The bearing of the Czar Nicholas, so haughty and arrogant at the outset of the war, had undergone a notable alteration. Following on the defeats on the Danube, that of the Alma wrung from him, in his communications with Menschikoff, utterances almost of despair, mingled, however, with expressions of determination to oppose his evil fortune to the bitter end.

Then came the terrible slaughter of Inkerman, almost pressing hope out of him, But sonic new comfort dawned with the news of the sufferings of the Allies in the beginning of winter, and it was then he uttered a saying, famous at the time, that there were two generals who were about to fight for him, "Janvier et Fevrier." But, as we have seen, in this last month came the defeat at Eupatoria. It is generally believed that this blow, aggravated to his proud spirit because inflicted by the despised Turks, was fatal.

A very few days after receiving the news, while he was still engaged in issuing orders to his generals, and reviewing his troops, his splendidly powerful frame suddenly collapsed. On his return from the parade ground on the 27th of February, a difficulty of breathing was manifest, paralysis of the lungs ensued, and on the 2d March he died.

Survivors of that time may remember a terrible cartoon in Punch of the Czar dead upon his camp bed, while a skeleton, in Russian garb and helmet, pressed its hand on his breast, with the inscription, "General Fevrier turned traitor."

The French sent the news to the general commanding in Sebastopol by a flag of truce; but he kept it secret, until it should be confirmed from St. Petersburgh.

It came, accompanied by a message from the new Czar, to tell the defenders that, "passed away into life eternal, the supreme chief of the orthodox warriors blessed from on high their unequalled constancy and valour."

It was soon seen that Alexander II. was under the influence of the war party, for a manifesto issued on the day of his accession was not merely warlike, but menacing, and though his prudent minister, Nesselrode, sought in a circular to diminish its effect, the friends of peace found nothing in the change of sovereigns to encourage them.

In the meantime the conference of the Powers, broken off months before by Russia's rejection of the four points which formed its basis, was revived. Prince Gortschakoff, cousin of the general, had been sent as Minister to Vienna, and had managed so to represent the refusal as to afford ground for again assembling the delegates. Since the withdrawal of Russia from the Danube, Austria had no longer an interest in joining in the war; nevertheless, she had in December come to a fresh agreement with France and England for putting pressure on the Czar. But, up to the end of his life, Nicholas had declared that he would consent to no limitation of his naval power in the Black Sea.

When Nesselrode announced on March 10th that the new Czar would join in the Vienna Conference "in a sincere spirit of concord," this assurance, receiving no confirmation from what else was known of Alexander's views, did not inspire much hope of success for negotiations in which the Allies were determined to insist on that condition. But they were quite willing to give the cause of peace another chance, and the conference began on the 15th March, Lord John Russell being the representative of England.

Other Influences

Meanwhile, other influences had been at work which seriously affected the conduct of the war. It has been said that General Niel was regarded as the military counsellor of Louis Napoleon, and also that he considered the interception of communications between Sebastopol and the interior as indispensable to the capture of the place.

This view was so natural to an engineer, that he must be considered to have arrived at it of himself; and when we find the Emperor also holding that opinion, it is more likely that he derived it from Niel, than that Niel derived it from him. However that may be, it had fixed itself in Napoleon's mind, which was much given to patient and persistent brooding and cogitation over ideas; and when, under this process, they had so far taken shape as to inspire in him a paternal interest, he also acquired in them a profound belief Turning over in this way the idea of investing Sebastopol, he had probably at first sent Niel to the Crimea to test it on the spot, with instructions, in case he should adhere to it, to take steps to prevent such operations of the siege as would involve serious risk and loss, which would, of course, from their point of view, be incurred in vain, and would needlessly diminish the forces to be employed in the field.

As has been seen, some restraining influence had become apparent in the course of the following operations. But the Emperor's meditations on the subject did not stop here. Possessed with the necessity of driving the Russian field army off the lines of communication between Russia and Sebastopol, and bestriding them with what would then become an army of investment, he combined with it this other idea, that if, when these operations should be approaching completion, he could place himself in person at the head of the Allied Forces in the field, and deal the finishing stroke, such a military achievement would tend greatly to assure his hold on France.

After this, passing out of the regions of theory, he began secretly, as if for another purpose, to assemble a large army of reserve at Constantinople, and also to construct the plan of the intended campaign, although he had no acquaintance of any kind with war.

