Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 6.djvu/200

156 THE BATl'LE OF INKEIJMAN. CHAP. VI. t Period. Quality of the English ofBcer when isolated with only a small body of men. portion to the ground they assailed, that despite the dimness of the atmosphere, their cohimns — too huge to be lost — could in general be reached by orders despatched from elsewhere, and the whole of them might therefore, if steady, main- tain that clear singleness of action and purpose which makes the strength of an army ; wliilst the English force, on the contrary, was broken up into detachments so small and so far apart tliat the mist which lay heavy between them made their severance from each other complete ; and at many a spot, as we have seen, a young of&cer with a very scant following of soldiery and strong bodies of Paissians before him, be- came, as it were, the supreme commander in a narrow field of action beyond the reach of con- trol, and also cut off from all help. But this kind of isolation proved not altogether uncon- genial to the peculiar people who are said to have been always warlike without having patience to be ' military ; ' and for once, notwithstanding old maxims, the slender and separate stems proved stronger than the closely bound faggot. A force which had greatness and unity gave way to a number of spontaneous efforts by segregated handfuls of men. The result was, of course, in a great measure owing to the high quality of the officers who thus found themselves invested with power, and yet, speaking generally, they were not selected men. Prince Edward, Fordyce, Thornton Grant, Buller (with Egerton under him), Hugh Olifiord, John