HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XXIV. THE CRIMEAN WAR. Russia. THE vast Power which frowns over Eastern Europe, and which for centuries has been extending its possessions and accumulating its resources, has only a difficult and imperfect access to the ocean, the common highway of mankind. Her northern shores are fringed with a frozen sea, her southern limits are lost in the arid wastes of Central Asia. On the north-west and south-west, indeed, two inland seas give her an intermittent or doubtful access to the Western world. But the navigation of the Baltic is annually interrupted by the ice of winter. The navigation of the Bosphorus is at the mercy of the Power which holds the city of Constantine. Every educated Russian consequently sighs for predominance at the Porte, which is the gate of the Russian Empire. Turkey. The forces which would in any circumstances impel the Russians to gravitate towards the Bosphorus are augmented by the condition of European Turkey. A warlike race, of a religion strange to Europe, governed by an autocracy which is at once brutal and feeble, has been encamped for centuries on the soil of the rich provinces which stretch from the Danube on the north to the Greek frontier on the south. The descendants of the former inhabitants of this country, degraded and exhausted by a long course of bad government, sigh for independence and relief. They turn in their distress to Europe for the help which their own right hands VOL. VI. A seem powerless to afford them. Independence they would gladly receive from any Power, but two influences, the strongest among those by which nations are affected, induce them to look especially towards Russia. One large portion of the inhabitants of European Turkey is allied to Russia by ties of race. Another large portion is connected with it by ties of faith. The Slave naturally looks to the great Slave Power of Northern Europe for the redress of his grievances, while the Greek regards the Czar of all the Russias as the head of his Church. Turkey is rarely free from questions of race and religion. As the second half of the nineteenth century commenced, two obscure subjects—one involving race, the other religion-forced themselves into prominence, The inhabitants of the Montenegro. little principality-the Black Mountain-have for centuries maintained a desultory warfare against the Turk. In 1852 they resumed their aggressions. The Turk decided on repressing disorder by the occupation of their territory, and entrusted the task to Omar Pacha, a general of repute. In taking this step, the Porte hardly foresaw all the consequences of its decision. Austria, just recovering from the crisis of 1848, was alarmed at the prospect of fresh disorder near her own frontiers. Determined to stop war at any cost, in January 1853 she sent General Count Leiningen to Constantinople, to demand the withdrawal of Omar Pacha. The Porte, alarmed at language which, coming from Austria, was as unaccustomed as it was peremptory, gave way. Omar Pacha was recalled, and the Montenegrin difficulty terminated.1 The Holy Events were, in fact, taking place in Constantinople which made it impossible for the Porte to risk the enmity of Austria. Another question, growing in intensity, was agitating the counsels of the Sultan. The Porte has for centuries possessed the fortunate or unfortunate country which every Christian knows as the Holy Land. In the Middle Ages torrents of blood had been poured out, hoards of treasure 1 Russian Diplomatic Study of the Crimean War, vol. i. pp. 115-117; cf. Kinglake's History of the Crimean War, vol. i. p. 76 seq. |