Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/367

HELD OF THE AO[A. 3il ture was a paiuful one. I have never leaiut that chap. . Ill the Marshal proposed any alternative plan ; and 1_ for a while the pause of the Allies was not a mere halt. The enterprise stopped. It might seem that now once more — and this, too, on the morrow of a victory — the expedition was in danger of coming to an end ; but if Lord liagian had undertaken a venturesome campaign in loyal obedience to the desire of the Queen's Government rather than to his own judgment, for that very reason perhaps he was the more steadfast iu his resolve to overcome or elude all obstacles : and the moment he found himself encountered by tliis sudden recusancy at the French Headquarters, he sought and perceived a way by which his continued persistence in the enterprise against Sebastopol could be made to consist with St Arnaud's refusal to go on and attack the North Forts. Lord Eaglan, indeed, liad not yet abandoned the liope that this refusal might be withdi-awn ; but, for the time, he had to deal with it as a decision which was only too likely to be adhered to : and accordingl}', but only on the supposition that St Arnaud might really persist in refusing to attack the North Forts, Lord liaghtn proposed for consideration a plan of cam- paign which would relieve the Allies from the duty of having to march against the northern de- fences, by transferring the theatre of war from the spirits. On asking him the cause, he (Lord Raglan) said' [then follows the account of Lord Raglan's second interview with St Arnaud as above jciven].