THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 97 The whole force thus ranged or ranging was chap. between 500 and 600 strong ; and the three ' squadrons in front which had first to encounter alone the whole of the enemy's masses, numbered something less than 300. By the concurring opinions of Lord Lucan and The num. J & r I., is of the of many French officers, including General Canro- Russian J ° cavalry bert, and also, I believe, General Morris, the mass °™J™ n t tiu * of hostile cavalry preparing to descend upon these 300 dragoons was estimated as amounting, at the least, to 3500 men ; and from even the official ac- counts, which, though certainly not late ones, were the latest preceding the battle, it would seem to result that, unless reduced by some causes which have hitherto been left unexplained, this body of Kussian horse must have been about 3000 strong.* So far as concerns weight and massiveness, any numerals, such as two or three thousand, which import but a moderate strength, if applied to foot soldiers, are of course many times more potent when used for the reckoning of cavalry. Our island people rarely cast their eyes upon such a spectacle as that of a large body of cavalry in mass ; and yet, without having done so, they can hardly conceive the sense of weight that is laid upon the mind of a man who looks up the slope
- This computation excludes the six squadrons of Jeropkine's
Lancers, but on the other hand takes it for granted that the lately detached horsemen, estimated by Sir Colin Campbell at 400, had rejoined their comrades. For further examination of this question, see note in the Appendix. VOL. V. G
