Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/257

 ATTACK ON SEBASTOPOL. 227 that springs from a man's own thoiifiht and from CHAP. . XIV. his own strong- will. jNlorcover, it was by a kind L- of chance rather than by intentional selection that the Duke of Newcastle had become entrusted with the momentous business of the war; and this circumstance so much weighed against him that, after a while, the propriety of his continuing to liold the office was peremptorily brought into question by one of his principal colleagues.* From the first, the Duke of Newcastle, resist- niszeaifor . the (lestnio. ing all proposals for operating agamst Eussia on tionofse- the side of Poland, had warmly shared the popu- lar desire to invade the Crimea and lay siege to Sebastopol. The Em.peror of the French, steadily following his main policy, had long ago consented to look to this enterprise as next in importance to self declared that his only reason for insisting that the Duke of Newcastle should be replaced by another min- ister, was the one above shown. What I have above called 'a kind of chance' was brought about in this way: — Accor- ding to the practice which was in force up to the sum- mer of 1854, the Secretary of State for the Colonies was also the 'Secretary of War.' Before the war, however, the public hardly observed, and in fact hardly knew this, because in peace- time (thanks to the labours of the 'Horse Guards,' the ofEce of the Secretary at War, the Ordnance, and several other ofhces) the duties of the Colonial Secretary, in his character as Secre- tary of War, were very slight ; and, there being no prospect of war when Lord Aberdeen's Ministry was forni'^d, the Duke of Newcastle was of course selected with a view to his qualifica. tions for the administration of the Colonies, and not with any consideration, either one way or the other, as to his aptitude for the business of the War Department. AVhen the nipturo with Russia occurred, it became apparent that, unless a chaiige were made, the Llinister who happened to be the Colonial Secre- tary would stand charged with the business of the war.
 * "With liis accustomed frankness, Lord Russell has hini-