Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/106

 64 OKIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap, might, it was never to be endured that the pros- IV <-> ' pect of Russia's attaining some day to the Bos- phorus should be shut out by the ambition of any other Power. Of course it followed that a great State am- bition of this watchful but irresolute kind would be stimulated to an increased activity by the dis- appearance of any of the chief obstacles lying in the way of the enterprise ; and especially this would be the case whenever the course of affairs seemed to be unfavourable to an alliance against Russia between the other great Powers of Europe, me The Emperor Nicholas held an absolute sway Nicholas, over his Empire, and his power was not moderated by the salutary resistance of ministers who had strength enough to decline to take part in acts which they disapproved. The old restraints which used sometimes to fetter the power of the Russian inonarchs had fallen away, and nothing had yet come in their stead. Holding the bound- less authority of an Oriental Potentate, the Czar was armed besides with all the power which is supplied by high organisation and the clever ap- pliances of modern times. "What he chose to do he actually did. He might be sitting alone and reading a despatch, and if it happened that its contents made him angry, he could touch a bell and kindle a war without hearing counsel from any living man. In the room where he laboured he could hear overhead the clicking of machinery, and he liked the sound of the restless magnets, for