Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/132

102 iiKuuiC j;esistanck of skbastopol CHAP. This cuumiaiidui-, tliou<'h fulh' as willing as . L- soldier or sailor should be to part witb his ease. and encounter all dangers for the sake of liis sovewiign and ])ii* I'.cuntiy, was of too desponding a nature, and too distrustful of himself, to be tviual. to t'le stress of a high command at a time when the emergencies requiring to be dealt with were not only momentous, but also of a kind quite novel, lie had made it the rule of his life to try to avoid engaging in any undertaking unless he could make himself sure beforehand that he was qualified to go through it well : and imagining that he was hardly competent to com- mand forces acting on shore, he waited on Prince jVIentschikoff, before the Prince's departure, and told him that ' he was ready to die for the good ' of his country, that he was willing to place him- ' self under the orders of a junior, and that, in ' that way, he would be happy to lend his co- ' operation, but that he could not be himself a ' good general of land forces.' Prince Mentschi- koff answered that he did not consider this speech as a refusal, and made no change in his arrange- ments. Besides having the charge thus forced upon him, Nachimoff remained in command of one of the two squadrons into which the lilack Sea fleet had been divided. Vice- Vice-Admiral Korniloff continued to be the Koranotr. ' Chief of the Staff' of the Black Sea fleet, and remained in command of his naval squadron ; but, independently of these I'luictions, the Prince, upon quitting Scbastopol, entrusted to Korniloff tho