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ect the consideration of the Ottoman Ministry to the nature of the position in which the Porte would place itself as regards the British Government, were it to have recourse to violence. The Grand Vizier then said, "I really do not know what would become necessary in such a case if a foreigner were concerned; I am ignorant as to what is said in the law as regards a Frank who should be compromised by the circumstances which caused the Armenian, who was a Rayah, to be condemned to death."

The Grand Vizier concluded by saying, "Present my compliments to the Ambassador, and tell him that I appreciate his humane and well-intentioned sentiments, but that what has occurred was a misfortune for which there was no remedy whatever."

I have, &c.

No. 2.

M. Guizot informed me this morning that he had received a communication from M. de Bourqueney, relative to a most unjustifiable act of the Turkish Government, in having, under circumstances of great cruelty, put to death an Armenian Turk who had embraced Christianity, and had refused to renounce that religion and resume the Ottoman faith.

M. Bourqueney having asked for instructions for his guidance in this matter, the Minister for Foreign Affairs sent him a protest which he is to present to the Ottoman Government on the behalf of the Government of France.

M. Guizot observed, that as the Great Powers of Europe were using their best endeavours to induce the Sultan's Christian subjects to live peaceably under the Ottoman rule, they could not allow of such arbitrary acts of cruelty as that which had been perpetrated, and which was sufficient to rouse the whole of the Christian population against the Government. He understood, he said, that Sir Stratford Canning had asked for instructions from your Lordship in this matter, and that he trusted that they would be in a similar tenor to those he was about to send to M. de Bourqueney.

I have, &c.,

COWLEY.

No. 3.

Le Soussign?, Envoy? Extraordinaire et Ministre Pl?nipotentiaire de Sa Majest? le Roi de Prusse, a l'honneur de transmettre ? son Excellence le Comte de Aberdeen, Principal Secr?taire d'Etat de Sa Majest? Britannique pour les Affaires Etrang?res, copie d'une d?p?che qu'il vient de recevoir, avec l'ordre d'en donner connaissance ? sa Seigneurie.

En s'acquittant de cette commission, il profite, &c.

BUNSEN.

The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from His Majesty the King of Prussia, has the honour to transmit to his Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a copy of a despatch which he has just received, with instructions to communicate it to his Lordship.

In executing this instruction, he avails himself, &c.

BUNSEN.

Inclosure 1 in No. 3.

Vos rapports au Roi jusqu'au No. 91 du 15 du courant nous sont parvenus et ont ?t? plac?s sous les yeux de Sa Majest?.

Vous ?tes sans doute d?j? instruit, par la voie des journaux, des d?tails de l'ex?cution de l'Arm?nien Serkiz Papazoghlou, mis ? mort derni?rement ? Constantinople pour avoir reni? la foi de Mahomet qu'il avait embrass?e quelque temps avant. A la v?rit?, la lettre du Coran inflige la peine de mort ? tous ceux qui abandonnent le Mahom?tisme, mais longtemps d?j? l'usage avait adouci la rigueur d'une loi si peu en harmonie avec les pr?ceptes de la civilisation, et depuis nombre d'ann?es aucune ex?cution de ce genre n'avait eu lieu. Celle du malheureux Serkiz doit par cons?quent ?tre consid?r?e comme un triste retour aux barbaries du fanatisme Musulman. Elle le doit d'autant plus que, d'un c?t?, l'?nergique intercession de Sir Stratford Canning en faveur de la victime est rest?e infructueuse; et que, de l'autre, les autorit?s Turques, en conduisant Serkiz, quoique Arm?nien, en costume Franc et la casquette sur la t?te au supplice, semblent avoir voulu donner ? ce sanglant spectacle le caract?re d'un d?fi public port? par l'ancienne cruaut? Mahom?tane ? l'influence des moeurs Europ?ennes et de la civilisation Chr?tienne.

