THE COUNSELS OE THE ALLIES. 177 that the loss resiiltiiiii- from an assault must now chaf. . . VII be much greater than that which might have been '_. expected to follow from such an enterprise if ven- tured some two days earlier ; for in the interval, both by day and by night, the garrison and the people of Sebastopol had been incessantly busied at the works ; but, notwithstanding his perception of the now increased peril of the undertaking, he submitted to Lord Eaglan the expediency of an assault. Lord Eaolan was willing ; and asked Loni Lyons how he would proceed. Lyons answered to this effect : ' The llussians must think by this ' time that we are going to lay regular siege to ' the place. Let them be encouraged in this ' belief. Send numbers of men to the front with ' pickaxes, or something that will look like pick- ' axes, and make a feint of turning up the ground, ' and then when the enen)y, deceived by the sight, ' shall be least expecting an attack, rush in.' Whether Lord ]Jaglan approved the stratagem of feigning the commencement of siege- works, I am unable to say. What has been recorded is, that lie shared with Lyons in his desire to proceed by assault.* In the course of the conversation which elicited Side. — MS. post, in Appeuilix, Note I. Those words would seem to point to the 29th as the day ; and a nolo from Sir Edmund, which will be afterward.s quoted, fixes the 29th as the day on which Lord Kaglaii was to submit the proposal to Canrobert.
- The testimony of Sir Edmund Lyons in regard to Lord
Raglan's desire for an immediate assault, ha.s been fully con- firmed to me by one who enjoyed tho close conrukixc of hia VOL. IV. M
