The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-26 00:00:00

INSTRUCTIONS TO LORD J. RUSSELL
ON PROCEEDING TO VIENNA.

The following official paper was issued yesterday :
The Earl of Clarendon to Lord John Russell.
(Extract.) Foreign Office, Feb. 22.
The Queen, having been pleased to confide to your
lordship, in conjunction with the Earl of Westmoreland,
the duty of conducting on her Majesty's behalf the ne
gotiations about to be opened at Vienna, I have received
her Majesty's commands to convey to your lordship such
general instructions for your guidance as may serve to
place on record the views of her Majesty's Government
with reference to this important crisis in the affairs of
Eirope.
It is a duty of no ordinary character which her Ma-
jesty has intrusted to your lordship. In common with
her Allies her Majesty most anxiously desires to see
peace restored to Europe in such a manner as to afford a
reasonable assurance that it will long remain uninter-
rupted ; but this can only be expected if the conditions
of that peace are such as to afford a sufficient guarantee
for the future security of Turkey. If, however, such
a peace cannot be arrived at, it is her Majesty's most
earnest desire to see the Great Powers of Europe arrayed
in a cembined etfort,against the spirit of encroachment
and wrong by which the councils of Russia have been
animated ; not only because such a league would most
probably lead to an early termination of the existing
contest, but because an assurance would thereby be ob-
tained that the termination of the tsar would place on a
solid and secure basis the general interests of all Europe.
As regards the subjects to come under the considera-
tion of the Conference, her Majesty's Government are
of opinion that they must be taken in the order in which
they have hitherto stood, notwithstanding that the third
basis is the one, the satisfactory development of which
is likely to meet the greatest obstructions ; but it will
be in vain to stipulate that the Danubian provinces
shall be withdrawn from the exclusive protectorate of
Russia, or that the navigation of the Danube shall be
set free from the obstructions which impede it, unless
effectual precautions are taken to render the Turkish
Empire an integral part of, the European system,
and sufficient restraint be imposed upon the military and
naval power heretofore exercised by Russia in the Black
Sea, and the overbearing influence which, by reasons of
that power, she has acquired over the councils of the
rorte.
But although much may be urged in favour of making
the third basis the first for consideration, such a course
would be open to objections of a serious nature, and her
Majesty's Government have reason to believe that Aus-
tria and France would both demur, although on different
grounds, to force into discussion at the outset the impor-
tant stipulations involved in the development of the
third basis. Nevertheless, it will be for your lordship to
judge whether, before entering into negotiation with
the Russian Plenipotentiary or before the third basis
comes into discussion in the Conference, it would be ex-
pe3ient for the throe Powers to come among themselves
to some general understanding, subject, indeed, to be
modified by future circumstances as to the form which
that basis should ultimately assume. The end in view
is the formal recognition of the Turkish empire in its
character as an independent and self-existent state, as
a member of the great European family, and as an essen-
tial element of the balance of power in Europe. One of
t he means by which that end is to be accomplished is the
A'nwation of Russian supremacy in the Black Sea. How
this is to be effected with the least inconvenience to the
Powers of Europe is the problem to be solved.
It might be brought about by a common agreement
that the maritime Powers should maintain in the Black
Sea a force adequate to counterbalance the naval forces
which Russia has hitherto maintained, and, if uncon-
trolled, may again hereafter maintain in that sea. But
this would be rothing more than an armed trace, liable
to be interrupted at every moment by chance collisions,
and entailing on the maritime powers a perpetual expen-
diture to keep up, at a distance from their arsenals, an
efficient force in the Black Sea, while Russia, having her
arsenals at hand, and her harbours of refuge always open,
would be relieved in a great measure from the costs to
which the other powers would be exposed. It may well
be doubted whether, after a few years, Great Britain
w ,old continue such an expenditure.
This object might be effected by a twofold process ;"by
reducing the maritime force of Russia in the Black Sea
within reasonable compass, and by opening that sea,
with the consent of Turkey, to the maritime forces of
other nations. Her -Majesty's Government would much
regret that the Porte should be so impressed with a
sense of its own comparative weakness as to be prepared
to abdicate its po =er to eefend the Turkish Empi; e
against even a limited display of hoAile force. It would
be better for the nations of Europe that the Porte should
he encouraecel to rely on its own resources, thoneh lefr
at liberty to call in tie aid of friendly powere to coun-
teract the menaces of its powerful neighbour ; but the
radection of the Russian naval force in the Black Sea
within such bounds as might, in co-operation with an
equal Turkish force, suffice to provide adequate protec-
tion for peaceful commerce, would have the fur-her in-
direct advantage of preventing at any future period the
march of Russian armies or Constantinople, or at all
events of rendering any such operation one of extremeha-
zeal ; for, as far as present experience extends, the sup-
port of a powerful fleet, capable of co-operating with the
advance of armies, and affording the means of providing
them with requisite supplies, is essential to the success
of any movement on the Turkish capital.
The imposition, therefore, of adequate restrictions on
the naval power of Russia in the Black Sea, would give