The plan was this: the Allies were to form three armies. One was to continue to guard the trenches and push the siege. Another, under Lord Raglan, was to assemble in the valley of Baidar (east of Balaklava), and to push its advanced posts towards Bakshisarai. The third, under Louis Napoleon himself, or a general appointed by him, composed of troops taken from before Sebastopol, and the reserves from Constantinople, was to be landed at Aloushta, on the south- eastern face of the peninsula, nearly in point of latitude abreast of Bakshisarai. This last army was to march, over a pass of the Tchatir-dagh Mountain, upon Simpheropol. Should the Russians concentrate on that point for the defence of their central depot of supply, Lord Raglan, moving on Bakshisarai, was to combine his action with that of the other army by threatening the Russian right or rear. But should the enemy, abandoning Simpheropol, concentrate in the neighbourhood of Sebastopol, the French Army from Simpheropol would advance upon it by Bakshisarai, while Lord Raglan, in concert, would attack the heights of Mackenzie's Farm.

The Russian army, if defeated, would be driven off the line of communication, the Allies would sever it, and Sebastopol, deprived of supplies and of reinforcements, must speedily surrender.

The Emperor's determination to proceed himself to the Crimea, and undertake the conduct of a plan of this kind, was announced, in a letter he wrote to Lord Palmerston, on the 26th February. The reason he put forward for desiring to go himself was the necessity of placing over all the Allied Forces a chief whose influence would secure unity of command.

Crisis

"You will tell me, perhaps," the letter said, "that I might entrust some general with this mission. Now, not only would such a general not have the same moral influence, but time would be wasted, as it always has been, in memorandums between Canrobert and Lord Raglan, between Lord Raglan and Omar Pasha." If England would find ships for the necessary transport animals, he would find the additional men required for the enterprise.

This proposal not only startled our Government, but filled it with dismay. But it was felt to be a difficult matter to argue against a scheme which had taken such strong possession of his mind. It happened that he was about to visit the camp at Boulogne; and the opportunity was taken to send Lord Clarendon thither to discuss the matter with the Emperor in person.

It was a momentous crisis in the alliance; for in the absence of the chief of the State, the gravest attempts to subvert his authority were to be feared in Paris, where, moreover, the spirit which supported the war, always feeble, might die out without him; while, on the other hand, a failure, or even a check, in his operations in the field might be fatal to power resting on such foundations as supported his. Moreover, it was strongly impressed on Lord Clarendon that the Emperor was (as the Prince Consort's diary records) "entirely mistaken in the belief that his going to Sebastopol would be popular with the Army generally, or that he would even be well received by the troops in the Crimea. They adhered to him as Emperor, but did not like to be commanded by anyone but a professional man, and they looked upon him as a civilian."

Louis Napoleon received Lord Clarendon very cordially, and explained his plan of operations, to which, as a problem of strategy, the trained diplornatist made no brusque opposition, but at once assured him that everyone to whom it had been made known was impressed with its sagacity. Where it was open to question, he said, was in the means for executing it.

These were then discussed at large; delays were inevitable; if the Emperor were to go at once, he might be detained there much longer than he expected; and it was suggested, as a fresh difficulty, that the English and Turks would view his assumption of the supreme command as promising to confer on the French the chief share of credit in the new campaign. Lord Clarendon was so far successful as to induce him at least to postpone his departure.

A fortnight later came a proposal from the Emperor that he and the Empress should pay a visit to the Queen. The notice was short, because he still intended to go to the Crimea at the end of April. Fresh opportunities of inspiring him with doubts of the expediency of that step were foreseen in this visit, and on other grounds also it was cordially welcomed.

On April 16th, the Imperial guests entered London, on their way to Windsor. All classes in the capital greeted them with extraordinary enthusiasm. There was a background in the recent past well fitted to bring his present position into striking relief. He had lived here a powerless exile, unregarded except by the great world, where he was, indeed, well liked, but nevertheless looked on as a dreamy adventurer. His wildest dreams were now realised, and when the master of France, the ally of England, the most powerful antagonist of Russia, after passing through cheering crowds in Pall Mall, entered King Street, he there emphasised the contrast between now and then, by pointing out to the Empress the modest lodging (now bearing on its front the record of the fact) where he had lived in the days of his exile. At Windsor a reception no less gratifying, in a quieter and deeper form of welcome, awaited them, and their whole visit was an unbroken triumph.

