At this juncture a fresh controversy was stirred in connection with Ottoman rule. In the sixteenth century a treaty was concluded between the Sultan and François I., King of France, whereby the custody of the Holy Places in Palestine had been committed to the monks of the Latin Church, who were placed under the protection of the Crown of France. Subsequently firmans had been granted to the Greek Church, conferring rights at variance with the exclusive guardianship claimed by the Latin Church. Incessant disputes arose on a ludicrously minute point, such as might have puzzled diplomatists in the era of the Crusades, but one which seemed strangely out of keeping with statesmanship of the nineteenth century, namely, "whether, for the purpose of passing through the building into their grotto, the Latin monks should have the key of the chief door of the Church of Bethlehem, and also one of the keys of each of the two doors of the Sacred Manger, and whether they should be at liberty to place in the Sanctuary of the Nativity a silver star adorned with the arms of France." The French Republic, and afterwards the French Empire, as heirs of the Crown of France, championed the cause of the Latin monks, even threatening to occupy Jerusalem; until, in February 1853, the Porte issued a firman in order to reconcile in a reasonable way the conflicting claims of the two Churches. But reason was the last influence to prevail in an unreasonable quarrel. Russian forces, before the issue of the firman, had already begun massing on the frontiers of Moldavia, and immediately after the issue of the firman, Prince Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople with a numerous military suite, endeavoured to force on the Porte an agreement establishing a Russian protectorate of Christians within Turkish Dominions, and threatened a rupture of diplomatic relations unless this was agreed to at once. Reschid Pasha asked for a delay of five or six days to consider such a momentous question; it was refused; whereupon the Ottoman Council promptly declined to become a party to the proposed convention. Menschikoff immediately left Constantinople; the Russian Government continued warlike preparations, which were met by similar measures on the part of the Porte, as a simple measure of self-defence. [Illustration: _Photo by Thiele._} {_Chancery Lane._ THE LARGEST GUN OF 1897. The deck of H.M.S. _Repulse_ cleared for action; the captain of the barbette is taking the enemy's distance. The 67-ton guns in the foreground are the largest which are now being built; they are lowered behind the steel shield by hydraulic machinery for charging.] [Sidenote: Russian Invasion and The Vienna Note.]