1862. membres des trois familles régnantes en France, en Angleterre, et en Russie, No. 548. Russland, sont exclus du Trône Hellénique. En conséquence de cet engagement, il est 4. Dec. mutuellement convenu de déclarer nulle et non avenue l'élection de Son Altesse Impériale Monseigneur le Prince Romanoffsky, Duc de Leuchtenberg, neveu de Sa Majesté l'Empereur de toutes les Russies, de même que de celle de Son Altesse Royale Monseigneur le Prince Alfred, fils de Sa Majesté la Reine du Royaume Uni de la Grande Bretagne et d'Irlande, dans le cas où l'un ou l'autre de ces Princes serait appelé au Trône Hellénique par l'expression d'un voeu de la nation Grecque. Le Soussigné, &c. Au Earl Russell &c. Brunnow. No. 549. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Min. d. Ausw. an den kaiserl. russischen Botschafter in London. Bestätigung des Ausschlusses des Prinzen Alfred, sowie des Herzogs von Leuchtenberg von dem griechischen Throne. Foreign Office, December 4, 1862. Gross 4. Dec. 1862. The Undersigned, &c., has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of No. 549. the note of his Excellency the Baron de Brunnow, &c., dated this day; and he britannien, has the honour to announce to his Excellency in reply, that he has received the commands of Her Majesty to declare that the engagement in virtue of which the members of the three families reigning in Great Britain, in France, and in Russia, are excluded from the throne of Greece, is held by Her Majesty's Government to be in full force and vigour. In consequence of this engagement, it is mutually agreed to declare as null and void the election of His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, son of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as that of His Imperial Highness Prince Romanoffsky, Monseigneur the Duke of Leuchtenberg, nephew of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in case either of these Princes should be called to the throne of Greece by the vote of the Greek nation. ག The Undersigned, &c. Russell. To Baron Brunnow &c. No. 550. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Min. d. Ausw. an den königl. Gesandten in Athen. Foreign Office, December 4, 1862. Gross Sir, You will propose to your colleagues of France and Russia to No. 550. make a declaration of an unofficial, but binding, nature to the Provisional britannien, Government of Greece to this effect: 4. Dec. 1862. No. 550. Gross ,,Great Britain, France, and Russia hold themselves bound by the engabritannien, gement that no member of the Imperial and Royal Families reigning in either of 4. Dec. 1862. the three States should accept or wear the Crown of Greece: consequently neither His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, a member of the Royal Family of England, nor His Imperial Highness the Prince Romanoffsky, Duke of Leuchtenberg, a member of the Imperial Family of Russia, could accept the Crown of Greece if offered by the Greek nation." It would be most conducive to the belief of union among the three Powers if a joint note to this effect were signed by the Representatives of the three Powers. But if this is not practicable, a separate note should be signed by you with regard to Prince Alfred, by the Russian Minister in regard to the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and by the French Minister in regard to the Imperial Family of France. With the exception of the names and titles of the Powers excluded, in respect to which Great Britain and Russia would name their own Princes, these three notes ought to be identical in their terms. ¶ You will let me know, by telegraph, if any deviation from these instructions is proposed. ¶You will not agree to any such deviation without instructions from Her Majesty's Government. I am, &c. Russell. To Mr. Scarlett, Athens. No. 551. No. 551. GROSSBRITANNIEN. Min. d. Ausw. an Mr. H. Elliot. Instruction en für dessen Sendung nach Griechenland, insbesondere in Betreff der Abtretung des Protectorats über die Ionischen Inseln. Foreign Office, December 12, 1862. Sir, You are directed to proceed immediately to Athens, and I am britannien, commanded to give you the following instructions for the guidance of your con 12. Dec. 1862. duct when there. It is Her Majesty's earnest desire to contribute to the welfare and prosperity of Greece. The Treaties of 1827 and 1832 bear evidence of this desire on the part of the British Crown. The Provisional Government of Greece declared, upon the withdrawal of King Otho from Greece, that their mission is to maintain for Greece Constitutional Monarchy and the relations of peace with all other States. ¶ If the new Assembly of the Representatives of the Greek nation should prove faithful to this declaration, should maintain Constitutional Monarchy, and should refrain from all aggression against neighbouring States, and if they should choose a Sovereign against whom no well-founded objection could be raised, Her Majesty would see in this course of conduct a promise of future freedom and happiness for Greece. In such case Her Majesty, with a view to strengthen the Greek Monarchy, would be ready to announce to the Senate and Representatives of the Ionian Islands Her Majesty's wish to see them