Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/185

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. H? Greek pretension upon these three points stood crap, on strong ground, and urged him to bear in mind '. the great European interests at stake, the declared moderation of the French Government, and the triumph already achieved by France in regard to the key and the silver star. And then Lord Stratford gave M. de la Cour a pleasing glimpse of the discomfiture into which their Russian col- league would be thrown if only the question of the Holy Places coidd be settled.* The French Ambassador soon began to enter into the spirit of these counsels. On the other hand, Prince Mentschikoff was also willing to dispose of this question of the Holy Places ; for he had now seen enough to be aware that he would not encounter sufficient re- sistance upon this matter to give him either a signal triumph or a tenable ground of rupture, and the angry despatches which he was receiving from St Petersburg made him impatient to press for- ward his ulterior demand. The two contending negotiators being thus disposed, it was soon found that the hindrances which prevented their coming to terms were very slender. But it often hap- pens that the stress which a common man lays upon any subject of dispute is proportioned to the energy which lie has spent in dealing with it. rather than to the real magnitude of the question itself; and when Prince Mentschikoff and M. de la Cour seemed to be approaching to a settlement, they allowed their minds to become once again so
 * ' Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 155.