340 TITE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP, their toil, he miuht be forced to withdraw from X 1 the front ; ' but, my Lord,' the French General answered : ' you can't.' * And in narrating this rejoinder of Canrobert's, Lord Eaglan adds : * He ■' was right. I could not do so [that is, could ' not withdraw from the front], without compro- ' mising the Alliance, and in all probability the ' .safety of the army.'(^) However, in the second week of January, the pressure applied by Lord Raglan proved strong enough to wring from the French commander a definite promise of relief; and this, ten days later, was carried into effect by putting French troops in charge of the ground on our furthest right.(^) The aid, although pain- fully short of what the English army required, and of what the French could have spared, was still of great service to our people.(-^^) It afforded an effective relief to the extent of between 1500 and 1600 men daily; and this, it seems, was equivalent to a succour of 4500 men.(^l) .supi^ii.-a of The vast supplies lost by wreck on the day warm o o i- ^^ ^^^ hurricane were in great part replaced, as we saw, by Lord Raglan's prompt, well-conceived measures ; and so early as the 3d of December, no small quantities of the blankets and other warm clothing which his orders brought up from Constantinople were not only on shore, but already in course of being i8sued.(^2) On the 18th, the quantity received and in course of issue was de- scril:)ed by Lord Raglan as ' considerable ; '(^^) and between the first and the last day of that month of Decemlier, our troops received and oppropriat- ■*• ' Mais, milord, vous lie le pouvez jias. '
