Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/157

 IN THE WAR AGAINST RUSSIA. 127 lions of men of whom be was indeed the true chap. XI chief. The French Emperor, on the contrary, ' when he chose to carry France into a war against Eussia, was in no respect the champion of a na- tional policy nor of a national sentiment ; and he therefore gave a vivid example of the way in which sheer personal government comes to bear upon the peace of the world. Perhaps if a man were to undertake to distri- siiare winch ir>-r» T Hussia lj;ul Dute the blnme of the war, the nrst rower he iu bringing T • TT 1 • • fibout the would arraign might be liussia. Her ambition, war. her piet}^, and her Church zeal were ancient causes of strife, which were kindled into a danger- ous activity by the question of the Sanctuaries, and by events which seemed for a moment to show that the time for her favourite enterprise against Constantinople might now at last be com- ing. Until the month of March 1853, these causes were brought to bear directly against the tranquillity of Europe ; and even after that time, they were in one sense the parents of strife, be- cause, though they ceased to have a direct action upon events, they had set other forces in motion. But it would be wrong to believe that, after the middle of March 1853, Eussia was acting in furtherance of any scheme of territorial aggran- disement ; for it is plain that by that time the Czar's vague ambition had dwindled down into a mere wish to wring from the Porte a protector- ate of the Greek Church in Turkey. He had gathered his troops upon the Turkish frontier, and it seemed to him that he could use their presence