Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/137

WHEN ABANDONED BY THE AUMV. 107 flame other men, he did not at all share himself; CHAP. foi- though he was very sure that in the ultimate .' - designs of Providence the triumph of ' Holy ' Ptussia' must needs be secure, he believed that bloody disaster must first come ; and he seemed to have made up his mind that — for himself, at all events — there was no issue out of the trouble except an honourable death. In truth, it may be gathered that, although to others his presence brought joyful promise of success — of success to be had in this world — yet in his privacy he was more the resolute martyr than the confident and half -careless seaman. But, whatever was the true source of his power over the warlike temper of other men, the power was there. He had soul. Vice-Admiral Kornilofif was an able adminis- trator, and excellently versed in the duties per- taining to a naval commander; but the faculty of designing apt plans for the conduct of war was not in the number of those with which he was known to be gifted ; and, in this respect, no guid- ing help was to be got from General Moller, nor yet, it would seem, from any of the officers on duty whom Prince Mentschikoff had left in the place. But if the army was wanting in this the time of trial, and the seamen were without the skill needed for phiuuing defences on shore, there had come, as a guest, to Sebastopol, a man so gifted Coioueiaa by nature as to be able to fill the void, and able, moreover, to make people bend to his judgment,