The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-31 00:00:00

The Russian Despatch on the Affairs of Greece.

The following is a full translation of the despatch
upon the affairs of Greece recently sent by Prince
Gortschakoff to the representatives of Russia :
Sir,—The sensation which has been caused in
Europe in connection with the Greek question, and
the erroneous conjectures upon this subject, which
have been accredited, induce me to inform you of the
attitude adopted from the commencement and during
the course of this crisis. Occurring as it did so sud-
denly, the first information respecting it conveyed
to Europe by the telegraph was too vague to admit
of a just appreciation of the situation.

The instructions I sent on the 14th (26th) October
by telegraph, by order of the Emperor, to our
minister at Athens were simply that he was not to
act except in common with his colleagues, and that
he was to remain in the country a mere observer
without entering into official relations with the pro-
visional government. I announced to him that a
Russian frigate was placed at his disposal, not as a
political demonstration, but in order that our re-
presentative might in this respect be on the same
footing as his French and English colleagues.
On the 18th (30th) October we were informed by
our ambassador in London that the English cabinet
had assumed in Greece a similar position to that we
had prescribed to Count Blondow. Like ourselves
it wished the great guaranteeing Powers to act in
concert; like ourselves it requested its representative
to abstai❑ from all interference in the events occur-
ring, and placed at his disposal naval forces for the
protection of his countrymen:
The French Government displayed similar senti-
ments towards us, and thus an essential principle,
as we considered it, was established, the main-
tenance of the good understanding between the
three courts.

The better to define this understanding the
Emperor ordered me to inform the cabinets of
London and Paris that his Majesty remained faith-
ful to the common engagement of the three pro-
tecting courts, which excluded the members of their
families from the throne of Greece. This declaration
was transmitted by telegraph to our ambassador in
London on the 19th (31st) October.

A similar communication was addressed to our
charge d'affaires in Paris.

In my despatches to his Majesty's representatives
I studiously confirmed and developed the principles
expressed in these telegraphic communications. On
the 18th (30th) October, I wrote to eur ambassador
in London that the Imperial Cabinet was delighted
to find itself in accord with the British Government
in the attitude it had assumed from the commence-
ment—that we should patiently await the deve-
lopment of events, the measures of other courts, and
the manifestations of opinion in Greece; that his
Majesty the Emperor had steadfastly resolved to
adhere to the obligations of the treaties, especially
that which excluded from the Greek throne the
reigning families of the three courts ; that no step,
and not the slightest hint had been or would be
made by our court respecting the choice of the
future sovereign of Greece ; that we felt convinced
the two other courts would be equally faithful to
their engagements ; that in our opinion those en-
gagements existed as long as the three powers
were resolved to maintain them, and that they could
not be set aside except by unanimous consent ; in
fact that we were animated by the desire we expe-
rienced in all the great European questions; the
desire of maintaining a good understanding with
the other Powers, without any reservation
(arrzere pensees) or personal views ; and that if
the other Powers were influenced by the same in-
clinations, an understanding of general benefit would
be established without difficulty.
The instructions sent to our minister at Athens
w ere received in the same spirit. By his tele-
graphic communications and his despatches we
could see that he was strictly conforming to the
attitude drawn out for him. Before receiving
our first instructions, he had stated, in reply to a
notification from the Provisional Government of
Greece, that he could not enter into any official
relations with that Government. The directions
I successively sent him kept him in this po-
sition. He was ordered to confine himself to

the part of an impartial observer• The imperial
cabinet, bringing to this question no personal views,
the calmness and the friendly reserve of its attitude
would be the best means, we thought, of upsetting
the calculations of those who ascribed interesting
longings to Russia. _ _ _

frequested him, nevertheless, to profit by what-
ever unofficial relations he might entertain with
influential persons in the coantry, by intimating to
them the danger of all aggressive projects and of an
alliance with revolution ; besides urging upon them
the necessity of order, moderation, and the main-
tenance of the monarchical principle, as being alone
capable of saving Greece from anarchy.
Nevertheless, in spite of the satisfactory inter-
change of ideas which had taken place between the
cabinets, their intentions had been prejudged, their
dispositions canvassed, their decisions anticipated ;
names had been put forth, and party having made
use of these materials as a rallying cry, much agi-
tation had been excited in Greece.
Under these circumstances the Imperial cabinet

thought it might be useful to make the under-
standing of the cabinets advance a step upon the
course to be followed in common.
With this view it appeared opportune to associate
events with the provisions of the conference of Lon-
don at the precise point where the facts accom-
plished had broken off their connection.
A treaty had been concluded between the three
protecting Powers ; it had called King Otho to the
throne and settled various eventualities connected
with the Bavarian dynasty.
It seemed to us that the first step to be taken was
to make a collective representation to the Court of
Munich, asking whether, under the existing cir-
cumstances, it was in a position to maintain the
rights arising from the decisions of the Conference
of London, and if it was prepared to offer a candi-
date who would fulfil the conditions imposed by the
Hellenic constitution, and confirmed by the treaty
of London.
Without meaning by this any coercion, or even
any peremptory injunctions towards Greece, we
thought that such a measure would, at least, be a
useful point of departure for a collective action
by the three courts, based upon engagements re-
suiting from previous diplomatic transactions, and
calculated to reconcile, as far as possible, existing in-
terests with recognised rights.
While this was under consideration on the 6th
(18th) of November, the English ambassador trans-
mitted to us a proposal from his court, having for its
object, Ist, to declare by collective act of the three
Courts, that no prince connected with any of the
three reigning families be eligible for the throne of
Greece ; 2d, to ask whether we considered the Duke
of Leuchtenberg as included in this exclusion.
Regarding the first point, we had already made
the Cabinets of London and Paris acquainted with
the determination of his Majesty the Emperor to
remain faithful W the engagement contracted in