The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-07 00:00:00

with exercising an illegal sovereignty in the Principalities
of the Danube, she appears inclined still further to extend,
with all the horrors of war, her absolute dominion over
the Engine.

" When his Imperial Majesty's Government and that of
her Britannic Majesty determined upon the movement of
their squadrons towards Constantinople, there was a ques-
tion, you remember, of inviting our Admirals to inform
the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian naval forces of the
object of their mission. The time has come for carrying
this step into execution, since our forbearance has, in the
end, only served to make matters worse.
" I propose, therefore, to order Vice-Admirals Hamelin
and Dundas to declare to Prince Menschikoff or to Admiral
Kornileff that the Governments of France and of England
are resolved to prevent the repetition of the affair of
Sinope ; that every Russian ship met with at sea by our
ships will henceforward be invited to return to Sebastopol ;
and that any acs of aggression which, notwithstanding
this notice, may be attempted against the Ottoman terri-
tory or flag will be repelled by force.
" As a consequence of this declaration, we shall find
ourselves, in conjunction with Turkey, masters of a vast
basin which washes the provinces of the Russian empire,
at once the most important and the most exposed ; and to
the occupation ofWallachia and Moldavia, so long as that
shall last, we shall oppose a corresponding occupation, of
which the consequences will assuredly be more serious for
the Cabinet of St. Petersburg than the taking posses-
sion of the Principalities can be for the Porte. Either
the army commanded by Prince Gortschakoff will repass
the Pruth, or our vessels, as far as the season will admit,
will cruise in the Black Sea, and will interrupt all the
maritime communications of Russia with her Asiatic
provinces. We should thus retain the Black Sea as a
pledge until the evacuation of the principalities and the
re-establishment of peace. Meanwhile, the influence of
the west, almost unknown to those quarters, will penetrate
there ; the dangers to which our presence will expose a
rule badly settled, the new relations and interests which
it may develop in countries lost to the commerce of the
world—such, M. le Comte, are the serious grounds for re-
flection which such a demonstration, executed with vigour,
is calculated to inspire the Cabinet of St. Petersburg.
" The attitude of that Cabinet ; the pretensions which it
has announced ; the invasion of Moldavia and Wallachia
in full peace;
days ago was the scene—all these circumstances taken toge-
the bold aggression of which Sinope a few
ther announce views and resolutions which Europe can
only alter by adopting in its turn an energetic course ; and
at present I see no one more efficacious than that which I
have just pointed out. Prance and England, by the inde-
pendence of their policy and by the means at their disposal,
are called upon first to come to a decision. It is a duty,
M. le Comte, which the Emperor's Government, for its part,
is ready to undertake, if her Britannic Majesty's Govern-
ment, on its side, is disposed to bear it with it. It is
accordingly his Imperial Majesty's pleasure that you should
give this assurance to Lord Clarendon, while delivering to
him a copy of this despatch.
Receive, &c.,

"Dilourx DE Lauys."

" No. 344.
" THE EARL OF CLARENDON TO LORD COWLEY.
" Foreign-office, Dec. 24, 1853.
"My Lord,—Count Walewski has communicated to me
the important despatch of M. Dreuyn de Lhuys which
forms the subject of your Lordship's despatch of the 16th
inst.

" That despatch has received the attentive consideration
of her Majesty's Government, whose views, as it must be
superfluous for me to inform your Excellency, are in entire
accordance with those of the French Government upon the
unjustifiable course that Russia has throughout pursued on
the Eastern question, and the absolute necessity of prevent-
ing the recurrence of a disaster such as that which has
lately taken place at Sinope.
" That necessity is, in fact, so evident, that her Ma-
jesty's Government did not doubt that the combined fleets
had at once been sent into the Black Sea, and as your Ex-
cellency has already been made aware by my dispatch of
the 17th inst. to Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, her Ma-
jesty's Government did not consider that any fresh instruc-
tions were embed for on the occasion, because, special in-
structions having already been given to protect the terri-
tory of the Sultan from attack, they must be faithfully and
effectually carried out.
" Despatches have since been received from Lord Strat-
ford de Redeliffe, by which it appears that on the 4th the
fleets were about to be sent into the Black Sea, either to
clear Sinope of the Russians or to protect the coasts of
Turkey generally, and that the Russian Admiral at Sebas-
topol was to be apprised of the service on which they would
be employed, and thereupon I have conveyed to his Excel-
lency the approval of her Majesty's Government.
" In my despatch to Lord Stratford of the 20th of De-
cember I have also stated that it was only by obtaining a
complete command of the Black Sea that the policy of the
English and French Governments could be effectually car-
ried out, and the recurrence of disasters such as that at
Sinope could be prevented.
" These instructions are in accordance with the instruc-
tions that Count Walewski told me would be addressed to
the French Ambassador at Constantinople ; but the French
Government now propose to us, in addition, that the
Ottoman flag, as well as the Ottoman territory, should be
protected by the combined fleets, and that all Russian ves-
sels, other than merchantmen, met in the Black sea should
be required to return to Sebastopol.
" Her Majesty's Government having clearly announced
that the recurrence of a disaster such as that at Sinope
must be prevented, and that the command of the Black
Sea must be secured, would have been content to have left
the manner of executing those instructions to the discre-
tion of the admirals ; but they attach so much impertanoe,
not alone to the united action of the two Governments,
but to the instructions addressed to their respective agents
being precisely the same, that they are prepared to adopt
the specific mode of action now proposed by the Govern-
ment of the Emperor.
" Instructions to that effect will accordingly be addressed
to Lord Stratford.
" Even if the Governments of England and France were
not in honour bound to protect the Sultan, they could not,
in the interests of humanity, tolerate that such scenes of
horrible carnage as that of which Sinope has been the
theatre should be renewed, and for both these objects they
must exercise complete command in the Black Sea ; but
they will at the same render a signal service to the Porte ;
and her Majesty's Government consider it indispensable
that no naval operations should be undertaken by the
Turkish fleet without the previous knowledge and sanction
of the British and French admirals, who cannot be made
responsible for operations of which they may be kept in
ignorance, or which they may disapprove. Nor can her
Majesty's Government think it just, so long as England
and France are not actually at war with Russia, that the
combined fleets should aid and protect the Turkish forces
in acts of aggression upon the Russian territory, while the
Russian fleet is prevented from repelling such attacks, or
conveying the means necessary for the defence of that
terrritory.
" Her Majesty's Government have not hesitated to
adopt the course which the honour and dignity of this
country prescribe, but, at the same time, they do not
disguise from themselves that it may at no distant period
involve England and France in war with Russia, and
they consider it equally for the honour and dignity of the
two Powers not to•allow the peace of Europe to be depen-
dent upon that national spirit in Turkey which, however
admirable in itself, and however useful against the aggres-
sor, is now evidently beyond the control of the Turkish
Government. Her Majesty's Government would therefore
propose to the Government of the Emperor that, in mak-
ing known to the Porte the coarse which the two Govern-
ments are about to pursue, the English and French Am-
bassadors should be at the same time instructed to demand,

in the event of the answer to the proposal recently sent
from Vienna having been unsatisfactory, that the terms
on which a treaty of peace bet een Russia and Turkey
shall be negotiated may be left to the decision of England.
and France, on the distinct understanding that nothing
shall be proposed on her part to which she has alreadrof6.-
.

cially objected.
" I communicated this proposal on the 22d to Count
Walewski, who engaged to refer it to his Government, and
his Excellency has this day informed me that it has bee
entirely approved of by 111. Drouyn de Lhuys.
" I am, &c.,
" CLARENDON.