Page:Wallachia and Moldavia - Correspondence of D. Bratiano whit Lord Dudley C. Stuart, M.P. on the Danubian Principalities.djvu/22

 honour to the cabinet of St. Petersburgh. And yet, in France and England, many have allowed themselves to be caught by it. Such is the habit they have contracted in these countries of accepting, without examination, all that is said on the score of Russia ! Russia holds in her hands the destinies of the world ; it is she who everywhere agitates the nations; it is she who directs all the governments of Europe; she is mistress of the East; she has her hand everywhere. She is capable of undertaking anything; she can do anything—nothing can resist her ! So much is this the case, that I think I am not mistaken when I affirm that this exaggerated opinion, which in the West is held of Russia, has better served her for the accomplishment of her views than even her arms and skill. And what is to be most regretted in all this is, that the great reputation she here enjoys is naturally reflected on the nations of the East, who say in their simplicity : “ We have had to deal with the Russians in their wars with Turkey, and we have found them neither stronger nor more wily than ourselves; and in time of peace, we do not see that they have any advantage over us—we do not even notice their existence. Yet, it must be otherwise; since great countries, enlightened and powerful as France and England are, call them our masters, and proclaim, with terror, their all-mightiness ! ” And thus sad sorrow and discouragement takes possession of their souls.

Supposing that, with her usual prudence, Russia should con sent to leave the Porte quiet for awhile. If the English and French governments do not seriously espouse the cause of the latter, and hasten to establish order there, it will not be long before Russia will obtain, bit by bit, and without the least resistance, all which she has not been able this time to get in the lump. Yet again, if, in extreme cases, the Porte finds the courage of despair to repel a death-warrant, presented to her in the form of a diplomatic act, on ordinary occasions she receives daily the Czar’s blows in silence; happy if he does not always ask her to smite herself, as in the question of the Roumanian refugees In fact, the Porte looks upon the Roumanian refugees