Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/230

 200 TRANSACTIONS CHAP. XII. The way in which St Amaud's achemes escuped publicity. the repute of the schemer who contrived it, and making him the butt for their wit. It is obvious that the premature disclosui-e, either of Marshal St Arnaud's ambitious schemes or of his faltering counsels, would have been fraught with danger to the alliance ; and since it used to happen in those days that tidings freshly- entrusted to the English Cabinet were often dis- closed to the world, it seems useful to show how it was that Lord Raglan proved able to screen these transactions of JNIarshal St Arnaud from the in- quiring eye of the public. Apparently he did this by being careful in the choice of the time for making disclosures to the authorities at home. Except when there was a good reason for taking a contrary course, he liked to delay the communication of affairs involving danger until the danger was past. Thus, for instance, he would describe the beginning of an intrigue, and also its final defeat, at the same time; and the result was, that the end of the despatch not only made the disclosure of the earlier part of it comparatively harndess, ])ut even destroyed its value as an article of 'news;' for in proportion as people were greedy for fresh tidings, they were careless of things which ranged with the past, and the time was so stirring that the tale of an abandoned plan of campaign, or an intrigue already baffled and ex- tinct, was hardly a rich enough gilt for a Minister to carry to a newsman. Thus were averted the early dangers whicl)