TROUBLED COUNSELS. 237 CHAP. VIII. V. But supposing this conclusion accepted, and ac- The previous . . , concealment cordinQ'ly aQ;reein<>' with Canrobert that a vitally fromcan- & J B ° J robert. momentous decision was rightly averted by the letter of the 7th of April, it seems wondrous that he of all men should have long been excluded from that very parcel of knowledge which was held (when discovered at last) to afford the sure clue for his guidance, and left to find it out acci- dentally, after many a day, from a letter which Admiral Bruat had for some other purpose ad- duced. The truth is that on the subject of his Corps of Reserve the French Emperor had been maintain- ing from the first a system of almost childish concealment against his own general Canrobert ; * though perhaps it was mainly from sloth, or from want of comprehensive brain-power, that he let concealment run on to its more extravagant lengths. That his admirably organised Ministry of War failed to save him from so huge a default, is not perhaps very wonderful ; since plainly his interposition, being fitful, ill-conceived, and mys- terious, must have tended to hamper its clock-
- As well showed by Marshal Vaillant's mysterious letter to
Canrobert. Rousset, vol. ii. p. 35, and quoted post, in the next page. ' Le general Canrobert lui-meine n'en devait rien ap- ' prendre.' These words are given by Rousset authoritatively because he had had access to the secret papers of the War De- partment. Vol. ii. p. 35.
