letter to the Sultan, demanding the strict maintenance of the religious privileges of the Greeks in Palestine. Greatly alarmed at the reception of this letter, the Sultan at once dissolved the commission, stultified himself by a series of contradictory edicts, greatly complicated the matter by granting what both parties asked, and, with the hope of pleasing all, consented to replace the missing star at his own cost, and restored the key of the Church of Bethlehem to the Latins.

In 1851 M. de Lavalette, having succeeded General Aupick as French minister at the Porte, engaged in the disputes about the "holy places" with great zeal, and earnestly pressed the Turkish government to grant certain additional privileges to the Roman Catholics. The Russian envoy, M. de Titoff, exhibited an equal interest in the subject, and took an early occasion to express to the Sultan his conviction that his master would permit no changes whatever to be made with respect to the possession of the sanctuaries at Jerusalem; whereupon M. de Lavalette gracefully yielded the point, and proposed to settle the dispute by granting to the Greeks the joint occupancy of the places in question. M. de Titoff accepted this proposal, so far as the places in controversy were concerned; but at the same time made a new demand for the joint occupation of some other sanctuaries which had hitherto been in the undisputed possession of the Latins. This new demand prevented any settlement of the questions at issue, and intrigue for a while took the place of discussion. The affair reached the surface again in February, 1852, when the Porte addressed a note to M. de Lavalette, politely promising certain future concessions, but at the same time expressly excluding the Roman Catholics from certain privileges granted to the Greeks. This gave great offence to the French ambassador, and very nearly produced an open rupture. Finding argument and expostulation of no avail, he intimated his intention of bringing up the French fleet to the Dardanelles if his demands were not conceded; while the Russian minister, on his part, with equal decision, threatened to leave Constantinople instantly, with every member of his mission, if the demands of Russia were not complied with.

At this juncture M. d'Ouzeroff succeeded M. de Titoff as Russian envoy at the Porte. His first act was peremptorily to require a firman granting the privileges, the bare intimation of which had given such great offence to the French ambassador; and, not satisfied with the substantial success of securing this point, he demanded that the Porte should proclaim his victory by having the firman publicly read in Jerusalem by an agent of the government. The Sultan, in no condition to refuse, despatched Aliff Bey to Jerusalem for that

purpose; but the attitude assumed by the French minister terrified him, and he hesitated to finish the duty with which he had been charged. The French minister declared, that if the firman was promulgated, a French fleet should appear off Jaffa, and he even hinted at a French occupation of Jerusalem itself; "then," said he, “we shall have all the sanctuaries." This firmness on the part of the French minister prevented the promulgation of the firman in question. It would seem, however, that the French government did not entirely approve the peremptory diplomacy of M. de Lavalette; for he was recalled, and his place filled by the appointment of M. Benedotte. And though the Toulon squadron was ordered to sail for the Greek waters, to be prepared to sustain the Latin interests, yet the British ambassador wrote to his government that "the French were content with a part only of what they might have claimed."* During the pendency of these disputes Russia again enlarged her demands. In addition to claiming a special supervision over the "holy places" in Jerusalem, she, in November, 1852, asserted her right to exercise a protectorate over the entire Greek Church throughout the dominions of the Sultan. Meanwhile" the Porte, under the pressure of these coercions, committed a series of lamentable contradictions." But unqualified submission on the part of the Porte with the concession of France, did not satisfy the demands of Russia. On the 28th of February, 1853, Prince Menschikoff, accompanied by Count Dimitre Nesselrode as his secretary, arrived at Constantinople on a special mission. The prince was clothed with full powers as a plenipotentiary, on the pretence that the rank of chargé d'affaires, which M. d'Ouzeroff held, did not give him the authority which was required in the transaction of such grave affairs as were then pending. It was remarked that this embassy, from the first, was portentous of evil to the Porte, inasmuch as an officer was selected to conduct it who had been distinguished in the recent war with the Turks, and that his suite included a general officer and an admiral. The tranquillity of the Sublime Porte was greatly disturbed by the arrival of this embassy; and the course of the Russian ambassador, instead of dispelling the fears of the government, was well calculated to aggravate them. As though seeking a quarrel, he assumed an attitude of extreme arrogance, and gratuitously insulted Fuad Effendi, the minister for foreign affairs. His mission, though professedly of a conciliatory character, was calculated, and probably intended, to involve the Turkish government in serious difficulties; and in the language of the Sultan, • Vide Blue Book, vol. i, p. 18.

† Vide Col. Rose's despatch of March 7, 1852.

"to trample under foot the rights of the Porte, and the dignity and independence of the sovereign." Meanwhile Russia was making vast military preparations, which attracted the attention of both England and France; but those governments being assured that the designs of Russia were eminently pacific, continued to hope that matters might be amicably arranged.

The first communication of the Russian ambassador to the Porte was made on the 10th of March, and it embraced the following peremptory demands:

"1. A firman concerning the key of the Church of Bethlehem, the restoration of the silver star, and the possession of certain sanctuaries.

"2. An order for the repair of the dome and other parts of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

"3. A sened, or convention guaranteeing the strict 'statu quo' of the privileges of the Greek Church, and of the sanctuaries that are in possession of that faith exclusively, or in participation with other sects at Jerusalem.”

