Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/356

 324 THE MAIN QUESTION AT ISSUE. chap. ■ Moldavia and Wallachia shall cease, and the XII. 1 Principalities, as well as on Servia, shall hence- ' forward be placed under the collective guarantee ' of the Contracting Powers. '2. The freedom of the navigation of the ' Danube shall be completely secured by effect- ' ual means, and under the control of a per- ' manent syndical authority. '3. The Treaty of July 13, 1841, shall be re- ' vised, with the double object of connecting more ' completely the existence of the Ottoman Empire ' with the European equilibrium, and of putting ' an end to the preponderance of Russia in the ' Black Sea. '4. Russia abandons the principle of covering ' with an official Protectorate the Christian sub- ' jccts of the Sultan of the Oriental ritual; but ' the Christian Powers will lend each other their ' mutual assistance, in order to obtain from the ' initiative of the Ottoman Government the con- ' Urination and the observance of the religious ' rights of the Christian communities subject to ' the Porte, without distinction of ritual. ' The development of these principles will form ' the object of our negotiations.' * After a labour of several day., means of giving effect to both the First and the Second Conditions were agreed to by all the plenipotentiaries, and concise statement of the Four Points to the more wordy exposi- tion furnished by the Memorandum of the 28th of December.
 * ' privileges conferred by the Sultans on these
 * Eastern Papers, No. xiii. I have preferred Count Buol's