The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

design, so brilliant in execution, but hazardous
in the extreme, and only successful through
the terror Alma had atruck to the hearts of
the Russians. In connection with this flank
march we may mention, upon distinguished
authority, an anecdote we have not yet seen
published. After the battle of Alma it was at
'first contemplated to attack the north forts of
Sebastopol; but before this design could be
carried into execution, it was necessary that
two redoub is not far from the Katcha should
be captured. They formed the only serious
obstacle to the success of the proposed plan of
attack. Lord Raglan indicated distinctly the
locality of these forts to St. Arnaud, and
pointed out to him that, as they lay directly
in the French line of march, it was the duty
of the French to take them To this proposal
Ikl,irshal St. Arnaud returned a direct nega-
tive, unless Lord Raglan would give him the
Guards, and it was only on receipt of this re-
quest, which of course he refused, that Lord
Raglan determined (as without these redoubts
being taken the attack on the north forts was
impracticable) to attempt the flank march,
and which, ‘v'th the good fortune in war ever
favouring audacity, he accomplished without
loss and with glorious success. Had the
French done their duty in the assault and
capture of those redoubts, and the passage of
the Katcha been forced, the north forts would
have fallen at a blow, the war would have been
commenced and concluded with a " clap of
thunder," and, as we have since heard from
the Russians, Sebastopol would have been
captured in as many days as it afterwards took
months to reduce its weaker half.

Time sore on : every one knows now what
Lord Raglan suffered from the vacillation of
our allies, their constant failures, the obstinate
adherence to every view but the right one,
their rejection of Sir John Burgoyne's sound
proposal for the capture of the Malakoff as the
key of the position, and their fruitless efforts •
against the Flagstaff and Garden batteries. At
length the battle of Inkermanu was fought,
and never to his dying hour will Marshal
Canrobert forget his sensations on the close of
that tremendous day, when, in spite of the
entreaties of Lord Raglan, the Russians were
permitted to slip through our fingers, and the
most glorious opportunity of the whole war
lost by a fatal dread of responsibility. With
the eye of a great general Lord Raglan seized
upon the critical moment for an advance; he
urged it uponCanrobert. An advance musthave
crushed or captured the entire Russian army.
Canrobert first hesitated, then refused, and,
when it was too lute, comprehending the huge
prize he had lost, in a tempest of mortifica-
tion cried out:—" J'arais tort, j'avais tort,
" ideals tort ! Had I followed the Russians, I
" should have secured for myself glory and
" honour, and a triumph for the arms of France
" for ever: J'avais tort, j'arais tort 1" Let it not
for a moment be supposed that we undervalue
the bravery of the French troops. We merely
cite the errors into which their commanders
were led in self defence, for too many writers
have striven to attribute the Crimean suc-
cesses mainly to the French, urni to cast a
shadow on the lustre of the British arms,
because failure attended them when under-
taking feats far beyond what common fore-
sight or prudence should have entertained as
practicable.
But to return to Sir James Alexander, who
tells his story of the siege without sequence
or design, and sums up the failure of the
14;11 June as follows :
It was understood that there was to have been three
hours of severe bombardment on our part and that of :he
French before they attempted the Malakoff, sud, it falling,
then the English to go at the Redatn.
"It was understood" ! Why, we thought it
was tolerably well known that the whole pro-
pet failed entirely from the mismanagement
of the French. Sir James Alexander does not
seem to be aware of the facts connected with
the attack of the ISth ,Tune, and if the follow-
ing is new to him we hope he will profit by it,
destiny " grant him a second edition.
That attack, for days before, was fixed to
conic off at six in the morning, and, on the
night of the 17th, Lord Raglan received a
message from Pelissier, stating that "impor-
tant reasons" (which were never given) in-
duced a change to be made in the hour; and