March 13, 1856

My dear Walewski,
I am extremely obliged for you kind offer to give more particular instructions to M. Boilleau but I think that for the present it will be enough if you authorize him to do whatever he & Crampton think necessary at the moment & according to circumstances for I expect that the news of peace being probable will make the Americans less impertinent.
I will not receive the Moldo-Wallachian deputation & will write to them in the sense you suggest.
In accordance with the terms of the Vienna condition the separate convention between Turkey & Russian must contain the nomber & force of the vessels to be maintained & upon that it is quite impossible to make any concession. The demand of the Russians to have 26 ships was as imprudent as their pretension to keep Ismael & to have the Turkish forts dismantled but they will yield upon the subject as they have on every other if properly prepared. It is very true that the word transport shows that we do not mean frigate, but there is nothing to prevent the Russians from converting transport into frigate except the limitation of the armament of those ships. Vessels employed for the transport of troops & provisions in a sea where there can be no enemy want no arms at all, & Orloff's insistence upon their being armed is a complete but most unsatisfactory proof of the future intentions of Russia. I cannot agree to it & the letters I have received this morning render my duty still more imperative upon the matter. Lansdowne & others of my colleagues besides Palmerston are in despair at nothing being done for the countries east of the Black Sea & at the prospect of the forts on the Circassian coast being rebuilt, & the war against Circassia being renewed by the Russians. They think all this will have the worst effect in England & so I am sure it will. Without any wish therefore to raise unnecessary difficulties I am sure you will understand that in any position it is indispensable that I therefore require the Russians to adhere to the condition they have accepted.
I know upon the best authority that the people at St Petersburg are wild with joy at the prospect of peace & that the Emperor would now find it as difficult to continue the war with reference to public opinion as with reference to his material means for another campaign. Do not let us be deceived therefore by Orloff's fine phrases about the Emperor's dignity for as soon as he gets what he wants he will be sure to say that he has obtained a victory over us.
Ever yours
Clarendon