Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/450

 408 APPENDIX. the Note as trenching upon the independence of Turkey, and as establishing a Russian Protectorate over the Christ- ian subjects of the Sultan. On the 2Gth of August, Lord Aberdeen wrote to inform me that the Turks desired to introduce alterations into the Note, and expresses a doubt whether the Emperor of Russia will consent to them. He advised that, if the attempt to do so should fail, ' we are bound to make the Turks agree ' to the terms we have prescribed, or to let them take their ' own course.' In my reply, dated from Roseneath on the 30th of August, I say : ' Hitherto we have shown great forbearance ' to Russia ; it now becomes us to show a similar indul- ' gence to Turkey, when she becomes in her turn wilful ' and wrong-headed.' Up to this time Lord Aberdeen had agreed with me, and I had agreed with Lord Aberdeen ; but from this time I found it impossible to agree to the course proposed by Lord Aberdeen, and which Lord Aberdeen himself gives up in a letter to me of the 2 2d of September : — ' When the Emperor gave his reasons for rejecting these ' modifications, we found that he interpreted the Note in ' a manner quite different from ourselves, and in a great ' degree justified the objections of the Turks. TVe could ' not, therefore, honestly continue to give an interpretation ' to the Note and ask the Turks again to sign it, when we ' knew that the interpretation of the Emperor was entirely ' different. The project, in consequence of this, fell to the ' the sort might not hereafter be received with advantage.' The attempt to revise the Austrian Note, or to frame any declaration which might preserve peace without in any degree affecting the independence or dignity of the Sultan, entirely failed. One proposal was approved by threo members of the Cabinet. Lord Aberdeen gives his rea-
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