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PRINCE ALBERT ON "THE SITUATION."

outweighed the suggestions of policy and prudence.1

The Emperor of Russia felt himself impelled to a difficult war in which he would have to stand alone, and at the last moment he was still plotting and contriving how he might secure some kind of support. There are even evidences that he would have receded if he could have done so with substantial advantage in the direction of a protectorate which would make it appear that he was, as he professed to be, acting only in the interests of national honour. But the time had passed. He had gained nothing by his efforts to hoodwink Europe, and though he made overtures for a triple alliance with Austria and Prussia, the governments of these countries could neither of them venture to go to that extent of perfidy after they had ever so faintly protested against the assumptions of the czar. Either they had promoted a treaty by the clauses of which they had been deceived, or they were playing into the hands of Russia.

The old Asiatic party in Turkey, led by Redschid Pacha, who held by a prophecy that the Turks were to be driven out of Constantinople and would be confined to a territory in Asia, were anxious to secure peace by almost any concessions; but they were no longer tolerated when Russia commenced hostilities by crossing the Pruth, and the war party were called to power with Omar Pacha as commander-in-chief of the Turkish armies for the Danubian Principalities. Omar Pacha was an Austrian subject, a Croatian, who had entered the Turkish service in 1830 when he was twenty-nine years old, and whose reputation had been sustained by his great military ability and some brilliant exploits in Syria, Albania, Koordistan, and Bosnia. He had professedly embraced the Mohammedan tenets, but it needed all his great talents and repeated successes to enable him to hold his own against the jealousy of the Turkish officers, who looked upon him for some years with dislike and suspicion. The war on which he was about to enter gave him another opportunity of asserting his superiority as a general.

'Sir Theodore Martin, Life of the Prince Consort.

As

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soon as the Russian troops entered the principalities Turkey issued a manifesto, and on the 5th of October declared war. The four western powers, desiring still to avert decided hostilities if possible, sent to the Turkish general desiring him not to cross the Danube or to commence an appeal to arms; but Omar Pacha was already in action:-his army had crossed the river and taken a firm position in spite of the resistance of the Russians.

At this time Prince Albert had sent a circular, or what may be called a series of notes on the situation, to the Earl of Aberdeen, in which he represented as his opinion that though we were most anxious for the preservation of the peace of Europe, which could not fail to be endangered by open hostilities between Turkey and Russia, by the order to our fleet to protect the Turkish territory, and by the declaration of war issued by the Turks, this the perhaps most important object of our policy had been decidedly placed in jeopardy. In acting as auxiliaries to the Turks we ought to be quite sure that they had no object in view foreign to our duty and interests; that they did not drive at war whilst we aimed at peace; that they did not, instead of merely resisting the attempt of Russia to obtain a protectorate over the Greek population incompatible with their own independence, seek to obtain themselves the power of imposing a more oppressive rule of two millions of fanatic Mussulmans over twelve millions of Christians; that they did not try to turn the tables upon the weaker power, now that, backed by England and France, they had themselves become the stronger.

If our forces were to be employed for any purpose, however defensive, as an auxiliary to Turkey, we must insist upon keeping not only the conduct of the negotiation, but also the power of peace and war, in our own hands, and that, Turkey refusing this, we could no longer take part for her.

It would be said that England and Europe had a strong interest, setting all Turkish considerations aside, that Constantinople and the Turkish territory should not fall into the hands of Russia, and that they should in the last extremity even go to war to prevent such an over

throw of the balance of power. This must be admitted, and such a war might be right and wise. But this would be a war, not for the maintenance of the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, but merely for the interests of the European powers of civilization. It ought to be carried on unshackled by obligations to the Porte, and would probably lead, in the peace, which must be the object of that war, to the obtaining of arrangements more consonant with the well-understood interests of Europe, of Christianity, liberty, and civilization, than the reimposition of the ignorant barbarian and despotic yoke of the Mussulman over the most fertile and favoured portion of Europe.

