CHAP. Russian fleet passed the Bosphorus, and a Russian army XXXII. of 12,000 men took post on the Mountain of the Giant, within sight of Constantinople. 1833. 27. Lord Dur Matters had now reached such a crisis in the East, that, Mission of how much soever the Western Powers might be occupied ham to St with their internal convulsions, it was impossible any April 1839. longer to overlook them. Lord Durham was accordingly Petersburg. sent to St Petersburg on the part of England, to unite * "Le Royaume de Pologne est pour toujours réuni à l'Empire de Russie, et en forme une partie intégrante. La liberté du culte est parfaitement garantie: la Religion Catholique, comme celle que professent la majorité de nos sujets dans le Royaume de Pologne, sera toujours l'objet de la protection et de la bienveillance particulière du Gouvernement. La publication des pensées par le moyen de la presse ne sera assujettie qu'à la restriction jugée pour la sûreté due à la religion, pour l'inviolabilité de l'autorité suprême et de la pureté des mœurs. Notre armée dans l'Empire et dans le Royaume fera un tout homogène, sans distinction des troupes Russes ou Polonaises. Toutes les affaires administratives et judiciaires seront traitées en langue Polonaise."-Acte Organique, April 18, 1833; CAPEFIGUE, vi. 310, 311, note. XXXII. 1833. Turkey, while incessantly professing the utmost modera- CHAP. tion and disinterestedness, the Czar was careful not to withdraw his troops from the Mountain of the Giant, nor his squadron from the Bosphorus, till he had secured for Russia advantages greater than could have been hoped from a series of the most successful campaigns, and which, in effect, left Turkey entirely at the mercy of its colossal 456. neighbour.1 Cap, vi. 311, 314; Ann. Hist. xvi. 455, 28. tween the Mehemet May 6, To understand how this came about, it is necessary to premise that Mehemet Ali, finding, if he persisted in a Treaty befarther advance to Scutari, he would have the forces of Porte and Russia as well as Turkey to combat, changed his policy, Ali. and, relinquishing the dream of establishing a new dynasty 1933. on the shores of the Bosphorus, confined himself to the more limited object of securing substantial advantages to himself from the successes of Ibrahim in Syria. He lent a willing ear, accordingly, as soon as informed of the Russian intervention, to the French proposals of accommodation, and the result appeared in a firman, entitled a firman of amnesty, from the Porte, which, without expressly recognising the Pacha of Egypt as an independent power, secured to him all the substantial advantages of victory, by confirming him in the governments of Crete and Egypt, and adding to them those of Jerusalem, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Damascus, and the government of Adana. These great concessions were accompanied by an absolute amnesty to all the subjects of the Porte who had revolted in Anatolia, and were declared to be granted 2 Firman, in consideration "of the assurances of fidelity and devotion 1833; Ann. given to me by the governor of Egypt and his son Ibra- 160 (Doc. him Pacha." Having no longer any pretext for remain-d and ing in his advanced and threatening position at Kutaya, Cap. vii. Ibrahim now withdrew his forces across the Taurus, and 125, 127. took quiet possession of the ceded districts of Syria.2* "Les assurances de dévouement, et de fidélité qui m'ont été données en dernier lieu par le Gouverneur d'Egypte, Méhémet Ali Pacha, et son fils Ibrahim Pacha, ayant été agréées, je leur ai accordé ma bienveillance impériale. Les May 6, Hist. xvi. Ibid. 456; 104, 105, CHAP. XXXII. 1833. 29. Unkiar Skelessi. July 8, 1833. The Ottoman government being thus delivered from the hostility of its rebellious vassals, nothing remained but to emancipate itself from the still more formidable Treaty of protectorate of its zealous and officious friends. But this was a more difficult task even than combating Ibrahim's battalions it is one thing to invoke the succour of a great power; it is another, and a very different thing, to shake off the obligations imposed upon the succoured party. The ascendancy acquired by Russia in Turkish councils by this prompt and effective interposition was so great that it became altogether irresistible, and issued in a vast concession on the part of Turkey, which in effect left its capital at the mercy of the Muscovites, and rendered the Ottoman Empire virtually a tributary power to the Czar. Faithful to its fixed policy of avoiding all open or visible strides towards universal dominion, the Russian cabinet gave orders to its fleet and army to retire from the Bosphorus, in accordance with the demand of France and England, as soon as Ibrahim Pacha's troops had recrossed the Taurus. But not less faithful to its equally fixed system of incessantly pursuing that object, and securing in secret all the advantages which might preface it, they did not do so till they had extorted from the weakness or gratitude of the Ottomans a concession which left them entirely at the mercy of their 1 Ann. Hist. northern neighbours. This was effected by the treaty of 457; Cap. UNKIAR-SKELESSI; one of the most important diplomatic acts of modern times, and from which, as a necessary consequence, the great Eastern war of 1854 took its rise.1 xvi. 456, vii. 125, 127, 128. By this treaty, which was arranged in the most profound secresy between the Russian ambassador, Count gouvernemens de la Crète et d'Egypte ont été confirmés à Méhémet Ali. Par égard à sa demande spéciale, je lui ai accordé les départemens de Damas, Tripoli, de Syrie, Sey de Safid, Alep, les districts de Jérusalem et Naplouse, avec la conduite des pélerins et le commandement de Djidda. Son fils Ibrahim Pacha a eu de nouveau le titre de Scheick-al-haram de la Mecque et le district de Djidda; j'ai en outre acquiescé à la demande qu'il m'a faite du département d'Adana, régi par le Tresor des Fermes à titre de Mohajul.”