Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 5.djvu/44

 22 THE BATTLE OF BALACLAVA. chap, the Horse Guards was the authority for advising ' the appointment and taking the Queen's pleasure upon it ; but that the authorities responsible to Parliament, or, in other words, the Ministry, might take upon themselves to interpose ; and that if they should do so, and do so persistently, then, painful as the surrender would be, their objection should be allowed to prevail. From this division of power there followed, of course, a corresponding alleviation of responsi- bility. Lord Hardinge could say that the pro- posed nominations had been brought to the cog- nisance of the Ministry, without causing them to interpose their authority as a positive bar to the proceeding. The Ministry, on the other hand, could declare — as, indeed, the Duke of Newcastle very constantly did — that they strongly disap- proved the appointments, and never would have made them if they had the full power in their hands ; but that, still, they did not feel it abso- lutely incumbent upon them to take the somewhat strong measure of interposing. In the present condition of our State arrange- ments, one of the best and most graceful uses of an aristocracy is to supply the country in time of war with commanders who have attained to dis- tinction in presence of the enemy, and yet are sufficiently youthful. For a nation to build its hopes upon so narrow a basis, instead of fairly searching out from among the whole community those men who may seem the best qualified to lead its forces, this, no doubt, must be looked