Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/245

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 203 give out that the sword of the State will be in his chap. hands a thing loathed and cast aside, is to be L_ guilty of a dereliction of duty fraught with instant danger. To all who would listen, Lord Aberdeen used to say that he abhorred the very thought of war; and that he was sure it would not and could not occur. He caused men to believe that, except for weighty and solemn cause, no war would be undertaken with his concurrence. Re- lying on a Prime Minister's words, the Emperor Nicholas felt certain that Lord Aberdeen would not carry England into a war for the sake of a difference between the wording of a Note demanded by Prince Mentschikoff and the wording of a Note proposed by the Turks. It is true that Baron Brunnow had the sagacity to understand that imprudent and timid language, though coming from the lips of a Prime Minister, would not necessarily be binding upon the high-spirited people of England ; and he, no doubt, warned his master accordingly, even at the time when he was conveying to him Lord Aberdeen's words of peace;* but it was so delightful to the Czar to remain under the impression produced by the language of the English Prime Minister, and, moreover, this language was so closely in harmony with the apparent feelings of the active little crowd which he had mistaken for 'the English people/ that he could not or would not forego his illusion. It is believed that the errors of Lord Aberdeen did not end here. In a conversation between
 * The Baron informed me that Uiis was the case.