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 APrENDIX. 411 declaration of October 1853, it would be erroneous to con- clude from that fact that it was approved by those three members of the Cabinet only. I cannot conclude without again thanking you for the kindness and courtesy you have shown me throughout our communications on this subject. — I remain yours very sincerely, Arthur H. Gordon. P.S. — To those not well acquainted with the history of the Vienna Note, I think your reference to its origin may convey the erroneous impression that it was the work of the Government of Austria alone, and transmitted simul- taneously by that Government to the different Courts named ; instead of being, as in fact it was, the joint com- position of the Governments of England, France, Austria, and Prussia, subsequently submitted by the Vienna Con- ference to the Emperor of Russia and the Sultan for ac- ceptance or rejection. N T E V. Respecting the Day ox which the Czar and the Sultan beg ax to be in a State of War. Some imagined that the state of war began on the 4th of October — the date of the Declaration; but that is a mistake. It was Lord Stratford who devised the plan of a contingent declaration of war (' Eastern Papers,' part ii. p. 198) ; and he, of all men living, would be the least likely to bo wrong as to the time when the state of war began. Importing to the Home Government the effect of the decision of the Great Council as conveyed to him by Eeshid Pasha, Lord Stratford writes, that ' Omar Pasha will be instructed to