Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/570

 526 APPENDIX. 30 to speak, at its own home), every English division af- fording troops for the battle had also duties elsewhere which could not be neglected. The Guards had, perforce, to maintain an extensive system of pickets on an unat- tacked part of the ground ; and at the Inkerman time, the 3d, the 4th, and the Light Divisions were all of them pro- viding men for the trenches. Under such conditions it was not, of course, sufl&cient to know the strength of the ' effectives ' on the morning of the 5th of November ; for one had to learn also how many of them were actually marched off from their camps to the field of battle. I am glad to be able to say that as regards this last mat- ter, I have been able to attain to what — though foreignei-s may question it — my fellow-countrymen will regard as cer- tainty. Every statement that I make of the English num- bers present at Inkerman, rests, I may say, upon the per- sonal assurance, and therefore upon the personal honour, of an English ofiicer. To say this, is, as I think, enough; but I will make myself guilty of a little supererogation, and add that every officer on whom I thus rely, is, or was in his lifetime, a man of high distinction. This will be presently made evident by a simple state- ment of the names; but as respects the strength of the Guards at Inkerman, it becomes me to speak separately. Upon that subject — and it was one involving some little complexity — his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge graciously permitted me to communicate with him ; and not only aided me by the resources of his personal know- ledge, but also by obtaining the aid of Colonel Stephenson and other officers of the Guards. The sources on which I rely for the strength of the English forces engaged at Inkerman wiU now be given as under : —