Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/17

 OF THIS VOLUME. Xlll some coiumeutator to reni.'iin unacquainted ^itii the elementary part of liis subject, and therefore roam free to imagine, nay, continue for weeks and weeks to go on imagining, that, without any risk of a fall, he could set my whole statement at nought. Accordingly, with a singular confidence, the Edinburgh Keviewer protested that there never had been such a usage as the one 1 described ; and that the Letter from the Commander-in-Cliief, which in terms handed over Lord Eaglan to the guidance of ' Her Majesty's Ministers,' was not a public document at all, but a mere private letter of so little import or use that it might be ' lost ' in the post, or twisted up into pipe-lights,' with- out any evil consequences. Not after thus giving judgment did the bold writer lightly pass on to firmer ground, for he erected a great superstructure of what purported to be authoritative exposition on the same chosen, much trusted quicksand. How many days passed between the publication of the ' Eeview ' and the correction which followed, I can hardly be sure — I was away at the time, — but on the 5th of February 1881 a friend of mine, signing ' Amicus,' kindly published in my absence a letter,"^' which not only exposed the mistake of the ' Edinburgh,' but did this with a masterly touch, showing first how largely, how boldly this Teacher had built on his creed, and then gently unfolding a .st.atement which, though fraught with decisive
 * In the ' Pall Mall Gazette ' of the above date.