Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/281

 THE DEMEANOUR OF ENGLAND. 237 Embassy at Vienna, or our Embassy in Paris, CHA.P. or finally, in our departments at home, was an. engine always aptly conducing to the huge and multifarious business of a war conjoined with treaty, in which not only as general and admin- istrator, but also as diplomatist he had to bear the main part. Yet Lord Raglan did not trust to his pen when he thought that words from the lips might perhaps have a better effect. He was habitually in oral conference with his gen- erals, and men of other rank, or of no rank at all, whom he had summoned to Headquarters for the purpose ; and it may be observed that for one of the most trying and momentous of all his duties, that is, for the maintenance of our difficult and even perilous relations with the French, he made little use of the pen, trusting rather to personal intercourse. Of the way in which a commander can most effectively use his energies, he himself, it would seem, must commonly be the best judge. We saw how the gifted Todleben defended Sebas- topol without ever writing a line, and even without reading papers ; '" but the mighty task he had set himself was one bearing no kind of resemblance to the toils engaging Lord Eaglan ; and besides, it must be remembered that between the ages of the two men there was a difference of some thirty years. The engine wanted for effective command is brain-power ; and this, in their more youthful days, men can often exert to the utmost, although getting through every
 * Ante, vol. iv. of Cabinet Edition, pp. 14.5-G.