Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/288

 244 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP, of course, know suflicieiitly well that for an ^^- army poor in numbers and bodily strength, yet warding off an enemy's hosts during many a week by the true might of heart and soul, one would vainly bespeak the applause accorded by men to a ' victory ; ' but a thinking observer may tell himself (though he cannot so make the world judge) that with all its undying re- nown, the weird battle of the 5 th of November proved no higlier, no more warlike quality in commander or officers or men than did the struggle maintained by Lord Eaglau and his troops when unmovedly confronting the enemy throughout the dire winter period with what, in a sense, may be called the dread spectre of our Tnkerman army. What our troops had to do, if they could, was to maintain their ground day and night, under all the rigours of weather, against an enemy hugely greater in numbers, with the resources of a fortress behind him, to fend off his immi- nent masses by maintaining such a demeanour as might deter him from seizing his opportunity, and finally, to persist in tliis struggle until the needed reinforcements should land. The pro- blem — scarcely put into words — for words would have bred a new danger — was faith- fully worked out by Lord Eaglan, by his officers, by his men. Although enduring priv- ations rendered cruel by stress of winter, and maintaining day after day, nay, week after week, nay, even montli after month those alternations of watchfulness and comlat which