bably no men ever before fought--with a tenacious
obstinacy that yielded to no force, with a chivalrous dash and daring
which contemned all odds. The Duke of Cambridge, probably, escaped
greater danger than any British officer on the field. For a time he rode
along the line encouraging his men, the fire of the advancing columns
of the Russians directed upon him; nearly all around him were killed or
wounded. It was a critical and awful moment: the Russians were gaining
the summit of the ascent; they would there have had room to deploy,
and the British would have been in danger of being driven from their
intrenchments, and the allied armies of being forced back upon the sea.
Fortunately the French, who were engaged in watching the manoeuvres of
Liprandi in the valley beneath, at last came to the assistance of their
allies, and fell upon the Russian flanks. The British at the same moment
received supplies of ammunition, of which they had been in need through
the wretched management of everything that depended upon head-quarters;
their ranks rallied and poured deadly volleys of Minie bullets upon
the masses of the enemy struggling with the French. The slopes of the
plateau were strewn with dead, and slippery with gore; the Russians,
foiled everywhere, retreated. The French, fresh for pursuit, would not
pursue unless the weary guardsmen led the van. Canrobert, the successor
of Arnaud in command of the French army, complimented the British, but
did not act heartily with them. The services of Sir Richard England at
Inkerman have been generally overlooked by British writers. England was
not favourable to the agents of the press, and he showed this feeling in
a manner which offended that class. This was unwise, both for himself,
his division, and the service. Were it not for that circumstance, the
valuable services of that general would have become better known to the
public. When the battle of Inkerman began, England occupied a position
to the left of the English lines, near to a ravine which separated them
from those occupied by the French. Leaving a portion of his troops
under the command of one of his brigadiers, he dispatched the rest under
Brigadier Campbell to the right, and himself followed. His opportune
arrival supported the divisions exposed to attack; and as their several
detachments moved to the more immediate theatre of conflict, England's
troops occupied the ground from which they had been removed, and which
would h