THE DEMEANOUR OF ENGLAND. 287 be capable of withdrawing from the command chap. of our army a chief upon whom the whole fate L_ of the Allies was depending; but still they had not the fibre enabling them to meet all this out- cry with a resolute front. So, upon the whole, they acted thus : They retained Lord Eaglan in the command of our army ; but then, also, they ignobly left him unshielded by any good word of theirs against his rampant accusers, and even themselves took a part in hooting their absent general still engaged in close strife with the enemy ; whilst, moreover, from his Headquarter Staff they resolved to choose the fresh 'victims'* required for appeasing our people, and to try to wrench from their general in the hour of trial and danger, the deeply trusted officer who was toiling day and night at his side. The plan of effecting this wrench by violently pressing Lord Eaglan to say he would assent to the change was approved by the whole Cabinet ; but there were some of its members, including the new Prime Minister, disposed to go even further, and to make the suggested change in spite of Lord Kaglan's remonstrances. That last outrage, however, against all right feeling, no less than against common-sense, was happily averted by the opposition of Mr Gladstone and some other members of the Government, amongst whom, as I gladly believe, I may even count Lord Panmure.
- The word ' victim ' as applied to men politically sacri-
ficed, was freely used in those days with little or no thought of irony, but rather as a terse and husiness-like expression which aptly conveyed the meaning.
