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 274 THE WINTER TliOUBLES. CHAP, despatch bearing date the 6th of January. And • this last measure was not without import, for it enabled the Ministers to defend themselves against apprehended attacks, by proving, if need be, that they, too, no less than the journalists, had already become the accusers of Lord Raglan and the Headquarter Staff, (^2) This despatch was beyond measure wordy, and less precise in its terms than the letters we have been quoting ; but its main object was to cast blame on the military administration in the Crimea, to enjoin vigorous reform, and call for special reports from several of the Headquarter Departments. In his subsequent private letters, the Duke of Newcastle continued to urge that Lord Raglan would assent to the removal of his Adjutant and Quartermaster Generals. The feeling Lord Raglan had foreseen, nay, foretold that (if Lord Rag-, , i • c i i ^ Ian upon tlic uumeasured joy ot our people when under s'dif'andhis" tlic spell of a ucwly-won victory would be fol- edV'^the' lowed by public displeasure, and he tranquilly Govern- held himself ready to be portioned with obloquy instead of the boundless gratitude that had been promised in the month of October ; but the con- quest last achieved by public clamour was one that he had not thought possible. He well understood that the outcry would be likely to carry with it the people and the House of Com- mons ; but that hostile critics assailing him should make a proselyte of the Queen's Govern- ment with which he had been all along acting in close, friendly, intimate counsel — this was more inent.