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 92 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP. ' side there was no indisposition to do so, but that ' ' lie must begin at a remote period. You know, ' His Majesty said, the dreams and plans in which ' the Empress Catherine Mas in the habit of in- ' dulgiug; these were handed down to our time; ' but while I inherited immense territorial pos- ' sessions, I did not inherit those visions — those ' intentions, if you like to call them so. On the ' contrary, my country is so vast, so happily cir- ' cumstanced in every way, that it would be un- ' reasonable in me to desire more territory or ' more power than I possess ; on the contrary, I am ' the first to tell you that our great, perhaps our ' only danger is that which would arise from an ' extension given to an Empire already too large. ' Close to us lies Turkey, and in our present 1 condition nothing better for our interests can be '■ desired. The times have gone by when we had ' anything to fear from the fanatical spirit or the ' military enterprise of the Turks ; and yet the ' country is strong enough, or lias hitherto been ' strong enough, to preserve its independence, and 1 to insure respectful treatment from other coun- ' tries* ' Well, in that Empire there are several millions 1 of Christians whose interests T am called upon to ' watch over, while the right of doing so is secured ' to me by treaty. I may truly say that I make a ' moderate and sparing use of my right, and I will ' freely confess that it is one which is attended ' with obligations occasionally very inconvenient ; ' but I cannot recede from the discharge of a dis-