united to the Monarchy of Greece, and form with Greece one united State; and if this wish should be expressed also by the Ionian Legislature, Her Majesty would then take steps for obtaining the concurrence of the Powers who Gross 12. Dec. 1862. were parties to the Treaty by which the Seven Ionian Islands and their depen- No. 551. dencies were placed as a separate State under the Protectorate of the British britannien, Crown. Her Majesty takes this step without any other motive than a warm regard and friendship for the Greek nation. The detailed arrangements for carrying this measure, if determined upon, into effect, would be the subject of future communications from Her Majesty's Government to the Government of Greece and to the Powers who signed the Treaty of November 1815. ¶ You will take care, in your communications upon this subject, to make it understood that the election of a Prince who should be the symbol and precursor of revolutionary disturbance, or of the adoption of an aggressive policy towards Turkey, would prevent any relinquishment of Her Majesty's Protectorate of the Ionian Islands. Her Majesty's Government trust that, in the selection of a Sovereign to rule over Greece, the Greek Assembly will choose for their King a Prince from whom they can expect a regard for religions liberty, a respect for constitutional freedom, and a sincere love of peace. A Prince possessing these qualities will be fitted to promote the happiness of Greece, and will be honoured with the friendship and confidence of Her Majesty the Queen. You will speak in this sense to the members of the Provisional Government and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. You will, of course, communicate unreservedly with Mr. Scarlett, and you may rely upon his co-operation and support in the execution of your duties.¶ I am, &c. To Mr. H. Elliot. Russell. GROSSBRITANNIEN. No. 552. Botschafter in St. Petersburg an den königl. Min. d. Ausw. Unterredung mit dem Fürsten Gortschakow in Betreff der griechischen Königswahl. Gross britannien, 7. Dec. 1862. St. Petersburgh, December 7, (received December 16) 1862. (Extract.) In conformity with your Lordship's instructions I have had No. 552. the honour of placing in the hands of Prince Gortchakoff your Lordship's despatch of November 28, relating to the correspondence which has passed between Her Majesty's Government and that of Russia with reference to the election of a Sovereign in Greece. I obtained an interview with the Vice-Chancellor yesterday afternoon. His Excellency read your Lordship's despatch aloud, and in doing so offered some reflections upon its contents, of which I now submit to your Lordship the substance. ¶ To the first portion of your Lordship's despatch, embodying a recapitulation of the several communications which have passed between the two Governments in England and at St. Petersburgh, the Vice-Chancellor offered no objection. He acknowledged the accuracy of your Lordship's narrative. The paragraph which reproduces the reasons offered by Prince Gortchakoff in declining to give a definitive reply respecting the position of His Imperial Highness the Duke of Leuchtenberg, afforded to his Excellency an occasion for some remarks. He declared that he adhered to the views which Staatsarchiv IV. 1863, 9 Gross No. 552 he had previously intimated respecting the relations of the Duke to the engagebritannien, ments existing regarding the exclusion of Princes belonging to the three reigning 7. Dec. 1862. Houses from the Hellenic Throne. The position of the Duke was a matter open to juridical discussion. He believed that a majority of jurists would determine that, technically, the Duke did not belong to the category of Princes excluded by Treaty. The Duke was in one sense a Prince of the Imperial family: he belonged to that family by blood; and the late Emperor, who regarded his daughter the Grand Duchess Marie with peculiar tenderness on account of the desire she had manifested to remain near him, and to identify herself even in her married life with her native country, had bestowed on her children honours and privileges of a nature which reflected his sentiments; but those marks of his affection stopped short of constituting them, in a full and absolute sense, members of the Imperial House. The children were excluded by the marriage settlement from the succession to the Throne of Russia; they had no appanage whatever from the State; they had not received the Grand Ducal title; they had never been prayed for in the Liturgy of the Russian Church. This last distinction was one of which a Russian could perhaps alone appreciate the full significance. Subject as the children of the Grand Duchess were to these disabilities, he could not admit that they were, strictly speaking, and in a perfect sense, Princes of the Imperial family. He contended that the exclusion of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, as deducible from the text of the Treaty, must be considered a matter of doubt. It was obvious that a mere relationship or connection, however close, was not contemplated as a ground of exclusion by the engagements of 1826 and 1827, by which the Powers respectively disclaimed the desire of obtaining