8 MILITARY COMMISSION TO EUROPE. 



paign terminated. Tlie French followed the movement, the armies ascended the jilateau, 

 Kamiesch was occupied ; and now, instead of taking advantage of the exposed condition of the 

 south side, the allies commenced the labor of landing and moving up their siege material, 

 opening the trenches, &c. 



To appreciate the position of the English army on the night it reached the Tchernaya, it 

 must he borne in mind that it had in its rear the precipitous heights of Mackenzie, several 

 hundred feet in elevation, with hut a single road leading to the summit, and that they were 

 thus cut off from the immediate assistance of the French. If the English had been attacked 

 this night, the result must have been disastrous to them in the extreme. Had the harbor of 

 Balaklava been destroyed, and the attack been made during the next day's march, it is probable 

 that their annihilation would have been the result. 



In considering this march, it is somewhat difficult to determine which party committed the 

 greatest faults — the allies in so exposing themselves, or the Kussian in failing to avail himself 

 of the opportunities offered. 



Thus far the allied generals displayed none of the qualities of great commanders ; their 

 measures were half-way measures, slow and blundering ; they failed to keep constantly in view 

 the object of the expedition, and to press rapidly and unceasingly towards it. 



From the moment the allies occupied Balaklava and Kamiesch, the conduct of the Eussian 

 general deserves high commendation, and was in striking contrast with that of his antagonists. 



The affair of Balaklava has been so often discussed, yet so imperfectly explained by the innu- 

 merable military and civil inquiries to which it, and all connected with it, have been subjected, 

 that it would seem idle for one who visited the scene nearly a year after it occurred to pretend 

 to comment upon it ; but it may be permitted to say, with regard to the ground over which the 

 English light cavalry charged, that, if the eye were not raised from the soil under foot, no 

 more favorable place could be selected for a charge of cavalry — it was on the smooth turf of the 

 flat and level bottom of a wide valley ; but, upon turning the glance to the ground to the north 

 and east, imagining the Kussians in the positions which they occupied on the 25th October, 

 1854, it is difficult to divine how any officer could direct such a charge to be made ; destruction 

 was inevitable, and nothing could be gained. No doubt there often are cases in which one arm 

 of service may consistently be required to sacrifice itself for the benefit of the others, hut this 

 was not such a case. The most appropriate criticism upon this exhibition of insane and useless 

 valor seems to be that, no doubt, made by a well known French general: "C'est bien mag- 

 nifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre!" The Eussians have been criticised for effecting "too 

 much and too little" in the affair of Balaklava ; too much in indicating to the allies the weak- 

 ness of their right; too little in not availing themselves of this weakness to carry Balaklava. 

 It is probable that their object was chiefly to slacken the operations of the seige by making a 

 diversion ; but it does not appear that they acted with all possible energy on this occasion. 



As things went at Inkermann, the result, as far as the English were concerned, appears to 

 have been due to that steady and magnificent courage of their race, which has so often palliated 

 or overbalanced the follies and unskilfulness of their commanders, whether in victory or defeat. 

 Their conduct on that day was worthy of the nation which gained credit alike at Malplaquet 

 and Landen, Blenheim and Fontenoy, Waterloo and Corunna. 



The position of Inkermann is the key point of the northeastern angle of the plateau of the 

 Chersonese; it commands the road ascending the plateau by Cathcart's ravine, the only approach 

 from the north side, and the road which follows the Careening Bay ravine, the only approach 

 from the city in that vicinity ; it is the most elevated ground in the neighborhood, and is sua- 