Partant de ce point de vue et regardant la catastrophe qui vient d'avoir lieu comme un sympt?me de plus d'une tendance r?trograde et pour ainsi dire anti-Europ?enne dont, dans son propre int?r?t, il importe de d?tourner le Gouvernement Ottoman, les R?presentans des Cinq Grandes Puissances ? Constantinople ont cru qu'un avertissement unanime, ? la fois bienveillant et s?rieux, que ces Puissances feraient parvenir ? cet effet ? la Sublime Porte, produirait sur elle une impression salutaire. Ils ont, en cons?quence, et sur l'invitation sp?ciale de Sir Stratford Canning, sollicit? de leurs Cours respectives les instructions n?cessaires pour se porter ? la d?marche en question, et M. l'Ambassadeur d'Angleterre voulait en outre proposer ? Lord Aberdeen de s'employer dans le m?me sens aupr?s des Cabinets de Berlin, de Vienne, de Paris, et de St. P?tersbourg.

Je n'ai pas encore re?u de communication ? ce sujet de la part de Monsieur le Principal Secr?taire d'Etat, mais je me suis empress? de r?pondre par la d?p?che dont je joins ici une copie, ? celle que l'Envoy? du Roi ? Constantinople a adress? ? Sa Majest? sur cette affaire.

Veuillez, Monsieur, en donner connaissance, ainsi que de la pr?sente d?p?che, ? Lord Aberdeen, et exprimer de ma part ? sa Seigneurie l'espoir d'?tre all? de cette mani?re au devant des ouvertures qu'elle serait peut-?tre dans le cas de me faire faire sur la d?marche propos?e par les cinq Repr?sentans ? Constantinople, mais mise, de pr?f?rence, sur le tapis par M. l'Ambassadeur d'Angleterre.

Recevez, &c.,

BULOW.

Your reports to the King, to No. 91 of the 15th instant, have been received and laid before His Majesty.

You are doubtless already acquainted, by means of the newspapers, with the details of the execution of the Armenian, Serkiz Papazoghlou, lately put to death at Constantinople for having renounced the Mahomedan faith, which he had embraced some time before. In truth, the letter of the Koran inflicts the punishment of death upon all those who abandon Mahomedanism, but for some time past custom had mitigated the rigour of a law so little in harmony with the precepts of civilization, and for a number of years no execution of this kind had taken place. That of the unfortunate Serkiz must therefore be considered as a sad return to the barbarity of Mahomedan fanaticism. It must be so much the more so because, on the one hand, the energetic intercession of Sir Stratford Canning in behalf of the victim was fruitless; and because, on the other, the Turkish authorities, in leading Serkiz, although he was an Armenian, in the Frank costume and with a cap upon his head to execution, seem to have wished to give to this bloody spectacle the character of a public defiance offered by the old Mahomedan cruelty to the influence of European manners and Christian civilization.

Setting out from this view of the case and looking upon the catastrophe which has just taken place as a fresh symptom of the retrograde, and it may be said anti-European, tendency from which it is important that the Turkish Government should, in its own interest, be diverted, the Representatives of the Five Great Powers at Constantinople thought that a joint representation, at once kind and earnest, which those Powers should make for this purpose to the Sublime Porte, would produce a salutary impression upon it. They, therefore, and at the special request of Sir Stratford Canning, applied to their respective Courts for the instructions necessary to enable them to take the step in question, and the English Ambassador wished moreover to propose to Lord Aberdeen to communicate in the same sense with the Cabinets of Berlin, Vienna, Paris, and St. Petersburgh.

I have not yet received any communication upon this subject from the Principal Secretary of State; but I lost no time in replying by the despatch of which I inclose a copy, to that which the Envoy of the King at Constantinople addressed to His Majesty respecting this affair.

Have the goodness, Sir, to communicate it, as well as this despatch, to Lord Aberdeen, and to express to his Lordship, on my part, the hope that I have in this manner anticipated the overtures which he would perhaps have caused to be made to me with reference to the step proposed by the Five Representatives at Constantinople, but especially suggested by the English Ambassador.

Accept, &c.,

BULOW

Inclosure 2 in No. 3.

