IN THE AVAR AGAINST KUSSIA. 117 • clared that the responsibility of the war which chap, X. ' might be the consequence of that refusal would ' rest with the Emperor.' * The summons addressed by France to the Eus- The French . , summons. sian Government was in the same terms as the summons despatched by Lord Clarendon, and was forwarded at the same time. After receiving the summons of the two Govern- France and ments, Count Nesselrode took the final orders of bWht . -I t r-i i r '"'^" * state his master, and then informed the Consuls of of war with Russia. France and England that the Emperor did not think fit to send any answer to their notes. A refusal to answer was one of the events which, under the terms of the announcement contained in the summons, was to be regarded b}^ the West- ern Powers as a declaration of war. This refusal was uttered by Count Nesselrode on the 19th of March 1854 The peace between the great Powers of Europe had lasted more than thirty-eight years, and now at length it was broken.f
- ' Eastern Papers,' part vii. p. 72.
+ A writer in one of the Reviews said that the state of war did not begin until the decharations of the Western Powers were issued ; but that is a mistake. What brouglit the Western Powers into a state of war, was the Czar's refusal to answer the summons ; for the moment that refusal was given, it became, in the mind of the Western Powers, as announced by the ex- press words of their summons, a constructive declaration of war by Russia. The English summons had these words : ' Tlic ' British Government, having exhausted all the efforts of ncgo- ' tiation, is compelled to declare to the Cabinet of St Peterp- ' burg, that if . . . [see the summons at length in the Appcn- ' dix], the British Government must consider the refusal or the ' silence of the Cabinet of St Petersburg as equivalent to a cle- • claration of war.' — ' Eastern Papers,' part vii. p. 61. — Note to ilh Edition.
