Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/346

 302 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP, road, returned (though uot, this time, with vio- • lence) to the subject of the Headquarter Staff declared that the Government had not been kept well informed about the state of the army,"' and went on to base the remainder of his missive on Errors three distinct errors, each one of a very gross uiede-° kind. The first error consisted in dealing with ^^ ^  Lord Kaglan's despatch as one that had com- plained of the Minister for making enquiries, the truth being not merely different but oppo- site; for what Lord Eaglan had indignantly complained of was that he and his Staff" had been not only accused, but even condemned unheard, and without having first been re- quested to furnish the due explanations. The second hugely gross error lay in actually assum- ing that anonymous aspersions upon a general carrying on an anxious campaign and wrestling close with the enemy, should be accepted by a Government as though they were true, unless he turned round and disproved them ! It is interest- ing and important to know that a man with brains clouded by the presence of such an idea, could be not only a Secretary of State, but one cbargcd with the conduct of war. The third error was that of imagining that the words I have cited from Lord Pannmre's despatch of the 12th of February were otherwise than coarsely offensive. What helps to- redeem the despatch is the virtual, though ill-fasliioned retractation which Government informed we have seen. See ante, sec. 1, and sec. 4, p. 257, and sec. 6, p. 293.
 * How amply and completely Lord Rjiglan kept the