This memorandum from the prince was approved by the foreign minister Lord Clarendon, and by Sir James Graham, while Lord John Russell said he "agreed very much with it;" but Lord Palmerston differed considerably from its conclusions, and his reply is worth attention, because it may be said to have relation to a dispute which has been renewed at a comparatively recent date and is by no means settled. He said: "According to my view of the matters in question the case is simple and our course is clear. The five great powers have in a formal document recorded their opinion that it is for the general interest of Europe that the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire should be maintained; and it would be easy to show that strong reasons, political and commercial, make it especially the interest of England that this integrity and independence should be maintained. But Russia has attacked the independence and violated the integrity of the Ottoman Empire; and Russia must, by fair means or foul, be brought to give up her pretensions and withdraw her aggression. England and France, urged by common interests to defend Turkey against Russia, have given Turkey physical assistance and political and diplomatic support. They undertook to obtain for Turkey, by negotiation, a satisfactory and honourable settlement of her difficulties with Russia, and failing that, to support Turkey in her defensive war. Hitherto our efforts at negotiation have failed, because the arrangement which we proposed was declared both by Turkey

and by Russia to be such as Turkey could not honourably nor safely adopt. The Turkish government, seeing no apparent prospect of better results from negotiation, and aware that lapse of time was running to the disadvantage of Turkey, at length, after having for some considerable time yielded to our advice to remain passive, came to a determination not unnatural and not unwise, and issued that declaration of war which we had officially and publicly said that the sultan would have been justified in issuing the moment the Russians invaded his territory.

"This declaration of war makes no change in the position of England and France in relation to Turkey. We may still try to persuade. Russia to do what she ought to do, but we are still bound, by a regard for our own interests, to defend Turkey. Peace is an excellent thing, and war is a great misfortune; but there are many things more valuable than peace, and many things much worse than war. We passed the Rubicon when we first took part with Turkey and sent our squadrons to support her; and when England and France have once taken a third power by the hand, that third power must be carried in safety through the difficulties in which it may be involved. England and France cannot afford to be baffled, and whatever measures may be necessary on their part to baffle their opponent, those measures must be adopted; and the governments of the two most powerful countries on the face of the earth must not be frightened either by words or things, either by the name or by the reality of war. No doubt when we put forth our whole strength in defence of Turkey we shall be entitled to direct in a great measure the course and character of the war, and to exercise a deciding influence on the negotiations which may afterwards lead to peace. And it was with that view that some time ago I proposed to the cabinet that, negotiation failing, England and France should conclude a convention with Turkey, by which, on the one hand, the two powers should engage to afford Turkey naval assistance, and to permit their respective subjects to enter the sultan's service, naval and military; and by which the sultan, on the

PALMERSTON'S ATTITUDE AND THE PEACE PARTY.

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such a scheme would be diametrically opposed to the principles of the policy on which we have hitherto acted. To carry such a system into execution we ought to join the Russians against the Turks, instead of helping the Turks against the Russians; for how could such a reconstruction of Turkey become the result of a successful contest by England and France in defence of Turkey? I have no partiality for the Turks as Mohammedans, and should be very glad if they could be turned into Christians. I am well convinced that there are a vast number of Christians under the governments of Russia, Austria, Rome, and Naples who would rejoice to enjoy as much security for person and property as the Christian subjects of the sultan. To expel from Europe the sultan and his two million of Mussulman subjects, including the army and the bulk of the landowners, might not be an easy task; still the five powers might effect it, and play the Polish drama over again. But they would find the building up still more difficult than the pulling down. There are no sufficient Christian elements as yet for a Christian state in European Turkey capable of performing its functions as a component part of the European system. The Greeks are a small minority, and could not be the governing race. The Sclavonians, who are the majority, do not possess the conditions necessary for becoming the bones and sinews of a new state. A reconstruction of Turkey means neither more nor less than its subjection to Russia, direct or indirect, immediate or for a time delayed. It seems to me then that our course is plain, simple, and straight. That we must help Turkey out of her difficulties by negotiation if possible; and that if negotiation fails, we must, by force of arms, carry her safely through her dangers.”

