THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 201 that the Commander who sent the order hud the chap. whole field of battle before him, whilst the critic who undertook to condemn it was so placed (upon the lower ground) that to him neither enemy nor guns were in sight ; * nor must it be forgotten that this condemnation of the order was based upon its written words, unalloyed by any oral addition, and stands earlier in point of time than that outbreak of Nolan's which was after- wards alleged as a warrant for the course pursued by Lord Lucan. But, unhappily, Lord Lucan did not restrict The aiter- himself to a silent condemnation of the order, between With the bearer of the note for his listener, he and No'ia ^ suffered himself to run out against the order of his chief. Conceiving (erroneously) that he rightly understood the nature of the enterprise which Lord Eaglan's written words had enjoined, he urged the uselessness of such an attack, and the dangers attending it.-f- By this language apparently Lord Lucan chal- lenged the messenger to encounter him in wordy dispute, and to defend, if he could, the order of the Commander-in-Chief. Nolan was a man who had gathered in Con- tinental service the habit of. such extreme and such rigid deference to any general officer, that his comrades imagined him to be the very last
- ' Neither enemy nor guns being in sight.' — Speech of Lord
Lucan in the House of Lords. t ' After carefully reading the order, I urged the uselessness of such an attack, and the dangers attending it.' — Lord Lucan'."! speech in House of Lords.