Vos rapports au Roi, &c., &c.

Ce que vous avez mand? sur l'ex?cution de l'Arm?nien Serkiz Papazoghlou n'a pu manquer de nous inspirer un int?r?t aussi vif que douloureux. En effet tous les d?tails de cette sanglante catastrophe sont bien de nature ? m?riter la s?rieuse attention des Puissances Europ?ennes. Ce sont autant de sympt?mes d'une tendance r?trograde ? laquelle la Sublime Porte para?t s'?tre abandonn?e depuis quelques ann?es, et qui, en tol?rant et en favorisant peut-?tre m?me les exc?s du fanatisme Musulman, est aussi contraire aux lois de l'humanit? qu'aux r?gles qu'une saine politique devrait dicter au Gouvernement Ottoman.

A en juger d'apr?s les circonstances qui ont pr?c?d?, accompagn? et suivi la mort de cette malheureuse victime de la rigueur Mahom?tane, ne serait-on pas tent? de croire que ce Gouvernement a oubli? ce qu'il doit aux efforts r?unis des Grandes Puissances, ? leurs conseils d?sint?ress?s, ? la salutaire influence de la civilisation Europ?enne? Ne semble-t-il pas, en opposant aux moeurs plus douces qui sont la suite de cette civilisation la lettre impitoyable du Coran, avoir l'intention de faire sentir ? l'Europe enti?re le peu de cas qu'il fait du bienveillant int?r?t, de la constante sollicitude que lui ont vou?s les Cabinets Europ?ens,

Or, les graves cons?quences, qu'un pareil syt?me entra?nerait pour la Porte, en finissant par lui ali?ner r?ellement l'int?r?t de ces Cabinets, sont si ?videntes, que nous aimons ? croire qu'un avertissement unanime de leur part suffira pour la d?tourner d'une voie ?galement d?sastreuse sous le point de vue politique et moral. Je me range sous ce rapport enti?rement ? l'avis de Sir Stratford Canning, et apr?s avoir pris les ordres du Roi, notre Auguste Ma?tre, je vous invite, Monsieur, ? vous associer ? la d?marche que, je n'en doute pas, Messieurs vos coll?gues d'Autriche, de France et de Russie seront ?galement autoris?s ? faire ? cet effet aupr?s du Gouvernement Turc en commun avec M. l'Ambassadeur d'Angleterre. Dans cette occasion o? les Repr?sentans des Cinq Grandes Puissances agiront en quelque sorte comme organes de la civilisation Europ?enne, il importera surtout de constater leur unanimit?. Veuillez par ce motif, Monsieur, attendre que les instructions que Messieurs vos coll?gues ont sollicit?es, leur soient parvenues, et alors vous concerter avec eux sur la meilleure forme ? donner ? la d?marche qu'elles prescrivent. Si contre toute attente ces instructions n'?taient pas de nature ? ?tablir un accord entier des Cinq Puissances dans cette affaire, vous voudrez bien, Monsieur, m'en informer, pour que je puisse, selon les circonstances, vous faire parvenir des directions ult?rieures. En tout cas la d?marche en question devra se borner ? ?tre simultan?e et non pas collective, et le langage que vous tiendrez ? la Porte, pour ?tre s?rieux et ferme, ne s'en tiendra pas moins dans les bornes d'un conseil amical, et ?vitera tout ce qui pourrait blesser la susceptibilit? politique et religieuse du Gouvernement Ottoman.

Nous n'avons pas encore re?u la communication ? laquelle nous pouvons nous attendre de la part de Lord Aberdeen, en suite de la demande que Sir Stratford Canning lui a adress?e au sujet de l'affaire qui fait l'objet de la pr?sente d?p?che. Mais j'envoie une copie de cette derni?re ? l'Envoy? du Roi ? Londres, pour en donner connaissance ? M. le Principal Secr?taire d'Etat, et pour informer de cette mani?re sa Seigneurie que, d'accord avec Sir Stratford Canning sur l'opportunit? de la d?marche qu'il a propos?e, le Cabinet du Roi s'est empress? de vous autoriser ? y concourir.

