In order, therefore, rightly to appreciate "The Invasion of the
Crimea," we must look upon it as a great prose epic; its argument,
machinery, actors, episodes, subordinate to a predominant ever
present hero. In its fine preamble Lord Raglan sits enthroned high
above generals, armies, spectators, conflicts; on the quality of
his mind the fate of two great hosts and the fame of two great
nations hang. He checks St. Arnaud's wild ambition; overrules the
waverings of the Allies; against his own judgment, but in dutiful
obedience to home instruction carries out the descent upon the Old
Fort coast. The successful achievement of the perilous flank march
is ascribed to the undivided command which, during forty-eight
hours, accident had conferred upon him. From his presence in
council French and English come away convinced and strengthened;
his calm in action imparts itself to anxious generals and panic-
stricken aides-de-camp. Through Alma fight, from the high knoll to
which happy audacity had carried him he rides the whirlwind and
directs the storm. In the terrible crisis which sees the Russians
breaking over the crest of Inkerman, in the ill-fated attack on the
Great Redan where Lacy Yea is killed, his apparent freedom from
anxiety infects all around him and achieves redemption from
disaster. {16} We see him in his moments of vexation and
discomfiture; dissembling pain and anger under the stress of the
French alliance, galled by Cathcart's disobedience, by the loss of
the Light Brigade, by Lord Panmure's insulting, querulous,
unfounded blame. We read his last despatch, framed with wonted
grace and clearness; then--on the same day--we see the outworn
frame break down, and follow mournfully two days later the
afflicting details of his death. As the generals and admirals of
the allied forces stand round the dead hero's form, as the palled
bier, draped in the flag of England, is carried from headquarters