Слике страница
PDF
ePub

tiaries shall take place within the space of six weeks, or earlier, if possible. In faith of which, (Signed) Count ALEXIS ORLIf. Count J. PAHLEN.

In virtue, &c. (Signed) DIEBITSCH ZABAL.

KANSKY.

SEPARATE ACT,

Relating to the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.

In the name of Almighty God! The two high contracting powers, at the same time that they confirm all the stipulations of the separate act of Ackermann, relative to the forms to be observed on the election of the hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia, have recognised the necessity of giving to the adminis. tration of those provinces a more durable basis, and one more in harmony with their true interests. With this view, it has been, and is definitively resolved, that the reign of the hospodars shall not, as formerly, be limited to seven years, but they shall be invested with the dignity for life, except in the case of a free and unconstrained abdication, or of an expulsion in consequence of crimes committed as detailed in the said separate act.

The hospodars are to administer the internal government of their provinces, with the assistance of their divan, according to their own pleasure, but without permitting themselves any infraction of the rights guarantied to the two countries by treaties or hatti sherifs, nor shall their administration be disturbed by any command tending to the violation of those rights.

The Sublime Porte obliges itself conscientiously to keep watch, that

the privileges granted to Moldavia and Wallachia shall in no way be violated by the neighbouring governors, and that these shall in no way be allowed to interfere in the affairs of those two provinces; also to prevent the inhabitants of the right bank of the Danube from making excursions upon the territory of Moldavia and Wallachia. All isles situated nearest to the left bank of the Danube, are to be considered as part of the territory of those provinces ; and from the point where it enters the Ottoman territory, to the point of its confluence with the Pruth, the channel of the Danube is to form the boundaries of the two principalities.

To provide the more securely for the more inviolability of the Moldavian and Wallachian territory, the Sublime Porte engages to retain no fortified point upon the left bank of the Danube, nor to permit any settlement there of its Mahometan subjects. It is accordingly irrevo. cably fixed, that no Mahometan shall ever be allowed to have his residence in Moldavia or Wallachia, and that only merchants, provided with firmans, shall be admit. ted for the purpose of buying, on their account, such articles as may be required for the consumption of Constantinople.

The Turkish cities, situated on the left bank of the Danube, are to be restored to Wallachia, to remain incorporated with that principality; and the fortifications previously existing on that bank, are never to be repaired. Mahometans possessing landed property, either in those cities, or upon any point left of the Danube, provided they have not unfairly become possessed thereof, (non usurpes sur des particuliers,) shall be bound to sell such

property to natives within eighteen months.

The government of the principalities being entitled to all the privileges of independence in their internal administration, it shall be lawful for the same to draw sana. tary cordons, and to establish quarantine stations along the line of the Danube, and wherever else it may seem necessary; nor shall any strangers, be they Christians or Mahometans, have a right to consider themselves above an exact compliance with such quarantine regulations. For the execution of the quarantine duty, the protection of the ftontiers, the maintenance of order in the cities and in the open country, and for the purpose of obedience to their decrees, the government of each principality shall be permitted to maintain a sufficient military force. The numerical force of these troops is to be determined by the hospodars and their respective divans, upon the basis of former examples.

The Sublime Porte, animated by an earnest wish to secure to the two principalities every species of prosperity which they are capable of enjoying, and being aware of the abuses and oppression occasioned by the contributions for the supply of Constantinople, and the victualling of the fortresses of the Danube, renounces, in the most complete and unconditional manner, its rights in this respect. Moldavia and Wal. lachia are accordingly for ever re. lieved of all those contributions of corn, provisions, cattle, and timber, which they were formerly bound to furnish. Nor shall, in any case, labourers be demanded from those provinces for any forced service (corvee.) In order, however, in some degree to indemnify the grand

seignorial treasury for the losses which may be sustained by this re. nunciation of rights, Moldavia and Wallachia are bound, independently of the yearly tribute paid under the denomination of Kharadsh Idiye, and Rakiabiye, by virtue of the hatti sherif of 1822, to pay the Sublime Porte yearly, a pecuniary indemnity, the amount of which is hereafter to be determined. Moreover, upon every fresh nomi. nation of a hospodar, in consequence of death, resignation, or deposition, the principality where that event occurs, shall be bound to pay to the Sublime Porte, a sum equal to the yearly tribute of the province. With the exception of these sums, no tribute or present of any kind shall, under any pretext whatever, be demanded from the hospodars.

