Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/365

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 323 to fear as to prove that he had less self-control chap. in moments of danger than the common run of peaceful citizens ; but on all of them lie showed that, though he had chosen to set himself heroic tasks, his temperament was ill-fitted for the hour of battle and for the crisis of an adventure. For, besides that (in common with the bulk of man- kind) he was without resource and presence of mind when he imagined that danger was really quite close upon him, his complexion and the dismal looks he wore in times of trial were always against him. From some defect perhaps in the structure of the heart or the arterial system, his skin, when he was in a state of alarm, was liable to be suffused with a greenish hue. This dis- coloration might be a sign of high moral courage, because it would tend to show that the spirit was warring with the flesh ; but still it does not indicate that condition of body and soul which belongs to a true king of men in the hour of danger, and enables him to give heart and im- pulsion to those around him. It is obvious, too, that an appearance of this sort would be damping to the ardour of the bystanders. Several incidents show that between the 2d and the 4th of December the President was irresolute and keenly alive to his danger. The long-pondered plan of election which he had promulgated on the 2d of December he withdrew the next day, in obedience to the supposed desire of the Parisian multitude. He took care to have always close to his side the immense force of cavalry, to which he looked as