Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 75, No. 462, April 1854Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 75, No. 462, April 1854
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
We do not profess to know much about the language of diplomacy; but if
these are the sort of terms to be addressed to an avowed disturber of
the peace of Europe, who has attempted to engage us in a conspiracy by
offer of a bribe, we are at a loss to know what language can afford by
way of adequate encomium to a really honest ally. The excuse of sincere
belief in the sincerity of the Czar is entirely precluded by the terms
of the previous communications from Sir Hamilton Seymour, which not only
indicate but demonstrate the game which the Autocrat was playing. It is
certainly remarkable to observe the extreme cordiality with which the
Emperor greeted the accession of his old friend, Lord Aberdeen, to
power, and the fervency of his wishes for his long continuance in
office. Immediately thereafter—or rather on the same occasion—he begins
to develop his designs upon Turkey, states his prognosis of the
condition of the sick gentleman, and requests to be informed what are
our views as to the partition of his property. Our Ministers demur as to
the fact of the sickness; but the Imperial Doctor assures them that it
is so, or shall immediately be so, and states that he will be contented
with a temporary occupation of the dying man’s domicile—the catastrophe
to be hastened by a bolus of his own administration—but that we are
perfectly welcome to seize upon certain outlying hereditaments! And in
return to such proposals, which, if agreed to, would have made us
deservedly infamous throughout Europe, the Ministers of Queen Victoria
think fit to beslaver the Czar! Since the days of Charles II. England
has seen no similar instance of adulation to a foreign potentate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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