Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/73

 IN THE WAll AGAINST KUSSIA. 43 brain had become a "uide more blind than chance CH a p. IV • — the Czar abated his personal claims to the con- ' duct of a war, and came for help and counsel to the veteran Paskievitch. The evil was almost be- yond the old man's hope of cure ; for how could Enssia march upon Constantinople — nay, how iu strict prudence could she march upon the Bal- kan whilst England and France were iu full com- mand of the Euxine ? But was the Czar then simply powerless against Turkey ? Had his million of soldiers been torn from their homes in vain ? Had he not busied himself all his days in organising armies and reviewing drilled men, and grinding down his people into the mere fractional components of an army, until the very faces of soldiers in the same battalion were brought to be similar and uniform? Had his life been utter foolishness, and was the labour of his reign so barren that he could not now make a campaign against the simple Turks, who never took pains about anything until the hour of battle 'i Had he not spoken in the counsels of Europe as though he were a potentate so gi-eat that the Empire of the Ottomans existed by force of his magnanimity ? And now, had it come to this, that at the mere bidding of the Western Powers and without their firing a shot, he was to stand arrested in the pres- ence of scoffing Europe like a prisoner who had delivered his sword ? Well, Paskievitch, in a painful, soldierly way, Paskio- . . vitch's could tell him what would be the least imprudent coimsdt. plan for attacking the inner dominions of the