Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/399

 THE PLAN 01' THE ENTEEPRISE. 369 uould be tlirowii, in tbe first iustauce, iipou that chap. portion of the Allied force which might be chosen ^^^' to form their left wing. In the armies of Europe the riglit is the side of The French precedence, and from the time that the AVestern right '* Powers had begun to act together in Turkey, the French had always claimed, or rather had always taken, the right. Now, it happened that, both in Turkey and in the Crimea, the side of precedence was the side nearest to the sea, whilst the left was the side nearest to the enemy. Lord Raglan had observed all this, but he had observed in silence ; and finding the right always seized by our Allies, he had quietly put up M'ith the left. Yet he was not without humour ; and now, when he saw that, in this hazardous movement along the coast, the French were still taking the right, there was something like archness in his way of remarking that, although the French were bent upon taking precedence of him, their courtesy still gave him the post of danger. This he well might say ; for, so far as concerned the duty of covering the venturesome march which was about to be under- taken, the whole stress of the enterprise was tlu'own upon the English army. The French force was covered on its right flank by the sea, on its front and rear by the fire from the steamers and on its left by the English army. On the other hand, the English army, though covered on its right flank by the French, was exposed in front, and in rear, and on its whole left flank, to the full brunt of the enemy's attacks. If the VOL. IL 2 A