, rode up,
and repeated unwittingly almost every word of the Grand Duke, and
likewise shook hands. Osman Pasha again rose and bowed, this time
in grim silence.'[192]

[Footnote 186: _Ibid._ p. 444.]

[Footnote 187: _Daily War Correspondence,_ vol. i. p. 485.]

[Footnote 188: _Ibid._ p. 487.]

[Footnote 189: _Daily News War Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 491.]

[Footnote 190: _Ibid._ p. 495.]

[Footnote 191: _Ibid._ p. 496.]

[Footnote 192: _Daily News Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 153.]

VI.

How easy it is to be magnanimous to a fallen foe; how difficult, with
some people, to be honourable in their dealings with an ally, especially
if he has been successful where they failed! The first is a claim of
superiority, and the higher the meed of praise awarded by us to the
vanquished the greater appears our victory; but the less we admit to be
due to our comrade in arms, the greater credit is left for ourselves.
And yet what will be the judgment of posterity upon the conduct of
Russia towards her brave ally who had saved her honour, if not the
integrity of her empire? Whatever she may think, the joy-bells would
have rung throughout a great portion of Europe, and certainly the party
then dominant in England would have rejoiced exceedingly, if she had
been driven back over the Pruth, and had been compelled to busy herself
with much-needed reforms in her own country instead of meddling with the
affairs of her neighbours and seeking to extend her already overgrown
possessions.

The war was never popular with the masses in Roumania, and although, at
the opening of the Chambers in November 1877, the royal speech predicted
that the fall of Plevna would mean a complete emancipation for
Roumania, much uneasiness prevailed concerning the designs of
Russia--uneasiness which was justified by subsequent events. On December
17, a load having been lifted from the mind of the nation by the
surrender of Osman Pasha, there was great rejoicing at Bucarest on the
occasion of the Czar's visit. He was on his way to St. Petersburg to
receive the congratulations of his subjects, having left Plevna behind
him, 'full of horrors.' He is dead now, but his son and all princes who
live by the sword would do well to peruse and reperuse the accounts of
the tragical scenes that the victors left upon the battle-field when
they departed to receive the ovations of the fickle populace. The
Roumanians feted their victorious allies, to wh