208 
1802, that the hospodars of Mol- 
davia and Wallachia, when once 
appointed by the Porte, should 
remain in office for seven years, and 
should on no account be removed 
from their governments Defore the 
expiration of that term, without 
the concurrence of the Russian mi- 
nister at Constantinople. That such 
a stipulation was derogatory from 
the sovereignty, claimed and exer- 
cised by the Ottoman Porte for 
ages in these provinces, cannot be 
denied, But the terms of the con- 
vention were clear and precise, and, 
when concluded and ratified, any 
contravention of its articles by one 
of the contracting parties, without 
the consent of the other, could not 
but be regarded as a breach of 
treaty, affording to the other party 
a just ground of complaint, and on 
refusal of redress a justifiable cause 
of war. The convention might 
* have’ been originally improvident on 
the part of the Turks, as being in- 
compatible with the dignity and 
inconsistent with the interests of 
their empire, but when concluded, 
they were bound to abide by it, 
and had no right to abrogate or set 
it aside without the cousent of 
Russia. 
Affairs were in this posture, when 
the Ottoman government, alarmed at 
the progress of the French power, 
consented to send a special embassy 
to Paris, to congratulate Bonaparte 
on his assumption of the Impcrial 
dignity; and contrary to its former 
determination, agreed.to receive an 
anybassador from France, This con- 
cession was regarded as an import- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
ant victory by the French cabinet, 
and to improve the advantage it 
‘had gained, general Sebastiani was 
selected to be its ambassador at the 
Porte, as a person eminently quali- 
fied to promote its views in that 
quarter, by persuading Turkey 
to break her alliance with Russia 
and England, and revert to her 
antient connection with France. 
Fully instructed in the part he was 
to act, no sooner had Sebastiani 
arrived at Constantinople, than he- 
laid before the divan the treaty be. 
tween France and Russia, recently 
signed at Paris by D’Oubril; and 
contending that an article of that 
treaty, which guarantied in general 
terms the integrity and indepen. 
dence of the Turkish — empire, 
amounted to a virtual repeal of the 
convention concerning the hospo- 
dars, which he knew to be disa- 
greeable to the Turks, he succeeded » 
in persuading the Porte to. recal 
the reigning hospodars and appoint 
others in. their place, without con-. 
sulting the Russian ambassador, or 
regarding his formal protest against 
these measures.* Having carried 
this point against the Russians, 
while it was still uncertain whether 
D’Oubril’s treaty would or would 
not be ratified by the court of St. 
Petersburg, the French negotiator 
proceeded next, as soon as he under- 
stood the ratification of that treaty — 
had been withheld, to present a note 
to the Ottoman government,+ in 
which he demanded that the passage 
of the Bosphorus should be shut 
against all Russian ships of war, as 
well as against every other vessel 
* Sebastiani arrived at Constantinople on the 10th of August. The hospod&rs 
were displaced on the 24th, fourteen days after bis arrival, 
been signed on the 20th of July. 
‘ ' + Sept. 16. 
D’Oubril’s treaty had 
of 
