No. April 9, 1856.. XXX. Order in Council taking off all Prohibitions on the Exportation April 9, 1856.. XXXII. Order in Council taking off the Prohibitions now subsisting on the Exportation of Arms, Ammunition, Gunpowder, &c., from Gibraltar, under an Order of 15th April, 1854. Page 61 61 XXXIII. Proclamation of Peace April 9, 1856.. 62 62 I.-PROCLAMATION prohibiting the Exportation of Arms, Stores, &c. February 18, 1854. VICTORIA R. BY THE QUEEN.-A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS by the Customs Consolidation Act, 1853 [cap. 107]*, sec. 150, certain goods may, by Proclamation or Order of Her Majesty in Council, be prohibited either to be exported or carried coastwise: and whereas we, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, deem it expedient and necessary to prohibit the goods hereinafter mentioned either to be exported or carried coastwise: we, by and with the advice aforesaid, do hereby order and direct, that from and after the date hereof, all arms, ammunition, and gunpowder, military and naval stores, and the following articles, being articles which we have judged capable of being converted into, or made useful in increasing the quantity of, military or naval stores, that is to say, marine engines, screw propellers, paddle-wheels, cylinders, cranks, shafts, boilers, tubes for boilers, boiler plates, fire bars, and every article, or any other component part of an engine or boiler, or any article whatsoever, which is, can or may become applicable for the manufacture of marine machinery, shall be and the same are hereby prohibited either to be exported from the United Kingdom or carried coastwise. Given at our Court at Buckingham Palace, this 18th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1854, and in the 17th year of our reign, God save the Queen. CL. The following goods may, by Proclamation or Order in Council, be prohibited either to be exported or carried coastwise: arms, ammunition, and gunpowder, military and naval stores, and any articles which Her Majesty shall judge capable of being converted into or made useful in increasing the quantity of military or naval stores, provisions, or any sort of victual which may be used as food by man, and if any goods so prohibited shall be exported from the United Kingdom or carried coastwise, or be water-borne to be so exported or carried, they shall be forfeited. II.-PROCLAMATION against the Fitting Out or Equipping Vessels VICTORIA R. for Warlike Purposes.-March 9, 1854. BY THE QUEEN.-A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS by an Act of Parliament passed in the 59th year of the reign of His late Majesty King George III [cap. 69]*, entitled "An Act to prevent the enlistment or engagement of His Majesty's subjects to serve in foreign service, and the fitting out or equipping in His Majesty's dominions vessels for warlike purposes, without His Majesty's licence," it is, amongst other things, enacted, "that if any person within any part of the United Kingdom, or in any part of His Majesty's dominions beyond the seas, shall, without the leave or licence of His Majesty, his heirs or successors, for that purpose first had and obtained under the sign manual of His Majesty, his heirs or successors, or signified by Order in Council, or by Proclamation of His Majesty, his heirs or successors, equip, furnish, fit out, or arm, or procure to be equipped, furnished, fitted out, or armed, or shall knowingly aid, assist, or be concerned in the equipping, furnishing, fitting out, or arming of any ship or vessel, with intent or in order that such ship or vessel shall be employed in the service of any foreign Prince, State, or Potentate, or of any foreign colony, province, or part of any province, or people, or of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise any powers of Government in or over any foreign State, colony, province, or part of any province, or people, as a transport or store ship, or with intent to cruize or commit hostilities against any Prince, State, or Potentate, or against the subjects or citizens of any Prince, State, or Potentate, or against the persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of Government in any colony, province, or part of any province or country, or against the inhabitants of any foreign colony, province, or part of any province or country, with whom His Majesty shall not then be at war, or shall, within the United Kingdom or any of His Majesty's dominions, or in any settlement, colony, territory, island, or place belonging or subject to His Majesty, issue or deliver any commission for any ship or vessel, to the intent that such ship or vessel shall be employed as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall, upon conviction thereof upon any information or indictment, be punished by fine and imprisonment, or either of them, at the discretion of the Court in which such offender shall be convicted, and every such ship or vessel, with the tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with all the materials, arms, ammunition, and stores which may belong to or be on board of any such ship or vessel, shall be forfeited." And whereas it has been represented to us * Vol. VI. Page 130. that ships and vessels are being built in several places within the United Kingdom, and are being equipped, furnished, and fitted out especially with steam machinery, with intent that they shall be employed as aforesaid, without our Royal leave or licence for that purpose first had or obtained or signified as aforesaid; we have therefore thought fit, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal Proclamation, warning all our subjects against taking part in such proceedings, which we are determined. to prevent and repress, and which cannot fail to bring upon the parties engaged in them the punishments which attend the violation of the laws. Given at our Court at Buckingham Palace, this 9th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1854, and in the 17th year of our reign. God save the Queen. III.