Gross 19. Nov. 1862. No. 539 which would prove irregular, and which would have to be undone hereafter; britannien, the provisional uncertain condition of the country would be prolonged. Her Majesty's Government desired to guard against this danger. They accordingly proposed to the other guaranteeing Powers to make, by anticipation, a declaration at Athens to the effect that they cannot permit a Prince selected from their respective reigning Families to become the Sovereign of Greece. I had to ask his Excellency whether he would assent to this proposal; but I had another question to put to him. In order that such a declaration should be distinct and effectual, we must know exactly who was, and who was not excluded from the throne of Greece under the existing Treaties and Protocols, those, namely, of 1826, 1827, and 1830. When his Excellency had originally spoken to me on the subject, I had assumed that the Duke of Leuchtenberg was understood to be excluded by the Imperial Government, I had not alluded to him by name, for I did not desire to originate a question which at that moment might seem ungracious; and his Excellency, on his part, had not touched upon the position of the Duke. Events had, however, since advanced; in the minds of certain persons, doubts existed as to the bearing of the Treaty on His Imperial Highness; the subject was publicly discussed. Her Majesty's Government deemed it necessary to leave no ambiguity on this question. I was directed to ask his Excellency whether, in the opinion of the Russian Government, the Duke of Leuchtenberg was a Prince of the Imperial family, and as such excluded by Treaty from the Hellenic throne. In replying to these questions the ViceChancellor observed that the Russian Government could not accede to the proposal to make the desired declaration by anticipation at Athens. Such a declaration would have the effect of greatly discouraging the Greeks; it would cast them into disorder, and drive them into Republican notions, or to the choice of a native Sovereign who would have no authority in the country. His Excellency would not anticipate events, nor did he think that a peremptory declaration of this sort was consistent with the maxims laid down by your Lordship's despatch to Mr. Scarlett of the 6th instant. That despatch recognized the principles of popular sovereignty, and opened a wide field of freedom to the Greeks; but now your Lordship proposed to subject them to premature restrictions. The course of the Imperial Cabinet would be different. The obligations of Treaties and rights still existing must be respected, and not lightly cast aside. It was first necessary to clear the ground in regard to the Bavarian family. He intended to call upon the Cabinet of Munich to state, first, whether they still claimed their rights under the existing Treaties having reference to Greece; secondly, if they did so, whether they had a Prince ready, in the conditions of the Treaty, professing the Greek faith. In case the Government of Bavaria abandoned their rights, then the question was settled, and the throne was vacant; if they did not abandon their rights, but gave a hesitating or evasive reply on the question of religion, he held that the succession was annulled, and the throne was equally vacant. But if a Bavarian Prince was brought forward, fulfilling all the conditions of existing Treaties, and especially the stipulations regarding religion, then the Russian Government would offer that Prince to the Gross 19. Nov. 1862. Greek nation, without peremptorily pressing or imposing him. The Vice- No. 539. Chancellor at the same time demurred to give me a definitive answer to my britannien, question respecting the quality and exclusion of the Duke of Leuchtenberg. ¶ I said to Prince Gortchakoff that the course suggested by his Excellency in reference to Bavaria was certainly one of a regular and legitimate character, consistent with the principles of the Russian Government; but these proceedings would last some time; meanwhile, the Greeks would, perhaps, be proceeding to a precipitate conclusion. The declaration advised by Her Majesty's Government was intended to provide against this contingency. For my part, it was my duty to acquaint his Excellency plainly that in the opinion of my Government the Duke of Leuchtenberg was a Prince Romanoffsky, of the Imperial Family of Russia, and as such was excluded from the Throne of Greece by the stipulations of 1830, and by the spirit of those of 1826 and 1827. The ཤ Vice-Chancellor repeated his objections to the step suggested by your Lordship, and in reply to my second question respecting His Imperial Highness the Duke of Leuchtenberg, his Excellency still declined to give a categorical answer to the inquiries of Her Majesty's Government. The question whether the Duke was a Prince of the Imperial Family in the sense contemplated by the Treaty, and thus excluded from the Throne of Greece, was susceptible of juridical discussion. It was, moreover, a question which might never arise at all. If it did arise, it would then be time enough to bring it under debate. His Excellency added, that I asked him for a spontaneous decision of the Emperor on a matter not raised by anything that had occurred, a voluntary concession, or expression of opinion on a subject concerning interests of an intimate nature. He could give no premature and uncalled-for explanation in such a case. ¶ I observed to the Prince that the matter was raised, for Her Majesty's Government had raised it, and attached great importance to it; and