Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/116

 72 THE WINTP:R TllOUBLES. C F{ A P. IV. take ira- provenipnt of the War adniinii^tra- tioii. Dunda.sV measure of the war, and therefore entitled to evoke the military resources of the nation, they, never- theless, when providing for the actual execution of their plans, had been forced to rely a great deal on administrative labours performed by the ' personal king ' or his servants ; so that if, for example, they wished to send an invading army to any foreign shore, they indeed could them- selves (through the Admiralty, which was a limb of the ' Government ') conduct the maritime part of the operation, and, besides, though the Ordnance (in which they had some kind of footing) might send out artillery, and engineers, and provide certain stores, yet, so far as con- cerned the arrangements for furnishing and equipping the needed bodies of cavalry and infantry, they looked to the personal sovereign — in other words, to the Horse Guards ; and accordingly, although war was raging, the ' Min- ' ister for War and Colonies ' had as yet become charged with few or no great warlike tasks, except indeed the momentous one of correspon- ding with each of the generals in command of our armies abroad. But, the king no longer obstructing, men now got to see that this Minister might make himself the organ 'of the Government for authoritatively impressing its will upon the numerous scattered offices which, between them, however imperfectly, were performing the varied functions of a mili- tary administration ; and that, if this assumption of power could be supported by proper appliances for giving it full effect, a great advance would be