244 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



of Inkermann, to signalise to the garrison of Se- 

 bastopol the moment of the attack of the Russian 

 army on our camp, so that at the same time they 

 might make two sorties on different parts of our 

 trenches. 



The Russian general knew the immense ad- 

 vantages under which he fought. In the first 

 place, he had a very great superiority in numbers ; 

 had an overpowering artillery of much larger 

 calibre than ours ; his men were well fed, sheltered 

 from the weather, and full of confidence. Besides 

 which, they were incited by their priests, and 

 promised success, fighting under the eyes of the 

 sons of the Czar, whom they are taught to 

 consider the delegate of God. On the other 

 hand, he knew that our army was far too small 

 to operate with any chance of success ; that our 

 men were worn out by constant exposure, and 

 continual hard work; that they sustained the 

 most unheard-of hardships, often wantino^ even 

 a bare sufficiency of food. When all the ad- 

 vantages the enemy possessed over the allies are 

 considered, victory must have appeared but as a 



