SPIRIT OF THE FRENCH ARMY. 303 ' it is his desire to place the fullest confidence in chap. XT ' you, and to consult you as to all his plans. I ! — ' fear he will have great difficulty in restoring the ' morale of his troops which, from all . . . ' tells me, is greatly shaken not only in the eyes ' of the English soldiers, but in the estimation of ' the French officers themselves. This is alto- ' gether a very painful state of things, and gives ' me great anxiety as to the result of our present ' operations.' * Down to even the middle of April, the spirit of the French army was in such a condition that Rousset describes it thus : ' The Russians were ' surprised and joyful, the English disgusted, the ' French, to say the least, astonished. One could ' no longer make out anything about the conduct ' of this siege, of these demonstrations of force ' ending always in the contrary, and men returned ' sadly into the labyrinth of the trenches as though ' destined never to leave it. There was — not dis- ' couragement but — a fatalist's sort of resignation ' to orders and counter-orders alike. The very ' Turks of Omar Pasha did not render a more 'dismal obedience.'! Soon, the vigour of Pelissier exerted itself so superbly against the wishes of Canrobert that the spirit of the French army was restored — was raised to a high pitch of warlike ardour on the
- Lord Panmure to Lord Raglan, Private Letter, 16th April
1855. t Rousset, vol. ii. p. 145. What gives value to this statement is that the writer spoke with knowledge of all the most secret papers in the French War Office.
