That, surely, did not drive Russia into war with Turkey, still less entice her into it.

As for the statement that Austrian intrigues were the sole cause of the Bosnian revolt, it must appear childish to all who bear in mind the exceptional hardships and grievances of the peasants of that province.

Finally, the assertion of a newspaper, the _Czas_, that Queen Victoria wrote to Bismarck in April 1877 urging him to protest against an attack by Russia on Turkey, may be dismissed as an impudent fabrication[122].

It was altogether opposed to the habits of her late Majesty to write letters of that kind to the Foreign Ministers of other Powers.
[Footnote 122: Busch, _Our Chancellor_, vol.ii.p.

126.] Until documents of a contrary tenor come to light, we may say with some approach to certainty that the responsibility for the war of 1877-78 rests with the Sultan of Turkey and with those who indirectly encouraged him to set at naught the counsels of the Powers.