PLAJi OF ATTACKING THE NORTH SIDE. 375 which (along with its adjuncts) would be only chaf. defended by its mere garrison, lie looked upon it as a part only of an extended line of defence. He looked upon it as marking the dominant feature of an entrenched position which, in his judgment, might be advantageously defended by an army ; and then, having formed that opinion, he went on to infer that a like opinion would govern the decisions of the enemy, and that by a whole army accordingly the position would be defended.* There, he erred. There was no in- tention on the part of the Russians to attempt to defend the position by means of an army ; and it must be added that the mistake of believing the contrary was one that might have been cleared away by a careful reconnaissance. But if the relinquishment of the North Side was not to be justified upon military grounds, there was still this to sa} for the measure : — it was a way out of trouble. We have seen that Rccapitu- when, the day after the battle, Lord Raglan pro- mei.t of the posed, to St Arnaud ' at once to advance to the objection ' Belbec, cross that rivei-, and then assault the the 'Nortii ' forts,' the Marshal answered that ' his troops ' were tired, and that it could not be done.'"f- We also learnt that on the following day, the 22d. Lord Raglan was ' again urging on the French ' General to advance across the Belbec,' and, for
- In Sir John Burgoj'ne's 'Military Opinions,' p. 238, the
expressed ground of objection to an attack of the Star Fort was, that the position would be defended by an ' army. ' It was Burgoyne himself who put the word in italics. + Statement of Sir E. Lyons, ante. chap, iii.
