Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/82

 38 THE WINTEi; TROUBLES. CHAP. III. The old army offices without ex- perience de- rived from recent cain- paiijns. Cliauges made in our system of war admin- istration. The Duke of Newcastle Secretary of State for War. The author- ity he ex- c raised. Thus, tlieii, the War Ijranch of the * Depart- ' ineiit of War and Colonies,' the War Office, the Horse Guards, the Ordnance, the Victualling Office, the Transport Office, the Army Medical Department, and, finally, the Treasury — these all were departments which, along with many others doing duty in narrower spheres, undertook the great business of maintaining within the limits of Europe, though still far away beyond seas, the land-service part of the war ; and, our system having always been such as to prevent the metropolis from being a centre of action for the sustenance of conflicts in Asia, our adminis- trators in London and Westminster had to enter all at once on their task without any of the priceless experience derived from recent cam- paigns. IV. In June 1854, our Government determined that the business of 'War' and ' Colonies' should no longer be charged upon the same Minister ; and the Duke of Newcastle — the then holder of the double office — being left free to choose be- tween the two functions, gave up the ' Colonies,' and was thenceforth (as he had been from the first), the Secretary of State for War, but no longer charged with colonial business. As an instrument for preparing and conducting hostil- ities, the authority of the office he thus retained had indeed been long out of use, but still was by all fully recognised ; and the good sense of his colleagues, and of public men generally, did