In consequence of the abolition of the above special contributions, the inhabitants of the principalities are to enjoy an unlimited freedom of trade for all the productions of their soil and industry, (as stipulated by the separate act of the treaty of Ackermann,) the same not to be liable to any other restraint, except such as the hospodars, with the consent of their divans, may con. sider necessary to the due provisioning of the country; they shall be allowed to navigate the Danube with their own vessels, being provided with passports from their own government; and it shall be lawful for them to proceed, for the purpose of trade, to the other harbours and ports of the Sublime Porte, without suffering any persecution from the collectors of the Kharadsh, and without being exposed to any other act of oppression whatever.

Duly considering, moreover, all the burdens which it has been ne. cessary for Moldavia and Walla.

chia to support, the Sublime Porte, animated by a proper feeling of humanity, consents to release the inhabitants from the yearly tribute payable to the treasury, for the space of two years, to be reckoned from the day of the total evacuation of the principalities by the Russian troops.

Finally, the Sublime Porte, animated by the wish to secure, in eve. ry possible way, the future prosperity of the two principalities, binds itself to confirm every administrative measure which, during their occupation by the Russian army, may have been decreed, in conformity to a wish expressed in the assemblies of the principal in habitants of the country, such decrees serving thenceforward as the basis of the internal administration of those provinces: provided always, that such decrees do not, in any way, infringe upon the rights of sovereignty vested in the Sublime Porte.

On this account, we, the undersigned plenipotentiaries of his majesty, the emperor and padishah of all the Russias, have, conjointly with the plenipotentiaries of the Sublime Ottoman Porte, regulated and fixed the points respecting Moldavia and Wallachia, the same being a continuation of article 5 of the treaty of peace concluded at Adrianople, between us and the Ot. toman plenipotentiaries.

Done at Adrianople, 2d (14th) September, 1829.

(Signed)

Čount ALEXIS ORLOFF, Count F. V. Paulen. Confirmed in the original copy by Count DIEBITSCH ZABALKANSKY, Commander-in-chief of the second

army.

Manifesto of his majesty the Emperor of Russia. By the grace of God, we, Nicholas the First, emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, &c.

Thanks to the decrees of Divine Providence, the treaty of perpetual peace between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, was concluded and signed at Adrianople on the 2nd (14th) of September, by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two empires.

The whole world is sufficiently acquainted with the irresistible necessity which alone could force us to have recourse to arms. In this legitimate war, undertaken for the defence of the rights of our empire, our faithful subjects, incessantly animated by an ardent attachment to the throne and to the country, have eagerly offered to us the tribute of their property to second us with all their efforts, and God has blessed our cause.

Our intrepid warriors have given, both in Europe and Asia, by sea and by land, new proofs of their heroic valour. They have triumphed at once over the obstacles presented by nature, and the desperate resistance of the enemy. Hastening from victory to victory, they have crossed the chain of the Saganlouch mountains. They saw the summit of the Balkan sink bofore them, and have stopped only at the very gates of Constantinople. Formidable only to the enemy in arms, they have shown themselves to the peaceable inhabitants, full of clemency, humanity, and mildness.

In these days of combat and glory, constantly free from all desire of conquest, we have never ceased to invite the Porte to concur in re-establishing harmony between

Be

the two empires. The command. ers of our armies, after every victory, hastened, by our order, to offer to it peace and friendship. Nevertheless, our efforts were always fruitless. It was not till he saw our standards displayed not far from his capitol, that the Sultan was at length sensible, from our conduct, that our object was not to overturn his throne, but to obtain the execution of the treaties. ing then convinced of the purity of our intentions, he held out his hand to receive that peace which had been so often proposed to him. It promises to Russia happy and pros. perous results. The blood of our warriors is redeemed by numerous advantages. The passage of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus is henceforward free and open to the commerce of all the nations of the world. The security of our frontiers, especially on the Asiatic side, is for ever guarantied by the incorporation with the empire of the fortresses of Anapa, Poti, Akhaltzik, Atizkour, and Akhalkalaki.

