[War. Russia and Turkey.] the two Provinces under the shade of the Imperial Throne, she abstained in order to spare the misfortunes of the inhabitants. In a word, the Sublime Porte makes the present Deciaration that none may have anything to say against her; that it may be weighed in the balance of equity and truth, how much injustice there was on the part of Russia in resisting the important demands and the grave complaints of the Sublime Porte, which are as clear as the sun, in inventing all kinds of objections, in interpreting in a thousand different ways the system followed by the Ottoman Government, and in declaring War without motive or necessity; in fine, that exempt from every kind of regret respecting the means of resistance which the Mussulman nation will employ, relying upon the Divine assistance, and acting in conformity with the holy law, she may be able to clear her conscience of an event which will occasion now and henceforward trouble to so many beings, and perhaps may shake the tranquillity of the whole world. June, 1828. [Conference of Poros.] No. 141.- PROTOCOL of Conference Preamble. TABLE. Reference to Treaty of 6th July, 1827. § 1. Portions of Greece freed from presence of the Turks. 2. Claims of Greece to Independence. 3. Maritime Defences necessary to Greece. 4. Continental Boundary. 5. Thessaly and Epirus not to be included in Continental Boundary. 6. Continental Boundary should include Guif of Arta to the Pass of Macrinoros, and the chain of Mount Othryx. 7. Steps necessary to be taken to secure proposed Frontier. (Translation as laid before Parliament.†) Reference to Treaty of 6th July, 1827. AFTER mature consideration of the information furnished by the Greek Government, and after frequent communications with Count Capodistrias, the Representatives, conforming themselves carefully to the instructions with which they have been collectively furnished, agree to record in this Protocol their definitive opinion upon the several points of the Treaty of London (6th July, 1827) (No. 136), upon which the Courts are called upon in their benevolence to decide. Acknowledging, on the one hand, the impossibility of obtain See also Protocols of 22nd March, 1829, and 3rd February, 1830; Arrangement of 21st July, 1832; and Treaties of 7th May, 1832; 30th April, 1833; 13th July and 14th November, 1863; and 29th March, 1864. For French version, sce "State Papers," vol. xvii, p. 405. [Conference of Poros.] ing perfectly accurate details respecting the statistics of Greece, where ruin, the result of the war, has succeeded to the arbitrary dominion of the Pashas,-and admitting on the other, that the information which has been acquired, is, notwithstanding these difficulties, sufficient to furnish useful data and approximate estimates; religiously adhering to the principles and object of the Treaty of London, the aim of which is the pacification of the Levant by means of a Mediation-if that be still possible; and, in the last place, confining themselves to seeking for Greece, guarantees for tranquillity, and facilities for defence, the Representatives have come to the following conclusions relative to the four questions specified in their instructions, namely; Boundaries, Tribute, Indemnity, and the relations of Suzerainty to be established between the Ottoman Porte and the Greek Government. Portions of Greece freed from presence of the Turks. § I. The only parts of Greece actually freed from the presence of the Turks, within the Limits specified by the instructions, are, the Morea, the Islands, and some detached portions of Roumelia. Claims of Greece to Independence. § II. Those parts of the Greek Continent which have taken the most active and persevering share in the Insurrection, and in which the Christian population generally, in consequence of its numbers, and of the comparative extent of its possessions, has the best claims to the Independence contemplated by the Treaty, are to be found between the Isthmus of Corinth, and the high mountains which traverse the Continent from the Gulf of Arta to the Gulfs of Zeitoun and Volo. Maritime Defences necessary to Greece. § III. With respect to the means of Maritime Defence, and looking, in the first place, only to the Morea, it would be of great importance for the tranquillity and the security of that Peninsula, that the Greeks should be put in possession of the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth, and even of that of the Gulf of Patras; although the latter would be, in this point of view, of less urgent: necessity. In examining with a like view the situation of Attica, Boeotia, and Locris, it is to be feared that these provinces would not enjoy lasting tranquillity if the Island of Negropont should not be annexed to them. [Conference of Poros.] Continental Boundary. § IV. No line combining in its whole extent the requisite qualities, and including at the same time the Coast described in the foregoing paragraph, is to be found among those specified in the instructions. On the land side, the ridges of Parnes and Citharon would present a line which would be easy of defence, and would sufficiently separate the population located on either side; but this line would be defective with respect to the sea coast, and would moreover exclude a very considerable portion of the insurgent population. The line which, commencing at Thermopyla, follows the ridge of Mount Eta and Corax, and ends at Lepanto, although it fulfils the necessary conditions, in the greater part of its extent, would nevertheless not suffice for the purposes of defence, without expensive works; and even then it would, in other respects, still remain imperfect. The line of Mount Eta, continued to the Gulf of Arta, would doubtless present one of the strongest barriers for defence, and for the separation of the inhabitants it would include the provinces which formerly constituted Greece Proper or Hellas; but it would require artificial works more or less expensive, in order to close the Pass of Thermopyla; and would exclude the position of the Gulf of Zeitoun, the occupation of which, by the Turks, would threaten the Greek line of defence, and would expose the communications of the Greeks by sea to continual constraint and collision. Thessaly and Epirus not to be included in Continental Boundary. § V. The two lines of Frontier proposed by the Greek Government, independently of their special defects, would include Thessaly and Epirus, a few districts of which alone have taken any share in the Insurrection, and of which several of the chiefs have even borne arms for the Porte; while the Greek population in general has lived peaceably with the Turks settled in those provinces. On this account, these two lines could not be adopted without contravening the principles on which the Representatives are bound by their instructions to found their opinion. Continental Boundary should include Gulf of Arta to the Pass of Macrinoros, and the chain of Mount Othryx. § VI. In order to complete the system of defence, and to give to the system of separation the best guarantee for the fulfilment of the wishes of the great majority of the Greeks; and [Conference of Poros.] lastly, to satisfy more effectually than could be done by any other of the proposed lines, all the conditions specified in the instructions, the Frontier of Greece should be advanced to the Gulf of Arta, and to the Pass of Macrinoros, on the one side; and, on the other, to the chain of Mount Othryx, near the entrance of the Gulf of Volo; unless considerations of a higher nature should make it necessary to fix the Limits of Greece, by other rules than those which, according to the text of their instructions, ought to guide the opinion of the Representatives. Steps necessary to be taken to secure proposed Frontier. § VII. In order to establish this Frontier, it would be necessary to cause the Turkish garrisons of several forts and positions to withdraw, and it would even be necessary, according to the letter of the Treaty, to oblige the Turkish inhabitants to quit the country, who, according to the information furnished by the Greek Government, amount to upwards of 8,000 souls, domiciled principally in the Negropont, at Zeitoun, and at Patradjick. Considering the actual state of the Greeks, this twofold operation would require the employment of the troops of the Allies. Insular Boundary. § VIII. With respect to the Islands, the parallels of latitude and longitude specified in the instructions will include (with the exception of Samos) all those which, looking to their population, to the state of prosperity, to the share which they have taken in the Insurrection, and to their entire separation from the Turks, possess the most indisputable claims to form a part of the new Greek State. But without those limits are the Islands of Samos and Candia, which although distant from the body of Greece, are associated with it by common interests; and although their respective cases rest on different grounds, they deserve the benevolent consideration of the Courts, with regard to their claims to the application of the Treaty of London in their favour. With respect to the Island of Negropont, it is so closely connected with the adjacent parts of the Greek continent, that in the definition of the Frontier most suitable to the latter, it has already found the place which nature and the wants of Greece assign to it. Tribute. § IX. As the Tribute to be paid to the Sultan is calculated |