ning. The interest of the affair which you will have to carry on together, and the ties which are formed between Russia and England, make this a duty on your part. Nevertheless, this task will not be exempt from difficulties.

His

Cold, reserved, and often punctilious, Mr. Stratford Canning is susceptible in the extreme. character is somewhat sombre, and it is neither easy to gain his intimacy, nor to inspire him with confidence.

A great deal of frankness, united with a constant equality, in your behaviour with him, will, in our opinion, be the surest means of gaining your object. On your first arrival at Constantinople, you may submit to the perusal of the Ambassador of His Britannic Majesty the ostensible instruction with which you are furnished, and you may develope to him the principles it lays down for your guidance. Ulterior explanations, which we are about to enter into with Great Britain, are there spoken of. Your Excellency must not appear to be ignorant of their object; and, moreover, it will not be inopportune for Mr. Stratford Canning to be acquainted with them. Your Excellency will, therefore, have the goodness to communicate to

him our ostensible despatch to Prince Lieven, the sketch of the treaty we propose to conclude, and our instruction to M. de Tatistcheff.

We have reason to believe that our overtures, and the remarks which accompany them, will excite all the attention of the representative of the Court of London. If he observes at the same time that in all your confidential interviews with the Reis Effendi, you enter upon the affairs of Greece; if he sees that you are informed of what is going on in that country, and are determined to know well its real condition; if, lastly, with your characteristic ability, without ever speaking to him of the means of negotiation placed at the disposal of Prince Lieven, you make him divine them by ́your attitude, there is no doubt but he will hasten to communicate to the English Government these first impressions, always vivid, always eagerly received, and that they will produce a salutary effect at London.

You will thus have rendered an eminent service. Your relations with the Ambassador of France should be equally amicable, with a shade less of intimacy, and a shade which Mr. Stratford Canning may be able to perceive.

Count Guilleminot has received instructions (see annexe F.) which authorise him to combine with the representatives of Russia and England for the pacification of Greece. Consequently, you can extract from your ostensible instructions the passage regarding that negotiation, and allow him to read it, in order that he may not fall into a mistake as to the line of conduct you are commanded to adopt.

He is aware also of the proposition of the Court of the Tuileries, to change into a treaty the Protocol of the 23rd of March (4th of April), and probably of the opinions put forth by the Austrian Cabinet. It is therefore necessary not to leave him in ignorance of those of the Emperor.

In order to make him appreciate them, your Excellency will communicate to him our despatch to M. de Tatistcheff. Your relations will be friendly with all the other ministers of the European States, with the internuncio of Austria, and the minister of Prussia, although the latter unfortunately can inspire no personal esteem. They will mark the ties which bind us to these two Courts. That of Vienna has transmitted to us the instruction she addresses to M. d'Ottenfels. You will

find it subjoined. (Letter G.) It will authorise you to make the same communications to the Internuncio as to the Ambassador of France, and you will neglect no means of profiting by his cooperation, and of giving to it the character most fit to ensure its efficacy.

Of all the capitals, Constantinople is perhaps the only one where the ancient policy still keeps up its traditions, and all its power. Numerous intrigues are carrying on there, secret agents are constantly employed there, mysterious insinuations are daily made there to the Porte, and we know that Russia is in general the object of them. But our intentions towards the Turkish Government are so pure, our rights so clearly defined by the treaty of Akermann, our position so evident in the Greek affairs, that obscure manœuvres can neither change the results of our recent conventions, nor long hinder our obtaining those which we have still need of obtaining.

A stranger to this movement, your Excellency will therefore content yourself with being an attentive spectator of it. Information will not fail you, but whatever may be its nature, it ought to have no influence upon your official relations with your

colleagues, but truth is always useful, and

take care to make us acquainted with it.

The means which your situation affords you of often ascertaining the real policy of other Cabinets towards us, heightens the importance of your functions, and of your despatches.

Another field presents itself for your observations. You will arrive at Constantinople at a moment when the Sovereign is bringing about reforms there, which attack at the same time all the institutions of his states, the customs of his people, and the individual interests of many millions of his subjects. They cost his predecessor his throne and his life.

The present Sultan pursues them with more force, and his means are terror or death. But if a re-action ever takes place it will bear the same character. It will involve the extermination of the reigning dynasty, it will produce a frightful anarchy; and when one considers that the reforms have been commenced with the finances in a state of embarrassment, amidst symptoms of progressive decay, and that the Grand Seignior smothers in oceans of blood the projects of revolt, which nevertheless seem daily to revive,-it is difficult to