THE DEMEANOUR OF ENGLAND. 283 hampering the Duke of Newcastle in liis admin- CHAP. istration of the War Department. The zeal of the Duke of Newcastle drove The Duke of him to send out the fated word, to send' out the fated man, to send out the fated gift which unhappily were fitted to change what might otherwise have proved a swift conquest into a painful, lengthened siege ; (^^) but, to charge him with want of vigour was unjust. From the spring of 1854 until the time of his fall, the despatches and private letters delivered with every mail kept him always in close counsel with Lord Eaglan upon the business of the war ; so that, to be acquainted with the correspondence thus incessantly passing between the Minister and the general during a period of some ten months, is to know — to know with minuteness — how the Duke did the work of his department ; and whoever in this way has measured the zeal, the devotion, the industry with which he pursued his hard task, must refuse, I think, to believe that his admin- istrative efforts were weak. What casts a real shade on the memory of the Duke of Newcastle is — not any administrative mismanagement of the graver sort, still less any slackening of energy, but — his unhappy demeanour when falling — his clutch, if so one may speak, at the generous, the thoughtful adviser who — because an accomplished administrator whilst also the commander of our army — had been able to do more than any other living man towards enlightening the Minister's path.
