Editing Sick man of Europe (section)

=== Crimean War ===
British statesman [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|John Russell]] in 1853, in the run-up to the [[Crimean War]], reported that Nicholas I of Russia described the Ottoman Empire as "a sick man—a very sick man", a "man who has fallen into a state of decrepitude", and a "sick man ... gravely ill".<ref>de Bellaigue, Christopher. "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14094#fnr1 Turkey's Hidden Past]". ''The New York Review of Books'', 48:4, 2001-03-08.</ref><ref name="The Sick Man of Europe">de Bellaigue, Christopher. "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14094#fnr1 The Sick Man of Europe]". ''The New York Review of Books'', 48:11, 2001-07-05.</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Bellaigue|first=Christopher de|title='The Sick Man of Europe'|journal=The New York Review of Books|language=en|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2001/07/05/the-sick-man-of-europe/|access-date=2021-12-21|issn=0028-7504}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-206012 Ottoman Empire]." ''Britannica Student Encyclopedia''. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 19 Apr. 2007.</ref>

There has been some degree of debate about the source of the quotation, which often relies on historical documents held or communicated personally.<ref name=":3" /> Historian [[Harold Temperley]] (1879&ndash;1939) gave the date for the first conversation as 9 January 1853, like Goldfrank.<ref name="The Sick Man of Europe" /><ref>Harold Temperley, ''England and the Near East'' (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272.</ref> According to Temperley, Seymour in a private conversation had to push the Tsar to be more specific about the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the Tsar stated, 
<blockquote>Turkey seems to be falling to pieces, the fall will be a great misfortune. It is very important that England and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] should come to a perfectly good understanding ... and that neither should take any decisive step of which the other is not apprized [''sic''].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Temperley|first=Harold|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu6aDwAAQBAJ|title=England and the Near East: The Crimea|date=2019-05-29|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-64054-4|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> </blockquote>
And then, closer to the attributed phrase: <blockquote>We have a sick man on our hands, a man gravely ill, it will be a great misfortune if one of these days he slips through our hands, especially before the necessary arrangements are made.<ref name=":4">Harold Temperley, ''England and the Near East'' (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272. Temperley's translation of the Emperor's comment [spoken in French] is quite accurate. An alternative translation from the original published document follows: "We have on our hands a sick man—a very sick man: it will be, I tell you frankly, a great misfortune if, one of these days, he should slip away from us, especially before all necessary arrangements were made." Source: Parliamentary Papers. Accounts and Papers: Thirty-Six Volumes: Eastern Papers, V. Session 31 January – 12 August 1854, Vol. LXXI (London: Harrison and Son, 1854), doc. 1, p. 2.</ref></blockquote>

Different interpretations existed between the two countries on the "Eastern Question" by the time of the Crimean War.<ref name="ottoman" /> The British Ambassador G. H. Seymour agreed with Tsar Nicholas's diagnosis, but he very deferentially disagreed with the Tsar's recommended treatment of the patient; he responded, <blockquote>Your Majesty is so gracious that you will allow me to make one further observation. Your Majesty says the man is sick; it is very true; but your Majesty will deign to excuse me if I remark, that it is the part of the generous and strong man to treat with gentleness the sick and feeble man.<ref>Parliamentary Papers. Accounts and Papers: Thirty-Six Volumes: Eastern Papers, V. Session 31 January – 12 August 1854, Vol. LXXI (London: Harrison and Son, 1854), doc. 1, p. 2.</ref></blockquote>Temperley then asserts, <blockquote>The 'sickliness' of Turkey obsessed Nicholas during his reign. What he really said was omitted in the [[Color_book#British_Blue_Book|Blue Book]] from a mistaken sense of decorum. He said not the 'sick man' but the "bear dies … the [[bear]] is dying … you may give him [[musk]] but even musk will not long keep him alive."<ref>Harold Temperley, ''England and the Near East'' (London: Longmans, Greens and Co., 1936), p. 272; cites: F.O. 65/424. From Seymour, No. 87 of February 21, 1853.</ref></blockquote>

[[Christopher de Bellaigue]] argued that neither Nicholas nor Seymour completed the epithet with the prepositional phrase "of Europe".<ref name=":3" />  

The first appearance of the phrase "sick man of Europe" appears in ''[[The New York Times]]'' (12 May 1860): <blockquote>The condition of Austria at the present moment is not less threatening in itself, though less alarming for the peace of the world, than was the condition of Turkey when the Tsar Nicholas invited England to draw up with him the last will and testament of the 'sick man of Europe.' It is, indeed, hardly within the range of probability that another twelvemonth should pass over the [[House of Habsburg]] without bringing upon the [[Austrian Empire]] a catastrophe unmatched in modern history since the [[Third Partition of Poland|downfall of Poland]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1860-05-12|title=Austria in Extremis.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/05/12/archives/austria-in-extremis.html|access-date=2021-12-21|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Buttar|first=Prit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8knDCwAAQBAJ|title=Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914|date=2014-06-20|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78200-971-9|pages=67|language=en}}</ref></blockquote> The author of this article can be seen to be using the term to point to a second "sick man" of Europe, the [[Habsburg monarchy]].<ref name=":1" />