case.  Neither can it be asserted that the plans of the various works were perfect.  On the contrary, there is no impropriety in believing that if Todtleben were called upon to do the same work over again, he would probably introduce better close flanking arrangements.”

“These remarks are not intended to, nor can they, detract from the reputation of the Russian engineer.  His labors and their results will be handed down in history as the most triumphant and enduring monument of the value of fortifications, and his name must ever be placed in the first rank of military engineers.  But, in our admiration of the talent and energy of the engineer, it must not be forgotten that the inert masses which he raised would have been useless without the skilful artillery and heroic infantry who defended them.  Much stronger places than Sebastopol have often fallen under far less obstinate and well-combined attacks than that to which it was subjected.  There can be no danger in expressing the conviction that the siege of Sebastopol called forth the most magnificent defence of fortifications that has ever yet occurred.”

We will now pass to the works of attack.  When the allies decided that the works of Sebastopol could not be carried by a simple cannonade and assault, but must be reduced by a regular siege, the first thing to be considered was to secure the forces covering the siege works from lateral sorties and the efforts of a relieving army.  The field works planned for this purpose were not of any great strength, and many of them “were only undertaken when a narrow escape from some imminent danger had demonstrated their necessity.”  The French line of defence consisted of eight pentagonal redoubts, connected by an infantry parapet.  The English seemed to attach but little importance to field works for the defence of their position; the terrible slaughter at Inkerman was the natural consequence of this neglect.

In describing the engineering operations of the allies at this siege.  Captain McClelland says:—­

“In regard to the detailed execution of the French attacks, little or nothing novel is to be observed.  Even when coolly examining the direction of their trenches, after the close of the siege, it was very rare that a faulty direction could be detected; they always afforded excellent cover, and were well defiladed; in some cases the excavation of the double direct sap was carried to the depth of six and a half feet in the solid rock!  The execution of many of the saps and batteries was worthy of a school of practice.  In the parallels, bombproofs were provided as temporary hospitals, offices for the generals on duty, etc.  They did not use the sapper armor.  The use of the sap-roller was often attempted, but it could be employed only during the latter part of the attack upon the Malakoff, when the fire of the Russian artillery was nearly extinguished by the mortars; before that, as soon as