1853-1854.
The "Sick Man"--Position of the Eastern Question--Projects of
the Emperor Nicholas--The Custody of the Holy Places--Prince
Menschikoff's Demand--Russian Invasion of Moldo-Wallachia--The
Vienna Note--Declaration of War by the Porte--Destruction of the
Turkish Fleet--Resignation of Lord Palmerston--Great Britain and
France Declare War with Russia--State of the British Armaments.
[Sidenote: The "Sick Man."]
"We have on our hands a sick man--a very sick man; it will be a great
misfortune if one of these days he should slip away from us before the
necessary arrangements have been made."
This sentence, spoken on January 9, 1853, by Nicholas, Czar of Russia,
to the British Minister at St. Petersburg, Sir George Hamilton Seymour,
supplied a phrase which has become historic, and remains as appropriate
to the present state of Turkey-in-Europe as it was forty-four years ago.
The Ottoman Empire in Europe had become an anachronism, not because it
was a heritage won by mediæval conquest, for that may be assigned as the
origin of almost every European State, but because the Turk maintained
his rule in modern times by mediæval methods. In the days when nations
were kept in subjection by the violence of their governors, the Turk had
been a standing menace to all Europe, for he was as powerful as any
Christian Monarch; but in proportion as the other nationalities acquired
the solidarity which follows on the growth of constitutional rights and
the limitation of absolute rule, he became a terror only to the subject
races within the Ottoman dominions. To the rising tide of Western
civilisation he opposed the breastwork of philosophic indifference,
though the ancient Saracen instinct for war still caused him to adopt
eagerly the successive inventions in military armament. The weakest
principality had nothing to fear in the nineteenth century from Turkish
invasion, but the most powerful states had realised that it would be a
formidable task to make the Porte comply with the concert of
Europe--such is the quality of genuine _vis inertiæ_. Nevertheless the
real guarantee for the integrity of the Ottoman Empire had come to
be--not her army and fleet, nor the fervour of her Moslem subjects--but
the mutual jealousy and suspicion existing between other Powers
regarding the disposal of Ottoman territory. It had come to this, then,
that the Christian states acquiesced in the continuance of the Ottoman
Empire in Europe as a kind of buffer state--a barrier against such a
collision of interests and ambitions as might revive warfare on a
Napoleonic scale. The heirs of the "sick man" dreaded his death because
of the conflict sure to ensue among his heirs.
[Illustration: _C. J. Staniland, R.I._}
THE LARGEST GUN OF 1837.
The illustration shows a gun's crew working the 67-cwt. gun, which was
the largest in use in the early part of Her Majesty's reign. It threw a
solid shot of 68 lbs. weight. At the Rotunda at Woolwich there is a gun
of this size which was used in the trenches at Sebastopol, and had its
trunnions shot away.]
Three European Great Powers were more closely affected than others by
the Eastern question--Russia, by reason of her office as guardian of the
Eastern Church, as well as by her hereditary policy of absorbing
neighbouring territories--Austria, on account of her claim to the
Danubian provinces of the Porte--and England, because she could not
suffer the advance of Russia between her and her Asiatic dominions. The
interest of England may seem to have been less direct than that of the
other Powers; nevertheless, the continual encroachment of Russia in
Asia, and the steady extension of the Russian frontier towards that of
British North-West India, had so powerfully impressed British statesmen
with the danger of a collision in that quarter, that the integrity of
the Ottoman Empire had become a cardinal principle in the Continental
diplomacy of England.
[Illustration: THE LARGEST GUN OF 1897.
The huge 110-ton guns of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. are
mounted in the _Sanspareil_ and _Benbow_, and the _Victoria_ carried two
of them to the bottom when she sank. There are considerable
disadvantages attaching to the use of artillery so enormous, as will be
understood when it is stated that the cost of each round fired with full
charge and armour-piercing projectile is £200; that the gun would become
practically useless after firing 75 rounds of this description (of
course a much smaller charge is used when practising); and that the
energy developed amounts to 60,000 foot-tons--about enough to lift the
whole ship six feet in the air. For these and other reasons the 67-ton
gun shown on next page is now being supplied in preference to the larger
one. The 110 ton gun is capable of piercing a solid mass of wrought iron
30-1/2 inches thick, at a distance of 1,000 yards; the much smaller
9·2-inch (22-ton) gun was tested in 1887, and threw a shot nearly 12
miles, its trajectory rising to a height greater, by 2,000 feet, than
that of Mont Blanc.]
