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solutely necessary for the security of our Asiatic possessions-pretensions, the weakness of which it had itself recognised by the convention of Akerman, made them still weaker, by favouring on the coasts of the Black Sea, and even in our vicinity, the slave trade, pillage, and disorders of all kinds. Nay, more: then, as now, ships bearing the Russian flag were detained in the Bosphorus, their cargoes sequestrated, and the stipulations of the commercial treaty of 1783, openly violated. This took place at the very moment when the purest glory and victory in a sacred cause crowned the arms of his ma

jesty the emperor Alexander, of immortal memory. Nothing hin. dered him from turning his arms against the Ottoman empire. But that monarch, a pacific conqueror, superior to every feeling of enmity, avoided even the justest occasion to punish the insults offered him, and would not again interrupt the peace restored to Europe by gene. rous exertions and with noble in. tentions, immediately after it had been consolidated. His situation offered him immense advantages; he renounced them, to commence, in 1816, negotiations with the Turkish government, founded on the principle and the wish to obtain, by amicable arrangement, securities for peace, and a faithful adherence to existing treaties, as well as for the maintenance of reciprocal pa. cific relations; securities which the emperor's hand might have extorted from the Porte, which was not able to resist him. Such great moderation was not, however, duly appreciated. For five years together the divan was unmoved by the conciliatory overtures of the emAlexander, and endea

voured to tire out his patience, to dispute his rights, to call in question his good intentions, to defy the superiority of Russia, which saw itself bound solely by the wish of preserving the general peace, and to try its patience to the utmost.

And yet war with Turkey would not in any way have embarrassed the relations of Russia with its other allies. No convention, containing a guaranty, no positive obligation, connected the fate of the Ottoman empire with the conciliatory stipulations of 1814 and 1815, under the protection of which civilized and Christain Europe reposed after its long dissentions, and the governments found themselves united by the recollections of common glory and a happy coincidence in principles and views. After five years of well-meant endeavours, supported by the representations of Russia, and equally long evasions and delays on the part of the Porte-after several points of the negotiation relative to the execu tion of the treaty of Bucharest seemed to be already settled, a general insurrection in the Morea, and the hostile invasion of a chief of a party unfaithful to his duty, excited in the Turkish government and nation, all the emotions of blind hatred against the Christians to it, without distinction between the guilty and the innocent. Russia did not hesitate a moment to testify its disapprobation of the enterprise of prince Ypsilanti. As protector of the two principalities, it approv ed of the legal measures of defence and suppression adopted by the divan, at the same time insisting on the necessity of not confounding the innocent part of the population with the seditious, who were to be disarmed and punished. These coun

cils were rejected, the representative of his imperial majesty was insulted in his own residence, the chief Greek clergy, with the patriarch at their head, were subjected to an infamous capital punishment amidst the solemnities of our holy religion. Many Christians, without distinc. tion, were seized, plundered, and massacred without trial; the remainder fled.

The flame of insurrection, far from abating, spread meantime on every side. In vain did the Russian ambassador endeavour to render the Porte a last service. In vain did he show by his note of the 6th July, 1827, a way to safety and reconciliation. After he had protested against the crimes and ebullitions of rage, unparalleled in his tory, he found himself obliged to obey the commands of his sove. reign, and to leave Constantinople. About this time it happened that the powers allied with Russia, whose interest equally required the maintenance of general peace, were eager to offer and employ their services for the purpose of dispelling the storm which threatened to burst over the infatuated Turkish government. Russia on its part delayed the remedy of its own just grievances, in the hope that it should be able to conciliate what it owed to itself, with the moderation that the situation of Europe, and its tranquillity, at that time more than ever endangered, seemed to require. Great as these sacrifices were, they were fruitless. All the efforts of the emperor's allies were successively baffled by the obstinacy of the Porte, which, perhaps, equally in error with respect to the motives of our conduct, and the extent of its own

resources, persisted in the execu. tion of a plan for the destruction of all the Christians subject to its power. The war with the Greeks was prosecuted with increased acri. mony, in spite of the mediation, the object of which then was the pacification of the Greeks.