Recevez, &c.,

BULOW.

Your reports to the King, &c. &c.

The account which you have given of the execution of the Armenian Serkiz Papazoghlou could not fail to excite our lively and painful interest. Indeed all the details of this bloody catastrophe are well calculated to deserve the serious attention of the European Powers. They are so many symptoms of a retrograde tendency to which the Sublime Porte appears to have given itself up for some years past, and which, by tolerating, and perhaps even encouraging the excesses of Mahomedan fanaticism, is as contrary to the laws of humanity as to the rules which a wholesome policy should dictate to the Turkish Government.

To judge from the circumstances which preceded, attended, and followed the death of this unhappy victim of Mahomedan severity, should we not be tempted to think that that Government has forgotten what it owes to the united exertions of the Great Powers, to their disinterested advice, and to the salutary influence of European civilization? Does it not appear, by placing in opposition to the milder customs which are the result of that civilization the inexorable letter of the Koran, to intend to make the whole of Europe feel the little importance which it attaches to the benevolent interest and the constant solicitude with which the European Cabinets have regarded it?

Wherefore, the serious consequences, which such a system would entail upon the Porte, by finally alienating from it in reality the interest of those Cabinets, are so evident, that we are fain to believe that an unanimous intimation on their part will suffice to turn it aside from a course equally disastrous in a political and in a moral point of view. I side entirely in this respect with the opinion of Sir Stratford Canning, and after having taken the orders of the King, our august Master, I request you, Sir, to join in the step which I doubt not your colleagues of Austria, France and Russia will be equally authorized to take to this effect towards the Turkish Government, in common with the Ambassador of England. On this occasion when the Representatives of the Five Powers will act in some manner as the organs of European civilization, it will above all things be important to evince their unanimity. For this reason, have the goodness, Sir, to wait until the instructions for which your colleagues have applied, have reached them, and thereupon concert with them as to the best form to be given to the step which those instructions prescribe. If, contrary to all expectation, those instructions should not be such as to demonstrate an entire agreement of the Five Powers on this matter, you will have the goodness, Sir, to inform me of the fact, in order that I may, according to circumstances, transmit to you further instructions. In any case the step in question should be limited to being simultaneous and not collective, and the language which you will hold to the Porte, while it is serious and firm, must not the less be confined within the bounds of friendly counsel, and must avoid everything that could wound the political and religious susceptibility of the Ottoman Government.

We have not yet received the communication which we may expect from Lord Aberdeen, in pursuance of the application made to him by Sir Stratford Canning, on the subject of the matter treated of in this despatch. But I send a copy of this last to the King's Envoy in London, in order that he may communicate it to the Principal Secretary of State, and in this manner acquaint his Lordship that the King's Cabinet, agreeing with Sir Stratford Canning as to the fitness of the step which he has proposed, has hastened to authorize you to concur in it.

Receive, &c.,

BULOW.

No. 4.

The barbarous execution of the Armenian, recorded in your Excellency's despatch of the 27th of August, has excited the attention and interest of Her Majesty's Government in an unusual degree; and they highly approve the line of conduct which you pursued in reference to it.

Her Majesty's Government had hoped that the time had passed away when the perpetration of such acts of atrocity could have been tolerated; and that the law by which they are permitted or enjoined, although it might still disgrace the Mahomedan code, had fallen so completely into disuse as to have become virtually null and of no effect.

It is, therefore, with the most painful feelings, that Her Majesty's Government have seen so cruel a law brought so injudiciously again into operation; and they consider every Christian Government not only justified, but imperatively called upon to raise their voices against such proceedings, whether the law be executed to the prejudice of their own subjects, or of the Christian community in general.

Her Majesty's Government confidently trust that no repetition of so unjustifiable an act as that against which your Excellency so properly remonstrated will ever be suffered, and still less authorized by the Turkish Government; and they earnestly counsel that Government to take immediate measures for effectually preventing the future commission of such atrocities.

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