that the safe-conducts for the Minister for Foreign Affairs are granted, and a day specified on which they may be used, No. 134, Accept, &c. (Signed) CH. TISSOT. Chevalier Cadorna to Earl Granville.-(Received December 28.) M. le Comte, 20, Hill Street, Berkeley Square, le 27 Décembre, 1870. J'AI l'honneur d'accuser réception à votre Seigneurie de sa note du 23 courant, par laquelle elle m'annonçait que les Puissances signataires du Traité Général conclu à Paris le 30 Mars, 1856, sont tombées d'accord qu'une Conférence soit tenue à Londres pour la considération de quelques unes des matières stipulées dans le dit Traité, relativement à la neutralisation de la Mer Noire, et je m'empresse d'informer votre Seigneurie que j'aurai l'honneur de me rendre au Foreign Office, le 3 Janvier, 1871, pour entrer en Conférence avec les Plénipotentiaires des autres Puissances signataires du Traité, selon l'invitation qu'elle a bien voulu m'adresser. Je n'ai pas manqué de porter à la connaissance de mon Gouvernement cette communication de votre Seigneurie, et j'attends maintenant l'arrivée des pleins pouvoirs qui m'autorisent à prendre part aux travaux de la Conférence, et dont l'envoi m'a été dejà annoncé par la voie télégraphique. Je saisis, &c. My Lord, (Translation.) 20, Hill Street, Berkeley Square, December 27, 1870. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's note of the 23rd instant, in which you announce to me that the Powers signataries of the general Treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of March, 1856, have agreed that a Conference shall be held at London for the consideration of some of the matters stipulated in the said Treaty, relative to the neutralization of the Black Sea; and I hasten to inform your Lordship that I shall have the honour of attending at the Foreign Office on the 3rd of January, 1871, to enter into Conference with the Plenipotentiaries of the other Powers signataries of that Treaty, in accordance with the invitation you have been so good as to address to me. I have not failed to inform my Government of your Lordship's communication, and I am awaiting the arrival of full powers authorizing me to take part in the labours of the Conference, the despatch of which has already been announced to me by telegraph. My Lord, Foreign Office, December 28, 1870. I ACQUAINTED your Excellency yesterday by telegraph that Count Bismarck had informed Count Bernstorff that a safe-conduct could only be delivered to M. Jules Favre, French Plenipotentiary to the Conference, to enable him to come to London, on his applying for it by a flag of truce to the Commander-in-chief of the German army before Paris, as the Prussians had determined not to send any more flags of truce before they had received satisfaction for the firing on the last one. It is unfortunate that there should be so much delay in the arrival of M. Favre. Her Majesty's Government consider it important for many reasons that the first meeting of the Conference should take place on the 3rd January, and I have to request your Excellency to suggest, in the form you consider most suitable, to the French Provisional Government that as a preferable course to the Conference meeting without the presence of a French Plenipotentiary, it might be advisable that they should authorize M. Tissot to represent M. Favre on the first day, when it is proposed that the meeting should be confined to matters of form, reserving for subsequent discussions the substance of the question at issue. The Conference might, after its first sitting, adjourn until the arrival of M. Favre. I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE. P.S.-The meeting of the Conference was fixed for the 3rd January instead of the 28th December, in order to give more time to the French Representative. No. 136. G. M. le Ministre, Earl Granville to M. Jules Favre. Foreign Office, December 29, 1870. M. CHAUDORDY having informed Lord Lyons that your Excellency proposed to represent France in the Conference agreed to be held in London respecting the neutralization of the Black Sea, and having asked me to obtain a safe-conduct for your Excellency through the Prussian lines, I lost no time in requesting Count Bernstorff to apply for one, and to send it to your Excellency by a German officer with a flag of truce. M. de Bernstorff answered me the next day, saying that a safe-conduct would be at your Excellency's disposal as soon as it was asked for by an officer sent from Paris to the German Head-quarters, but that it could not be sent by a German officer until satisfaction was given for the officer bearing a flag of truce who had been fired upon by the French. I have been informed by M. Tissot that great delay may occur before your Excellency obtains the information from the Delegation at Bordeaux, and although I have suggested to Count Bernstorff another means of conveying it, I think it well to avail myself of the opportunity which the American Chargé d'Affaires has been good enough to consent to in order to tell you what has passed. It was intended to hold the Conference this week, but, in order to give time to the French Plenipotentiary to arrive, the day of meeting was settled for the 3rd of January. I hope your Excellency will authorize M. Tissot to represent you at the first sitting, when I shall propose that nothing but the question of form be considered, and if, as I much desire, your Excellency is able to announce your arrival, I will propose to adjourn the Conference for a week in order to obtain the great advantage of your Excellency's presence. I trust that your Excellency will allow me to take this opportunity of expressing my satisfaction at entering into personal communication with you, and the pleasure I shall feel in seeing you in London. I have, &c. M. le Chargé d'Affaires, Foreign Office, December 29, 1870. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 27th instant stating that M. Jules Favre will be the French Plenipotentiary at the approaching Conference, and requesting me to take steps to obtain a safe conduct to enable him to come to London. I received a communication to the same effect from Lord Lyons on the 26th instant, and I at once requested Count Bernstorff to ask Count Bismarck for a safe-conduct for M. Favre, and to send it into Paris by flag of truce. On the following day Count Bernstorff informed me that Count Bismarck was prepared to grant a safe-conduct, but that M. Favre must send a flag of truce to the Commander-in-chief of the besieging army, to apply for it, as the Prussians were determined to send no more flags of truce into Paris until they had received satisfaction for the firing on the one last sent. I am informed by Lord Lyons that it will take some time to communicate with M. Favre by the means at the disposal of tha Delegation of the Government of National Defence; and as Her Majesty's Government consider it important for many reasons that the first meeting of the Conference should take place on the 3rd, I have directed Lord Lyons to suggest to the Government at Bordeaux that, as a preferable course to the Conference meeting without the presence of a French Plenipotentiary, it might be advisable that they should authorize you to represent M. Favre on the first day, when it is proposed that the meeting should be confined to matters of form, reserving for subsequent discussion the substance of the question at issue. The Conference might, after its first sitting, adjourn until the arrival of M. Favre. I HAVE to inform your Excellency that M. Tissot having suggested privately to me that I might endeavour to obtain permission for the Delegation of the Government to send a French officer through the German lines to inform M. Favre that he would obtain a safe-conduct at the German head-quarters to come to London, I mentioned this suggestion to Count Bernstorff, but his Excellency expressed his opinion that it was extremely unlikely that such a permission would be given, and alluded to the public announcement of a postal service to Paris. I then asked Count Bernstorff whether it would not be possible to send a French officer, a prisoner on parole, to give the information to M. Favre, and Count Bernstorff promised to inquire. I afterwards asked Count Bernstorff in writing whether he saw objection to my sending information in Mr. Moran's bag to Mr. Washburne. His Excellency in reply made no objection, but informed me that this had already been done in this way from Versailles. I have written to M. Favre, and Mr. Moran was so good as to forward my letter to-day. I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE. VILI No. 139. Earl Granville to M. Tissot. M. le Chargé d'Affaires, Foreign Office, December 30, 1870. WITH reference to the suggestion which you have made to me privately to the effect that I should endeavour to obtain permission for the Government of the Delegation to send a French officer through the German lines to inform M. Favre that he would obtain a safe-conduct at the German head-quarters to come to London, I have the honour to inform you that I mentioned the suggestion to Count Bernstorff, but that his Excellency thought it extremely unlikely that such a permission would be given, and alluded to the public announcement of a postal service to Paris. I then asked Count Bernstorff whether it would not be possible to send a French officer, a prisoner on parole, to give the information to M. Favre. Count Bernstorff promised to inquire. I afterwards asked Count Bernstorff in writing whether he saw objection to my sending the information in Mr. Moran's bag to Mr. Washburne. His Excellency in reply made no objection, but informed me that this had already been done in this way from Versailles. I have the honour to add, that I have written to M. Favre, and Mr. Moran was so good as to forward my letter to-day. I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE. ILI My Lord, No. 140. Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received December 31.) Bordeaux, December 26, 1870. THE Comte de Chaudordy came to me last night and begged me to ask your Lordship to obtain with the least possible delay from the German authorities a safe-conduct to enable M. Jules Favre to come out of Paris and proceed to London to represent France in the proposed Conference. He suggested also that He suggested also that your Lordship should urge the German authorities to send the safe-conduct at once to Paris by a flag of truce, in order to avoid the great loss of time which must be necessarily incurred if it should be left to the French Government to find, under present circumstances, the means of imforming M. Jules Favre that the means of going to London would be afforded to him. M. de Chaudordy begged me to communicate his request to your Lordship as soon as possible, and I accordingly despatched a telegram to you directly after he left me. I have, &c. (Signed) LYONS. No. 141. Count Bernstorff to Earl Granville.