242 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



1. A Positive declaration that 

 xX. the Porte would not in- 

 terfere in the actual affairs of Po- 

 land. 



2. That it should oblige all the 

 French frigates and armed vessels 

 to quit the coasts of the Archipe- 

 lago ; and free all the ports of that 

 sea, over wh'ch the navy of Fiance 

 h:id of late exercised a kind of do- 

 minion. 



3. That no alterations should be 

 made in the customs and duties. 



4. That a free passage should be 

 allowed to Russian frigates through 

 thc> canal of Constantinople. 



5. That the princes of Moldavia 

 and Wallachia, being Greeks, and 

 ill-treated by the Ottoman minis- 

 ters, should be considered under the 

 immediate protection of her Impe- 

 rial majesty. 



Reply of the Reis Effendi. 



1. To this proposition he could 

 give no answer on the moment, as 

 it belonged to the Sultan himself to 

 decide upon points which con- 

 cerned the interest of his empire. 



2. That the Porte would not 

 consent to offer any violence to the 

 French frigates in question, 



3. That the Porte, as well as 

 every other free and independent 

 state, would make whatever regu- 

 lations it thought fit in the duties, 

 without suffering the interference 

 of any foreign power. 



4-. That the free navigation of 

 the cai.al of Conctantinople would 

 be a violation of the treaties and 

 conventioiis already subsisting be- 

 tween the twc courts. 



5. That the prince of Moldavia 

 and Wallachia, though Greeks, 

 being tributary to the Porte, could 

 demand no other treatment, but 



what was conformable to those 

 usages and customs which the Ot- 

 toman court had ever ebserved to 



all its dependencies. 



Note presented by the British ambat- 

 sador to the divan of Constanti- 

 nople in the Autumn, 1794'. 



'T'HERE exists between the Bel- 

 ■*■ ligerent powers aad the na- 

 tions, mutual duties, regulated by 

 treaties, or in default of these, by 

 the law of nations. 



The neutral nations are bound to 

 an exact impartiality towards the 

 parties at war ; they ought to assist 

 none of them. 



They ought, consequently, not 

 to permit in their country, the fit- 

 ting out, or arming, of men of war, 

 or privateers, in favour of one Bel- 

 ligerent power against another. 



Their harbours ought neither to 

 be the refuge of privateers, which, 

 if at all rtfceived, ought to be al- 

 lowed to enter them only in cases of 

 the most urgent necessity; and they 

 have a right to make them put to 

 sea again as soon as they have un- 

 dergone the most indispensable re- 

 pairs. The armed ships have no 

 right to bring up and carry their 

 prizes into those ports ; and the 

 Belligerent powers ought, on their 

 part, to abstain from all hostihties 

 among the neutral nations ; they 

 ought to respect their territories. 



But the above duties being per- 

 fectly reciprocal, it cannot be re- 

 quired from one party to make sa- 

 crifices for the sake of conformity, 

 if, on the other, those duties are 

 disowned and neglected ; if these 

 principles are applied to the pre- 

 sent juncture, it is supposed that a 



nation 



