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[Pacification of the Levant.]

No. 192.-PROTOCOLS of Conferences between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey, respecting Pacification of the Levant. London, July, September, 1840.

Preamble.

TABLE.

Declaration of Ottoman Porte, relative to Passes to light Vessels of War, in Straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus.

Article II of Convention to be carried into execution before Exchange of Ratifications.

Offers to be addressed immediately to Mehemet Ali.

Consular Agents of Four Powers to use their Influence with Mehemet Ali.
Declaration of Allied Courts not to seek increase of Territory, &c.

PROTOCOL (1). London, 15th July, 1840.

Declaration of the Ottoman Porte, relative to Passes to light Vessels of War, in Straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus.

IN affixing his signature to the Convention of this date, the Plenipotentiary of the Sublime Ottoman Porte declared:

That in recording by Article IV of the said Convention the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire, by virtue of which it has been at all times forbidden to Foreign Vessels of War to enter within the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus, the Sublime Porte reserves to itself, as heretofore, to deliver Passes to light Vessels under Flag of War, which may be employed according to custom for the service of the correspondence of the Legations of Friendly Powers.

The Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, took note of the above Declaration, for the purpose of communicating it to their respective Courts.

CHEKIB.

PALMERSTON.

NEUMANN.

BULOW.

BRUNNOW.

RESERVED PROTOCOL (2). London, 15th July, 1840.

THE Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey, having, in virtue of their Full Powers, concluded and signed this day a Convention (No. 190)

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[Pacification of the Levant.]

between their respective Sovereigns, for the Pacification of the Levant;

Considering that, in consequence of the distances which separate the capitals of their respective Courts, a certain space of time must necessarily elapse before the Ratifications of the said Convention can be exchanged, and before orders founded thereupon can be carried into execution;

And the said Plenipotentiaries being deeply impressed with the conviction, that by reason of the present state of things in Syria, the interests of humanity, as well as the grave considerations of European policy which constitute the object of the common solicitude of the Contracting Parties to the Convention of this day, imperiously require that, as far as possible, all delay should be avoided in the accomplishment of the Pacification which the said Convention is intended to effect.

Article II of Convention to be carried into execution before Exchange of Ratifications.

The said Plenipotentiaries, in virtue of their Full Powers, have agreed that the preliminary measures mentioned in Article II of the said Convention, shall be carried into execution at once, without waiting for the exchange of the Ratifications; the respective Plenipotentiaries recording formally, by the present instrument, the consent of their Courts to the immediate execution of these measures.

Offers to be addressed immediately to Mehemet Ali.

It is moreover agreed between the said Plenipotentiaries, that His Highness the Sultan will proceed immediately to address to Mehemet Ali the communication and offers specified in the Separate Act annexed to the Convention of this day.*

Consular Agents of Four Powers to use their Influence with Mehemet Ali.

It is further agreed that the Consular Agents of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, at Alexandria, shall place themselves in communication with the Agent whom His Highness may send thither to communicate to Mehemet Ali the abovementioned offers; that the said Consuls shall afford to that Agent all the assistance and support in their power; and shall use all

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[Pacification of the Levant.]

their means of influence with Mehemet Ali, in order to persuade him to accept the Arrangement which will be proposed to him by order of His Highness the Sultan.

The Admirals of the respective squadrons in the Mediterranean shall be instructed to place themselves in communication with the said Consuls on this subject.

PALMERSTON.

NEUMANN.
BULOW.

BRUNNOW.

CHEKIB.

PROTOCOL (3). London, 17th September, 1840.

THE Plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, after having exchanged the Ratifications of the Convention concluded on the 15th of July last (No. 190), have resolved, in order to place in its true light the disinterestedness which has guided their Courts in the conclusion of that Act, to declare formally :

Declaration of Allied Courts not to seek increase of Territory, &c.

That in the execution of the engagements resulting to the Contracting Powers from the above-mentioned Convention, those Powers will seek no augmentation of Territory, no exclusive Influence, no Commercial advantage for their subjects, which those of every other nation may not equally obtain.

The Plenipotentiaries of the Courts above mentioned have resolved to record this Declaration in the present Protocol.

The Plenipotentiary of the Ottoman Porte, in paying a just tribute to the good faith and disinterested policy of the Allied Courts, has taken cognizance of the Declaration contained in the present Protocol, and has undertaken to transmit it to his Court.

PALMERSTON.

NEUMANN.

SCHLEINITZ.

BRUNNOW.

CHEKIB.

[Dardanelles and Bosphorus.]

No. 193.-CONVENTION between Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey, respecting the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus. Signed at London, 13th July, 1841.*

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1. Closing of Straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus to Foreign Ships of War in Time of Peace.

2. Firmans to be issued for Vessels under Flag of War used by Foreign Missions.

3. Invitation to Foreign Powers to accede to Convention.

4. Ratifications.

(Translation as laid before Parliament.†)

In the Name of the Most Merciful God.

THEIR Majesties the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the King of the French, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of All the Russias, being persuaded that their union and their agreement offer to Europe the most certain pledge for the preservation of the general Peace, the constant object of their solicitude; and their said Majesties being desirous of testifying this agreement, by giving to the Sultan a manifest proof of the respect which they entertain for the inviolability of his sovereign rights, as well as of their sincere desire to see consolidated the repose of his Empire; their said Majesties have resolved to comply with the invitation of His Highness the Sultan, in order to record in common, by a formal Act, their unanimous determination to conform to the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire, according to which the passage of the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus is always to be closed to Foreign Ships of War, so long as the Porte is at peace.

Their said Majesties, on the one part, and His Highness the Sultan, on the other part, having resolved to conclude between them a Convention on this subject, have named for that purpose as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say :

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great and Ireland, the Right Honourable Henry John, Viscount PalSee also General Treaty of 30th March, 1856, Art. X, and Separate Treaty of the same date.

+ For French version, see "State Papers,” vol. xxix, p. 703.

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[Dardanelles and Bosphorus].

merston, Baron Temple, a Peer of Ireland, a Member of Her Britannic Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &c.;

His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Paul, Prince Esterhazy of Galantha, Count of Edelstett, Chamberlain, Actual Privy Councillor of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty, &c.; and the Sieur Philip, Baron de Neumann, Aulick Councillor, and his Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the King of the French, the Sieur Francis Adolphus, Baron de Bourqueney, Master of Requests in his Council of State, his Chargé d'Affaires and Plenipotentiary at London, &c.;

His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Sieur Henry William, Baron de Bülow, his Chamberlain, Actual Privy Councillor, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty, &c.;

His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, the Sieur Philip, Baron de Brunnow, his Privy Councillor, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty, &c.;

And His Majesty the Most Majestic, Most Powerful, and Most Magnificent Sultan Abdul Medjid, Emperor of the Ottomans, Chekib Effendi, Beylikdgi of the Imperial Divan, Honorary Councillor of the Department for Foreign Affairs, his Ambassador Extraordinary to Her Britannic Majesty, &c.;

Who, having reciprocally communicated to each other their Full Powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and signed the following Articles:

Closing of Straits of Dardanelles and Bosphorus to Foreign Ships of War in time of Peace.

ART. I. His Highness the Sultan, on the one part, declares that he is firmly resolved to maintain for the future the principle invariably established as the ancient rule of his Empire, and in virtue of which it has at all times been prohibited for the Ships of War of Foreign Powers to enter the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus; and that, so long as the Porte is at Peace, His Highness will admit no Foreign Ship of War into the said Straits.

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