Chapter II

Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi--Its substance--Third article--Remaining
patent articles--Audiences of the Sultan--Count Orloff--Secret
article--Its effect--Law of the Dardanelles--Outrage on international
law--Treaty of Petersburg--Boundaries--The provinces--Firman--Russian
ascendancy.

Left to struggle single-handed against an enemy for whom every fresh battle became a triumph, the Sultan was reduced to the necessity of applying to Russia for that succour which was denied him elsewhere. If ever the secret history of Ibrahim’s expedition be revealed, it will probably exhibit the extent to which Russian agency was concerned in that enterprize. Its coincidences with the entanglements of France and England, both foreign and domestic, if not designed, were curiously fortunate for the views of Russia upon Turkey. No sooner was the request made than a Russian fleet of ten ships of the line and several frigates was dispatched to the Bosphorus, and a Russian army of fifty thousand men shortly after occupied the heights of Unkiar Skelessi, or “Giant’s Mountain,” on the Asiatic side of that canal--the same heights which were once covered by the tents of the Crusaders who had assembled under the command of Godfrey of Boulogne.

♦ TREATY OF UNKIAR SKELESSI ♦

The real objects of the generous and disinterested friend of the Porte in this business, became obvious in the course of a little time; before his fleet or his troops departed on their return home, a treaty was concluded between the two powers, which has since given rise to discussions of a grave character, inasmuch as they are as yet by no means terminated, nor modified in the aspect which they assumed from the commencement--an aspect portentous of a general war in Europe.

I found it extremely difficult to obtain an authentic copy of that treaty. Being a contract between the two powers, consisting of six patent articles and a separate article intended to be kept secret, the treaty was not officially communicated to other governments, and never has been officially published. The fact is, that the Turkish original in their own language is construed by the Divan, on some points, in a way not strictly reconcilable with the Russian original in French, and therefore doubts may be contended for on both sides as to the acceptation in which the whole treaty should be received. I have however succeeded in procuring a copy of that document, which may be relied upon as containing no material error.[1] It will be found in French and English in the Appendix: I shall here briefly state its substance.

[1] Appendix A. vol. i.

♦ SUBSTANCE OF THE TREATY ♦

It is entitled a “Treaty of _Defensive_ Alliance” between Russia and Turkey, entered into by the parties with a view to give effect to the sincere desire by which they were animated to maintain the system of peace and good harmony happily established between the two empires, and to extend and to strengthen the perfect friendship and confidence which reigned between them. It was therefore mutually agreed that there should be for ever peace, friendship, and alliance between the two sovereigns, their empires and subjects, by land and sea: that the _only_ object of that alliance should be the common defence of their states against every kind of attack (_i. e._ by a foreign enemy, or domestic insurgents), their majesties pledging themselves “to enter into an unreserved understanding with each other with reference to all objects that concern their tranquillity and security respectively, and to lend for that purpose mutually _matériel_ succours, and the most effective assistance.” The second article confirms the treaties and conventions previously concluded between the two powers.

♦ THE THIRD ARTICLE ♦

The third article runs thus:--In consequence of the principle of conservation and mutual defence which serves as the basis of the present treaty of alliance, and in pursuance of the most sincere desire of assuring the duration, the maintenance, and entire independence of the Sublime Porte, the emperor, in case circumstances which might again induce the Porte to claim naval and military assistance from Russia should occur, although the case were not to be foreseen, promises, if it should please God, to furnish by land and sea such number of troops and forces as the two contracting parties shall judge necessary. Accordingly, it is agreed that in this case, the forces by land and sea which the Porte shall require, shall be held at its disposal.

♦ REMAINING ARTICLES ♦

The fourth article stipulates, that in case one of the powers should require assistance, as before specified, from the other, those expenses only which may be incurred for provisioning the forces by land and sea, shall be defrayed by the party demanding the succours. The fifth article limits the period during which this treaty is to be in force to _eight_ years from the date of the exchange of ratifications. The parties, indeed, assure each other that they desire to maintain its engagements to the latest moment of time; but leave themselves at liberty hereafter to modify its provisions, and extend its duration, as circumstances may suggest. The sixth and concluding patent article regulates the period (two months) for the exchange of ratifications, and terminates with the usual form for authenticating the instrument, without making any allusion whatever to the “separate article.”

