Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/393

 THE PLAN OF THE ENTEKPRISE. 363 111 Alfforia the French had brou2;ht the system chap. XXIV of using small ' movable columns ' to a high state 1 of perfection. One might there see a force com- plete in all arms, carrying M-ith it the bread and the cartridges, and driving betwixt its battalions the little herd of cattle which would enable it to live and to ficrht ; mirdit see it biddiuf^ farewell — farewell for perhaps several weeks — to all its other resources, and boldly venturing into the midst of a wihlerness alive with angry foes. But the Arabs and Kabyles, though not without some of the warlike virtues, were, upon tlic wliole, too unintelligent and too feeble to be able to put the system of the ' movable column ' to a test sufficing to prove that the contrivance would hold good in Europe.* Upon the wliole, it may be acknowledged that, for operating in a country where the enemy is looked upon as at all formidable, the employment of a 'movable column' is a measure which will be likely to win more favour from those who love an adventure, than from those who arc acquainted "with the art of war. lUit whichever of the two methods be chosen, it is of great moment to choose decisively, taking care that the operations are carried on in a way consistent with the priuci})le of the system on which they proceed. A general conducting regu- lar operations must be wary, circumspect, and night attacks, and this liabit of theirs was of inestimable advan- tage to the French.
 * It was the custom of tlic Arabs to abstain rigorously from