The King replied"Gentlemen,-I thank, with you, the Almighty, who has guided us in the way of honour. Having in view the honour and true interests of the nation, confiding, on the other hand, in the gracious sentiments of the Greek people, I persisted, as much as I could, in the defence of their rights. The wisdom and calm perseverance of the Greek people, which have procured for it the applause of Europe, and the expression of the Chamber of Deputies with respect to me, have completely justified the confidence which I had placed in it and in you, and are to me a source of consolation. I express to you, and through you to the whole nation, my thanks for the testimony of devotedness which it has given me, and my admiration of its noble conduct in these difficult circumstances. I am proud to reign over such a people."

Ultimately, in consequence of the deep umbrage taken by France at the conduct of Lord Palmerston in allowing Mr. Wyse to force terms upon Greece different from those which had been agreed to in the London Convention, the British Government consented to substitute for those clauses of the arrangement concluded at Athens on the 27th of April, which had not been yet executed, the corresponding stipulations of the Convention agreed to in London on the 19th of that month.

Before quitting the subject it is proper to notice the strong remonstrance addressed by Russia to the British Government, in consequence of our proceedings against Greece.

On the 19th of February Count Nesselrode wrote from St. Peters

burg to Baron Brunow, the Russian Minister in this country, a letter containing the following passages:

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Your Excellency will have some difficulty in forming an idea of the very painful impression produced on the mind of the Emperor by the unexpected acts of violence which the British authorities have just directed against Greece.

Scarcely had the dangers to peace been averted to which the precipitate entry of Admiral Parker into the Dardanelles might have led, than the appearance of his squadron on the coast of Greece raises fresh dangers: as if it was sought gratuitously to cause complications to succeed complications in the East, and as if the peace of the West had not sufficient risks to run in a time of perfect peace, without even any notice of the intentions of the English Government having been given, the English fleet proceeds suddenly to place itself before the capital of Greece. Admiral Parker, after being received in a friendly manner by King Otho, assumes the very next day towards this Sovereign a threatening attitude. In one night, unimportant claims. which had been treated of for years, some of which were already about being settled, are changed into an imperious ultimatum. The English Minister declares that these claims are no longer to be discussed, or to be examined as to their justice or injustice, but that they must be satisfied fully within the term of twenty-four hours, and after the expiration of these twentyfour hours, the Greek Government not having been able to bring itself to submit to such humiliating conditions, the blockade of the coast

of Greece is established, and immediately the Hellenic ships are seized upon.

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Every one is the best judge of what is due to his own dignity, and it is not our business to discuss with the English Cabinet the manner in which it may choose to look upon and consider its dignity. Europe, in its impartiality, will decide how far the means that have just been taken were worthy of a great Power like that of England towards a weak and defenceless State; but that which we are justified in remarking, and of which we have a right to complain, is the total want of consideration that this summary proceeding evinces towards the two Powers who signed with Great Britain the treaty establishing the Kingdom of Greece, and who for the last twenty-three years, that is, since the 6th of July, 1827, have constantly been interested in common, and have acted together with the British Cabinet upon the affairs of Greece. "We are certainly aware that England had private claims against the Hellenic Government.

Refer

ence had been made to them several times between Lord Palmerston and us, and we remember particularly that in 1847, during the life and administration of M. Coletti, the English Cabinet was on the point, at one time, of taking measures on this subject against the Greek Administration. But as since then a long period of time has elapsed without mention being any more made to us of this, and that a number of objects more important appeared to call elsewhere the attention of England, we were far from suspecting that the settlement of this question could suddenly appear so urgent. If, before resorting to the ultima

ratio which has been adopted, the English Government had apprised us that its patience was exhausted; if the efforts which we should not have failed to make in Athens, to induce the Greeks to come to an arrangement, had proved ineffectual; we should not, M. le Baron, pretend that England ought to submit her claims indefinitely to the result of our interference. But the English Government did not take the trouble to inform usnot a word of notice was given to the Russian and French representatives in London-not one communication has been addressed to Petersburg or to Paris, which could lead to the notion that the English Cabinet was on the eve of proceeding to such extremities against Greece. Russia and France only heard of this when the mischief was done.

"The representatives of the two Powers at Athens took immediate steps to interpose in favour of the Greek Government their good offices, which the Envoy of England twice refused to accept, stating that he could not admit the arbitration of the two Powers in a question which did not concern them. We, in our turn, M. le Baron, must refuse to admit such a negative plea. Greece is not an isolated State, owing its existence and depending on itself alone, Greece is a State created by Russia and France, under the same right and the same conditions as it has been created by England. The three Powers established it together. Together they fixed its limits and its form of government. They have mutually agreed to respect its independence, to maintain its integrity, to strengthen the dynasty which they have placed on the throne; and there

fore one of the parties cannot be entitled to undo this collective work, to attack its independence, to destroy its integrity, to shake this dynasty by humiliating it before the world, and to disturb the tranquillity of the country by exposing it, on the mere appearance of a threatening fleet, to the attempts of the factious, and perhaps to a civil war. Indepen dently of the sentiments of goodwill which they bear to Greece, Russia and France have a material interest in maintaining her tranquillity. They have lent her money, which they as well as England are entitled to recover, and they cannot see with indifference that the State which is their debtor should, in consequence of the interdict applied to its navigation and commerce, be led to incur, on account of the defensive measures thus forced upon it, losses and expenses which must of course render it less able than ever to meet its pecuniary obligations; they have therefore a right, at least, to take cognizance of a dispute which may cause them such great inconvenience, and to look upon this affair, whatever the British Envoy may say, as not only English but also Russian and French.

"This is applicable to the claims in favour of English subjects, or protected subjects, which the Cabinet of London makes against Greece; claims which it has only stated to us generally, and which the more detailed information that we have received from the adverse party does not show to be devoid of some exaggeration, but the amount and object of which do not certainly bear any proportion to the severity of the means employed to enforce them;

but more particularly does this refer to what regards the two little islands contiguous to the Hellenic continent, which England now claims as appertaining to to the Ionian Islands. This is a territorial question of which Russia and France had certainly the right to be previously informed. Ever since they fixed, in accordance with England, the limits of the territory of Greece, and since they, also in accordance with England, guaranteed to Greece the possession of the same, they have a right to demand by what title England, after this definition of limits, which already dates eighteen years back, considers herself authorized to resettle them by her own authority alone, and to assume to herself a part of that territory, however small and unimportant. We should, therefore, have to protest solemnly against the pretensions of the English Government to decide this question arbitrarily, without the consent and the participation of the two Cabinets who likewise signed the treaty defining the territorial limits of Greece.

"The Emperor charges you, M. le Baron, to address on this subject serious representations to the English Government, to urge them, in the most pressing manner, to hasten the cessation of a state of things at Athens which nothing. justifies or necessitates, and which exposes Greece to losses as well as to dangers, out of all reasonable proportion to the claims made against her. The reception which may be given to our representations may have considerable influence on the nature of the relations we are henceforth to expect from England,-let me add, on the position towards all the Powers,