CHAP. XXVIl.] 



THE CRIMEAN WAR. 



433 



broken one square which had not quite completed its 

 formation. 



In fact, in this campaign the cavalry did not perform 

 very important services. It seemed as if there was a 

 fear which prevented them being launched in large 

 masses against portions of the enemy's line, and 

 probably the knowledge, on both sides, of the deadly 

 effect of the long-range rifle, prevented the horsemen 

 from being sent against bodies of infantry armed with 

 the new weapons. 



At Montebello, Colonel Morelli, commandant of the 

 regiment of Montferrat, at the head of twenty-two 

 Piedmontese lancers, charged a square of Austrian 

 infantry. They broke through the square, but eleven 

 were killed and the others all wounded. Colonel 

 Morelli charged three times after receiving a mortal 

 wound. 



The deadly effect of the new rifles, on account of their 

 long range, at once created a sort of panic in reference 

 to the cavalry service, and the professional soldiers, fully 

 appreciating the great effect the new invention must 

 have upon the mounted service, at once held that their 

 sphere of usefulness was much diminished, and the 

 opinion soon became general that the days of the 

 cavalry were numbered, and that the force would have 

 to be either abolished altogether, or else greatly reduced. 



The reader can hardly have followed us through the 

 preceding pages of this work, without being struck with 

 the peculiar way in which ideas have arisen and have 

 been carried to excess, and how opinions have swayed at 

 one time in favour of cavalry, at another time in favour of 

 the infantry, and how often these opinions have been 

 carried to extremes. 



At this period it seemed as if the feeling against 

 cavalry was to be carried ^^^'ndly to the last extremity, 

 but as in the case whc the chivalry first felt the 

 influence of the rising power of the infantry, as repre- 

 sented by the Swiss pikemen and the English archers, as 

 when the introduction of gunpowder struck another 

 blow at their predominant position, the vested interests, 



F F 



'in 



