APPENDIX V. THE Appendix here presented to the reader is written with a twofold object. First, to exhibit a Table of all the principal Treaties and Conventions that have been entered into, whether separately or in combination with other powers, between Russia and Turkey from the year 1699 down to the London Conference of 1871, and then to extract from those documents such portions as relate exclusively to the Black Sea and its shores. But before doing this, a word or two may not be out of place on the subject of Treaties of Peace, with reference to the place they ought to occupy in the study of the History of Europe. At few periods of time has the advantage as well as the importance of a careful study of that history been more conspicuous than in the present day. At few periods have the vague declamations and foolish utterances that invariably mark the uninformed or poorly informed writer or speaker been more plentiful than now, when the position and power of Russia, her ambitious aims, and her means of carrying out those aims, have been the subject of daily talk, and when the Eastern question as it is called has been and is the theme of endless, not to say wearisome, discussion. A more enlarged acquaintance with geography has been strongly recommended by a living writer and orator of distinction as a valuable corrective of many of the wild fancies indulged in by a crowd of rash denouncers of Russian wiles and future Russian triumphs in the East. Surely a more enlarged and accurate acquaintance with the political history of Europe during the last two centuries will be an equally valuable aid to some of our political forecasters of events. But how properly to study that history, where to find a good repertory of the facts connected with it? Where to look for real and trustworthy authorities, free from bias and unexcited by fears or fancies? are questions to which a satisfactory answer it is thought can be given. If, to vary somewhat the language of one of our most experienced and trustworthy historians1, the question be, "What is the pro 1 Mr Froude in the Oxford Essays for 1855: "On the best means of teaching English History." An Essay well deserving perusal and reperusal. per attitude in which an inquirer may place himself towards the history of Europe and devise a plan for economizing his reading, ascertaining at the same time what is of moment and what is not?" the reply may be given-Collect and study carefully all the leading treaties of peace that have been concluded from the time of the Peace of Westphalia down to our own day. They are the great landmarks in the expansive domain of facts spreading over two centuries and a quarter; in them will be found the real story of the different State systems of which Europe has been composed at one period or another; they are objects round which groups of incidents of more or less special importance are collected; startingpoints from which inquiries into the causes of each separate set of complications in modern political history may conveniently proceed, and sigu-posts to direct the inquirer along the confusing routes through which he may have to travel. We shall find in them cause and effect, for in order to appreciate rightly and understand properly the results intended to be secured by them, we must be acquainted with the facts that produced them. Moreover, they will help to solve some of the difficulties which, as Mr Froude points out, the student of English history constantly encounters; for in the first place, they are "authoritative works which can be definitely studied and mastered;" in the next place, all that is of the greatest consequence in the state system of Europe is to be found in them, all the great movements, political and religious, find their centres there; and last and most important of all, the real student of history, not the mere crammer of the opinions of others, can by means of them make for himself, and in his own room, a book through whose aid he can bring to bear upon most of the great international questions of the day, sound reasoning and trustworthy knowledge. It would of course be out of place to dwell upon this subject at further length, or to attempt to show how the study of Treaties of Peace is to be pursued. Some such method as Mr Froude has recommended for the study of English History by means of the Statute-book of England, might easily be sketched out. It is enough to draw attention to the value of Treaties of Peace in relation to History. 1 See Mr Froude's Essay, pp. 69 and 70 A COLLECTION OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS ENTERED INTO BETWEEN THE TWO POWERS OF RUSSIA AND TURKEY, Where to be found. Dumont VIII. pie 1. p. 297. Schmauss (C. J. G.) p. Wenck, 1. p. 388. Koch et Schoell, xiv. p. 387. Wenck, 1. p. 393. Koch et Schoell, xiv. p. 387. Notes. By this Treaty Georgia fell to the share of In the course of the short war which preceded Martens, 1. p. 507. Hertslet, | This is a most important Treaty in the his- By Article LX. the Porte undertakes to pro- By this Treaty Russia obtained Oczakoff with By Article vII. the Porte specially stipulates |