THE OPENING OF THE SIEGE, 239 •u-hich the sailor enjoys ; but, even after rccognis- chap, ing that physical cause as accounting for some por- _ tion of the difference between the two men, the contrast still keeps its force. For the mind of the soldier is so weighted down by the ceaseless ])ressure of ^Method, thtit he has little enough of resource except what he finds in his valour and discipline : he is patient, and, in some circum- stances, strangely uncomplaining : he is grave, and calm : he has made himself famous in Europe for his power of confronting an enemy's column with what the French used to call his ' terrible
- silence.'* On the other hand, the sailor, thrown
suddenly into the midst of new conditions, is full of resource as Crusoe in his island. He does not hold himself at all bound to suffer without com- plaining. He freely tells his sorrows to his offi- cers. His courage is of the kind that enables him, in the midst of slaughter, to go on cheer- fully swearing, and steadily serving his gun — whilst in boarding, or any kind of assault, he finds a maddening joy ; but he would hardly enter into the spirit of an order which called upon him and his mates to stand still in straight lines under fire, keeping silence, and not rush ing forward. With the performance of his duties he blends a
- If I rightly remember, it was General Foy who, in the
spring of 1814, assigned this observance of silence — 'ce terrible silence' — as the cause which, in his judgment, had given the ascendant to the English infantry. He said the French could could not stand it. See General Trochu's most interesting account of the demeanour of British infantry in the crisis of a fight — ' L'Arm(5e Frnnjaise.