Our preceding treaties with the Porte are confirmed by it, and reestablished in all their force; just indemnities are secured for the expenses of the war, and the individu. al losses experienced by our sub. jects. The scourge of the plague, which has so often threatened the

southern provinces of Russia, will, in future, be checked by a double barrier, by means of the establishment of a line of quarantine on the banks of the Danube, agreed to on both sides. Our solicitude has also been extended to the fate of the nations professing our religion, who are subjects to the Ottoman domi. nion. The ancient privileges of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia have been sanctioned, and

their welfare consolidated by new advantages. The rights granted to the Servians by the treaty of Bu. charest, and confirmed by the convention of Ackermann, were still suspended in their application.These stipulations will, henceforward, be faithfully observed. The political existence of Greece, determined by Russia, in concert with the allied courts of France and England, has been formerly recognised by the Ottoman Porte.

Such are the fundamental bases of a peace which has happily terminated a sanguinary and obstinate

war.

In announcing to all our beloved subjects this happy event, a new gift of the benedictions of heaven bestowed upon Russia, we addressed, with them, the most ardent thanksgivings to the Almighty, who has deigned, by his divine decrees, to raise our dear country to such a high degree of glory. May the fruits of this peace be developed and multiplied more and more to the advantage of our beloved sub. jects, whose welfare will always be the first object of our constant solicitude.

Given at St. Petersburg, the 19th September, (1st October,) the year 1829, and the fourth of our reign.

Address of the President of Greece to the Fourth National Congress. July 23, 1829.

Let every heart glorify the Most High: Let us celebrate his holy name. Deputies of the Nation,

You have re-assembled in the fourth national congress at a time when the fortunes of Greece engage the benevolent attention and constant favour of the allied sovereigns of Europe.

Our circumstances are critical, but the sense of what they require being deep in all our breasts, God, we may be allowed to hope, will not abandon us.

His mercy has preserved Greece by miracles; and be most fully assured that these miracles have not been wrought in vain.

Her

Greece, after bearing the yoke of slavery for four centuries, has at length shaken it off. Assisted by the peculiar favour of heaven, and by human wisdom and foresight, she has struggled against numerous and terrible foes, and against incessant trials and disasters. courage, her perseverance, her misfortunes, roused simultaneously the Christians of both hemispheres: and at the moment when her accumulated distresses had brought her to the most awful crisis, she received from every quarter proofs of generous protection; and when she was still enabled to defend those sacred interests which she had laboured to shield under the law of nations.

At the same time sad experience has proved to Greece that all her noble efforts, all her bloody sacrifices, were unattended with any real and permanent success, so long as they were unaided by the august and powerful sanction of the European monarchs.

The convention of April, 1826, signed at St. Petersburg, the treaty of London of the 6th of July, 1827, and that ever memorable day the 8th (20th) of October, prove to Greece that Great Britain, France and Russia, acknowledge the jus. tice of her cause, and interpose their powerful aid to terminate her long continued sufferings.

The election of the congress of Træzen of April, 1827, was commu.

nicated to me in June of the same year. I cannot better repay the confidence which the Greeks have reposed in me, than by endeavouring to be able to announce to them, ere long, with certainty, that the allied courts will not refuse their generous support, so soon as Greece, by restoring order in her interior, can give to the sovereigns a guaranty that she will also resume her national and political standing. With the design therefore of seeking the opportunity and the means of preserving and consolidating these expectations, I undertook long journeys and distant embassies before touching the soil of Greece.

You are all aware, gentlemen, what was her condition at that period.

You are not ignorant of the basis on which the provisional government of Greece was founded, with the approbation of her council and the kind feelings of her inha. bitants.

I shall now present you with an account of our proceedings, and it will be for you to judge of them.

After having established the council, we wished to gain that knowledge which would maintain in trust the authorities to which the nation had once more confided its peculiar interests.

We wished likewise to convince Europe that Greece sighed for order, and that the government to expedite the fulfilment of this wish considered it indispensably neces. sary to own no allegiance to any ar. bitrary power, and to pay particular regard to our army, to our navy, and to our political economy.

The decree respecting the organization of the regiments, the edict which relates to the marine service, as well as the measures

« ПретходнаНастави »