Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/348

 31 G ARRANGEMENTS FOR A CONFERENCE chap. But since August, the months had been pass- ! — ing ; and meanwhile, the once haughty Czar had listened with so much attention to the arguments adduced on the Alma, and afterwards repeated at Inkerman, that in a communication to the Aus- trian Government on the 28th of November, he ins accept- all at once announced his acceptance of the ' Four ance of the. Four Condi- ' Conditions as a starting-point on which to ne- tions. . & r gotiate for putting an end to the war. He thus in effect sued for peace, and even undertook to accept it on the basis imposed by his enemies. Treaty of This step on the part of the Czar did not hinder the 2d of ; ~ December the Austrian Government from proceeding with 1854. r & the Treaty we saw them negotiate. It was rati- fied by the contracting Powers, and bears date the 2d of December 1854* Preliminary Prince Alexander Gortchakoff was sent by negotiations. , for the con- Russia to the Austrian Court as Minister Pleni- potentiary ; and in the last month of the year,. France and England instructed their representa- tives at Vienna to confer with the prince on the subject of the basis proposed for peace negotia- tions. An informal meeting between Gortchakoff and the representatives of the three allied Powers- took place on the 16th of December. The Allies, however, declared that they must be explicit in showing the interpretation they put upon the- Four Points as drafted in the Protocol of the 8th of August, and — substantially — insisted that the ably learnt that the Treaty of the 2d of December was im- pending. ference.
 * When yielding on the 28 th of November, the Czar had prob-