Page:Wallachia and Moldavia - Correspondence of D. Bratiano whit Lord Dudley C. Stuart, M.P. on the Danubian Principalities.djvu/27

 to show how they deserve the serious attention, the solicitude of the British government. All the treaties which may be made, all the measures which may be taken, to guarantee the independence and the integrity of the Ottoman empire will be illusory, so long as the neutrality of the territory of the Principalities, more than once recognised and proclaimed by England, shall remain a dead letter, and as it shall be allowed to Russia to occupy them, on any pretext, according to her pleasure; so long as they are not placed beyond the encroachments of the Czar, by having insured to them the enjoyment of those rights which they hold in virtue of their treaties with the Porte. To settle the question of the Principalities is to settle the question of the East; for it is well known that it is mostly on their account that Russia mixes itself with the affairs of Turkey, and finds means to make a quarrel with her, and that it is not by sea, but always through their territory that her armies march towards the conquest of Constantinople. The way to arrive at this is very simple: Russia interferes in the Principalities only to protect them, she says, against the encroachments of the Turks. It is under that title she has constituted herself their guardian. The protectorate with which she crushes them has no other foundation. Well, one has but to require of the Porte to reinstate them in the plentitude of their rights and prerogatives, and formally to pledge herself to the great powers, that henceforth she will observe the treaties of the Roumanians with the Turks, treaties in virtue of which she is the suzerain of these Principalities. Thus one will cut short the intrigues of Russia, and put an end to her protectorate; and the Principalities, as well as the Porte, will thus be under cover of the collective protection of all the great powers.

Then, in case of war, the Principalities will no longer be a storehouse—an intrenched camp for the Russian armies ; but will become the strongest rampart of the Ottoman empire. Let the Porte restore to the Roumanians their ancient rights, and she will find in them valiant and zealous defenders. In a few weeks, I dare answer for it, the Principalities will furnish the