Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/170

140 CAUSES INVOLVING FRANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP, political life ; and thenceforth her complex iuter- ■ ests iu the affairs of nations were so effectually overruled by the exigency of personal considera- tions, that in a little Avhile she was made to adopt an Anglo-Turkish policy, and, as the price of this concession to the views of our Foreign Office, the venturers of the 2d of December were brought under the sanctions of an alliance with the Queen of England. It has been seen that, by super- seding that conjoint action of the foir Powers which was the true safeguard of peace and justice, the separate compact of the two became a main cause of the appeal to arms. IMoreover, it has been shown how, when once he bad entangled J^ord Aberdeen's Government iu this understand- ing, the French Fmperor gained so strong a hold over it that he became able to guide and over- rule the counsels of England even in the use to be made of her IMediterranean fleet ; and Iiow thenceforth, and from time to time, he so used the English navy as well as his own, that at the moments when the negotiations seemed ripe for peace they were always defeated by an order sent out to the Admirals. The real tendency of this perturbing and dislocating course of action was concealed by the moderation which characterised the French despatches, and, in another and very different way, by the demeanour of" the personage who represented the French Government at St Petersburg; so liiat, at the very times when Lord Aberdeen was brought to consent to a hostile and provoking use of our naval forces, lie was able