THE CZAR AND LORD BLOOMFIELD.

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while, on the other hand, so long as he is a State détenu in Turkey he is a martyr and the object of never-ceasing interest. As to any exposure which he might be able to make of the misdeeds of the Austrian Government, generals, and troops, there are others enough coming to England to lay bare to the public of Europe everything of that kind, and the detention of Kossuth would only infuse greater bitterness into the feelings with which such disclosures will be made. The Austrian Government, therefore, would do well, for its own sake and with a view to its own interest, to consent to the expulsion of the Hungarians from Turkey. But whether it consents or not, you may rely upon it that get away they will, by hook or by crook, and the Austrian Government will then cut a silly figure by being outwitted.

The contents of the following letter illustrate the imperious and sensitive character of the Emperor Nicholas, which, later on, came out so forcibly and painfully during the Crimean War. The audience, however, was given to the English ambassador a few days later; but it is probable that when Prince Menschikoff was sent to Constantinople in 1853, his Imperial master had not forgotten the mortification of 1849.

Broadlands: November 27, 1849.

My dear Bloomfield, I have received your letter of the 8th, in which you say that the Emperor has not given you the usual audience on your return to your post, and that you have been privately informed that he means to see you only on public occasions. I am sorry for this, because I regret that these late Turkish affairs should have produced such an effect upon the Emperor's conduct towards the British representative at his Court, but still I scarcely think that it would be useful that the Queen should retaliate upon Brunnow. But, indeed, the habits of our Court scarcely leave room for retaliation. The Queen sees the foreign Ministers at levées, at concerts, and at balls, when all, or nearly all, are generally present, and about once a year she has the representatives of the principal Courts to dinner; but that would be later in the year, and by that time the Emperor may have altered his conduct towards you. We must make great allowances for the effect which a great political check must have produced upon the Emperor's mind; and his annoyance at so public a thwart

ing is probably increased by the circumstance that it has been in some degree brought upon him by the injudicious zeal of Titow and Radzivil, who probably went beyond their instructions, and committed the Emperor further than he intended.

The mortification also is the greater because it has followed so quickly upon his great successes in Hungary, and has entirely dimmed the lustre of those successes; and, moreover, it must be galling to the lord and master of so many hundred thousand men and of near fifty sail of the line to be baffled by a squadron of seven sail of the line and by the time of the year. Our best course is not to take much notice of his ill-humour, and to try to bring him right again.

But though the Emperor will probably long remember what has happened, and will be long ready to take advantage of any opportunity to pay us off, yet when the Constantinople business is settled he will probably resume his usual cordiality, at all events in outward manner; and it may be some good long time before he may find an opportunity of giving us any serious embarrassment.

Nearly two years elapsed, however, before the Turkish Government could muster up courage to fly in the face of its powerful neighbour and liberate Kossuth with his companions. During this interval they were kept in honourable captivity at Kutayah. Much interest was taken in their fate, both in the United States and in England. Lord Palmerston writes to urge their release.

C. G.: February 10, 1851.

My dear Canning, I have written you a despatch about Kossuth and his fellow exiles. I have made it as gentle as was possible; but pray let Reschid and Aali know privately that it is but a faint expression of the public feeling in this country on that subject.

You will have seen how the matter was noticed in the House of Commons in the debate on the Address; and I have representations coming in from large towns and small-from England, Scotland, and Wales.

There was last year great enthusiasm throughout the whole country in favour of the Sultan, because people here believed that the Turkish Government was animated by a generous and manly determination not to be the executioner or the gaoler of

'THE JUDICIOUS BOTTLE-HOLDER.'

125 either of the Emperors; and it was that belief which led the country, from one end of it to the other-Whigs, Tories, Radicals to applaud and back up the defiance which, by our advice and our squadron, we flung in the teeth of the two Imperial Governments. But the ground on which we took our stand is fast sinking under our feet, and the bright hopes which the nation entertained are rapidly fading away. The Sultan

has certainly rescued the Poles and Hungarians from the rope and the bullet; but he is making himself the degraded slave of Austria to consign the Hungarians to the lingering but not less certain doom of the prison.

