Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/164

 13i CAUSES INVOLVING FRANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP, (even upon the supposition of there being no per- - nicious understanding between the two Emperors) Count Leiningen's mission had an ill effect upon the maintenance of peace. Again, Austria must bear the bhme of employ- ing servants who, notwithstanding the firm and right part which she took in the negotiations, were always causing her to appear before Europe as a Power subservient to the Czar ; and especi- ally slie ought to suffer in public repute for the baneful effect produced at St Petersburg when the Secretary of her Legation appeared at the solemn thanksgivings which the Czar and his people offered up to the Almighty for the sinking of the ships and the slaughter of the Turks at Sinope. There is also a fault of omission for which it would seem that Austria is chargeable. The. in- terests of Austria and England, both present and remote, were so strictly the same, that for the welfare of both States there ought to have been going on between them a constant interchange of friendly counsels. Our statesmen are accustomed to proffer advice without stint to foreign States, but it is remarkable that their frankness is not much reciprocated by words of friendly counsel from abroad. Yet there are times when such counsels might be wholesome. It would surely liave been well if Austria had advised the English (government not to quit the safe, honest ground held by the four Powers, for the sake of an adven- ture with the new Bonaparte. There is no trace of any such warnings from Vienna ; and indeed it