Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/123

 A RETROSPECTIVE ENQUIRY. 79 was something not far from ignoble — something not even safe against ridicule — in the claim of the ' personal ' sovereign, or the son representing him, to resume the command of ' his ' army ; for he did not, and could not, do this until the fight- ing was done, and then only resume with full knowledge that, whenever the moment might come for again resorting to arms, he again must give up his authority over every body of troops under orders to take the field. Like a child, he might handle the sword, but only whilst in its scabbard. Yet, in order to keep such a play- thing in Eoyal hands, the Regent and his ser- vants, between them, brought about that dis- mantling of our War Department which was fitted — and, as now we know, destined — to pre- pare for the State grievous ills. They could say indeed, with strict truth, that the rule of the 'personal' sovereign had always been meant to revive as soon as the war should cease ; that the Crown, in reclaiming its perquisite, was acting both legally and in conformity with the long- standing compromise ; and that, consequently, in abetting the resumption, however injurious to the State, our Ministers were only conceding the exact ' pound of flesh ' which the Eegent was entitled to have. But apart from the spectacle of public men helping Shylock to enforce such a bond as that against a trustful, generous nation, it is plain that the whole character and quality of the transaction was governed by the length of the interval during which a protracted war had kept the Eoyal claim in abeyance ; for the