Once only, under torment of the
Emperor's reproaches and the Minister at War's remonstrances, his
resolution and his nerve gave way; eight days of failing judgment
issued in the Karabelnaya defeat, the severest repulse which the
two armies had sustained; but the paralysis passed away, he showed
himself once more eager to act in concert with the English
general;--when the long-borne strain of disappointment and anxiety
sapped at last Lord Raglan's vital forces, and the hard fierce
Frenchman stood for upwards of an hour beside his dead colleague's
bedside, "crying like a child."
The lieutenants of Lord Raglan in the Crimea have long since passed
away, but in artistic epical presentment they retain their place
around him. Airey, his right hand from the first disembarkation at
Kalamita Bay, strong-willed, decisive, ardent, thrusting away
suspense and doubt, untying every knot, is vindicated by his Chief
against the Duke of Newcastle's wordy inculpation in the severest
despatch perhaps ever penned to his official superior by a soldier
in the field. Colin Campbell, with glowing face, grey kindling
eye, light, stubborn, crisping hair, leads his Highland brigade tip
the hill against the Vladimir columns, till "with the sorrowful
wail which bursts from the brave Russian infantry when they have to
suffer loss," eight battalions of the enemy fall back in retreat.
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