exclusive influence or ascendancy in Greece. Overtures had been made to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg after the signature of those engagements with reference to the Hellenic Throne, though he was the son-in-law of the Prince Regent, and at that very time in the receipt of a pension from Great Britain. If, however, said the Vice-Chancellor, we turn from the mere contemplation of the Treaty to regard the question as one of general policy, the exclusion of the Duke of Leuchtenberg might be recommended on many considerations. He had from the first moment never contemplated the election of the Duke as desirable. He had always been personally opposed to it; and in all his communications with the Emperor this sentiment had been constantly expressed. He held that the election of the Duke of Leuchtenberg would not be in the interests of Russia. No single act or expression in Greece or elsewhere on the part of the Russian Government, or on the part of any one connected with it, had given countenance to the candidature of the Duke. ¶ His Excellency added, that I must have inferred that such was his opinion. He had stated in the most unqualified manner that Russia had no secret policy, no selfish ambition (,,arrière-pensée, convoitise personnelle") in this matter. He had not thought proper to express himself categorically with reference to the exclusion of the Duke when summoned to do so by Her Majesty's Government, but his opinions were not the less formed and decided on that account. In regard to the combined declaration at Athens proposed by Her Majesty's Government, he had declined it, for he Gross 7. Dec. 1862. thought that the expression of a common resolution so formal and absolute might No. 552. have had the effect of driving the Greeks into violent courses, and of streng- britannien, thening the party of disorder; such a declaration he had disapproved of as a method of moral treatment (,,hygiène morale") in reference to the condition of the Greek nation at that conjuncture. Such had been his opinion, which, like all opinions, was, no doubt, subject to error. He had, however, conveyed to the Provisional Government of Greece a distinct declaration that the Russian Government recognized the engagements of 1830, prescribing the exclusion of the Princes of the three reigning Houses. That communication had been imparted by Count Bloudoff, and he was not aware that a similar declaration had been made by the Representatives of either of the other Powers. As for the demonstrations which had been evoked in favour of His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, as he had never regarded them as serious, whatever others might have thought, for his part they had never inspired him with the slightest apprehension. ¶ In replying to these observations, I said, with reference to the remark that I must have inferred that the opinion of Prince Gortchakoff was opposed to the election of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, that the language of his Excellency on this subject had been accurately reported to Her Majesty's Government in my despatch of the 19th ultimo, which had been submitted to his inspection, and which I had amplified and corrected in a subsequent report dated the 22nd ultimo, conformably with his wishes. Her Majesty's Government were as well informed on the subject as I was myself. As to the notion of a peremptory demand having been made by Her Majesty's Government, nothing had been in the outset further from the wishes of Her Majesty's Government. His Excellency must have remarked, I said, that I had in our first conversations never alluded to the Duke of Leuchtenberg by name, and when your Lordship first did so, it was in a confidential form, in an unofficial letter to the Russian Ambassador; I was convinced it was your Lordship's desire, as it had been my own, that the exclusion of the Duke of Leuchtenberg should have appeared as a spontaneous declaration on the part of the Russian Government. In regard to the quality of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, I did not contend that he was placed in all respects absolutely on the same line as the other Princes of the Imperial House, but still, in formal official documents, one of which I held in my hand, he was distinctly characterized as a member of the Imperial Family." As such, too, he had been recognized recently by the Russian Ambassador in London. Baron Brunnow had made this statement to your Lordship, and I had been charged accordingly to record it in an official note, which I had transmitted to his Excellency a day or two ago. I could not allow that the connection by marriage which existed between the Royal Family of England and the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, at an earlier period, could be compared with the relationship. of the Duke of Leuchtenberg by blood with the Imperial House of Russia, strengthened as it had been by an identification with Russian nationality. ¶ The Vice-Chancellor reverted to his previous statement that in one sense the Duke of Leuchtenberg was a member of the Imperial family, and in other respects he was not so. His Excellency added that the question was no longer worthy |