Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/144

 114 CAUSES INVOLVING FRANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP. X. The Govern- ment loses its compo- sure. The sum- mons des- patched by England. formality which was to constitute a state of war. The majority of the Cabinet, though numbering on their side several of the foremost statesmen of the day, were collectively too weak to help being driven by the French Emperor, too weak to help being infected by the warlike eagerness of the people, too weak to resist the strong man who was amongst them, yet in one sense alone. It is likely enough that statesmen so gifted as some of them were, must have had better grounds for their way of acting than have been hitherto dis- closed ; but to one who only judges from the ma- terials communicated to Parliament, it seems plain that at this time they had lost their composure. By the summons despatched on the part of England, Lord Clarendon informed Count Nessel- rode that, unless the Russian Government, within six days from the delivery of the summons, should send an answer engaging to withdraw all its troops from the Principalities by the 30th of April, its refusal or omission so to do would be regarded by England as a declaration of war. This sum- mons was in accordance with the suggestion of Austria ; and what might have been expected was, that the Western Powers, in acceding to her wish, should do so upon the understanding that she concurred in the measure which she herself proposed, and that they would consult lier as to the day on which it would be convenient for her to enter into a state of war ; in other words, that they would consult her as to the day on which a continued refusal to quit the Principalities should