—Firman, May 6, 1833; Ann. Hist., xvi. 168 (Doc. Hist.) XXXII. 1833. and secret Orloff, and the Turkish government, and signed on the CHAP. 8th July, it was provided that, for the period of eight years, there should be an alliance offensive and defensive 30. between the two powers, in pursuance of which, Russia The important public agreed to put her whole fleets and armies at the disposal of the Porte. In addition to this, it was specially stipu- articles." lated that, to prevent the embarrassment which might arise to the Porte from furnishing material assistance to Russia in case of attack, "the Ottoman Porte should be bound, in virtue of its obligations towards Russia, to close the Straits of the Dardanelles,-that is to say, not to permit any ship of war of a foreign power to enter those Straits under any pretence whatever. This separate and secret article shall have the same force and effect as if it had been inserted, word for word, in the public and patent treaty." By the public treaty, nothing whatever was provided in regard to the closing of the Dardanelles against foreign vessels of war; but a close alliance, offensive and defensive, was agreed upon, and the mutual furnishing of succour in case of attack by any foreign 457. power.1 * How desirous soever the parties to this important treaty may have been to shroud its secret articles in entire darkness, they were too vital in the Eastern Question to admit of being long concealed. The public treaty, * The public treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi was in these terms :— "I. There shall be for ever peace and alliance between the Emperor of all the Russias and the Emperor of the Ottomans, their empire and subjects, by sea and land. That alliance having solely for object the common defence of their territories against hostile attack, their Majesties engage to come reciprocally to an understanding, without reserve, on all the objects which regard their respective tranquillity and security, and to afford each other, to that end, the most effective material succour. (The secret article was declared to be in supplement of this.) "II. The treaty of peace concluded at Adrianople on Sept. 2, 1829, as well as all the other treaties enumerated in it, and the convention signed at St Petersburg on April 14, 1830, and the arrangement concluded at Constantinople on the 9/21 July 1832, relative to Greece, are confirmed, in their whole tenor, by the present defensive treaty of alliance, as if their respective provisions were inserted in the present treaty, word for word. "III. As a consequence of the principle of conservatism and mutual defence, which constitutes the basis of this treaty of alliance, and in pursuance of their 1 Cap. vii. Ann. Hist. 127, 128; xvi. 456, XXXII. 1833. 31. Remon strances of CHAP. which contained an alliance offensive and defensive, soon became known, and in spite of the utmost efforts to conceal it, the existence of secret articles, of a still more alarming character, was ere long surmised in diplomatic the Western circles. Indeed, the closing of the Dardanelles against Powers. all foreign vessels of war was a public step involving at once the interests of all nations interested in the ocean, the great highway of the world, which of necessity soon proclaimed itself. A French corvette of war presented itself at the entrance of the Dardanelles, and was refused a passage. Explanations were at once demanded on the subject by the English and French ambassadors, and the Divan were not a little perplexed what answer to return. The secret treaty was disavowed, but the treaty offensive and defensive admitted and justified. The Porte alleged that that treaty was purely of a defensive character; that it concerned no States but Turkey and Russia, whose dominions so closely adjoined each other that their interests were identical; that Turkey, being an independent State, was at liberty to contract alliances with any power that it might deem proper, and was under no obligation to justify its conduct to any foreign government. These explanations were accompanied by a communication of the public treaty. But as the Dardanelles remained closed to the vessels of war of all nations except Turkey and Russia, the existence of a further secret treaty became self-evident. Thenceforward the Eastern Question sincere desire to insure its durability, and the maintenance of the entire independence of the Sublime Porte, the Emperor of Russia, if the case should again arise when the Sublime Porte should require the assistance of the naval or military forces of Russia, though such a contingency, please God, is not at present to be anticipated, engages to furnish as many forces by land and by sea as may be judged necessary. In that case, the forces by land or sea which the Sublime Porte may require shall be at his disposal. “IV. Although the two contracting parties are sincerely disposed to maintain their alliance to the most distant times, yet, as time may prove the expedience of some modification of its conditions, its duration is at present limited to eight years. Constantinople, 8th July, 1833. ALEXIS ORLOFF, A. BOUTENIEFF, HAMED MEHEMET PACHA, FERZI-AKHMET PACHA, HADJI MEHEMETAKIF-EFFENDI."-CAPEFIGUE, vii. 129, 131. |