258 



EASTERN QUESTION. 



the intervention of any foreign powers in the 

 settlement of difficulties between her and Tur- 

 key. The Greek war of independence entailed 

 on Turkey a considerable loss of territory; the 

 establishment of a new kingdom, which was 

 naturally bent on cooperating with any other 

 enemy of Turkey for the overthrow of her 

 power ; the destruction of her entire fleet (Octo- 

 ber 20, 182V) ; the concession of a semi- indepen- 

 dent position to the Pacha of Egypt, who on- 

 ly at this price was ready to fight for his sov- 

 ereign ; and the ratification of the Eussian pro- 

 tectorate over the Danubian principalities and 

 the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire. 

 These severe losses and concessions were soon 

 followed by others of still greater importance. 

 War again broke out between Russia and Tur- 

 key in the following year, and resulted in the 

 Treaty of Adrianople, by which Turkey was 

 further humiliated, and the overwhelming influ- 

 ence of Russia firmly established. Besides the 

 payment of an indemnity of ten million 

 Dutch florins, Turkey had to grant the free 

 passage of the Dardanelles, and consent to the 

 regulation of her position toward the Danubian 

 principalities, which reduced her right and ti- 

 tle to those provinces to a mere ceremony of 

 homage and the payment of a tribute. Count 

 Nesselrode wrote to the Grand-duke Constan- 

 tino : "The stipulations of the Treaty of Adrian- 

 ople have secured the preponderance of Russia 

 in the Levant, they have strengthened her 

 frontiers, unfettered her commerce, guaranteed 

 her rights, and advanced her interests beyond 

 precedence." At the conclusion of the Hellenic 

 War, Sultan Mahmoud resolved to improve his 

 relations with his Egyptian vassal, but, as the 

 French Government refused its assistance, and 

 as Mehemet Ali proved too formidable an an- 

 tagonist, the Sultan was unwillingly forced in- 

 to an alliance, offensive and defensive, with 

 Russia by the Treaty of Hunkiar-Skelessi (July 

 3, 1833). This treaty contain ed a secret clause, 

 which stipulated, that the Dardanelles should 

 eventually be closed to the commerce of France 

 and England, but should always remain open 

 to the Russian fleets. At the approach of the 

 Russian army, Mehemet Ali signed the Peace 

 of Kutaieh, in order to gain time for more ex- 

 tensive preparations and a more effective pros- 

 ecution of his ambitious plans. In 1839 he 

 resumed hostilities, refused the payment of 

 tribute, took possession of Candia, and marched 

 his troops to the borders of Cilicia. The 

 Turkish army was totally defeated, on June 24, 

 1839, near Nesib, and the Turkish fleet went 

 over to the Egyptians. The fear of another Eu- 

 ropean war induced the great powers to form 

 a quadruple alliance at London, in 1840 ; they 

 promised assistance to the Sultan against the 

 rebellious Viceroy and decided to bring the 

 Eastern question to a close. Russia consented 

 to certain modifications of the Treaty of Hun- 

 kiar-Skelessi. The Viceroy, in view of the de- 

 termination of the great powers, was induced 

 to surrender. The Porto was invited to par- 



ticipate in the deliberations of the quadruple 

 alliance, a fact not only of great importance 

 with regard to her future position toward the 

 other European powers, but altogether with out 

 precedent. The rights of the Viceroy of 

 Egypt were guaranteed upon his promise of 

 the payment of tribute and of the reduction of 

 his army. Russia renounced the Treaty of 

 Hunkiar-Skelessi, and the Porte made conces- 

 sions in regard to the fortifying of the Darda- 

 nelles and to their permanent neutralization. 



New differences arose, however, between 

 Russia and Turkey, concerning the protectorate 

 of Servia, and another war would have been 

 the result, had not the great powers interfered 

 in favor of the autonomy of Servia, as pro- 

 posed by Russia. A wide-spread revolt in 

 Albania, which was subdued by Omar Pacha 

 at the head of a numerous army ; the cruel 

 and bitter feuds between the Druses and 

 Maronites on the Lebanon ; the differences 

 with Greece, in 1847 ; and the revolutionary 

 movements in the Danubian principalities, in 

 1848, kept the Sublime Porte in constant 

 trouble. In spite of the protestations of the 

 Turkish Government, Russia marched an army 

 into the principalities, with a view to sup- 

 press the revolutionary spirit of the population, 

 and Turkey was compelled, by the Treaty of 

 Baltaliman, to concede to Russia equal rights 

 in these provinces for the term of seven years, 

 while Russia promised to withdraw her troops 

 after the quelling of the Hungarian Revolution. 

 When the quarrels of the Greeks and Roman 

 Catholics concerning the possession of parts 

 of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jeru- 

 salem, induced the French Government to in- 

 terfere, the Emperor Nicholas sent Menchikoff 

 on a special mission to Constantinople, with 

 the formal demand of a general protectorate 

 over all the members of the Greek Church 

 throughout the Ottoman Empire. This was 

 refused ; Menchikoff and the Russian embassy 

 left Constantinople on May 21, 1853 ; and Rus- 

 sia took full possession of the Danubian prin- 

 cipalities as a pledge for her demand. This 

 led to an immediate declaration of war on the 

 part of the Porte ; England and France entered 

 into an offensive and defensive alliance, which 

 was joined by Sardinia ; while Austria tried to 

 mediate by proposing a joint protectorate over 

 the Christian subjects of the Sultan by the 

 great European powers. This proposition was 

 indignantly rejected by Nicholas, who thus 

 inaugurated the Crimean War, terminated by 

 the Treaty of Paris, on March 30, 1856. The 

 independence and integrity of the Ottoman Em- 

 pire were again recognized, all foreign inter- 

 ference with its internal affairs forbidden, and 

 the fate of the Danubian principalities regu- 

 lated by means of a joint guarantee of their 

 liberties and prerogatives under the sovereign- 

 ty of the Porte, the latter promising to grant 

 them an administration in accordance with the 

 wants and desires of the population. Russia 

 was compelled to cede a part of Bessarabia, by 



