Gross 7. Dec. 1862. No. 552. of discussion. For all practical purposes at the present moment it was settled; britannien, for declarations had been exchanged between your Lordship and Baron Brunnow to the effect, first, that the engagements of 1830, excluding the Princes of the three reigning Houses, remained in force; and secondly, that if either His Royal Highness Prince Alfred or the Duke of Leuchtenberg were chosen, the election should be considered null and void. The Vice-Chancellor continuing the perusal of your Lordship's instructions, then fell upon the paragraph respecting the House of Bavaria, and the disinclination of Her Majesty's Government to offer a King to Greece who is sure to be rejected. On this subject Prince Gortchakoff remarked, that in advising a combined overture to the Court of Bavaria, he had been prompted by a double motive: by the respect due to the House of Bavaria, and by the respect due to international engagements. The House of Bavaria was one of high consideration and alliances, which was not to be cast aside as a thing of no account. Nor were the Treaties between the three Powers concerning the establishment and succession of the Bavarian dynasty in Greece to be regarded as annulled by the breath of a popular revolution in Greece. If those Treaties were to fall, he desired that they might be dissolved in a regular and orderly fashion. If in reply to his proposed inquiries the Court of Bavaria had declared its indifference to its rights under the Treaties, or if it had responded in reference to Article 40 of the Greek Constitution in a procrastinating or evasive manner, then the Powers might have embraced some proper course for absolving themselves from all further obligations in the matter; but if the Court of Bavaria had presented a Prince ready to ascend the Throne of Greece, accepting the national religion and fulfilling all the conditions of the Treaty, he would, with the assent and co-operation of the other Powers, have been disposed to present such a Prince to the Greek nation as worthy of their consideration, without the least design of exercising any constraint whatever on their selection. It was not now by any means so sure that the Greeks would refuse a candidate presenting himself under such circumstances. After what had been concluded in London, the Greeks would probably awaken to a more sober sense of their position. Finding that the Princes of the great Houses who responded to their illusions were excluded, they would have to put up with a more unambitious selection. In reply to his proposal for a combined step at Munich, France had returned a decided negative; and Her Majesty's Government had answered by a less unhesitating refusal, alleging that Baron Cetto having returned no reply to a previous communication, they did not see their way to doing any more. Referring to the remarks of Prince Gortchakoff respecting the contingency of a Prince being found in the House of Bavaria I asked his Excellency whether such a Prince would, in his opinion, appear in the light, of a successor to King Otho to be received by the Greeks, or of a new candidate to be elected. If as a candidate to be elected, there would be great difficulty in announcing beforehand a change of religion; for if the Prince were not elected after all, he would be in the position of having changed his religion for an interested motive, and of having got nothing by it. I added that I gathered an impression from his Excellency's reflections that he had a preference Gross 7. Dec. 1862. for a Prince of the House of Bavaria. ¶ In replying, Prince Gortchakoff treated No. 552. my distinction between a successor and a candidate as one of little moment; for britannien, in the eventuality contemplated, the recommendation or favourable opinion of the three Powers could not fail, in the one form or the other, to have great weight with the Greeks, confined as they would be in the field of their selection. His Excellency, moreover, decidedly objected to my inference that he cherished any preference for a Bavarian candidate; such, he said, was by no means the case; his inclinations towards the House of Bavaria did not go beyond the manifestation of that respect for its dignity, and for the engagements which bound us towards it, which he had already defined. Your Lordship's despatch sets forth the insurmountable objections which Her Majesty's Government would have to see a Russian Prince on the Throne of Greece, the embarrassment which such a state of affairs would create, and the,,direct antagonism" which it would provoke between England and Greece; and affirms, moreover, that Her Majesty's Government would take every fair and honourable means to prevent the Duke of Leuchtenberg from becoming King of Greece. ¶ In regard to the election of a Russian Prince, the Vice-Chancellor observed that the resistance of Her Majesty's Government would never be called into operation, for such an election had never been contemplated for one instant by the Imperial Government; yet, he thought, speculatively, that your Lordship's view of the dangers attached to the election of a Prince of one of the great reigning Houses was exaggerated. Under good advice, and with ability and prudence, such a Prince