Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/201

PRECEDING THH liNVASION. 171 manly carriage, and liis easy scat on horseback, chap. made him look the same as a man in the strong !l . mid-season of life. He had one peculiarity which, although it went near to being a foible, was likely to give smooth- ness to his relations with the French. Beyond and apart from a just contempt for mere display, he had a strange hatred of the outward signs and tokens of military energy. Versed of old in real war, he knew that the clatter of a General briskly galloping hither and thither with staff and order- lies did not of necessity imply any momentous resolve, — that the aides-de-camp, swiftly shot oft' by a word like arrows from a bow, were no sure signs of despatch or decisive action ; and because such outward signs might mean little, he shrank from them more than was right. He would have liked, if it had been possible, that he and his army should have glided unnoticed from the banks of the Thames to their position in the battle-field. It was certain, therefore, that al- though a French General would be sure to find himself checked in any really hurtful attempt lo encroach upon the just station of the British army, yet that if, as was not unnatural, he should evince a desire for personal prominence, he would find no rival in Lord Eaglan until he reached the enemy's presence. He was gifted with a diction very apt for public business, and of ft kind rarely found in Englishmen ; for though it was so easy as to be just wliat men like in the intercourse of private