The Czar claimed a Protectorate over
all the Greek subjects of the Porte. Russia sought to extend her
conquests south and to seize upon Turkey. France and England sustained
Turkey. Sardinia afterwards joined the Anglo-French alliance.
The people of England generally favored the war, and evinced much
enthusiasm at the prospect of it. Lord Aberdeen and Mr. Gladstone wished
England to stand aloof. The Peelite members of the cabinet were
generally less inclined to war than the Whigs. Lord Palmerston and Lord
John Russell favored England's support of Turkey. Some thought that
England could have averted the war by pursuing persistently either of
two courses: to inform Turkey that England would give her no aid; or to
warn Russia that if she went to war, England would fight for Turkey. But
with a ministry halting between two opinions, and the people demanding
it, England "drifted into war" with Russia.
July 2, 1853, the Russian troops crossed the Pruth and occupied the
Danubian Principalities which had been by treaty, in 1849, evacuated by
Turkey and Russia, and declared by both powers neutral territory between
them. London was startled, October 4, 1853, by a telegram announcing
that the Sultan had declared war against Russia.
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