354 ADVANCE TO THE BELBEC. CHAP. IV. Sunday the 24tli. New obstruction perceived by the French : their re- quest for a little delay. On tlic moruing of Sunday the 24th of Septem- ber, the Allies made ready to begin the march which was to bring them to the Belbec, and place them in presence of the Severn ay a, or northern side of Sebastopol. They were checked. The reported existence of a fresh covered battery commanding the mouth of the Belbec had been already put forward by the French Commander as an obstacle which might force the Allies to swerve from their purpose ; * and now that the advancing armies were at last on the banks of the Katcha, the Marshal's avowed anxiety on the subject of this new field-work still hung in the way of the enterprise. The French, as we know, were on the right ; or, in other words, next to the sea. Theirs was the part of the Allied army which (if the advance should be con- tinued in the direction hitherto followed) would be brought opposite to the newly-formed battery ; and, not unnaturally, they deemed it to be within their peculiar and separate province to judge of the importance of an obstacle which lay, as they thought, in their path. Moreover, it had now be- come known at the French Headquarters that the enemy had sunk men-of-war across the mouth of the Sebastopol roadstead. At seven in the morning. Lord Eaglan received a message from the French Marshal requesting that the march might be postponed till ten o'clock, not only for the purpose of considering the aspect of affairs as altered by the sinking of the enemy's
- See ante, chap, iii., and post, chap. v.
