Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/27

 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. 5 when there, to hold them unchanged, and even, chap. perhaps — though unconsciously — to make them ! — . the basis of his resolves. Lord Lucan's intellectual abilities were of a very high order, and combined as they were with the extraordinary energy of which I have spoken, they might seem to constitute power. Experi- ence, too, had shown that he could apply these qualities effectively to at least one grade of mili- tary duty, for at the time when he exercised a Lieutenant-Colonel's command his regiment was in excellent order. No military duties in peace-time could suffice to absorb such energies as those which Lord Lucan possessed; and during a period of many years immediately preceding the Eussian war, he had engaged himself in the conduct of large agricultural operations, carried on upon his own estates both in England and Ireland. With him, the improvement and culture of land had not been a mere quiet resource for dawdling away the slow hours, but a serious and engrossing business, elicitiug sustained energy. In execut- ing his designs for the improvement of his Irish estates, he pressed on, it appears, with a great strength of purpose, which overthrew all inter- posed obstacles ; and that ruthlessness perhaps was a circumstance which might be numbered amongst the reasons for giving him a command, because the innovating force of will which he evidenced was a quality which had at the time a special and peculiar value. At the commence-