106 PREPARATION FOR TRAVEL. [February, 



being of my crew it is my business to arrange. I have 

 therefore deferred the starting date to the 20th or 21st, 

 and have also determined to entrust the direction of the 

 sledge force to Commander Richards. Upon the ques- 

 tion of " orders" I am particularly sensitive. To rny 

 mind they are the touchstone of command. It can only 

 be compared with the horse and its rider : the determi- 

 nation and ability of the latter is conveyed almost in- 

 stinctively by the rein. The man who issues an order, 

 withdraws it, and then issues the counterpart of the first 

 diminished in vigour, must be an object of ridicule. 

 With me at present I have two uncontrollable matters 

 to deal with the temperature and the constitutions of 

 rny men. To this is opposed the eager spirit of ardent, 

 indomitable courage, of men ready to obey more than I 

 will venture to command. But with me rests the re- 

 sponsibility : success redounds to their credit, but failure 

 reflects on my judgment and capability for command. 

 Can any one in England feel and understand such an in- 

 tensely exciting position ? To send men into action, or 

 lead them, requires no thought. Such deaths as would 

 result are not inquired into, they die with glory ; we 

 are only to be compared to the railway engineers, who 

 are accountable for the loss of every life, even by acci- 

 dent or the visitation of Providence, and our dead, I fear, 

 are ingloriously forgotten. 



The absence of Commander Richards at this period 

 will be most severely felt. Indeed the gradual diminu- 

 tion of officers, withdrawn by the successive sledges, will 

 leave me without a companion beyond iny kind profes- 

 sional attendant, Dr. Lyall, and Mr. Loncy. This may 



