Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/338

 306 OPINIONS ON CANROBERT. CHAP. XI. so dramatic — he set up a kind of ' lay figure ' to represent General Canrobert ! — that 1 cannot here trust myself to attempt a reproduction of the fervid, energetic performance by which he showed the immensity of the difference established by nature between his predecessor and himself. Lord Raglan had perhaps been more troubled by the failings of Canrobert than any other man living, but he penned no severe, unkind word on the qualities of the retiring Commander. Effect of recent dis- closures on Canrobert's reputation. The disclosures of a more recent time tend to lighten or rather divert the weight of blame thrown upon Canrobert by showing him to have lost his free-will since the first days of February, when Niel put him under the generalship of Louis Napoleon ; and, although it be true that the attempt of this fanciful sovereign to govern from Paris the fight going on in Criin-Tartary was an abuse of monarchical power which Can- robert ought to have checked, just men, before wording their censure, will at least try to gauge the predicament of a hapless commander who could only have shielded his army from imperial dictation by breaking or evading the law.