The Czar Nicholas at once ordered his army to cross the Pruth and enter Moldavia, July 2d. Yet this occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia could not be considered an invasion of the Ottoman territory, nor a “Casus belli, per se,” for these provinces were autonomous and under Russian protection since the treaty of Bucharest, while according to the same treaty the Turks had no right to send troops into their territory.
Taking Armenian Prisoners to the Grand Zaptie Prison.
The unanimous judgment of Europe was expressed in what is known as the “Vienna Note” and in urging its acceptance upon the Porte they practically acknowledged the justice of the Czar’s demand and signed their own condemnation in the war that ensued.
VIENNA NOTE.
“The government of His Majesty, the Sultan, will remain faithful to the letter and to the spirit of the treaties of Kainardji and Adrianople regarding the protection of the Christian Church.”
Now the English Ambassador had received instructions to bring his whole influence to bear upon the Turks, “and to impress them with the strong and earnest manner in which the Vienna Note was recommended to the acceptance of the Porte, not only by Her Majesty’s government, but also by the Cabinets of Austria, France and Prussia.”
Before the presentation of the “Vienna Note” Lord Stratford had informed the Porte with much circumstance and in his most impressive manner that the British fleet in Besika Bay was at his disposal; while therefore he read his instructions with most perfunctory obedience to the Ottoman Cabinet, his whole demeanor was urging them to disregard the note.
The duplicity of the French Emperor was more culpable as before the rejection of the Vienna Note and while the powers were still deliberating in concert he craftily succeeded in drawing England into a special alliance with France: and on receipt of some hysterical despatch from his Ambassador he insisted with the English cabinet that it was “indispensably necessary” that their combined fleets should, in violation of the convention of 1841 enter the straits before there had been a declaration of war on any side. That very day without asking any information from the English Ambassador Lord Clarendon telegraphed to Lord Stratford: “Your Excellency is instructed to send for the British fleet to Constantinople.”