THE ATTACK ON LOKD JOHN RUSSELL. 343 Proposal in question was apt. What concession chap. it exacted from the Western Powers was — not so . much concession to the enemy, but rather con- cession to Austria — concession made at her in- stance, and of that honourable sort which a belligerent may of course rightly make to a great independent Power when persuading it to join in a war. Irresistibly cogent in either one or the other of The ten- the opened alternatives, this measure was so far Uiue of the from erring in the direction of weakness that it rather perhaps might be censured as offering too strong a remedy; for, supposing the Czar to resist this new pressure, the whole empire of the Danube would be brought at once into the strife; and, considering the defection of Prussia, there was some ground for saying that, to compass the armed intervention of such a Power as Austria, with its consequent extension of the area of the war, would be almost a ruthless act.* Be that as it may, the whole measure was at all events one which would either force peace on the Czar by the leverage of an Austrian ultimatum, or else, if he still should resist, bring Austria against him in arms. On the question that asked which alternative would be the more likely to follow, opinions were not agreed. M. Drouyn de Lhuys and Lord John were both strongly inclined to believe that this measure, because sharply barbed with the
- This, e.g., was the idea of Sir Edward Lytton-Bulwer, ex-
pressed in the debate of July 1855.
