No. 4243. britannische Cabinet, an dessen Wohnsitz sich die Conferenz versammeln wird, Nordd Bund,' 1870. 3. Decbr. die weitere Förderung der Sache in die Hand nehmen und unter Bezeichnung des Tages der Eröffnung die Vertreter der Mächte zum Zusammentreten einladen werde. v. Bismarck. No. 4244. Grossbrit., 1870. GROSSBRITANNIEN. No. 4244. Min. des Ausw. an den Unterstaatssecretär, Mr. Odo Russell, dessen Sendung in das Deutsche Hauptquartier zu Ver Sir, I have to instruct you to proceed to the Prussian head11. Novbr. quarters at Versailles, and communicate to the Chancellor of the North German Confederation the despatches of which copies are here with 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. Granville. No. 4245. Grosshrit., 1870. GROSSBRITANNIEN. des Ausw. - No. 4245. Botschafter in St. Petersburg an den Königl. Min. Erstes Anzeichen von der Lossagung Russlands von dem Pariser Friedensvertrage. St. Petersburgh, November 9, (Received November 16) 1870.*) [Extract.] I regret to say that I have reason to believe the 9. Novbr. 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 *) An demselben Tage (9. November) war bereits die Mittheilung der Russischen Depeschen vom 31. Octbr. und 1. Novbr. (No. 4223 u. 4224) in London erfolgt. out this intention. Grossbrit., 1870. The night before last information was communicated No. 4245. to me, from a Source on which I did not place much reliance, that des- 9. Novbr. patches 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. ག I have forwarded to your Lordship the substance of this despatch by telegraph &c. Andrew Buchanan. Staatsarchiv XX. 1871. 10 No. 4246. Grossbrit., 1870. GROSSBRITANNIEN. No. 4246. Botschafter in St. Petersburg an den Königl. Min. d. Ausw. — Unterredung mit dem Fürsten Gortcha cow bei Uebergabe der Englischen Antwort. St. Petersburgh, November 16, 1870. My Lord, I called upon Prince Gortchakoff this morning at 16. Novbr. Czarskoe Seloe, and read to him your Lordship's despatch of the 10th instant, having previously acquainted him with your language to Baron Brunnow, when he delivered to you Prince Gortchakoff's despatches of the 31st October and 1st November, as reported in your Lordship's despatch of the 9th instant. ¶ Prince Gortchakoff said he would reply to your Lordship's observations calmly; but, in the meanwhile, he requested me to assure you that the Government of the Emperor, in the steps which they had taken, had no motives but to remove a stain on the honour of Russia, and at the same time to establish more securely the amicable relations of Turkey and Russia. He then went on to recapitulate and develop the arguments in his despatch on which he bases the right of Russia to denounce certain Articles of the Treaty of 1856; and I said his observations were entirely irrelevant, as your Lordship objected, in limine, to any Power arrogating to itself the right to terminate a Treaty without the assent of the other Parties to it. It was, not, therefore, I said, to the question of the revision of the Treaty, but to the form in which it had been presented to them, that Her Majesty's Government objected; and I intimated that it appeared to me the Emperor's unwillingness to submit any longer to what he considered a humiliation might have been put forward just as strongly without enumerating the untenable doctrines of the Russian declaration. His Excellency said he could not discuss that point with me, as the Emperor's decision was irrevocable, that Turkey would consult her best interests by assenting to it, as she would then secure the future goodwill of Russia: but if she followed another course, either spontaneously or by the advice of other Powers, she would expose herself to the most serious dangers; for though the policy of Russia was so entirely pacific that she had not added a soldier to her army in raising this question, there could be no doubt that the Christian populations in the Ottoman Empire, whose past tranquillity was greatly to be attributed to the influence of Russia, would rise in arms against the Sultan on the first misunderstanding between the two Governments. I answered that it was unnecessary for me to enter into any discussion with him on the subject, as your Lordship's despatch had explained fully the views of Her Majesty's Government upon it, and that I hoped he would find in them reasons for endeavouring to remove the difficulty which now stands in the way of the consideration of the question. Before the close of our conversation, however, he said he was surprised at the sentiments at present expressed by Her Majesty's Government as to the abrogation of Treaties, as and Grossbrit., they had accepted without remonstrance the changes which had taken No. 4246. place in Germany in 1866 by the extinction of the German Confederation 16. Novbr. and the Kingdom of Hanover. ¶ I have, &c. 1870, Andrew Buchanan. GROSSBRITANNIEN. des Ausw. No. 4247. Botschafter in Constantinopel an den Königl. Min. Grossbrit., 14. Novbr. 