Meanwhile the conference was holding its sittings at Vienna. Its proceedings were not of a kind to confer credit on any of those who took part in it. On the side of the Allies, the terms offered were absurdly easy in comparison with the vast efforts they were making, and if accepted, would have left neither to France nor England anything to be proud of. On the other hand, the part played by Russia was hardly consistent with common sense, or even with sanity. Russia always has a breed of negotiators who, without making themselves conspicuous for exalted views, are quick to perceive advantages, and the use to which they can be turned, and who are nothing short of audacious in their mode of conducting the contests of diplomacy.

Too much alive to the triumphs of mere cleverness, they often seem to make some empty victor), at the conference board an all-important object. The article on which her Envoy now rejected all compromise was that which would limit the Russian Fleet in the Black Sea. On this point he took ground that might have been maintained had the naval power of Russia proved in any degree successful against that of the Allies.

Judging by his pretensions, it might have been thought that her fleet was still holding the Euxine; but in view of the actual condition of that fleet, great part of it at the bottom of the sea, the rest penned up hopelessly in the harbour of Sebastopol, his language was preposterous. Again, by seeming to accept the terms offered, he might have procured an armistice, and with it an apparent triumph-Russia would have had time to rally from some of her disasters, to recruit in many ways, while a period of inglorious delay might well have tended to disgust the Allies with a war never popular in France. But he preferred, with the haughty, even insolent, air absurd in any but the victorious, to cast away the opportunity that stood between his country and a continuance of ruinous disaster. The conference broke up without any result but this, that Austria made a last effort at compromise, in the form of a proposal that Russia should maintain in the Black Sea a naval force not greater than that which she possessed there before the war, and that the Allies, including Austria, should enforce the condition by war against her if she were to evade it.

To which an observation in the Prince Consort's memorandum is the best reply: "The proposal of Austria to engage to make war when the Russian armaments should appear to have become excessive is of no kind of value to the belligerents, who do not wish to establish a case for which to make war hereafter, but to obtain a security upon which they can conclude peace now."

Council of War

On April 18th, a Council of War met in the Emperor's rooms at Windsor, at which were present the Prince, Lord Palmerston, Lord Panmure, Lord Hardinge (Commander-in-Chief), Lord Cowley (Ambassador to France), Sir Charles Wood, Sir John Burgoyne, Count Walewski, and the French War Minister, Marshal Vaillant.

"All present," says the Prince's report of it, "declared themselves unanimously against the Emperor's scheme of going himself to the Crimea, but without obtaining from him the admission that he was shaken in his resolution."

But on his return to Paris the Emperor found that, while the visit to his ally had greatly increased his popularity at home, the failure of the negotiations at Vienna had gravely added to the difficulties of the situation, and, on the 25th April, in a letter to the Queen, he announced that his intention to go to the Crimea must be abandoned. But his scheme for the conduct of the war was all the same persisted in.

The Austrian proposal, though of course completely unacceptable to our Government, had been sufficiently plausible to gain the approval both of the French plenipotentiary and of Lord John Russell, a circumstance which proved very embarrassing to Lord Palmerston and his colleagues. For the leading members of the~ late Government, which had sanctioned the expedition to the Crimea, were about to support a motion for an unsatisfactory peace.

The Government had to meet, on one hand, the attacks of those represented by Mr Disrali who, desiring the prosecution of the war, denounced the conduct of our plenipotentiary; and on the other, of those who always embarrass a Government in war by insisted an the necessity of making peace.

"Mr Gladstone," said Sir Theodore Martin, in his life of the Prince Consort, "developed the views of the members of the Aberdeen Cabinet who had seceded from Lord Palmerston's Government. The burden of his speech was to urge peace on the terms offered by Russia. . . . He acknowledged that he had approved the demand by his colleagues, under Lord Aberdeen, for a limitation of the Russian Fleet ; but contended that Russia, having abandoned the pretensions which originally led to the war continue it was no longer justifiable. What we now asked for in the way of limitation was, he argued, indignity to Russia. All the terms which we had originally demanded had been substantially conceded and if we fought, not for terms, but for military success, let the House look at this sentiment with the eye of reason, and it would appear immoral, inhuman, unchristian."

But the people held fast to the facts; they recognised that Russia could have no other reason for maintaining a fleet in the Black Sea than to employ it against Turkey, and that the Russian pretension must not be tolerated; and they upheld Palmerston.

