The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-30 00:00:00

"No. 104.

"THE EARL OF CLARENDON TO LORD BLOOMFIELD.
" Foreign-office, Feb. 27, 1854.
"My Lord,—l transmit to your lordship herewith a copy
of a letter which I have addressed to Count Nesselrode, re-
quiring the evacuation of the Principalities; and I have to
instruct your lordship to communicate it immediately to
Baron Manteuffel, and to state that her Majesty's Govern-
ment having anxiously, but in vain, laboured for many
months, in conjunction with the Governments of Austria,
France, and Prussia, to effect an amicable settlement of the
differences between Russia and the Porte, must now con-
sider that negotiation is at end, that the inadmissible terms
upon which the Emperor of Russia will alone negotiate for
peace, and the vast scale on which military and naval pre-
parations are proceeding in Russia, leave no doubt as to the
disastrous policy which his Imperial Majesty is determined
to peruse.

"The dignity of the Powers concerned in these recent
transactions, and the great interests now suffering from sus-
pense, forbid any further delay, and require that all doubt
as to the future should be removed; and, as the forcible
occupation of the Principalities was an injury inflicted
upon Turkey and an offence offered to Europe by Russia, it
has appeared proper to her Majesty's Government, and to
that of the Emperor of the French, that the final issue
should have reference to that act of aggression, and that the
Government of Russia should be required within a given
time to evacuate that portion of the Sultan's territory.
" Both Governments, however, are animated by the
sincerest desire of co-operating with Prussia. They acknow-
ledge the paramount necessity of a cordial understanding
between the FoUr Powers at this critical juncture of the
affairs of Europe ; and they are convinced that the all-im-
portant questions as to whether the war is to become general
or be confined within narrow limits, and whether the con-
test is to be protracted, or peace speedily restored, must
depend on the policy of the Four Powers, being decided,
vigorous, and united.

"They have consequently determined not to send for-
ward the identic letters they have addressed to Count Nes-
selrode without previous communication to the Govern-
ment of Prussia, in the conviction that that Government
will appreciate the friendly confidence implied by this pro-
ceeding ; and your Lordship will earnestly request Baron
Manteuffel to join in the requisition to Russia ; or, if he
s.hount unfortunately aecline tu der co, Mat the,Prw,aian
Government will, at least, make known to the Cabinet of
St. Petersburg that it has their sanction and support. It
is impossible for your Lordship to overstate the importance
which her Majesty's Government attach to a decision upon
which the best interests of Europe may depend.
"Your Lordship will place the messenger Blackwood at
the disposal of Baron Manteuffel, and may for that purpose
detain him for a few hours; but it is desirable that ho
should proceed on his journey to St. Petersburg with the
least possible delay.
" You will read this despatch to Baron Manteuffer, and
you will give his Excellency a copy of it.
" I am, &c., " CLARENDON."

" No. 108.

" LORD BLOOMFIELD TO THE EARL OF CLARENDON.—
(Received Feb. 28.)
(Extract.) "Berlin, Feb. 25, 1854.
"Your Lordship's telegraphic despatch of yesterday 8.15
p.m. reached me this day at half-past 1 o'clock. I imme-
diately sought an interview with Baron Manteuffel, and com-
municated the substance of it to his Excellency, requesting
him to take the King's orders on the subject. He said
that he did not think his Majesty would, perhaps, object
to join in a summons which it is proposed to address to
the Russian Government to evacuate the Principalities ;
but he did not think his Majesty would take a part in
active hostility in the event of a refusal.
" I replied that the summons would be of little use if
Prussia declined supporting her demands with an armed
force ; but that I hoped, if the Austrian Government, as
we had reason to believe, joined with us, that such a reso-
lution might produce some effect on the King ; for Prussia
would surely not like to remain behindhand in carrying
out a work of such great European importance ; and that
as his Excellency had already mentioned his having written
to Vienna, I would not press him further at this moment,
relying on the hope that a little reflection might bring
about a modification of the opinions which he now enter-
tained."

" No. 115.
" LORD COWLEY TO THE EARL OF CLARENDON.—
(Received March 3.)
(Extract.) "Paris, March 2, 1854.
"M. Drouyn de Lhuys received a messenger from Ber-
lin last night, bringing advices that the Prussian Govern-
ment would support the summons sent to Russia by Eng-
land and France in the same measure as Austria, but that
they declined signing it."

" No. 119.

"LORD BLOOMFIELD TO TIIE EARL OP CLARENDON.—
(Received March 4.)
" Berlin, March 2, 1854.

"My Lord,—ln obedience to the instructions contained
in your Lordship's despatch of the 27th ult., I have this
day delivered to Baron Manteuffel copies of that despatch,
and of the letter which your Lordship has addressed to
Count. Nes:elrode requiring the evacuation of the Danubian
Principalities.
" I read both these papers to his Excellency, and he
seemed to concur entirely in the reasons which have in-
duced her Majesty's Government to take this step. He
said he should communicate them to the King to-morrow,
and submit to his Majesty, at the same time, the draught
of a despatch to General Rochow, instructing that Minis-
ter to support in strong terms the summons which has been
addressed to the Russian Government ; but he was unable
to say, until he received the King's orders, what terms
would be given to the communication, and I can, there-
fore, only add, that he assured me there should be no de-
lay in the matter, and, that the despatch would probably
reach St. Petersburg, as soon as the English messenger.
"I placed Captain Blackwood at his Excellency's die•
posal according to your lordship's instructions ; but on
finding that there would probably be a delay if he waited
for the Prussian despatches, which might be detrimental to
her Majesty's service, I decided on directing the messenger
to proceed on his journey this night, and he has just
started for Vienna.—l have, &c.,
" BLOOMFIELD."

" No. 127.

" LORD BLOOMFIELD TO THE EARL OF CLARENDON.—
(Received
March 7.)
(Extract.) " Berlin, March 4.
"Baron Manteuffel has just informed me that he had not
failed to submit to the King the copies of your lordship's
despatch of the 27th ult., and of the letter therein enclosed
which you have addressed to Count Nesselrode, requiring
the evacuation of the Danubian Principalities, and that
his Majesty immediately ordered him to address an instruc-
tion to General Rochow in the sense desired by her Ma-
jesty's Government.
" This instruction, he said, was sent to St. Petersburg,
last night by the post, and was drawn up in very pressing
language. It urged the Russian Government to consider
the dangers to which the peace of the world would be ex-
posed by a refusal, and declared that the responsibility of
the war which might be the consequence of that refusal
would rest with the Emperor.
" Baron Manteuffel added that the King, in approving
the draught of the despatch which had been laid before
him, observed that he felt it to be his duty to give all the
support in his power to any measure which might still hold
out a hope, ever so slight, of the maintenance of peace."
On the 4th ult. Count Buol received from Baron
Meyendorff preliminaries of peace, which had been
drawn up at St. Petersburg, in accordance with
1 the suggestions made to Count Orloff, for trans-
mission to the Porte ; these also were rejected by
the Conference of the Representatives of Austria,
France, Great Britain, and Prussia, for the follow-
ing reasons :
" After mature deliberation, the Plenipotentiaries of
France and Great Britain, taking as the basis of their ex-
amination the previous documents which had received the
sanction of the Four Powers, established the existence of
radical differences between those documents and the pro-
posed preliminaries :
"1. Inasmuch as the evacuation of the Danubian Prin-