Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/249

 THK UEMEANOUn OF ENOEAND. 205 judgment more or less conlidently updii the acts chap. and omissions of the rulers, whether civil or. Ll_ military. Experience had proved that communi- cations of this kind must needs find their way to England ; and certainly under one aspect it was for the advantage of the public service that con- ceited, querulous officers should be deprived of their power to do mischief by the rivalry of pro- fessional narrators with more of the leisure re- quired for taking a large field of view, and abler to wield the pen.(^) By narrators of this sort established in Bala- Con-espon- •^ 1 r-n dents of clava. or encamped with our troops on the Cher- London ' ^ newspapers sonese, several great London newspapers were in the ' '^ ^ ^ Crimea. ably, nay, brilliantly served. The bold, skilled, sagacious envoy whom the Tiiemoderr „ 1 Til war eorre- couductors of our modern newspapers despatch spondent to a seat of war is a member of what now has become an interesting, chivalrous profession, with not only its recognised duties, but also a code of honour implying so much of the military spirit, that he who chooses to follow this venturesome calling is accustomed to hold himself in readi- ness for instant, unquestioning obedience when ordered off at short notice to meet toil, privation, and danger in any part of the world.(^) How successfully in the face of besetting difficulties such an envoy can plant himself upon the spot where light may be expected to fall, how he winnows away the fables surrounding him in the tumult of camps, and fastens upon the di in- looking truths, and gives them besides their significance, and sends them on their magic flight