The design of the Emperor may perhaps be considered to have borne only its natural fruit in the irresolution of Canrobert, notably when he refused to attempt the gain of a substantial result from the late tremendous bombardment. The dissatisfaction thereby excited in both armies was now aggravated by another event bearing the same character.

On the 23d April the Allied generals once more agreed on delivering an assault, which was to take place on the 28th, after two days' preparative cannonade. All was being got ready when, on the 25th, the French Admiral Bruat received instructions from the Minister of Marine to assemble all available steamers at Constantinople for the embarkation of the Army of Reserve for the Crimea. With the prospect of immediately receiving this large reinforcement, it seemed to Canrobert that a hazardous attempt to assault in the interval would be to incur an unwarrantable risk. Lord Raglan reluctantly concurred; but, as some compensation, another enterprise was now agreed on.

It had long been recognised that the route on which the Russians in the Crimea principally relied for supplies was that conducting to the eastern shore of the Sea of Azof; when landed at Kertch, they were conveyed by a good and direct road to Simpheropol. An expedition against Kertch had, therefore, long been contemplated by the Allied generals, and it was now to be executed forthwith. On the 3d May the troops, French and English, were embarked, and went to sea. But here a new element entered into the conduct of the war.

Telegraph Lines

On the 25th April the Crimea was placed in telegraphic communication with London and Paris. In the night after the expedition sailed, Canrobert received a telegram, sent the day before by the Emperor, saying that the moment was come for the expedition against the Russian field army, and that as soon as the reserve from Constantinople should reach him he was not to lose a day in beginning the enterprise. Therefore, to the extreme dissatisfaction of Lord Raglan, Canrobert, a fast steamer, recalled the French part of the Kertch expedition, the whole of which was consequently again put on shore in the Crimea on the 6th. It was also by telegraph that General Niel, hitherto without a place Canrobert's army, was appointed its chief engineer, place of General Bizot, killed in the late cannonade.

These events had pressed hardly on Canrobert. I felt that the English must regard him as weak and vacillating and unreliable. Much of this apparent deft of character may have been due to the cold shadow General Niel. But there is no doubt that in the indecision was generally imputed to him, among other by General Niel himself, who wrote to the Minister of War that Canrobert's nature had exactly the appearance of decision when a resolution had to be taken a long time beforehand, but always drew back when the moment for execution came.

"Who," writes the Prince Consort to a friend, "who will rekindle the spirit of the French Army which has been dashed by Canrobert's irresolution and want of firmness?" The sense of natural defect, terribly aggravated by circumstance, and of his consequent unfitness to bear the heavy burdens which the command and the alliance laid on him, grievously tormented the French general; and his troubles were further increased when, in the middle of May, the Emperor's plan, in full detail, was brought to him by an officer from Paris. According to it, Pelissier was to be left in charge of the siege, Canrobert was to command the field army, and a joint force of' French and Turks, taking up the whole business of the siege, was to set free the British Divisions for the operations in the field. When the three commanders-in-chief came together to confer on this plan, Lord Raglan, objecting to the separation of the two field armies by the distance, and the difficulties of country between Aloushta and Baidar, proposed that both should assemble at Baidar, and to this Canrobert was induced to agree. But on another point an insuperable difficulty arose. Both Canrobert and Omar Pasha declared that they could not take charge of the English trenches.

On the other hand, Lord Raglan could not leave the task of guarding his siege material and his port of supply to a part only of his own troops, and therefore, though he had looked forward with great satisfaction to exchanging the monotony and perplexity of the siege operations for the proposed command in the field, he could see no course possible except to remain where he was. Neither could Canrobert see a way out of the dilemma, and he wrote to tell the Minister of War of the new difficulty.

But he did more than this: the countermand of the Kertch expedition, and his failure to give effect to the Emperor's plan, broke down what of strength still rested in his overwrought spirit, and on the 16th May he sent his resignation to the War Minister by telegraph, requesting to be again placed in command of the Division that had been his at the beginning of the campaign, and still urging that Pelissier should replace him, as fitter himself to deal with the difficulties of the situation. Though this step was quite unexpected, his resignation was accepted by the Emperor, and with the appointment of Pelissier to the chief command (for which had already been designated in case of need), a new epoch in the war began.

Chapter XI: The New General