Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/289

 FOR THE INVASION. 259 rough, shrewd, good-humoured eyebrows, had chap. grown grey in the faithful service of a political 1, party. By nature, he was so stout-hearted that he could afford to give free, manly counsel with- out the least dread lest men should say he was too cautious. His habits as a working, subor- dinate member of Government, and perhaps, also, his natural temperament, inclined him to take a homely view of questions — a view recommended by what men term ' common sense.' I am sure, though I never heard him say so, that he believed the war to be extremely foolish, and that the less there was of it, the better it would be for the Whigs, and for all the rest of mankind. He spoke and went straight forward. He thoroughly dis- approved the project of invasion, and he said so in plain words. His opinion sprang, not from dread of peril to the forces which he himself com- manded, but from anxiety — anxiety in every way honourable to him — for the safety of the English army. That that anxiety was altogether vain, or even that it was weakly founded, few men, speak- ing with the light of the past, will be ready to say. Still less will it be thought that the Vice- Admiral was wrong in giving bold expression to his views. Admiral Dundas's command was one quite independent of the General in command of the English army; but, the feasibility of the sea- transit not being in question,* it was plain undertake to land the army on the coast of the Crimea, but that he did not at all make sure of being able to supply it, or to bring it back.
 * Dundas, I think, said faii-ly and bluntly, that he could