Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/347

 ACROSS THE BLACK SEA, 317 clieerful deference, which prevented them from chap • XX throwing any further obstacle in the way of the 1_ enterprise. The armada moved on. Again and again it has happened that mighty The use he • f T 1 P n TO, makes of his armaments, including the forces of several States power. and people of diverse races, have been gathered and drawn into scenes of conflict by the will of one man ; but, in general, when such things have been done, the compelling mind has been brought to its resolve by the cogency of satisfied reason or by force of selfish desire. What was new in this enterprise was, that he who inexorably forced it on did not of himself desire it, nor deem it to be wise, nor even in a high degree prudent; and the power which had strength to bend the whole armada to the purpose of the invasion was, not ambition inflamed, nor reason convinced, but the mere loyalty of an English officer refusing to stint the obedience which he owed to the Minister of his Queen. On the 9th, the whole of the English fleet with The English its convoy was anchored in deep water at the poiutof appointed rendezvous, a spot forty miles west of Cape Tarkaud. Lord Eaglan made haste to use the great powers Lord nagian with which he was now invested, and he deter- undertakes a reconnais- mined to reconnoitre the coast with his own eyes, sanceof At four o'clock on the morning of the 10th, General Caurobert and the other French officers who were to attend the reconnaissance came on board the Caradoc. Lord Eaglan had with him Sir Edmund Lyons, Sir John Burgoyne, and Sir