The capitulations signed on May 28, 174o, by Mahmoud I., according certain rights to the Roman Catholic (Latin) ecclesias tics in the Holy Places, had placed the French pilgrims, together with the pilgrims of the other Catholic nations, under the protec tion of the French flag. This stipulation of the treaty had fallen into desuetude during the French Revolution. In the meantime every advance of Russia had been marked by encroachments of the Orthodox Church on the Roman Catholic Church. The quar rels of the monks of the two churches would have passed un noticed if Napoleon III. had not seized the opportunity to win over to his side the clericals in France and to humiliate Russia who had given to his title of emperor only an equivocal recogni tion. The French ambassador handed to the Porte a formal de mand for the restitution to the Catholics of all their rights. The Ottoman Government proposed a mixed commission of inquiry and France agreed with the condition that no documents later than I74o should be admitted as evidence. As this suggestion excluded the Treaty of Kainarji, the tsar demanded that nothing should be altered in the status quo. This was a contest between Russia and France for paramount influence in the East, in which England was inevitably involved, and she took the side of Turkey. The Porte arrived at a compromise in March 1852 by issuing a firman which accorded privileges to both sides, and she took on herself the right of "protection." Neither France nor Russia accepted this as neither desired a settlement. Napoleon III. wanted a war for dynastic reasons, and the tsar thought the moment opportune to drive out the infidel from Europe. The tsar spoke to the British ambassador in St. Petersburg about the Turkish empire as the "sick man" and renewed the proposals of partition Russia had made in In 1853 Prince Menshikov was sent to present the Russian ultimatum to Constantinople. He demanded the recognition of the status quo and of the tsar's right under the Treaty of Kainarji to protect the Orthodox subjects. The Porte turned for advice to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the British ambassador, who was both popular and influential. He grasped the situation at once and per suaded Menshikov to present the two demands separately. On April 22, the question of the Holy Places was settled by the British, Russian and French ambassadors. Then when the ques tion of the Russian protectorate over the Christians was raised, Menshikov found himself opposed by the ambassadors of the other Powers. Menshikov demanded that the Porte should give a note reaffirming the Russian rights, and this the Turkish cabinet seemed inclined to accept. But that cabinet fell; Mustafa Reshid Pasha came into power and, advised by Lord Stratford de Red cliffe, refused the Russian demand. Menshikov left Constantinople and on June 22, 1853, the Russian army under Prince Gorchakov attacked the Danubian principalities, explaining by a circular that this was not with the purpose of attacking Turkey but in order to obtain material guarantees for the enforcement of the existing treaties. In August a conference of the four Powers assembled in Vienna, but the settlement proposed conceded everything to Rus sia, except the protectorate, and the Porte would not agree to it. Turkey declared war on Russia in October, and the French and English fleets passed the Dardanelles. Lord Aberdeen, hoping to keep peace, informed Russia that as long as she abstained from passing the Danube or attacking a Black sea port there would be no casus belli. But Russia bombarded Sinope on the Black sea coast and destroyed a Turkish squadron, and the French and English fleets entered the Black sea and demanded that the Russian fleet should retire.
The conflict at Sinope had been more like a slaughter than a battle, and the excellent behaviour and initial successes of the Turkish land forces aroused sympathy and admiration throughout. Europe. The belief in the rejuvenation of Turkey seemed justi fied. On March 27, 1854, Great Britain and France declared war on Russia, with the strong support of public opinion ; they were later joined by Sardinia. Austria occupied the Danubian princi
palities and by a convention with the Porte undertook to resist by arms any Russian attempt on them.
The main operations of the Crimean War (q.v.) were confined to the Crimea. The allied troops landed on Sept. 14, 1854, and the campaign lasted till Dec. 1855, when the threatened intervention of Austria forced Russia to accept terms which were ultimately embodied in the Treaty of Paris, March 3o, 1856. Russia aban doned her pretensions to protect the Christians in Turkey, and renounced her right of exclusive interference in the Danubian principalities, to which a fragment of Bessarabia was restored ; the navigation of the Danube became free under the supervision of an international commission; the Black sea was to be open to com mercial ships of all countries and closed to all warships except a limited number of small warships belonging to Turkey and Rus sia ; Turkey was admitted to the European concert and the con tracting parties were to respect her independence and the integrity of her territory; the tanzimat was reaffirmed by a decree of the sultan cited in the Treaty. The addition of this clause prepared the way for future interference of the Powers in the internal affairs of Turkey.
The new era following the Paris Conference opened with several outbursts against the reforms. It is noteworthy that the Chris tians, even the clerical class, opposed it, either for fanatical rea sons or at the instigation of Russia, who did not want reform to be realized in Turkey. In 1859, the Danubian principalities, en couraged by Russia, united and, choosing Col. Cusa as their ruler, formed the principality of Rumania. (See RUMANIA.) In 186o a disturbance in Lebanon involving the Druses and the Christians led to a French occupation, which Fuad Pasha, seconded by Ahmed Vefik Effendi, the Turkish ambassador in Paris, contrived to restrict and to terminate as soon as possible. A reglement was signed in Constantinople on June 9, 1861, instituting an autonomy for Lebanon under a Christian governor to be chosen by the Powers with the consent of the Porte. This agreement lasted till the World War.
Towards the end of Abdul-Mejid's reign a secret committee was formed in Constantinople which propagated the idea of a constitu tional regime for Turkey.