4. Anxious as he was to prevent the outbreak of another war, he would strongly recommend Conferences at Constantinople before hostilities.

Having telegraphed these first results to your Lordship, I waited again, with Count Bismarck's permission, at 10 o'clock P.M., last night, on his Excellency.

Our second conversation lasted till past midnight, and the Chancellor, who had meanwhile communicated telegraphically with the Prussian Minister at St. Petersburgh, authorized me to telegraph to London that if your Lordship consented he would willingly take the initiative of proposing a Conference for the purpose of endeavouring to find a pacific solution to a question which I had frankly proved to him was of a nature in its present state to compel us, with or without allies, to go to war with Russia.

Count Bismarck, who had ascertained Prince Gortchakoff's readiness to receive the Representatives of the co-signatory Powers, was in favour of holding the Conference at St. Petersburgh, as the presence of the Emperor to give immediate sanction to the decisions of his Representatives might be conducive to a more rapid and satisfactory settlement of the question than could be the case at Constantinople, from whence a reference to St. Petersburgh must necessarily involve a loss of many days.

The Chancellor begged your Lordship would have the goodness, if you agreed, to communicate with and invite the co-operation of the French Government.

As Count Bismarck, who was pleased to receive me with the utmost cordiality, desires to write himself to your Lordship through Count Bernstorff, I refrain respectfully from a more elaborate report of our conversations for the present.

No. 77.

My Lord,

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.—(Received December 5.)

Versailles, November 26, 1870.

I HAVE received and communicated the substance of your Lordship's telegrams to the Chancellor of the North German Confederation. I told his Excellency that Her Majesty's Government were glad to learn that Prussia had received with surprise a communication which had made so painful an impression on them; that Her Majesty's Government recognized, with pleasure, the desire which his Excellency had shown to bring the differences between Russia and the co-signataries of the Treaty of 1856 to a satisfactory issue, and that, speaking for themselves, Her Majesty's Government had no objection to enter into a Conference for the consideration of an adequate statement of the grounds on which Russia may put forward a proposal for the revision of the Special Convention annexed to and embodied in the Treaty of 1856. I said that it must, of course, be understood that such a Conference could be subject to no previous assumption as to its results; but that on the other hand, Her Majesty's Government would feel themselves bound to weigh with fairness and without bias any claims which Russia might advance, and any proposals which she might make.

Her Majesty's Government thought there were obvious objections to the Conference meeting at Constantinople or St. Petersburgh, and although similar reasons did not apply to Berlin, yet if the war unhappily continued, France could not send a Representative there.

Count Bismarck replied that he accepted your Lordship's basis of negotiation, and that he was in favour of holding the Conference in London; Prince Gortchakoff having told the Prussian Minister at St. Petersburgh that he was willing to do so to prove the honesty of his policy and satisfy the national feeling of England.

I said that London, Vienna, Florence, The Hague, Brussels, or Berne were equally acceptable to Her Majesty's Government; but that, in deference to his Excellency's opinion, I would telegraph to the Foreign Office that he accepted London and your Lordship's basis of negotiation for the Conference.

I have, &c. (Signed) ODO RUSSELL.

My Lord,

No 78.

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.-(Received December 5.)

Versailles, November 27, 1870. ON receiving this morning your Lordship's telegram of 11.15 P.M. last night, I wrote a private note to the Chancellor of the North German Confederation, and called later in the day on his Excellency to say that the telegram from the Prussian Minister at St. Petersburgh, communicated to your Lordship by Count Bernstorff, appeared to propose that Her Majesty's Government should enter a Conference with assumed admission of Prince Gortchakoff's declaration; but that your Lordship had explained to Count Bernstorff that Her Majesty's Government could only consent to be parties to a Conference with the clear and distinct understanding that the Conference is subject to no previous assumption as to its results, as I had stated yesterday to his Excellency.

Count Bismarck at once sent for all the telegrams he had received from St. Petersburgh and London, and read them over to me; but there was not a single word in them to confirm the impression derived from Count Bernstorff's communication to your Lordship.

In consequence, the Chancellor begged I would telegraph to your Lordship that, in his opinion, a Conference without a distinct and clear understanding that it is subject to no previous assumption as to its results, would defeat its own object, and therefore be useless; and that he could no more consent to be a party to it than your Lordship.

(Extract.)

Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.- (Received December 5.)

Tours, December 1, 1870. MY telegrams of to-day and yesterday will have made your Lordship acquainted with the results of the conversations which I have had in the course of these two days with the Comte de Chaudordy respecting the proposed Conference on the Russian question. These conversations have been so numerous and have necessarily involved so much repetition that I do not purpose attempting to give your Lordship a report of each separately. 1 will simply, with a view to placing clearly before your Lordship the position taken up by the French Government, give you a general sketch of what has been

said.

Yesterday morning M. de Chaudordy delivered to me verbally the following official answer to the proposal of Her Majesty's Government that France should take part in the Conference. The Government Delegation at Tours, he said, consider that the Prussian origin of the Conference places France in so embarrassing a position that they can come to no decision without referring to the Government at Paris.