The situation of the divan, notwithstanding the exemplary fidelity of the Servians, became, from day to day, more hostile towards them, and the occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia was protracted, notwithstanding the solemn promises made to the representative of Great Britain, and even notwithstanding the manifest willingness of Russia, as soon as those promises were given, to restore its former relations with the Porte. So many hostile measures could not fail, in the end, to exhaust the patience of the emperor Alexander. In the month of October, 1825, he caused an energetic protest to be presented to the Ottoman ministry, and when a premature death snatched him away, from the love of his people, he had just made a declaration that he would regulate the relations with Turkey according to the rights and interests of his empire. A new reign began, and a further proof was furnished of that love of peace, which the former government had left as a fair inheritance. Scarce. ly had the emperor Nicholas as. cended the throne, when he com. menced negotiations with the Porte, to settle various differences which concerned only Russia, and on the 23d March, and 4th April, 1827, laid down, in common with his majesty the king of Great Britain, the basis of a mediation, which the general good preremp.

torily called for. The evident wish to avoid extreme measures guarded his conduct.

As his imperial majesty promised himself, from the union of the great courts, a more easy and speedy termination of the war which desolates the east, he renounced on the one hand, the employment of every partial influence, and banished every idea of exclusive measures in this impor. tant cause; on the other hand he endeavoured by direct negotiations with the divan, to remove a farther impediment to the reconciliation of the Turks and the Greeks. Under such auspices the conferen. ces at Ackerman were opened. The result of them was the conclusion of an additional convention to the treaty of Bucharest, the terms of which bear the stamp of that deliberate moderation, which, subjecting every demand to the immutable principles of strict justice, calculates neither the advan. tages of situation, nor the superiority of strength, nor the facility of success. The sending of a permanent mission to Constantinople soon followed this convention, on which the Porte could not sufficiently congratulate itself, and the treaty of July 6th, 1827, soon confirmed in the face of the world, the disinterested principles proclaimed by the protocol of April 4. While this convention duly recognised the rights and the wishes of an unhappy people, it was to conciliate them by an equitable combination with the integrity, the repose, and the true interests of the Ottoman empire. The most amicable means were tried to induce the Porte to accept this beneficent convention,-urgent entreaties called on it to put an end

Confi.

to the shedding of blood.
dential overtures, which unfolded
to it all the plan of the three
courts, informed it at the same
time that in case of refusal, the
united fleets of these three courts
would be obliged to put an end to
a contest which was no longer
compatible with the security of the
seas, the necessities of commerce,
and the civilization of the rest of
Europe.

The Porte did not take the least notice of these hints. A com. mander of the Ottoman troops had scarcely concluded a provisional armistice, when he broke the word he had given, and led at length to the employment of force. The battle of Navarin ensued. This necessary result of evident breach of faith and open attacks, this battle itself gave Russia and her allies another opportunity to express to the divan its wishes for the maintenance of the general peace, and to urge it to consolidate this peace, to extend it to the whole of the Levant, and to establish it on the conditions which the Ottoman empire should add to the reciprocal guaranties attending them, and which, by reasonable concessions, would secure it the benefits of perfect security.

This is the system-these the acts-to which the Porte replied by its manifesto of the 20th Decem ber, and by measures, which are only so many breaches of the trea. ties with Russia; so many viola. tions of its rights; so many violent attacks on its commercial prosperity; so many proofs of desire to bring upon it embarrassment and enemies.

Russia, now placed in a situation in which its honour and its interests will not suffer it any longer to remain, declares war against the

Ottoman Porte, not without regret, after having, however, for sixteen years neglected nothing to spare it the evils which will accompany it. The causes of this war sufficiently indicate the objects of it. Brought on by Turkey, it will impose upon it the burden of making good all the expenses caused by it, and the losses sustained by the subjects of his imperial majesty; undertaken for the purpose of enforcing the treaties which the Porte considers as no longer existing, it will aim at securing their observance and efficacy; induced by the imperative necessity of securing, for the future, inviolable liberty to the commerce of the Black Sea, and the navigation of the Bosphorus, it will be directed to this object, which is equally ad. vantageous to all the European

states.

