In the spring of 1853, Prince Menchikoff was sent to Constantinople. Firstly, to negotiate on the question of the shrines, which question was settled with Russia's acquiescence. Secondly, to extract from Porte a note confirming the treaties that had conferred on Russia the Protectorate of the Christians of the Ottoman Empire. The second demand was made necessary by the renewed exactions under which some of these populations were then suffering: as it "happened," says an English writer, that Omar Pacha, at the head of a Turkish force, was operating against the Christians of Montenegro. And something of the sort was always happening somewhere. For the Turkish policy towards the Christian has always been the same from the beginning of its power and will continue the same to the end. When the English Ambassador, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, returned to Constantinople, in April, 1853, after an absence of eight months, he was directed "to warn the Porte that the accumulated grievances of foreign nations which the Porte is unable or unwilling to redress, the mal-administration of its own affairs * * * may lead to a general revolt among the Christian subjects of the Porte * * that perseverance in his (the Sultan's) present conduct must end in alienating the sympathies of the British nation and make it impossible for Her Majesty's government to overlook the exigencies of Christendom exposed to the natural consequence of his unwise policy and reckless mal-administration." The demand of Russia was refused and Prince Menchikoff left Constantinople May 21st, 1853. A few days later the Sultan issues a firman in which he promises again that he will maintain all the rights and privileges of the Greek Christians, and appeals to his allies. He was merely throwing dust in the air for the wind to blow away, though he thought he could fool Europe with his waste breath. On the 13th of June the allied English and French fleets anchored in Besika Bay, the nearest point they could reach without the violation of the treaties. The Czar Nicholas at once ordered his army to cross the Pruth and enter Moldavia, July 2d. Yet this occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia could not be considered an invasion of the Ottoman territory, nor a "Casus belli, per se," for these provinces were autonomous and under Russian protection since the treaty of Bucharest, while according to the same treaty the Turks had no right to send troops into their territory. The unanimous judgment of Europe was expressed in what is known as the "Vienna Note" and in urging its acceptance upon the Porte they practically acknowledged the justice of the Czar's demand and signed their own condemnation in the war that ensued. VIENNA NOTE. "The government of His Majesty, the Sultan, will remain faithful to the letter and to the spirit of the treaties of Kainardji and Adrianople regarding the protection of the Christian Church."