English Translation

73 - 70 - Napoleon's Egyptian company changed the situation also in the eyes of the authoritative British circles. England replaced the French in the eastern Mediterranean. While in Europe Russia and England acted as allies, they stood up as opponents in the Orient, although in 1807 an English fleet threatened in the name of the Tsar Constantinople. Under the Tilsit Treaty, arrangements were immediately made in London for the Orient. Canning told the Russian ambassador that England would never recognize a treaty that sacrificed the gate. These words proved to Alexander and his Foreign Minister Rumyantsev that England had occupied its position and that there was still a fight with Britain before the Turkish plans had been put into effect; the moment for a definitive solution to the oriental question seemed to be a good time for an agreement with Napoleon. Austria, which would have been considered as a participating power in addition to England, withdrew from the political situation of the 1 8o7. In a war waged together with France against England, Russia could expect to achieve its goals towards Turkey. Such calculations could not be lost in London either. Wilson received the order to meet the Russians as far as possible, provided that Turkey remained. On October 30, 1807, Wilson spoke to Foreign Minister Rumyantsev: He assured him that England was prepared to be the greatest victims to preserve the friendship of the Tsar. Nor would it want to oppose him with Napoleon and draw him into a new coalition, but demand nothing more than neutrality. In the oriental question, Canning was prepared for any accommodation that would not contradict the English principle of the preservation of the Ottoman Empire. He acknowledged that Russia had to represent the interests of first order beyond the Danube and was therefore prepared to lean on France's Jonian islands and to support them in a future peace process.