♦ AUDIENCES OF THE SULTAN ♦

Lord Ponsonby landed at Therapia on the 4th of May (1833) from the _Actæon_, in which he had sailed from Naples, a few days before Count Orloff reached the Bosphorus in a Russian _steam-boat_ from Odessa. His lordship had his first audience of the Sultan at the splendid new kiosk or palace of Dalma Batché, on the European bank of the Bosphorus; he remained an hour. The Count Orloff immediately followed, and remained two hours. On leaving the Sultan, the Count told every body that he was like a person who came to a banquet when all was over. He had nothing to do! The fleet was already ordered home! The encampment was about to be broken up! He was an idle man, and his only business was to amuse himself as well as he could for a few days!

The gentlemen of the _Actæon_ were requested to consider themselves quite at home in the Russian camp; they played at cricket in the Sultan’s valley! The commander-in-chief actually went on-board himself to invite the captain to visit him at his mansion; he went in full uniform, landing from his boat where his pennant was displayed, sent in his name, was detained in the hall amongst orderlies and common soldiers nearly half an hour, and came away in disgust! An explanation arrived the day after, to say that it was all a mistake--that the servants were ignorant of the rank of the English visitor!

♦ COUNT ORLOFF ♦

On the 24th of May, the Sultan was to go to the mosque; it was noticed that he delayed considerably beyond the usual time; and it afterwards transpired that he had been engaged in a most violent discussion with the Count Orloff; many angry speeches having passed on the occasion between the diplomatist and the sovereign. When his highness mounted his horse, decorated though he was with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, he looked the personification of ill-humour.

A few days after this scene, a ship arrived in the Bosphorus from Malta, with intelligence that a formidable combined British and French fleet had sailed for the Dardanelles. This was not exactly the fact; for their object was to prohibit the advance, beyond the Taurus, of the troops under the command of Ibrahim; and as the mandate was at once obeyed, and there was no longer any pretence for the stay of the Russian fleet in the Bosphorus, preparations were made (most reluctantly) for its departure. Nevertheless, under one pretext or another, the troops were detained, week after week, at Unkiar Skelessi, amid a series of balls, reviews, fire-works, and amusements of every description, under cover of which the negotiations for the above treaty were most adroitly conducted. It was signed on the 26th of June (8th of July, N.S.), and the “separate secret article” was executed on the same day.

♦ SECRET ARTICLE ♦

That article is as follows:--“By virtue of the first article of the _patent_ treaty of defensive alliance concluded between the Sublime Porte and the Imperial Court of Russia, the two high contracting parties have engaged to afford to each other mutually _matériel_ succours, and the most effective assistance for the security of their respective states. Nevertheless, as his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, wishing to spare the Sublime Porte the charges and the embarrassments which would result on its part from the grant of such _matériel_ succours, will not demand such succours if circumstances should place the Sublime Porte under the necessity of furnishing them, the Sublime Ottoman Porte, in lieu of such succours which it is bound to afford, if necessary, in conformity with the principle of reciprocity of the patent treaty, _ought_ to limit its action in favour of the Imperial _Court of Russia to the closing of the strait of the Dardanelles_, that is to say, _not to permit any foreign ship of war to enter it under any pretext whatever_. The present separate and secret article shall have the same force and validity as if it were inserted, word for word, in the treaty of defensive alliance of this day.”

♦ EFFECT OF THE SECRET ARTICLES ♦

The whole object of the patent treaty is therefore to create a plausible pretext for the secret article. One party agrees at first, and in open market, to lend the other a pound of powder; but for the pound of powder both parties subsequently agree in secret to substitute the _key_ of the Dardanelles! The change which such an agreement operates in the relations previously existing between the two powers is manifest. The object attained by the private contract bears no proportion whatever to the part of the public transaction for which that object is extorted as an equivalent. Russia really wanted no “_matériel_ succours” from Turkey; but she pretends to require them on the principle of reciprocity, and founds upon that principle the establishment of the great object of her ambition, the control of the Dardanelles! Thus the parties who act before the world as equals, on retiring behind the scenes, are suddenly transformed into two very different characters--the master and the slave.

