Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/229

 EKTWEEN THE CZAR AND TIIE SULTAX. 187 Sultan's refusal of the Russian ultimatum was chap. warmly applauded by the English Government, XL and before the end of the month the Foreign Secretary instructed the English Ambassador that it was 'indispensable to take measures for the ' protection of the Sultan, and to aid His Highness ' in repelling any attack that might be made upon ' his territory ;' and that 'the use of force was to ' be resorted to as a last and unavoidable resource ' for the protection of Turkey against an unpro- ' voiced attack, and in defence of her independence, ' which England,' as Lord Clarendon declared, ' was bound to maintain.' * Lord Clarendon at the same time addressed a despatch to St Petersburg, setting forth with pain- ful clearness the difference between the words and the acts of the Czar, and indignantly requiring to know what was the object which Russia had 'in ' view, and in what manner, and to what extent, ' the dominions of the Sultan and the tranquillity ' of Europe were threatened.' f It was not by any one decisive act or promise, The process but by the tenor of expressions scattered through Engiandbe. a long series of Despatches, and by words used " from time to time in conversations, that England had taken upon herself the burthen of defending slowness of the Sultan against the Czar. Parliament was p^iiameut. sitting when this momentous engagement was being contracted, and it may be thought that there was room for questioning whether England in concert with France alone, and without first
 * ' Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 197. t Ibid. p. 200.