conceded to the Latins by the former, was clearly recognised by the terms of the latter; and yet this now became the chief subject of dispute, the Russian Envoy endeavouring to prevail upon the Porte to withhold the key from the monks of the Latin Church. It is painful to record such squabbles, but they were the small beginnings of mighty events. A quarrel between ignorant monks in Palestine has ultimately involved the most powerful nations of Europe in war.

M. d'Ozeroff, the Russian Envoy, who had succeeded M. de Titoff at Constantinople, now insisted that the firman should be openly read at Jerusalem, and a commissioner, Afif Bey, was specially sent by the Porte in November for that purpose. It is of importance to notice here, that it appears from the despatches relative to this dispute, which have recently been laid before Parliament, that at this period M. d'Ozeroff made a formal declaration to the French Ambassador at the Porte, that Russia, by virtue of the treaty of Kainardji in 1774, claimed to protect the orthodox—that is, the Greek religion in Turkey. The validity of this claim will be subsequently considered; it is sufficient at this part of the narrative to call attention to the fact, that, so early as the month of November, 1852, Russia did assert her right to a protectorate of the Greek Church throughout the dominions of the Sultan, a claim which, in the following year, led to such momentous consequences. Some delay took place in the promulgation of the firman at Jerusalem, and this was attributed by the Russian Government to the influence of the French Ambassador at Constantinople. In a despatch

from Count Nesselrode to Baron Brunnow, the Russian Ambassador in London, dated January, 1853, he said, “The efforts of the French Embassy have triumphed at Constantinople. Not only has the firman, sanctioned by the Sultan's hatti-scheriff, not been executed at Jerusalem, but it has been treated with derision by His Highness's (the Sultan's) Ministers. To the indignation of the whole. Greek population, the key of the Church of Bethlehem has been made over to the Latins, so as publicly to demonstrate their religious supremacy in the East." It is difficult to understand the meaning of this last complaint. The firman itself-the non-promulgation of which Count Nesselrode alleged as a grievance-distinctly asserted that the Latins had a right to a key as well as the Greeks, and no religious supremacy could be conferred by the possession of a symbol which was held by each of the rival churches.

In order to give force to his representations, the Emperor of Russia ordered a large body of troops, at the close of last year, to advance towards the frontier of Moldavia, which is separated from the Russian province of Bessarabia by the river Pruth. In the meantime the firman was publicly read at Jerusalam, but disputes between the Russian and French Envoys at Constantinople respect ing the Holy Places still continued, which involved the Porte in serious embarrassment. We do not propose to go into the details of the squabble, but we may mention, that one of the complaints of the Russian Minister at this time was, that the Latins claimed to have the Tomb of the Virgin one day exclusively for themselves, which he said would produce much

discontent amongst the Greek pilgrims; and that M. de Lavalette took credit to himself for not demanding that the Latins should have lamps and images in the tomb, as he contended they were entitled to have. The Turkish Government was all this time placed between two fires, and, as was stated by Colonel Rose, the British Chargé d'Affaires at the Turkish capital, in a despatch to Lord John Russell on the 7th of March this year, "from the time M. de Lavalette threatened to bring up a French fleet to the Dardanelles, and M. de Titoff menaced instantly to quit Constantinople with every member of his mission, if their respective and entirely divergent demands were not complied with, the Porte had, under the pressure of that and subsequent coercions, committed a series of lamentable contradictions."

In consequence of the threatening aspect of the quarrel, the British Government, in February this year, directed Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, who had been for some time absent from Constantinople, to return to his embassy, charged with special instructions. About the same time an important actor appeared upon the scene. Prince Menschikoff was ordered by the Emperor of Russia to proceed to Constantinople as Ambassador and Plenipotentiary, ostensibly on the ground that the rank of a chargé d'affaires, who had been for some time at the head of the Russian mission there, did not give him the weight which was required in affairs of such gravity as were then pending.

