BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 101 any steps which England would regard as an out- chap. VII rage. The plan which he resorted to as a means cine of action. of giving vent to his anger, and satisfying that JJ^ShS tendency to action which *h&d Been engendered by his preparations against the Sultan, was to go on with the scheme of sending aiv -Exh'aorihnar;- Embassy to Constantinople, to make up for the sudden loss of the Montenegro grievance by lay- ing an increased stress upon the question of the Holy Places, and to force the Sultan to settle the dispute upon terms which, without wounding the Latins more than could be helped, should still do justice to the Greek Church. Any attempt at resistance which the Porte might make, by alleg- ing the counter-pressure of France, was to be met by at once engaging that the Emperor of Russia with all his forces should defend the Sultan's ter- ritory against every attack by a Western Power; and well knowing that protective aid of such a kind was a burthen and not a gift, the Emperor seems to have directed that this alliance should be not merely offered, but pressed. But the secret purpose of the mission was to make the past defaults of the Turkish Govern- ment in regard to the Holy Places of Palestine a ground for extorting a treaty engagement by which the Greek Church throughout all Turkey would be brought under the protection of Russia. It seemed to the Czar that his half-completed preparations for war would give to his demands exactly that kind of support which their offensive character required; for the position of the troops
