Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/158

 132 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. Kg was a great respecter of llic })ul)lic voice . in England, and vas even, perhaps, loo ready to suffer liimself to be swayed by light, transient breezes of 'opinioTi.' lie had no dread of in- novations ; and the beard that clothed his frank, liandsome, manly face, was the symbol of his adhesion to a then new revolt against custom. He was much loved, for he was of a genial temper; and his rank was so w-ell helped out by his hereditary faculty of remembering those with whom he had once conversed, that, far from chilling his intercourse with other men, it enabled liim to give happy effect to the kindliness of his nature. I'ut, after all, what a general has to do is to try to overcome the enemy by exposing his own soldiery to all needful risks. At any fit time he must be willing and eager to bring his own people to the slaughter for the sake of making havoc with the enemy ; and it is right for him to be able to do this withont at the time being seen to feel one pang. Nay, however cer- tain it may be that his gentler nature will over- come him on the nK)rrow, it is well ibr him to be able to pass through the bloodiest hours of battle with something of a ruthless joy. The Duke of Cambridge was wanting in this kind of trucu- lence ; and, however careless of his own life (for he had the personal courage of his race), he was liable to be cruelly wrung by the weight of a command which charged him with the lives of other men. lie was of an anxious tempera- ment; and with him the danger was that, in