which we may expect from Lord Aberdeen, in pursuance of the application made to him by Sir Stratford Canning, on the subject of the matter treated of in this despatch. But I send a copy of this last to the King's Envoy in London, in order that he may communicate it to the Principal Secretary of State, and in this manner acquaint his Lordship that the King's Cabinet, agreeing with Sir Stratford Canning as to the fitness of the step which he has proposed, has hastened to authorize you to concur in it.

Receive, &c.,

(Signed) BULOW.

No. 4.

The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Stratford Canning.

Sir, Foreign Office, October 4, 1843.

The barbarous execution of the Armenian, recorded in your Excellency's despatch of the 27th of August, has excited the attention and interest of Her Majesty's Government in an unusual degree; and they highly approve the line of conduct which you pursued in reference to it.

Her Majesty's Government had hoped that the time had passed away when the perpetration of such acts of atrocity could have been tolerated; and that the law by which they are permitted or enjoined, although it might still disgrace the Mahomedan code, had fallen so completely into disuse as to have become virtually null and of no effect.

It is, therefore, with the most painful feelings, that Her Majesty's Government have seen so cruel a law brought so injudiciously again into operation; and they consider every Christian Government not only justified, but imperatively called upon to raise their voices against such proceedings, whether the law be executed to the prejudice of their own subjects, or of the Christian community in general.

Her Majesty's Government confidently trust that no repetition of so unjustifiable an act as that against which your Excellency so properly remonstrated will ever be suffered, and still less authorized by the Turkish Government; and they earnestly counsel that Government to take immediate measures for effectually preventing the future commission of such atrocities.

Under the full conviction that the Sultan will have the humanity and wisdom to listen to this counsel, which is given with the most friendly feeling, and which will, I doubt not, be equally impressed on His Highness by other Christian Governments, I do not think it necessary to enter further at present into the other points set forth in your Excellency's despatch above referred to.

You will not fall to communicate this despatch to Rifaat Pasha.

I am, &c.,

(Signed) ABERDEEN.

No. 5.

The Earl of Westmorland to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Received October 30.)

My Lord, Berlin, October 23, 1843.

I have communicated to Baron Bülow your Lordship's despatch of the 4th instant to Sir Stratford Canning relative to the late execution of an Armenian at Constantinople, and his Excellency has requested me to express the interest with which he had learnt your Lordship's views on that subject.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) WESTMORLAND.

No. 6.

Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Received November 2.)

My Lord, Buyukderé, October 11, 1843.

The Prussian Minister has communicated to me an instruction addressed to him by Baron Bülow in reply to his representations on the subject of the Armenian youth, whose execution and its natural consequences were brought under your Lordship's notice in my despatch of August the 27th.

The French Minister has also communicated to me a note, transmitted to him from Paris for presentation to the Porte, with reference to the same deplorable act of the Turkish Government.

Copies of these two papers have not been given to me; but I understand that the Prussian instruction has been sent to your Lordship, and it is probable that the same degree of confidence has been shewn to your Lordship by M. Guizot. I have only to remark that the terms in which these documents are respectively expressed, appear to me highly creditable to the Cabinets from which they have issued, and, should your Lordship see fit to instruct me in a similar sense, it would afford me great satisfaction to repeat to the Turkish Minister, with the immediate authority of Her Majesty's Government, what I ventured at the time to intimate by anticipation on my own suggestion. Baron Bülow and M. Guizot appear to be equally impressed with the dangerous character of that policy to which the Armenian execution is traceable, and their reprobation of the act itself is proportionally strong. Baron de Bourqueney is prepared to give in his note without waiting for the concurrence of his colleagues. M. Le Coq is instructed to act simultaneously with the other Representatives of the Five Powers.

With respect to the Austrian and Russian Ministers, I am informed by M. de Titow that the Emperor of Russia's absence from St. Petersburgh has prevented his receiving an immediate answer to his despatches; and I hear that the Internuncio refers to a communication made by Prince Metternich to the Turkish Ambassador at Vienna as sufficiently expressive of the sentiments of his Court and superseding the necessity of any step on his part without further instructions.

I would venture humbly to submit that a concurrent expression of the sentiments of the Five Courts on such an occasion would hardly fail of producing a most beneficial effect upon the counsels of the Porte.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) STRATFORD CANNING.

No. 7.

The Earl of Aberdeen to Sir Stratford Canning.

(Extract.) Foreign Office, November 4, 1843.

I have received your despatch of the 11th of October, reporting that the French and Prussian Ministers had received instructions from their respective Governments on the subject of the execution of the Armenian referred to in your despatch of the 27th of August.

I calculate that your Excellency will have received on the 24th ultimo my despatch of the 4th, by which your Excellency will have been enabled to acquaint the Porte with the feelings with which Her Majesty's Government had received the intelligence of that melancholy transaction. I have nothing to add to that instruction.

No. 8.

Sir Stratford Canning to the Earl of Aberdeen.—(Received November 23.)

My Lord, Buyukdéré, October 31, 1843.

The instruction which I have received from your Lordship respecting the Armenian decapitated for returning to the Christian faith, cannot fail of making a deep and, I hope, a salutary impression upon the Ottoman Ministers.

I have had it carefully translated into Turkish, and placed in M. Pisani's hands for communication to the Porte, accompanied with an instruction of which I have the honour to inclose a copy herewith.

Monsieur de Bourqueney having been directed to present an official note upon the same subject, I thought it advisable to give a certain degree of formality to the communication of your Lordship's despatch, and particularly to leave it with the Minister for Foreign Affairs in writing. A copy of