APPENDIX IX. PAGE 601.

TWENTY-FOUR Protocols preceded the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The Twenty-third-often cited on account of "the wish" that an attempt at friendly arbitration should be made before having recourse to war-is as follows:

(TRANSLATION.)

"Protocol No. 23.-Meeting of April 14, 1856.

"Present: The Plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, "Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, Turkey.

"The Protocol of the preceding sitting and its Annex are read "and approved.

"Count Walewski remarks that it remains for the Congress to "decide upon the draft of Declaration, of which he indicated the "bases in the last meeting, and he demands of the Plenipotentiaries "who had reserved to themselves to take the orders of their respective "Courts in regard to this matter, whether they are authorized to "assent to it.

"Count Buol declares that Austria is happy to concur in an Act "of which she recognizes the salutary influence, and that he has "been furnished with necessary powers to adhere to it.

"Count Orloff expresses himself in the same sense: he adds, "however, that, in adopting the proposition made by the first Pleni"potentiary of France, his Court cannot bind itself to maintain the "principle of the abolition of privateering and to defend it against "Powers who might not think proper to accede to it.

"The Plenipotentiaries of Prussia, of Sardinia, and of Turkey, "having equally given their assent, the Congress adopts the draft "annexed to the present Protocol, and appoints the next meeting for "the signature of it.

"The Earl of Clarendon having demanded permission to lay "before the Congress a proposition which it appears to him ought to "be favourably received, states that the calamities of war are still แ too present to every mind not to make it desirable to seek out every expedient calculated to prevent their return; that a stipu"lation had been inserted in Article VII. of the Treaty of Peace, "recommending that in case of difference between the Porte and one or more of the other signing Powers, recourse should be had "to the mediation of a friendly State before resorting to force.

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"The first Plenipotentiary of Great Britain conceives that this "happy innovation might receive a more general application, and "thus become a barrier against conflicts which frequently only break "forth because it is not always possible to enter into explanation "and to come to an understanding.

"He proposes, therefore, to agree upon a resolution calculated to "afford to the maintenance of peace that chance of duration here

"after, without prejudice, however, to the independence of Govern

66 ments.

"Count Walewski declares himself authorized to support the idea "expressed by the first Plenipotentiary of Great Britain; he gives the assurance that the Plenipotentiaries of France are wholly disposed "to concur in the insertion in the Protocol of a wish which, being "fully in accordance with the tendencies of our epoch, would not "in any way fetter the free action of Governments.

"Count Buol would not hesitate to concur in the opinion of the "Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and of France, if the resolution "of the Congress is to have the form indicated by Count Walewski, "but he could not take, in the name of his Court, an absolute en"gagement calculated to limit the independence of the Austrian "Cabinet.

"The Earl of Clarendon replies that each Power is and will be "the sole judge of the requirements of its honour and of its interests; "that it is by no means his intention to restrict the authority of the "Governments, but only to afford them the opportunity of not "having recourse to arms whenever differences may be adjusted by "other means.

"Baron Manteuffel gives the assurance that the King, his august "master, completely shares the ideas set forth by the Earl of "Clarendon; that he therefore considers himself authorized to "adhere to them, and to give them the utmost development which "they admit of.

"Count Orloff, while admitting the wisdom of the proposal made "to the Congress, considers that he must refer to his Court respect"ing it, before he expresses the opinion of the Plenipotentiaries of "Russia.

"Count Cavour, before he gives his opinion, wishes to know "whether, in the intention of the author of the proposition, the wish "to be expressed by the Congress would extend to military inter"ventions directed against de facto Governments, and quotes, as an "instance, the intervention of Austria in the Kingdom of Naples in "1821.

"Lord Clarendon replies that the wish of the Congress should "allow of the most general application; he observes that if the good "offices of another Power had induced the Government of Greece "to respect the laws of neutrality, France and England would very probably have abstained from occupying the Piræus with their troops. He refers to the efforts made by the Cabinet of Great "Britain in 1823, in order to prevent the armed intervention which "took place at that time in Spain.

