intention of his Majesty the Sultan to cause his
sovereign decisions to be executed without any alteration.

"The Sublime Porte, moreover, officially promises
that no modification shall be made in the state of things
which has just been regulated, without a previous
agreement with the governments of Russia and France,
and without prejudice whatever to the different
Christian communities.

"In case the Imperial Court of Russia should demand
it, a suitable locality shall be assigned in the city of
Jerusalem, or in the vicinity, for the construction of
a church consecrated for the performance of divine
service by Russian ecclesiastics, and of an hospital for
indigent or sick pilgrims of the same nation.

"The Sublime Porte engages itself even now to
subscribe in this respect a solemn act, which would
place those pious foundations under the special
surveillance of the Consulate-General of Russia in Syria
and Palestine."

The following are the proposed alterations.

"(1) For the worship of the Orthodox Greek Church,
the Sultans have never ceased to watch over the
maintenance of the immunities and privileges of that
worship and of that Church in the Ottoman empire,
and to confirm them anew by solemn acts which
attest, &c.

"(2) The communications.

"(3) Of Kouschouk-Kainarji, confirmed by that of
Adrianople, relative to the protection by the Porte of
the Christian worship.

"(4) And to make known that H. M. the Sultan, &c.

"(5) The advantages accorded, and which may be
accorded, to other Christian commuuities, Ottoman
subjects."

The Note, with these alterations, was sent back to
Vienna, accompanied by an official note addressed by
the Turkish minister, Reschid Pacha, to the
representatives of the Four Powers, dated the 19th of August,
and containing a full statement of the grounds on which
the alterations are proposed.

The Russian government has refused to agree to the
proposed alteration on the grounds contained in the
following dispatch from Count Nesselrode to Baron
Mayendorff, dated the 18th instant:

"We have just received, together with your
Excellency's reports of the 16th (28th) of August, the
alterations which the Ottoman Porte has made in the
draught of a note drawn up at Vienna.

"Count Buol will only require to recal to mind the
expressions of our communication of the 25th of July, to
form a clear idea of the impression these alterations
have made on his Majesty the Emperor.

"When I, in his Majesty's name, accepted that
draught of a note which Austria, after having previously
procured it to be approved and accepted by the Courts
of France and England, described to us as an ultimatum
that she intended to lay before the Porte, and on the
acceptance of which the continuance of her friendly
offices was to depend, I added, in a despatch which you.
Baron, were instructed to communicate to the Austrian
Cabinet, the following remarks and reservations. 'I
consider it to be superfluous to remark to your Excellency,
that, whilst we, in a spirit of conciliation, accept
the proposal of accommodation agreed to at Vienna, and
of sending a Turkish Ambassador, we assume that we
shall not have still further changes and fresh propositions
to examine and to discuss, which may happen to be
contrived at Constantinople under the warlike inspiration
which seems at present to influence the Sultan and
the majority of his Ministers; and that, should the
Ottoman Government also reject this last arrangement,
we should no longer hold ourselves by the consent
which we now give to it.'

"Expressions so precise as these could leave the
Austrian Government no doubt as to our present
decisions.

"I will not at the present moment enter into the
alterations of the wording which have been made at
Constantinople. I have made them the subject of special
remark in another despatch. I will, for the moment,
confine myself to asking whether the Emperor, after
having for himself renounced the power to change even
a word in that draught of a note, which was drawn up
without his participation, can allow the Ottoman Porte
alone to reserve to itself that power, and whether he
can suffer Russia to be thus placed in an inferior
position vis-à-vis Turkey. We hold this to be
inconsistent with the dignity of the Emperor. Let us recal
the whole series of events, as they took place. In the
place of the Menschikoff note, the acceptance of which
without alteration we had stipulated as the condition of
our resuming our relations with the Porte, a different
note was proposed to us. On this ground alone we
might have refused to take it into consideration. And
even after entering upon it we might have found
occasion to raise more than one objection, to propose
more than one alteration in the expressions. You know,
Baron, that from the moment we consented to give up
our ultimatum, no note of any form whatever was what
we desired—that we should have preferred another
plan, another form of agreement. We did not insist on
this plan; we have laid it entirely on one side. Why?
Because, as soon as we should have made counter-
propositions, we should have exposed ourselves to the
reproach of protracting matters, of intentionally
prolonging the crisis which is disquieting Europe. Instead
of this, as we wished to put an end to the crisis as soon
as possible, we sacrificed our objections both as regards
the contents and the form. On the receipt of the first
draught of a note, without waiting to learn if it had
been approved in London or in Paris, we notified our
accession to it by telegraph. Subsequently the draught
was forwarded to us in its final form; and although
it had been altered in a direction which we could not
misunderstand, we did not retract our consent, nor
raise the smallest difficulty. Could greater readiness
or a more conciliatory spirit be shown? When we
thus acted, we did so, as a matter of course, on the
condition that a draught which the Emperor
accepted without discussion should be accepted by
the Porte in a similar manner. We did so
under the conviction that Austria looked on it as an
ultimatum, in which nothing was to be changed—as
the last effort of her friendly mediation, which, should
it fail in consequence of the pertinacity of the Porte,
would thereby of itself come to an end. We regret that
it was not so. But the Vienna Cabinet will admit,
that if we had not to do with an ultimatum, but with a
new draught of a note, in which either of the parties
concerned was at liberty to make changes, we should
thereby recover the right, of which we had of our own
accord deprived ourselves, of proposing variations on
our part, of taking the proposal of arrangement into
consideration, and not only changing the expressions
but also the form.

"Could such a result be intended by Austria? Could
it be agreeable to the Powers, who, by altering and
accepting her draught, have made it their common
work? It is their affair to consider the delays which
will result from this, or to inquire if it is for the interest
of Europe to cut them short. We see only one single
means of putting an end to them. It is for Austria and
the Powers to declare to the Porte, frankly and firmly,
that they, after having in vain opened up to it the only
road that could lead to an immediate restoration of its
relations with us, henceforth leave the task to itself
alone. We believe, that as soon as the Powers
unanimously hold this language to the Porte, the Turks will
yield to the advice of Europe, and, instead of reckoning
on her assistance in a struggle with Russia, will accept
the note in its present form, and cease to compromise
their position so seriously for the childish satisfaction
of having altered a few expressions in a document which
we had accepted without discussion. For of these two
positions only one is possible,—either the alterations
which the Porte requires are important, in which case
it is very simple that we refuse to accede to them; or
they are unimportant, and then the question arises, why
should the Porte unnecessarily make its acceptance
dependent on them?

"To sum up succinctly what we have said, the
ultimatum drawn up at Vienna is not ours. It is the
work of Austria and the Powers, who, after having first
of all agreed to it, then discussed it, and altered its
original text, have recognised it as such as the Porte
could accept without its interests or its honour being