180 THE APRIL BOMBARDMENT. C vr" P ' vouc hsafe them, without having themselves any ■ — sense of a power to strike in return. For the sake of what they owed to punctilio, they of course could go on with a fire which, if harmless to the enemy, was still provoking enough to make him persevere in his efforts against their own hampered battery ; and this they faithfully did, never ceasing from the task thrown upon them till, after nearly eight hours of what was perhaps too one-sided to be aptly called ' fighting,' the appointed reliefs in due course came down to take their places. Of the force under Walcott, Assistant-Surgeon Cockerill and seven men were disabled. It was in recognition of the services thus ren- dered in the No. VII. and No. VIII. batteries on the 14th of April that Lord Raglan awarded high praise to Captain Henry and Captain Walcott and the officers and men engaged under them ;( 13 ) doing this at the first by an Order of the 15th of April, which not only expressed his ' approbation 1 of their conduct,' but also his ' warmest thanks ' for their gallantry and steady perseverance in ' the discharge of their duty ; ' and two days afterwards by a despatch of like import addressed to the Secretary of State.* The engage- Our reliefs, bravely steadfast, gave full effect meats in the J ' ° Nos. vn. to the theory then largely accepted in camp — to
- I believe that Lord Raglan trusted mainly to the Report
framed by Major (now Lieutenant-General) Bent, R.E. See Appendix, Note ( l:i ). With respect to the brilliant part taken by General (then Captain) Bent, R.E., in the battle of Giurgevo. see ante, vol. ii. chap. xiii. and VIII.