other hand, should engage to consult with the two powers as to the terms and conditions of peace. But the only grounds on which we can claim influence in these matters is our determination to give hearty and effectual support. We support Turkey for our own sake and for our own interests, and to withdraw our support or to cripple it so as to render it ineffectual, merely because the Turkish government did not show as much deference to our advice as our advice deserved, would be to place our national interests at the mercy of other persons. . . . But it is said the Turks seem to wish for war while we wish for peace. I apprehend that both parties wish for one and the same thing, namely the relinquishment by Russia of inadmissible pretensions, and her retirement from the Turkish territory; both parties would rather gain these ends by the pen than by the sword. We only differ in our belief as to the efficiency of these two methods. It is indeed possible that the Turks may think that a successful conflict would enable them to make a treaty of peace which should free them from the thraldom of some of their old engagements; and if this were possible it would certainly place future peace on a firmer foundation. It is said also that the Turks are reawakening the dormant fanaticism of the Mussulman race, and that we ought not to be the helping instruments to gratify such bad passions. I believe these stories about awakened fanaticism to be fables invented at Vienna and St. Petersburg; we have had no facts stated in support of them. I take the fanaticism which has been thus aroused to be the fanaticism which consists in burning indignation at a national insult, and a daring impatience to endeavour to expel an invading enemy. This spirit may be reviled by the Russians, whose schemes it disconcerts, and may be cried down by the Austrians, who had hoped to settle matters by persuading the Turks to yield; but it will not diminish the good-will of the people of England, and it is a good foundation on which to build our hopes of success. The concluding part of the memorandum points to the expulsion of the Turks from Europe, and the establishment of a Greek Empire in European Turkey. But

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chapel of the palace before putting himself at the head of the regiment of horse-guards to give battle to the insurgents in Isaac Square, and joined in prayer with her for the safety of the empire. While the engagement lasted, the empress, who could hear the incessant discharges of cannon, remained prostrate, imploring Heaven for the preservation of her husband, who, when victory had declared itself, returned to throw himself into her arms and offer up thanks with her on his knees for his complete success. This desire to be together in trying conjunctures was manifested anew during subsequent years. In spite of a disease of the lungs, which for several seasons forced her to exchange the rigorous winter of St. Petersburg for some milder climate, the empress would not leave her husband alone in his trials, and to this affectionate resolve he owed the consolation of having by his death-bed the companion of his life. In former days, when she was absent for her health, the emperor had posted through Europe to surprise her in her winter-quarters. In 1845 she had a country house at the gates of Palermo, and the door of her chamber being opened one morning with an unusual noise, the czar entered, having travelled incognito from Russia for the mere gratification of the interview.

It will be seen that as the Russian empress was sister to the King of Prussia, the czar may have had some reason to expect that whatever Austria might do in the way of "moral support" to the claims of France and England in favour of the Ottoman Empire, the Prussian government would follow her only for a short distance, and in this he was scarcely disappointed. It soon became evident that Nicholas had determined to accept no compromise which the sultan and his advisers would make. Though Lord Stratford de Redcliffe by his astuteness more than once prevented an excuse for proceeding to extremities by his sagacious advice to the Turkish government, the Russian emperor felt the appointment of Lord Stratford itself to be an additional cause for irritation, since the designs of Russia had previously been checked by the prompt and decisive diplomacy of the British plenipotentiary, who had been ill received, if not refused, when

he was sent on a mission to Russia. It became evident, not only, as Lord Aberdeen piteously exclaimed, that we were drifting into war, but that the burden would have to be sustained by England and France alone. It was afterwards declared, and not without reason, that the French people were not altogether favourable to the war, which they regarded as affecting English interests more than their own, but they were not averse to the alliance with England, and Napoleon III. was ready to represent a principle which France was willing to endorse, in checking those overweening assumptions of the czar which had led him to ignore the existence of French interests in his suggestions to the English government. The Emperor of the French too, though he was willing to accept the name of a new-comer, owed little to the courtesy of the high-handed Nicholas. It cannot be supposed that he went into a tremendous conflict for the purpose of resenting any supposed slight, but there appears to be a tone in the letter he addressed to the Emperor of Russia inviting a pacific settlement, which is precisely that of the new-comer, addressing an easy and rather familiar remonstrance to the haughty claimant of conservative rights which are put entirely out of the question.

