Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century

39 The Kwhuk-Kainarji peace treaty ended the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-74. Russia obtained part of the Black Sea shore between the South Bug and the Dnieper with the fortress of Kinburn; she also gained Azoi,, Kerch and Yenikale and compelled Turkey to recognise the independence of the Crimea. Russian merchant ships won free passage through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. In conformity with the treaty the Sultan also undertook to grant certain privileges to the Greek Orthodox Church.

40 The reference is to George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1760-1820), and a group of Tories supporting hint. George III belonged to the Hanover royal family which held the British throne under the provisions of the Act of Settlement (1701); up to 1815 the British kings of the Hanover dynasty were also the Electors of Hanover, and up to 1837 Kings of Hanover.

41 Marx draws a parallel here between the 18th-century events and the actions of the British Admiralty in 1854 when an attempt was made to raise a blockade of the Russian harbours t)ii the Black Sea at the beginning of the Crimean war (1853-56). James Graham’s statement, report about his dispatch of April 3, 1854 and Admiral James Dundas’ replies are cited by Marx according to the material of the John Arthur Roebuck commission appointed to investigate the state of the British Army in the Crimea (“State of the Army before Sebastopol”, The No. 22054, May 15, 1855).

42 Marx quotes George III’s speech on October 26, 1775, the words of Lord Cavendish and North’s statement mentioned below from T. S. Hughes’ The History of England, Vol. If, pp. 191, 113.

43 Marx is referring to the Versailles Peace Treaty (see Note 36).

44 A reference to the retirement of Rockingham’s ministry after. his death on July 1, 1782.

45 Marx quotes Burke front T. S. Hughes’ The History of England..., Vol. III, pp. 148-49.

46 The Shelburne ministry (1782-83) succeeded Rockingham’s ministry (see Note 44).

47 [Ph. H.] Mahon, History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Vol. I, London, 1839, p. 341.

48 The reference is to the French Revolution.

49 A reference to Russia’s secession from the second anti-French coalition in 1800.

50 Marx is referring to the diplomatic correspondence between Pozzo di Borgo, the Russian ambassador to France, and the Russian Chancellor Count Nesselrode; Marx got acquainted with it from a collection of diplomatic documents and material entitled The Portfolio; or a Collection of State Papers edited by David Urquhart and published in London from 1835 to 1837, and also from Recueil des documents relatifs à la Russie pour la plupart secrets et inédits utiles à consulter dons la crise actuelle, Paris, 1854.

51 A reference to the treaties on the partition of the Spanish possessions in Europe and elsewhere concluded by France with Britain, the Netherlands and Austria in 1698 and 1700 in anticipation of the death of the childless King of Spain, Charles II of Habsburg.