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London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

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must look to the abilities, the energy, and
knowledge of the Right Honourable
Members for Bucks and the University
of Oxford. The educational movement,
of such priceless importance, is in the
guidance of Sir JOHN PAKINOTON. It is Sir
FITZROY KELLY or Mr. NAPIER who prescribe
the modes of Law Reform, and who keep it
steadily before the country. And it is to the
Conservative party that the country looks for
the rehabilitation of British influence on the
Continent, and for a peaceful policy with
foreign Powers.
Change, therefore, in the character of the
ruling parties is absolutely demanded by the
highest law of the Constitution. The Liberals
are degenerating in talent under the long
tenure of office. Fresh minds, unbroken
energies, and first-rate practical men are
wanted to supply the defects of a Ministerial
connection, which is fast passing from a party
into a caste.

LORD CLARENDON'S BOLGRAD
DESPATCHES.
IN the House of Lords, on the first night of
the session, Lord CLARENDON declined to
comply with the request of Lord DERBY to
furnish to the House copies of the despatches
relative to the settlement of the differences
with Russia on the Bessarabian frontier.
His Lordship declined, en the strange ground
that as the question was now settled it
would be unwise to revive recollections of dif-
ference. As we have no fear that the publica-
tion of these despatches can now lead to
feelings of we publish this day Lord
CLARENDON'S despatch to Lord WODEHOUSE at
St. Petersburg, of date November 12. Next
week we propose to print the reply of Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF. We pledge the reputation of
this journal to the genuineness of the sub-
joined document.—

Foreign-office, November 12, 1850.
My Lord,--I transmit to your lordship copies of
two communications which I have recently received
from the Russian Minister at this Court, the one in
closing a recapitulation of the course pursued by
Russia in regard to the carrying out the 20th and
the 21st articles of the Treaty of Paris, and both
deprecating the prolongation of the existing state of
suspense as to giving effect to the general stipula-
tions of that treaty.
The Cabinet of St. Petersburg cannot more
sincerely regret than does her Majesty's Government
the existence of the present state of things. Her
Majesty's Government had hoped that with the
conclusion of the war all causes of farther irritation
and discussion between the two Governments would
have speedily been removed. For their own part
they endeavoured to extinguish, as far as possible,
any feelings of animosity or suspicion which might
have been engendered by the war; and they omitted
no opportunity of evincing their determination to
promote the restoration of those reciprocal feelings
of friendship and goodwill which existed between
the two countries previously to the late conflict
between them.

Her Majesty's Government do not wish, however,
to examine too closely into the various causes which
hitherto delayed the re-establishment of the relations
between this country and Russia on their former
footing; but while acknowledging the statement
delivered to me by Count Chreptowitch of the various
occasions in which Russia has evinced a spirit of
conciliation and an anxiety to smooth away difficul-
ties in regard to the demarcation of the Bessarabian
frontier under the Treaty of Paris, they cannot but
claim for themselves to have shown an equally
conciliatory and forbearing spirit in matters which
they must be allowed to say were of greater moment,
and which, had they felt inclined to adopt the
example of Russia, they might, without laying
themselves open to reproach on the part of the
Government of that country, have dealt with in a
very different spirit. The Russian Government need
scarcely be reminded of the earnest endeavours made
by the British Government to withdraw the British
army from the soil of Russia at the earliest possible
period, or of the scrupulous abstinence on the part
of the retiring forces from any wanton injury of the
fortifications or public buildings of the places which
they restored to Russia, The Russian Government
need not to be reminded that no remonstrances on
their part were necessary in order to hasten the
evacuation of Russian territory, or to deprecate the
destruction of public works. And yet, if the British
Government had regulated their proceedings by the
example set them on the other side, they would have

