V 128 SECEET TERMS OF NIEL'S MISSION. chap, of siege was almost as wide as the difference be- tween a sword and a scabbard, or between using force and conserving it; for the engagements of the first of January provided that, with no more delay than was needed for perfecting two designed batteries, the French should make themselves masters of the Mamelon, and thence drive on at once by siege-process against the Malakoff Tower;* whereas those new counsels of Niel's and of the Emperor seemed in terms to ordain for the time strict avoidance of onslaughts with troops on any serious scale, not allowing in the way of aggression any effort of war more adven- turous than a steadily maintained cannonade, and slow advance by ' approaches.'( 4 ) So, whatever might be the hopes based on this newly imagined campaign when — at some later time — driven home against the 'North Side,' and whatever might then be the duties assigned to General Can- robert, it is plain that during the interval, his adoption, or even approval, or even indeed his mere cognisance of the Imperial plan must have tended to throw his whole spirit of warlike enter- prise into lifeless abeyance, and render him mor- ally powerless to execute the engagements of the 1st of January with the daring, the firmness re- quired for promptly seizing the Mamelon, and making it his path to the Malakoff. For, although partly aiming at measures still
- ' Des que le temps le permettra, on marchera sur la tour
'Malakoff. Nous nous chargerons de cette attaque.' — Bizot to Vaillant, 12th January 1855, quoted Rousset, vol. ii. p. 31.
