Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/311

THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 289 determine that, hi obedience to the hard mandates chap. of Duty, and for the preservation of the troops which still remain in his hands, he will suffer an adventured portion of his force to go on to its fate unsupported ; and especially must he be troubled in spirit if the words which drove his people into a desperate path were words from his own lips. Wild as was the notion of sending a force to Lord Luean. run the gauntlet between the Fedioukine Hills and the Causeway Heights, yet, supposing the sacrifice to be irrevocably vowed, Lord Lucan seems to have formed a good conception of the way in which it could best be performed. He saw that in such an undertaking extension of front was an object of vastly less importance than the maintenance of an unfailing connection be- tween the troops employed along the whole line of the advance. In short, he considered that the first line should be followed at intervals by suc- cessive lines of support, all forming the links of a chain so connected that, happen what might, the whole British cavalry would be a body of troops acting together under one commander, and consti- tuting a powerful unit. It was in part execution of this plan that he had divided the Light Brigade into three lines ; and, intending to effect a corre- sponding disposition of Scarlett's Dragoons, he trusted that the several links thus provided would form an unbroken chain of sufficing length. The advance of our cavalry, however, had gone on but a short time when it became apparent that vol. v- T