Protocol of Conference among Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain, Relative to the Pacification of Portugalthat offer, and to follow, in consequence, such ulterior course as
his own interests and the counsels of his Allies may suggest to
him.
Separate Act to form part of Convention of 15th July,
1840.
§ 8. The present Separate Act shall have the same force and
validity as if it were inserted, word for word, in the Convention
of this date. It shall be ratified, and the Ratifications thereof
shall be exchanged at London at the same time as those of the
said Convention.
In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have
signed the same, and have affixed thereto the Seals of their
Arms.
Done at London, the 15th day of July, in the year of Our
Lord, 1840.
(L.S.) PALMERSTON.
(L.S.) NEUMANN.
(L.S.) BULOW.
(L.S.) BRUNNOW.
(L.S.) CHEKIB.3.1152 Gentleman’s Agreement between Russia
and Great Britain
Alliance Members:Russia and Great Britain
Signed On:May 22, 1844, in the city of London. In force until June
29, 1846, when Benjamin Disraeli’s government replaced Peel’s gov-
ernment in London.
Alliance Type:Entente (Type III)
Source:British Foreign and State Papers,vol. 33, p. 1387.
SUMMARY
After defeating the threat to European domination of the disintegrat-
ing Ottoman Empire posed by Mehemet Ali, the so-called Eastern
Question became an exclusively European one. However, with Russian
ships effectively able to dominate the Bosporus and Dardanelles after
the Straits Convention of 1841, yet having given up its exclusive rights
to defend the empire, British and Russian interests remained at odds.
Tsar Nicholas I won agreement from London that should the empire
appear about to fall, England and Russia would cooperate in planning
and establishing a new order in the Near East, effectively carving up
the dying empire into future spheres of influence and laying a blue-
print for military cooperation.
As British distrust of Russian aims—likely to include the capture of
long-coveted Istanbul—increased steadily, the consensus behind this
entente dissolved, rendering it nonexistent by 1846 amid the ratchet-
ing up of tensions before the Crimean War.
Description of Terms
The agreement called for consultation between Russia and
Great Britain should the Ottoman Empire collapse. Further, the
khanates of Central Asia would continue to remain a neutral
barrier between Russia and British territories in India.3.1153 Protocol of Conference among Great
Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain, Relative
to Measures to Be Taken for the Pacification of
Portugal
Alliance Members:Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain
Signed On:May 21, 1847, in the city of London. In force until August
1847.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:Hurst,1972.
Additional Citations:Key Treaties for the Great Powers, 1814–1914,
p. 276.SUMMARY
After Septembrist radicals set up a provisional junta in Porto and
threatened to expand their resistance to the beleaguered moderate
Liberal government in Lisbon, Portugal appealed in 1847 to the mem-
bers of the Quadruple Alliance to provide assistance in suppressing
resistance and preventing yet another civil war.
The young government had threatened its legitimacy by imposing
restrictions on churchyard burials, creating divisions within the govern-
ing coalition and forcing the prime minister to call for new elections,
which sparked sufficient public discontent to grant the Septembrists a
foothold. However, the arrival of foreign troops called by Queen Maria
helped succeed where the Duke of Saldanha had failed. The alliance
imposed a naval blockade in addition to sending troops, resulting in
eventual rebel capitulation as well as the resignation of Saldanha.
The effective end of the Septembrist revolt in June, scarcely a month
after the request was made for foreign assistance, signaled the end of
the alliance’s usefulness. The alliance is coded as ending with the last
remnants of the Portuguese revolution in August of 1847.Alliance Text
Present: The Plenipotentiaries of Spain ; of France ; of Great
Britain ; and of Portugal.
The Plenipotentiaries of Spain, of France, of Great Britain,
and of Portugal, having met in conference on the invitation of
the Plenipotentiary of Portugal :
The Portuguese Plenipotentiary stated that he had learnt by
advices which he had this day received from his Government,
that the efforts made at Oporto by Colonel Wylde and the Mar-
quis d’España, to put an end to the Civil War in Portugal, upon
the conditions which those officers were authorised by the
Queen of Portugal to make known to the Junta, had failed; and
he added, that as the Queen of Portugal had offered those con-
ditions in accordance with the advice of her Allies, he was now
commanded by Her Most Faithful Majesty to renew the appli-
cation which Her Most Faithful Majesty had previously made to
those of Her Allies who had been parties to the Treaty of the
22nd April, 1834, for assistance to enable her to effect the
Pacification of her Dominions.