might reign in Greece without exciting the,,direct antagonism," the jealousies, and the perils to which Her Majesty's Government had referred. ¶ I said that if the Greeks chose a Prince of one of the great Houses, they would do so with reference to schemes of ulterior aggrandizement. I believed that, under those circumstances, they would never remain quiet; and that, with all the discretion conceivable on the part of their Sovereign and the Protecting Powers, the situation would become at last intolerable. The passage in your Lordship's instruction suggesting that the Protecting Powers might offer to the Greek Provisional Government the names of Princes qualified to wear the Crown of Greece, provoked some desultory conversation respecting several Princes who are brought by public rumour into the field, or who are supposed to possess the sympathy of the Governments of England or of France. Prince Gortchakoff did not profess any preference for any candidate, but stated that the Imperial Cabinet was willing to take the question into consideration in conjunction with the other Powers. In the course of my conversation with the Vice-Chancellor, his Excellency alluded again to the contrivances and incitements by which the alledged candidature of His Royal Highness Prince Alfred had been promoted in Greece, to electioneering arts, to the exhibition of specious inducements, the encouragement of hopes, and the distribution of gold. His Excellency did not say that these practices were directed by Her Majesty's Government, but he seemed to refer them generally to English instigation, and to the agency of persons in authority under Her Majesty's Government. In replying to these observations I contended that for the acts of Greeks settled in England, or for those of Greeks in No. 552. Greece itself professing sympathy for Great Britain, Her Majesty's Government britannien, could not be rendered in any way responsible. With their demonstrations or Gross 7. Dec. 1862. disbursements (if there had been any) Her Majesty's Government had nothing to do; even Englishmen, unconnected with Government, might do as they pleased, though I doubted whether any such had been mixed up in the recent agitation in Greece; but as for Consular Agents, or other Agents of the English Government, I denied that they had taken any part in stimulating the popular feeling on behalf of an English Prince. If his Excellency would put his finger on any specific act of such a character I would lay it before your Lordship. It would be altogether repugnant to the policy and orders of Her Majesty's Government. In accepting a copy of your Lordship's despatch the Vice-Chancellor observed that he would not reply to it; he did not see the use of prolonging a controversy which had no practical object; his answer would be found in my report to your Lordship of his remarks in the course of our present conference. I said that in that case I would submit my report to his inspection before transmitting it to your Lordship. &c. To Earl Russell, London. Napier. No. 553. No. 553. britannien, 8. Dec. 1862. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Botschafter in St. Petersburg an den königl. Min. Anerkennung der Richtigkeit des vorausgehenden Berichts durch den Fürsten Gortschakow. St. Petersburgh, December 8, (received December 16) 1862. My Lord, I read the draft of my despatch of yesterday's date to Gross- Prince Gortchakoff this forenoon. He recognized the accuracy of my report, and made a few alterations rather in the way of retrenchment than of correction. The despatch as it stands is, therefore, an approved record of what passed between us. The Vice-Chancellor having inspected my despatch, remarked that the reflections which were conveyed in it had merely a speculative significance. The important and practical part had been concluded in London by the declarations exchanged between your Lordship and the Russian Ambassador. ག That arrangement was altogether conformable to the sentiments which he had consistently entertained from the beginning, for while he had ever held that the exclusion of the Duke of Leuchtenberg was not deducible from the mere text of the engagements in force on this subject, he had always been of opinion that reasons of policy existed which would debar His Imperial Highness from accepting the Hellenic Throne. I have, &c. To Earl Russell, London. Napier. No. 554. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Botschafter in St. Petersburg an den königl. Min. Grossbritannien, 11 Dec. 1862. St. Petersburgh, December 11, (received December 16) 1862. My Lord, Prince Gortchakoff showed me a despatch this forenoon, No. 854. reporting that Count Bloudoff had made his separate declaration at Athens, to the effect that the Government of Russia recognized the force of the Treaty engagements by which the Princes of the reigning Houses of Great Britain, France, and Russia are excluded from the Throne of Greece. I learned from his Excellency at the same time that the Representative of France had done so likewise. The Vice-Chancellor said that Her Majesty's Minister was the only one who had refrained from taking this step; and his Excellency appeared to infer that Her Majesty's Government had some ulterior