No. 5.

LIST of Foreign Ships of War (except Light Vessels to be stationed at the Mouths of the Danube, Russian and Turkish Vessels intended to form the Black Sea Fleets, and Vessels for Service of Foreign Legations, sanctioned by Treaty) which have been allowed to pass through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus, since the conclusion of the Treaty of Peace with Russia, on the 30th March, 1856.

In October 1869 the Austrian vessels of war "Heligoland," 2 guns, "Elizabeth," 2 guns, "Gargnano" transport, passed into the Black Sea for the purpose of escorting the Emperor of Austria to Constantinople.

INSTANCES in which Questions have arisen with regard to the Passage of Foreign Ships of War through the Straits; but in which no violation of Treaty has been shown.

Sir,

No. 6.

Earl Granville to Sir H. Elliot.

Foreign Office, November 11, 1870. I TRANSMIT, for your Excellency's information, the accompanying copies of correspondence, as noted in the margin,* respecting the intention of Russia to violate certain conditions of the Treaty of 1856.

Foreign Office, November 11, 1870.

WITH reference to my despatch of this day's date, I transmit, for your Excellency's information, the accompanying copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh,† upon the subject of the communication which has been made to me by the Russian Ambassador at this Court, to the effect that Russia no longer acknowledges her obligations under the Treaty of Paris of 1856, and that the Russian Representatives at the Courts of the Great Powers have received instructions to notify the same to those Governments who were parties to that Treaty.

You will communicate to the Turkish Government a copy of my despatch to Sir A. Buchanan, from which the Porte will perceive that Her Majesty's Government do not admit the assumption by Russia of the right of one Power to deal with an European Treaty, except in concert with the Powers who were parties to such Treaty.

In speaking on this subject, you will conform your language to the tenor of my instruction to Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh.

I am, &c.

Foreign Office, November 11, 1870.

I TRANSMIT, for your Excellency's information, the accompanying copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh,† upon the subject of the communication which has been made to me by the Russian Ambassador at this Court, to the effect that Russia no longer acknowledges her obligations under the Treaty of Paris of 1856; and that the Russian Representatives at the Courts of the Great Powers have received instructions to notify the same to those Governments who were parties to that Treaty.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

GRANVILLE.

No. 9.

Earl Granville to Lord A. Loftus.

My Lord,

Foreign Office, November 11, 1870.

I HAVE to inform your Excellency that Her Majesty's Government do not think it advisable to remove you from Berlin at the present moment, in consequence of the press of business which you are called upon to discharge on account of the war.

In order, therefore, to save time, Mr. Odo Russell will be sent to Versailles to communicate directly with Count Bismarck on the subject of the despatch from Prince Gortchakoff communicated to me by the Russian Ambassador at this Court. Under these circumstances

it will not be necessary for your Excellency to make any communication to Baron de Thile on the subject.

I am, &c.

VILL

No. 10.

Earl Granville to Mr. Odo Russell.

Sir,

Foreign Office, November 11, 1870.

I HAVE to instruct you to proceed to the Prussian head-quarters at Versailles, and communicate to the Chancellor of the North German Confederation the despatches of which copies are herewith inclosed.*

You will tell Count Bismarck that Her Majesty's Government are desirous of informing his Excellency of the answer which they are about to send to the Russian Government; that Her Majesty's Government have felt regret that the circumstances of the war have hitherto prevented their having any Representative who could make oral communications to his Excellency, and that as it would be inconvenient to detach Lord Augustus Loftus from the accumulation of work which has been thrown upon him at Berlin by the events of the war, I have directed you to carry the inclosed despatch to his Excellency. You will report his Excellency's reply to me and await my further instructions at Versailles.

I am, &c.

VILLE.

No. 11.

Earl Granville to Lord Lyons.t

My Lord,

Foreign Office, November 12, 1870.

I HAD some conversation to-day with Count Bernstorff on the Russian Circular. Count Bernstorff repeated that he was ignorant on the subject, but said he had been surprised by the form of it.

I asked whether he supposed the Emperor had reason to hope for support from Prussia or any other Power; and I said I presumed that Prussia, abstractedly, had no wish to see Russia encroach upon Turkey, in which he agreed.

I pointed out to him that, unless there was a previous engagement to this exact effect, the declaration was as little courteous to Prussia as to any other of the co-signataries of the Treaty

I am, &c.

(Signed)

GRANVILLE.

No. 12.

Earl Granville to Lord Lyons.†

My Lord,

Foreign Office, November 12, 1870. COUNT BERNSTORFF told me to-day, with reference to a communication I made to him yesterday on the subject of Mr. Odo Russell proceeding to the Prussian headquarters, that he would be welcome at Versailles.

*Nos. 1 to 4.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

GRANVILLE.

A similar despatch was addressed to Lord A. Loftus.

(Extract.)

No. 13.

Earl Granville to Sir A. Buchanan.

Foreign Office, November 12, 1870. BARON BRUNNOW then referred to my having stated that I had sent through your Excellency the answer of Her Majesty's Government to the communications which I had received from him on the 9th instant. I said that such was the case, and that Her Majesty's Government had given the reasons why it was impossible for them to admit the declaration of the Russian Government.

The assumption contained in the Russia Circular of the right of one Power to deal singly with a European Treaty was one that was fatal to the validity of all international engagements.

