Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/106

76 CAUSES INVOLVING FKANCE AND ENGLAND CHAPTER VIII. CHAP. When the Endisli Parlicament assombled on the VIII ... '__ 31st of January, there was still going on in Padiameut. E^^i'ope a scmblance of negotiation ; but amongst men accustomed to the aspect of public afl'airs, there was hardly more than one who failed to see that France and England had gone too far to be able to recede, and that, by the very weight of their power and its inherent duties, they were now at last drawn into war. This condition of The Queen's tilings was fairly enough disclosed by the Queen's peecL gpeech, and ravliament was asked to provide for an increase of the military and naval forces, with a view to give weight to the negotiations still pending. But the English Government was not suffered to forget its bond with the French Em- peror; and the Prime Minister, whilst still in- dulging a hope of peace, consented to record and continue the error which had brought him to the verge of war. It seems that for good reasons it was of some moment to the French Emperor to be signally named in the Queen's Speech ; and Lord Aberdeen asain submitted to a form of words