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"Count Walewski adds, that there is no question of stipulating "for a right, or of taking an engagement; that the wish expressed "by the Congress cannot in any case oppose limits to the liberty of "judgment of which no Power can divest itself in questions affecting its dignity; that there is therefore no inconvenience in attach

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"ing a general character to the idea entertained by the Earl of Clarendon, and in giving to it the most extended application. "Count Buol says that Count Cavour, in speaking in another "sitting of the occupation of the Legations by Austrian troops, for66 got that other foreign troops have been invited into the Roman "States. To-day, while speaking of the occupation by Austria of "the Kingdom of Naples in 1821, he forgets that that occupation แ was the result of an understanding between the Five Great Powers "assembled at the Congress of Laybach. In both cases, he attri"butes to Austria the merit of an initiative and of a spontaneous "action which the Austrian Plenipotentiaries are far from claiming "for her.

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"The intervention, adverted to by the Plenipotentiary of Sardinia, took place, he adds, in consequence of the discussions of the Congress of Laybach; it therefore comes within the scope of the "ideas expressed by Lord Clarendon. Similar cases might perhaps recur, and Count Buol does not allow that an intervention carried "into effect in consequence of an agreement come to between the "Five Great Powers, can become the object of remonstrances of a "State of the second order.

"Count Buol approves the proposition in the shape that Lord "Clarendon has presented it, as having a humane object; but he "could not assent to it if it were wished to give to it too great an "extension, or to deduce from it consequences favourable to de facto "Governments, and to doctrines which he cannot admit.

"He desires besides that the Conference, at the moment of ter"minating its labours, should not find itself compelled to discuss "irritating questions, calculated to disturb the perfect harmony "which has not ceased to prevail among the Plenipotentiaries.

"Count Cavour declares that he is fully satisfied with the expla"nations which he has elicited, and he accedes to the proposition "submitted to the Congress.

"Whereupon the Plenipotentiaries do not hesitate to express, "in the name of their Governments, the wish that States between "which any serious misunderstanding may arise, should, before ap'pealing to arms, have recourse, as far as circumstances might allow, "to the good offices of a friendly Power.

"The Plenipotentiaries hope that the Governments not repre"sented at the Congress will unite in the sentiment which has in"spired the wish recorded in the present Protocol."

(The Signatures follow.)

APPENDIX X. PAGE 602.

(Extract from a speech of Count Cavour's, delivered in the Chamber at Turin, February 6, 1855.)

"PRIMA di tutto, o signori, il Governo ebbe ad esaminare se la guerra "che si combatteva in Oriente interessasse realmente lo Stato nostro,

se veramente vi fosse per noi materiale interesse politico a prender "parte in essa, a concorrere allo scopo che si proponevano di ottenere "le potenze occidentali. Noi non abbiamo avute molte difficoltà a "convincerci che la Sardegna era altamente interessata allo scopo "della presente guerra. Difatti, o signori, se la presente guerra avesse esito felice per la Russia, se avesse per conseguenza di con"durre le acquile vittoriose dello Czar in Costantinopoli, evidente"mente la Russia acquisterebbe un predominio assoluto sul Mediter"raneo, ed una preponderanza irresistibile nei consigli d' Europa.

"Ebbene, signori, sia l' una che l' altra conseguenza non possono a 66 meno che riputarsi altamente fatali agl' interessi del Piemonte e "dell'Italia.

"Infatti, quando la Russia fosse padrona di Costantinopoli lo "sarebbe altresi del Mediterraneo, poichè diventerebbe dominatrice “ assoluta del più gran mare realmente Mediterraneo che esista sul

sakha allora un vorn

"Camera, essi equivarrebbero ad una rinuncia alle aspirazioni dell' "avvenire, sarebbe un dimostrarci insensibili ai mali onde fu afflitta "l'Italia dalle guerre continentali, mali che vennero ricordati così "eloquentemente dal nostro gran lirico moderno, quando parlando "delle conseguenze delle guerre che combatteansi dai forestieri in "Italia al cospetto di popolazioni indifferenti al trionfo dei nuovi "conquisatori, diceva:

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'Il nuovo signore s' aggiunge all' antico,
L'un popolo e l' altro sul collo ci sta!'

"Quando la Russia venisse ad acquistare la preponderanza nel mar Nero, questi versi certamente si potrebbero con molta oppor"tunità applicare a noi.

"Ma assai più degl' interessi materiali gl' interessi morali sareb"bero compromessi dal trionfo della Russia: quando essa venisse "ad acquistare irresistibile influenza nei consigli europei, è mia "opinione che il nostro paese,le nostre istituzioni,la nostra nazionalità "correbbero gravissimo pericolo."-Ouvrages politiques-économiques, par LE COMTE CAMILLE BENSO DI CAVOUR, edition of 1855, page 580.

INDEX.