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 264 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP, very presence of the enemy, but, to satisfy its .____ anger, migbt like to see his management cen- sured, yet have the censure so aimed that, al- though in a sense directed against Lord Eaglan himself, it should be made to glance off upon the officers of his Headquarter Staff, and cause them to be removed from their posts. If the mind of the nation was destined to take such a bend, and throw blame on the absent combatants instead of the present civilians, why should not the Duke turn aside into that path of refuge and thus place himself once more in unison with his fellow - countrymen ? If the course, though a strange one, was a course he really thought wholesome, why should not he frankly adopt it, and thus not only follow the clue afforded by his own real convictions, but also furnish his country with the much-needed victims, and so once more emerge into sunshine as a Minister who, if baffled for a while by the military administrators, had at least taken care to find out and remove the delinquents ? One obstacle lay in his path. Upon the authority of unofiicial informants, whether com- ing to him in private or speaking through news- paper channels, could he venture at once to denounce the administration and management of an army engaged in the field, and to throw un- conditional blame upon officers of its Head- quarter Staff, without first taking care to learn what the honoured commander himself might think fit to say for himself, might think fit to say for the officers long accustomed to toil at his