XXVII.

ernment loses its

compo

sure.

statesmen of the day, were collectively too weak to CHAP. help being driven by the French Emperor, too weak to help being infected by the warlike eagerness of The Govthe people, too weak to resist the strong man who was amongst them without being of them. It is likely enough that statesmen so gifted as some of them were, must have had better grounds for their way of acting than have been hitherto disclosed; but to one who only judges from the materials communicated to Parliament, it seems plain that at this time they had lost their composure.

mons des

By the summons despatched on the part of Eng- The sumland, Lord Clarendon informed Count Nesselrode that patched by England. unless the Russian Government, within six days from the delivery of the summons, should send an answer engaging to withdraw all its troops from the Principalities by the 30th of April, its refusal or omission so to do would be regarded by England as a declaration of war. This summons was in accordance with the suggestion of Austria; and what might have been expected was, that the Western Powers, in acceding to her wish, should do so upon the understanding that she concurred in the measure which she herself proposed, and that they would consult her as to the day on which it would be convenient for her to enter into a state of war; in other words, that they would consult her as to the day on which a continued refusal to quit the Principalities should bring the Czar into a state of war with Austria, France, and England. Instead of taking this course, Lord Clarendon forwarded the

XXVII.

Instructions to the mes

senger.

CHAP. summons (not as a draft or project, but as document already signed and complete) to the Court of Vienna, and it was despatched by a messenger, who (after remaining for only a few hours' in the Austrian capital) was to carry on the summons to St Petersburg. Therefore Austria was made aware that, whether she was willing to defend her own interests or not, England was irrevocably committed to defend them for her; and instead of requiring that Austria should take part in the step which she herself had advised, Lord Westmoreland was merely instructed to express a hope that the summons would meet with the approval' of the Austrian Cabinet, and that their opinion of take part it would be made known by Count Buol to the Cabinet of St Petersburg. Such a step as this on the part of Austria was preposterously short of what the Western Powers would have had a right to expect from her, if they had been a little less eager for hostilities, and had consulted her as to the time for coming to a rupture.

And to Lord Westmoreland. Austria not re

quired to

in the

summons

which she had her

self suggested.

Of course the impatience of France and England was ruinous to the principle of maintaining concert between the four Powers; and what made it the more lamentable was, that it did not spring from any sound military views. It is true that the Western Powers were sending troops to the Levant and fitting out fleets for the Baltic; but there was nothing in the state of their preparations, nor in the position of the respective forces, which could justify their eagerness to accelerate the declaration of war.

XXVII.

The coun

Russia

Vienna at

time as the

messenger.

rejected

Confer

ence of the four

It chanced that, simultaneously with the arrival CHAP. of the English messenger at Vienna, there came thither from St Petersburg the counter-propositions ter-proof Russia. Count Buol saw the importance of dis- posals of posing of these before the summons went on to reach St Petersburg; so, after persuading Lord Westmore- the same land to detain the English messenger, he instantly English assembled the Conference of the four Powers. By this Conference the counter-propositions of Russia They are were unanimously rejected, and the bearer of the by the summons carried this decision of the four Powers to St Petersburg, together with a despatch from the Powers. Austrian Government, instructing Count Esterhazy to support the summons, and throwing upon Russia the responsibility of the impending war. † The despatch, however, fell short of announcing that the refusal to quit the Principalities would place the Czar in a state of war with Austria as well as with the Western Powers. Prussia supported the summons in language corresponding with the language of the Vienna Cabinet. Baron Manteuffel's despatch to St Petersburg was drawn up in very pressing language. It urged the Russian Government to con- Austria 'sider the dangers to which the peace of the world sia 'sup'port' the 'would be exposed by a refusal, and declared that summons, the responsibility of the war which might be the out taking

and Prus

but with

step.

consequence of that refusal would rest with the part in the Emperor.'+

The Conference unanimously agreed that it was impossible to

proceed with those propositions.'-Protocol of Conference of March 5.

СНАР.
XXVII.

The
French

summons.

France and Eng

land brought into a

state of

Russia.

The summons addressed by France to the Russian Government was in the same terms as the summons despatched by Lord Clarendon, and was forwarded at the same time.

After receiving the summons of the two Governments, Count Nesselrode took the final orders of his master, and then informed the Consuls of France war with and England that the Emperor did not think fit to send any answer to their Notes. A refusal to answer was one of the events which, under the terms of the announcement contained in the summons, was to be regarded by the Western Powers as a declaration of war. This refusal was uttered by Count Nesselrode on the 19th of March 1854. The peace between the great Powers of Europe had lasted more than thirty-eight years, and now at length it was broken.

Message

from the French Emperor to the

Chambers.

On the 27th of March a message from the Emperor of the French informed his Senate and Legislative Assembly that the last determination of the Cabinet of St Petersburg had placed France and Russia in a state of war. In his Speech from the Throne at the opening of the session * he had already declared that war was upon the point of commencing. To avoid a conflict,' he said, 'I have gone as far as honour allowed. Europe now knows that

if France draws the sword it is because she is con'strained to do so. Europe knows that France has no idea of aggrandisement; she only wishes to ' resist dangerous encroachments. The time of con

* March 2.

6

quests has passed away never to return. This CHAP.

policy has had for its result a more intimate alliance 'between England and France.' It is curious to observe that only a few hours after the time when England became inextricably engaged with him in a joint war against Russia, and in the same speech in which he announced the fact, the French Emperor acknowledged the value and the practicability of the wholesome policy which he had just then superseded by drawing the Cabinet of London into a separate alliance with himself; but when he was declaring, in words already quoted, that Germany had recovered her political independence, that Austria would enter into the alliance, and that the Western Powers 'would go to Constantinople along with Germany,' he had the happiness of knowing that the baneful summons which was to bring France and England into a separate course of action, and place them at last in a state of war, had been signed by the English Minister for Foreign Affairs, and was already on the way to St Petersburg.*

XXVII.

from the

Parlia

On the same 27th of March a message from the Message Queen announced to Parliament that the negoti- Queen to ations with Russia were broken off, and that Her ment. Majesty, feeling bound to give active aid to the Sultan, relied upon the efforts of her faithful subjects to aid her in protecting the states of the Sultan against the encroachments of Russia. the following day the English declaration of

On Declara

tion of

war War.

*The messenger had reached Berlin on the day of the French Emperor's Speech from the Throne.