Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/409

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 3G7 Allied fleets should enter the Euxine, take pos- chap. session of it, and interdict the passage of every L_ Russian vessel. It will be seen that, with more or less reluctance and after more or less delay, these demands were always acceded to by Eng- land : and the course thus taken by the maritime Powers was fatal to the pending negotiations ; for, besides that in the way already shown the Czar's wholesome fears were converted into bursts of rage, the Turks at the same time were deriving a dangerous encouragement from the sight of the French and English war-flags ; and the result was, that the negotiators, with all their skill and all their patience, were never able to frame a Note in the exact words which would allay the anger of Nicholas, without encountering a steadfast re- sistance on the part of the Sultan* Some men will believe that a long series of acts, all having a tendency in the same direction, and ending at length in war, were deliberately planned by the French Emperor as a means of bringing about the result which they effected, and that the temperate and sometimes conciliatory negotiations which were carried on during the same period were a mask to the real intent. It is perhaps more likely to be true that the French Emperor was all this time hesitating, and keeping his judgment in suspense. What he needed, for his very life's sake, was to become so conspicuous, whether as a disturber or as a pacificator of other the atteution of Mr Theodore Martin.
 * Here again, for the purpose indicated nnlr, p. 1 J, I lHvite