♦ LAW OF THE DARDANELLES ♦

It cannot be doubted, I apprehend, that the British Government has good right to complain of this transaction. I admit, of course, that two independent powers possess authority to make such stipulations with each other as they may think conducive to their mutual benefit. Even then, however, if we see an unfair advantage taken of an enfeebled state in the hour of distress by a more energetic and ambitious neighbour, other nations, though not immediately affected by the consequences of the act, are not justly liable to animadversion if they contemplate such a proceeding with extreme jealousy. But the case becomes much stronger as a groundwork for jealousy, if not for measures of a defined and active character, when we examine its bearings upon the interests of Europe in general.

The law of the Dardanelles, so to speak, stood, before the 8th of July 1833, as follows. The Porte had for centuries exercised the right of excluding, in time of peace, from that strait and the Bosphorus, the ships of war of all foreign nations, without exception. England, France, and the other powers of the continent, acquiesced in that law, and even may be considered as parties consenting to it. If the Porte proposed to modify that law, her intentions ought, according to the courtesy of nations at peace with each other, to have been communicated to the other governments before being carried into execution. The ministers of the Porte and Russia, however, meet in a secret chamber at Constantinople, and enact of their own authority a most important alteration in a law which, by the general consent given to it, had long ceased to be a mere municipal law of Turkey, and had become interwoven with the general law of nations. I contend, therefore, that this proceeding, besides being clandestine, is the usurpation of an authority which one of these states, but not both combined possessed. The Porte owned both sides of the two straits, and might close or open them lawfully. But the two powers had no joint delegation to legislate for Europe.

♦ OUTRAGE ON INTERNATIONAL LAW ♦

What is the effect of the alteration? Before the treaty, all foreign ships of war were excluded, in time of peace, from the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The secret article decrees an exception in favour of Russia. Under the patent treaty, the emperor, if he deem it necessary to the safety of his states, may call upon his defensive ally to assist him with _matériel_ succours. Under the secret article he says, “I do not want your powder; but in lieu of it you must shut the Dardanelles against my enemies.” This proceeding, if carried into effect, would, in case of a war, for instance, between England and Russia, give to the latter an advantage to which, under the law of nations as it stood before, she would not be entitled. Her ships of war would not in that case be “foreign” within the meaning of the treaty: they would not be the ships of a “stranger,” _étranger_, but of an ally--a _defensive_ ally--and therefore they would have a right to egress and ingress through the two straits at a time when they would be shut against the flag of England.

Another striking consequence of the whole transaction is this: that whenever the emperor chooses to go to war, he may, if he wish it, call upon his _defensive_ ally to become a belligerent also, whether it be for the interest of the Porte or not. The treaty is indeed limited in its duration to eight years (again that mystic period!). But it is “renewable for ever.” Every hour it exists inflicts, in my humble judgment, an outrage on the law, and what is higher than the law, the honour of all other nations.

It is a peculiarly offensive, though a necessary ingredient in this transaction, that although the two powers have affected to legislate for Europe, they have never yet officially promulgated the terms of the ordinance by which they have decided that we shall in future be governed. This is usurpation in its most tyrannical form. “You shall obey my law,” says the autocrat, “but you shall not know it.” Thus, to an unjustifiable claim to paramount authority over all Europe, the Moscovite has sought to add the dark and undefined and lawless empire of the Inquisition.

