Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/147

 IN THE AVAR AGAINST KUSSIA. 117 • clared that the responsibility of the war which chap, X. ' might be the consequence of that refusal would ' rest with the Emperor.' * The summons addressed by France to the Eus- The French ., summons. sian Government was in the same terms as the summons despatched by Lord Clarendon, and was forwarded at the same time. After receiving the summons of the two Govern- France and ments, Count Nesselrode took the final orders of bWht . -I t r-i i r '"'^" * state his master, and then informed the Consuls of of war with Russia. France and England that the Emperor did not think fit to send any answer to their notes. A refusal to answer was one of the events which, under the terms of the announcement contained in the summons, was to be regarded b}^ the West- ern Powers as a declaration of war. This refusal was uttered by Count Nesselrode on the 19th of March 1854 The peace between the great Powers of Europe had lasted more than thirty-eight years, and now at length it was broken.f + A writer in one of the Reviews said that the state of war did not begin until the decharations of the Western Powers were issued ; but that is a mistake. What brouglit the Western Powers into a state of war, was the Czar's refusal to answer the summons ; for the moment that refusal was given, it became, in the mind of the Western Powers, as announced by the ex- press words of their summons, a constructive declaration of war by Russia. The English summons had these words : ' Tlic ' British Government, having exhausted all the efforts of ncgo- ' tiation, is compelled to declare to the Cabinet of St Peterp- ' burg, that if. . . [see the summons at length in the Appcn- ' dix], the British Government must consider the refusal or the ' silence of the Cabinet of St Petersburg as equivalent to a cle- • claration of war.' — ' Eastern Papers,' part vii. p. 61. — Note to ilh Edition.
 * ' Eastern Papers,' part vii. p. 72.