Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/48

22 BATTLE OF THE AUIA. CHAP. I. French were covered and su])ported on their right by the sea and the ships ; on their left, by the Enghsh army. The English were covered on their right by the French, but they marched with their left flank quite bare. The French advanced upon heights well surveyed from the sea. Ex- cept in an imperfect way from maps, the English knew nothing of the ground before them. No deserters, no spies had come in. Conference the ni^'ht before the battle be- tween St Arnaud and Lord Raglan. Ill, Late in the evening of the 19th, Marshal St Arnaud, attended by Colonel Trochu, rode up to the little post-house on the Bulganak in which Lord Raglan had established his quarters. He came to concert a plan of attack for the following day. From on board their ships the French had long been busily engaged in surveying the enemy's posi- tion, and by this time they had gathered a good deal of knowledge of that part of the ground which lies near the sea-shore. They had ascertained, or found means of inferring, that the stream was fordable at its mouth, and they moreover assured themselves that, at the time of their last observa- tions, the West Cliff was not occupied in strength by the enemy. Upon these important discoveries overcome or eluded ; and the security of the defender depends not in general upon those geogi-aphical features which would make access difficult for travellers, but rather upon such a con- formation of ground as will give him the means of doing harm to his assailants.