336 THE CANNONADE OF C 1 1 A XIll 7 o'clock A.M. 17th Oct., a new plan of attack suddenly insisted upon by the French. ■way to tliG French in regard to the time for begin- ning, Dundas ju'rliaps suffered himself to hope tliat thencefortli ho wouhl be left free to execute his part of the joint naval enterprise without undergoing fresli guidance. But at seven o'clock in the morning of the 17lii, Admiral Hamelin, to the astonishment of Dundas, came on board the Britannia, and announced a new plan of attack. To say that he ' proposed ' it to Dundas for his consideration would be to mis- lead. By the means which will be presently shown, he forced it upon the English Admiral. It would seem, however, that Admiral Hamelin spoke in the name of his commanding ofTicer, General Canrobert, and not as an Admiral pro- pounding any scheme of his own ; for, personally, Admiral Hamelin is believed to have been ever loyal in his relations with Dundas ; * and he was not a man who would willingly have outraged his English colleague by undertaking to put him under compulsion. Nor, indeed, is it likely that Cani-obert himself would have been inclined to enter upon any such line of action at a time when his judgment was for believing the above statement to be accurate, I do not ob- .scrvc any mention of this supenseded plan in the strictly au- thentic documents which are the foundation of what comes next in the text.
- Dundas well knew, I believe, that Hamelin, when he had
to make communications of this unwarrantable sort, was acting under the peremptory orders of his commanding oflicer. General Canrobert ; and 1 believe the English Admiral's friends will bear me out when I say that he always spoke warmly of Hame- lin's loyal disposition towards him.