1870. [Extract.] I saw Aali Pasha this morning, and found his High- No. 4247. ness deeply impressed by the news of the denunciation by Russia of portions of the Treaty of 1856, of which he had been informed by the Austrian Ambassador. No communication whatever upon the subject has, however, as yet been made directly to the Porte by Russia, and even the nature of that which has been made to the other Powers is still very imperfectly known. When the communication shall be made to the Porte, which he supposes it will be upon the return of General Ignatieff, who is expected at the end of the week, he will answer that Turkey and Russia have no right, separately, to come to any agreement upon a matter which was decided at an European Congress, not only in the interest of the Ottoman Empire, but in that, as was believed, of the peace of Europe, in which all were interested. ་ H. Elliot. No. 4248. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Min. des Ausw. an den Königl. Botschafter in Berlin. Foreign Office, November 24, 1870. Grossbrit., 1870. [Extract.]- Count Bernstorff did me the honour of calling on me No. 4248. yesterday. During his visit the telegram from Mr. Odo Russell arrived 24. Novbr." reporting Count Bismarck's proposal for a Conference at St. Petersburgh, and stating that his Excellency was in favour of a revision of the Treaty of 1856 in the sense of the Russian demands. ] I read the telegram to Count Bernstorff and expressed disappointment at its terms, but without going into any details. M. de Bernstorff made a friendly observation inculcating moderation, and expressing a hope that no further complications would be added to the great ones now afflicting Europe. This morning Count Bernstorff repeated his visit. His Excellency informed me that he 1870. No. 4248. had received a similar message from Count Bismarck, who instructed him to Grossbrit., 24. Novbr. use all his influence in the sense of conciliation, and who advised the avoidance of polemical despatches circulated in the press, ¶ I told his Excellency that I was glad to see him that I expected to see Mr. Gladstone and several of my colleagues this afternoon, and that there would be a Cabinet to-morrow. He had probably observed that I had received the telegram from Mr. Russell with disappointment. Prussia had declared that Prince Gortchakoff's Circular was a perfect surprise to her. That Circular appeared to us to contain a principle subversive of all international engagements. It was defended by the Russian Ambassador on the ground of the examples which Germany had set. ¶ Although Prussia was in a different position from some of the parties to the Treaty of 1856, yet she had signed it, and the pretension of Russia to denounce its provisions without concert with the other co-signataries appeared to be necessarily offensive against Prussia, who was included among them. But no condemnation was expressed by Count Bismarck. He only stated that if we would ask the Prussian Government, they would ask Russia to agree to a Conference to be held at St. Petersburgh, whence the Circular that had caused so painful an impression had emanated, with a view apparently of giving, with the support of Prussia, to Russia all she desired, I was glad to have an opportunity of asking M. de Bernstorff to show me in what way I could place any opposite arguments before my colleagues. ¶ M. de Bernstorff said it was not a fair assumption to suppose that Prussia countenanced the Circular. $ It had been a great surprise to the Government of the King and had placed His Majesty's advisers in considerable embarrassment. But in the same way as they recommended moderation to us, so they had done at St. Petersburgh; that the proposal for a Conference at St. Petersburgh was Prince Gortchakoff's, that the place had not been selected by Count Bismarck, and that it was the sincere desire of the Prussian Government to hasten a satisfactory conclusion of this question. I thanked his Excellency for the friendliness and frankness of his communications. [ I begged him to consider that the questions I had put were hypothetical; that I could not anticipate the judgment of my colleagues as to the possibility of a Conference in the present state of affairs; that supposing my colleagues were in favour of one, St. Petersburgh appeared to be out of the question; that it would be necessary to consult the other Parties to the Treaty; and that the Conference could not be agreed to subject to any foregone conclusion as to its results. [ Count Bernstorff desired me to understand that what he had said was not the communication of precise instructions. He merely, in pursuance of the general directions to which he had already alluded, informed me of facts which he knew. etc. Granville. |