We must, however, go further. It will be remembered that the expedition proceeded to the Crimea at a late season, and after much sickness at Varna, in obedience to the orders of the Home Government--who apparently did not foresee the probability of a winter campaign with open trenches before a half-beleaguered city, and the inevitable hardships and losses which must ensue. For some time during the winter of 1854 the English army was diminishing from invaliding and casualties at the rate of 100 men a day. In short the winter was upon them, and standing on the bare plateau, with greatly diminished numbers, several miles from their base, and without proper food, shelter, or clothing, they must now be prepared to maintain their dangerous position. A consideration of these circumstances will enable us to form some idea of the difficult position of Lord Raglan at that time. He had, moreover, other anxieties pressing upon him--anxieties of divided councils, and of indecision in his French colleague--who, however brave as a soldier, allowed himself to be swayed and overborne by incessant and rash proposals from Paris, and even by subordinates on the spot. These latter facts were not generally known at the time, and the people of England were misled; but in proof of them I will shortly enter into some details, quoting official documents published afterwards. There is almost always an element of weakness in allied operations, but during the earlier part of the Crimean War they became more than usually apparent and mischievous. On the death of General Strangways, Colonel Dacres[16] succeeded to the command of the artillery, and one morning soon after, he waited on Lord Raglan, who, in his usual good-natured way, asked him how he was getting on. 'My Lord,' said Dacres, 'when a man has been twenty-one years a subaltern, he never can get on.' However, his turn came at last. At the beginning of 1855 he was only a Lieutenant-Colonel, but before the year was at an end he had been promoted to Colonel, Brigadier-General, Major-General, and Lieutenant-General, and had received the Order of the Bath, the Legion of Honour, the Medjidi, and an Italian order.