GROUNDS OF LORD RAGLAN'S DECISION. 167
French were undergoing discomfiture and suffering C HA P.
cruel losses. We have been learning again and L_
again that, to meet the full exigencies of modern
war, more especially one carried on by allied
Powers, a commander must needs be a statesman ;
nor, since generals are, after all, men, and some-
times men of noble quality, can they always
be rigidly forced in even the business of war,
to repress every generous impulse.
The moment had come when deferring to the
mandates of policy, and yielding too, one may
own, to the sway of a chivalrous nature, Lord
Eaglan would surrender his judgment on that
purely military question which formed part —
yet still only a part — of the more complex ques-
tion involved.
Under this stress of motives, Lord Eaglan deter- His resolve,
mined to accelerate the execution of those plans
for using his infantry which down to about nine
o'clock on the previous evening had been fixed for
a later time, and not only at once to invade the
enemy's territory in the direction of the Eeressip,
but also — and this was the graver resolve — to
assail the Eedan from a distance of between 400
and 500 yards without having first conquered its
lire by duly using his siege-guns.
VIII.
The arrangements contingently made for as- Measure
saulting the Eedan at its salient, and support- s " : '
ing any capture of the work which our troops