♦ TREATY OF PETERSBURG ♦

The treaty of Unkiar Skelessi was not long afterwards followed by another, which was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the two powers at St. Petersburgh on the 29th of January[2] (10th February) 1834--that is to say, by Ahmed Pacha on the one part, and the Counts Nesselrode and Orloff on the other. This is a very remarkable treaty. The first article relates to the “line of demarcation,” which was in future to separate the two empires in the east, with a view to prevent every species of dispute and discussion, as well as the depredations of those tribes whose acts had more than once compromised the relations of neighbourhood and friendship between the two empires! Not a word is said here of those compensations _en nature_, which were to form part of the indemnity to be paid by the Porte; and yet if the reader will look at the map of Asia while he reads the first article carefully, he will perceive that, without mentioning them by name, the article transfers to Russia a considerable portion of the eastern coast of the Black Sea, including the richest, the most populous, and the most fertile territories of Turkey in that direction. The line departs from port St. Nicolo on the coast of the Euxine, follows the actual frontiers of the province of Guriel, ascends the confines of Juira, and thence traverses the province of Akhiskha, until it strikes the point where the provinces of Akhiskha and of Cars are re-united with the province of Georgia.

[2] Appendix B. vol. i.

♦ BOUNDARIES ♦

An engagement is then entered into on the part of the Emperor, that as soon as the boundary lines shall have been marked by commissioners to be appointed for that purpose, the Russian troops shall evacuate the territories beyond the line; and it is agreed that the Mussulmen who were living within the “inconsiderable territory,” which is comprised within the line that passes by the Sandjack of Ghroubhan and the borders of the Sandjacks of Ponskron and of Djildir, if they wish to reside under the dominion of the Porte, may take eighteen months “to finish the affairs which attach them to the country, and transfer themselves to the Turkish states, without molestation!”

♦ WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA ♦

The subject of the provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia is next finally disposed of. By the convention of Ackermann it had been stipulated between the two powers that the Hospodars should be appointed by the Porte, and that they should hold office for seven years, when the Sultan might re-appoint them, or substitute other persons for them, during similar periods. By the separate Act (1), attached to the Treaty of Adrianople, the government of the provinces is placed upon a footing which is almost equivalent to a state of independence, so far as the Porte is concerned; and the second article of the treaty of Petersburg, now under consideration, affects simply to confirm that arrangement, whereas it really surrenders the substantial sovereignty of the provinces to Russia.

“By the instrument,” says the article, “executed separately at Adrianople relative to the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, the Sublime Porte has engaged to recognise formally the regulations made, while the Russian troops occupied those provinces, by the principal inhabitants with reference to the internal administration of the country; the sublime Porte finding nothing in the articles of that _constitution_, which can affect its rights of Suzeraineté, consents henceforth formally to recognize the said constitution. It undertakes to publish in this respect a firman, accompanied by a hatti sheriff, within two months after the exchange of ratifications, and to give a copy of the same to the Russian mission at Constantinople.”

♦ FIRMAN ♦

Hence it appears that although the principalities were then in a condition _apparently_ to treat for themselves--although they possessed a constitution framed according to the wishes of the “notable inhabitants” of those districts, and although that constitution was now solemnly recognised, no authority could be admitted emanating directly from the principalities to be a contracting party to this treaty. The reader will have further observed, that no provision is made for communicating a copy of the firman and the hatti sheriff specially to the authorities of the principalities themselves. Both instruments are to be published to all the world--but the official copy of them is stipulated to be given only to the _Russian_ mission at Constantinople! Therefore the emperor is the real sovereign of the principalities, and the hospodars are his puppets.

♦ RUSSIAN ASCENDANCY ♦

The third article of this treaty relates to the indemnity, and proposes to _facilitate_ its payment. It had been stipulated by a former treaty that the Porte should pay annually, during the term of eight years, one million of Dutch ducats: that sum is now reduced to half a million, but the annual payments are still to extend over the period of eight years. Two millions of the original ten would still remain, however, to be paid. The emperor gives them up, in consideration of the Sultan’s poverty! An arrangement is then made whereby the whole of the four millions of ducats which thus constitute the amount of the indemnity, shall be paid in annual instalments, during eight years: and the first year is to be from May 1834 to May 1835, the second from May 1835 to May 1836, and so on, by which it may be seen that the possession of Silistria, which the emperor holds until the indemnity shall be fully liquidated, has been extended from the year 1838, the original period, to the year of our Lord 1842. The registration among its archives of the firman and hatti sheriff, relating to the principalities, is not a more valid token of Russian ascendancy in these provinces, than Silistria is of her paramount authority throughout Turkey.