36 CAUSES INVOLVING FKANCE AND ENGLAND CHAP, be expected that the friendly spirit in which the - Piussian Government had received the first and unbiassed decision of the English Cabinet would French Government. "With proofs of wliat I liave said about this, the volnine, I think, abounds ; but see in particular the avowal in distinct terms by Lord Clarendon, ante, p. 27. For those who like to see facts and dates put closely together, it may be convenient to glance at the following statement of tlic way in which the lever acted upon England between Tuesday the 20th and Saturday the 24th of December : — Tuesday, 20th Dec. — Our Government having just determined that no special instructions to the Admirals were necessitated by the disaster of Sinope ('Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 304), and having up to this day resisted the French proposals, Lord Clarendon is able to ^^Tite of ' the unabated desire for peace by ' which the r>ritish Government will be animated' [i.e., peace between Turkey and Russia], and to assure Lord Stratford that the course which he waa ' taking with a view to the adoption by the Porte of
- pacific connsds is in accordance with the wishes of
' Her Slajc'sty's Government as lieing calculated to ' prepare the Porte to give a favourable reception ' to the proposals tvhich have been forwarded from ' Vienna.' — ^' Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 320. Thursday, 22d Dec. — The Government no longer resists the pressure applied (some of the words inflicting the pressure are given in the te.xt), and adopts the Frencli proposals. Saturday, 24th Dec. — Lord Clarendon announces to Lord Cow- ley the adoption by our Government of the French proposals, and adds: — 'Her Majesty's Government ' have not hesitated to adopt the course which the ' honour and dignity of the country prescribe ; but ' at the same time they do not disgui.se from thcin-
- selves that it m.ay at no distant period involve
' Evfjland and France in war with Ilvssia.' — Ibid, pp. 221, 222. Thus, in the interval of three clear days between Tuesday the 20th and Saturday the 24th, there is a transition from peaceful language, and from obviously strong liopes of even
