THE DARDANELLES.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1904, Page 5

THE DARDANELLES.

RUSSIAN JOURNAL'S COMMENTS. THE TREATY OF PARIS. fPEESS ASSOCIATION.] LONDON, 3rd December. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Morning Post states that the revival of the Dardanelles agitation coincides significantly with the Grand Duke Vladimir's return from Berlin. The Novoe Vremya in a leading article raises the Dardanelles question. It says it is unnecessary to consult Britain. The Treaty of Paris, which does not bind Japan, hampers Russia, but the Porte, for a consideration, might waive its advantages. Probably Britain would make a great outcry as in former years — and more recently, as in the Dogger Bank case — but it would come to nothing. Russia, in any case, would be able to offer something in exchange for Britain's consent. The article is attributed to Captain Clddo, one of the officers of the Baltic fleet, who was sent to St. 'Petersburg. Till 1774, when Russia compelled Turkey to open the Black Sea and the straits leading to it from the Mediterranean to merchant vessels, it was the practice of the Porte, which did not consider itself bound by the public law of Europe, to forbid the passage of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to ships of other Powers. After 1774 ships of war were still excluded; and in 1809 Gseat Britain recognised this practice as "the ancient rule of the Ottoman Empire." She was followed in 1840 by Austria, Russia, and Prussia, who were parties with her to the Quadruple Treaty <>f London. The first subsidiary convention attached to the Treaty of Paris of 1856 revised the rule so as to allow the passage of light cruisers employed in tne service of the foreign Embassies at Constantinople, and of a few small vessels of war to guard the "international works at the mouth of the Danube. A further modification was introduced by the Treaty of London of 1871, which retained the previous rules, but reserved power to the Sultan to open the straits in time of peace to the war vessels of friendly Powers, if he should deem it necessary in order to secure the observance of the Treaty of Paris of 1856. These last two treaties have been signed by all the Great Powers, and are universally accepted as part of the public order of Europe.