Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/99

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 5 7 CHAPTER IV. Men dwelling amidst the snows of Russia are chap, , IV driven by very nature to grow covetous when they hear of the happier lands where all the year SSpwiof round there are roses and long sunny days. And Russia - since this people have a seabord and ports on the Euxine, they are forced by an everlasting policy to desire the command of the straits which lead through the heart of an empire into the midst of that world of which men kindle thoughts when they speak of the iEgean and of Greece, and the Ionian shores, and of Palestine and Egypt, and of Italy, and of France, and of Spain and the land of the Moors, and of the Atlantic beyond, and the path of ships on the ocean. Gifted with the knowledge and the skill which are means of excellence in the diplomatic art, and excluded by their institutions from taking any but an official part in the home Government, the Russian nobles had long been accustomed to bend their minds to foreign policy ; and the State, favouring this in- clination, used to multiply the labours of its dip- lomatic service. Almost every gifted and accorn-