Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/132

88 THE WINraii TROUBLES. CHAP. V. The magni- tude of their task. Uiiilut! re- liance upon the resour- ces afforded by com- lE.erce. these should be depositing their cargoes on the shores of the Bosphorus, others going straight on to the seat of war ; that, again, other vessels should be plying between the Bosphorus or Bulgaria and the Crimea ; and that yet other vessels from the shores of Turkish provinces and of neutral states should be carrying their freights to the Bosphorus, to Balaclava, to the ports of Kamiesh and Kazatch. But there prevailed in those days an idea that it must be easy enough to set in motion this familiar kind of industry, however extensively needed; for people imagined that the Governments of the Western States, being masters at sea, and unstinted in their money expenditure, could at ouce obtain all the supplies and all the means of sea-transport they needed by appealing, purse in hand, to traders and shipowners — men assumed to be ever in readiness for the performance of any lucrative contract. The error lay in supposing that the promptitude with which a brisk man may go and buy a single bullock or charter a single brig can be attained in great transactions. A contractor may have the means of delivering within some specilied period great herds and flocks ready for slaughter, and a merchant may own fleets of vessels which he wishes to Keep employed in what he calls 'the carrying trade;' but when challenged to deal with a customer whose wants are on any large scale, the contractor and the shipowner alike will be found apt to say they must have time. And time, of course, is just that which Governments conducting the business