Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/495

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APPENDIX. 465 there. I produce a letter from Sir Edmund Lyons to Lord Eaglan, of the 30th of September, in which Lyons says lie ' shall be anxious to know the effect produced upon Sir ' John Burgoyne's mind by his reconnaissance yesterday,

  • and also the result of Canrobert's night reflection upon

' the proposition of yesterday ; ' and adding, in immediate connection with the above, that the Avriter will ' wait on ' his lordship, after breakfast.' Does not this letter go far, very far, towards proving that there was then going on that very species of consultation between Lord Eaglan and Sir Edmund Lyons which is recorded in Mr Loch's MS., and to which (on the ground of the supposed improba- bility) Sir John Burgoyne declines to give ready credence ? The letter is in Sir Edmund's handwriting, and it came to me with the rest of Lord Eaglaii's pap»ers. As I intimated in cliapter xi.,* the (Commander of the English forces took pains apparently to avoid identifying himself ostensibly with any proposal for resorting to im- mediate assault, and I have reason to believe that he main- tained this reserve even when Sir George Cathcart was advocating the measure. I have shown that the course thus taken by Lord Eaglan was Avise and politic ; but obviously it was calculated to throw some difficulty in the way of a writer who might endeavour to acquaint himself with the true purport of the transactions in question. I liowever submit that that difficulty has been overcome b} the many concurrent proofs which will be found accumulated ante in chapter xi.,* and in section vi. of the Appendix. On the 4th of August Sir John Burgoyne addressed to the Editor of the ' Times ' newspaper the following letter. In order to facilitate reference, I have prefixed a number to each paragraph : — iSiii, — 1. The depreciating view taken Ly the British public of the military operations of tlieir own countrymen on many occasions is

  • Chap. vii. of this Edition.

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