17G ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP. Stratford scarcely expected that it would do so; but it commenced, or rather it marked and strength- ened, that expression of grave disapproval on the part of the four Powers, which was the true and the safe corrective of an outrage threatened by one. After his official relations with the Porte had come to a close, Prince Mentschikoff received and rejected the Turkish Note,* which embodied the concessions already described to him orally by Eeshid Pasha ; but on the evening of the 20th of May the Prince determined to make a conces- sion in point of form, and to be content to have the engagement which he was demanding from the Porte in the form of a diplomatic Note, in- stead of a Treaty or Convention. In furtherance Russia's °f this view, though his official capacity had ceased, he caused to be delivered to Eeshid Pasha, the draft of a Note to be given by the Porte. This draft purported to involve the Porte in engagements exactly the same as those which it had refused to contract, and to give to Eussia (by means of a Note instead of a Convention) the protectorate of the Greek Church in Turkey. -f- Eeshid Pasha immediately sent the Note to Lord Statford for communication to the three other rep- resentatives of the four Powers, with a request that they would give an opinion as to the most
- This Note, being the last offer made by the Turkish Gov-
ernment to Prince Mentschikoff, is printed in the Appendix. + ' Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 220. As this Draft was Prince Mentschikoff's real ultimatum, it is printed in the Appendix. ultimatum.
