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THE DEMEANOUR OF ENGLAND. 241 quarters were made a subject of taunt; and he chap. who amongst living men was unsurpassed in his ' sense of duty, unsurpassed in his thoughtfulness for others, he who made every day of his life a day of well-applied toil, he who giving his all of strength and working power to the Queen and the country he served, was destined to sinlc under his burthen, scarce finding, scarce seek- ing, an interval between public care and death — he, he and no other, was the chief held up to indignation as one who continued ' to while ' away his time in ease and tranquillity among ' the relics of his army.'(^^) The writer even thought it becoming to point to a time when Lord Raglan and his staff would ' return with ' their horses, their plate, and their china, their ' German cook, and several tons' weight of official ' returns, all in excellent order, and the announce- ' ment that, the last British soldier being dead, ' they had left our position in the care of our ' gallant Allies.'(^^) And, the choice idea of suggesting that — surrounded with luxuries — Lord Eaglan and his staff would soon be the only survivors of the army, was not a mere escapade, repented of the next day. Far (ap- parently) from seeming loathsome to the con- ductors of the paper, it was several times re- produced. After quoting attacks of this kind, one need hardly, I think, lose time in bringing their author to judgment. For if the offender be dead, there is obvious warrant for silence ; whilst, if he be living and sentient, the mere VOL. VIL Q