design or interested motive in hesitating, and standing apart in this matter. I reminded the Prince that Her Majesty's Government had long ago advised a common declaration at Athens, which he had declined; and I said that your Lordship had now instructed Mr. Scarlett to renew the overture for a joint or separate contemporaneous communication to the Greek Provisional Government, in the sense of the Declaration signed in London. I then made him acquainted with the substance of your Lordship's instruction of the 4th of December to Mr. Scarlett, and I asked him whether he would have any objection that Count Bloudoff should renew his declaration along with Mr. Scarlett, as suggested by your Lordship. ¶ The Vice-Chancellor replied, that when Mr. Scarlett made his proposal to Count Bloudoff the latter would judge whether it would be expedient to renew the declaration or not. Perhaps Count Bloudoff would see no objection to do so. ¶ I said it would not be exactly the same declaration, for that which was advised by Her Majesty's Government alluded to His Royal Highness Prince Alfred and His Imperial Highness the Duke of Leuchtenberg by name; whereas the declaration put in by Count Bloudoff had probably been drawn in general terms. The ViceChancellor said that the views of the two Governments would soon become known by the declarations exchanged in London. That which had been signed by Baron Brunnow had been sent to Moscow for the sanction of His Majesty the Emperor, which would, no doubt, be immediately granted. Your Lordship had been enabled to speak on the same occasion in the name of Her Majesty the Queen. When the assent of the Emperor had been obtained the transaction would be complete. It would convey a full expression of the resolution of the two Cabinets. ་་ I asked the Prince whether, in his opinion, the declarations exchanged in London should be published at once. ¶ Prince Gortchakoff replied, that if Her Majesty's Government thought fit to publish them, he had no objection. I have, &c. To Earl Russell, London. Napier. No. 555. Frankreich, 4. Dec. 1862. No. 555. FRANKREICH. - Min. d. Ausw. an d. kaiserl Gesandtschaften im Auslande. - Die Candidaten für den Thron von Griechenland betr. Paris, le 4 décembre 1862. Monsieur, les évènements de la Grèce ont depuis quelques jours vivement occupé l'attention publique en Europe. Ils appelaient plus particulièrement celle des trois Puissances garantes de l'Indépendance hellénique, et ils ont été, de leur part, l'objet de communications suivies, dont le résultat, nous l'espérons, sera d'amener entre elles une parfaite communauté de vues. Je me propose de retracer ici un résumé sommaire des idées qui ont été échangées, afin de vous mettre en mesure d'éclairer le cabinet auprès duquel vous êtes accrédité sur les considérations qui nous ont dirigé. J'aborde cette tâche avec d'autant plus de confiance, que le Gouvernement de l'Empereur a la conviction d'avoir tenu la conduite la plus conforme à ses engagements comme à ses principes. Nous n'avons point en Grèce d'intérêts distincts de ceux des deux autres Cours. Sans attendre que nous y fussions provoqués par aucune ouverture, notre premier soin a été de prescrire au Ministre de l'Empereur à Athènes de concerter avec les représentants de l'Angleterre et de la Russie toutes les démarches dont l'urgence serait reconnue. ¶ Aussi bien les anciennes rivalités que l'on avait vues quelque fois si vives sur ce terrain, avaient cessé depuis plusieurs années; rien n'était venu récemment troubler cet heureux accord, et nous aimions à y puiser l'espoir que les dangers qu'il convenait de prévoir dans la crise présente seraient facilement conjurés. Ces dangers étaient de deux sortes ou ils pouvaient venir des aspirations même de la Grèce cédant à des idées d'agression contre la Turquie, ou ils pouvaient résulter de l'élection du nouveau souverain, si elle était de nature à troubler l'équilibre des influences sur lequel repose l'ordre actuel des choses en Orient. Il importait d'abord de faire appel à la sagesse des Grecs, et de les détourner de tout ce qui devait éveiller les susceptibilités de la Porte ou lui causer des inquiétudes. Les cabinets de Londres et de St.-Pétersbourg étaient, à cet égard, dans des sentiments analogues. Animés nous-mêmes envers la Grèce de la sollicitude, qui depuis quarante ans, a inspiré tant de résolutions généreuses à la France, nous avons instamment recommandé au Gouvernement provisoire d'user de tout son pouvoir pour calmer le sentiment national. Nous ne lui avons point caché que notre intérêt ne lui était assuré que dans la mesure de ses efforts en faveur du maintien de l'ordre et de la paix; nos conseils n'ont eu d'autre objet que de l'affermir dans le sentiment d'un respect scrupuleux pour les actes qui ont déterminé ses rapports avec la Turquie, et placé l'indépendance hellénique sous la garantie du droit public européen. Le Gouvernement de l'Empereur a envisagé du même point de vue les questions qui se rattachent au choix du souverain de la Grèce. Nous eussions désiré qu'il fût possible d'exécuter les arrangements de 1832 dans leur teneur complète, en maintenant la couronne de la dynastie à laquelle elle a été alors conférée. L'état des esprits en Grèce ne nous per |