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 460 APPENDIX. imagined that by sitting down after simply reading his motion, the mover had adopted the best expedient for ensm-ing its success. Note 63. — Seb. Comm. Rep., Question 21,287 el seq. Note 64. — The word was siege (' lay siege to Sebastopol '), and belonged to the cluster of momentous phrases which, having crept in with the ' redaction ' of the despatch, were unwittingly assented to by the ' sleeping Cabinet ; ' the man was Burgoyne, the gift; was the siege-train. Note 65. — The position of Su- John Burgoyne, until recalled, was that of a general officer of Engineers, instructed to advise upon questions connected with his branch of the service. Note 66. — The difference between the responsibility of him who framed the despatch and of those who only assented to it was very great, because the assenters had some right to take it for granted that their colleague — himself a Cabinet Minister — would not be bringing charges against the general which were liable to be signally refuted upon the arrival of the return mail. Note 67. — Knowing closely one part of this Minister's career, but still only a part, and that, too, a small, ugly part of it, I no more make pretension to understand his true character than would or could Sir Thomas Lucy — thinking always of the tres- passer who invaded his park, and never of Othello or Hamlet — to appreciate the whole nature of Shakespeare ; and it is fair that the judgment of personal friends long acquainted with this rugged Minister should either weigh heavily against my unfavour- able conclusions, or at least be accepted as testimony strongly tending to prove that Lord Panmure was a man of higher quality than he showed himself to be during that particular period which began on the r2th of February 1855, and ended in the following June. Note 68. — In ultimately foregoing his resistance to the pro- secution of the Parliamentary enquiry sought by Mr Roebuck's motion. Lord Panmure no doubt acted conscientiously, and per- haps also wisely, but certainly strength of will was not the quality he disclosed. On the 12th of February, he wrote: 'I ' think it impossible to carry on the Government unless the ' House of Commons put down Mr Roebuck's Committee ; ' and four of his colleagues. Sir James Graham, Mr Gladstone, Mr Sidney Herbert, and Mr Cardwell stood so fast to that very resolve that rather than abandon it they resigned (see chap, ix.