284 LORD RAGLAN'S JUDGMENT chap, would discuss it with Canrobert. Lord Raglan XL . did not respond. On the ground that he was takenby still in expectation of the instruction which Lord ian: **" Panmure had promised to send him, he avoided — at least for a time — the discussion proposed; his opinion hut his opinion of the Emperor's plan was soon of the plan; . L r and decisively formed. 'The project/ he writes, — ' the project of his Imperial Majesty appears to ' be open to many objections. It would divide ' the allied forces far more than is desirable, and ' throw a large portion of them into a country ' where from its nature the difficulty of communi- ' cation between the several columns would be ' necessarily great, and where therefore the en- ' emy might fall in great force upon one body ' without the one next it being able to render it ' assistance.' * And relied ion confirmed his opinion ; for in reference to that part of the plan which com- mitted the defence of the siege-works to 30,000 French and 30,000 Turks, he afterwards wrote : — ' The trenches with the material in them would 1 not be safe ; and, should they be forced, the de- ' pots of Balaclava and Kamiesh upon which the ' existence of the allied armies depends would be ' exposed to great danger. The garrison of Se- ' bastopol is estimated at from 37,000 to 42,000 ' men. The troops on the north side consist of ' very large numbers, and a great portion of them ' might be so massed in the town as that they ' could fall with a superior force upon either the
- Lord Raglan to Secretary of State, Secret, May 5, 1855
