Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/513

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APPENDIX. 469 ' power, you may look for all the support which a minister can ' give to a general. ' One word more : I trust that this very painful correspondence ' is done. Why, my lord, do you refer to your life of honour — ' of which you may be justly proud — and the regard for your ' truth, which was entertained by the greatest man of the age? ' Is there a sentence in my despatch that calls in question ' either the one or the other ? If so, I extract * it at once. ' But surely I may be permitted to question your judgment ' without impugning your truth or your honour ? both of which, ' be assured, are as precious in my eyes, and in those of yonr ' countrymen, as they can be in'your own.' t Note 79. — Report, dated Headquarters in the Crimea, 2Gth April 1855. Note SO. — Private letter, 1st June 1855. Note 81. — I believe that soon after their accej^tance of office, they became j^ained at the thought of having separated themselves from their old chief. Lord Aberdeen, and the more so because, like him, they were more anxious than Lord Palmerston seemed to bo for the restoration of peace. Feelings of this kind contrib- uted perhaps more or less to their resolve ; and with Sir James Graham, in particular, that was certainly the case. Note 82. — His determination to take that course caused, as we saw, the secession of the four ' Peelite ' members of his Cabinet. See ante, p. 308. Note 83. — To some, unless I mistake, he spoke much more pointedly, saying that the Constitution was on its trial. Note 84. — A good instance of this might be found by referring to the opening of Parliament in 1864, and to the week which preceded it. The change in such cases does not generally await the actual opening of Parliament, but takes place a few days before, when members begin to meet, and compare their im- pressions. Note 85. — Even now, in 1880, the question is still awaiting solution ; see Lord Melgund's interesting and suggestive article in the ' Nineteenth Century ' for March 1 880. Note 86. — This subject is amusingly and conclusively dealt

  • Sic in orighial ; but of course the word meant was ' retract.'

f Despatch from Lord Panniure, 19th March 1855.