Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/369

 THE ATTACK ON LOKD JOHN RUSSELL. 337 statesman to contrast the attack made against chap. XII. him in the House of Commons with what, as I. say, is the truth. The third of the three proposed plans which The Third Count Buol had submitted was so far entertained Austrian by both the First French and the First English Plenipotentiary that Lord John Russell on the 18th of April was able to speak of it thus: — ' M. ' Drouyn de Lhuys called upon me in the evening ' [the evening of the 17th], and we drew up
 * together a rough outline of the proposals to be

' made. ' It will be seen that, supposing the second ' proposition to be rejected as well as the first, ' the value of the third depends on three things : ' 1. Guarantee by all the contracting Powers of ' the territory of Turkey. ' 2. A system of counterpoise in the Black Sea. ' 3. The limitation of the Bussian fleet in the ' Black Sea to the number of ships maintained ' before the war, under pain of war with the ' Allies. I confess it appears to me that if this ' third system can be made an ultimatum by ' Austria, it ought to be accepted by the Western ' Powers. In saying this I may seem to contra- ' diet my former opinions. But in fact I do not ' retract those opinions. The system of limitation ' I believe to be far better than that of counter- ' poise. But the question is between an imperfect ' security for Turkey and for Europe and the con ' tinuance of the war. VOL. VIII. v