ADVANCE TO THE BELBEC. 355 ships, but also in order to give time for a further chap. reconnaissance of the field-work at the mouth of l,_,, the Belbec. The request was conveyed by Colonel Troclm, who brought a note signed by himself, which he left in the hands of Lord Eaglan. In English, the note runs thus : ' Last night news reached the
- French camp that the Eussians had yesterday
' destroyed the entrance of the port of Sebastopol ' by sinking five ships and two frigates. Thence ' there results a new situation, on the subject of ' which the Marshal sends me to confer with his ' lordship Lord Eaglan. Besides, the Eussians ' have constructed in advance of Fort Constantine* ' a battery which directly commands the mouth of ' the Belbec, where the siege materials and the sup- ' plies have to be disembarked, and where the line ' of march is which the French army would have ' to take. Pending the expression of opinion on ' this subject by his lordship Lord Eaglan, the Mar- ' shal has adjourned the departure for some hours. Lord Eaglan, of course, could do no otherwise than yield to the request, more especially on the last ground assigned ; for the field-work to which it referred stood opposite — not to the English, but — to the Marshal's line of advance, and (un- less it were shunned altogether) would have to be dealt with by the French.
- Colonel Trochu meant the * Star Fort. ' It was common at
the time in the Allied camps to call the ' Star Fort ' * Fort ' Constantine.' The real Fort Constantine, however, was a sea- fort at the mouth of the Sebastopol bay.
