Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/205

 PRECEDING THE INVASION, 175 ' mankind ; but surely those men wrong you who chap. ' call you a proud people. Pride causes men to ^"' ' stand aloof, as we do, from that which is base ; ' and if ever again we call you haughty islanders, ' you may silence the calumny by reminding us ' of this 13th day of April in the year of grace ' 1854. It was not enough that, for the sake of ' this silly war, you should ally yourselves body ' and soul to " Monsieur de Morny's Lawgiver," ' and that you should suffer him to drag you ' down into close intercourse with persons whom ' the humblest of us here decline to know ; but ' now, as though you really wished that your ' dishonour should be made signal in Europe, ' you send liither your General to be presented by ' " this French Emperor," as you call him, to his ' henchman, Mr Le Eoy St Arnaud, and the man ' whom you choose out for this great public sac- ' rifice is Eitzroy Somerset, the friend and com- ' panion-in-arms of your Wellington. You say ' that Lord Eaglan cares not with whom he associ- ' ates, so that he is under the orders of the Queen ' public duty ; but because he, in the loyalty, in ' the high-bred simplicity of his nature, is careless ' and forgetful of self — is that a reason why you ' should fail to be proud for him — why you should ' forget to be careful on his behalf ? If the niod- ' esty of his nature hindered him from seeing ' the momentous significance of his contact with ' the people who have got into our palaces, ought ' you not to have interposed to pievent him from
 * whom he serves, and in the performance of a