with ' 130,000 shall execute an autumn campaign, un- • trammelled by other tasks, and, if it please God, ' with some glory.'
 * Rousset, vol. ii. p. 184 ct seq.