98 EVASION OF MENTSCIIIKOFF AND HIS CHAr. Illation, liis iiiiiul on this subject remained so ' blank, and bis desire of knowledge so languid, that, at a time -wlion the English vere marching at a distance of but three or four miles from his desk, he was able to write thus to Kornilolf: ' Bivouac near the Otark village, on the Belbec, ' 13th [25tli] September 1854. We arrived here ' at eight o'clock in the morning, and sent some ' Cossacks in advance. Our further movements ' will depend upon the position of the enemy, and
- it would be therefore desirable to get, from time
' to time, some information from Sebastopol as to ' the position of our adversaries. We neither see ' nor hear anything of the enemy here.' So that, being himself within half an hour's ride of the English liivouac, he sent back all the Avay to Sebastopol, and asked of the sailors there left to their fate some news of the enemy's movements. Here again, it would seem, there was proof that a too-laboured military system has a tendency to unfit men for warfare; because, after owning thus that he knew not where the invading armies were, nor what they might be doing, the Prince went on to speak of a military process for acquiring the needed information, which was to be commenced with all form and ceremony — not then, but — on the following day. 'I hope,' he writes, 'the ad- tlic Malakoft' liill anil tlio ground between that and the Careen- ing I'ay, and liis anxiety could not Iiave heen ranjjing in that direction unless he had apprelieiided that the Allies would march to tho south coast.
