Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/65

 pelissier's resolve. 35 of opinion established between the Emperor and chap. Pdlissier, any hope that this gulf- wide difference '. might be treated as a ' misunderstanding ' remov- able by patience and words could hardly have failed to prove welcome ; but no such outlet lay open. Each, Emperor and General alike, asserted Antagonism -...., .. between his strongly fixed will with so great a precision Louis , ° J, , r. Napoleon that the antagonism between the two men be- audPeiis- came, and remained, clear as day. Upon all the five questions that had to be solved, their two judgments, — I might say, their 'decisions' (for eacli of them thought to be master), — were, not simply differing, but opposite. Pelissier deter- Pelissier's mined — determined, as he said, 'irrevocably' — solves; that by stress of close siege operations he would carry the south of Sebastopol. He determined that, till after achieving his purpose against the 'South side' of Sebastopol, he would order no field operations with a view of investing the place^ 1 ) He determined that, without more delay than was needed for due preparation, he would attack and reconquer every one of the counter-approaches to which Canrobert had sub- mitted. He determined that, with troops not re- quired for the toils of the siege, he would occupy ground extending to the left bank of the Tcher- naya. He determined that, along with the Eng- lish, he would renew the Expedition to Kertch. To every one of these measures the Emperor op- r.ouis posed his authority. One or other — the Emperor p$se°Ua or the General — would have to give way, or else them. to be forcibly vanquished.