28 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. II. CHAP. I. Isolated position of the forces defending Balaclava. Increasing strength and bold- ii. ss of the Russians in the valley of the Tcher- naya. The strength and compactness of the position taken up by the Allies on the Chersonese upland was not at all shared, as we know, by the scanty detachment of infantry which Lord Eaglan had been able to spare for the defence of Balaclava. Stationed apart in the plain below, this small force was in such local relation to the Allied army on the Chersonese as to be lying outside, and at the foot of the natural castle from which the main body looked down.* Yet Balaclava was the storehouse, the arsenal, the port, whence the English drew all their sup- plies ; and such was the anomalous character of the arrangements which Lord Eaglan had been forced to adopt, that, instead of being safely en- sconced in the rear of the main Allied camp, the material sources of the English strength lay in- viting the enterprise of Prince Mentschikoffs field army, and in charge, so to speak, of an out- post. It, however, seemed feasible to construct a system of field-works which would enable the troops left out in the plain below to withstand an attack for such time as to allow of the needed reinforcements coming down to their aid from the upland ; and the English were quickened in their sense of the importance belonging to this part of their task, by the always increasing strength and
- See Invasion of the Crimea, vol. IV. of Cabinet Edition,
p]>. 4a et teq. and 232 et seq.
