Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/151

BETWEEN THE CZAK AND THE SULTAN. 109 of the Greek Church in Turkey. The Cabinets chap. of the Western Powers were suffered to gather V11, the first tidings of this scheme from their Con- stantinople despatches, and the trust which the English Government had hitherto placed in the honour and good faith of the Emperor Nicholas was suddenly and fur ever destroyed. Meanwhile Prince Mentschikoff brought for- Mentschi. ward the claims of the Greek Church in regard to m°aiKis. e " the Holy Places, but he seemed disposed to be moderate in his demands respecting the shrines, if the Turkish Government should show any will- ingness to give way to him in regard to the other and more important object which he was to endeavour to compass. Striving to take advan- tage of the alarm created by his Embassy, he pro- posed to wring from the Porte a treaty engage- ment, conceding to the Emperor of Russia a pro- tectorate over the Greek Church in Turkey. At first he spoke darkly, intimating that he had some great demand to press upon the Sultan, but not yet choosing to say what the demand might be. Then he began to say to the Turkish Minis- ters that if they would appease the anger of the Czar, and deliver their State from danger, it would be well for them at once to turn away from Prance and England, trust themselves wholly to the generosity of the Emperor of Paissia, and begin by giving a solemn assurance that they would withhold from the representatives of the Western Powers all knowledge of the negotiation which they were required to undertake. ' We are aware,'