The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 3 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 2): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
This morning the 'Morning Post' has published the terms which are
offered by the Allies and are now on their way from Vienna to St.
Petersburg. They were already pretty well known, but it is the first
time that Palmerston (for the article is evidently his own) has
announced them so openly and distinctly, and they state _totidem verbis_
that it is an Ultimatum which is sent to St. Petersburg. I believe this
course to be unprecedented, and it is certainly unfair. If Russia had
applied to the Allies and expressed a desire for peace, if she had asked
them on what terms they would consent to terminate the war, it would
have been quite fair and reasonable that they should have stated the
precise conditions, adding if they pleased that they would consent to no
others and to no change whatever in them, though it may be doubted if it
would be wise to be thus peremptory. But to send to Russia and propose
to her to make peace, and accompany the proposal with an Ultimatum and
an announcement that they would listen to no remonstrances or
suggestions, much less any alterations, and that she must say Yes or No
at once, is a stretch of arrogance and dictation not justified by the
events of the war and the relative conditions of the belligerents, or by
any usage or precedent that I ever heard of.
Reports are very rife of the distressed state of Russia and of her
inability to make head any longer against the Allies, but very little is
really known of the condition of the country, of its remaining
resources, and of the disposition of the people. Nobody can doubt that
the terms are deeply humiliating to the pride of such a Power, which has
been long accustomed to stand in so high a position and hold such lofty
language; and if she consents to accept the offered terms, it must be
that her enormous losses have really incapacitated her for going on with
the war, and that her Government is conscious that the next campaign
will be still more disastrous to her than the two preceding ones have
been. I have very little doubt that Palmerston has hastened to publish
these terms in hopes that they may find acceptance with a considerable
part of the public here, and that they may the more tightly bind the
Emperor Napoleon, and, in the event of Russia sending any conditional
acceptance and proposing to treat, that he may be unable to enter into
any negotiation whatever. It has surprised me that he should have so
completely given way to Palmerston as he has done.
DEATH OF MR. ROGERS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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