Victoria R.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO CHAPTER XXII
The opening of the year 1853 saw a strong Coalition Ministry in power; the necessity of a cordial understanding with France was obvious, but bitter and indiscreet attacks on the Emperor of the French were made by certain members of the Government, for which Mr Disraeli took them severely to task. Lord John Russell, who had been appointed Foreign Secretary, resigned that office in February, in favour of Lord Clarendon, being unable to bear the twofold burden of the Leadership of the House and the Foreign Office. Though the arrangement was questioned, he continued during the year to lead the House without office. A Canadian Clergy Reserves Bill, an India Bill, introducing competitive examination into the Civil Service, and various measures of Metropolitan improvement were passed. A more important feature of the Session was Mr Gladstone's first Budget, dealing comprehensively with the Income Tax, and imposing a duty on successions to real property.
The Eastern Question, however, overshadowed all other interests. For some time a dispute had existed between the Latin and Greek Churches as to the guardianship of the Holy Places (including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) in Palestine. After long negotiations between the French and Russian Governments, as representing these Churches, an indecisive judgment was pronounced by the Porte, which, however, so incensed Russia that she began to make warlike demonstrations, and sent Prince Menschikoff to Constantinople to make peremptory requisitions as to the Holy Places.
In the meanwhile, the Czar had made confidential overtures to Sir Hamilton Seymour, the British Ambassador at St Petersburg, representing the Sultan as a very "sick man," and suggesting that, on the dissolution of his Empire, a concerted disposal of the Turkish dominions should be made by England and Russia; these conversations were reported at once to the British Government. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who had been sent to represent British interests at Constantinople, arrived there after Prince Menschikoff, and a settlement of the disputes as to the Holy Places was then easily effected, Lord Stratford insisting on this question being kept independent of any other issue. But Prince Menschikoff had come to the conference with instructions to keep an ulterior object in view, namely, to advance a claim, by means of a strained interpretation of the Treaty of Kainardji of 1774, of a Russian protectorate over the Christian subjects of the Sultan. Influenced by Lord Stratford, the Porte rejected the claim, and, in retaliation, the Czar occupied the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, characterising the step not as an act of war, but a material guarantee of Russia's just rights. The French Emperor, anxious to divert the attention of his subjects from domestic politics, was making preparations for war; and similar preparations were also being made in England.
Negotiations took place between the Powers with a view of averting war, and a document known as the Vienna Note, to which Great Britain and France were parties, and which Russia accepted, was proffered to the Sultan: again Lord Stratford interposed to prevent its acceptance, and, when the Russian Government subsequently announced its own interpretation of the Note, it was apparent that the Western Powers had been mistaken as to its purport.
An Ultimatum, requiring the evacuation of the Principalities, was sent by the Porte to Russia and rejected: war broke out, and the first encounter at Oltenitza, on the 4th of November, resulted in favour of Turkey. Meanwhile both the British and French fleets had been sent to the East, and, on the declaration of war, the British Admiral was instructed to take any action he thought fit to prevent Russian aggression on Turkish territory. On the 30th of November the Turkish Fleet in Sinope Harbour was destroyed by the Russian squadron, this occurrence provoking profound indignation in England, though it had been urged both within the Cabinet and outside that the despatch of the combined Western Fleets through the Dardanelles was more likely to appear as a defiance to Russia than a support to Turkey.
Earlier in the year Lord Aberdeen had desired to retire, but enquiry soon disclosed that Lord John Russell no longer had the influence necessary to form a Ministry, and in the face of danger Lord Aberdeen remained at his post. But there were sharp dissensions in the Cabinet, especially between Lord Palmerston, representing the anti-Russian party, on the one hand, and on the other Lord Aberdeen, who distrusted the Turks, and Mr Gladstone, who disavowed any obligation to uphold the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In December, Lord Palmerston resigned office, the ostensible reason being his opposition to the contemplated Reform Bill of the Government. The real cause was his opinion that apathy was being shown by his colleagues in reference to the Eastern Question; however, after arrangements had been made for replacing him, he was, at his own desire, re-admitted to the Cabinet.