Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/252

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222 THE POWEB 111; HAD EXERTED. cdtap. But wc know that Todleben's method of v 1 1 [ . '— bringing brain power to bear on each problem which/unti] coming before him had rested much more than h^bronght is common on his own actual, bodily presence. tobearT* By scanning reports, and penning or dictating orders, other men have made themselves con- querors, and few, I suppose, would disparage the mode they have found well adapted for giving effect to their plans. But not such was this great soldier's way of bringing his power to bear. It was not at table or desk, but on that black charger of his which our people used to watch with their glasses that he mainly defended Sebastopol.* It was always with his very own eyes that he liked to fasten on knowledge, with his very own voice that he liked to give special orders, with his very own presence that he carried from rampart to rampart the passion of a warlike resolve. The diner- The withdrawal of a power long wielded in this CI I PC CI! IlSC'l by ids re- special, personal way was not of course one to be compensated by any such notes or messages as a wounded and suffering patient might send from his couch miles away in the Belbec valley ; and, although I have no right to say that, so soon as this leader of men — suffering under his wound — had been carried away from his Fortress, the famous defence of Sebastopol began to decline, it still must be owned that thenceforward no other

  • Seo ante, vol. iv. pp. 145, 146. The interesting identification

at Woolwich to which Todleben's black charger contributed is there mentioned in the foot-note to page 146. moval.