Russia.

realization of the above ideas, this may be considered as a most gratifying result.

Those who would judge our affairs with an unbiassed mind, should not pay attention to momentary phenomena and the often very superficial and malignant commentaries upon them in a part of the daily press. They must estimate the value of what has been done and attained in proportion to the difficulties we had to overcome, and thus measure the expectations of the future by the progress which has been actually achieved. The decided improvement of our finances and credit, the brilliant rise of our commerce and industry, are results the possibility of which has been likewise doubted; yet who will deny that they are mostly due to the confidence which the commercial world has shown in the constitutional state of things, and connects with its continuance ?

"You will, as often as you find an opportunity, express yourself in the sense of the above observations. By so doing you will act in accordance with the truth, and at the same time with a duty which, I think, is imposed upon all servants of the Imperial and Royal Government. Accept, etc."

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By such instructions to the accredited representatives of Austria throughout Europe, the Chancellor endeavoured to consolidate cordial relations, and at the same time to record, so to speak, the regeneration of Austria.

It now remained for him to place the relations of the Vienna Cabinet with Russia on a more

friendly footing. This could alone be effected by removing the distrust which had been excited by the Crimean war, and which now manifested itself in the Eastern policy of that power. It may be well to remind our readers that during the momentous events of 1854-5-6, in which England played so conspicuous a part, Austria's policy towards Russia was not, in the strict interpretation of the word, one of absolute neutrality. She prevented Russia from stirring up an insurrection in Servia, and limited her operations by imposing a strict cordon, any violation of which she declared would be regarded as a casus belli. It is not to be wondered at that the recollection of this fact, together with the humiliating conditions of the Treaty of Paris-to which Austria was also a party— limiting the maritime power of Russia in the Black Sea, should have continued to rankle in the breast of the Russian nation. Baron Beust sought the first opportunity of ameliorating this state of things, and found one in the Cretan insurrection. He foresaw in this revolutionary movement the commencement of more serious troubles, and at once proposed the adoption of a system of preventive

measures, and the revision of the Treaty of Paris, with the view of expunging therefrom the clause which fettered Russia's naval power. In this sense he wrote as follows, on the 1st of January, 1867, to Prince Metternich, the Austrian ambassador at Paris:

"Extrait.

“ A côté de cet objet principal qu'une révision du traité de Paris doit avoir en vue, il en est un autre, non moins important à nos yeux: celui de s'assurer du concours loyal et sincère de toutes les parties intervenantes. A ce point de vue, on ne saurait nier que le traité de 1856 n'a pas atteint complètement son but. Comme ce traité était destiné à terminer une guerre que la Porte et ses Alliés avaient soutenue avec succès contre la Russie, il devait paraître indispensable d'y introduire des clauses restrictives de la libre disposition d'une partie des moyens d'action que cette dernière Puissance pourrait, dans un cas donné, vouloir diriger contre l'Empire ottoman. On s'y sentait d'autant plus disposé que, pour tout le reste, on entendait épargner à la Cour de St.-Pétersbourg des conditions trop onéreuses. Aussi fut-elle ménagée en ce qu'on ne lui demanda qu'une cession de territoire de peu d'importance, et le prix de la lutte se résuma dans les entraves imposées aux mouvemens de la Russie du côté de la Turquie. On espérait, par là, garantir l'Europe, pendant un long délai, des complications dont la menaçait la question d'Orient. Tout en rendant justice aux motifs qui, à cette époque, ont dicté les déterminations de l'Europe, on ne saurait se dissimuler que c'est aller contre la nature des choses que

d'interdire à un Etat d'une étendue et d'une population aussi immenses sa liberté d'allures dans le cercle de son action légitime. Une pareille interdiction était peu propre à détourner, à la longue, les complications que l'on avait à coeur d'éviter. Toute compression excessive a pour effet de provoquer l'expansion de la force comprimée dans une autre direction et, de toute manière, en agissant comme on l'a fait, on a rendu difficile au Gouvernement russe de prendre de bon coeur sa position dans le concert européen nouvellement établi pour les affaires d'Orient.

"Autant qu'il s'agit donc des restrictions dont nous venons de parler, il importe de distinguer ce qui est possible de ce qui ne l'est pas. A notre avis, il y a lieu de tenir compte, dans une mesure convenable, du rôle naturel qu'assure à la Russie en Orient la communauté des institutions religieuses et de se ménager, par une attitude conciliante, le concours sincère de cette Puissance dans les affaires du Levant."

The salient ideas in this despatch are-first, that no permanent solution of the Eastern Question can be arrived at without enlisting the sympathies of Russia both for the Christian and the other inhabitants of the Turkish Empire; and, in the second place, that the existence of Turkey under the conditions required to insure its dignity as an independent State is a political necessity.

We have given two reasons for Russia's reserve towards Austria; there is, however, also a third.

The liberal and tolerant Government of Austrian Poland, and the determined rejection by Baron Beust of every attempt at Russian influence in that portion of the Empire, added to the appointment of Count Goluchowski as Governor of Galicia, caused great dissatisfaction at St. Petersburg. On the other hand, the Government at Vienna was well aware of the moral support the discontented Sclaves sought for, and to a certain extent received, from Russia; and was also thoroughly acquainted with the Pan-Sclavonic agitation and its origin. Baron Beust showed considerable astuteness in defeating these intrigues, which threatened to endanger the internal peace of the Empire. He first conciliated the Servians, by taking the initiative in the solution of two questions which were of the greatest importance to the people and their dynasty. The first was the removal, with the consent of the Turkish Government, of the Turkish garrison from the fortress of Belgrade; the second, the recognition by the Western Powers of the newly-elected Prince. Afterwards, in the Cretan question, he combated the proposal, which had been favoured by Russia, of separating that island