12 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP, campaign, liis conception, it seems, was this: ho ' would sufler the Allies to land without raolesta- l^in.^It.?,."^ ^'5 on, because he desired that the defeat which lie was preparing for them should bo, not a mere repulse, but a crushing and signal disaster. He would nut attack them on their line of march, because he liked better to husband his strength f(H' the great position on the Alma. It seemed to him that there he could hold his ground against the invaders for three weeks ; and his imagina- tion was that, baffled for many days by the strength of his position, drawing their supplies from the ships with pain and uncertainty, and encumbered more and more every day with wounded men, the Allies would fall into evil days. In the mean time, the troops long since de- spatched from Bessarabia would begin to reach him by way of Perekop and Simphcropol ; and thus reinforced, he would in due season take the offensive, inflicting upon the Western Powers a chastisement commensurate with their rashness. His reliance Priucc Mcutschikoff Tcstcd this structure of on the uaturai hopc UDon tlic assumptiou that he could hold the Btreugth of ^ ^ ^ the position, position ou the Alma for at the least many days together, and against repeated assaults. Yet he took little pains to prepare the ground for a great defence.* On the jutting rib which goes round the front of the Kourgan^ Hill, at a distance of
- I say tins in the teeth of the English desjiatclies, and, I
fear, of nuiny written and oral statements from oflScers ; but 1 am sure that every engineer who saw the ground will support my assertion.
