332 THE BEARING OF THE WAR CHAP, sians under the April bombardment would tend YTT L_ to load the same scale ; but then again it appeared that the very excellence of the Sebastopol defence (which seemed of course even more admirable than it really was to those who believed that since February the place had been sincerely be- sieged *) put an obstacle in the way of her yield- ing ; for how to agree that the prowess which had hitherto saved, and still was maintaining the For- tress, nay, making it perform the exploit of hold- ing its besiegers in duress, should so far, after all, go for nothing, as not to afford a good warrant for refusing consent to harsh terms ? The Allies having hitherto failed in their tedi- ous siege, and being moreover entangled by their own hapless policy between the seas and the For- tress, might well be under strong motives inclining them to obtain a peace, if only they could do this on terms not offensive to their own self-respect ; but considering all that had passed — the armies, the fleets, the great united armadas, despatched to far-distant shores in the face of a gazing world — it would hardly be possible for them to escape public ridicule if they were to end the war with- out either taking Sebastopol, or winning instead some advantage, that could be shown to the scorners as a worthy equivalent for the fortress they had striven and failed to reduce. On the whole, one may say that what seemed
- General Niel landed in the last week of January ; but the
effect of his paralysing mission may roughly be said to have commenced with the month of February.
