Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/233

 BETWEEN THE CZA.ll AND THE SULTAN. 101 CHAPTER XII. The mere sensation of being at strife with the Eng- chat. . XII. lish Ambassador at Constantinople, had kindled !__ in the bosom of the Emperor Nicholas a rage so c^.° fierce as to drive him beyond the bounds of policy ; but when he came to know the details of the struggle, and to see how, at every step, his Ambassador had been encountered — and, finally, when he heard (for that was the maddening thought) that, by counsels always obeyed, Lord Stratford was calmly exercising a protectorate of all the Churches in Turkey, including the very Church of him the Czar, him the Father, him the Pontiff of Eastern Christendom — he was wrought into such a condition of mind that his fury broke away from the restraint of even the very pride which begot it. Pride counselled the calm use of force, an order to the Admiral at Sebastopol, the silent march of battalions. But the Czar had so lust the control of his anger, that everywhere, and to all who would look upon the sight, he showed the wounds inflicted upon him by his hated adversary. ' He addressed,' said Lord Clarendon,