Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/110

68 OKIGIN OF THE WAK OF 1&53 chap, seemed to be; and what he seemed to be in the IV ' beginning of 1853 was a firm, righteous man, too brave and too proud to be capable of descending to falsehood. Nicholas had a violent will ; but of course when he underwent the change which robbed him of his singleness of mind, his resolves, notwithstanding their native force, could not fail to lose their momentum. He was a man too military to be warlike ; and was not only without the qualities fur wielding an army in the field, but was mis- taken also as to the way in which the best sol- diers are made. Eussia, under his sway, was so op- pressively drilled that much of the fire and spirit of enterprise which are needed for war was crushed out by military training No man, however, could toil with more zeal than he did in that branch of industry which seeks to give uniformity and mechanic action to bodies of men. He was an unwearied inspector of troops. He kept close at hand great numbers of small wooden images clothed in various uniforms, and one of the rooms in his favourite palace was filled with these mili- tary dolls. The Emperor Nicholas had not been long upon the throne, when he showed that he was a par- taker of the ambition of his people ; for in 1828 he had begun an invasion of Turkey, and was present with his army in some of the labours of the campaign : but his experience was of a pain- ful kind. The mechanical organisation in which he delighted broke down under stress of real war