History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

280 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP, VI.

been rendered with an unscrupulous and unconscientious zeal.’ And the position of Russia, more than that of any Government in existence, or that ever existed, puts tremendous evil in her power, unless the mercy of the Almighty shall check it by the arms of Britain and France. She is the only power which has partially the command of two land-locked seas. By her diplomacy directed against Denmark, and her arms directed against Turkey, she has been trying to get full possession of these seas. Had she succeeded her fleets would soon have swept the ocean, and ravaged the world. She has betrayed her diabolical designs, and she will now be deprived, I trust, of both the Baltic and Black Seas. Her diabolical designs! Yes; the last mail brought us the Czar’s manifesto, in which he expounds his policy and the object which Russia seeks to attain by the present war, and that object is to put down Britain, and the free government which Britain is extending over the earth. Such is the plain avowal of the Czar.

“Our duty to relieve the sufferers in this great war would have remained the same whether the war had been a just one or not; but, considering the nature and objects of this war, we extend this relief now more as a privilege than as a duty. There is a luxury at any time in relieving the sufferings of the broken-down soldier who has manfully and bravely fought the battles of his country, or in alleviating the