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 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 93 ' tinct duty. Our religion as established in this CHAP. ' country, came to us from the East, and there are L_ ' feelings as well as obligations which never must ' be lost sight of. ' Now Turkey, in the condition which I have ' described, has by degrees fallen into such a state ' of decrepitude that, as I told you the other night, ' eager as we all are for the prolonged existence of ' the man (and that I am as desirous as you can ' be for the continuance of his life, 1 beg you to be- ' lieve), he may suddenly die upon our hands : we ' cannot resuscitate what is dead. If the Turkish ' Empire falls, it falls to rise no more ; and I put ' it to you, therefore, whether it is not better to be ' provided beforehand for a contingency, than to ' incur the chaos, confusion, and the certainty of ' an European war, all of which must attend the ' catastrophe if it should occur unexpectedly, and ' before some ulterior system has been sketched. ' This is the point to which I am desirous you ' should call the attention of your Government.' Sir Hamilton Seymour adverted to the objec- tion which the English Government habitually felt to the plan of taking engagements upon possible eventualities, and said that disinclination might be expected in England to the idea of disposing, by anticipation, of the succession of an old friend and ally. 'The rule is a good one,' the Emperor replied — ' good at all times, especially in times of ' uncertainty and change like the present; still it ' is of the greatest importance that we should un- ' derstand one another, and not allow events to