Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/236

 194 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap, which modified their subjection to the Porte and XIL gave them the character of tributary States. Each of them was governed by a prince called a Hospodar, who received his investiture at Con- stantinople ; but the Sultan was precluded by treaty from almost all interference with the in- ternal government of the provinces, and was even debarred the right of sending any soldiery into their territories. Russia, on the other hand, had acquired over these provinces a species of pro- tectorate ; and, in the event of their being dis- turbed by internal anarchy, she had power to aid in repressing the disorder by military occupa- tion. This contingency had not occurred in either of the provinces ; but the anomalous form of their The czar-s political existence caused the Emperor Nicholas occupying to imagine that, by occupying them with a military force, and professing to hold them as a pledge, he could find for himself a middle course betwixt peace and war ; and the thought was welcome tc him, because, being angry and irresolute, he had been painfully driven to and fro, and was glad to compound with his passion. On the 31st of May Count Nesselrode addressed a letter to Reshid Pasha, urging the Torte to ac- cept without variation the draft of the Note sub- mitted to it by Prince Mentschikoff, and announc- ing that, if the Porte should fail to do this within a period of eight days, the Russian army, after a few weeks, would cross the frontier, in order to obtain ' by force, but without war,' that which the Porte should decline to give up of its own accord. tiicin