the unanimous wishes of the Russian nation, was reserved for Catherine II., who has closely followed in the footsteps of Peter. She effected it by the employment of all the means which it is possible for political prudence to put in operation. Bribes, promises, negotiations-nothing was left undone to get possession of the Crimea without effusion of blood, although it was the terror of her arms alone that could overcome all the difficulties. * Thus may we hope to see revived the ancient renown of the ports of this almost island, and its towns, which will soon again perhaps become commercial centres, through which will pass the riches of the Levant and of Persia."+

The further object to which the conquest of the Crimea was chiefly to serve as the stepping-stone, is thus shadowed out at that early period, in the letter of Marshal Munich to the Empress, which is as follows:

"St. Petersburgh, 20th Sept. 1762. "Most Gracious, and most August Sovereign,

"We are celebrating here this day the anniversary of the birth of his Royal Highness the Grand Duke. I join to the public prayers my ardent vows that I may be able to salute him at seventeen years of age, generalissimo of your armies, and to conduct him, according to the glorious views of Peter the Great, his incomparable great grandfather, to divine service in the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and to plant the Russian colours on the walls of that ancient capital.

"The same judgment will, doubtless, be passed on this conquest, as was passed on the construction of a harbour on

The depth of the perfidy, and the atrocious cruelty that attended the rapine of the Crimea, are such as the world has indeed seldom witnessed; but a description of them would not suit the Russian functionary to supply!

† He might have added, the riches of India; for when the Dardanelles and Persia are in the possession of Russia, and the might of England and France destroyed by each other's hands, are we to throw ourselves on the magnanimity of the Emperor for India, where already his emissaries have prepared it for his embraces?

the Baltic Sea. It will be looked on as a chimera. I am nevertheless, in a situation to prove that Peter the Great during thirty years, that is to say, since the year 1695, when he first laid siege to Asoff, to his death in 1725, had in view as his main object the conquest of Constantinople, the expulsion from Europe of the infidel Turks and Tartars, and the re-establishment of the Greek empire. I could even draw up the plan of this vast and important enterprise. I had laboured at it during several years of my absence. But these documents, as I have had the honour to explain to your Majesty, are lost with many others, in which I had marked out a new system of fortification; and I must have more time and leisure than I have at present for writing it anew, and laying it at the feet of my incomparable heroine. Your Majesty had very graciously asked me if it was possible to effect the conquest of the Crimea. As I penetrated the first to the centre of that ancient region, which is Baktschi-Sarai, the residence of the Khan, I am perfectly acquainted with all the difficulties which will attend this expedition, and the means of surmounting them," &c. &c. &c.

The remarks of M. Scherer on this letter are the following: "I will add to these details, that in the midst of the last war with the Porte, so firm was the belief, in Russia, of the speedy capture of Constantinople, that the Mint at St. Petersburgh had already received instructions to strike a medal, representing on one side the bust of her Imperial Majesty, and on the other, Constantinople and the Seven Towers, struck down by a thunderbolt."

It may perhaps seem singular to those who recollect my intention of devoting these chapters to an examination of the question as to whether there be a secret union between Russia and the British Minister for Foreign Affairs, that I should occupy so much time with extracts from the History of Russia, but I request the reader to bear in mind the

* Prussian officers have lately fortified the Dardanelles, under the auspices of Russia; and now the Treaty of 15th July stipulates for their fortification and occupation by Russia!

necessity there exists, for having a comprehension, and thorough appreciation of the objects which Russia is pursuing; of the bearing of those objects on the welfare of England, and the field on which they are pursued ;—it is necessary to bear this in mind as the chief ground on which to base our judgment, for it is by the knowledge of these things alone that we can understand the relation in which Russia and England stand towards each other-that we can judge of what is for the furtherance of Russian designs—that we can distinguish the policy that should be employed, from that which should be counteracted, and see through the snares which may be laid for our deception. The cold-blooded perfidy, the intentions of colossal rapine, blood-thirstiness, and wholesale destruction of nations, clothed in the language of the Blasphemer, which are revealed by the writings of these Muscovite functionaries of the last century; the undeviating fixedness with which they pursue their scheme at the moment in which we live, and by means of the men whom we see, entertain, and place confidence in, every day, in our own houses and our councils, ought to be present to our minds as an evidence of the fact, that there must necessarily exist deception of the most complicated kind for us to guard against, in our examination of the actions and propositions of the Court which employs them. When we know what these objects are, and that they are hostile-when we know that there is deception, and that the deceivers are in the confidence of "distinguished Members of our Houses of Parliament," half our battle is gained; we have then but to consider WHAT IS FOR THE INTEREST OF OUR COUNTRY, and what is for the FURTHERANCE OF THE DESIGNS OF OUR ADVERSARY, and by comparing these we shall know how to examine the tendency of actions-how to judge of the prospective working of events.

