364 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, could not but feel that he was giving his chival- L rous obedience to a wrongly - interpreted order; and there is nothing more trying to a soldier thau the notion of being sacrificed by mistake. The splendid machine which he had been trusted to wield was so perfectly constituted, and composed of men so resolute, that although ever lessening and lessening in size as the squadrons advanced down the valley, they never broke up until they had entered the battery; and as long as it was possible for the attack to go on in that orderly, disciplined way, so long, notwithstand- ing all the havoc that round - shot, grape, and rifle-balls were making, and notwithstanding the slenderness of the thread on which his own life seemed each moment hanging, the leader per- formed what he believed to be his duty with an admirable exactness, and a courage so rigid, that almost one might call it metallic. I cannot but think that by a feat of devotion so brave, so des- perate, and yet, during some eight or ten deadly minutes, so deliberately pushed on to extremity, he entitled himself to a generous interpretation of what he next did when his peace-service lessons all failed him.* It has been said indeed that Lord Cardigan's attack was deprived of the heroic character which might otherwise have belonged to it by the fac*
- This, as I understand, was the ground on which the Lord
Chief Justice proceeded when he said that criticism of the man who led the Light Cavalry charge ' should Le a generous and ' liberal criticism.'— Judyimnt of the Lord Chief Justice.
