200 ORIGIN OF THE AYAH OF 1853 chap, refused to accept the conviction that lie was XII ' falling out with the English people, or even with the English Government. It was in vain that Lord Clarendon, in words as clear as day, disclosed the anger and the growing determination of the Cabinet. It was in vain that, by grave words and by pregnant reserve, Sir Hamilton Seymour strove to warn the Czar of the danger which he was bring- ing upon his relations with England. The Czar imagined that he knew better. 'My dear Sir ' Hamilton,' Count Nesselrode seemed to say, 'you • have lived away from your country so long, that, ' forgive me, you do not know its condition and ' temper. "We do. "We have studied it. Your • Foreign Office speaks as if we did not know that ' England has her weak point. My dear Sir ' Hamilton, we have mastered the whole subject of ' the " School of Manchester." Certainly it cost us ' some trouble, but we have now made out the dif- ' ference between a " Meeting " on a Sunday morn- ' ing, and a "Meeting" on a Monday night. ' Nothing escapes us. "We comprehend the, Society ' of Friends. Pardon me, Sir Hamilton, for saying ' so, but your country is notoriously engaged in • commerce. "With that we shall not interfere.' In truth, the Czar's theory was, that the foreign policy of the English Government was dictated by the people, and that the people loved money, and for the sake of money loved peace. In other words, he thought that the English nation had undergone what historians term ' corruption.' As far as he could make out, the vast expanse of