The designs of Russia being, as shewn by the entire history of that nation since the reign of Peter the Great, to attract the commerce of the East through her dominions as a centre, for the supply of Europe, necessarily constitute an attempt to transfer to the land, that which now belongs to

the ocean. The success of this attempt would, therefore, involve the withdrawal from Great Britain of that commercial supremacy which is the fountain of her riches-the destruction of that maritime superiority which constitutes her strength. The possession by a continental power stretching from the Baltic to the wall of China in one unbroken mass, of the Black Sea as the road into Europe, and of the fertile regions lying between Turkey and the Indus, would confer the commercial supremacy of the world on its fortunate Master, provided it were shielded from the action of those European States of which it was the interest, and which had the strength, to oppose it. The possession of Constantinople, and the impregnable fortresses of the Dardanelles, would be a barrier to the Power behind, within which it would enjoy the most perfect security from attack from Europe, while the commercial communication from thence to Europe would be conferred on it, and exist under its control, and in its sufferance. The possession by RUSSIA of such a dominion as this, guarded by such portals as the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, would give to that power, without the shadow of a doubt, the commerce of Europe and of Asia-the accumulation of wealth would follow on this commerce, in proportion as the change would bring the diminution to England of the means of feeding her overgrown commercial and manufacturing establishments, fulfilling her financial engagements, and maintaining her extensive marine.* As England grew weaker, Russia would gradually grow stronger, until she grew irresistible, and if she preferred, not to seize her long looked-for prey—INDIA— by a stroke of sudden violence, she would justify her assuming the" Protectorate" of it, in the eyes of Europe, and of England herself, by exhibiting the impossibility of its retention, or Government, by a Court of Directors in London! In this case, after the effects of Russian intrigue (now in active

* In Note 1 of the Appendix will be found an extract from the plan of aggrandisement laid down by Peter the Great, for the instruction of his successors.

operation in India) had sufficiently shewn themselves in rebellions of the natives, Russia would proceed, as in Greece, to "engage" the Courts of Europe in Treaties for the "pacification" of India, "in the interests of humanity," &c. &c., and perhaps then Englishmen might comprehend the meaning of the "Treaties for the pacification of the East!" Of course the way to arrest this would be, to prevent the seizure of Constantinople — and there is no question of the power of England to do so, at the present moment. Indeed there is only one way for England to be rendered incapable of doing it, and that would be, to neutralise her strength, and paralyse her means of resistance by the destruction of her power in Europe. A war between England and some European power would do this; but that power could only be France, because the inequality of strength between her and every other European state, is so great as to render any other war impossible; while the equality of strength between England and France would have the effect, in case of a war, of making their mutual exhaustion complete, for neither would yield until they were compelled by incapacity for further exertion, and they would both reach that position by equal and long degrees. Thus, then, the game of Russia is clearly a war between England and France, if that can be brought about-but at any rate, the neutralization of the one by the other, which would be also equally well effected for Russian purposes, by "engaging" one of the two in a participation of the plunder! This might be done in Peace. The Russian Minister well understood his means of action when he penned that passage in his Memoir, published by Lord Palmerston, "We can only hope for prompt success when the union between England and France shall be broken up!"

According to what we have here been advancing, the objects of Russia, as laid down by Peter the Great,* are

* There can be no doubt but these objects were laid down near a century and a half before, in the reign of John Basilowitz, and steadily though slowly pursued, as we shall show in a succeeding chapter on Greece. But the genius of Peter, if it did not give birth to the design, gave an impulse, created and perfected means, and laid a basis for