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VII.

conceal

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CHAP. a footing as to exclude the fear of a disagreement. Count Nesselrode assured Sir Hamilton Seymour that The Czar's Russia was alleging no grievance against the Turkish Government except in regard to the question of the Holy Places; and even this one remaining subject of complaint he began to treat as a slighter matter than it had hitherto appeared to be. It is hard to have to believe that all this good-humour of the Court of St Petersburg was simulated; and yet the assurances of Count Nesselrode distinctly went to exclude the belief that Russia could ever do that which she was actually doing. Yielding, it would seem, to an instinct of wild cunning, the Czar failed to understand that the chance of carrying a point at Constantinople by a diplomatic surprise could never be of such worth as to deserve to be set against his old reputation for truthfulness. If he thought at all, he would see that the difference between what he was saying and what he was doing would be laid bare in three weeks. Yet gave way to the strange impulse which forced him to go and try to steal a trophy for his Church. He concealed from the French as well as from our Government all knowledge of his intention to endeavour to extort from the Sultan an engagement giving to Russia the protectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey. The Cabinets of the Western Powers were suffered to gather the first tidings of this scheme from their Constantinople despatches, and the trust which the English Government had hitherto placed in the honour and good faith of the Emperor Nicholas was suddenly and for ever destroyed.

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Meanwhile Prince Mentschikoff brought forward CHA P. the claims of the Greek Church in regard to the Holy Places, but he seemed disposed to be moderate in his demands respecting the shrines, if the Turkish mands. Government should show any willingness to give way to him in regard to the other and more important object which he was to endeavour to compass. Striving to take advantage of the alarm created by his Embassy, he proposed to wring from the Porte a treaty engagement, conceding to the Emperor of Russia a protectorate over the Greek Church in Turkey. At first he spoke darkly, intimating that he had some great demand to press upon the Sultan, but not yet choosing to say what the demand might be. Then he began to say to the Turkish Ministers that if they would appease the anger of the Czar, and deliver their State from danger, it would be well for them at once to turn away from France and England, trust themselves wholly to the generosity of the Emperor of Russia, and begin by giving a solemn assurance that they would withhold from the representatives of the Western Powers all knowledge of the negotiation which they were required to undertake. 'We are aware,' said the Grand Vizier, that the object of his (Prince Mentschikoff's) mission is to make a secret treaty of alliance ' with us. He has not demanded it officially, but he 'has told some persons in his confidence, who (he knows) are in communication with us, that we do wrong to rely on the English and French Govern'ments, for experience should at length have proved

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CHAP. to us that we have lost much and gained nothing by

VII.

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following their policy and advice. By this language

he seeks to gain their support, and to insure their con

currence in the work of the secret treaty which he ' is seeking to conclude. His policy is most confused. 'At one time he would attract us to Russia by mildness, spreading abroad a report that the intentions ' of his Government are pacific. At another time he 'seeks to gain us over by pointing out the disadvantages and inutility of our reliance upon England and France, and how wrong we are in following the adIvice of those two Powers, to whom we ought not to 'be attached, especially if we consider that the nature

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of their Constitution differs from that of ours, which, ' on the contrary, resembles that of Russia and Aus'tria. Prince Mentschikoff had a conference with 'Rifaat Pasha two days ago. He told him that 'before communicating to the Sublime Porte the 'nature of his mission and the demands of his Govern'ment, and before giving any explanation, he required 'from Rifaat Pasha the formal promise of the Porte, 'that it would not communicate to the representative ' either of England or of France anything whatever as to what he demanded or proposed; that it was his wish that it should be treated with the greatest secrecy, otherwise he would not enter upon the subject.'*

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The Grand Vizier declared that the Turkish Government had at once refused to withhold from the Western Powers a knowledge of the impending

*Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 111.

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VII.

negotiation, but it seems likely that some alarmed CHAP. member of the Turkish Government may have been led to give the required promise of secrecy, for before the end of March Prince Mentschikoff vouchsafed to disclose the offers and the demands of his Sovereign. He verbally expressed the Emperor's wish to enter into a secret treaty with Turkey, putting a fleet and 400,000 men at her disposal if she ever needed aid against any Western Power. As the equivalent for this proffered aid,' said the Grand Vizier, Russia further secretly demanded an addi'tion to the treaty of Kainardji, whereby the Greek 'Church should be placed entirely under Russian protection without reference to Turkey. Prince 'Mentschikoff had stated that the greatest secrecy 'must be maintained relative to this proposition; and that, should Turkey allow it to be made known to England, he and his mission would instantly quit "Constantinople.'*

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This kind of pressure upon the Turkish Government was perhaps well fitted for the days of alarm which immediately followed Prince Mentschikoff's arrival at Constantinople; but it was now the end of March, and it was so long ago as the 6th of the month that Colonel Rose, by requesting the English Admiral to come into the Levant, had been able to stop the panic. Rifaat Pasha, the Minister who had succeeded to Fuad Effendi in the Department of Foreign Affairs, was firm. I am not a child,' said he, in his message to Colonel Rose; I am an old *Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 112.

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CHAP. Minister, very well acquainted with the treaties which unite the Sublime Porte with the friendly 'Powers; and I understand, God be praised! too well 'the importance of our good relations with England

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and France, the full weight of the obligation to 'maintain treaties, the whole extent of the evil which 'would result to my Government if it departs from or infringes them, to hesitate a single instant to in'form their respective representatives of every demand or proposal which Russia might be desirous of enforcing upon us, and which might not be in accord'ance with the rights recorded in those treaties.'*

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Finding himself thus encountered, and being unskilled in negotiation, Prince Mentschikoff had already begun to draw to himself the support of an army. The English Vice-Consul at Galatz reported that preparations had been made in Bessarabia for the passage of 120,000 men, and that battalions were marching to the South from all directions. Though the time of mere panic was past, there was anxiety and alarm' in the Divan.t

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But Prince Mentschikoff was destined soon to learn. that there was a power in the world which could exert more governance over Turkish Statesmen than the march of the Czar's battalions. Before the week was

past he had to undergo the sensation of encountering a formidable mind.

*Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 114.

+ Ibid. p. 124.

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