Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/437

APPENDIX. 407 tlpspatcli of tlio 8tli August, complaining of the infamous treatment of the Christian population of Bulgaria by the Turks, I quite agree with you that Ave cannot permit such atrocities to be committed under the eyes of the troops we have sent to protect the perpetrators from foreign aggression, and that we must resort not merely to strenuous remonstrance, but to something stronger, if neces- sary. Either the Turks should be disarmed, or the Chris- tians permitted equally with them to bear arms. Indivi- dual acts of atrocity must be expected in time of war in any country ; but equality of laws and the right of self- defence may be conceded by a Government, however unable to repress outrage by its own arm. I will write to Lord Clarendon with the vicAV to a formal application to the Porte through Lord Stratford, and you shall have a copy next mail. NOTE IV. Note respectixq the Torpor of tub English Cabinet ox THE Evening of the 28th of June 1854. When a man has been set to sleep by a document, he com- monly imagines that he was awake all the time, and that he ' heard every Avord.' A firm impression of that sort is one of the known phenomena of sleep in a chair ; and it is obvious, therefore, that any of those who slept the sleep of which I have spoken may honestly contradict the state- ment in the text without, however, being entitled to expect that their contradiction will have any weight. Eut though the accuracy of the statement Avill be denied — and denied in perfect good faith — by those Avho slept, it will not, I am sure, be questioned by any of those who remained awake. Of course the deliberations of a Cabinet ought to be kept