532

LIFE OF COBDEN.

[CHAE

1654. rank, and therefore I preferred pioneering for my convic
Zr. 50. tions to promotion at the expense of them.” .
“ January 10, 1855. (To Colonel Fitumayer.)—1 have agai
to thank you for your continued kindness in sending me the
regular news of your siege operations. When I think of all
the discomfort under which your letters are penned, I cannob
boo highly value such proofs of your friendship. . . .
“Before this reaches you, the news will have been carried
to the Crimea that negotiations for peace have been opened
on the basis of the four points. It remains to be seen
whether the Czar is in earnest, and whether the allies enter
in a bond-fide spirit upon the deliberations. I am inclined
to believe that all the Governments are heartily sick of the
war, and therefore shall not be surprised if a peace be
speedily arranged. But in the meantime our newspapers
must swagger a good deal over the Czar, and persuade their
readers that we have subjected him to great humiliations.
I confess, however, that I do not see the grounds for this
boastful self-glorification. It is true that you have beaten
the Russians in the field, but there is always the broad fact
remaining that Sebastopol is not taken. Itis no fault of your
brave army that the place is still holding out—-the fact is we
never ought to have made the plunge in the dark in the
Crimea at all. Indeed it has been admitted in the House by
Lord John Russell that both government and generals had
been mistaken in their estimate of its strength. This confession
 ought to suffice to condemn the present Administra
bion to dismissal from office ; for there can be no excuse for
ignorance on a point which might have been very easily
cleared up before the expedition sailed. I think I could
bave undertaken in June last to have obtained the most
minute particulars as to the strength of Sebastopol for 8
few thousand pounds.
“There are some points raised in your letter which I shall