Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/260

 230 HIS DEFENCE OF SEBASTOPOI-. chap, all imperial governance, and deserted by the !_ Emperor's army ? Above all, how confess that men for the moment cast loose from the rule of the Czars knew how to do what was essentially an Emperor's work — knew how to find a great general ? The truth is, that that very period which was one of great glory for the people of Russia, was also, as we have seen, one of shame for not only the Czar, but the Czardom ; and, the light of knowledge in those days being under official con- trol, Russia could not learn much at the time of the heroism with which a few thousands of her people, when fairly cast loose from their Govern- ment, stood up against the Invaders. As in France, when the long war "had ended, schoolmasters taught little children that the battles of Marengo and Austerlitz had been gained — after prayers to his saint — by the pious and valiant King Louis ; so Nicholas — blind to the truth, or trampling it down under foot, ignored the superb interregnum that began in Sebastopol towards the close of September, and wildly claimed for his 'Army,' that is, in a sense for himself, all the glory that had been won in the interval by a man and by men for the moment cast loose from Imperial rule, and taking that place of danger which the 'Army,' as we saw, had left vacant. When Nicholas died, the Government of his successor dealt wisely enough with the fact that