minous number was doubled. The loss of the Allies in the Crimean war
was upwards of eighty-seven thousand men, and more than two-thirds of
the slain fell to France. Apart from bloodshed, anguish, and pain, the
Crimean war bequeathed to England an increase of 41,000,000_l._ in the
National Debt. No wonder that overtures for the cessation of hostilities
now met with a welcome which had been denied at the Vienna Conference.
After various negotiations, the Peace of Paris was signed on March 30,
1856. Russia was compelled to relinquish her control over the Danube and
her protectorate over the Principalities, and was also forbidden to
build arsenals on the shores of the Black Sea, which was declared open
to all ships of commerce, but closed to all ships of war. Turkey, on the
other hand, confirmed, on paper at least, the privileges proclaimed in
1839 to Christians resident in the Ottoman Empire; but massacres at
Damascus, in the Lebanon, and later in Bulgaria, and recently in
Armenia, have followed in dismal sequence in spite of the Treaty of
Paris. The neutrality of the Black Sea came to an end a quarter of a
century ago, and the substantial gains--never great even at the
outset--of a war which was costly in blood and treasure have grown small
by degrees until they have almost reached the vanishing point.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] _Life of Lord John Russell_, vol. ii. p. 251.

CHAPTER XIII

LITERATURE AND EDUCATION

Lord John's position in 1855--His constituency in the City--Survey
of his work in literature--As man of letters--His historical
writings--Hero-worship of Fox--Friendship with Moore--Writes the
biography of the poet--'Don Carlos'--A book wrongly attributed to
him--Publishes his 'Recollections and Suggestions'--An opinion of
Kinglake's--Lord John on his own career--Lord John and National
Schools--Joseph Lancaster's tentative efforts--The formation of the
Council of Education--Prejudice blocks the way--Mr. Forster's
tribute.

MEN talked in the autumn of 1855 as if Lord John Russell's retirement
was final, and even his brother, the Duke of Bedford, considered it
probable that his career as a responsible statesman was closed. His
health had always been more or less delicate, and he was now a man of
sixty-three. He had been in Parliament for upwards of forty years, and
nearly a quarter of a century had passed since he bore the brunt of the
wrath and clamour and evil-s