ions of Vienna,
where Lord John Russell appeared as the chief representative of England.
The sittings of this conference were held in March and April. Both Lord
John Russell and the French plenipotentiary agreed to terms which, as
they were ultimately rejected by the allied governments, need not be
referred to here.

The unsuccessful termination of the Vienna conferences produced a great
sensation in England and France, murmurs were heard in both countries
that their negotiators had laboured without results; and both the
English and French plenipotentiaries were compelled by public opinion to
retire from their offices in the cabinets of their respective countries.
Count Nesselrode addressed an artful note to the ministers and agents
of Russia in various states, the object of which was to represent the
allies as resisting all conciliatory offers on the part of Russia. The
tone and representations of the note were identical with the arguments
of Gortschakoff and Titoff at the conference. The French plenipotentiary
and foreign minister resigned his place in the imperial cabinet; the
English plenipotentiary and colonial minister retained office until the
cause of the French minister's retirement became known; and his conduct
contrasted very favourably in English opinion to that of the English
minister. Earl Clarendon and Lord Palmerston held back from the British
parliament and public a correct knowledge of the facts, until it
transpired, through Parisian gossip, that the French, English, and
Austrian ministers were willing to accept peace on the condition of
Russia and the allies keeping an equal naval armament in the Black Sea.
The way in which Austria had hoodwinked the Western negotiators, and
played into the hands of Russia, became at last evident; and Lord John
Russell was forced to leave the English ministry. There were other
results of the conference, and these rapidly developed themselves. It
was no doubt a conviction on the part of the Russian government that its
duplicity throughout these negotiations, and its falsehood in accepting
as a basis the four points, had deprived it of all moral influence
in Europe, that led to the crafty and deceptive circular of Count
Nesselrode, already referred to, in which he sought to persuade the
world that Russia was--as some of the English peace lecturers frequently
represented--a most ill-used nation. If no other result than that of
unmasking Russia--even to the Peelites and t