Prince Menschikoff arrived at Constantinople at the end of February, accompanied by Count Demitri Nesselrode as his secretary,

and several Russian naval and military officers. He was received on the 2nd of March by the Grand Vizier, when he made use of peremptory language, and being invited to call upon the Foreign Minister, Fuad Effendi, he refused to do so, declaring that he would not do so, as M. d'Ozeroff, the Russian Minister at Constantinople had to accuse him of breach of faith. In consequence of this insult Fuad Effendi resigned his office, and Rifaat Pasha was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in his place. At this period we had no ambassador at Constantinople, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe not having yet arrived; but, on the 8th of March, Colonel Rose sent a despatch to Malta, addressed to Admiral Dundas, who commanded the British squadron there, desiring him to sail for the mouth of the Dardanelles. The Admiral, however, did not feel warranted by his instructions in complying with this demand, and the fleet remained stationary at Malta. But the French Government, on receiving intimation of what was going on from M. Benedetti, then Chargé d'Affaires at the Turkish capital, immediately ordered the Toulon squadron to sail for the Greek waters.

In a despatch from Lord Clarendon to Sir G. H. Seymour, the British Minister at St. Petersburg, dated the 23rd of March, he expressed the regret of the English Government "that the alarm and irritation which prevailed at Paris should have induced the French Government to order their fleet to sail for the waters of Greece;" but he admitted that their position was in many respects different from our own, and said, that the zeal of

their late Ambassador at Constantinople (M. de Lavalette, who had been recalled) was still the cause of much embarrassment to the French Government.* About this time, Colonel Rose received information that it was the intention of Prince Menschikoff to propose a secret treaty for the acceptance of the Porte, and that he had endeavoured to exact a promise from Rifaat Pasha, before he made known to him the nature of his mission and demands, that the Turkish Government would not reveal them to the representatives of England or France. This promise Rifaat Pasha declined to give, and his refusal no doubt occasioned the delay that took place in communicating to the Porte the real object of Prince Menschikoff's embassy.

On the 5th of April, Lord Stratford arrived at Constantinople, and on the following day he wrote to Lord Clarendon, and said that, at an interview he had had with the Grand Vizier and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, they informed him that, since the arrival of Prince Menschikoff, the language held by the Russian Embassy to them had been a mixture of angry complaints and friendly assurances, accompanied with positive requisitions as to the Holy Places in Palestine, indications of some ulterior views, and a general tone of insistance, bordering at times on intimidation." Prince Menschikoff now proposed secretly to Rifaat Pasha a series of demands, to the effect that a treaty should be concluded, providing that Russia

The language of M. de Lavalette had been very indiscreet. He had threatened that a French fleet would appear off Jaffa; and hinted at a French occupation of Jerusalem, "when," he said, "we shall have all the sanctuaries."

should enjoy the exclusive right of interfering for the effectual protection of all members of the Greek Church in Turkey, and of the interests of the churches themselves; that the privileges of the four Greek Patriarchs should be effectually confirmed; and that the Patriarchs should hold their preferment for life, independently of the Porte's approval. He also proposed a list of articles for the settlement of the question of the Holy Places. By this time M. de la Cour had arrived as Ambassador from France, and he strongly objected to the articles of arrangement which the Porte was disposed to yield, while it resolved to reject the proposed treaty.

The first formal and public demand made by the Russian Ambassador was in the shape of a Note addressed by him, on the 19th of April, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Porte. In it he made use of very peremptory language, and said, "The delays which have been occasioned hitherto in adopting a final decision on the proposition of the Ambassador of Russia oblige him to demand from the Porte a categorical reply, which he can await no longer. He demands, consequently:-1. An explicative firman, the form of which is to be agreed to, concerning the key of the Church of Bethlehem, and the silver star placed on the Altar of the Nativity in the subterranean part of the same Sanctuary; the possession of the grotto of Gethsemane by the Greeks, with the admission of the Latins to exercise therein their worship, but yet maintaining the precedency of the orthodox, and their priority for the celebration of Divine service in this Sanctuary: and, in fine, in

what relates to the common possession of the Greeks with the Latins of the gardens of Bethlehem, and the whole according to the bases discussed between His Excellency Rifaat Pasha and the Ambassador.

