Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/76

 oi OKIGIN OF THE WAll OF 1853 chat, it will be seen that, although the events of 1849 ' had tendet] to embarrass the free action of the Emperor Francis Joseph, the last war against the Sultan disclosed no change in Austrian policy. or Prussia. Over the councils of Prussia at this time the Court of St Petersburg had a dangerous ascend- ancy ; but by his actual station as a leading member of the Confederation, and by his hopes of attaining to a still higher authority in Germany, the King was forced into accord with Austria upon all questions which touched the freedom of the Lower Danube, and it was certain that he would do all that he safely could to discourage schemes for the disturbance of the Ottoman Empire. Still he lived in awe of the Emperor Nicholas, and it was hard to say beforehand what course he would take if he should be called upon to choose between defection and war. or France. Among the very foremost of the great Powers stood France ; and she was well entitled, if her rulers should so think fit, to use her strength against any potentate threatening to alter the great territorial arrangements of Europe ; and especially it was her right to withstand any changes which she might regard as menacing to her power in the Mediterranean. But French statesmen have generally thought that, as the Mediterranean after all is only a part of the ocean, a new maritime Power in the Levant might be rather a convenient ally against England than a dangerous rival to France ; and, upon the whole, it was difficult to make out, cither from the nature