CHAPTER XXXVII. WE have seen that Marshal St Arnaud, under feelings of some vexation, put to sea on the morning. of the 5th of September. He could not but know that, by his abrupt separation from the British fleet and army, he had offended against the English General. Upon reflection, he could not but grieve that he had done this. But he had put to sea, and had since heard no tidings from the shore. No swift steamer had followed him with entreaties to stay his course. He was left free to pursue his voyage; and the voyage was growing more and more dismal. "The Black Sea" is a truer name than the "Euxine." Now, as in old times (if the summer be hardly past), the voyager leaves a coast smiling bright beneath skies of blue and glowing with sunny splendour; yet, perhaps, and in less than an hour, the heavens above and the waters around him are dark with the gloom and threatening aspect belonging to the Northern Ocean. * Monsieur St Arnaud * The contrast between the climate of the Black Sea and that of the countries which surround it is one of the enigmas to which scienti CHAP. XXXVII. CHAP. XXXVII. St Arnaud at sea without lish. His anxiety. encountered this change. The wind blew from its Marshal dark quarter. Every hour was carrying the Marshal farther and farther into the centre of the inhospitable the Eng- sea, farther and farther from the English fleet, farther and farther from Lord Raglan. If he went on, there was no junction to look for except at an imaginary point marked with a pencil on the charts, but having no existence in the material world; and from the wind and the angry waves, no less than from his own fast-cooling thoughts, he began to receive a distressing sense of his isolation. The struggle in his mind was painful, but it came to an end. “I am "nearly twenty leagues," writes the Marshal, on the evening of the 6th, to Lord Raglan- "I am nearly "twenty leagues north-east of Baljik, separated from "the English fleet, and from the part of my own "convoy which was to sail with the convoy of the "English fleet. Admiral Dundas's last letter being "worded conditionally, so far as concerns his sailing "this morning, I am not sure of not seeing increased, "in great proportions, the distance which separates "me from you, and then there is reason to fear cir"cumstances of wind or sea which would render our “junction difficult, and might compromise everything He sails "definitively. In this painful situation I decide to "invite Admiral Hamelin (on his declaration that he "cannot wait where he is) to return to meet the fleet back. fic men have applied their minds; but whether, as yet, with success, I cannot say. and the convoy." So the Marshal sailed back. CHAP. Thus, happily, ceased the impulse which had threatened to sunder the fleets. XXXVII. Raglan's Lord Raglan's answer was stern. He removed the Lord grounds which the Marshal had assigned for his de- reproof. parture, and then pointed gravely to the true line of duty for the future. "Thanks be to God," he wrote, "everything now favours our enterprise. Very soon "we shall reach the appointed rendezvous, and then "we shall have an opportunity of showing that our "manner of acting together remains unaltered, and "that the sincerity of which you speak will continue, "as at present, to be our guide and our mutual satis"faction." "1* effect. Coming from Lord Raglan, this language was a reproof; but the result tends to show that it was happily adjusted to the object in view. Thenceforth Its good there was no longer any tendency on the part of Marshal St Arnaud to break away from his colleague. From the hour of the first conference at the Tuileries, in the spring of the year, Lord Raglan's Lord authority in the Allied councils had been always in- increasing creasing; and now as we shall presently see, it ancy. gained a complete ascendant. Raglan's ascend Allied On the 8th the great flotilla, moving under The whole steam, came up with the French and the Turkish Armada sailing fleets which had left Baljik on the 5th of September. The French fleet was in double column, * Translated from the French, in which the letter was written. comes together at sea. XXXVII. CHAP. and tacking to eastward across the bows of the steam flotilla; but upon being approached, the French ships backed topsails and lay to. Every one of the French vessels had kept its position beautifully; and the moment the signal to lie-to was given, it was obeyed with a quickness which was honestly admired by our seamen. The Turkish fleet also layto, and for a while the whole armada of the Allies was gathered together. But the English fleet, being moved by steam, kept on to windward; and presently the French and the Turks began to sail off on opposite tacks. Between the fleets thus disparting, the English flotilla of transports passed through in five columns. But the fleets are again parted. Step taken by French officers with a view to stop the expedition against Sebasto pol. The rendezvous was to be at a point forty miles due west of Cape Tarkan, and thither moved the three fleets with all their convoy. There were in the French army several officers holding high command and being otherwise men of great weight who had become very thoughtful on the subject of the contemplated descent upon the enemy's coast. Personally, they were men quite as dauntless as those who gave no care to the business in hand; but being versed in the study, if not in the practice, of the great art of war, they had become strongly impressed with the hazardous character of the intended enterprise. It seems probable that, up to this time, they had relied upon the mature judgment and the supposed discreetness of Lord Raglan to prevent what they regarded as a rash attempt. It XXXVII. might well seem natural to them that two Govern- CHAP. ments in the West of Europe, attempting to dietate an invasion of a Russian province at a distance of 3000 miles, would, sooner or later, be checked in their project by the generals commanding the forces; and, of course, they would have liked that the disfavour which unjustly attaches to military prudence should fall upon the English General rather than upon themselves or their own commander. But in the course of the 7th of September it became known to them that Lord Raglan was already at sea. They then knew, or rather they then recognised the fact, that the whole armada was really gliding on towards the enemy's coast, and the ferment their minds underwent now brought them to take a strange step. Lord Raglan was on board the Caradoc; and on the 8th of September, whilst the fleets lay near to one another, this vessel was boarded by Vice-Admiral Dundas. He came to say that a French steamer had conveyed to him the desire of the Marshal St Arnaud to see Lord Raglan and the Vice-Admiral Dundas, and to see them on board the Ville de Paris, because the Marshal himself was too ill to be able to move. It happened that the sea at this time was rough, and Conferthe naval men thought that it would be difficult for board the Lord Raglan, with his one arm, to get up the side of Paris. the three-decker in which the Marshal was sailing; Lord Raglan, therefore, deputed his military secretary, Colonel Steele, to accompany Vice-Admiral Dundas on board the Ville de Paris. Invasion of the Crimea. III. 11 ence on Ville de |