ry 1853 the Emperor told the English
Ambassador, Sir Hamilton Seymour, that Turkey was the 'sick man' of
Europe, and ever since then the phrase has passed current and become
historic. It was often on the lips of Nicholas, for he talked freely,
and sometimes showed so little discretion that Nesselrode once declared,
with fine irony, that the White Czar could not claim to be a
diplomatist. The phrase cannot have startled Lord Aberdeen. It must have
sounded, indeed, like the echo of words which the Emperor had uttered in
London in the summer of 1844. Nicholas, on the occasion of his visit to
England in that year, spoke freely about the Eastern Question, not
merely to the Duke of Wellington, whose military prowess he greatly
admired, but also to Sir Robert Peel and Lord Aberdeen, who was then
Minister for Foreign Affairs. He told the latter in so many words that
Turkey was a dying man, and did his best to impress the three English
statesmen with the necessity for preparation in view of the approaching
crisis. He stated that he foresaw that the time was coming when he would
have to put his armies in movement, and added that Austria would be
compelled to do the same. He protested that he made no claim to an inch
of Turkish soil, but was prepared to dispute the right of anyone else to
an inch of it--a palpable allusion to the French support of Mehemet Ali.
It was too soon to stipulate what should be done when the 'sick man's'
last hour had run its course. All he wanted, he maintained, was the
basis of an understanding.

In Nicholas's opinion England ought to make common cause with Russia and
Austria, and he did not disguise his jealousy of France. It was clear
that he dreaded the growth of close union between England and France,
and for Louis Philippe then, as for Louis Napoleon afterwards, his
feeling was one of coldness if not of actual disdain. The Emperor
Nicholas won golden opinions amongst all classes during his short stay
in England. Sir Theodore Martin's 'Life of the Prince Consort,' and
especially the letter which is published in its pages from the Queen to
King Leopold, showed the marked impression which was made at Windsor by
his handsome presence, his apparently unstudied confidences, the
simplicity and charm of his manners, and the adroitness of his
well-turned compliments. Whenever the Autocrat of All the Russias
appeared in public, at a military review, or the Opera, or at Ascot, he
received an ovation, and Baro