Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/211

 BETWEEN THE CZATt AND THE SULTAN. 1G9 by Lord Stratford de Eedcliffe, it came with more chap. weight than the promise of armed support from XL the lips of a common Statesman. Long withheld from the Turkish Ministers, and now disclosed to them through their Sovereign, it confirmed them in the faith that whatever a man might know of the great Eltchi's power, there was always more to be known. And when a man once comes to be thus thought of by Orientals, he is more their master than one who seeks to overpower their minds by making coarse pretences of strength. On the 10th the Secretary for Foreign Affairs Turkish sent his answer to Prince Mentschikoffs demand. Mentschi. The letter was full of courtesy and deference m°and. e " towards Russia : it declared it to be the firm intention of the Porte to maintain unimpaired the rights of all the tributary subjects of the Em- pire, and it expressed a willingness to negotiate with Russia concerning a church and an hospital at Jerusalem, and also as to the privileges which should be conceded to Russian subjects, monks and pilgrims ; but the Note objected to entertain that portion of the Russian demands which went to give Russia a protectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey.* On the following day Prince Mentschikoff sent Mentacht. an angry reply to this Note, declining to accept S i° y rlpiy. it as an answer to his demand. lie stated that he was instructed to negotiate for an engagement guaranteeing the privileges of the Greek Church as a mark of respect to the religious convictions
 * May 10. 'Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 196.