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The English Government yields to the French Emperor.

CHAP. Lord Aberdeen and Lord Clarendon went on to tell XVIII. Count Walewski 'that they would without hesitation 'take upon themselves to agree to the proposal of 'the French Government that the Ambassadors 'should be instructed to call up the fleets to Constantinople for the security of British and French 'interests, and, if necessary, for the protection of the 'Sultan.'*

Fleet ordered up to Constan

tinople.

firmness

and discretion evinced in the adoption of the

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In compliance with the promise thus obtained from him, Lord Clarendon on the same day addressed a despatch to Lord Stratford, saying, Your Excellency is therefore instructed to send for the Brit'ish fleet to Constantinople 't-thus depriving the Ambassador of the discretion which had hitherto been used with singular care and wisdom, and with Want of great advantage to the public service. What makes the course of the English Government the more extraordinary is, that they rushed into the hostile policy which is involved in this stringent order to Lord Stratford without having received any despatch of their own from Constantinople, and without any knowledge of the events which had been there occurring except what was conveyed by a telegraphic message from a French Ambassador to his own Government. If the English Ministers had paused five days, they would have received Lord Stratford's calm despatch, showing that he looked with more pleasure than alarm upon the petition of the theological students, and that he knew how to avail + Ibid. p. 116. i.e., till 28th September. Ibid. p. 121.

measure.

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Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 114.

XVIII.

himself of force without using violence. If they had CHAP. waited four days more, they would have found that the hour was at hand when the fleets might enter the Dardanelles without any violation or seeming violation of treaty; and, in fact, it happened that this ill-omened order for the entry of the squadrons into the Dardanelles was carried into effect at a moment when a delay of less than twenty-four hours would have made their entry clearly consistent with a due observance of the treaty of 1841; for they entered the Dardanelles on the 22d, and on the following day the Sultan, being then at war with Russia, was released from the engagement which precluded him (so long as he was at peace) from suffering foreign fleets to come up through the Straits.

Brunnow's

remonstrance.

Baron Brunnow remonstrated in strong terms Baron against the entry of the fleets into the Dardanelles as a breach of the treaty of 1841; and although he was well answered by Lord Clarendon so far as concerned the mere question of right, no endeavour was made to mitigate by words the true import of the measure; and, in truth, it was of so hostile a nature as not to be susceptible of any favourable interpretation; for although the apprehension of disturbances at Constantinople might be a sufficing ground for the step, the order to the Ambassadors was not made. dependent upon the occurrence of any such disturbances, nor even upon any alleged fear of them, but was peremptory and absolute in its terms, and was made applicable, not to such a portion of the naval * i. e., till 2d October. Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 127.

CHAP. forces as might be requisite for insuring the peace the city, but to the whole of the Allied squadrons.

XVIII.

Effect of

the measure at

St Peters

burg.

Count Nesselrode's

sorrow.

The Czar's

determi

retaliate

with his

fleet.

of

When the tidings of this hostile measure reached St Petersburg, they put an end for the time to all prospect of peace; and even Count Nesselrode, who had hitherto done all he could venture in the way of resistance to his master, now declared with sorrow that he saw in the acts of the British Government a 'settled purpose to humiliate Russia.' He spoke in sorrow; and his thoughts, it would seem, went back to the times when he had sat in great councils with Wellington. He spoke,' says Sir Hamilton Seymour, 'with much feeling of the horrors of war, and particularly of war between two powerful countries. '-two old allies like England and Russia-countries which, whilst they might be of infinite use to one another, possessed each the means of inflicting great injury upon its antagonist; and ended by saying that if, for any motives known to him, war should 'be declared against Russia by England, it would 'be the most unintelligible and the least justifiable 'war ever undertaken.'*

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The Czar received tidings of the hostile decision nation to of the maritime Powers in a spirit which, this time at least, was almost justified by the provocation given. Black Sea In retaliation for what he would naturally look upon as a bitter affront, and even as a breach of treaty, he determined, it would seem, to have vengeance at sea, whilst vengeance at sea was still possible; and it was under the spur of the anger thus kindled that *Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 180.

orders for active operations were given to the fleet at CHAP. Sebastopol. The vengeance he meditated he could

*

only wreak upon the body of the Turks, for the great offenders of the West were beyond the bounds of his power.

XVIII.

the notion

disaster

was a

achieved

It was long believed in England that the disaster Error of of Sinope was a surprise stealthily contrived by the that the Emperor Nicholas, and it is certain that the event of Sinope fell upon the maritime Powers as a sudden shock; surprise but it is not true that concealment was used by by stealth. Russia. On the contrary, it seems that the attack was preceded by a long-continued ostentation of naval force. In the middle of the month of November, and at a time when the Allied squadrons were an- Ostentatious pubchored in the Bosphorus, the Sebastopol fleet came licity out, and was ranged in a kind of cordon stretching Russian from north to south across the centre of the Black in the Sea. So early as the 20th of November the Russian Black Sea. cruisers captured the Medora, a Turkish steamer;† and about the same time they boarded a merchantman, and relieved the captain of a portion of his cargo and of the whole of his cash; and the

*This conclusion is drawn from dates. The hostile resolution of the Western Powers was known to the Czar a little before the 14th of October, and about the middle of the following month the Black Sea fleet was at sea. If allowance be made for distance and preparation, it will be seen that the sequence of one event upon the other is close enough to warrant the statement contained in the text. In the absence, however, of any knowledge to the contrary, it is fair to suppose that the Czar remembered his promise, and did not sanction any actual attack upon the enemy unless his commanders should be previously apprised that the Turks had commenced active warfare.

+Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 315.

Ibid. p. 316.

VOL. I.

2 B

of the

operations

CHAP. Russians were so far from entertaining any idea of XVIII. secrecy or concealment, that they seem to have hailed neutral merchantmen for the purpose of inquiring about the French and English fleets in the Bosphorus, and asking 'exultingly' if the captures which the Russian fleet had effected were known at Constantinople.*

Tidings of an impending attack by the Russian

fleet.

Full ten days before the fatal 30th of November, a Russian force of seven sail and one warsteamer was was cruising in sight of Sinope, and hovering over the Turkish squadron which lay there at anchor. An express, despatched from Samsoon by land on the 22d, bore tidings of this to Lord Stratford, and it must have reached him, it would seem, by the 25th or 26th. On Wednesday the 23d, the Commander of the Turkish squadron descried a Russian force of seven sail and two steamers coming down under a north-east wind towards Sinope. The Turkish ships were cleared for action, but after some manoeuvring, the Russian force stood out to windward and gained an offing. On the following day six Russian ships of the line, with a brig and two steamers, again made their appearance ; and three of them, under easy sail, stood towards the port of Sinope until the evening. In fine,' writes the Turkish Commander, 'six sail of the line, a brig, ' and two steamers, are constantly off the port above' mentioned, and at one time they lie-to, and another

*Eastern Papers,' part ii. P. 315.

+ Ibid. So early as the 22d, the appearance of the squadron was described as having occurred 'some days back.'

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