[Sidenote: Projects of the Emperor Nicholas.]
But the Emperor Nicholas of Russia had convinced himself that the "sick
man" was at the point of death, and that it was essential to the peace
of Europe that his heirs should divide the inheritance before his
demise. The sentence at the head of this chapter was spoken by the Czar
when he revived proposals which he had made to the Duke of Wellington
and Lord Aberdeen, then Foreign Secretary, on the occasion of his visit
to England in 1844. These proposals had been embodied in a celebrated
memorandum drawn up by Count Nesselrode, to the effect that the Turkish
Empire should be maintained in its integrity as long as possible, but
that as soon as its fall could be averted no longer, England, Austria,
and Russia should act on a common understanding and divide the dominion
among themselves. Nesselrode's memorandum had been received and placed
in the archives of the Foreign Office, and no disclaimer of assent to
the propositions therein had ever been made on the part of Her Majesty's
Government. Silence is often assumed to indicate consent, so when
Nicholas, believing in 1853 that the Porte was indeed on the point of
dissolution, renewed his proposal for a partition of the Turkish Empire,
it was at least excusable that he should reckon on the co-operation of
Great Britain. Lord Aberdeen, who had been Foreign Secretary when the
Czar was in England in 1844, was Prime Minister in 1853. Nicholas
disclaimed any intention of a Russian occupation of Constantinople; he
suggested that Bulgaria and Servia might be constituted independent
States under Russian protection, and declared that he would acquiesce in
the annexation of Egypt and Candia by Great Britain. All this, and much
more, he explained to Sir Hamilton Seymour, assuring him that if Great
Britain and Russia came to an understanding on the subject, it mattered
nothing to him how the other Powers might view it.
[Illustration: _John Leech._} {_From "Punch."_
THE OLD 'UN AND THE YOUNG 'UN.
Old Nicholas (Emperor of Russia): "Now then, Austria; just help me to
finish the Port(e)."
The Emperor of Russia, disappointed in his overtures to England,
endeavoured to obtain the assistance of Austria against Turkey.]
[Sidenote: The Custody of the Holy Places.]
[Sidenote: Prince Menschikoff's Demand.]
At this juncture a fresh controversy was stirred in connection with
Ottoman rule. In the sixteenth century a treaty was concluded between
the Sultan and François I., King of France, whereby the custody of the
Holy Places in Palestine had been committed to the monks of the Latin
Church, who were placed under the protection of the Crown of France.
Subsequently firmans had been granted to the Greek Church, conferring
rights at variance with the exclusive guardianship claimed by the Latin
Church. Incessant disputes arose on a ludicrously minute point, such as
might have puzzled diplomatists in the era of the Crusades, but one
which seemed strangely out of keeping with statesmanship of the
nineteenth century, namely, "whether, for the purpose of passing through
the building into their grotto, the Latin monks should have the key of
the chief door of the Church of Bethlehem, and also one of the keys of
each of the two doors of the Sacred Manger, and whether they should be
at liberty to place in the Sanctuary of the Nativity a silver star
adorned with the arms of France." The French Republic, and afterwards
the French Empire, as heirs of the Crown of France, championed the cause
of the Latin monks, even threatening to occupy Jerusalem; until, in
February 1853, the Porte issued a firman in order to reconcile in a
reasonable way the conflicting claims of the two Churches. But reason
was the last influence to prevail in an unreasonable quarrel. Russian
forces, before the issue of the firman, had already begun massing on the
frontiers of Moldavia, and immediately after the issue of the firman,
Prince Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople with a numerous military
suite, endeavoured to force on the Porte an agreement establishing a
Russian protectorate of Christians within Turkish Dominions, and
threatened a rupture of diplomatic relations unless this was agreed to
at once. Reschid Pasha asked for a delay of five or six days to consider
such a momentous question; it was refused; whereupon the Ottoman Council
promptly declined to become a party to the proposed convention.
