9G ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP. ' and the mother country. Well, said the Em- VI. ' peror, induce your Government to write again ' upon these subjects — to write more fully, and to ' do so without hesitation. I have confidence in ' the English Government. It is not an engage- ' ment, a convention, which I ask of them ; it is a ' free interchange of ideas, and, in case of need, ' the word of a " gentleman ; " that is enough be- ' tween us.' * Reception of In answer to these overtures, the Government the Czar's overtures by of the Queen disclaimed all notion of aiming at the English . . uovem- the possession of either Constantinople or any other of the Sultan's possessions, and accepted the assurances to the like effect which were given by the Czar. It combated the opinion that the ex- tinction of the Ottoman Empire was near at hand, and deprecated the discussions based on that supposition as tending directly to produce the very result against which they were meant to provide. Finally, our Government, with abund- ance of courtesy, but in terms very stringent and clear, peremptorily refused to enter into any kind of secret engagement with Russia for the settle- ment of the Eastern Question. These communications of January and February 1853 were carried on between the Emperor of Russia and the English Government upon the understanding that they were to be held strictly secret ; and for more than a year this concealment was maintained. It will be for a later page to show the ground on which the engagement for
- ' Eastern Papers,' part v.