To this statement M. de Chaudordy has adhered as the official answer of the Government, adding that it is not to be taken as a refusal, and that the question will be treated by France with the utmost moderation. He has, however, on several occasions discussed the matter, more or less officially with me, at considerable length.

He has been at great pains to make it appear that the whole affair is entirely Prussian, and has in particular dwelt on the fact that the idea of a Conference was originally suggested by Prussia, and that the invitation to France was conveyed by England at the request of Prussia. He has also maintained that the invitations to the Conference were given to the other Powers by Prussia herself. The conclusion he has drawn from these assertions has been, that France cannot with dignity take part in a Conference summoned by her enemy; that she could play only an inferior and degrading part in such a Conference, and would contribute to establish the preponderance in Europe which Prussia already, according to him, appears to assert.

In answer to this, I have frankly admitted that the part played by Prussia in bringing the Conference about might be held to be of importance enough to afford France a pretext for hesitating to join the Conference, if she desired to find a pretext for hesitation. I have, however, pointed out that it is a great exaggeration of the real facts of the case to call the proposal, in the shape in which it stands, an entirely Prussian proposal. It is, I have said, on the contrary, in fact much more an English proposal. I have reminded M. de Chaudordy that it was from me that he received the first

information of the Russian Circular, and that, in pursuance of your Lordship's instructions, I showed him the Circular, gave him a sketch of the answer your Lordship proposed to make to it, and informed him of the intention to send Mr. Odo Russell to Versailles to discuss the matter with the Prussian authorities there. In answer to this communication the French Chargé d'Affaires in London was instructed to inform your Lordship that under existing circumstances the French Government at Tours considered it to be more natural that England and the other Powers who signed the Treaty of 1856 should first examine the Russian declaration and thereupon make known their views to the French Government, who would then be ready to consider in common the duties imposed upon them by this new state of affairs. Her Majesty's Government obtained from their communication with the Government of Prussia, grounds for hoping that a Conference might be held, in which such an examination in common as had been suggested by France might take place, with a good prospect of leading to an amicable solution of the dangerous question raised by the Russian Circular. They thereupon made the French Government acquainted with what had occurred, and expressed a hope that France would take part in the proposed Conference. So far, therefore, it would seem that all possible respect had been shown to the Government of France. But the French Government complains that the Conference is essentially a Prussian Conference. It is quite true that the idea of holding a Conference was suggested to Her Majesty's Government by Prussia, and that the Prussian Government proposed that if the idea was approved, Her Majesty's Government should undertake to communicate it to France. But what Prussia proposed was a Conference to be held at St. Petersburgh, without any special conditions. This proposal Her Majesty's Government rejected, and made a proposal of their own, in which it was expressly stated that the Conference was not to be held at St. Petersburgh, and in which certain preliminary conditions were laid down as indispensable. It is not to the Prussian proposal, but to this English proposal that the French Government is asked to consent.

I have more than once given M. de Chaudordy the history of the transaction in nearly the foregoing terms. On my repeating it this morning he hinted that from information which had reached him, it would appear that the actual proposal made had really been drawn up at Versailles. I replied that any such information which had reached him was not only incorrect but absolutely false; that the proposal was drawn up in London, was telegraphed to Versailles in the exact words which it was afterwards communicated by me to M. de Chaudordy, and was accepted by the Prussian Government without any alteration, precisely as it had been sent from London. On the same occasion M. de Chaudordy dwelt with particular stress on the mode in which the invitations to the Conference had, as he affirmed, proceeded exclusively from Prussia. I thereupon showed him your Lordship's telegram of the 27th November to Her Majesty's Representatives at Vienna, St. Petersburgh, Florence, Constantinople, and Berlin, and called his attention to the statement that while Count Bismarck was to telegraph the proposal to St. Petersburgh and Florence, your Lordship had undertaken to make it known to the Austrian and French Governments with a view to their concurrence, and that you would do so likewise to the Porte.

M. de Chaudordy, notwithstanding my remonstrances, has appeared all along to rest the refusal of the Government Delegation here to come to an immediate decision solely on the Prussian origin of the proposed Conference. He has declared that if any neutral Power had invited France to the Conference, he should have felt at liberty to accept the invitation at once without referring to Paris.

I have pointed out that as matters now stand, the question for France to consider, is simply whether it is for the dignity or the interest of France to stand aloof from the settlement of the question. To me personally, I have added, it seems that the assembly of a Conference of the principal Powers of Europe, in which the French Government should be adequately represented, would at this moment be particularly advantageous for France; and my own advice to the French Government would certainly be to do all in its power to accelerate the meeting of the Conference, and in particular to signify its own assent unhesitatingly and immediately.

My final conversation with M. de Chaudordy took place this morning. He maintained that setting all other arguments aside, the Delegation here really could not, as matters stood, come to a decision without referring to the Government at Paris. This had been found necessary with regard to the armistice, and it was equally so with regard to the Conference. He would, however, undertake to state the case calmly and fairly to M. Jules Favre.

