by which slave-trade shall be declared to be piracy, and those guilty of it subjected to the heaviest secondary punishment. No. 2. LORD HOWARD de Walden to Viscount de Sa da Bandeira. (Most confidential.) Saturday Night My dear Viscount,-Here is a note upon which to hang your declaration as to piracy. You will probably state,-1, your objections and difficulties, if insurmountable; 2, the fact of having established a penal law, inflicting a secondary punishment for [illegible] concerned in the slave-trade; 3, remark on no European power besides England having actually declared slave-trade piracy; and, 4, conclude with a declaration of the readiness of Portugal, either simultaneously or jointly, to unite with other powers of Europe in any resolution to the effect of declaring slave-trade piracy, although, circumstanced as the Government is now, you cannot venture to take the initiative. This, in short, strikes me as the outline of the best case to make out, wording the conclusion as strongly as you can in a general sense, denouncing the slave-trade. Believe me, &c., HOWARD DE Walden. His excellency the Viscount de Sa da Bandeira, &c. No. 3. LORD HOWARD de Walden tO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON. Lisbon, Dec. 18, 1838-Received Jan. 7, 1839. My Lord, Allusions having been made more than once officially by the viscount de Sa da Bandeira to my departure from Lisbon in May last, as the cause of the non-signature of the treaty for the abolition of the slave-trade then under negotiation, I have the honour herewith to enclose a copy of a memorandum, which, a short time before I broke off the negotiation of the said treaty, I drew up hastily at the moment, as explanatory of the grounds on which alone I could consent to affix my signature to it at all (containing, as I felt it did, several provisions which could not be satisfactory to her majesty's government), even supposing the main difficulties under discussion, created by the Portuguese government respecting piracy and the proposed guarantee to have been overcome, the first by a solemn engagement as to future denunciation of slavetrade as piracy, and the second by moderation and reason, as to the extent of the engagements required of Great Britain. I did not forward this paper at the time, as no discussion on the subject of it took place; I had merely read it over to the viscount de Sa on delivering it to him, and he had received it, to take it into consideration, only as an act proposed by me as preliminary to the signature of the treaty whenever it might take place, subject to amendment and correction being discussed by us. As, how ever, the contents of this paper, roughly and hastily drawn up as it on was, still tend to illustrate what the real attitude was which I assumed in regard to the contingent signature of the treaty, I have thought it right, even thus late, to bring it under your lordship's notice. My motive for desiring to obtain in this way the signature of the viscount de Sa da Bandeira to the stipulations of the treaty, as then proposed, without definitively committing her majesty's government in the event of their affording even a remote chance of its being looked upon, on the whole, as admissible, was the apprehension of a change of government in this country, which would at once have I have, &c., ENCLOSUR IN No. 3. At a conference held this day between the viscount de Sa da Bandeira and lord Howard de Walden, lord Howard declared, that he did not feel authorised, under his instructions, to affix his signature to any treaty for the abolition of the slave-trade, which did not contain a provision for making that traffic piracy. The viscount de Sa da Bandeira, on the part of the Portuguese government, stated that force of circumstances alone prevented his acquiescing in such a stipulation in the proposed treaty; but declared, in the name of the queen of Portugal, her most faithful majesty's willingness to become party, by either a joint or simultaneous act, to any general measure adopted by other European powers for the above object. The viscount de Sa da Bandeira and lord Howard, having both also weighed the various inconveniences which might arise from a delay at this moment in the actual signature of the treaty, containing important stipulations so entirely in conformity with so many of the other principles and details of the project, as presented to the Portuguese government, have agreed to affix their signatures to the treaty sub spe rati, under the mutual pledge that, in the event of the treaty not being accepted as it stands by her majesty's government, the act of its signature shall remain secret, and the document shall be cancelled, and be considered to all intents and purposes null and void in all its parts, as if the said signatures had never taken place. AFFAIRS OF THE EAST. CONVENTION CONCLUDED BETWEEN THE COURTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, PRUSSIA, AND RUSSIA, ON THE ONE PART, AND THE SUBLIME OTTOMAN PORTE ON THE OTHER, FOR THE PACIFICATION OF THE LEVANT, SIGNED AT LONDON ON THE 15TH OF JULY, 1840. In the name of the Most Merciful God. His highness the sultan having addressed himself to their majesties the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, the king of Prussia, and the emperor of all the Russias, to ask their support and assistance in the difficulties in which he finds himself placed by reason of the hostile proceedings of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt-difficulties which threaten with danger the integrity of the Ottoman empire and the independence of the sultan's throne, their said majesties, moved by the sincere friendship which subsists between them and the sultan, animated by the desire of maintaining the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire as a security for the peace of Europe, faithful to the engagement which they contracted by the collective note presented to the Porte by their representatives at Constantinople on the 27th of July, 1839, and desirous, moreover, to prevent the effusion of blood, which would be occasioned by a continuance of the hostilities which have recently broken out in Syria between the authorities of the pasha of Egypt and the subjects of the sultan, their said majesties and his highness the sultan have resolved, for the aforesaid purposes, to conclude together a convention, and they have therefore named as their plenipotentiaries, that is to say : Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Hon. Henry John, Viscount Palmerston, Baron Temple, a Peer of Ireland, a Member of her Britannic Majesty's most Hon. Privy Council, Knight GrandCross of the most Hon. Order of the Bath, a Member of Parliament, and her Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, the Sieur Philip, Baron de Neumann, Commander