*

These demands were all granted without hesitation by the Porte, and firmans to that effect were despatched to Prince Menschikoff without delay. Until this time Russia had perhaps asked for no more than had been conceded by the Ottoman government in former treaties; and though her demands had been made in a haughty and offensive manner, yet the Porte exhibited no ill-feeling or irritation. It was hoped by the Sultan, and by the foreign ministers who were interested spectators at Constantinople, that Russia would now be satisfied; but so far from this being the case, Prince Menschikoff presented another note, at a late hour of the same day on which these last concessions were made, demanding a sened, or convention having the force of a treaty, containing stipulations that "no change whatever should be made in the rights, privileges, and immunities which had been enjoyed or possessed ab antiquo' by the Church, the pious institutions, and the clergy of the orthodox or Greek Church in the Ottoman states; and that all the rights and advantages conceded by the Turkish government to other Christian sects by treaty, convention, or special grant, shall be considered as belonging also to the Greek Church." To comprehend the effect of this last stipulation, it must be remembered that certain Christian congregations exist within the Ottoman dominions which are not immediately subject to the government. In more than one place the members of the Latin Church possess privileges by which, in virtue of ancient compacts, they are exempt from Turkish jurisdiction, and are subject only to superiors of their own. So that the terms of the sened demanded by Prince Menschikoff would Blue Book, vol. ii, p. 235.

have surrendered to Russia the practical jurisdiction of more than three-fourths of the population of the Danubian provinces, and, indeed, the greater part of European Turkey itself.

It must be admitted that it was high time for the "sick man" to protest, and accordingly Rifat Pasha, the Sultan's foreign minister, in a very temperate way, informed Prince Menschikoff that his demands could not be complied with. Highly indignant, the latter proceeded at once to the palace and demanded an audience of the Sultan, who for some time had not quitted his apartments in consequence of the recent death of his mother, the Sultana Valide. And although Prince Menschikoff was informed that Mohammedan custom prevented the Sultan from complying with his wishes, yet he persisted in his demand, and after waiting three hours in an ante-room, he was finally shown into the imperial apartments. Abdul Medjid, though he had so far yielded to Russian obstinacy as to admit Prince Menschikoff to his presence, declined any conference with him. He civilly referred him to his ministers; and when the prince commenced an intemperate speech, the sudden interposition of a curtain between the Sultan and his visitor terminated the interview.

A great council or cabinet meeting was now convened by Redschid Pasha, who had superseded Rifat Pasha as foreign minister, to deliberate upon the Russian note; and, without a dissenting voice, Prince Menschikoff's demand was rejected. In communicating this rejection, a delay of four or five days was requested, with the hope that some satisfactory solution of the difficulty might be discovered.

The Russian minister graciously granted the Porte four days for deliberation, but at the same time still more complicated matters by a fresh "note." "It was not alone," he declared, "the spiritual privileges of the Greek clergy which Russia had determined to assert, but all the other rights, privileges, and immunities of those professing the orthodox faith, and of the clergy, dating from the most early times; that is to say, all the political privileges they might have enjoyed from the earliest ages."

While Prince Menschikoff was so pertinaciously bullying the Sultan in his own capital, Baron de Brunow, the Russian ambassador at the Court of St. James, informed the British government in the most explicit terms that "the emperor's desire and determination was to respect the independence and integrity of the Ottoman Empire, and that all the idle rumours to which the arrival of Prince Menschikoff in the Ottoman capital had given rise-the occupation of the Principalities, hostile and threatening language to the Porte, &c. were not only exaggerated, but destitute even of any sort of foundation."

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. VIII.—4

In the extremity to which his government had been driven, Redschid Pasha consulted the representatives of the foreign powers at Constantinople, and received from them the following reply :— ̧

"The representatives of Great Britain, France, Austria, and Prussia, in reply to the desire expressed by His Excellency, Redschid Pasha, to learn their views on the draft of a note presented by Prince Menschikoff, are of opinion that on a question which touches so nearly the liberty of action and sovereignty of His Majesty the Sultan, His Excellency Redschid Pasha is the best judge of the course which ought to be adopted, and they do not consider themselves authorized, in the present circumstances, to give any opinion on the subject."

Left thus to their own resources, the Turkish government assembled the great council of the nation at the house of the Grand Vizier. After mature deliberation, and long and anxious debates, it was decided by a very large majority to refuse to comply with the demands of Russia. Overtures, however, for pacific arrangements accompanied the note which communicated this decision. These overtures were not entertained by Prince Menschikoff, who, on receiving the answer, at once sent in his final "note," declaring that all further negotiations would be now useless, that his mission was at an end, and that nothing remained for him but to leave the Ottoman capital with the whole of his retinue. Redschid Pasha made some attempts to conciliate the Russian minister by private assurances of the friendly disposition of the Porte, and of their willingness to meet all the reasonable demands of the Czar; but his advances were met by the reply that it was too late, that his mission was at an end, and that the only duty that remained to him was to remove from the capital every person connected with his embassy. He however warned the Porte, in a supplementary parting "note," that "any infraction of the 'statu quo' of the Oriental Church would be considered as a violation of existing treaties, and that such infraction would compel the Czar to have recourse to means which he desired at all times not to employ." He regretted the resolution of the Porte, and especially that on so serious a question the Divan had been governed by the influence of foreigners. And in conclusion he expressed a hope that the Ottoman government would ultimately come to a better resolution, and one more agreeable to the benevolent intentions of the emperor his master.

On the 21st of May Prince Menschikoff left Constantinople with his embassy, and the subsequent consideration of the questions at issue was transferred from the Turkish capital to Vienna, where the representatives of the four powers afterward endeavoured to avert the pending rupture. A direct attempt was, however, made by