I observed that in the case of the armistice, M. de Chaudordy had sent the proposal of Her Majesty's Government to Paris with a decided expression of the approval of the

Delegation here. I could not, I said, but still hope that in forwarding the proposal for a Conference, the Delegation would also give its own support to it. At all events, I would beg M. de Chaudordy to bring the arguments which had been used by me and my colleagues to the notice both of the Delegation at Tours and the Government at Paris, and to call the attention of both to our strong opinion in favour of the immediate acceptance by France of the proposal. This M. de Chaudordy promised to do.

Thus the affair remains at present.

Both the Austrian Ambassador, Prince Metternich, and the Italian Minister the Chevalier Nigra, have strongly advised the French authorities to agree to the Conference without delay. At two of my interviews with M. de Chaudordy, M. Nigra was present for a great part of the time, and he pointed out emphatically, and with remarkable ability, the advantage it would be to France to assent at once to the Conference.

No. 80.

Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received December 5.)

My Lord, Tours, December 2, 1870. THE Comte de Chaudordy has this morning authorized me to inform your Lordship that the Delegation here has forwarded to the Government at Paris the proposal of Her Majesty's Government for a Conference, and in so doing has given its own support to the proposal.

I have accordingly despatched to your Lordship a telegram to the above effect. M. de Chaudordy observed that thus the Delegation had followed precisely the same course which it had taken when Her Majesty's Government had proposed the armistice; and he trusted that your Lordship would appreciate the desire which had been shown to satisfy England and accept her counsels. It was impossible, he said, to refrain from. recording the painful impression which had been made by the prominent part which Prussia had been allowed to take; but regard for England and other friendly Powers had prevailed over this feeling, and the Delegation had, accordingly, forwarded the proposal to Paris" en l'appuyant."

I have, &c.

I INCLOSE a copy of a despatch from Prince Gortchakoff in reply to my despatch to Sir Andrew Buchanan of the 10th ultimo, and also a copy of a despatch of the 28th ultimo, which I have addressed to Sir Andrew Buchanan in reply.† You will communicate a copy of my despatch to the Government to which you are accredited.

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.-(Received December 6.)

My Lord, Versailles, 6, Place Hoche, December 1, 1870. IN reply to your Lordship's question, Count Bismarck said that a Conference without a clear understanding that it was subject to no previous assumption as to its results would defeat its own object and be useless, as reported in my despatch of the 27th of November; and his Excellency repeated that, according to the telegrams he had received from St. Petersburgh, Russia accepted the invitation to London on the distinct understanding that the Conference was to meet without any assumption whatever of a foregone conclusion.

* Similar despatches were addressed to Sir A. Paget, Sir H. Elliot, Mr. Layard, and Mr. Odo Russell. Nos. 36 and 48.

Without that previous understanding or condition the Conference would have had no object or meaning; and I need scarcely assure your Lordship again that I never lost sight of its paramount importance. In the several conversations we have had on the subject the Chancellor of the North German Confederation has never denied my proposition that the withdrawal of the Russian Circular was the first condition to a Conference on the Treaty of 1856, otherwise, I should not have submitted his Excellency's proposal to your Lordship.

Count Bismarck informed me that, in accepting his invitation to a Conference, the Russian Government expressed their readiness to discuss every part of the Treaty of 1856, whilst the Turkish Government wished to limit the discussion to the Separate Convention and to the Articles of the Treaty respecting the Black Sea.

The Italian Government accepted on the same basis as Her Majesty's Government; but the Austrian Government hesitated to accept before the objects and limits of discussion had been previously settled. His Excellency observed that, since the basis already laid down was that no previous assumption should influence the results of the Conference, the Austrian Government would do better to bring forward their wishes in the preliminary sittings at London.

Count Bismarck added that the co-signatory Powers, having accepted his invitation in principle, he would now beg of your Lordship to fix the day for the first meeting of the Conference, and all other details, at your Lordship's own convenience.

M. TISSOT, in an interview that I had with him to-day, informed me that, in consequence of the desire expressed by your Excellency, and out of regard for England and the English Government, whose pressure upon him he had reported to it, the Provisional Government had forwarded to the Government in Paris, with an opinion in its favour, the proposal that France should take part in a Conference on the question raised by Russia respecting the neutralization of the Black Sea.

I am, &c.

Sir H. Elliot to Earl Granville.- (Received December 7.)

My Lord, Therapia, November 24, 1870. TWO small Russian men-of-war passed about a week ago from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, after remaining off Constantinople some days. I learnt upon inquiry that they were both training corvettes for cadets, and within the dimensions laid down in the Convention of March 30, 1856.

(Extract.)

Earl Granville to Mr. Odo Russell.

Foreign Office, December 7, 1870. HER Majesty's Government have learned with much pleasure, from your despatch of the 1st instant, that Count Bismarck's views so closely coincide with their own as to the importance of the Conference, proposed by his Excellency, meeting without any foregone conclusion on the subjects to be discussed, and they are glad to find that it is on this understanding that the proposal has been accepted by Russia. I am now only awaiting a definitive reply from the French Government before sending formal invitations to the several Powers to authorize their Representatives in London to meet in Conference.