THE MAIN FIGHT. 417 Of course it was good for the English to have chap. VI their right covered by powerful forces, and to be ' well supported by troops in their rear ; but, so far ^'■^ ^"^ as concerned any active exertion of infantry power, our people were now left to fight on without any aid from the French. General Canrobert's determination cannot be Theimiior; of this justified by saying that the task attaching upon i-e.soive. the Allies was essentially one of defence ; for the enemy still held his dominion along the whole range of Shell Hill, including the Juts, East and West, and already, it seems, was entrenching him- self on the ground he had won, with the purpose of including a great part of Mount Inkerman in the system of his Sebastopol defences.* To suffer him to do this was to yield him a victory
- ' The siege-artillery of the latter [the English] was placed
' in position on the field of battle, and it was not possible foi ' our field-artillery to contend against them with advantage. ' The superiority of the enemy's long-range rifles occasioned ' heavy losses amongst the horses and men of the artillery. ' This circumstance did not admit of our completing, without ' a great sacrifice of life, the redoubts which we had commenced ' during the fight upon the points which command the enemy's ' position, with the intention of connecting them with the 'works of the town of iSebastopol. ' — Prince Mentschikolf's Despatch, 6th Nov. 1854. The Russians, however, did not do so much towards ejitrenching as the Prince seems to have im- agined they did. The battalions which brought gabions M'ith them encountered defeat, and Todleben, who was charged with the duty, did not consider the attempt at entrenchment as being even worth mentioning. The ground after the battle showed few or no traces of the work indicated by Prince Ment- schikolT. Still, if the English had consented (as the French were doing) to leave the enemy in possession of Shell Hill for the day, the hand of Todleben might have made the ground formidably strong within a very brief compass of time. VOL. VI. 2 D
