Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/71

 IN THE WAR AGAINST KUSSIA. 4.1 ' guarantee.' His pride was touched. Tortured by c H A p. the thought that his power to hold the pledge was 1_ challenged by a Turkisli officer, he began to ex- haust his strength in efforts to assemble a force at the westernmost point of his extended flank. This was the error which Omar Pasha wished him to commit. At the close of the year, the Czar had succeeded in pushing a heavy body of troops into Lesser Walhichia ; and in the beginning of Jan- uary the lines of Kalafat were attacked by Gen- eral Aurep. The struggle lasted four days, but it ended in the retreat of the Kussian forces ; and considering the vast distance between the lines of Kalafat and the home of the Eussian army, it may be inferred that this fruitless effort of im- perial pride must have worked a deep cavity in the military strength of the Czar. Moreover, Omar Pasha took another, and a not less skilful advantage of the political considerations which prevented the Pussians from passing the Danube; for, during the winter, he fleshed his troops by indulging them with enterprises against the enemy's posts along the whole liue of the Lower Danube from Widdin to Passova ; and since these attacks were often attended with success, and could never be signally repressed by an enemy who had precluded himself from the right of crossing the river, they gave the Turks that sense of strenoth in fi"ht which is at the root of warlike prowess. Early in the winter, the Emperor Nicholas came to understand the fault he had committed