390 THE DORMANT COMMISSION ENTRUSTED CHAP. III. was to be entrusted with the secret except Lord Eaglan, H.RH. the Duke of Cambridge, and Sir George Cathcart himself. For Lord Eaglan, who lived in close relations with Brown, it was dis- tressing to have to witness his friend's touching ignorance of the measure which, if so one may speak, had been secretly taken against him, and be forced to avoid every word, every look, which might tend to dispel the illusion. As regards Cathcart, the baneful effect of the Dormant Com- mission upon his mind is best shown by a paper in his own handwriting, which he left one day at headquarters. It runs thus : — State of Cathcart's feelings and temjier on the 4th of October. ' Camp above Sebastopol, tth Oct. 1854. ' My dear Lord Raglan, — Finding that I am ' not admitted to your confidence, and that Sir ' George Brown and M. G. Airey appear even to ' act in your name, without your knowledge, in ' the conduct and management of military details ' at this most serious crisis of the campaign in ' the Crimea ; also that I have scarcely had an ' opportunity, except at Varna, on my landing, ' of an interview on business, or received a single ' communication, verbally or otherwise, on the ' subject of the state of affairs from you; con- ' sidering also that the circumstances of my ' present position, known only to yourself, the ' Duke of Cambridge, and myself in this country, ' and to H.M.'s Govt, at home, my duty to my ' sovereign demands that I should request an ' interview at the time most convenient to you.
