296 THE EMBARKATION. CHAPTER XVIII. CHAP. Our Admiral had at his command the means for L conveying the British force to the enemy's shore m^ntTfirst either in steam-vessels or in sailing-ships towed SngVf'^ by steam-power ; and, until the eve of the em- the^expecii- -jjarkation, the French believed that their resources would enable them to achieve a like result. So, at a conference of the four Admirals held on the 20th of August, it was arranged that the whole of the French and English armament should move from the coast at the same time under steam- power ; and the 2d of September was looked for- ward to as the day when the armament might per- haps go to sea, but the exact time would of course depend upon weather and other circumstances be- yond the reach of exact calculation. The em- On the 24th of August the huge operation of embarking the armies had ah-eady begun. The French embarked 24,000 infantry and 70 pieces of field-artillery ; but, since they were straitened in their means of sea-transport, the number of horses they allotted to each gun was reduced from six to four. The French embarked no barkatioDS.
