198 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap, conception of its implied obligations ; and besides, XIL it would seem, he had not been kept well imbued with the policy which his Government was pur- suing* Thus it happened that at a time when four of the Great Towers were all apparently labouring to restrain the Czar by the course they took at Constantinople, no less than in their own capitals, there were three of them which failed to maintain a corresponding front at St Petersburg. Sir Hamilton Seymour alone held language corresponding with the disapproval which the acts of the Czar were exciting in Central Europe, as well as in France and England. He alone re- presented at St Petersburg the judgment of the four Powers. Prom the moment when the occu- pation of the Principalities was first threatened, he always treated it as an act perilous to the tranquillity of Europe, and always declined to give any measure of the extent to which it was likely to affect the relations between Eussia and England. In using this wholesome language he was left without support from any of his colleagues. Of course, in a literal way, the representatives of Austria, Prussia, and France obeyed their
- It was long the custom of Austria to leave her Ambassa-
dors ill furnished with knowledge of material facts, and some- times also in darkness respecting the policy of the Government. Perhaps the interference of the Sovereign in the business of the Foreign Office at Vienna was the cause, of this apparent neglect. If a Minister could not send an important despatch without taking the pleasure of the Emperor, the correspondence of the Department would 1 e only too likely to fall into a defective, slovenly state.
