o be pursued, and made cognisant at the same time of the fact
that England and France have bound themselves to defend the Turkish
Territory! This is entrusting them with a power which Parliament has
been jealous to confide even to the hands of the British Crown. It may
be a question whether England ought to go to war for the defence of
so-called Turkish Independence; but there can be none that if she does
so, she ought to be the sole judge of what constitutes a breach
of that independence, and have the fullest power to prevent by
negotiation the breaking out of the war.

The Queen would wish copies of the enclosed papers to be sent for her
use as soon as convenient.

[Footnote 27: In this despatch Lord Clarendon, after referring
to the interpretation which Count Nesselrode had put upon the
Vienna Note, and the Russian rejection of it as amended by
the Porte, told Lord Westmorland that it would be useless and
dishonourable to recommend it in its unaltered form, that the
Czar was contending for privileges for Christian subjects
of the Porte not hitherto enjoyed by them, and that a war
embarked upon in such a cause would be without parallel in
history.]

[Footnote 28: Authority had been given to Lord Stratford to
employ the British Fleet in the manner he might deem most fit
for defending Turkish territory from aggression, and he was
instructed that if the Russian Fleet left Sebastopol, the
British Fleet was to pass through the Bosphorus.]

[Pageheading: RESENTMENT OF THE CZAR]

[Pageheading: LORD JOHN AND THE PREMIERSHIP]

_Memorandum by the Prince Albert._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _16th October 1853._

We saw Lord Aberdeen yesterday. He went with us through the whole
of the proceedings of the last six weeks with respect to the Eastern
Question. Regretted Count Nesselrode's Note,[29] which Baron Brunnow
owned nobody would regret more than the Count himself, acknowledged
the weakness of Austria, felt sure of Lord Stratford's insincerity
towards him and the Government,... as he had to Lord Aberdeen's
certain knowledge called "the conduct of the Government infamous" and
declared "he would let the world know that his name was Canning." He
acknowledged the disadvantage of the course adopted by the Cabinet,
which left the Turks at liberty to do as they pleased; he had to
concede this to the Cabinet, which would otherwise have been broken
up by Lord John and Lord