Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/342

 310 STRAIN ON THE LOYALTY C II A P. XII. Tendency of this too speedy suc- cess. The danger increased by another cause. so happy, indeed, that, if Austria along with Prussia and Germany had obtained it as the fruit of a war victoriously waged against Russia, the achievement securing so full a measure of justice might well have been treated as ' glorious.' Yet, without themselves going to war, Austria and Prussia had been enabled to attain these ad- vantages, because the Western Powers (but more especially France) had been, all the while, stand- ing ready to come to their aid in resisting any measures of vengeance attempted against them by Russia. The too speedy good fortune, however, thus wondrously blessing the German — that is, the non - combatant powers — had a tendency to weaken their union with England and France ; for, since Austria and Prussia had already ob- tained what they sought, their new friendships in the West might grow cool. They were plight- ed auxiliaries who had received their great prize in advance, before being called into action ; and, unless stayed by feelings of honour, might be tempted perhaps to desert. Moreover, France and England soon showed thai against the aggressor they meant to be ag- gressive themselves, and that their chosen plans of campaign would withdraw no small part of their forces to countries and seas far away, thus materially reducing their power to support Ger- man States in resistance to any invasion by Russia. It resulted that, after a while, the two great Powers of Germany which, though not