that I invoked no spontaneous declaration on the part of His Imperial Majesty on a matter of intimate concern to his family. I merely asked him, the Vice-Chancellor, for the official construction placed upon certain Treaties by the Russian Government. ¶ Prince Gortchakoff said that he could give me no other answer than that which he had already delivered; but he desired it to be distinctly understood that the Imperial Government had no designs whatever, in favour of the Duke of Leuchtenberg: they had no secret policy in the matter, no word had been addressed to Count Bloudoff empowering him to exert any influence on behalf of the Duke, or any other candidate; his attitude was strictly one of observation and expectancy. The course followed by Her Majesty's Government was not so consistent with our common declarations. Mr. Scarlett had been directed to communicate your Lordship's despatch of the 6th instant to the person charged at Athens with the functions of Minister of Foreign Affairs. This was an act of an official character. By the private telegrams of this morning it was reported that the English Admiral had saluted the revolutionary flag at the Piræus. Something of the same kind had occurred at Patras. This was very like official recognition. There had been fraternizations at Zante and elsewhere between English officers and the people. Such proceedings were not compatible with impartiality and Staatsarchiv IV. 1863, 8 Gross 19. Nov. 1862. No. 539. non-recognition. In replying to the Vice-Chancellor, I contended that Mr. britannien, Scarlett might have imparted his despatch in an unofficial manner; that the salutes might not turn out to be true, or they might have been offered to Her Majesty's Minister, or some other English functionary, and have been misinterpreted; that the notion of an English officer fraternizing with the Greek populace was too,,bizarre" to deserve serious credit; and, besides, that whatever happened in the Ionian Islands happened within our own boundaries. Nevertheless, as anything which resembled official recognition of the Provisional Government would be repugnant to the declared views of Her Majesty's Government, I would not fail to report his Excellency's reflections to your Lordship. ¶ During this conversation, which I have condensed, for it was of a very disjointed and desultory character, Prince Gortchakoff obligingly read to me a despatch which he had addressed to Baron Brunnow, commenting upon the tenor of your Lordship's instruction of the 6th instant to Mr. Scarlett. The strictures embodied in the Russian despatch are partly similar in spirit to those which the Vice-Chancellor verbally offered to me, and which I reported to your Lordship in my despatch of the 14th instant, but they are expanded and couched in much stronger language. The principles of popular right affirmed by your Lordship are animadverted on with some austerity; the character of revolutionary agencies, and of the revolutionary authorities in Greece, is contrasted unfavourably with that of the instruments of the English Revolution of 1688; the exclusion of Princes involved in the expression,,connected with" is described as excessive and impolitic; the sentiments of Her Majesty's Government are only approved in so far as they are favourable to the re-establishment of monarchy and of good order, and assert the doctrine of non-intervention. ག The Prince repeated that nothing had occurred beyond an exchange of remarks the most informal. Referring to the departure of the Prince for Tsarskoe Seloe, I said that I hoped his Excellency would submit the overture and questions of Her Majesty's Government to His Majesty the Emperor, and inform me of any determination which His Majesty might take in reference to them. ¶ The Prince answered that he would certainly report the substance of your Lordship's communications to His Majesty the Emperor. I said I would advert to the subject. when I next had the honour of seeing his Excellency. In taking leave of the Vice-Chancellor, I observed that I was most anxious to lay before your Lordship's impartial judgment all that bore upon the nationality and position of the Duke of Leuchtenberg. There was a paper which illustrated that subject particularly, the Ukase by which, as I understood, the name of Romanoffsky had been bestowed on him and their Imperial Highnesses his brothers and sisters. I had not been able to find that document in my archives, nor to procure it. His Excellency would save me some time and trouble if he would give me a copy of it for the information of Her Majesty's Government. It was printed, it was a public document, his Excellency must have it at his command. ¶ His Excellency replied that he had not got it by him; that he would not give it to me; that if he did so, he would seem to raise or continue an official discussion on a subject on which he did not intend to enter. The discussion, of which Gross I give your Lordship the substance, rather than the narrative, was unfortunately No. 539. a very hurried one. I saw the Vice-Chancellor at half-past 8 in the morning, britannien, and his Excellency was obliged to prepare for the train which leaves St. Petersburgh for the Imperial residence at Tsarskoe Seloe at 10 o'clock. &c. 19. Nov. 1862. To Earl Russell. Napier. