Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/234

 192 01UGIN OF THE WAR OF 1S53 chap, 'to the different Courts of Europe, unmeasured _ ' complaints of Lord Stratford. To him, and to ' him alone, he attributed the failure of Prince ' Mentschikoff's mission.' * ' An incurable niis- ' trust, a vehement activity,' said Count Nessel- rode, -J- ' had characterised the whole of Lord ' Stratford's conduct during the latter part of the ' negotiation.' Even in formal despatches the Czar caused his Minister to speak as though there were absolutely no government at Constantinople except the mere will of Lord Stratford. ' The English Ambassador,' Count Nesselrode said, 'persisted in refusing us ' any kind of guarantee ; ' "f and then the Count went on to picture the Turkish Ministers as prostrate before the English Ambassador, and vainly entreating him to let them yield to Russia. ' Reshid Pasha,' said he, ' struck with the dan- ' gers which the departure of our Legation might ' entail upon the Porte, earnestly conjured the ' British Ambassador not to oppose the accept- ' ance of the Note drawn up Ly Prince Ments- ' chikoff ; but Lord Eedcliffe prevented its accept- ' ance by declaring that the Note was equivalent ' to a treaty, and was inadmissible.' f This last story, it has been seen, was the work of mere fiction ; J but in the Czar Nicholas, as well as in Prince Mentschikoff, there were remains of the Oriental nature which made him ready to believe in the boundless power of a mortal, and he seems X This is proved very clearly. Ibid. p. 3G6 ct scj.
 * ' Eastern Papers,* part i. p. 268. + Ibid. p. 243.