dates. He showed that requisitions for clothing, so far from being refused, were generally in the possession of regiments long before they were able to render them available, and that to the oft-quoted want of transport alone was due the fact that those stores remained unissued. No official barrier was, he says, raised between the men and the supplies; on the contrary, the issues of clothing were authorised very much faster than the men could draw it. He rightly observes that, in the altered state of affairs existing in the middle of March, it was impossible for any two persons, whether civilians or military men, fully to appreciate the position of the army in the midst of the unheard-of difficulties of the winter, and concludes by a picture of the condition of the troops, and the causes of distress and perplexity by which they were surrounded.

The reader of the Report and Inquiry will possess as much information on the subject of the campaign as will enable him to draw his own conclusions. The reader of this paper will, we hope, have a fair idea of the Report and Inquiry. A careful comparison of the statements contained in both has confirmed us in the opinion, formed long ago, that, the army once before Sebastopol, no arrangement or foresight within the scope of human means could have averted, to any extent, the disasters which followed. While bearing testimony to the patience and sagacity with which the Commissioners investigated the circumstances of the army, and to the general correctness of their facts in all important particulars, we think the inference to be drawn from the Reports, that blame may be justly affixed in specified quarters, cannot be sustained. The fact that the different departments of the army have their proper limits seems in some measure to have been lost sight of by the Commissioners, as well as by the public, whose complaints all appear to us to have been based on the error that everybody ought to understand and interfere in the business of everybody else as well as his own. No commander-in-chief would wish to see such a system of interchange of duties substituted for the restricted

and specific sphere of operations and responsibility allotted to each department. To perform the duties of his own branch is all that can be expected from an officer; and it is the province of the superintending intelfect, which knows the instruments it works with, to combine all in harmonious action.

While showing that to undertake the siege was to brave great and inevitable distresses, we nevertheless rejoice that the siege was undertaken. Our own losses, though great, were nothing in comparison with those inflicted on the enemy, by forcing him to carry on the war at such a distance from his resources, and with such a country as the Crimea intervening. Thus, and thus only, could be attained the result we behold; Russia, at the end of one campaign, compelled to accept the terms dictated by the Allies.

While we write, the tents which whiten the plains of Sebastopol are disappearing like dissolving snow: each day sees roods of the plateau restored to the dominion of desolation. To prove that practice and material alone were wanting to render our departments effective, we need only look back on the past winter in the Crimea, where our troops have lived in comfort, plenty, and extraordinary health, while our allies, notwithstanding the oft-quoted superiority of their military system, experienced severe suffering and loss. That army, which would have begun another campaign in a state of unrivalled completeness, is about to be dissolved for ever; already its regiments are landing, some in distant colonies, some in England, while the militia, which garrisoned our fortresses, are once more absorbed into the general population. Seeing the indifference with which this great change is viewed, and the apathy with which the announcement for the reduction of the army is listened to, we would impress once more the moral, which, in anticipation of the Board's verdict, we draw from the Report we have been discussing. That moral is, that all the suffering and calamity, not absolutely inevitable, which befell our troops, were caused by the nation itself, which

IT was made into a parcel, duly packed and tied up; not in a delicate wrapper, or with pretty ribbons, as perhaps the affectionate regard of Agnes might have suggested, but in the commonest and most matter-offact parcel imaginable. But by that time it began to be debated whether Charlie, after all, was a sufficiently dignified messenger. He was only a boy-that was not to be disputed; and Mrs Atheling did not think him at all remarkable for his "manners," and papa doubted whether he was able to manage a matter of business. But, then, who could go?-not the girls certainly, and not their mother, who was somewhat timid out of her own house. Mr Atheling could not leave his office; and really, after all their objections, there was nobody but Charlie, unless it was Mr Foggo, whom Agnes would by no means consent to employ. So they brushed their big boy, as carefully as Moses Primrose was brushed before he went to the fair, and gave him strict injunctions to look as grave, as sensible, and as old as possible. All these commands Charlie received with perfect coolness, hoisting his parcel under his arm, and remaining entirely unmoved by the excitement around him. "I know well enough don't be afraid," said Charlie; and he strode off like a young ogre, carrying Agnes's fortune under his arm. They all went to the window to look after him with some alarm and some hope; but though they were troubled for his youth, his abruptness, and his want of " manners," there was exhilaration in the steady ring of Charlie's manful foot, and his own entire and undoubting confidence. On he went, a boyish giant, to throw down that slender gage and challenge of the young genius to all the world; meanwhile they returned to their private occupations, this little group of women, excited, doubtful, much expecting, marvel