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Ausw. No. 540. Gesandter in St. Petersburg an den königl. Min. des Bericht über die rechtliche Stellung der Familie Leuchtenberg in Russland. No. 540. Gross britannien, St. Petersburgh, November 20, (received November 26) 1862. My Lord, The mere relationship existing between His Imperial Highness the Duke of Leuchtenberg and His Majesty the Emperor would probably not constitute him strictly a member of the Imperial Family, and exclude him under existing Treaties from the Throne of Greece. ¶ Prince Henry of the Netherlands, like the Duke of Leuchtenberg, is the son of a Grand Duchess of Russia, but he is not a Prince of the Imperial Family, and Her Majesty's Government would probably not consider him debarred from the Hellenic Crown by Treaty. If the Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Crown Princess of Wurtemberg, had had children, her younger sons bred in the Protestant religion, and identified by education and association with their paternal nationality, would scarcely have fallen within the category of Princes contemplated by the engagements of 1830. The Duke of Leuchtenberg himself, if he had been brought up in Bavaria by a father following the life and duties of a Bavarian Prince, and by a mother, although a daughter of the Emperor, identifying herself with the same, would not have been ranked with the Princes of the Imperial House of Russia; he might have been so dissociated in practice, and in fact, from his maternal nationality, that the Greeks might now have found in him a legitimate, distinguished, and appropriate Sovereign. It may be doubted whether the Duke of Leuchtenberg is in the strictest sense of the word a Prince of the Imperial Family. He is a Russian Prince, Prince Nicholas Romanoffsky, by Imperial creation, and he has received from the Emperor, in common with his brothers and sisters, the title of Imperial Highness, with the power of conveying it to his descendants as far as the third generation; but he is not placed exactly upon the same line as the children of the younger sons of the late Emperor-for instance, he is not prayed for in the Russian Liturgy. He is a Russian subject by birth, residence, baptism, and official declaration; but he may possibly also be a Bavarian subject according to the laws of Bavaria, in virtue of his Bavarian father and his Bavarian title. There is something mixed in his quality. It is not impossible that in the eyes of a German jurist the Duke is in the first instance a German Prince, and that a Russian jurist might now speciously contend that he is not a Prince of the Imperial Family. I presume, however, that Her Majesty's Government do not regard this ques 20. Nov. 1862. Gross 20. Nov. No. 540. tion as one which ought to be determined simply by the dictates of the civil law, britannien, either of Germany or Russia. There is a higher law-the law of European 1862. policy and international good faith-by which the letter of the Treaty stipulations affecting this question is to be illustrated and solved. By the engagements of 1826 and 1827 the Powers interested in the creation and maintenance of the Greek nation declared that they would seek no exclusive influence in Greece, and by the Protocol of 1830, when about to nominate a Sovereign for Greece, they excluded from the Throne of that country the Princes belonging to their respective reigning Houses, no doubt in order to consolidate previous engagements, to avoid jealousies, and to eliminate an opportunity and an instrument for the exercise of that exclusive influence which they had renounced and condemned. Now whether the Duke of Leuchtenberg be technically a Prince of the Imperial family or not, he is practically a Prince of the Imperial family. The late Emperor, who was tenderly attached to his grandchildren, did all he could to make them Russians, to identify them by every tie of affection, conviction, and habit with the Imperial family and the Russian nation. I do not dispute that the Duke of Leuchtenberg has always borne his national name, and that he is warmly attached to the memory of his father, to that of his distinguished grandfather, and to the idea of his Bavarian and French ancestry; but, nevertheless, His Imperial Highness is chiefly a Russian, and a Russian Prince of the Imperial House. His nomination to the Throne of Greece, unless he proved to have a mind of remarkable independence, would bring down upon that country a flood of Russian connections; it would probably saturate the Greek Court and Administration with that exclusive influence which we desire to avoid, and therefore his election is debarred by the Treaty engagements taken as whole, and construed by the spirit in which they were conceived. ¶ In illustration of this subject, I beg to inclose a despatch from Sir Hamilton Seymour to the Earl of Malmesbury on the occasion of the death of His Imperial Highness the late Duke of Leuchtenberg. I have also the honour to submit to your Lordship the Imperial Ukase alluded to by Her Majesty's Minister, by which the title of Prince Romanoffsky is conferred on the young Duke, in common with the other children, and by which the dignity of Imperial Highness is rendered hereditary in the family with a limitation. The translation made by Mr. Grant Duff, recently attached to this Embassy, may be depended upon. I have, &c. My Lord, I learn that by an Ukase which was signed yesterday, but which is not yet published, the name and title of Princes of Romanoffsky has been conferred by the Emperor upon the children of the late Duke of Leuchtenberg, who, as I take for granted, are therefore to be considered as Russian subjects, as they belonged previously to the Russian Church. These children, as your Lordship is probably aware, were already possessed of the title of |
