Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/115

BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 73 action, he was really unwilling to face the troubles CHAP. IV which would arise from the dismemberment of ' Turkey, unless he could know beforehand that England would act with him. If lie could have obtained any anterior assurance to that effect, he would have tried perhaps to accelerate the dis- ruption of the Sultan's Empire ; but as England always declined to found any engagements upon the hypothesis of a catastrophe which she wished to prevent, the Emperor had probably accustomed himself to believe that Providence did not design to allot to him the momentous labour of governing the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He therefore chose the other alternative, and not only spoke but really did much for the preservation of an Empire which he was not yet ready to destroy. Still, whenever any subject of irritation occurred, the attractive force of the opposite policy was more or less felt ; for it is not every man who, having to choose between two lines of action, can resolve to hold to the one and frankly discard the other. In general, the principle governing such a conflict is found to be analogous to the law which determines the composition of mechanic forces, and the mental struggle does not result in a clear adoption of either of the alternatives, but in a mean betwixt the two. It was thus with the Emperor Nicholas whenever it happened that he was irritated by questions connected with the action of the Turkish Government. At such times his conduct, swayed in one direction by the notion of dismembering the Empire, and in the other