380 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OP 1853 chat, called to arms for his Faith, was preached with a XVIL fervour sufficing for all military purposes ; but the Proclamation which announced that the Sul- tan was at war abstained from all fierce theology. Reiterating the poignant truths which placed the Porte in the right and the Czar in the wrong, it kept to that tone of moderation which had hitherto marked all the State Papers of the Turkish Gov- its effect on eminent. But this very moderation seemed al- the mind of ' the czar. ways to kindle fresh rage in the mind of the Em- peror Nicholas, and to fetch out his religious zeal. The reason perhaps was, that in all wisdom and all moderation evinced by the Divan he persisted The czar's in seeing the evil hand of Lord Stratford. In his Proclama- ° . . tion. Proclamation he ascended to ecstatic heights : — ' By the grace of God, We, Nicholas I., Emperor ' and Autocrat of All the Puissias, make known : ' By our Manifesto of the 14th of June, we ac- ' cjuainted our well-beloved and faithful subjects ' with the motives which have compelled us to ' demand of the Ottoman Porte inviolable guaran- ' tees in favour of the sacred rights of the Ortho- ' dox Church. . . . Eussia is challenged to ' the fight ; nothing, therefore, further remains for ' her but, in confident reliance upon God, to have ' recourse to arms, in order to compel the Ottoman ' Government to respect treaties, and obtain from ' it reparation for the offences by which it has ' responded to our most moderate demands, and ' to our legitimate solicitude for the defence 1 of the Orthodox faith in the East, which is ' equally professed by the Russian people. We