SATURDAY,

withdrawn from the strongholds of Russia with
lingering reluctance, and would have left as
memorials of their occupation fortifications destroyed,
and public buildings thrown down, after the signature
of the Treaty of Peace, as was the case at Kars,
Ismail, and Reni. I do not, however, allude to
these matters on the present occasion with a view to
repeat complaints and remonstrances to which her
Majesty's Government do not wish at present to
advert, but merely to show that her Majesty's Go-
vernment have not been wanting in a conciliatory
and forbearing spirit in regard to the carrying out
the engagements of the Treaty of Paris.
There are, however, three points in the paper in-
closed in Count Chreptowitch's despatch to which I
must more particularly allude. The first, indeed—
namely, that relating to the eastern extremity of
the boundary between Moldavia and Bessarabia—is
happily settled; but I must observe even on this
point that the spirit of the treaty unquestionably
contemplated that the boundary should run at the
distance of one kilometre to the east of the Lake
Houma Sole throughout the whole length of the
lake, and that it was never supposed or intended
that the line to be drawn should divide the waters of
the lake. But be that as it may, the assumed con-
cession by Russia of any advantages which she
might have claimed in this respect has been com-
pensated by the assignment of an extent of land in
another and adjoining quarter equivalent to that
which, according to her statement, she had given up.
Next, with regard to the Serpents' Island, her
Majesty's Government cannot acquiesce in the claim
made by Russia to that island, on the ground that
no specific cession of it to Turkey is contained in
the treaty. But if cession is essential to give a title,
the Russian Government are bound to show that
they ever acquired possession of the island by such
means. It is notorious, however, that no such
cession was made by the Porte in the Treaty of
Bucharest, by which it made over Bessarabia to
Russia—or by the Treaty of Adrianople, by which it
ceded to that power a qualified possession of the
delta of the Danube; and it is equally notorious that
it was not until some time after the conclusion of
the latter treaty that Russia took possession of the
island, denuded of inhabitants, and established a
lighthouse upon it. If such lighthousel was essen-
tial, as the Russian Government now allege, for the
surety of vessels approaching Odessa, it may reason.
ably be asked why, if the island appertained to
Russia as a portion of Bessarabia, that necessity
was not felt and provided for before the Treaty of
Adrianople ? And again, if, as is the fact, the light-
house has been established only since Russia ac-
quired an interest in the delta of the Danube, it
may be fairly inferred—first, that it was for the
safety of vessels approaching the Danube that the
lighthouse was required ; and, secondly, that the
island on which it was erected was considered by
Russia as a necessary appendage to the delta of the
Danube, and as forming part of the territorial do-
main nt that district. Otherwise, Russia could not
escape from the admission that in time of profound
peace she took and maintained possession of a por-
tion of the Turkish territory to which she had no
right.
But on whatever ground Russia rested her occu-
pation of the island, it cannot be denied that she
voluntarily abandoned the island when she aban-
doned the district, her acquisition of which by ces-
sion was followed by an occupation of the island, of
which no specific mention was made in the act of
cession; and she has now no reason to complain
that the Porte, without waiting for a formal act of
cession, which Russia—not having herself obtained
possession by any similar act, and therefore herself
not legally in possession—could not assume to make,
should have resumed its occupancy of the desert
island ; its right to which the Porte never renounced
by any formal deed, and on which she, like Russia,
finds it necessary to erect a lighthouse for the safety
of vessels approaching the delta of the Danube,
now again forming a part of the Turkish dominions.
It is intimated in the Russian note that the pre-
sence of the English fleet in the Black Sea, and the
continued occupation of the Principalities by Aus-
trian troops, are violations of the treaty; but these
measures have been adopted at great cost and incon-
venience in consequence of acts on the part of Russia
at variance with the treaty.
The Russian Plenipotentiaries, in the 21st Pro-
tocol, and with reference to Article 20, declared,
" Que les autorites Basses reinettront, des que cette
operation (la delimitation) serait terminee, aux auto-
rites Moldaves la portion du territoire qui, d'apres la
nouvelle delimitation, devra etre annexee a la
Moldavia."

But Russia, by claiming what she was not entitled
to possess according to the terms of Article 90 of
the treaty, has hitherto prevented the delimitation
of the frontier. She has consequently not handed
over to the Moldavian authorities the territories which
is to be annexed to Moldavia ; and if the British
fleet had not re-entered the Black Sea, and if the
Austrian troops did not continue to occupy the Prin.

FEDRUARY 14, 1857.

cipalities, Russia would at this moment, and in virtue
of the non-fulfilment of her engagements, be the only
rower which would retain possession of territory
which, in accordance with the treaty, was to be
evacuated. . .

With regard to the new town of Bolgrad, her Ma-
jesty's Government must remind the Cabinet of St.
Petersburg that the only authentic records of what
passed among the plenipotentiaries at I'aris are the
protocols of the Conference (protocols of the sixth and
seventh conference.) But the plenipotentiaries of Rus-
sia, having specially considered the line of boundary to
be traced in Bessarabia with reference to the bearing
it would have on the interests of the Bulgarian
colony, deliberately proposed to the Conference to
adopt a line which would have consigned to Moldavia
the new Bolgrad situated to the south of the Val de
Trajan.
It is true that at the meeting of the Congress on
the 10th of March (Protocol 7), when this line was
being traced in the manner agreed to by the Russian
Plenipotentiaries, viz., to the north of the Bolgrad
(Taback), they requested that the line should pass
south of that town, as it was the chef lieu of the
Bulgarian colony, which the Emperor of Russia
wished to keep united; and this request was assented
to because the geographical situation of Bolgrad-
Taback, as pointed out upon the map, showed that a
compliance with it would make no important diffe-
rence in the frontier that was to be assigned to Mol-
davia, and because a line so drawn would not inter-
fere with the unanimous decision of the plenipoten-
tiaries that Russia should be removed from all contact
with the Danube; but if the town of New Bolgrad
now claimed had been marked on the map, and had
been stated to be the town intended by the Russian
Plenipotentiaries, there can be no doubt whatever
that the request of the Russian Plenipotentiaries to
have the line drawn south of that town would have
met with a refusal, because by so drawing the line
Moldavia would have been deprived of an available
frontier, and Russia would have obtained a water
communication with the Danube. A line drawn im-
mediately south of Bolgrad-Taback would leave suf-
ficient apace between that town and Lake Yalpuck,
and, according to the terms of Article 20, would
ascend by the river of Yalpuck. A line drawn south
of New Bolgrad must terminate in the lake itself,
and the Russian commissioners, when instructed to
claim that town, naturally demanded that the line
should be drawn, not up the river, but through the
thalweg of the lake, and any detailed argument to
show that such was not the intention of the Congress,
as recorded in Article 20, would be needless.
. _

