THE MAIN FIGHT. 423 his confession ; * but whatever his motive, the u H a p. VI course he actually took is known beyond ques- L_ tion. He kept the Graud-Dukes at his side on 6«AP«rio<i ground where they could not be harmed by horse, foot, or field-artillery ; f and was still in this way doing all that seemed needed for exposing them to the ridicule of Europe, when happily for theni a ball, discharged at long range from a siege-gun. enabled him to say — and this too with literal truth if not with absolute candour — that the two sons of the Czar had been under fire. There appears to be no gi'ound for doubting that the demeanour of each of them, when the missile swept past him, was such as would become a man twenty -three or twenty-two years of age.J
- My conclusion is that, although retaining the ostenbihle
command, Prince Mentschikofi', in consequence of hi.s failure at the Alma, was peremptorily forbidden to meddle in the Inker- man enterprise, and that that was the one sufficing cause which kept him from his place in the battle ; but apparently he was unwilling to let men know or infer that his authority had been abridged, and liked better to have it supposed that he acted as a mere guardian or attendant of the imperial princes. + At that time, the Grand-Duke Nicholas (the general now in 1877 commanding the invaders of European Turkey) was in his 24th year, having been born in July 1831 ; and the Grand-Duke Michael (the general now commanding the invaders of Turkey in Asia) was in his 23d year, having been born in October 1832. What strikes one is, that to submit at such ages to the r6le which Prince Mentschikoff intended for them they must have been remarkably tractable young men. t In his report. Prince Mentschikoff went further, and in- judiciously reported thus : ' The Grand-Dukes Nicholas Nich- ' olaievitch and Michael Nicholaievitch were in the midst of ' the terrible fire which prevailed, and set an example of coolness ' and courage in the fight. ' He afterwards petitioned the Czsr to decorate them, and this w^as done accordingly.
