Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/90

 48 OIUGIN OF THE WAR OF 1803 CHAP. III. By the Russian Envoy. Embarrass- ment of the Porte. Mutual concessions Still, in a narrow and technical point of view, the claim of France might be upheld, because it was based upon a treaty between France and the Porte which could not be legally abrogated without the consent of the French Government ; and the concessions to the Greek Church, though obtained at the instance of llussia, had not been put into the form of treaty engagements, and could always be revoked at the pleasure of the Sultan. Accord- ingly M. de Lavalette continued to press for the strict fulfilment of the treaty; and being guided, as it would seem, by violent instructions, and be- ins also zealous and unskilled, he soon carried his urgency to the extremity of using offensive threats, and began to speak of what should be done by the French fleet. The Eussian Envoy, better versed in affairs, used wiser but hardly less cogent words, requiring that the firmans should re- main in force ; and since no ingenuity could reconcile the engagements of the treaty with the grants contained in the firmans, the Forte, though having no interest of its own in the question, was tortured and alarmed by the con- tending negotiators. It seemed almost impossible to satisfy France without affronting the Emperor Nicholas. The French, however, did not persist in claim- ing up to the very letter of the treaty of 17-40, whilst on the other hand there were some of the powers of exclusion granted by the firmans which the Greeks could be persuaded to forego ; and thus the subject remaining in dispute was nar-