-(Received December 31.) My dear Earl Granville, Prussia House, Carlton House Terrace, S. W., IN answer to the telegram I sent yesterday to Versailles at your request, Count Bismarck telegraphs to me that Mr. Washburne has already been requested by a letter written to him on the 28th from Versailles to inform M. Jules Favre that he will receive a safe-conduct from the Commander-in-chief of the IIIrd Army, on his application for it. INFORMATION has been sent through Mr. Washburne to M. Jules Favre that he will be furnished, on application to the head-quarters at Versailles, with a safe-conduct to pass the German lines on his way to London. But it is doubtful whether he can avail himself of that information in time to be in London on the 3rd of January. It also appears that full instructions have not yet been sent to all the other Plenipo tentiaries. I am, therefore, reluctantly obliged to postpone the meeting of the Conference for a few days. I trust, however, that by shortening the proposed interval between the first and second sittings of the Conference, delay of any importance may be avoided. Yours sincerely, ILLE. No. 143. Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received January 1, 1871.) My Lord, Bordeaux, December 29, 1870. HAVING been made acquainted by your Lordship's telegram of the day before yesterday, with the answer made by Count Bismarck to the application for a safe-conduct for M. Jules Favre, I communicated this morning the substance of that answer to the Similar letters were addressed to Count Apponyi, Count Bernstorff, Musurus Pasha, and Chevalier Cadorna. Comte de Chaudordy. I told him that Count Bismarck had declared that the German authorities would not send any fresh flag of truce until they received satisfaction from the French who had fired on the last which had been sent, but that at the same time his Excellency had informed the North German Ambassador in London that the safe-conduct would be granted as soon as M. Jules Favre should, by French flag of truce, apply for it to the Commander-in-chief of the besieging army. M. de Chaudordy said that he feared that this refusal of the Prussian authorities to facilitate the attendance of M. Jules Favre at the Conference would, if persisted in, render it impossible for France to take part in the proceedings. It was, he said, very uncertain, particularly in the present state of the weather, whether any despatch which he might send off would reach Paris at all. The very least time which could be allowed for the arrival of a despatch must, at all events, be ten days. An additional delay would be incurred in communicating from Paris with the Prussian head-quarters, and M. Jules Favre's journey from Paris to London could not, under present circumstances, be rapid. It was certain that, as matters now stood, public opinion in this country rendered it impossible that any other Plenipotentiary than M. Jules Favre should represent France, even temporarily, in the Conference. M. de Chaudordy could not but look upon the assertion respecting the firing on the flag of truce as a mere pretext; and he feared that Count Bismarck's answer was simply a device to prevent the attendance of a French Plenipotentiary without giving a direct refusal to the application made for a safe-conduct through Her Majesty's Government. If this were not so the Prussian authorities could hardly refuse to render the presence of M. Jules Favre in proper time possible by sending themselves the information to Paris that he was free to pass their lines. For his own part M. de Chaudordy would forward to Paris, by the surest and quickest means at his disposal, intelligence of the Prussian answer which I had just communicated to him. He must, however, beg me to make Her Majesty's Government aware that they must not count upon its reaching Paris in this way in time to be of use (" en temps utile"). I have already transmitted to your Lordship by telegraph the substance of this despatch. Foreign Office, January 1, 1871. Sir, I HAVE informed you by telegraph of the postponement of the Conference for a few days in order to give time for the arrival of the French Plenipotentiary, and for the receipt of their instructions by those of other Powers. I am, &c. My Lord, Sir A. Buchanan to Earl Granville.-(Received January 2, 1871.) St. Petersburgh, December 21, 1870. ON the receipt this morning of your Lordship's telegram of yesterday, I informed Prince Gortchakoff that the French Government had decided on sending a Plenipotentiary to the Conference about to meet in London to consider the expediency of revising the stipulations of the Treaty of 1856 relative to the neutrality of the Black Sea. My Lord, Sir A. Buchanan to Earl Granville.-(Received January 2, 1871.) St. Petersburgh, December 24, 1870. WITH reference to your Lordship's telegram of yesterday I have acquainted Prince Gortchakoff with your intention to issue immediately invitations to the Plenipotentiaries |