No. 37.
louian Republic Ionian citizens can not be proceeded against, under the Queen's Proclama tion, for adhering
10 her enemies.
62
which the lonian States, their citizens and commerce, stand towards Great Britain, the protecting Power, which is now engaged in hostility with Russia, and the position in which those States are placed with reference to that state of things.
That it being very desirable that instructions on the points raised in these papers should be forwarded with as little delay as possible to Constantinople, your Lordship requests that we would take the subject into consideration without delay, and report our opinion thereupon at our carliest convenience
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have taken this subject into consideration, and have the honour to report--
That the relations established and now subsisting by the Treaty of Paris and the Ionian Constitution, between the Queen of this country and the Ionian States, render it impossible that the Ionian Republic can stand in the position of a neutral as between the belligerent Powers; much less can it be permitted to continue the ordinary relations of amity and commerce with Russia: and we are therefore of opinion that the clearances which have been applied for were properly refused.
We have, &c. (Signed)
The Earl of Clarendon,
&c.
&c. &c.
No. 57.
CLARENDON.
J. D. HARDING. A. E. COCKBURN. RICHARD BETHELL.
Copy of a LETTER from the LAW OFFICERS of the CROWN to the Earl of
MY LORD,
Doctors' Commons, May 10, 1855.
WE are honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Lord Wode- house's letter of the 14th of April last, stating that he was directed to transmit to us a despatch from Her Majesty's Consul at Varna, respecting 'ler Majesty's Proclamation, warning British subjects against adhering to or assisting the Queen's enemies; and with reference to that passage in that despatch, in which Colonel Neale requests to be informed "whether British-protected subjects, as lonians, are in any degree liable under the Proclamation to be proceeded against for the committal of any of the treasonable acts therein referred to," Lord Wodehouse is pleased to request that we would report our opinion as to the answer to be returned to Colonel Neale, and whether protection should not in all cases be withdrawn from Ionians aiding and abetting the enemy.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have taken the papers into consideration, and have the honour to report—
That although we retain the opinion we expressed on a former occasion, that the lonian Republic being under the protection, and subject to the execu- tive authority of the British Crown, is not at liberty to consider itself a neutral State, or to enter into commercial or friendly relations with Her Majesty's enemies, yet we think that the status of a native of the Ionian Republic, under the protection of the British Crown, is very different from the status of a natural-born English subject, and that Ionians being under the protection of the British Crown, are not in any degree liable, under the Proclamation, to be proceeded against for the committal of any of the treasonable acts therein referred to, but that it will be proper to declare that the protection of the British Crown will be withdrawn from all Ionians in any manner aiding or abetting Her Majesty's enemies.
We have, &c. (Signed)
The Earl of Clarendon, &c. &c. &c.
J. D. HARDING. A. E. COCKBURN, RICHARD BETHELL.
63
No. 58.
Cory of a LETTER from the LAW OFFICERS of the Crown to Lord J. RUSSELL..
MY LORD,
No. 58.
Doctors' Commons, July 11, 1855. WE are honoured with Mr. Merivale's letter of the 9th June last, stating Her Majesty's that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us a copy of the short- declaration of war hand writer's notes of the judgment recently pronounced in the Court of Power does not
with a foreign Admiralty, in the case of the "Leucade;" that the “Leucade' was an Ionian place the Ionian vessel, sailing under the Fonian flag, destined to Taganrog, a Russian port, Republic in a state which was not blockaded, laden with an innocent cargo; that the question of war with that raised was, whether this vessel, so sailing, laden, and bound, was liable to it does not appear capture, Great Britain and Russia being at war; that the points bearing upon to be illegal for an this question, determined by the Court of Admiralty, were these, shortly lonian to trade stated :-
with a country with which Great
Power.
1st. That the declaration of the Ionian Senate, warning all protected Britain is at war. subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, belonging to the Ionian States, to be guided by Her Majesty's declaration, dated London, 28th March, 1854, was not an Act placing the Ionian States in the state of warfare with Russia.
2ndly. That with reference to the Treaty of Paris, 1815, which settled the national status of the Ionian Islands, those Islands were declared to form a single, free, and independent State, and the Ionian flag acknowledged as the flag of a free and independent State; that consequently it was not the intention of the Contracting Powers, or the construction of the Treaty, that the lonian Islanders were to be taken either as British subjects, or as necessarily the allies of the Crown of Great Britain in any war, and particularly in a war with one of the Powers which guaranteed that very Treaty.
3rdly. That, as in the Convention with the Netherlands in 1852, and in the Treaty with Tuscany in December 1854, it was deemed necessary to mention expressly and distinctly the lonian Islands; so, in order to affect Ionian Islanders with any obligations or duties consequent upon a state of warfare between Great Britain and Russia, they should be specially named.
4thly. That no such special reference has been made in respect to the present war with Russia. That incidentally reference was made to the Order in Council of the 15th April, 1854; and that the Court held that Ionian vessels were not "British vessels," within the terms of that Order-1st, under the municipal law; 2nd, under the British flag; 3rd, or as British-owned, though under neutral flag; and that reference was also made to the provision requiring that every Ionian vessel should be navigated under the pass of the Lord High Commissioner; that the final decision was, that Imian subjects had a right, in the existing state of things, to trade with Russia, and the ship and cargo were restored.
on
Mr. Merivale was pleased to refer us to the opinions given by us the 19th May, 1854, and on the 10th May last, on the subject of the position of the Ionian States and Ionian subjects in the present war, and to annex a copy of a despatch from the Lord High Commissioner on the case of the "Leucade," with the enclosure; that in the judgment in question, Dr. Lushington says, "I am strongly inclined to think that the necessary and inevitable consequence of such a condition (that created by the second Article of the Treaty of Paris, November 5, 1815), is that the King of Great Britain has the right of making war and peace." And Mr. Merivale was further pleased to request that we would report to your Lordship our opinion whether we agree in the view here indicated by Dr. Lushington; and if we do so agree, in what manner should the exercise of this right be declared, so as legally to constitute a state of war (assuming, for the present, on the authority of the judgment that such a state does not now exist) between the lonian States and Russia; and by what authority publicly notified in the Ionian Islands. If, on the contrary, we are of opinion that any declaration, or other formal notification of war, should be made by the authorities of the Ionian States, then we are requested to advise in what manner, and by what authorities, regard being had to the language of the Ionian Charter.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to report
R
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
TTC.O.885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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