Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/253

BY THE ALLIKS. 223 swiftness; but, so soon as the Allies had aban- chap. VIIJ doned to their foe his great line of communication, L_ and had also made up their minds to engage in a plan of slow warfare, then, in the full sense of the phrase (and without having means for their task), they became the invaders of Eussia. Till that time, they had had to do with a provincial governor, far away from the centre of power, incredulous of the rumours which heralded their coming, surprised by their descent on his coast. Now — for so they had chosen — they were going to be confronted by the gathering strength of a nation. Now — and hardly before — they were brought face to face with the Czar. Nor were those the only embarrassments which resulted from the flank march. AVhen, on the 25th of September, the Allies began to descend from the steep sides of the Mackenzie Heights into the valley of the Tchernaya, they little im- other evi;s agined that they were abdicating their power to Tng^toThp " operate aggressively against all Eussian forces theif'fiallk which might approach Sebastopol by the great road from r>aktchi Serai. Yet so it was. From the head of the roadstead to the Mackenzie Heights, and thence on far to the eastward, be- yond the reach of forces besieging Sebastopol, the ground was so strong that an army stationed or moving on any part of the range could look down and defy the attack of those who would assail from the south. The result was that, whilst the general in command of a relieving force would be in free and safe communication with Baktchi Seriii, Sim- ' march