68 



RUSSIA, TURKEY, AND BULGARIA. 



population, she determined, as the Czar declared to the Notables at 

 Moscow, to act independently, and without the sanction or authority 

 of any of the Great Powers, to make a declaration of war against 

 Turkey, and on the 24th of April, 1877, her armies advanced simul- 

 taneously into Asiatic and European Turkey. 



This declaration of war by Russia was preceded by a Manifesto by 

 the Czar to his faithful and beloved subjects, full of high professions 

 of holy zeal, and religious fervour, for the destinies of the oppressed 

 Christian population of Turkey, and this unctious Manifesto con- 

 cluded as follows : — 



" Having exhausted our pacific efforts, we are compelled by the 

 haughty obstinacy of the Porte, to proceed to more decisive 

 acts." 

 " A feeling of equity, and of our own dignity enjoins it. 

 " Profoundly convinced of the justice of our cause, and humbly 

 committing ourselves to the grace and help of the Most High, 

 we invoke the blessing of God upon our valiant armies, and give 

 them the order to cross the Turkish frontier." 

 Against this declaration of war by Russia, and the disinterested(!) 

 motives which prompted it, the Ottoman Government appealed to 

 Europe, in language full of scathing condemnation on the policy of 

 Russia. 



" What are the motives which can justify such a serious determina- 

 tion on the part of the Russian Government ? 

 " Russia has not been able to allege, and in fact she has not alleged, 

 any direct violation of her rights, or any of those causes 

 which, according to International Law, authorises an appeal 

 to arms, 

 " The existing treaties between the two States have been scrupu- 

 lously observed by the Ottoman Government, nowhere more 

 than in Turkey have the moral and material interests of Russian 

 subjects been the objects of such wide and efficacious pro- 

 tection; Russian commerce and navigation have met with no 

 hindrances in the States of H.M. the Sultan ; these and other 

 considerations clearly prove the great value which the Govern- 

 ment of H.M. the Sultan has attached to the maintenance of its 

 friendly relations with that of H.M. the Emperor. * * « 

 " Is Russia authorised or justified to make war in the name of the 

 general peace ; to let loose upon all the Mussulman and 

 Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire, frightful calamities, in 

 order the better to provide for their welfare ; to place, in short, 