If, instead of denouncing the special Convention annexed to and embodied in the Treaty of 1856, the Russian Government had asked Her Majesty's Government, as well as the other Governments parties to that Treaty, to consider whether there were not reasons which would justify some modifications being made therein, Her Majesty's Government would, in conjunction with the other co-signataries, have taken into consideration the merits of such a request; and, by such a course on the part of the Russian Government, whatever might have been the result, they would have avoided the risk of future complication and of making a precedent dangerous to all international engagements.

Baron Brunnow observed, in reply, that as I had only informed him of the substance of the despatch which I had addressed to your Excellency, and as he had not seen the despatch itself, the contents of which, as stated by me, were so different from what his Excellency had expected, he could only maintain the same reserve as I had maintained on the occasion of his communicating to me the Circular despatch to which it referred.

(Extract.)

No. 14.

Earl Granville to Lord Bloomfield.

Foreign Office, November 12, 1870. COUNT APPONYI informed me to-day that the Austrian Government had received a similar communication to that made to me by Baron Brunnow as to the intentions of Russia with regard to the Treaty of 1856.

Count Beust had told the Russian Representative, in reply, that he had expected a proposal asking for a revisal of the Treaty, but that the one-sided and sudden solution announced by Russia was a melancholy surprise, which had the treble disadvantage of provoking irritation, establishing a dangerous precedent, and disturbing the East.

He added that the subject would be treated at Vienna without passion and without "entraînement;" but that he reserved to the Imperial and Royal Government full liberty of action.

(Extract.)

No. 15.

Earl Granville to Sir H. Elliot.

Foreign Office, November 14, 1870. THE Turkish Ambassador called upon me on the afternoon of the 12th instant at my request. I then communicated to him the Circular addressed by Prince Gortchakoff to the Powers who were parties to the Treaties of 1856, together with the despatch addressed to Baron Brunnow at the same time from St. Petersburgh.

His Excellency spoke with much warmth, and condemned the step taken by the Russian Government in severe terms.

I then informed Musurus Pasha of the purport of the reply which I had addressed to Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburgh, and I ventured to recommend that the Porte should not act precipitately, and should hold further communication with the other Powers, co-signataries of the Treaties of 1856.

His Excellency on quitting me assured me that his Government would be prepared to follow this course.

No. 16.

(Extract.)

Sir A. Buchanan to Earl Granville.-(Received November 16.)

St. Petersburgh, November 9, 1870.

I REGRET to say that I have reason to believe the Russian Government have decided to open the question of the Treaty of 1856 in a way which may prove embarrassing to Her Majesty's Government.

I have long foreseen that a proposal on the part of Russia for the revision of the Treaty would not be long delayed; and I have frequently expressed this opinion to your Lordship and to the late Earl of Clarendon. I confess, however, that I was not prepared for the manner in which, if the report which has reached me be authentic, it is proposed to carry out this intention.

The night before last information was communicated to me, from a source or which I did not place much reliance, that despatches had either been forwarded, or would be immediately forwarded, to the Great Courts of Europe, communicating to them that Russia would not acknowledge hereafter the obligations she had contracted under the Treaty of 1856, and that a declaration to that effect would be published in St. Petersburgh a day previously to the delivery of the despatches in question.

I immediately sent one of my Secretaries to the person from whom I had received this communication. The result of my Secretary's inquiries tended to increase my doubt of its truth, and I therefore decided that it would be inexpedient to report a sensational rumour to your Lordship, to which I should have been obliged to add an expression of my own belief that it was incorrect.

Next day I went to Czarskoe-Seloe to see Prince Gortchakoff; and as I had deemed it expedient for some time past not to give him an opportunity to enter into any discussion with me respecting the Treaty of 1856, I did not mention the matter to him. I, however, acquainted several persons with the nature of the communication made to me, and I found them disposed to treat the subject as a stock-jobbing story, connected with the presence of General Ignatieff at St. Petersburgh.

In consequence, however, of subsequent information, I addressed to Prince Gortchakoff a confidential letter, acquainting his Excellency with the character of the information which I had received, and stating that I had not communicated it to your Lordship by telegraph, or spoken of it to his Excellency when I saw him yesterday, because I could not believe a report that measures were about to be taken which I considered so offensive to the Queen and the dignity of Great Britain, that if it were true, I should expect an order to ask for my passports, and to leave St. Petersburgh immediately: but as I had unfortunately received confirmation of it to-day, I felt it my duty to express to his Excellency my belief that if the course is followed with respect to the Treaty of 1856 which has been reported to me, I have the most serious apprehensions as to the light in which it will be considered by the Government of the Queen.

My servant, on delivering my letter, said he did not know whether he was to wait for an answer, and he was told there was none.

I have forwarded to your Lordship the substance of this despatch by telegraph.

No. 17.

(Extract.)

Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received November 16.)

Tours, November 14, 1870. A NEWSPAPER telegram from St. Petersburgh which reached Tours yesterday gave an accurate account of the declaration made by the Emperor of Russia respecting the Treaties of 1856. The Comte de Chaudordy having spoken to me on the subject, I allowed him to read the copy of Prince Gortchakoff's Circular despatch to Baron Brunnow of the 19th October, which I had received in the morning. I also gave him in general terms a notion of the sort of answer which your Lordship proposed as a first step to return to it, and I told him that you thought of sending Mr. Odo Russell to Versailles to confer with the Prussian authorities on this matter.

This morning M. de Chaudordy told me that he had not yet received any communication on the subject from the Russian Chargé d'Affaires, but that of course it had not escaped the notice of the Government.