V.

'victory of Balaclava,' and the guns which, though CHAP. taken from the Turks, could still be truly called 'English,' were well fitted to be received as blessings of unspeakable value. They could not fail to give heart to the men--whether soldiers, or sailors, or people who were engaged in defending the place; and on the other hand it may be taken for granted that if the tidings of so slender a 'victory' as that of Balaclava could bring all this accession of moral strength to the beleaguered town, the opposite effect that must have been produced by Liprandi's defeat would have been fully proportionate.

mination

It was determined that the Russians should be left The deterin undisturbed possession of the ground which they of the held.

Sir George Cathcart, who had brought his division to the ground near the Redoubt Number Four,' now caused the work to be manned once more by the Turks; and his riflemen took part in a fusilade which appeared to have the effect of silencing two Russian guns.

At about four o'clock the firing came to an end; but all grave contention had ceased from the moment when the Allied Commanders determined to acquiesce in Liprandi's conquest. He held without further challenge all three of the captured redoubts; and retained to a point so far westward his dominion on the Causeway Heights as to be able to forbid free communication between Balaclava and the main Allied camps by the line of the Woronzoff road.

Allies.

Close of

With the condition of things now shown, both the the battle.

CHAP. Allies and the Russians were so far content that they allowed the battle to end.

V.

XII.

The kind

of import

ance

which can

ed to the

battle of Balaclava.

If the scope of this conflict were to be measured by numbering the forces engaged, and the men killed, be attach- Wounded, or taken, a much slighter record than the one I have framed would be fully enough for the purpose; but from its effect in cramping the English at Balaclava, and exalting the spirit of Sebastopol, this first effort of Prince Mentschikoff's resurgent fieldarmy exerted much power over the subsequent course of events; and, on the other hand, the battle comprised several fights which so happily elicited the quality of the soldier, whether English, French, Russian, or Turk, as to have a distinct present bearing on the warlike repute of each nation engaged, and therefore, of course, on its strength, and therefore, again, on its welfare. Under that kind of aspect,

Summary of the battle.

the glory of fights which sprang out of sheer chance or mistake may come to be of higher moment to England than the objects and the vicissitudes of a somewhat fanciful war long since at an end. What are now the four points of Vienna' when compared with the achievement of Scarlett's dragoons and Cardigan's Light Cavalry charge?

Told more shortly, the story is this: Marching by two unconnected routes in the early morning, a portion of Liprandi's forces established batteries with which they cannonaded the Turkish redoubt on Can

V.

robert's Hill. Upon being apprised of this movement CHAP. Lord Raglan at once sent down two divisions of foot; but time must necessarily elapse before the troops thus despatched could come into action; and, in the meanwhile, there were no English forces with which to support the Turks in their defence except our division of cavalry and its attendant troop of horseartillery.

The question was, Whether Lord Lucan, with the cavalry arm alone, could and would aid the Turks in warding off for a few hours the impending attack? With the approval of Sir Colin Campbell, he abstained from launching any of his squadrons in arrest of the enemy's progress; and our horsemen, though compelled to be spectators of what followed, were not suffered to interpose as assailants.

Being thus let alone by our cavalry, and but slightly molested, if molested at all, by its attendant troop of horse - artillery, the Russian infantry proceeded to storm the work on Canrobert's Hill, and by the strength of their overwhelming numbers they succeeded in carrying it, though not until the brave little Turkish garrison of not more than 500 or 600 men had lost, in killed only, as many as 170.

Upon seeing the fate of the redoubt on Canrobert's Hill, the Turks posted in the three next adjoining works abandoned them at once to the Russians. The enemy having speedily entered them, dismantled and afterwards quitted the one called 'Number Four,' but kept the other three in his grasp, together with their seven English guns.

СНАР.
V.

As the Russians advanced, our cavalry fell back and Lord Lucan had just taken up a position in the South Valley, where his troops would cover Balaclava, when, by an order sent down from Headquarters, all his squadrons were drawn in under the steeps of the Chersonese; but that last order again was presently followed by another, which directed that eight squadrons of Heavy Dragoons should countermarch towards Kadiköi, and aid the defence of the gorge.

Notwithstanding the rapid and almost brilliant success which had hitherto rewarded his enterprise, Liprandi did not hold to the purpose, if ever he had it, of really attacking Balaclava. Yet by arraying his powerful cavalry, with its attendant batteries, across the North Valley, he not only showed a good front to the troops coming down from the Chersonese, but connected himself by his right with the slopes of the Fedioukine Hills; and as Jabrokritsky was there establishing himself, it might be said that the Russians at this time were an army taking up a position.

Their array was apparently meant to be the commencing stage of a deliberate, well-conducted retreat. Since the Russians were attempting nothing against Balaclava, and the Allies had as yet no division of infantry far advanced on the plain, there resulted a pause in the battle.

The Russian cavalry however, having before it a great tract of unoccupied ground, was—without any very large purpose-induced to advance up the valley; and (after detaching on its way the four squadrons which descended towards Sir Colin Campbell and

V.

quickly turned aside from his fire) this great body CHAP. of horse continued to move forward till it came within range of the Chersonese batteries; when, after incurring two shots, it turned aside to its left and gained the top of the Causeway ridge.

Then ended that part of the battle which was governed by design, and Chance began to have sway.

It happened that whilst countermarching towards Kadiköi, in obedience to the order last mentioned, General Scarlett with six of his squadrons had reached that part of the South Valley which lay directly under the Russians now crowning the ridge.

That which followed was the great fight between the Russian cavalry and our Heavy Dragoons. The Russian cavalry, upon being overthrown, did not merely retreat to the ground whence it came, but moved off far away to the rear with its attendant batteries, leaving the two protruding columns of Liprandi and Jabrokritsky in a state of severance the one from the other-two wings without a bodyand each of them very open to attack.

Lord Raglan instantly saw his opportunity, and ordered-in writing--that the cavalry should advance and take advantage of any opportunity to recover the heights. This direction not having been executed by the commander of our cavalry, was followed, after an interval, by the yet more peremptory order which Nolan brought down from Lord Raglan.

Upon the delivery of this order there occurred the strange scene which ended in Lord Lucan's conceiving that, instead of attacking the heights, it was his duty