In the note delivered to me by Count Chreptowitch,
the map used by the Congress is said not to have
been a Russian map, but to have been furnished by
the French Government. But I must observe that
the map in question was the French copy of the map
constructed by the Russian Etat-Major, and bears
the title, " Carte de la Russie, d'apres la carte de
I'Etat-Majcr Russe;" and as no doubt was thrown
upon its authenticity at the time by the Russian Ple-
nipotentiaries, and as that map alone was used for
tracing the whole of the new Bessarabia,' frontier, it
is too late to object to it because it contains no men-
tion of the town to which Russia has since laid claim.
To admit that claim would be at once to abandon the
principle on which the Congress proceeded with
respect to the exclusion of Russia from water com-
munication with the Danube, and to convert into a
practical nullity the cession of all that part of sou-
thern Bessarabia which lies east of Lake Yalpuck,
and which then would become a mere enclave within
the Russian territory.
Her Majesty's Government are informed that the
River Rsssida, which forms the communication
between Lake Yalpuck and the Danube, is of con-
biderable depth, and that the gunboat flotilla which
was maintained by the Russians at Ismail was
generally moored during winter in that river; but at
all events the commissioners during their last visit
to New Bolgrad were eye-witnesses to a very
considerable quantity of large timber being brought
from the Danube on rafts of great dimensions, and
capable of carrying very heavy weights.
Is it, then, reasonable to suppose that the Con-
gress would t'ous have relinquished the important
principle they had established and determined upon,
merely in order to leave to Russia the chef lieu of
the Bulgarian colony, seeing that the administrative
establishment of that colony might easily be removed
by the Russian Government to some other place
more central and convenient than a town which
would be at the extreme edge of the Russian
territory ?

But the application was made upon grounds not
borne out by the fact. The town of Ohl Bolgrad was
asked for by the Russian Plenipotentiaries because,
as they stated, it is the head-quarters of the Bulgarian
colony, and the Emperor of Russia was anxious to
keep the head-quarters town and the rest of the
colony united. But what is the fact? Su far from
the whole of the Bulgarian colony remaining with
Russia, it appears, by the arrangement which at
that very moment had been agreed to by the Russian

THE PRESS.

Plenipotentiaries, more than one-half of the colony,
setting New Bolgrad out of the question, was to be
ceded to Moldavia.

In the presence of such facts it surely can neither
be for the dignity nor the honour of Russia to persist
in a demand so ill-founded, or to desire that the
Congress should be reassembled to decide a point
which admits of no dispute.
Her Majesty's Government have objected to this
reassembling of the Congress, because, among the
reasons, it would tend to strengthen the suspicion
entertained of the ulterior designs of Russia, which
her Majesty's Government are for themselves anxious
to lay aside, and which it is important for the har-
mony and good understanding of the nations of
Europe not to revive.
But her Majesty's Government, being sincerely de-
sirous tr adopt conciliatory policy where no para
mount interests preclude concession, would be pre-
pared, with a view to put an end to the painful
discussion which has too long been carried on, to
defer to the representations of Russia in regard to
the point at which the boundary should turn off from
the upper water of the Yalpuck river to the Pruth.
Although satiAied that in regard to this part of the
boundary they have contended for nothing more
than what the terms of the treaty authorised, they
are ready to renounce their claims in that quarter in
return for the renunciation by Russia of the claim
she has put forward in regard to the new Bolgrad.
Her Majesty's Government earnestly recommend
this solution of the question to the consideration of
the Russian Government. No meeting of the pleni•
potentiaries or Congress, with all the inconvenience
and risk to which such a meeting would give rise, is
required to settle the lifficulties which now impede
the execution of the treaty. But, much more than
this, such an arrangement would replace the rela-
tions between England and Russia on a footing of
cordiality and goodwill, and would thereby contri-
bute to hasten the arrival of the period to which her
Majesty's Government earnestly look forward, when
all traces of the late unhappy differences between the
two countries, and all recollection of past hostilities,
may be wholly obliterated and effaced.
Your lordship will read and give a cony of this
despatch to Prince Gortschakoff.—l am, lc yours,
CLARENDON.