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XII.

CHAP. greeted the thin phantom of the 'Peace Party' imported a determination of the English people to abdicate their place in Europe; and in proportion as this belief fixed its hold upon his mind, the tranquillity of the world was brought into danger.

Another unhappy circumstance tended to keep the Czar in his fatal error. Lord Aberdeen was the Prime Minister. He was a pure and upright statesman, and it can be said that the more closely he was known the more he was honoured; for his friends always saw in him higher qualities than he was able to disclose to the general world by writing, or by speech, or by action. It was his lot to do much towards bringing upon his country a great calamity. He drew down war by suffering himself to have an undue horror of it. With good and truly peaceful intentions, he was every day breaking down one of the surest of the safeguards which protected the peace of Europe. This he did by the dangerous language which he suffered himself to hold almost down to the time of Baron Brunnow's departure from London. If judges were to declare their horror of justice, and make it appear that they would be likely to shrink from the duty of passing sentence on one of their erring fellow-creatures, they would invite the world to pillage and murder; but they would be committing a fault less grave than that of which Lord Aberdeen was guilty. He was chief of the Government, intrusted with the forces of the State. To be chary of the use of means so puissant for good and for evil is one of the most solemn charges that can

XII.

be cast upon man; but for a ruler to give out that CHAP. the sword of the State will be in his hands a thing loathed and cast aside, is to be guilty of a dereliction of duty fraught with instant danger. To all who would listen, Lord Aberdeen used to say that he abhorred the very thought of war; and that he was sure it would not and could not occur. He caused men to believe that, except for weighty and solemn cause, no war would be undertaken with his concurrence. Relying on a Prime Minister's words, the Emperor Nicholas felt certain that Lord Aberdeen would not carry England into a war for the sake of a difference between the wording of a Note demanded by Prince Mentschikoff and the wording of a Note proposed by the Turks. It is true that Baron Brunnow had the sagacity to understand that imprudent and timid language, though coming from the lips of a Prime Minister, would not necessarily be binding upon the high-spirited people of England; and he, no doubt, warned his master accordingly, even at the time when he was conveying to him Lord Aberdeen's words of peace; but it was so delightful to the Czar to remain under the impression produced by the language of the English Prime Minister, and, moreover, this language was so closely in harmony with the apparent feelings of the active little crowd which he had mistaken for 'the English people,' that he could not or would not forego his illusion.

It is believed that the errors of Lord Aberdeen did not end here. In a conversation between Lord

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XII.

CHAP. Clarendon and Baron Brunnow, our Foreign Secretary, they say, spoke a plain, firm sentence, disclosing the dangers which the occupation of the Principalities would bring upon the relations between Russia and England. The wholesome words were flying to St Petersburg. They would have destroyed the Czar's illusion, and they therefore bade fair to preserve the peace of Europe; but when Lord Aberdeen came to know what had been uttered, he insisted, they say, and insisted with effect, that Baron Brunnow should be requested to consider Lord Clarendon's words as unspoken. Of course, after a fatal revocation like this, it would be hard indeed to convince the Czar that his encroachment was provoking the grave resistance of England.

Orders for the occu

the Princi

palities.

The Emperor Nicholas was alone, in his accustomed pation of writing-room in the Palace of Czarskoe Selo, when he came to the resolve which followed upon the discomfiture of Prince Mentschikoff. He took no counsel. He rang a bell. Presently an officer of his Staff stood before him. To him he gave his orders for the occupation of the Principalities. Afterwards he told Count Orloff what he had done.

Count Orloff

The Czar was

became grave, and said, 'This is war.'
surprised to hear that the Count took so gloomy a
view. He was sure that no country would stir against
him without the concurrence of England, and he was
certain that, because of her Peace Party, her traders,
and her Prime Minister, it was impossible for England

to move.

It was thus that by rashness and want of modera

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tion men truly attached to the cause of peace were CHAP. encouraging the wrong-doer, and rapidly bringing upon Europe the calamity which they most ab

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Manifesto.

On the 2d July the Emperor Nicholas caused his The Pruth passed. forces to pass the Pruth, and laid hold of the two Principalities. On the following day a manifesto was Russian read in the churches of All the Russias.* It is known,' said the Czar, 'to all our faithful subjects that the defence of the Orthodox religion was from time immemorial the vow of our glorious forefathers. From the time that it pleased Providence to intrust to us our hereditary throne, the defence of these holy obliga'tions inseparable from it was the constant object of our solicitude and care; and these, based on the glorious treaty of Kainardji, confirmed by other 'solemn treaties, were ever directed to insure the

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inviolability of the Orthodox Church. But to our 'great grief, recently, in despite of our efforts to de'fend the inviolability of the rights and privileges of 'our Orthodox Church, various arbitrary acts of the 'Porte have infringed these rights, and threaten at 'last the complete overthrow of the long-perpetuated 'order so dear to Orthodoxy. Having exhausted all persuasion, we have found it needful to advance our armies into the Danubian Principalities, in order 'to show the Ottoman Porte to what its obstinacy may lead. But even now we have not the intention to commence war. By the oocupation of the 'Principalities we desire to have such a security as *Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 357.

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CHAP. will insure us the restoration of our rights. It is 'not conquest that we seek; Russia needs it not; we 'seek satisfaction for a just right so clearly infringed.

Course

taken by

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'We are ready even now to arrest the movement of

our armies, if the Ottoman Porte will bind itself

solemnly to observe the inviolability of the Ortho'dox Church. But if blindness and obstinacy decide 'for the contrary, then, calling God to our aid, we 'shall leave the decision of the struggle to Him, and, ' in full confidence in His omnipotent right hand, we 'shall march forward for the Orthodox Church.'*

By declaring that his military occupation of these the Sultan. provinces was not an act of war, the Emperor Nicholas did not escape from any part of the responsibility naturally attaching to the invasion of a neighbour's territory; and yet, by making this announcement, he committed the error of enabling the Porte to choose its own time for the final rupture. The Sultan was advised by Lord Stratford, and afterwards by the Home Governments of the Western Powers, that although he was entitled, if he chose, to look upon the seizure of the tributary provinces as a clear invasion of his territory, he was not obliged to treat it as an act which placed him at war, and that for the moment it was wise for him to hold back. Upon this counsel the Sultan acted; and in truth the latitude which it gave him was highly convenient, because he was illprepared for an immediate encounter. Therefore, without yet going to a rupture, the Turkish Government exerted itself to make ready for war. *Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 323.

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