me to
the conclusion that never was so small a matter magnified beyond its
true proportions.'

Within twenty-four hours of his resignation Lord John had an opportunity
of showing that he bore no malice towards former colleagues. Mr.
Roebuck, with characteristic denunciations, attacked the Government on
the damaging statements contained in the report of the Sebastopol
Committee. He proposed a motion censuring in severe terms every member
of the Cabinet whose counsels had led to such disastrous results.
Whatever construction might be placed on Lord John's conduct of affairs
in Vienna, he at least could not be charged with lukewarmness or apathy
in regard to the administration of the army and the prosecution of the
war. He had, in fact, irritated Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle
by insisting again and again on the necessity of undivided control of
the military departments, and on the need of a complete reorganisation
of the commissariat. A less magnanimous man would have seized the
opportunity of this renewed attack to declare that he, at least, had
done his best at great personal cost to prevent the deplorable confusion
and collapse which had overtaken the War Office. He disdained, however,
the mean personal motive, and made, what Lord Granville called, a
'magnificent speech,' in which he declared that every member without
exception remained responsible for the consequences which had overtaken
the Expedition to the Crimea, Mr. Kinglake once asserted that, though
Lord John Russell was capable of coming to a bold, abrupt, and hasty
decision, not duly concerted with men whose opinions he ought to have
weighed, no statesman in Europe surpassed him on the score of courage or
high public spirit. The chivalry which he displayed in coming to the
help of the Government on the morrow of his own almost compulsory
retirement from office was typical of a man who made many mistakes, but
was never guilty, even when wounded to the quick, of gratifying the
passing resentments of the hour at the expense of the interests of the
nation.

[Sidenote: WARLIKE COUNSELS PREVAIL]

During the summer of 1855 the feeling of the country grew more and more
warlike. The failure of the negotiations at Vienna had touched the
national pride. The State visit in the spring to the English Court of
the Emperor Napoleon, and his determination not to withdraw his troops
from the Crimea until some decisive victory was won, had rekindled its
enthusias