358 ADVANCE TO THE BELBEC. CHAP. IV. The invaders descending into the valley of the Belbec. Reconnais- sance by Lord Cardigan. Grave im- port of a resolve to shun an attack of the ' North ' sid«.' The invading armies now descended into the beauteous valley of the Belbec. There was little that could yet be seen of the Eussian troops. Lord Cardigan, with a couple of squadrons, re- connoitred a pass towards Sebastopol in the direct front of the English lines, and reported it impracticable, there being, he said, a marsh in front, then a causeway, and then a battery of heavy guns supported by a strong force of in- fantry and some cavalry. To go hardily on with the old plan of the inva- sion, undertaking to carry at once whatever the enemy might have prepared by way of defence for his Star Fort, — this, however difficult, or how- ever easy, was, at all events, an enterprise delib- erately contemplated beforehand, and of such a kind as to be strictly consisting with the charac- ter of the expedition ; for the attack was one in which (by aiding in the capture of the works at the mouth of the Belbec, and the entrenchments connecting them with the Star Fort) the naval forces of the Allies could take a great part. Be- sides, the condition of things was such that, if the Allies should determine to shun this encounter, their caution would be far from restoring them that his line of retreat was so far diagonal, that when lie took up Ills second position, some two miles in rear of the Alma heights, he was no longer opposite to the French line of battle (as he had been during the action), hut to the English ; and the consequence was, that his jiresence in order of battle, much aided by the nature of the ground, masked the confusion of that part of the Russian army which was retreating from its con- flict with the English.
