98 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1653 chap, the silver star, there was nothing that he had to charge against the Sultan. On the other hand, he had failed in his endeavour to win over England to his views. He therefore relapsed into the use of the conservative language which he had been accustomed to apply to the treatment of the Eastern Question; professed his willingness to labour with England to prolong the existence of the Turkish Empire ; and even went so far as to join with our Government in declaring that the way to achieve this result was to abstain 'from 1 harassing the Porte by imperious demands, put ' forward in a manner humiliating to its indepen- Heahan- ' dence and its dignity.'* He abandoned the in- ideaofgo- tention of going to war, and even deprived him- self of the means of taking such a step with effect ; for immediately upon hearing the result of Count Leiningen's mission, he stopped the pur- chase of horses required for enabling him to take the field.
- ' Eastern Paper?, ' part v. p. 25.
to war.