While Russia has recourse to arms, it thinks that far from having indulged in hatred to the Ottoman power, or from having contem. plated its overthrow, according to the accusation of the divan, it has given a convincing proof that if it had designed to combat it to the utmost, or to overturn it, it would have seized all the opportunities for war which its relations with the Porte have incessantly presented.

Russia, nevertheless, is very far from entertaining ambitious plans; enough of countries and nations already obey its laws; enough are already united, with the extent of its dominions.

cares

Lastly, Russia, though at war with the Porte for reasons which are independent of the convention of the 6th July, has not departed, and will not depart from the stipu

lations of that act. It did not, and could not, condemn Russia to sacrifice its earlier important rights, to endure decided affronts, and to demand no indemnity for the most sensible injuries. But the duties which it imposes upon it, and the principles on which it is founded, will be fulfilled with sedulous fide. lity and strictly observed. The allies will find Russia always ready to act in concert with them in the execution of the treaty of London, always zealous to co-operate in a work which is recommended to its care by religion, and all the feelings which do honour to humanity, always inclined to make use of its situation only for the speedy fulfilment of the stipulations of the treaty of the 6th of July, but not to make any change in its nature and effects.

The emperor will not lay down his arms till he has obtained the results stated in this declaration, and he expects them from the benedictions of Him to whom justice and a pure conscience have never yet appealed in vain.

Given at St. Petersburgh, the 14th (26) April, 1828.

Letter from the Grand Vizier to Count Nesselrode, dated December 11, 1827.

Our very illustrious and kind friend,-While we express our wishes for the preservation of your health and the continuance of your friendly sentiments, we remark that in consequence of the convention of Akerman, happily concluded between the Sublime Porte and the Russian court, by which the relations of reciprocal friendship are still greater confirm. ed, the illustrious Ribeaupierre,

who d arrived as extraordiary ambassador and minister plenipotentiary of the imperial court, has in the usual form delivered the ters of his majesty to the sultan, and his credentials to the grand vizier, and was received on this occasion with all the distinctions and honours due to the friendly and pacific intentions of both parties. Together with the fulfilment of these formalities, care was taken to direct, in a suitable manner, all affairs relative to the discussion of the treaties concluded, and to regu. late various other matters. Mean time certain injurious proposals, contrary to the treaties, were pressed upon the Sublime Porte, with respect to which the Russian government has made known in repeated communications and conferences, its frank and sincere answers, founded on truth and justice. Lastly, it has repeatedly requested and urged the said minister to announce to the imperial court the motives of urgent necessity, and the real causes of excuse which guided it, and to wait for the equitable an. swer that would be returned; but that minister, contrary to all expectation, without regard to the right of governments and the duty of a representative, has refused to pay reasonable attention to the motives alleged by the Sublime Porte, and while he prepared to leave Constantinople, asked permission so to do, without a motive. Yet it is certain that as the coming to the residence of the representatives of friendly powers has no object, but the maintenance and execution of the existing treaties, it is acting contrary to the law of nations to desire to leave the place of residence, entering into such discus. sion, unconnected with the treaties.

On this consideration, the said minister was at length informed that if he were authorized by his court to leave Constantinople in this manner, he had to deliver to the Sublime Porte, only a note, containing the motive assigned him, and serving as a proof that by this formality the rights of both parties might be regarded; but he refused this also, so that the nature of his proposal was not free from doubt. The Porte then saw itself obliged to take a middle course between giving permission and refusing it. The ambassador has in this manner left Constantinople of himself, and the present friendly letter has been composed and sent to acquaint your excellency with this circumstance. When you shall learn on receipt of it, that the Sublime Porte has at all times no other desire or wish than to preserve peace and understanding, and that the event in question has been brought about entirely by the acts of the said minister, we hope that you will endeavour, on every occasion, to fulfil the duties of friendship.

Letter from the Vice-Chancellor Count Nesselrode, to the Grand Vizier, in reply.

Very illustrious grand vizier : I have received the letter which your excellency did me the honour to write to me on the 12th of De. cember, 1827, and laid it before the emperor. Had not my august master thought fit to delay the an swer to it, and to leave the Sublime Porte time to change its deplorable resolutions, I should have received orders to reply to your excellency on the very day that I received your letter. That the

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