Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/162

 132 CAUSES INVOLVING FKANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP. Government and of the EnHisli Ambassador were XI . 1_. not exactly the same; for as soon as the Turkish statesmen became aware that their appeal to the people had kindled a spirit which was forcing them into war, it of course became their duty to endeavour to embroil the other Powers of Europe ; and they laboured in this direction with much sagacity and skill. They saw that if they could contrive to bring up the Admirals from Besica Ba}^ the Western Powers would soon get decoyed into war by their own fleets ; and in order to this, we saw Eeshid Pasha striving to affect the lofty mind of Lord Stratford by shadowing out the ruin of the Ottoman dominion ; then, mounting his horse, going off to the French Ambassador, and so changing the elevation of his soul, whilst he rode from one Embassy to the other, that in the pres- ence of jr. de la Cour he no longer spoke of a falling empire, but pictured to him a crowd of Frenchmen of all ranks cruelly massacred, on ac- count of their well-known Christianity, by a host of fanatical jNToslems. And, although the serenity of Lord Stratford defeated the sagacious Turk for the time, and disappointed him in his endeavour to bring up more than a couple of vessels from each fleet, still in the end the Turkish statesman- ship prevailed ; for M. de la Cour, disturbed by the bloody prospect lield out to him, communicated liis excitement to the French Emperor, and the French Em})cror, as we have seen, then put so liard a presssure upon Lord Aberdeen as to con- strain him to join in breaking through the treaty