Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/405

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 3G3 of the European shore — can almost mix her spars c H a p. with the cypresses which darken the coast of " Asia. At its southern extremity the Bosphorus mingles with the waters of the great inlet or harbour which still often goes by the name of the Golden Horn ; and at length, after passing be- tween Constantinople and its beautiful suburb of Scutari, the straits open out into the land-locked basin now known as the sea of Marmora, which used to be called the Propontis. At the foot of this inland sea the water is again contracted into a deep channel, no more, in one place, than three- quarters of a mile in breadth, and is not set free till, after a course of some forty miles, it reaches the neighbourhood of the Troad, and spreads abroad into the iEgean. These last are the fam- ous straits between Europe and Asia which used to be called the Hellespont, and are now the Dar- danelles. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles are both so narrow that, even in the early times of artillery, they could be commanded by guns on either side, and it followed that these waters had not the character of 'high seas.' And since the The .smtairi land upon either side belonged to the Ottoman f^ttocon- Empire, the Sultans always claimed and always enjoyed a right to keep out foreign ships of war, from both the straits. Now on the Black Sea Iiussia had as much seabord as Turkey, and nevertheless, like every other Power, she was shut out from all right to send her armed navy into the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. There being no other outlet, her