Menschikoff immediately left Constantinople; the Russian Government
continued warlike preparations, which were met by similar measures on
the part of the Porte, as a simple measure of self-defence.
[Illustration: _Photo by Thiele._} {_Chancery Lane._
THE LARGEST GUN OF 1897.
The deck of H.M.S. _Repulse_ cleared for action; the captain of the
barbette is taking the enemy's distance. The 67-ton guns in the
foreground are the largest which are now being built; they are lowered
behind the steel shield by hydraulic machinery for charging.]
[Sidenote: Russian Invasion and The Vienna Note.]
On July 2 the Russian army under Prince Gortchakoff crossed the Pruth
and occupied the Turkish territory of Moldavia and Wallachia. Of course
this was an act of war, but no collision actually took place, and
representatives of the four Great Powers--Austria, France, Great
Britain, and Prussia--met at Vienna in July and agreed on a Note
embodying terms for the peaceful settlement of the dispute. It were
natural to expect that a document of such moment should have been framed
in language of the utmost precision and incapable of bearing ambiguous
interpretation. Nevertheless this short Note contained five passages so
vague and ambiguous that they might have been construed into giving away
the whole case of Turkey, though this was undoubtedly far from the
intention of the authors. Russia, perceiving her advantage, accepted the
Note at once; but the Ministers of the Sultan declined to do so, unless
the five objectionable passages were modified. Nesselrode stated
explicitly the reasons which prevented Russia from agreeing to any
modification. These reasons enlightened the British Cabinet for the
first time as to the construction put on the Note by Russia, which was
directly contrary to that intended by the Four Powers.
[Illustration:
_R. Simkin._}
A. 11th Light Dragoons.
B. 12th Lancers.
C. 5th Dragoon Guards.
D. 1st Lifeguards.
E. Private, Rifle Brigade.
F. Private, Line.
G. Private, Grenadier Guards.
H. Officer, Infantry of the Line.
J. Officer, 13th Light Dragoons.
K. Officer, 2nd Dragoon Guards.
L. Gunner, Field Battery, R.A.
M. Trooper, 8th Hussars.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1837.]
England, therefore, was compelled to acquiesce in Turkey's refusal to
sign the Note, at the same time urging her not to regard the occupation
of Moldavia and Wallachia as an act of war. The state of affairs towards
the end of September is concisely described in a note written by Prince
Albert to Baron Stockmar: "Meyendorff is in the Vienna Cabinet; Louis
Napoleon wishes for peace, enjoyment, and cheap corn; the King of
Prussia is a reed shaken by the wind; we are paralysed through not
knowing what our agent in Constantinople is or is not doing; the Divan
has become fanatically warlike and headstrong, and reminds one of
Prussia in 1806; the public here is furiously Turkish and anti-Russian."
On October 5 the Porte issued a formal declaration of war. On the 14th
the combined fleets of England and France, which were lying in Besika
Bay, moved into the Dardanelles on the invitation of the Sultan.
Mediation was at an end.
[Sidenote: Destruction of the Turkish Fleet.]
A Turkish squadron of twelve sail in the Black Sea were attacked on the
30th while lying at anchor at Sinope and completely destroyed, with the
loss of 4,000 men, leaving only about 400 alive. The news of this
massacre, enacted almost under the very guns of the allied fleet, spread
like wildfire through France and Great Britain, and ignited every
warlike spirit that still slumbered. It was alleged that the Turkish
admiral had hauled down his flag before the overwhelming force which
attacked him, and that the Russians had paid no attention to this signal
of surrender.
[Sidenote: Resignation of Lord Palmerston.]
The Cabinet was much more divided in opinion than the nation. Lord
Palmerston, the Home Secretary, startled the nation by resigning office
on December 16, not, however, as was generally assumed, on account of
difference about the Eastern Question. "No one," wrote Prince Albert,
"will believe the true cause of his retirement--his dislike of Lord
John's plan of Reform, and treachery is everywhere the cry. It is the
Eastern Question that has turned him out, and Court intrigues!"
