Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/253

ATTACK OX SEBASTOPOL. 223 which, springing from motives very unlike his own, was nevertheless tending in the same direc- tion ; and therefore, to draw England in, he no longer needed to resort to those ingenious con- trivances which he had employed against her in the foregoing year. All that he had to do was to encourage her desire to go on with the war, and, if necessary, to make his own plans yield to those of his ally. To do all this he was very ahle ; for he had, as we have seen, at that time, the power of keeping his mind alive to the difference be- tween the greater and the less ; and after he had once resolved to engage in alliance with England, he did not allow his main purpose to be baffled by differences on minor questions. Therefore, now when it became known that the Paissian army was in full retreat, he was so willing to defer to English counsels, that virtually, though not in terms, he left it to the Queen's Government to determine what next step the Western Powers should take in the conduct of the war. England had become so eager for conflict that Desire of tiie the idea of desisting from the war merely because auoflfensive the war had ceased to be necessary was not toler- able to the people. In the Baltic their hopes had been bitterly disappointed ; and as soon as it became clear that the defence of Tin key was a thing already accomplished, men longed to try the prowess of our land and sea forces in some enter- prise against the Russian dominions. Already they had cast their eyes upon Sebastopol. With a view to the conquest of empire on the