322 ON THE POLICY AND THE POWER OF RUSSIA. 



Every one knows of the chivalric combination of the fleets of Eng- 

 land, France, and Russia, against the Ottoman navy, and of the 

 truly heroic sacrifice of the Turks. If ever the British flag was dis- 

 graced, it was at Navarino. Of the Russian declaration of war, 

 under the pretence of acting as the champion of Christendom ; of her 

 successes over an already prostrate foe, deprived of its fleet, her pro- 

 vinces revolted, and discord at home ; of the results of that most 

 infamous war, by the Treaty of Adrianople, thus baring her bosom 

 to the knife of the assassin. 



" Then appeared a manifesto : words, like sunbeams, are sent forth to 

 dazzle the eyes of Europe to baffle their penetrations their faculty of 

 sight ; and piety and sentimentality unite, to celebrate the reluctant vic- 

 tories of the Russian army over despotism, infidelity, and barbarism. 



" The left bank of the Danube is occupied ; it is to arrest the scourge of 

 humanity the plague. The important fortresses of the borders of Cir- 

 cassia are united in perpetuity to the empire ; it is to arrest the traffic, 

 horrible to Russia, in slaves, the greater part of whose population is in the 

 most degraded bondage. The loss of human life has been compensated by 

 the irrevocable settlement of the Greek question, so dear to her allies, so 

 sacred to her own sense of religion and of humanity. 



" The grievances of her own subjects, so long patiently borne, are re- 

 dressed ; arid, in fine, the Dardanelles are made entirely free to the com- 

 merce of all nations; still Russia ' has remained constantly a stranger to 

 every desire of conquest to every view of aggrandizement.' " 



In that ever-memorable Treaty of Adrianople, Russia dictated her 

 own terms, which the Porte, standing alone and friendless, was 

 obliged to accept. Russia there virtually takes possession of Turkey ; 

 she occupies her frontiers, garrisons her fortresses, and mortgages her 

 for a sum which it is impossible by her own means she can ever pay ; 

 and such was the rascality such the genius of Russia for over- 

 reaching and fraud, that the Turkish plenipotentiaries were led to 

 believe that one million meant one hundred thousand, and actually 

 signed the treaty under the impression that thev had acknowledged 

 a debt of 400,000/., instead of 4000,OQO/. ! It is' eloquently urged by 

 the author of the pamphlet 



" Well may Russia exult in the acquisition of such immense results with 

 such slender means ; but no ! these admissions are altogether incidental ; 

 they are without the deep, the intent concentration of her thoughts and 

 energies. Not a betraying sound will escape from her lips, not a conscious 

 smile steal over her features, until the great day of consummation dawns, 

 and the peals of the Dardanelles re-echo to the halls of Constantino the 

 shouts and cries of victory and defiance, and the long-suppressed exultation 

 of gigantic deception." 



It now becomes the duty of England and France, now that the 

 great secret of Russian philanthropy has exploded, to make up for 

 their late apathy or ignorance, by taking the affairs of Turkey into 

 their own hands, to afford her the advantages of their friendship and 

 protection, which she ought to have had long before. Turkey is at 

 her last gasp, but there is yet vitality, and more than all, the people 

 look to us in their last distress as alone having the power to save 

 them. If we disappoint them, we shall give them over to despair. 

 The Russians are odious to the Turkish people, and the Sultan par- 



