England and France
jointly sent an _ultimatum_ to the Czar, to which no answer was
returned. March 28, 1854, England declared war.
On the 12th of March, while great excitement prevailed and public
meetings were held throughout England, declaring for and against war,
Mr. Gladstone made an address on the occasion of the inauguration of the
statue of Sir Robert Peel, at Manchester. He spoke of the designs of
Russia, and described her as a power which threatened to override all
other powers, and as a source of danger to the peace of the world.
Against such designs, seen in Russia's attempt to overthrow the Ottoman
Empire, England had determined to set herself at whatever cost. War was
a calamity that the government did not desire to bring upon the country,
"a calamity which stained the face of nature with human gore, gave loose
rein to crime, and took bread from the people. No doubt negotiation is
repugnant to the national impatience at the sight of injustice and
oppression; it is beset with delay, intrigue, and chicane; but these are
not so horrible as war, if negotiation can be made to result in saving
this country from a calamity which deprives the nation of subsistence
and arrests the operations of industry.
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