BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 353 question of how they had come by their treasure, chap. XV. and all the vast resources they offered us, their story was that they had all these things with the express consent of the former owner. There was something about them which made us fear that, if we repulsed them, they would carry their trea- sures to the very man who, at that moment, was giving us trouble. In truth, it seemed that, either from us or from somebody else, they must and they would have shelter. Upon their hands there was a good deal of blood. We shrank a little, but we were tempted much. We yielded : we struck the bargain. What we did was not unlaw- ful, for those with whom we treated had for the time a real hold upon the people in whose great name they professed to come ; and by the custom of nations we were entitled to say that we would know nothing of any France except the France that was brought to us by these five persons to be disposed of for the purposes of our ' Eastern ' Question ;' but when we had done this thing, we had no right to believe that to Europe at large, still less to the gentlemen of France, the fair name of England would seem as it seemed before. But whatever were the terms of the understand- Announce . . r . i,r>- mentofitto mg between the two Governments, the result ot it Parliament. was that the English Cabinet, disregarding the O * O policy which only six days before had united it in a concerted action with the Powers represented at the Conference, now announced, through the lips of Lord Palmerston,* 'that England and
- 8tli July 1853, in the House of Commons.
VOL. I. Z