"2. A supreme order for the immediate repair by the Ottoman Government of the cupola of the Temple of the Holy Sepulchre, with the participation of the Greek Patriarch, without the intermeddling of a delegate of any other worship, for the walling up (cloture murée) of the harems having a view on the Sanctuary, and for the demolition of the harems contiguous to the cupola, if the possibility of that demolition be proved.

The Ambassador is charged with obtaining on these points a formal assurance and notification.

"3. A Sened, or Convention, for the guarantee of the strict status quo of the privileges of the Catholic Greco-Russian worship of the Church of the East, and of the Sanctuaries which are found in possession of that worship exclusively, or in participation with other rights at Jerusalem.

The Ambassador must repeat, in this place, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that which he has already had occasion to express to him many times-that Russia does not demand from the Porte political concessions; her desire is to tranquillize the consciences of the devout by the certainty of the maintenance of that which is, and of that which has always been practised up to our times."

The Porte remained firm in its resolve not to accede to the proposed Convention, which embraced questions of more importance than any which had hitherto heen raised in the dispute about the Holy

Places; but, with respect to the latter, it ultimately, at the beginning of May, issued two firmans for the definitive settlement of the quarrel. By these it was determined that the key of the Great Church at Bethlehem and a key of each of the two gates of the Grotto should remain "as of old" in the hands of the Latins. Other concessions were made to the Greeks, and the Porte undertook to repair, subject to the approval of the Greek Patriarch, the cupola of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This seemed likely to remove every subject of complaint, and the question which had so long created such difficulty would now have been finally set at rest, if the Russian Ambassador had been sent to Constantinople for that purpose alone, and not with concealed and ulterior views. Now, however, the full scope and object of the mission of Prince Menschikoff were openly made known. On the 5th of May he presented an ultimatum on behalf of his master, in the shape of a Note, accompanied by the draught of a proposed Convention or arrangement which the Porte was to sign within five days, under a threat of serious consequences if a longer delay took place. The Note was written in the third person, in the name of the Ambassador, and the material part of it was as follows:

"The Note of His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated the 26th Redjib (April 23— May 5) accompanying the certified copies of the two sovereign orders as to the Sanctuaries and the cupola of the Holy Sepulchre, only reached the Ambassador to-day. He considers that communication as a compliance with the first two

demands made in his note of April 7 (19,) and he will make it his duty to place those documents before his Government.

"But not having, up to the present time, obtained any answer upon the third and most important point, which requires guarantees for the future, and having very recently received orders to redouble his exertions for the immediate settlement of the question which forms the principal object of the solicitude of His Majesty the Emperor, the Ambassador finds himself constrained now to address His Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs, strictly confining his demands on this occasion to the orders which he has received from his superiors.

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The bases of the arrangement which he is instructed to obtain are substantially the same.

"The orthodox Eastern religion, its clergy and its possessions, shall enjoy for the future, without any prejudice, under the protection of His Majesty the Sultan, the privileges and immunities which are assured to them ab antiquo, and, upon a principle of perfect equity, shall participate in the advantges accorded to the other Christian

difficulties expressed on different occasions by His Excellency Rifaat Pasha and some of his colleagues have been taken into consideration, as His Excellency will see by the draught of a sened which the Ambassador has the honour to annex to the present note.

"The Ambassador flatters himself with the hope that the just expectations of his august master will not be disappointed, and that, laying aside all hesitation and all mistrust, by which his dignity and his generous sentiments would be aggrieved, the Sublime Porte will no longer delay to communicate to the Imperial Ambassador the sove reign decision of His Majesty the Sultan in reply to the present notification.

"In the hope that this will be the case, the Ambassador begs His Excellency Rifaat Pasha to be good enough to let him have that answer by Tuesday next (April 28May 10). He cannot consider a longer delay in any other light than as a want of respect towards his Government, which would im. pose upon him the most painful duty."

The proposed Convention accompanying this note was in the following terms:

"His Majesty the Emperor and Padishah of the Ottomans and His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, being mutually desirous of maintaining the stability of the orthodox Greco-Russian religion professed by the majority of their Christian subjects, and of guaranteeing that religion against all molestations for the future, have named

"His Majesty the Emperor and Padishah of the Ottomans and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias who, after having