Gen. Sir James Grant explains the disposition of the 1860 Anglo-French expedition to China

     “Shared command. Montauban and I. Day about. Lamentable.” Pause. “Supply difficult. Forage all imported. No horses to be had. Brought our own from India. Not the French. Have to buy ’em. Japanese ponies. Vicious beasts. Die like flies.” Another pause. “French disturb me. No experience. Great campaigns, Peninsula, Crimea. Deplorable. No small wars. Delays. Cross purposes. Better by ourselves. Hope Montauban speaks English.
     That would make one of you, thinks I. Would the Chinese fight, I asked, and a long silence fell.
     “Possibly.” Pause. “Once.”


Flashman and the Dragon, p.47, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.


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