296 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP, once with the courtiers, will concede that such IX ' a despatch as the one of which we are speaking thrs°fiocu- ought not to have left our shores without having ment? gpgj. ]jqqj^ Submitted for the Eoyal approval. They will even perhaps allow that the oppor- tunity in that way presented would have been one of the best that modern times have afforded for illustrating the grandeur, the usefulness of a kingly office, and will say, too, unless I mis- take, that if such a conjuncture had happened in the last preceding reign, a private secretary, of the quality and experience of Sir Herbert Taylor, might have been expected to aid his royal mas- ter by some such counsel as this : ' The Cabinet
- is not advising the king to recall the general
' in command of his army, yet proposes, never-
- theless, to address to him an official despatch
' containing, amongst others, these words : " It
- " would appear that your visits to the camp
- " were few and far between, and your Staff
- " seem to have known as little as yourself of
' " the condition of your gallant men." The ' king has not learnt that His general has been ' heard upon the grave charge which this con- ' demnation imports. The Cabinet might be
- asked to reconsider the terms of the despatch,
' and either convert the language of actual con- ' demnation into that of enquiry, or furnish the ' king with proofs in support of the charge. ' The Cabinet may be asked to consider the ' position in which the king would be placed,
- if (without first hearing what His general
' might say in defence) he were to sanction
