132 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP. But then, added the Ambassador — and his wo id 3
- portended some counsels hard to follow — this
« will not prevent the removal by direct sovereign 1 authority of any existing abuse.' * Gradually the Turkish Ministers told more, and on the 9th of April Lord Stratford knew that Russia was demanding a treaty engagement, giv- ing her the protectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey ; and being now in communication with Prince Mentschikoff, he succeeded, as he believed, in penetrating the real object which Russia had in view. ' That object,' he said, 'was to reinstate ' the Russian influence in Turkey on an exclusive ' basis, and in a commanding and stringent form.' In other words, Prince Mentschikoff, with horse and foot and artillery and the whole Sebastopol fleet at his back, was come to depose the man whom they called in St Petersburg ' the English ' Sultan.' On the other hand, Lord Stratford was not willing to be deposed. The struggle began, commence- The severance of the question of the Holy struggle be- Places from the ulterior demands of the Czar was Mentschi- not an object to be pursued for the sake of order koffand . i /-k i -ii Lordstrat- and convenience only. On the contrary, it bade ford. J . . . fair to govern the result of the diplomatic conflict; for the Montenegro question having disappeared, and Russia having committed herself to the avowal that she had no complaints against the Sultan except in regard to the Holy Places, a settlement of that solitary grievance would leave the ulterior demands so baseless that any attempt to enforce
- 'Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 125.
