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244 ZEAL FOK AN CHAP, strength. But the iiairative, then comiuf' home XIV • '__ in fragments from the valley of the Danube, was heating the minds of the people of England. AVhen first England learnt that the Turks were to be besieged in their fortress of Silistria by a great Russian army under the renowned Paskie- vitch, few believed that the issue was doubtful, or even that the contest could be long sustained. But as soon as it became known that, day after day, the military strength of the Czar was exerted against the place with a violent energy, and that every attack was fiercely resisted, and always, as yet, with success, our people began to give their heart to the struggle ; and their eagerness rose into zeal when they heard that two young English travellers had thrown themselves into the for- tress, were heading the Turkish soldiery, and maintaining the defence day and night. The English were not of such a mettle as to be able to hear of tidings like these without growing more and more eager for warlike adventure. And in their hearts they liked the fact, that the few young English travellers who helped to save Sil- istria, and to turn away the war from the Danube, were men who did these things of their own free will and pleasure, without the sanction of the public authorities ; for our ])eople are accustomed to think more highly of their fellow-countrymen individually than they do of our State machinery ; and they can easily bear to see their Government iji default, and can even smile at its awkwardness, if all the shortcomings of ofQce are effectually