mixed
commission, which was to be an executive committee, not at all
contemplated by the Treaty of Berlin, and which brought to light
pretensions of a new order.'

Those pretensions were an attempt on the part of one power, namely,
Austria, to dominate the whole course of the river. The Executive
Commission was to consist of four members, representing Austria, Servia,
Roumania, and Bulgaria, and the Austrian commissioner was to preside and
to have a casting vote. Servia has a very small interest in the river,
as her territory extends only a few miles below the Iron Gates, and it
is essential to her very existence to remain on friendly terms with her
powerful neighbour, so that 'it results that Austria, who is already
mistress of the upper Danube, would obtain further privileges and a
veritable supremacy over the remainder of its course.'

M. Catargi goes on to tell Earl Granville 'that if Austria succeeded in
securing her domination she would throw every obstacle in the way of the
importation of the products of the Western nations into the great basin
of the Danube in order to secure the monopoly of her own.'[27]

This is the present condition of the Danubian question, and we have
reason to believe that negotiations are proceeding which are intended to
pave the way for a settlement next year. From what we know of those who
represent British interests in the matter, we feel satisfied that those
interests will be carefully guarded; but this must not prevent us from
bearing in mind international principles and rights everywhere
recognised as equitable, and which we feel confident will not be lost
sight of in the negotiations. Roumania is the most deeply interested;
she has a perfect right to the executive control of the navigation of
the Danube in her own waters, subject to her engagements with the
Powers. The contention put forward more or less officially by Austria,
that if this right were conceded to Roumania the other riparian Powers
might claim the same privilege, is answered by the simple statement that
such right is theirs already, as much as it is the right of Austria to
control the navigation of the Danube at Pesth or Vienna, of Germany to
regulate that of the Rhine at Cologne, or Belgium at Rotterdam. So far
as England is concerned, it needed not the revelations of M. Catargi to
acquaint us with the fact that Austria will do as she has done, namely,
attempted to limit our trade in the basin of the Danube; and o