of the Order of Leopold of Austria, decorated with the Cross for Civil Merit, Commander of the Orders of the Tower and Sword of Portugal, of the Southern Cross of Brazil, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stanislaus of the Second Class of Russia, his Aulic Councillor, and his Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty. His Majesty the King of Prussia, the Sieur Henry William, Baron de Bulow, Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle of the First Class of Prussia, Grand Cross of the Orders of Leopold of Austria and of the Guelphs of Hanover, Knight Grand Cross of the Orders of St. Stanislaus of the Second Class, and of St. Wladimir of the Fourth Class of Russia, Commander of the Order of the Falcon of Saxe Weimar, his Chamberlain, actual Privy Councillor, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty. His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, the Sieur Philip, Ba ron de Brunnow, Knight of the Order of St. Anne of the First Class, of St. Stanislaus, of the First Class, of St. Wladimir of the Third, Commander of the Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle, and of St. John of Jerusalem, his Privy Councillor, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Her Britannic Majesty : And his Majesty the Most Noble, the Most Powerful, and Most Magnificent Sultan Abdul Mejid, Emperor of the Ottomans, Chekib Effendi, decorated with the Nichan Iftihar of the First Class, Beyligdgi of the Imperial Divan, Honorary Councillor of the Department of Foreign Affairs, his Ambassador Extraordinary to Her Britannic Majesty who, having reciprocally communicated to each other their full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and signed the following articles :- ARTICLE I.-His Highness the Sultan having come to an agreement with their majesties the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, the king of Prussia, and the emperor of all the Russias, as to the conditions of the arrangement which it is the intention of his Highness to grant to Mehemet Ali, conditions which are specified in the separate act hereunto annexed, their majesties engage to act in perfect accord, and to unite their efforts in order to determine Mehemet Ali to conform to that arrangement; each of the high contracting parties reserving to itself to co-operate for that purpose according to the means of action which each may have at its disposal. In the ARTICLE II.-If the pasha of Egypt should refuse to accept the abovementioned arrangement, which will be communicated to him by the sultan, with the concurrence of their aforesaid majesties, their majesties engage to take, at the request of the sultan, measures concerted and settled between them, in order to carry that arrangement into effect. mean while, the sultan having requested his said allies to unite with him, in order to assist him to cut off the communication by sea between Egypt and Syria, and to prevent the transport of troops, horses, arms, and warlike stores of all kinds, from the one province to the other, their majesties the queen of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, engage to give immediately to that effect the necessary orders to their naval commanders in the Mediterranean. Their said majesties further engage that the naval commanders of their squadrons shall, according to the means at their command, afford, in the name of the alliance, all the support and assistance in their power to those subjects of the sultan who may manifest their fidelity and allegiance to their sovereign. ARTICLE III.-If Mehemet Ali, after having refused to submit to the conditions of the arrangements abovementioned, should direct his land or sea forces against Constantinople, the high contracting parties, upon the express demand of the sultan, addressed to their representatives at Constantinople, agree in such case to comply with the request of that sovereign, and to provide for the defence of his throne by means of a co-operation agreed upon by mutual consent, for the purpose of placing the two straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, as well as the capital of the Ottoman empire, in security against all aggression. It is further agreed, that the forces which, in virtue of such concert, may be sent as aforesaid, shall there remain so employed as long as their presence shall be required by the sultan; and when his highness shall deem their presence no longer necessary, the said forces shall simultaneously withdraw, and shall return to the Black Sea, and to the Mediterranean respectively. ARTICLE IV.-It is, however, expressly understood, that the cooperation mentioned in the preceding article, and destined to place the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus, and the Ottoman capital, under the temporary safeguard of the high contracting parties, against all aggression of Mehemet Ali, shall be considered only as a measure of exception, adopted at the express demand of the sultan, and solely for his defence in the single case abovementioned; but it is agreed that such measure shall not derogate in any degree from the ancient rule of the Ottoman empire, in virtue of which it has in all times been prohibited for ships of war of foreign powers to enter the Straits of the Dardanelles and of the Bosphorus. And the sultan on the one hand, hereby declares that, excepting the contingencies abovementioned, it is his firm resolution to maintain in future this principle invariably established as the ancient rule of his empire; and, as long as the Porte is at peace, to admit no foreign ship of war into the Straits of the Bosphorus and of the Dardanelles; on the other hand, their majesties the queen of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the emperor of Austria, king of Hungary and Bohemia, the king of Prussia, and the emperor of all the Russias, engage to respect this determination of the sultan, and to conform to the abovementioned principle. ARTICLE V.-The present convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at London at the expiration of two months, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms. Done at London, the 15th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1840. PALMERSTON. CHEKIB. SEPARATE ACT ANNEXED TO THE CONVENTION CONCLUDED AT LONDON ON THE 15TH OF JULY, 1840, BETWEEN THE COURTS OF GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, PRUSSIA, AND RUSSIA, ON THE ONE PART, AND THE SUBLIME OTTOMAN PORTE ON THE OTHER. His highness the sultan intends to grant and to cause to be notified to Mehemet Ali, the conditions of the arrangement hereinafter detailed ; SECTION I. His highness promises to grant to Mehemet Ali, for himself and for his descendants in the direct line, the administration of the pashalic of Egypt; and his |