Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/63

 IN THE WAR AGAINST KUSSU. .^3 CHAPTER III. After much labour, the representatives of the chap. four Powers at Constantinople had agreed upon a "^' scheme of settlement which they deemed likely to ^^™^ ^^ be acceptable to the Emperor Nicholas, and they po^ve^s*"'"^ pressed its adoption by the Porte. The warlike f.ponThp'^ spirit of the Ottoman people had been rising day LoM^^^at. by day, and it became very hard and dangerous ^"'^'^ for the Government to ventui'e upon entertaining a negotiation for peace. But Lord Stratford had power over the minds of Turkish Statesmen ; and he exerted it with so great a force that, although it was now impossible for them to obey him with- out the risk of having to face a religious insur- rection, they obeyed him nevertheless. The fury of the armed divines insisting upon the massacre of worldlings, was less terrible to them than the anger of the Eltchi. To his will they bent. Not only the Turkish Cabinet, but even the Great Coun- cil of State, was brought to accept the terms pro- posed * The difficulty, nay the peril of life, which lSr>3. ' Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 362. VOL. 11. C
 * The terms wpre finally accepted on the 31st of December