the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

harbors to any British ships. Furthermore, Napoleon warned the Turks that if they
vacillated, France and Russia would join their forces against them. 77
Alexander was delighted by Napoleon’s speech, 78 which he considered the
official recognition of Russia’s occupation of the Principalities. 79 On other hand, the
Turks were concerned by Napoleon’s address that threatened to undermine their war
efforts. The Porte was slowly recovering from the events of 1808 when the Janissaries
overthrew the sultan. The local pashas and the Janissaries still acted independently and
fought for power; Ali Pasha of Janina, in fact, turned his region into an autonomous
principality. Bagration was informed of the Turkish internal problems. Rumyantsev
wrote him that the Dutch diplomat Baron de Grostal witnessed the battle between the
army of the Grand Vizier and the local pasha, after the former refused to access through
Razgrad. When the same diplomat arrived at Giurgiu with a safe pass signed by the
Grand Vizier, the pasha of the town simply destroyed his papers and expressed his
contempt for the vizier. 80
The Porte depended on the British subsidies that sustained its economy and war
against Russia. In addition, the British fleet always posed a great threat to the Porte.
Though the Turks, with the help of the French, repelled the British fleet at Constantinople
in 1807, they were still concerned by the possible actions of the British. With Napoleon
demanding expulsion of the British ambassador, the Porte found itself in desperate
situation and could not afford alienating any of these powers. Dragoman of the Porte,
Prince Muruzi began inquires about possibility of starting negotiations with Russia
without any French mediation. Bagration was informed of the arrival of the Turkish
77 Bagration to Alexander, 5 January 1810, VPR, V, 334-35.
78
Armand de Caulaincourt to Napoleon, 1 January 1810, in Grand Duke Nikolay
Mikhailovich, Diplomaticheskie snoshenia Rossii i Frantsii po doneseniam poslov imperators
Aleksandra i Napoleona, 1808-1812, (St. Petersburg, 1906), IV, 209-10.
79 Under secret Article VIII of the Erfurt Convention of 1808, Napoleon in fact acknowledged
the Russian occupation of Moldavia and Wallachia. In Article V, he pledged to coerce Britain in
recognizing it as well. Erfurt Convention, 12 October 1808, VPR, IV, 359-63.
80 Rumyantsev to Bagration, 7 January 1810, Ibid., V, 337.
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