III.
DECLARATION OF HER MAJESTY.

Her Majesty's Declaration of the Causes of War.
28th March 1854.

It is with deep regret that Her Majesty an-
nounces the failure of Her anxious and protracted
Endeavours to preserve for Her People and for
Europe the Blessings of Peace.

The unprovoked aggression of the Emperor of
Russia against the Sublime Porte has been per-
sisted in with such Disregard of Consequences,
that after the Rejection by the Emperor of Russia
of Terms which the Emperor of Austria, the Em-
peror of the French, and the King of Prussia, as
well as Her Majesty, considered just and equita-
ble, Her Majesty is compelled, by a Sense of what
is due to the Honour of Her Crown, to the In-
terests of Her People, and to the Independence of
the States of Europe, to come forward in defence
of an Ally whose Territory is invaded and whose
Dignity and Independence are assailed.

Her Majesty, in justification of the Course She
is about to pursue, refers to the Transactions in
which Her Majesty has been engaged.

The Emperor of Russia had some Cause of
Complaint against the Sultan with reference to
the Settlement, which His Highness had sanc-
tioned, of the conflicting Claims of the Greek and
Latin Churches to a Portion of the Holy Places
of Jerusalem and its neighbourhood. To the
Complaint of the Emperor of Russia on this Head
Justice was done; and Her Majesty's Ambassador
at Constantinople had the satisfaction of promot-
ing an arrangement to which no exception was
taken by the Russian Government.

But while the Russian Government repeatedly
assured the Government of Her Majesty that the
Mission of Prince Menchikoff to Constantinople
was exclusively directed to the Settlement of the
Question of the Holy Places at Jerusalem, Prince
Menchikoff himself pressed upon the Porte other
demands of a far more serious and important Cha-
racter, the Nature of which he in the first in-
stance endeavoured, as far as possible to conceal
from Her Majesty's Ambassador. And these de-
mands, thus studiously concealed, affected not the
Privileges of the Greek Church at Jerusalem, but
the position of many millions of Turkish
Subjects in their Relations to their Sovereign the
Sultan.

These Demands were rejected by the spontane-
ous Decision of the Sublime Porte.

Two assurances had been given to Her Majesty,
one, that the Mission of Prince Menchikoff not
only regarded the Holy Places; the other, that
his Mission would be of a conciliatory Charac-
ter.

In both respects Her Majesty's just Expecta-
tions were disappointed.

Demands were made which, in the Opinion of
the Sultan, extended to the Substitution of the
Emperor of Russia's Authority for his own, over
a large portion of his Subjects; and those De-
mands were enforced by a Threat; and when Her
Majesty learnt that, on announcing the Termina-
tion of his Mission, Prince Menchikoff declared
that the Refusal of his Demands would impose
upon the the Imperial Government the Necessity
of seeking a Guarantee by its own Power, Her
Majesty thought proper that Her Fleet should
leave Malta, and, in co-operation with that of His
Majesty the Emperor of the French, take up its
Station in the Neighbourhood of the Darda-
nelles.

So long as the Negotiation bore an amicable
Character, Her Majesty refrained from any De-
monstration of Force. But when, in addition to
the Assemblage of large Military Forces on the
Frontier of Turkey, the Ambassador of Russia in-
timated that serious consequences would ensue
from the Refusal of the Sultan to comply with un-
warrantable Demands, Her Majesty deemed it
right in conjunction with the Emperor of the
French, to give an unquestionable proof of Her
Determination to support the Sovereign Rights of
the Sultan.

The Russian Government has maintained that
the Determination of the Emperor to occupy the
Principalities was taken in consequence of the
Advance of the Fleets of England and France.
But the Menace of Invasion of the Turkish Ter-
ritory was conveyed in Count Nesselrode's Note
to Rechid Pacha, of the 19 May, and re-stated in
his Despatch to Baron Brunnow, of the 20 May,
which announced the Determination of the Em-
peror of Russia to order his troops to occupy the
Principalities, if the Porte did not within a Week
comply with the Demands of Russia.

The Despatch to Her Majesty's Ambassador,
at Constantinople, authorizing him in certain spe-
cified Contingencies to send for the British Fleet,
was dated the 31st of May, and the Order
sent direct from England to Her Majesty's Ad-
miral to proceed to the neighbourhood of the Dar-
danelles, was dated the 2nd of June.

The Determination to occupy the Principalities
was therefore taken before the Orders for the
Advance of the combined Squadrons were
given.

The Sultan's Minister was informed, that unless
he signed within a Week, and without the change
of a Word, the Note proposed to the Porte by
Prince Menchikoff, on the eve of his Departure
from Constantinople, the Principalities of Molda-
via and Wallachia would be occupied by Russian
Troops. The Sultan could not accède to so in-
sulting a Demand; but when the actual Occupa-
tion of the Principalities took place, the Sultan
did not, as he might have done in the Exercise of
his undoubted Right, declare War, but addressed,
a Protest to his Allies.

Her Majesty, in conjunction with the Sover-
eigns of Austria, France, and Prussia, has made
various attempts to meet any just Demands of
the Emperor of Russia without affecting the dig-
nity and independence of the Sultan; and had it
been the sole object of Russia to obtain security
for the enjoyment by the Christian Subjects of the
Porte of their privileges and immunities, she
would have found it in the offers that have been
made by the Sultan. But as that security was
not offered in the shape of a special and separate
stipulation with Russia, it was rejected. Twice
has this offer been made by the Sultan, and re-
commended by the Four Powers, once by a note
originally prepared at Vienna, and subsequently
modified by the Porte once by the proposal of
bases of negotiation agreed upon at Constantino-
ple on the 31st of December, and approved at
Vienna on the 13th of January, as offering to the
two parties the means of arriving at an under-
standing in a becoming and honourable Man-
ner.

It is thus manifest that a right for Russia to in-
terfere in the ordinary relations of Turkish Sub-
jects to their Sovereign, and not the happiness of
Christian communities in Turkey, was the object
sought for by the Russian Government; to such
a demand the Sultan would not submit, and His
Highness, in self-defence, declared War upon
Russia; but Her Majesty nevertheless, in con-
junction with Her Allies, has not ceased Her en-
deavours to restore peace between the contending
parties.