Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/57

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 15 terrors of his fellow -sovereigns, not deigning to chap. yield his cold patronage to the cause of law and '__ order. In the West, he said, and even in Central Europe, the storm might rage as it liked, but he warned and commanded that the waves should not so much as cast their spray upon the frontiers of ' Holy Russia ; ' * and when Hungary rose, he ordered his columns to pass the border, and forced the insurgent army to lay down its arms. Then, proudly abstaining from conditions and recom- pense, he yielded up the kingdom to his Ally. That day Russia seemed to touch the pinnacle of her greatness ; for men were forced to acknow- ledge that her power was vast, and that it was wielded in a spirit of austere virtue, ranging high above common ambition. But towards the South, Russia was the neigh- Turkey, bour of Turkey. The descendants of the Ottoman invaders still remained quartered in Roumelia and the adjoining provinces. They were a race living apart from the Christians who mainly peopled the land ; for the original scheme of the Moslem invasions still kept its mark upon the country. When the Ottoman warriors were conquering a province, they used to follow the injunction of the Prophet, and call upon such of the nations as re- jected the Koran to choose between 'the tribute' and the sword ; but the destiny implied by the. first branch of the alternative was very different from that of a people whose country is conquered by European invaders. Instead of being made
 * See the Manifesto issued by the Czar iu 1848