STHAITENKD I'OWKU OF THE ALLIES. 215 tion on which he was writing. General dc Tod- chap, leben is fallible ; * but unless he has underrated ' the defensive resources of Sebastopol, uhich he himself was preparing in the four last days of September, the determination of the Allies to give the garrison respite will have to be ranged as the third of the lost occasions which followed The third the battle of the Alma. occasioul
- General de Todleben's iiio.st interesting arguments upon
all these questions are in some measure vitiated by liis errors in attributing to the Allies a greater numerical strength than they really had ; but it will probably be considered that his conclusion upon the particular question above referred to would not be displaced by a mere correction of the numbers he gives.
