The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-25 00:00:00

THE FOREIGN OFFICE AND THE

EASTERN QUESTION.

The London Gazette of Tuesday night contains
further papers relating to the affairs of Turkey. The
first is a de.patch from the Earl of Derby to Sir H.
Elliot, dated November 4, in which he intimates
that—

"The Government have determined to renew the sugget-
Von made by them on the sth tilt, and to Like the initiative
in proposing that a Conference should ba held forthwith at
Constantinople, in which all the Guaranteeing Powers and
the Porte shou'd take part, and each Government should be
at liberty to appoint two Plenipotentieries to represent it.
The hares for the deliberations of the Conference to be-
1. The independence and the territorial integrity of the
Ottoman Empire. 2. A declaration that the Powers do not
intend to seek for, and will not seek for, any territorial
advantages, any exclusive influence, or any concession
with regard to the commerce of their subjects which three
of every ether nation may not equally obtain. The decla-
ration was made on September 17, IE4O, in the Protocol for
the pacification of the Levant, and again on August 3,
18f0, in regard to the pacification of Syria. 3. Toe bases
of pacificatten proposed to the Porto on the 21st of Sep-
tember, viz :—(a) The status quo, speaking roughly, bath-
es regards Servia and Montenegro. (b) That the Porte
should eimultaueously undertake, in a Protocol to be signed
at Coestantinople with the representatives of the Mediating
Powers to grant to Bosnia and Herzegovina a system of
local or administrative antororoy, by which it is to ha
understood a system of local institutions which ehall give
the population tome control over their own local affairs
and guerantees against use exercise of arbitrary authority.
There is to be no question of the creation of a trieutary
Slate. Guarantees of a similar kind to be also provided
against re aladrninstratiun in Bulgaria The ref Tqlll
already agreed to by the Porte iu the Note addressed to
the Representatives of the Powers on the 13th of February
last to be ineluded the administrative arrangements for
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, so far as they may be
applicable, for Bulgaria."
Then Lllow three similar despatches from the Foreign
Office, 'dated respectively 4th, Bth, and 2011 November,
informing Sir H. Elliot of the appointment and depar-
ture of the Marquis of Salisbury to act as Special Am-
baEsador at the Conference.
Lord Derby says :

"Her Msjesty Government are anxious that you should
understand at there is nothing in this appointment which
in any way &Elects their confidence in you as Her Majesty's
representative, and I should add that theft:metal Ambassador
will be merely appointed ad hoc to attend the Conference
with you, and will not interfere in any respect with the ordi-
nary busineis of your Embassy."

Afterwards comes a despatch frcm Lord A. Loftus
to the Earl of Derby, dated Yalta, November 2, in
whiola Le gives the results of an interview he had with
the Emperor of Russia, when the questions of an
armistice and peace were discussed. This interview,
It will be .seen from our Paris correspondence, is
specially referred to by the Russian Messenger. In the
curse of the interview—

" Ills Majesty referred more erpecially to his relations
with England. He said he regretted ta Lee that there still
existed in England an 'lnveterate' eurpicion of Russian
policy and a continual fear of Russian aggression and can-
quest. He had on several occasions given the most solemn
assurances that he desircd no conquest, that he aimed at no
aggrandizement, and that he had not the smallest wish or
intention to be poseetted o '.Constantinople. AU that had
been said or written about a will of Peter the Great
and the aims of Catherine 11. were illusions and phan-
toms; they never existed in reality, and he con-
sidered that the acquisition of ConatanUnople would be
a misfortune for Russia There was no question of it, nor
bad it ever been entertained by his late father, who had
given a proof of it in 1828, when his victorious army was with-
in four days' march of the Turkish capital His Majesty
pledged his sacred word of honour in the most earness and
solemn manner that he had no intention of acquiring Con-
stantinople, and that if necessity should oblige him to on-
cupy a portion of Bulgaria, it would only be provisionally,
end until peace and the safety of the Christian population
were secured. His Majesty here reverted to the proposal
addressed to Her Majesty's Government for the occu-
pation of Bosnia by Austria, of Bulgaria by Russia, and
of a naval demonstration at Constantinople, where,
he said, Her Majesty's Fleet would have been the
dominant power. This, His Majesty thought, ought to be a
sufficient proof that Russia entertained no intention of oc-
cupying that cspital. His Majesty could not understand,
when both ceuntries had a common object—namely, the
maintenance of peace and the amelioration of the condition
of the Christians—and when he had given every proof that
be bad no desire for conquest or aggrandizement, why theta
should Lot be a perfect understanding between England and
Russia—an understanoing based on a policy of peace, which
would 'ne equelly beneficial to their mutual interests, and to
those of Europe at large. Intenticns,' raid his Majesty,
'are attributed to Russia of a future conquest of India
and of the possession of Conetantinople. Can anything
be more absurd? With regsri to the former it is a perfect
impossibility, and as regards the latter I repeat again the
most solemn assurances that I entertain neither the wish nor
the intention.' ills Majesty deeply deplored the distrust Of
his policy which was manifested in England and the evil
effects it produced, and he earnestly rqoested me to do my
utmost to dispel this cloud of suspicion and distrust of Russia,
and cearged me to convey to Her Majesty's Government the
solemn assurances he had repeated to me."

The Earl of Da-by then wrote to Lord A. Loftus on
NoveEnber 3, sitting—
" That Her Majesty's Government have received with the
greatest saiisfacsion the assurance whizh the Emperor has
given to you of his anxious desire for an understanding and
co-operation with England, and his solemn statement that he
pledged his honour that he had no views on Constantinople
nor of conquest.

This followed by another despatch from the Earl of
Derby to Lord A. Loftus, dated November 21 :
" The Russian Ambassador has calkd upon me, and said
that he is ingtenoted by his Government to request that the
report of your Excellency's conversation at Lived's with ills
Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia should be made
public, as it contained assuraxces which were of a nature to
trarqu'llze public feeling. I Informed his Ercellency, in
replying, that although the production of documents of this
kind relating to a negociation &stagily la progress, was not
customary in this country, I could not, under the circum-
stances, hesitate to make an exception, and the despatch in
question should appear without delay. I thought its publi-
cation might be opportune, since the last few days had
brought us the Intelligence 'of the mobilization rot a con-
siderable Russian forc,, and of the emission of the new
Russian loan for 100 million of roubles."