to Turkey the material protection of which she stands
in need ; while her recognition as an essential element
in the balance of power in Europe, would afford her a
moral guarantee under the safeguard of which she might
fearlessly carry out those plans of internal reform and
social re-organisation which have been so earnestly
pressed upon the Porte for many years.
Taking the bases in the order in which they stand, the
first point to be placed on record is the entire alTeg,a-
, tion of all former engagements between Russia and the
Porte, in regard to the provinces of Moldavia, Wella-
chia, and Servia. Not that those provinces are again
to he brought into immediate subjection to the Porte,
but that Russia shall no longer have to plead special
treaty engagements with herself as justifying the single
interference with the sovereign power, in regard to the
relations between that Power and the established autho•
rities in the province ; and that those provinces should
not look to Russia as the arbitress of their destinies, and
pay that court any deference to her which should be re-
served for the Sultan alone. There would be no occasion
to interfere, at least in principle, with the system of
local self-government established in those provinces, or
to place the rulers of the provinces in more direct de-
pendence on the sovereign power than they now are.
It may be a question for discussion whether the tri-
• lute now paid by the provinces to the Treasury of the
• Porte should be augmented. But the nomination of the
Hoanodare and the attributes of sovereignty in the Prin.
cipalitiee, as far as other powers are concerned, would
rest with the Sultan, and the agents appointed by foreign
powers to watch over the commercial interest of their
subjects would still require the formal recognition of the
Sultan for the legal exercise of their several functions,
Remaining this under the suzerainet6 of the Sultan, the
provinces would be bound by the treaty obligations of
the Porte with foreign Powers, no less than the other
portions of the Ottoman dominions, and appeals for in-
fraction of treaty rights would be addressed to the Porte,
as they now are, by the representative of the aggrieved
power at the Court of the Sultan, who must, therefore,
are authority to give redress.
Again, as regards the second basis, the abrogation of
the
rights of Russia to interfere with the freedom of the
, navigation of the Danube might he most effectual] • se-
cured by the retrocession to Turkey, in the first 'instance,
of the territory at the mouths of the river which she re-
neunced at the treaty of Adrianople, subject to the con-
dition that the retroceded territory should be placed by
the Porte under the safeeuard of the Great Power. of
Europe, acting in conceis with the Porte for the preser-
vation of all the navigable channels of the river, from the
exclusive domination or any one power, an-I for the
re-
moval of the obstructions which w impede have
lone threatened to render the channel of the Danube al-
together unserviceable for the purposesn,i of commerce.
E
A mixed commission, in white
should be represented, should be and and France
appointedl to regulate
all matters belonging to the navigation,
enters upon the discussion with a sincere desire
interested in
esltreirtoßmunseseiat
may
bee
the reasonable wishes of the Powers
m a
favourableround t o
the navigation of the Danube, there
• exnect that those questions will receive
so-
lution by the establishment of a syndicate authority
• in-
vested with the necessary powers for the destruction e
the obstacles now existing at the mouths of the river, or
which might hereafter grow up there.
This basis which remains to be considered is one pecu-
liarly calculated to call into action the sympathies of
Christian nations, and therefore likely to be attended
with more than ordinary difficulties in the discussion and
settlement of it ; for the object it, view is to reconcile
and bring in harmony for secular purposes the conflicting
passions and prejudices of Islamism and Christianity.
Then, again, it is almost needless to remark, much
abnegation and self-control are required on the part of
the Christian Powers in their dealings with the Porte in
• behalf of the Christian subjects of the Sultan.
It would tend greatly to the peace of Turkey if the
Powers of Europe would mutually renounce all sectarian
• Prejudices as applied to the subjects of the Sultan, and
look upon all Christians, whatever ritual they may be-
long to, as entitled to an equal share in the religious
• tane o
privileges and immunities which the Sultan may, at the
t u ope
he Great Powers of E r consent to ac-
cord to them ,
It would seem desirable that the Sultan should by his
own act abolish all legal and other distinctions between
his Mahometan d
of
Christian subjects, and formally
communicate to the powers
Europe the firmans by
which this shall have been done,touched
I have thus briefly upon the several important
points which, if the Conferences proceed will successively
be brought before the assemblewdbPielbenipOtentiaries. -
The intimate acquaintance
Whicrlurlordship pe
',lessee with the various points to
you t.he fit,test arguments ' have adverted,
will suggest to
witesbuipeptert of
'the policy of her Majesty s Government
-store peace to Europe on a solid foundation. The blood
re-
and treasure which have been so freely expended in
port of that'policv would be altogether thrown away,
the only result of our efforts should be a hollow truce
to be broken whenever a suitable opportunity should
arise for the attainment of the long-cherished objects of
Russian ambition—the subjugation of the Ottoman em.
Aire in EntoPe, and the enthronement of a Russian , •
prince in the capital of Turkey.
Your 'lordship will communicate this despatch to
Lord Westmoreland for his instruction and guidance.

The Pactolus, English screw steamer, in the French
transport service, arrived from Oran on the 12th, with
ammunition, 70 horses, five officers, and 66 /inn-
cornmi,3sioned officers and privatee, and left for LA°
Crimea on the 14th LA