I am ashamed of our protégés, the Sultan and his whitelivered Ministers; and you may tell the Ministers, confidentially but confidently, that if they go on in this way, not only not a squadron but not a cockboat would we, or could we, send in any case to their assistance, and the enthusiasm of last year is rapidly turning into contemptuous disgust at their servile consent to perform the most degrading office of turnkey for Prince Schwarzenberg.

In September the men were freed. Shortly afterwards a deputation from Islington that went to the Foreign Office, to congratulate Lord Palmerston on the event, caused some stir, owing to the language of the address and the tone of Lord Palmerston's reply. Among other things, he said that to gain the day 'much generalship and judgment had been required, and that during the struggle a good deal of judicious bottle-holding was obliged to be brought into play.' This simile, borrowed from the prize-ring, tickled the fancy of the public, and for many a day after, Lord Palmerston, drawn with a sprig in his mouth, figured in the pages of Punch' as the 'judicious bottleholder.'

JUST as some unsightly knoll or insignificant stream has won imperishable fame by the accident of its crest or banks being the scene of a great battle, so did the name of a paltry adventurer become famous, in 1850, by its connection with a memorable debate. The fate of the Ministry as well as that of a Minister was involved, for the wrongs of Don Pacifico and the manner of their redress were only the battle-field on which a policy was attacked and bitter antagonisms fought out. The allied troops who led the attack were English Protectionists and foreign Absolutists. Victorious in their first onset among the Lords, they met with signal defeat in the House of Commons, after one of the most remarkable displays of eloquence and feeling that the walls of Parliament have witnessed.

Although the matters at issue were far wider than the narrow boundaries of Greece, it was round that centre that the contest principally raged; and it will be necessary, therefore, briefly to scan the ground-plan of the fight, and to recall the course of events which at last led the British Government to employ force.

Of all the races of Europe, none is more interesting than the Greek. It is singular to observe how many of its ancient characteristics have remained immutable amongst the varying misfortunes with which two thousand years have afflicted it. The same enterprising, speculative, and brilliant intellect which causes us to linger over the records of those three hundred years

INSINCERE CONDUCT OF GREEK GOVERNMENT. 127

that ennoble the history of the world is still alive, though scattered over the counting-houses and dispersed amidst the professional celebrities of Europe. It can hardly be denied that, amongst the men engaged in political affairs in Greece itself, have appeared gentlemen who, alike distinguished for their manners and their ability, might take place amongst the accomplished statesmen of their time. In the people are still found the virtues of industry and hospitality. But by a singular contrast, whilst the Greek nation might be esteemed and admired, the Greek Government never, during its varying vicissitudes, obtained or merited either esteem or admiration. The assassination of the illustrious citizen who had dedicated his life to her service; the refusal to acknowledge as a debt the money which, in her most desperate need, was advanced to rescue her from despair, commenced a series of events that tarnished the lustre of a revolution which an undeniable right had sanctioned and an unquestioned heroism achieved. From the moment, in short, in which the agony of her glorious struggle was passed, and she had it in her power to realise the generous dreams of those whose hearts and hopes had accompanied her throughout it, Greece, or at least, the rulers of Greece, seemed bent on converting expectation into disappointment.

We have seen that, when the question of establishing Greek independence was being agitated, Lord Palmerston was amongst the first to feel the generous sentiments which animated the last days of Canning and Byron. Nor did his interest in the cause cease when it appeared triumphant. Although he did not accept the young Bavarian prince as a desirable candidate, he still entertained hopes that, aided by the counsels of Europe, he would be able to establish a government sufficiently just and stable to permit the fortunes of the country to grow up gradually under it. It was, perhaps, as a compliment to his patronage that 1 Capo d'Istria.