which they
owed allegiance. The sultan refused, and the ambassadors demanded their
passports. The alarmed sultan consulted the learned doctors of the
Koran, and received for reply that the abandonment of the refugees would
be contrary to the law of Mohammed. The English and French ministers
counselled resistance, and the sultan increased his armies, and ordered
remnants of troops towards the Austrian frontier. The terms and tone in
which the communications of the ministers of the czar and the kasir were
made, were insulting to the sultan, and aroused the indignation of
the French and British governments, whose interposition was of such a
character as to lead Austria and Russia to believe that a war with the
western powers would ensue if the haughty requisition was persisted in.
The communications between the English ambassador at St. Petersburg and
the czar's minister for foreign affairs, although maintaining the forms
of courtesy, were pervaded by an indifferently concealed acrimony, which
showed that a bad feeling between the two governments underlayed the
ceremonies of diplomatic civility. A special minister from the Porte was
sent to St. Petersburg with a conciliatory note from the sultan to the
emperor, and this, with the firm tone of the French ambassador, and
the energetic exertions of the English minister, caused the emperors to
relax their demands, and to insist only upon the removal of certain of
the refugees from the territory contiguous to that which had been
the theatre of their revolt. The ill feeling which sprung up on this
occasion between the governments of Vienna and St. Petersburg, on the
one hand, and those of England and France, on the other, continued until
events arose still more grave for Turkey, and for all these powers.

Through another year of grave occurrences, and political difficulties
and involvements such as Europe had seldom Been, Great Britain pursued
the even tenor of her way, by her moral influence everywhere aiding
liberty and checking excess, maintaining her own prestige and
international rights, yet pursuing a policy of non-interference.
Her foreign relations at the close of 1849 were in all respects
satisfactory, but it required all the skill and vigilance of the
remarkable man then at the head of the foreign office to maintain at
once peace and the honour of the country.

CONTINUED DISTRESS IN IRELAND--CRIME AND OUTRAGE--POLITICAL
AGITATIONS EFFORTS OF GOVERNMENT TO MEET