CHAP. IX.
The French and the English Headquarters. Both the French and the English headquarters were established on the Chersonese — the English in a farmhouse a little to the north of the pass which led up from Balaclava, and the French at a spot farther west.[1] Lord Baglan was advantageously placed ; for whilst he could com- municate quickly both with his besieging forces and with Balaclava, as also with General Canrobert, he was also so near to the crest of the Sapounè Heights as to be able in a few minutes to obtain a commanding view of the plain of Balaclava, the valley of the Tchernaya, and those neighbouring heights towards the east and north- east, from which, if bent on an enterprise, a Russian field army might come.
- ↑ It was on the 5th of October that the English Headquarters were moved up from Balaclava to the heights.
created enabled a reader of the Wellington despatches and letters to feel the force of those expressions of the Duke's, in which lie used to speak of himself as dependent for his repose upon the presence or absence of some one man — upon the presence, for instance, of Murray, as his Quartermaster-General, or upon the absence of Massena as his opponent. Lord Raglan seemed much gratified by hearing of the moral effect produced by the appointment, and then said that he had been greatly pleased at the way in which Campbell accepted the charge. He said that upon his asking Campbell to take charge of Balaclava, Campbell, though he supposed at the moment that he was to be subordinated to Lord Lucan, replied, without the least hesitation, 'Certainly, sir ; I will place myself at once under 'Lord Lucan's orders.' Lord Raglan said he immediately explained to Sir Colin that his was to be an independent command.
