First Mediterranean AgreementAccession of Austria-Hungary to the Agreement. London,
March 24, 1887.
NOTE OF COUNT KÁROLYI TO THE MARQUESS OF SAL-
ISBURY.
March 24, 1887.
I have the honour, by order of my Government, to address to
Your Excellency the following communication:
It is with a lively satisfaction that the Cabinet of Vienna has
taken cognizance of the understanding reached between the
British Cabinet and that of Italy on the bases of a common pol-
icy to be followed in the questions of the Mediterranean and of
the adjacent seas.
I am charged with expressing to Your Excellency the deepest
thanks of the Imperial and Royal Government for having been
apprised without loss of time of this important and eminently
conservative agreement.
Animated, above all things, by the desire to contribute so far
as possible to the maintenance of European public law and of
peace, the Austro-Hungarian Government is happy to be able to
note that the fundamental principles and the political objects
which are established by this understanding conform to those
which guide the policy of Austria-Hungary.
Moved by the conviction that these objects would best be
assured by our coöperation, the Government of His Imperial
and Royal Apostolic Majesty is ready to adhere to the declara-
tions of friendship and of identity of political views such as are
recorded in the notes exchanged between Your Excellency and
Count Corti under date of February 12 of the current year.
In announcing this adhesion, the Austro-Hungarian Gov-
ernment congratulates itself particularly on the political rap-
prochement between England and Austria-Hungary and on
the resulting consolidation of reciprocal relations. These rela-
tions will thereby be distinctly placed on a common basis
looking to the pursuit of identical aims and the defence of
common interests.
Although the questions of the Mediterranean in general do
not primarily affect the interests of Austria-Hungary, my Gov-
ernment has the conviction that England and Austria-Hungary
have the same interests so far as concerns the Eastern Question
as a whole, and therefore the same need of maintaining the sta-
tus quo in the Orient, so far as possible, of preventing the
aggrandizement of one Power to the detriment of others, and
consequently of acting in concert in order to insure these cardi-
nal principles of their policy.
In expressing the confidence that these declarations will
receive the cordial assent of the Government of Her Majesty the
Queen, I avail myself, etc.
Italian acknowledgment of the accession of Austria-Hun-
gary. London, March 24, 1887.
To His Excellency Count Károlyi, Ambassador of Austria-Hun-
gary, London.
London, March 24, 1887.
Mr. Ambassador,
I have had the honor to receive the communication of Your
Excellency of today by which you have been good enough to
inform me that the Government of His Majesty the Emperor,
animated by the desire to contribute to the maintenance of
European public law and of peace, and believing that the under-
standing reached between the Governments of Italy and of
England, and formulated in the notes exchanged February 12
last between the Marquess of Salisbury and myself, conforms to
the policy of Austria-Hungary, adheres thereto.
In conformity with the orders which I have received from my
Government I have the honor to express to Your Excellency the
sincere satisfaction which the Government of His Majesty the
King has shown on learning that the Government of His Imper-
ial and Royal Apostolic Majesty was animated by these inten-
tions, which can only make ever firmer the relations of good
friendship existing between the two States; and I hasten to
accept in the name of the Government of His Majesty the King
the adhesion of that of His Majesty the Emperor to the Italo-
English understanding, as this adhesion has been formulated in
the above-mentioned communication of Your Excellency.
I avail myself of this occasion to tender you, Mr. Ambas-
sador, the assurance of my highest consideration.
L. Corti
Ambassador of Italy.British acknowledgment of the accession of Austria-Hun-
gary. London, March 24, 1887.
His Excellency the Count Károlyi, etc. etc. etc.
Foreign Office, March 24, 1887.
Monsieur l’ambassadeur,
It is a matter of the liveliest satisfaction to H. My’sGovern-
ment that the exchange of views which has passed between
England and Italy, and which has been communicated to the
Cabinet of Vienna, has met with their approbation, and has
been recognized by them as tending to the preservation of
European peace and the maintenance of public right.
H. My’sGovernment received with no less gratification the
intimation that the Austro-Hungarian Government are pre-
pared to adhere to those declarations of friendship and of iden-
tity in political views which are embodied in the communica-
tions between England and Italy; and they concur in the belief
that the cordial relations, based on a similarity of interests and
policy, which have long subsisted between the two countries,
will be strengthened and established by the present proceeding.
They are fully convinced that, in respect to the political future
of the territories which are washed by the Mediterranean and the
adjacent seas, the interests of Austria-Hungary are closely related
to those of Great Britain and Italy. It is rather, however, with the
Euxine and the Aegean than with the western portion of the
Mediterranean that the policy of Austria is engaged.