Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/448

406 APPENDIX. crept into your mind, and an expression -which may, T think, possibly be misconstrued. — I am, &c, Arthur Gordon Earl Rl'ssell to Sir Arthur Gordon. Pembroke Lodge, February 1S75. My dear Sir Arthur, — I find that in the sixth chap- ter, as printed, in my volume of ' Recollections,' I had fallen into several errors, through lapse of memory. But what is worse than this, I have committed an injustice towards Lord Aberdeen, Avhich I am anxious, as far as possible, to repair. I will now endeavour, by the help of the letters which I have received from you, to trace the course of events which immediately preceded the breaking out of the war between Russia on the one side, and Great Britain and France on the other. In 1853 the Government of Austria framed a Note of conciliation, which was despatched to St Petersburg, to Constantinople, to London, and to Paris, as a step to the settlement of all difficulties. Hence arose several questions of great moment. I will take them in the following order: First, the reception of the Austrian Note in London ; next, the reception of the Note at Constantinople. What I proposed to Lord Clarendon was, that we should give no option to Turkey with, regard to the acceptance of the Austrian Note ; that we should propose that Turkey should assent to the literal acceptance of the Austrian Note ; and that we should at the same time warn her that if she did not choose to accept the Austrian Note, both in words and substance, we could no longer aid her in her contest with Russia. I give a copy of a letter of mine to Lord Clarendon re- ferring to this proposal : —