Everybody, in fact, believed that Palmerston had left the Cabinet rather
than assent to abandoning Turkey to the tender mercies of Russia. Prince
Albert was vehemently accused by a portion of the Press of being
favourable to the designs of Russia: how far this was from the truth
people afterwards came to learn from his own letters written while these
events were in progress. The cry went forth that Palmerston was the only
man who could save the honour of England; in a few days he withdrew his
resignation and confidence was restored.
[Illustration:
_R. Simkin._}
A. Trooper, 17th Lancers.
B. Trooper, 10th Hussars.
C. Trooper, 2nd Life Guards.
D. Private. Coldstream Guards.
E. Trooper. 1st Royal Dragoons.
F. Private, King's Royal Rifles.
G. Officer, Royal Artillery.
H. Officer, Line.
J. Officer, Black Watch.
K. Gunner, Royal Horse Artillery.
L. Private, Line.
UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1897.]
[Sidenote: Great Britain and France Declare War with Russia.]
On February 7 the Russian Ministers left London and Paris; the English
Minister left St. Petersburg on the same day. On the 27th the ultimatum
of England was despatched to Count Nesselrode. On March 24 Her Majesty's
formal declaration of war against the Emperor of Russia was read from
the steps of the Royal Exchange, and the reasons for this act were
published at length in the _London Gazette_. England had been
slow--culpably slow, declared Derby and Disraeli--in resorting to an
appeal to arms, but, having made it, the spirit of her greatest poet
pervaded the Councils of her Ministry:--
"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear it, that the oppressor may beware of thee."
[Sidenote: State of British Armaments.]
Before the actual declaration of war, large numbers of British troops
had embarked for the East, and a powerful fleet had been assembled at
Spithead for service in the Baltic under Admiral Sir Charles Napier. To
Prince Albert's watchful influence must be attributed the degree to
which the nation now found itself prepared for the coming struggle. For
the warlike habits of our people had been lulled by the peace which,
uninterrupted for nearly forty years, had prevailed between England and
other European powers. It would be difficult to realise at this day how
far the nation had lapsed into unreadiness. Prince Albert incessantly
strove to arouse it from this perilous lethargy. One result of his
efforts had been the establishment during the summer of 1853 of a
temporary camp of exercise at Chobham, a complete novelty to the
generation of that time. Aldershot, as a place of arms, had no existence
then, but the system initiated at Chobham has become part of our regular
military organisation. Another result had been the establishment of a
permanent Channel Fleet, which was reviewed by the Queen at Spithead on
August 11, 1853, and described by Prince Albert as "the finest fleet,
perhaps, which England ever fitted out; forty ships of war of all kinds,
all moved by steam-power but three.... The gigantic ships of war, among
them the _Duke of Wellington_ with 131 guns (a greater number than was
ever assembled before in one vessel), went, without sails and propelled
only by the screw, _eleven miles an hour_, and this against wind and
tide! This is the greatest revolution effected in the conduct of naval
warfare which has yet been known ... and will render many fleets, like
the present Russian one, useless." Speaking of men-of-war fitted with
the auxiliary screw, he went on: "We have already sixteen at sea and ten
in an advanced state. France has no more than two, and the other Powers
none.... I write all this, because last autumn we were bewailing our
defenceless state, and because you know that, without wishing to be
_mouche de coche_, I must rejoice to see that achieved which I had
struggled so long and so hard to effect."
[Illustration: _J. Tenniel._} {_From "Punch."_
WHAT IT HAS COME TO.
Lord Aberdeen holding back the British Lion.]
[Illustration: _W. A. Krell._} {_In the Royal Collection._
REVIEW OF THE CHANNEL SQUADRON BY HER MAJESTY, August 11, 1853.]
Great Britain, then, at the outbreak of the Russian War, possessed a
fleet stronger than the combined flotillas of any other three Great
Powers. Her land forces were far less satisfactory, for though they were
perfectly disciplined and well-equipped according to the existing state
of military science, they were few in numbers and almost totally without
reserves, for the new Militia could not count for much as yet.
[Illustration: GUN SHOP AT THE ELSWICK WORKS.
A few guns of 4'7 in. and 6 in. calibre awaiting inspection.]
[Illustration: _Sir E. Landseer, R. A._} {_From the Royal Collection. By
permission of Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall._
ROYAL SPORTS.--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT, WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES,
IN THE HIGHLANDS, 1853.]