338 TACT REQUISITE IN COMMAND. 



blocked up the passage. Some time was un- 

 avoidably spent in doing this ; and the report 

 was an expression of the same sort of doubt as 

 on a former occasion. This, however, I looked 

 for as of course ; for it could not be expected 

 that the steersmen, however excellent in their 

 capacity, should be equally anxious to proceed 

 as myself: their predictions of the difficulties 

 we should encounter on our return were, on the 

 contrary, frequent, though I parried them by 

 referring to my experience in these latitudes, 

 and to the entire alteration produced by the dif- 

 ferent periods of the season in the character of 

 the rivers ; with which reasonings they were 

 generally satisfied. It may perhaps appear to 

 some persons that to persuade those whom I 

 might have commanded was a gratuitous and 

 unnecessary trouble; but it should be borne in 

 mind that, in services not purely military, the 

 party is not, and cannot be, brought under strict 

 habits of discipline. The success of such an 

 expedition depends materially on the temper 

 and disposition of the leading men, who must 

 sometimes be reasoned with, and at others kept 

 in check, as circumstances may direct. It is 

 necessary that they should feel a confidence in 

 and attachment to their leader, not paying a 

 mere sulky obedience to his orders ; and what 

 they do will thus be done heartily and with good 

 will, not as the cold fulfilment of a contract. 



