Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/50

 20 CAUSES INVOLVING FRANCE AND ENGLAND C II A r. or an En<^]isli Admiral niiglit naturally be loth to '. — go watching the movements of a fleet which, so long as it was upon the open sea, he was not empowered to strike, and might be honourably reluctant to move out into the Euxine and run the risk of having to witness a naval engagement between the sliips of the Czar and of the Sultan, without being at liberty to take part in it unless it chanced to be fought within gunsliot of the Turkish coast. Lut exactly in proportion as this excuse for the Ambassadors and Admirals was valid, it tended to bring blame upon the Home Governments of France and England. The honest rage of the English peoj^le was about to break out, and there were materials for a rough criticism of men engaged in the service of the State. Some might blame the Home Government, some the Ambassador, some the Admiral; but plainly it would fare ill with any man upon whom the public anger might light. Reception of On the lltli of December the tidings of Sinope otsiiioi.eby rcachcd Paris and London. The French Govern- Govein- mcut fclt the bitterness of a disaster 'endured bytho' ' as it were under the guns of the French and England. ' English fleets.' * In England, the indignation of the people ran to a heiglit importing a resolve to have vengeance ; and if it had clearly been understood that the disaster had resulted from a want of firm orders from liome, the Government would have been overwhelmed. But the very weight and force of the public anger gave the • M. Drouyu de Lhuys. *Ea.stcin Papers,' part ii. p. 299.