It should be mentioned also that Napoleon III. had lost no time in forming a matrimonial alliance, and that he had made not the slightest attempt to seek it in any of the royal or imperial families of Europe.

The declaration of the empire had been almost immediately followed by the marriage. The French emperor had long before made choice of a lady distinguished for her beauty and for eminent social talents; Eugénie Marie de Montijo, second daughter of Count de Montijo, grandee of Spain, and of Marie Manuela Kirkpatrick de Closeburn, the descendant of a Scotch Roman Catholic family. Her education had been completed in France and in England, and during travels through Europe. She was twenty-seven years of age at the time of her marriage to the emperor, who on the 22d of January, 1853, announced his intention to the senate by saying:

"The alliance which I contract is not in

NAPOLEON III. PROPOSES PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

accordance with the traditions of ancient policy, and therein is its advantage. France, by its successive revolutions, has separated from the rest of Europe. Every wise government ought to wish it to re-enter the pale of the old monarchies. But this result will be more surely attained by a straightforward and frank policy, by loyalty in conduct, than by royal alliances, which often create a false security, and substitute family interests for those of the nation. Moreover, the example of the past has left in the minds of the people certain superstitious feelings. They have not forgotten that for seventy years foreign princesses have mounted the throne only to behold their race dispossessed or proscribed by war or revolution.

"One woman alone seemed to bring happiness, and to live more than the others in the memory of the people. That woman, the modest and good wife of General Bonaparte, was not the issue of royal blood. It must, however, be admitted that in 1810 the marriage of Napoleon I. with Marie Louise was a great event. It was a pledge for the future, a real satisfaction, as the ancient and illustrious house of Austria, which had been so long at war with us, was seen to intrigue for the alliances of the elected chief of a new empire. Under the late reign, on the contrary, the patriotism of the nation suffered when the heir to the crown solicited fruitlessly, during several years, a princely alliance, to obtain it only in a secondary rank and a different religion.

“When, in the presence of Europe, a man is borne on by the force of a principle to the level of ancient dynasties, it is not by giving an ancient character to his escutcheon, and by seeking to introduce himself, at any cost, into a family, that he is accepted. It is rather, ever remembering his origin, by preserving his own character, and by adopting frankly in presence of Europe the position of parvenu -a glorious title when one obtains it by the voluntary suffrages of a great people. Thus departing from the precedents followed up to this time, my marriage became a private affair, and there remained only the choice of

the person.

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"She who has been the object of my preference is of princely descent. French in heart, by education, and by the recollection of the blood shed by her father in the cause of the empire, she has, as a Spaniard, the advantage of not having in France a family to whom it might be necessary to give honours and fortune. . Without despising any one, I yet yield to my inclinations, after having taken counsel with my reason and my convictions. In fine, by placing independence, the qualities of the heart, domestic happiness, above dynastic prejudices and the calculations of ambition, I shall not be less strong because I shall be more free."

It was on the 29th of January, 1854, and of course after the destruction of the Turkish fleet by the Russians at Sinope, that Napoleon III. wrote to the Emperor of Russia:—

"Your majesty has given so many proofs of your solicitude for the tranquillity of Europe, and by your beneficent influence has so powerfully arrested the spirit of disorder, that I cannot doubt as to the course you will take in the alternative which presents itself to your choice. Should your majesty be as desirous as myself of a pacific conclusion, what would be more simple than to declare that an armistice shall now be signed, that all hostilities shall cease, and that the belligerent forces shall retire from the places to which motives of war have led them? Thus the Russian troops would abandon the Principalities, and our squadrons the Black Sea. Your majesty, preferring to treat directly with Turkey, might appoint an ambassador, who could negotiate with a plenipotentiary of the sultan a convention which might be submitted to a conference of the four powers. Let your majesty adopt this plan, upon which the Queen of England and myself are perfectly agreed, and tranquillity will be re-established and the world satisfied. There is nothing in the plan which is unworthy of your majesty, nothing which can wound your honour; but if, from a motive difficult to understand, your majesty should refuse this proposal, then France as well as England will be compelled to leave to the fate of arms and the chances

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