-BRITISH DECLARATION, of the Causes of War against Russia. March 28, 1854. Ir is with deep regret that Her Majesty announces the failure of her anxious and protracted endeavours to preserve for her people and for Europe the blessings of peace. The unprovoked aggression of the Emperor of Russia against the Sublime Porte has been persisted in with such disregard of consequences, that after the rejection by the Emperor of Russia of terms which the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of the French, and the King of Prussia, as well as Her Majesty, considered just and equitable, Her Majesty is compelled, by a sense of what is due to the honour of her Crown, to the interests of her people, and to the independence of the States of Europe, to come forward in defence of an Ally whose territory is invaded and whose dignity and independence are assailed. Her Majesty, in justification of the course she is bound to pursue, refers to the transactions in which Her Majesty has been engaged. The Emperor of Russia had some cause of complaint against the Sultan with reference to the settlement, which His Highness had sanctioned, of the conflicting claims of the Greek and Latin Churches to a portion of the Holy Places of Jerusalem and its neighbourhood. To the complaint of the Emperor of Russia on this head, justice was done; and Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople had the satisfaction of promoting an arrangement to which no exception was taken by the Russian Government. But while the Russian Government repeatedly assured the Government of Her Majesty that the mission of Prince Menchikoff [1855-56.] D to Constantinople was exclusively directed to the settlement of the question of the Holy Places at Jerusalem, Prince Menchikoff himself pressed upon the Porte other demands of a far more serious and important character, the nature of which he in the first instance endeavoured, as far as possible, to conceal from Her Majesty's Ambassador. And these demands, thus studiously concealed, affected not the privileges of the Greek Church at Jerusalem, but the position of many millions of Turkish subjects in their relations to their Sovereign the Sultan. These demands are rejected by the spontaneous decision of the Sublime Porte. Two assurances had been given to Her Majesty; one, that the mission of Prince Menchikoff only regarded the Holy Places; the other, that his mission would be of a conciliatory character. In both respects Her Majesty's just expectations were disappointed. Demands were made which, in the opinion of the Sultan, extended to the substitution of the Emperor of Russia's authority for his own over a large portion of his subjects; and those demands were enforced by a threat; and when Her Majesty learnt that, on announcing the termination of his mission, Prince Menchikoff declared that the refusal of his demands would impose upon the Imperial Government the necessity of seeking a guarantee by its own power, Her Majesty thought proper that her fleet should leave. Malta, and, in co-operation with that of His Majesty the Emperor of the French, take up its station in the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles. So long as the negotiation bore an amicable character Her Majesty refrained from any demonstration of force. But when, in addition to the assemblage of large military forces on the frontier of Turkey, the Ambassador of Russia intimated that serious consequences would ensue from the refusal of the Sultan to comply with unwarrantable demands, Her Majesty deemed it right, in conjunction with the Emperor of the French, to give an unquestionable proof of her determination to support the sovereign rights of the Sultan. The Russian Government has maintained that the determination of the Emperor to occupy the Principalities was taken in consequence of the advance of the fleets of England and France. But the menace of invasion of the Turkish territory was conveyed in Count Nesselrode's Note to Rechid Pacha, of May 12, and restated in his despatch to Baron Brunnow, of which announced the determination of the Emperor of Russia occupy the Principalities, if the Porte did not within a week comply with the demands of Russia. May 20. June 1, to order his troops to The despatch to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople, authorizing him, in certain specified contingencies, to send for the British fleet, was dated the 31st May, and the order sent direct from England to Her Majesty's Admiral to proceed to the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles, was dated the 2nd of June. The determination to occupy the Principalities was therefore taken before the orders for the advance of the combined squadrons were given. The Sultan's Minister was informed, that unless he signed within a week, and without the change of a word, the note proposed to the Porte by Prince Menchikoff, on the eve of his departure from Constantinople, the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia would be occupied by Russian troops. The Sultan could not accede to so insulting a demand; but when the actual occupation of the Principalities took place, the Sultan did not, as he might have done in the exercise of his undoubted right, declare war, but addressed a protest to his Allies. Her Majesty, in conjunction with the Sovereigns of Austria, France and Prussia, has made various attempts to meet any just demands of the Emperor of Russia without affecting the dignity and independence of the Sultan; and had it been the sole object of Russia to obtain security for the enjoyment by the Christian subjects of the Porte of their privileges and immunities, she would have found it in the offers that have been made by the Sultan. But as that security was not offered in the shape of a special and separate stipulation with Russia, it was rejected. Twice has this offer been made by the Sultan, and recommended by the 4 Powers, once by a note originally prepared at Vienna, and subsequently modified by the Porte, once by the proposal of bases of negotiation agreed upon at Constantinople on the 31st of December, and approved at Vienna on the 13th of January, as offering to the 2 parties the means of arriving at an understanding in a becoming and honourable manner. It is thus manifest that a right for Russia to interfere in the ordinary relations of Turkish subjects to their Sovereign, and not the happiness of Christian communities in Turkey, was the object sought for by the Russian Government; to such a demand the Sultan would not submit, and His Highness, in self-defence, declared war upon Russia; but Her Majesty nevertheless, in conjunction with her Allies, has not ceased her endeavours to restore peace between the contending parties. The time has, however, now arrived when the advice and remonstrances of the 4 Powers having proved wholly ineffectual, and the military preparations of Russia becoming daily more extended, it is but too obvious that the Emperor of Russia has entered upon a |