If, instead of such a declaration, the Russian Government had addressed Her Majesty's Government and the other Powers who are parties to the Treaty of 1856, and had proposed for consideration with them, whether anything has occurred which could be held to amount to an infraction of the Treaty, or whether there is anything in the terms which, from altered circumstances, presses with undue severity upon Russia, or which, in the course of events, had become unnecessary for the due protection of Turkey, Her Majesty's Government would not have refused to examine the question in concert with the co-signatories to the Treaty. Whatever might have been the result of such communications, a risk of future complications and a very dangerous precedent as to the validity of international obligations would have been avoided.
I am, c., (Signed) Granville.
P.S. — You will read and give a copy of this despatch to Prince Gortschakoff.
Prince Gortschakoff to Baron Brunnow.
Czarskoe Selo, 8 (20) November, 1870.
M. le Baron, — The English Ambassador has read to and given me a copy of a despatch of Lord Granville relating to our communications of the 19th (31) of October.
I have hastened to place it before His Majesty the Emperor. It has pleased our August Master to notice, first, the earnest desire of the Cabinet of London to maintain a cordial understanding between England and Russia, and secondly, the assurance that it would not refuse to examine the modifications which circumstances have caused in the results of the Treaty of 1856. As regards the view of strict right laid down by Lord Granville we do not wish to enter into any discussion, recall any precedent, or cite any example, because such a debate would not conduce to the understanding that we desire.
Our August Master has had an imperative duty to fulfil towards his country, without wishing to wound or threaten any of the Governments who signed the Treaty of 1856. On the contrary, His Imperial Majesty appeals to their sentiments of justice, and to the consciousness of their own dignity.
We regret to see that Lord Granville dwells chiefly on the form of our communications. It was not done by our choice. Assuredly, we should have desired nothing better than to arrive at the result in harmony with the Powers who signed the Treaty of 1856. But Her Britannic Majesty's principal Secretary of State well knows that all the efforts repeatedly made to unite the Powers in a common deliberation, in order to do away with{541} the causes of complication which trouble the general peace, have constantly failed. The prolongation of the actual crisis, and the absence of a regular Power in France, remove still further the possibility of such an union. Meanwhile, the position of Russia by this Treaty has become more and more intolerable. Lord Granville will allow that the Europe of to-day is very different from that which signed the Act of 1856. It was impossible that Russia should consent to remain indefinitely bound by a transaction which, already onerous when concluded, lost its guarantees from day to day.
Our August Master knows his duty towards his country too well to impose on it any longer an obligation against which the national feeling protests.
We cannot admit that the abrogation of a theoretical principle without immediate application, which only restores to Russia a right of which no other nation would be deprived, can be considered as a menace to peace, or that the annulment of one point in the Treaty implies the annulment of the whole.
Such has never been the intention of the Imperial Cabinet. On the contrary, our communications of the 19th (31st) of October declare in the most explicit manner that His Majesty the Emperor adheres entirely to the general principles of the Treaty of 1856, and that he is ready to come to an understanding with the Powers who signed that transaction, either by confirming the general stipulations, or by renewing them, or by substituting for them any other equitable arrangement which will be considered fitting to ensure tranquillity in the East, and the equilibrium of Europe. There seems to be no reason why the Cabinet of London, if agreeable to it, should not enter into explanations with those who signed the Treaty of 1856.
On our part, we are ready to join in any deliberation having for its object the general guarantees for consolidating the peace of the East.
We are sure that this peace would receive additional security if a permanent cause of irritation now existing between the two Powers most directly interested in it was removed and their mutual relations were resettled on a good and solid understanding.
You are requested, M. le Baron, to read and give a copy of this despatch to Lord Granville.