32 THE MODIFIED PLAN OF 1ST FEBRUARY. C H A P. but now known to have masked another design. approved by a council of French generals, held on the 1st of February, the particulars of the newly wrought plan were recorded on the follow- ing day in words described as ' Instructions.' ( u ) We now know that, though outwardly wear- ing an honest appearance, this ' plan ' masked a settled design on the part of Niel and his Em- peror to take a course irreconcilable with the engagements of the 1st of January* Import ol the change of plan as first under- stood by the French. VII. When determining, on the ground we have shown, to assail the Malokofi' front, our allies, we know, looked on the measure as auxiliary to their former operations ; and even when see- ing deeper into the consequences of the change, they still did not at all mean to loosen that pressure by siege-work and heavy batteries which they had long been applying to the defences of the Sebastopol town, nor indeed did they all at once tell themselves that they would abandon the idea of storming the Flagstaff Bastion. On the contrary, both the resolutions of the council of the 1st of February, and the paper of In- structions which issued from the French head- quarters on the following day, were based upon a supposition that assaults of the Flagstaff Bas- tion, if not indeed also of the ' Central,' were soon to be hazarded. But, however regarded at first, this now or-
- See post, chap. v.