ling over and over again what Mr Burlington would say. Such an eminence of lofty criticism and censorship these good people, upon this morning, recognised in the position of Mr Burlington! He seemed to hold in his hands the universal key which opened everything: fame, honour, and reward, at that moment, appeared to these simple minds to be mere vassals of his pleasure; and all the balance of the future, as Agnes fancied, lay in the doubtful chance whether he was propitious or unpropitious. Simple imaginations! Mr Burlington, at that moment taking off his top-coat, and placing his easychair where no draught could reach it, was about as innocent of literature as Charlie Atheling himself.

""

But Charlie, who had to go to "the office after he fulfilled his mission, could not come home till the evening; so they had to be patient in spite of themselves. The ordinary occupations of the day in Bellevue were not very novel, nor very interesting. Mrs Atheling had ambition, and aimed at gentility; so, of course, they had a piano. The girls had learned a very little music; and Marian and Agnes, when they were out of humour, or disinclined for serious occupation, or melancholy (for they were melancholy sometimes in the "prodigal excess of their youth and happiness), were wont to bethink themselves of the

22

much-neglected practising," and spend a stray hour upon it with most inconsistent and variable zeal. This day there was a great deal of "practising" indeed, these wayward girls divided their whole time between the piano and the garden, which was another recognised safety-valve. Mamma had not the heart to chide them; instead of that, her face brightened to hear the musical young voices, the low sweet laughter, the echo of their flying feet through the house and on the garden paths. As she

"That's all-you little savage!" cried Marian, who was not half as big as Charlie. "Did he say he would be glad to have it? Did he ask who had written it? What did he say ?"

Now, we beg to explain that five hundred a-year was a perfectly magnificent income to the imagination of Bellevue. Charlie could not think at the moment of any greater inducement.

"Are you sure it was Mr Burling ton?" said Agnes. "Did he look pleased? What do you think he thought? What did you say to him? Charlie, boy, tell us what you said?" "I won't tell you a word, if you press upon me like that," said the big boy. "Sit down and be quiet. Mother, make them sit down. I don't know if it was Mr Burlington; I don't think it was: it was a washy man, that never could have been head of that place. He took the papers, and made a face at me, and said, Are they your own?' I said No' plain enough; and then he looked at the first page, and said they must be left. So I left them. Well, what was a man to do? Of course, that is all." "What do you mean by making a face at you, boy?" said the watchful mother. 66 I do trust, Charlie, my dear, you were careful how to behave, and did not make any of your faces at him."

"Reading rubbish! And he has Agnes's book to read!” cried Marian. That was indeed an overpowering

anti-climax.

"Yes, but how did he look? Do you think he was pleased? And will it be sure to come to Mr Burlington safe?" said Agnes. Agnes could not help having a secret impression that there might be some plot against this book of hers, and that everybody knew how important it was.

"Why, he looked-as other people look who have nothing to say," said Charlie; "and I had nothing to say--so we got on together. And he said it looked original-much he could tell from the first page! And so, of course, I came away-they're to write when they've read it over. I tell you, that's all. I don't believe it was Mr Burlington; but it was the man that does that sort of thing, and so it was all the same."

This was the substance of Charlie's

report. He could not be prevailed upon to describe how this important critic looked, or if he was pleased, or anything about him. He was a washy man, Charlie said; but the obstinate boy would not even explain what washy meant, so they had to leave the question in the hands of time to bring elucidation to it. They were by no means patient; many and oft-repeated were the attacks upon Charlie-many the wonderings over the omnipotent personage who had the power of this decision in his keeping; but in the mean time, and for sundry days and weeks following, these hasty girls had to wait,

and to be content.