38 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap, tion which had been caused by romantic sym- ' pathy with the Greek insurgents ; and it may be said that after the year 1833 the Eastern policy of England was brought back into its ancient channel. Abroad, no one doubted that the maintenance of the Sultan's authority at Constantinople was of high concern to England ; and indeed the bearing of the Eastern question upon English interests seemed even more clear and obvious to foreigners than to the bulk of our countrymen at home. At this time Lord John Russell was the Prime Min- ister ; and the Secretary of State for Foreign Af- fairs was Lord Palmerston. It is true that during the last Russian invasion of Turkey in 1828, Lord Palmerston, then out of office, had taken part with Russia ; but from the period of the Treaty of Un- kiar Skelessi in 1833 he had not swerved from the traditions of the Foreign Office; and, upon the whole, there was no fair ground for believing that under his counsels, and under the sanction of our then Prime Minister, the acquiescent policy of 1829 would again be followed by England.* It is true that strange doctrines were afloat ; but after 1833 the Government had not forgotten that England was one of the great Powers of Europe, and had never confessed, by any un-
- Lord Aberdeen was Foreign Secretary in 1829 ; but consider-
ing the vast authority of the then Prime Minister (Wellington), it would perhaps be more just to ascribe the 'acquiescent' policy of that period to the great Duke himself than to any other minister. And the policy, although for the time ' ac- quiescent, ' was not un watchful.
