Page:The European Concert in the Eastern Question.djvu/21

 St. Petersburg, where, on 4th April, 1826, the following important Protocol was signed by the representatives of Great Britain and Russia :—

His Britannic Majesty having been requested by the Greeks to interpose his good offices in order to obtain their reconciliation with the Ottoman Porte, having, in consequence, offered his mediation to that Power, and being desirous of concerting the measures of his Government upon this subject with His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; and His Imperial Majesty, on the other hand, being equally animated by the desire of putting an end to the contest of which Greece and the Archipelago are the theatre, by an arrangement which shall be consistent with the principles of religion, justice, and humanity, the Undersigned have agreed: —

1. That the arrangement to be proposed by the Porte, if that Government should accept the proffered mediation, should have for its object to place the Greeks towards the Ottoman Porte in the relation hereafter mentioned:

Greece should be a dependency of that Empire, and the Greeks should pay to the Porte an annual tribute, the amount of which should be permanently fixed by common consent. They should be exclusively governed by authorities to be chosen and named by themselves, but in the nomination of which authorities the Porte should have a certain influence.

In this state the Greeks should enjoy a complete liberty of conscience, entire freedom of commerce, and should exclusively conduct their own internal government.

In order to effect a complete separation between individuals of the two nations, and to prevent the collisions which must be the necessary consequence of a contest of such duration, the Greeks should purchase the property of Turks, whether situated on the continent of Greece or in the islands.

2. In case the principle of a mediation between Turks and Greeks should have been admitted, in consequence of the steps taken with that view by His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, His Imperial Majesty would exert, in every case, his influence to forward the object of that mediation. The mode in which, and the time at which. His Imperial Majesty should take part in