The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-19 00:00:00

THE VIENNA PROTOCOL.

The Journal dee Debate and the Patric give the
following as the test of the protocol signed on Dee.
5, at Vienna, by the representatives of the Four
Great Powers :
The undersigned, representatives of Austria, France,
Great Britain, and Prussia, in conformity with the instruc-
tions of their courts, have assembled at a conference for the
purpose of seeking out means of arranging the difference
which has arisen between the court of Russia and the
Sublime Porte. The proportions which that difference has
a-sumed, and the war which has burst out between the two
empires, in spite of the efforts of their allies, have become
for all Europe the object of most serious preoccupations : in
consequence, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the
Fienco, tne Queen of Great Britain, and the King of
Prussia, equally penetrated with the necessity of
putting an end to these hostilities, which cannot be pro-
longed with nut affecting the interests of their own states,have
resolved to offer their good offices to t►e two belligerent
parties, in the hope that they would not themselves incur
the I apoi sibility of a conflagration, when by an exchange
of loyri explanativns they may still prevent it, in again
placing their relations on the footing of peace and cf a good
understanding. Tie assurances given on several occasions
by the Emperor of Russia exclude the idea that that august
sovereign entertains any wish to interfere with the integrity
of the °roman Empire. The existence of Turkey, in the
limits winch treaties have emir ed to her, has in fact be-
c •me nueol the necessary conditions of the European equi-
librium, and the undersigned plenipotentiaries declare
with satisfaction that the present wet cannot in any case
involve moditi:ations in the territorial circumscriptions of
•ne two empires, calculated to alter the state of possession
which time has consecrated in the east, and which is
gorily necessary for the tranquillity of all the other
powers The Emperor of Russia, besides, has not confined
himself to such assurances, but has declared that his inten-
tion had never been to impose on the Porte new obligations,

or any that were not exactly in conformity with the treaties
lof Kutcheek-Kainardji and Adrianople, according to which
the Sublime Porte has promised to protect is the whole ex-
tent of its states the Christian religion and its churches.
The court of Russia has added, that in demanding from
the Ottoman government • testimony of its fidelity to its
sateen engagements, it had in nu respect intended to
attenuate the authority of the Sultan over its Chriitiss
sabjects, and that its only object was to obtain explanations
• nature to prevent every motive of doubt and every
Teem for misunderstanding with a friendly and neigh-
bouring power. The sentiments manifested by the Sub-
lime Porte during the last negotiations prove, on the
other hand, that that power was ready to recognise
all its contracted obligations and to pay full attention,
in the measure of its sovereign rights, to the in-
terest entertained by the Emperor of Russia for •
religion which is his own and that of the msjority
of his people. la that state of things, the undersigned are
convinced that the surest and most ready means of attain-
ing the object desired by their courts, is to make a commu-
nication in common to the Sublime Porte, to explain to it
the wish of the powers to contribute by their friendly in-
tervention to the re-establishment of peace, and to give it
i anopportunity of stating the conditions on which it would
be disposed to treat. Such is the object of the collective
note adjoined, addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Sultan, end of the identical instructions transmitted
at the same time by the courts of Austria, France, Great
Britain, and Prussia, to their representatives at Constanti-
nople.
The following is the collective note, or, more pro-
bably, en adridgment of it:
The undersigned, representatives of Austria, France,
Great Britain, and Prussia, assembled at a conference at
Vienna, have received instructions to declare that their re-
spective governments behold with a profound regret the
commencement of hostilities between Russia and the Porte,
and desire exceedingly, by intervening between the belli-
gerent powers, to prevent any fresh effusion of blood, and
to put an end to a state of things which menaces seriously
the peace of Europe. Russia having given an usuranca
that she was disposed to treat, and the undersigned not
doubting that the Porte is snimated with the same spirit,
they request, in the name of their respective governments,
to be informed on what conditions the Ottoman Empire
would consent to negotiate • treaty of peace.