THE COUNSELS OF THE ALLIES. 211
- own opinion is that we are lieve for the winter, chap,
' maintaining only a strong position until we can '^'
- be reinforced.' *
If the determination to reject all suggestions The gradual /> 1, , -in 11 process liy lor an assault M-as too easily tormed, the causes wwchtiie Allies which averted full deliberation can be well enough brought . theniselvos seen. In the first place, the insidious form under totiieir ... . conclusion. which the question presented itself gave a dan- gerous smoothness to the process of forming a resolve. 'We have our siege-trains, and shall ' we not use them to get down the enemy's
- fire before we deliver the assault?' This seems
to have been the question M-hich men thought they had to deal with ; and, supposing it to be understood too narrowly, and without a percep- tion of the ulterior consequences to which it might lead, the plan was dangerously easy of acceptance. All those, of course, could adopt it who approved the idea of entering upon engineer operations more or less resembling a siege ; and, on the other hand, those who would have recoiled from the imprudence of wilfully conceding to the enemy a respite of twenty days, might unwit- tingly assent to a measure which did not, in terms, do more than add some heavy artillery to the other resources of the Allies ; for at this
- Private letter from General Airey to Lord Hardinge, 3d
October 1854. I never heard Generel Airey insist, or even, I think, mention, that he had been able to take this clear- sighted view at so early a day ; but after the death of the late Lord Hardinge a quantity of papers which had been in hi.s possession came into my hands, and amongst them 1 found the note above cited.
