Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/416

 4O2 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1850- Russia ; on the I4th the combined fleets entered the Dardan- elles ; and on the 1st of November Russia formally declared war. Active hostilities soon commenced. The Turkish army crossed the Danube ; on the 2nd and 3rd of November the Battle of Oltenitza was fought ; and on the 3Oth of November took place the fatal engagement at Sinope, in which the Turkish fleet was destroyed. Still negotiations went on, and it was not until the 2/th of March that in England and France messages were delivered to the Legislatures equivalent to a declaration of war. This war, into which, as one of her responsible ministers said, England drifted, disastrous as all war must be to the interests of domestic progress, was specially mischievous by destroying the unity of the Radical party, to whom the initia- tion of all effective reform was due. The division was more important as respected ability and influence than numbers. An event which separated Cobden, Bright, and Gibson from their old colleagues and companions could not but be unfor- tunate, especially when it was of a character to arouse strong passions and excite deep feelings. The state of opinion in the country coincided with that in the House, the bulk of the Radicals being in favour of war ; not such a war as the Government contemplated, merely with the object of prevent- ing the dismemberment of Turkey, but for the purpose of crippling and checking the power of Russia. This overwhelm- ing sentiment, represented in Parliament by Lord Dudley Stuart and Mr. Layard, was all but universal. To understand this, it must be remembered what part the Czar of Russia had played in putting down the popular movement which began in 1848, and in propping up despotisms and destroying liberty in all parts of Europe. Wallace very tersely describes this feeling when referring to an attempt at rebellion which marked the commencement of the reign of the Emperor Nicholas ; he says, " The incident stereotyped his character for life, and . made him the sworn enemy of Liberalism, and the fanatical defender of autocracy, not only in his own country, but through- out all Europe. In European politics he saw two forces