Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/49

 IN THE WAK AGAINST RUSSIA. 19 CHAPTER II. EiTUEU from slieer want of foretlioiiglit, or else in chap. II tenderness to the feelinjrs of men who shunned L__ the bare thought of a collision, the Governments ullffnstruo of France and England had omitted to consider iVishcdTo' the plight in which they would stand, if, under ofliic west' the eyes of their naval commanders, a Eussian *'^" Admiral should come out from Sebastopol and crush a Turkish squadron in the midst of the IJIack Sea. It is true that this was not the event which had occurred, for the onslaught of Sinope was ' an attack upon Turkish territory,' and was therefore M'ithin the scope of the instruc- tions from home. But it is also true that the Governments of Paris and London had not com- mitted, either to their Ambassadors or their Admirals, any power to take part in a naval engagement against Paissia upon the open sea ; and it was obvious that this chasm in the in- structions furnished a ground of palliation to the Ambassadors and the naval commanders ; for after all the angry negotiations that had taken place between Paissia and the Western Powers, a French