of the three Northern Powers which was looked to for preserving the peace of the world and counteracting the Napoleonic lust of conquest. This must, of course, have been done, if at all, before the slumbering religious-national passions of the mighty Russian nation were inflamed. Unfortunately the Russian illusions were quite as strong as the German. Nicholas refused altogether to believe that Austria and Prussia, whom he had treated only in 1850 as vassals, would venture to break with him. But that is the very reason why it would have produced all the greater impression, if not on himself personally, at all events on the peace party in Russia, had the whole of Germany declared from the first her readiness to support, if necessary by force of arms, the legitimate demands of the Western Powers. Had the Czar been firmly convinced that he would find the whole of Europe in compact phalanx on the other bank of the Pruth, he would never have crossed that river in July 1853, but have spared himself and his Empire in the following year the humiliation. of evacuating the Principalities on strategic grounds.' In a word, there should have been at the outset a common cry of Halt. That was the only means of enabling Austria to discharge her mission in Europe, of strengthening the friends of peace in London as well as at St. Petersburg, and preventing the war so full of danger to Europe.

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CHAPTER III.

LONDON.-1854.

Warlike Feeling in the West End -Precarious Position of the Ministry-Accusations and Intrigues-Resolute Conduct of Prince Albert-The English and French Fleets in the Black Sea-Orloff's Mission to Vienna-Autograph Letter of Napoleon --Anglo-French Alliance-Prussia's Refusal to join it— Bunsen's Memorial and Fall-The Situation in Germany-Austro-Prussian Alliance-Seymour's Secret and Confidential Correspondence-Declaration of War-Dinner at the Reform Club-Sir Charles Napier in the Baltic --'Voyage of the Argonauts' to the Crimea-Depreciation of the EnemyDeath of King Frederick Augustus II. of Saxony-The Interview at Boulogne-Battle of the Alma-Rumoured Capture of Sebastopol-BalaclavaEnglish Outpost Service-Inkermann-The Russian Plan of Battle divulged -A Telegram at the Right Time-Menschikoff's Excuse.

ON my return to London early in January, after a short stay at Hanover in the midst of snow and ice, I could not disguise from myself the desperate gravity of the situation. The peaceful illusions still cherished in the City were not shared by the West End, where war was deemed inevitable, as inevitable as the speedy break-up of the Coalition Ministry.

Already in December 1853 Lord Palmerston, under the pretext of not being able to assent to Lord John Russell's Reform Bill, had tendered his resignation. In reality his only object in so doing was to protest against the want of energy hitherto displayed, in his opinion, by Lord Aberdeen. It was, to borrow an expression from the French stage, a fausse sortie, a manoeuvre intended merely to excite public opinion and place on record how indispensable was

Palmerston. Ten days later the indispensable man condescended to resume his post at the Home Office, having employed the interval to commence a campaign against Prince Albert, whom he hated. Nothing was more absurd than these attacks, but the credulity of the public verified again the old saying, 'Calumniare audacter, semper aliquid hæret.” The Prince was accused of meddling without authority in matters of Government, and of intriguing against England with the German Courts. The weaknesses of Lord Aberdeen were imputed to the Queen's husband, and the passions of the masses, who were impatient at the dilatory conduct of the Cabinet, were excited against him individually. Of course Lord Palmerston was far too clever and worldly wise to expose himself openly as the author of these attacks. But that they were, indirectly at least, his work, is notorious. It was actually hinted to the Queen that she would do well to open Parliament alone, as the presence of the Prince might expose her to the insults of the mob. The Prince behaved admirably in this critical position. He refused to be intimidated, and on the morning of the day when Parliament was opened (Jan. 30), rode, accompanied only by a groom, through the most animated quarters of London, as if to say to the masses, I am not afraid; here I am, if you have anything against me, speak out.' That morning's ride produced the best impression, and when in the afternoon Prince Albert, seated beside the Queen, drove in the historical State carriage, drawn by eight cream-coloured horses, to Westminster Palace, her Majesty was greeted by the public with the usual enthusiasm. Prince Albert had shown personal courage, and by his sober resolution enlisted public opinion on his gide. Nothing more was wanted but to put a right aspect in Parliament on the matter which had given a pretext for these

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misrepresentations to the Radical press. Lord Aberdeen in the Upper House, and Lord John Russell in the Commons, discharged this duty with tact and resolution, and the Opposition, by the mouth of Lord Derby and Mr. Walpole, concurred in all the Ministers had said in eulogy of the Prince. The result of these explanations was highly favourable to the Crown, as establishing for the future as well as the present the constitutional right of the Queen to regard her husband as her first adviser.

Meanwhile the combined fleets of England and France, which had been lying for several months in Besika Bay, received orders to proceed at once to the protection of Turkey in the Black Sea, and the French Government hastened to announce this step publicly in a circular despatch of January 30, which was printed in the Moniteur.' A fruitless exchange of notes formed the prelude to the rupture of diplomatic relations between the Western Powers and Russia, while at Vienna the representatives of the five Great Powers consulted together as to the terms on which peace could be maintained. Affairs were in this position when the Emperor Nicholas, by the mission of Prince Alexei Orloff to Vienna, and the Emperor Napoleon, almost simultaneously, by an autograph letter to the Czar, made a last attempt at a friendly understanding. It was too late; Orloff's propositions did not appear any longer suitable to the time, and Napoleon's, which were possibly not sincerely meant, remained barren of result. Thus the knot was tied of that alliance between England and France-an alliance really dating from 1853which was ratified by treaty on April 10. Prince Albert took pride in the reflection that in this alliance, a unique one in history, as he remarked to me, both parties expressly repudiated any selfish designs. This notion was in thorough

keeping with the ideal tendencies of the royal theorist. He overlooked the fact that Napoleon was drawing the sword, if not for territorial, at least for moral conquests. Austria was ready to join the alliance on condition that Prussia did the same. All the efforts of Austria's diplomacy, as of that of the Western Powers, centred on gaining Prussia over. Had that been done, the quadruple alliance of 1854 would perhaps, like that of 1840, have sufficed to check the war in the bud.

Count Thun at Potsdam had already succeeded in quieting so far the doubts of the fickle-minded Frederick William IV. that his accession to the alliance might be regarded as likely, when Baron Bunsen again spoiled everything. He allowed himself to be seduced into enlightening his king in a remarkable Memorial upon the dangers of Prussia's policy of inaction. Bunsen thought that he must put the colours on thickly, in order to intimidate and cajole his royal friend. The question, as he wrote on March 1, was one of no less gravity than the deliverance of civilisation from the yoke of Russian barbarism, and England's real object was to put an end, in conjunction with France, to the despotism of Russia in Europe, and reduce the Czar to an Asiatic potentate, as his predecessors had been before Peter the Great, a Grand Duke of Moscow. This fanciful assertion so frightened the King of Prussia that he now finally resolved to remain neutral, and would have nothing more to do with Powers who thought of treating his brother-in-law so badly.

Bunsen, however, having thus come forth from his shell as such a passionate Russophobist, it was determined not to let him remain any longer in London. Scarce had he learned, to his intense surprise, that his Memorial had produced exactly the opposite impression to that which he had intended, than he tried to pose at any rate as a martyr. He went