210 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. CHAP, he wa s ordered ' to attack the Russians in the val
- • ' ley about three-quarters of a mile distant with
' the 13th Light Dragoons and the 17th Lancers.' * Lord Lucan's idea as to the way in which this direction of his ought to have been executed is as follows : — He says : ' After giving -j- to Lord 1 Cardigan the order brought to me from Colonel j ' Airey by Captain Nolan I urged his Lordship to ' advance steadily, and to keep his men well in ' hand. § My idea was that he was to use his dis- ' cretion and act as circumstances might showthem- ' selves ; my opinion is that keeping his four squad- ' rons under perfect control he should have halted ' them so soon as he found that there was no useful ' object to be gained, but great risk to be incurred ; ' it was clearly his duty to have handled his bri- ' gade as I did the Heavy Brigade, and so saved ' them from much useless and unnecessary loss.' Lord Cardigan did not so understand the task
- Private memorandum in Lord Cardigan's handwriting, and
by him forwarded to Lord Eaglan 27th October 1854. I prefer this to Lord Cardigan's subsequent account, as being earlier — within two days of the battle — and being also a statement de- liberately prepared for the Commander of the Forces. The ' three-fourths of a mile ' was, of course, estimate only, and it applied to an extent of ground which was really more than a mile and a quarter. The two regiments which he mentions as those with which he had attacked were the troops constituting his first line. + He does not mean that he handed the paper to Lord Cardi- gan, but that he either read it over to him, or gave him the tenor of it. According to Lord Cardigan, no such communica- tion took place. J He means General Airey. § The way in which Lord Lucan handled the Heavy Brigade in the North Valley will be seen in a later page.
